I came across a family tree on Ancestry.com that included General Lewis Cass. I was very much interested in this tree as Lewis Cass' daughter, Matilda was married to a very distant cousin of mine, Henry Ledyard. When I say very distant, he is my 6th cousin 4 times removed.
General Cass was the governor of the Michigan Territory, which at that time included the current states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and parts of North and South Dakota. While researching my family, I found family in Cass County, in most of these states. My grandparents are buried in Cass County, Minnesota. I hadn't connected why so many of these states had a Cass County until I learned about Lewis Cass.
I generally don't spend much time on the ancestors of people who marry into my family. Typically, I try to find out birth, death and marriage dates for the parents of a person who married a relative. When I searched for Lewis Cass, I was surprised how much was written about him. I was also surprised at some of the things written about him or his family that were not correct.
Then I came across another tree that sent a red flag up the pole when I saw it. Lewis Cass had another daughter, Isabella. This tree claimed that she married Baron Theodorus Marinus Roest Von Linburg who was the Dutch Foreign Minister to the United States. The words baron and von were the triggers.
The word Von is German, not Dutch. It translate to the English word of just as the Dutch word van would translate. However, the German word "Von" signifies a person of the nobility of that place whereas the Dutch word "van" simply means of or from. Baron is a title used in the regions that today comprise Germany. It is not a Dutch title.
I came across an inventory of letters and documents relating to the family Roest van Limburg from 1604 to 1978 at the Archives of the Netherlands. Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg is addressed in letters as Mr. not as Baron. So where did the author of the tree get this idea that Theodorus was a baron?
So I decided to search further. I found a book that was printed in 1922, "The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922 Volume II." There it was, big as life! But that same search found another book. Only this book is recent (1996). It is entitled "Lewis Cass and Politics of Moderation" by Willard Carl Klunder at Kent State University. To me it looks like Mr. Klunder lifted the text from the 1922 book.
Since it was published by Kent State University, I can hardly blame someone researching Lewis Cass and his descendants for incorporating this junk into their tree.
Showing posts with label German Palatines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German Palatines. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
The German Palatines and Kocherthal's Golden Book
As I was writing my post of February 17, 2011, I thought for my next post I would write something about the German Palatine settlements in New York and Pennsylvania. But this "Golden Book" that was mentioned in the Who Do You Think You Are? episode has troubled me. So instead I took some time to learn more about the Golden Book.
I came across a book published in 2004 entitled "Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York' by Philip Otterness, published in 2004. As I read the book, I was troubled by some of the passages concerning Rev. Joshua Kocherthal and the assertion that he was the author of the Golden Book and its various editions. So many things simply do not make sense to me.
To get to the bottom of things, I read everything that I could find on the Palatine region during the time of this exodus. I also looked for information regarding the Carolina and Pennsylvania Colonies and about Queen Anne and the political and economic climate during her reign. As I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together, I realized that Rev. Kocherthal's original booklet was a pawn in a much bigger game.
In several instances I read that Rev. Kocherthal had never been to British America. However, in 1706, he authored a brochure entitled, "Ausführlich-und umständlicher Bericht von der berühmten landschafft Carolina in dem engelländischen America gelegen." This roughly translate to "a detailed and complete report concerning land in Carolina in English America." In it he described the Province of Carolina in glowing terms. Since he'd never been to the Carolinas, I assumed that he must have encountered someone who had been there or read a description of the place.
In 1681, William Penn was granted a royal charter of his Pennsylvania Colony. Prior to 1681, Penn had visited the Rhine region several times. In that same year, Penn wrote and published in England "Some account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America" in which he offered to sell 100 acres for two English pounds and a low yearly rental. Before the close of 1681, the book was translated in Amsterdam and distributed in the upper Rhine region. William Penn advertised his colony repeatedly. He published books that were distributed in Germany in 1700, 1702 and 1704.
The Library of Congress has a collection called the John Archdale Papers 1690-1706. John Archdale was one of the Lord Proprietors of Carolina. The collection includes several letters to and from Mr. Archdale. One such letter informed John Archdale that map maker, Richard Blome's book "English America" by 1697 had been translated into German.
