Another large group of the 1709 German immigrants who made it to London was sent to Ireland, where many became tenants of Sir Thomas Southwell, near Rathkeale in County Limerick. Many of these Germans worked their way back to London and eventually found passage to America. A significant number remained in Ireland where they preserved their German characteristics for two hundred years. Their story was told by Hank Z Jones in his small book " The Palatine Families of Ireland ".
Another large group of the 1709 Germans was distributed throughout England in villages. Very few of these people stayed in that situation though. Most came back to London, and many of these found their way to America, especially to Pennsylvania.
Another group of about six hundred Germans was sent to North Carolina under the leadership of Christoph von Graffenried. There was a significant loss of lives on the trip, and in the war with the Indians. Their story had been told very incompletely until recently, when the three volume book by Henry Z Jones, Jr., and Lewis B. Rohrbach, was published (entitled " Even More Palatine Families ", Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2002.
Some others of the Germans were sent to Jamaica and the West Indies. (Bermuda may have been the destination of some.) Finally, many of the Germans were sent back to Germany, especially the declared Catholics. Some of the Catholic Germans, knowing that their chances of being sent to America were weakened by their Catholic faith, declared for a Protestant religion or simply disguised their Catholicism. Lists of returning Catholics are in the Public Record Office.
The emigration of the 1709 is well documented in many records, though it will always be incomplete. In comparison to other years, especially for individuals, more has been recorded about them. One point to be made here is that one has to look in many places to find the information. Some of the locations of data are not always obvious.
Though it is by no means the only source, the Public Record Office has a lot of information on the 1709 immigration. It also has information from before 1709 which pertains to the Germanna Colonies. This latter information is very important for understanding the reasons that the First Germanna Colony led to the Second Germanna Colony, and then to the immigration of associated families, from the same general areas in Germany, from about 1718 to about 1735. Only by putting these events into the proper context can the specific events be understood.
(10 Jul 04)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.