About twelve hundred of the Germans were settled on Livingston’s manor and most of the rest were settled on the opposite side of the Hudson River. These two groups became known as the West Camp and the East Camp. Two hundred had remained in New York. The Palatines were barely settled along the Hudson when winter (1710-1711) fell. Their woes began promptly as they were ill-housed and ill-clothed. For the following two years the people suffered miserably and were in a perpetual state of revolt. The only person who was gaining by this experience was Livingston. Gov. Hunter pledged his own and his wife’s fortune toward the project.
The naval stores project came to naught, the principal reason being that the pine trees along the Hudson were not good producers. Then back in England, a new political party came into power and the naval stores project was not viewed favorably. In two years, there was a complete breakdown of the enterprise. Gov. Hunter lost heavily as he was not reimbursed for the expenditures from his own pocket. Some of the Germans stayed along the Hudson (and formed the nucleus of Germantown along the Hudson), some moved to Pennsylvania, and some moved to the Mohawk Valley. Livingston refused to give the Palatines title to their lands in an attempt to keep them as tenants. A large contingent moved northwest to the Schoharie Valley in New York, well within in the area inhabited by the Indians. Some say the Palatines had become aware of the Schoharie Valley when they were in London, but that appears doubtful. Life in all of these locations was hard.
The Palatines did send a delegation headed by John Conrad Weiser to Schoharie in the fall of 1712. They reported the Indians had received them favorably and had given them a deed for the land. The delegation also reported the Valley to be beautiful and fertile, not surpassed by any other region in New York. (From a personal visit here, I would say they had a good basis for their belief.) In the late winter and early spring of 1713, many of the Palatines moved the fifty miles or so to the northwest. At the time they were without draft animals and had a minimum of everything else. Being on land of their own had not ended their afflictions.
Gov. Hunter was very disappointed about the move as he had given the Palatines instructions to remain along the Hudson even though there were few opportunities for them there. Hunter was personally in debt and he hoped by a resumption of the naval stores project to recover his money. Also, the Palatines had negotiated directly with the Indians and bypassed the Colonial government.
(As a note on the difficult times in the early years, when the Palatines arrived at Schoharie, they had no draft animals. To plow the land, they fashioned a plow from the intersection of a tree trunk and a limb. To obtain the necessary force to pull the plow, they used vines as ropes and had the women pull the plow.)
(16 Oct 06)
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.