In 1705, John Archdale was arranging for the Carolina settlement by the High German Company of Thuringia. The company proposed that the Lord Proprietors bring a first group of settlers to Carolina and after this group was safely settled, publish a description of the conveniences and advantageous conditions that these settlers enjoyed. The company also suggested that the Lord Proprietors provide transportation to Carolina from England. The settler would have to repay the company.
At this same time Queen Anne of England championed Protestantism. She married Prince Georg of Denmark, a Lutheran with German ancestry. She was open to receiving persecuted Protestants. The more that I read, the more convinced am I that Rev. Kocherthal's brochure was written based on stories or things that he read from the advertisements printed in German by William Penn, the Lord Proprietors of Carolina and their representatives. Combined with Queen Anne's reputation for helping persecuted Protestants, I saw Rev. Kocherthal's brochure as a proposal to his flock as to how they might remove themselves from hardship.
Queen Anne as well as rulers in Europe believed that enlarging one's population meant wealth and security. So when Kocherthal and his followers applied to Mr. Davenant, a British representative in Frankfort, for passes to England, Mr. Davenant denied the request. He then asked for guidance in the matter from England. As this would be a delicate diplomatic issue, he was told that the queen's desire to help the poor people and settling them in the plantations would be for the public good, but she could not endorse any encouragement given to the people to leave nor give passes without the Elector's (of the Palatinate) consent.
Rev. Kocherthal and his followers did end up in London by 1708. He was able to convince Queen Anne to send him and his followers to America, grant them land and provide a stipend to help them settle. Only she planned to send them to the West Indies. She changed her mind at Kockerthal's objection that the West Indies was too hot. They were sent to New York and not to the Carolina colony. By the time that they sailed, it was approaching winter. In 1709, Kocherthal returned to London to appeal to the queen for more money.
It was at this point that I grew suspicious that Kocherthal had published in Germany a book with Queen Anne's picture and with gold letters on the title page. He did not end up in the Carolina Colony. His people were running out of money because they arrived in winter and had no opportunity to plant crops for the next season. So it made no sense to me that he would publish such a book.
Kocherthal came to London in 1709 to find thousands of immigrants. The first of the immigrants appear to have come from the area near which Kocherthal and his followers left. I am not surprised as I am certain that the story of Kocherthal and his followers sent to America and given land by Queen Anne was told. Also on March 3, 1709, the English passed a bill to naturalize foreign Protestants. The English had established charities to help persecuted Protestants.
A large number of Germans arrived in England between May and November in 1709 causing a strain on the England and it's economy. The English poor were angry that these poor Germans were being supported. On January 15, 1710, a inquiry committee was appointed to investigate who was encouraging Germans to come to England. On April 14, 1711, the committee submitted a report that said that the Golden Book enticed many of the Palatines interviewed because of the ravages of the land caused by the French and the harsh winter of 1708-1709.
Some day, we may learn who published that Golden Book that enticed so many German Palatines to England. But I do not believe that Rev. Kocherthal had anything to do with the Golden Book with an image of Queen Anne and gold leaf on the cover.
I came across a book published in 2004 entitled "Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York' by Philip Otterness, published in 2004. As I read the book, I was troubled by some of the passages concerning Rev. Joshua Kocherthal and the assertion that he was the author of the Golden Book and its various editions. So many things simply do not make sense to me.
To get to the bottom of things, I read everything that I could find on the Palatine region during the time of this exodus. I also looked for information regarding the Carolina and Pennsylvania Colonies and about Queen Anne and the political and economic climate during her reign. As I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together, I realized that Rev. Kocherthal's original booklet was a pawn in a much bigger game.
In several instances I read that Rev. Kocherthal had never been to British America. However, in 1706, he authored a brochure entitled, "Ausführlich-und umständlicher Bericht von der berühmten landschafft Carolina in dem engelländischen America gelegen." This roughly translate to "a detailed and complete report concerning land in Carolina in English America." In it he described the Province of Carolina in glowing terms. Since he'd never been to the Carolinas, I assumed that he must have encountered someone who had been there or read a description of the place.
In 1681, William Penn was granted a royal charter of his Pennsylvania Colony. Prior to 1681, Penn had visited the Rhine region several times. In that same year, Penn wrote and published in England "Some account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America" in which he offered to sell 100 acres for two English pounds and a low yearly rental. Before the close of 1681, the book was translated in Amsterdam and distributed in the upper Rhine region. William Penn advertised his colony repeatedly. He published books that were distributed in Germany in 1700, 1702 and 1704.
The Library of Congress has a collection called the John Archdale Papers 1690-1706. John Archdale was one of the Lord Proprietors of Carolina. The collection includes several letters to and from Mr. Archdale. One such letter informed John Archdale that map maker, Richard Blome's book "English America" by 1697 had been translated into German.
In 1705, John Archdale was arranging for the Carolina settlement by the High German Company of Thuringia. The company proposed that the Lord Proprietors bring a first group of settlers to Carolina and after this group was safely settled, publish a description of the conveniences and advantageous conditions that these settlers enjoyed. The company also suggested that the Lord Proprietors provide transportation to Carolina from England. The settler would have to repay the company.
At this same time Queen Anne of England championed Protestantism. She married Prince Georg of Denmark, a Lutheran with German ancestry. She was open to receiving persecuted Protestants. The more that I read, the more convinced am I that Rev. Kocherthal's brochure was written based on stories or things that he read from the advertisements printed in German by William Penn, the Lord Proprietors of Carolina and their representatives. Combined with Queen Anne's reputation for helping persecuted Protestants, I saw Rev. Kocherthal's brochure as a proposal to his flock as to how they might remove themselves from hardship.
Queen Anne as well as rulers in Europe believed that enlarging one's population meant wealth and security. So when Kocherthal and his followers applied to Mr. Davenant, a British representative in Frankfort, for passes to England, Mr. Davenant denied the request. He then asked for guidance in the matter from England. As this would be a delicate diplomatic issue, he was told that the queen's desire to help the poor people and settling them in the plantations would be for the public good, but she could not endorse any encouragement given to the people to leave nor give passes without the Elector's (of the Palatinate) consent.
Rev. Kocherthal and his followers did end up in London by 1708. He was able to convince Queen Anne to send him and his followers to America, grant them land and provide a stipend to help them settle. Only she planned to send them to the West Indies. She changed her mind at Kockerthal's objection that the West Indies was too hot. They were sent to New York and not to the Carolina colony. By the time that they sailed, it was approaching winter. In 1709, Kocherthal returned to London to appeal to the queen for more money.
It was at this point that I grew suspicious that Kocherthal had published in Germany a book with Queen Anne's picture and with gold letters on the title page. He did not end up in the Carolina Colony. His people were running out of money because they arrived in winter and had no opportunity to plant crops for the next season. So it made no sense to me that he would publish such a book.
Kocherthal came to London in 1709 to find thousands of immigrants. The first of the immigrants appear to have come from the area near which Kocherthal and his followers left. I am not surprised as I am certain that the story of Kocherthal and his followers sent to America and given land by Queen Anne was told. Also on March 3, 1709, the English passed a bill to naturalize foreign Protestants. The English had established charities to help persecuted Protestants.
A large number of Germans arrived in England between May and November in 1709 causing a strain on the England and it's economy. The English poor were angry that these poor Germans were being supported. On January 15, 1710, a inquiry committee was appointed to investigate who was encouraging Germans to come to England. On April 14, 1711, the committee submitted a report that said that the Golden Book enticed many of the Palatines interviewed because of the ravages of the land caused by the French and the harsh winter of 1708-1709.
Some day, we may learn who published that Golden Book that enticed so many German Palatines to England. But I do not believe that Rev. Kocherthal had anything to do with the Golden Book with an image of Queen Anne and gold leaf on the cover.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
More on the German Palatines in America
Yesterday, I posted an entry about the German Palatine settlement in North Carolina in 1710. Although Tim McGraw's ancestor, Jost Hite, was an early settler in Virginia, he was not part of the North Carolina settlers mentioned yesterday. He like my ancestors were part of the 3,000 or so Palatines sent to New York in January, 1710.
In the fall of 1708, Rev. Joshua Kocherthal and 53 German Palatines sailed on the English ship Globe with newly appointed governor of the Province of New York, John Lovelace. The Lutheran minister had appealed to Queen Anne to send him and his followers to America and provide a grant of land to which she agreed.
The group arrived at the site of the land grant on January 1, 1709. It was located at the confluence of the Quassaick Creek and the Hudson River and was named Neuburg. The current name of the area is Newburgh in Orange County, New York. Later that year, Rev. Kocherthal returned to London to seek additional aid from Queen Anne.
To his surprise, he found thousands of Palatine refugees. Although, Rev. Kocherthal was successful in obtaining additional aid from the queen for the people he left in Newburgh, he was not nearly as successful in securing the same for the 3,000 refugees that were sent to New York on 1710.
There was the promise of land grants but the terms were not nearly so generous. Before any land grant was given, the refugee had to pay back the cost of his/her passage to New York. Thus, those who had survived the voyage became indentured servants. This included children.
Of the 3,000 who left England, 470 died at sea and 250 more died while quarantined on Nutters Island in New York City. Governor Lovelace had also died and his replacement was General Robert Hunter.
Governor Hunter was not as kind to this group of German Palatines as his predecessor was to the families that arrived with Rev. Kocherthal in 1708.
To be continued...
Source:
Lou D. MacWethy. The Book of Names Especially Relating to the Early Palatines and the First Settlers in the Mohawk Valley. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007.
Sanford H. Cobb. The Story of the Palatines An Episode in Colonial History. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897.
I. Daniel Rupp. A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776. Philadelphia: Leary, Stuart & Co., 1898.
In the fall of 1708, Rev. Joshua Kocherthal and 53 German Palatines sailed on the English ship Globe with newly appointed governor of the Province of New York, John Lovelace. The Lutheran minister had appealed to Queen Anne to send him and his followers to America and provide a grant of land to which she agreed.
The group arrived at the site of the land grant on January 1, 1709. It was located at the confluence of the Quassaick Creek and the Hudson River and was named Neuburg. The current name of the area is Newburgh in Orange County, New York. Later that year, Rev. Kocherthal returned to London to seek additional aid from Queen Anne.
To his surprise, he found thousands of Palatine refugees. Although, Rev. Kocherthal was successful in obtaining additional aid from the queen for the people he left in Newburgh, he was not nearly as successful in securing the same for the 3,000 refugees that were sent to New York on 1710.
There was the promise of land grants but the terms were not nearly so generous. Before any land grant was given, the refugee had to pay back the cost of his/her passage to New York. Thus, those who had survived the voyage became indentured servants. This included children.
Of the 3,000 who left England, 470 died at sea and 250 more died while quarantined on Nutters Island in New York City. Governor Lovelace had also died and his replacement was General Robert Hunter.
Governor Hunter was not as kind to this group of German Palatines as his predecessor was to the families that arrived with Rev. Kocherthal in 1708.
To be continued...
Source:
Lou D. MacWethy. The Book of Names Especially Relating to the Early Palatines and the First Settlers in the Mohawk Valley. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007.
Sanford H. Cobb. The Story of the Palatines An Episode in Colonial History. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897.
I. Daniel Rupp. A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776. Philadelphia: Leary, Stuart & Co., 1898.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
German Palatines and Who Do You Think You Are?
Last Friday I watched the second episode of Who Do You Think You Are? This eposide followed country singer Tim McGraw's search for his family history. It turns out that Mr. McGraw has ancestors who were from an area of Germany that in the early 18th century was known as the Electoral Palatinate.
I too have ancestors that were German Palatines. Like Tim McGraw's ancestor, Jost Hite, my Palatine ancestors came from Germany via England to New York. However, unlike Jost Hite, my anestors remained in New York where most of the German Palatines were settled by the British around 1710.
The Electoral Palatinate was in southwestern Germany along the Rhine River. The Electoral Palatinate along with other regions in the area were plagued by wars between 1684 and 1714 that left the area impoverished. By 1709, families fled the region with almost 13,000 people arriving in England in a six-month period. The British government settled most in the British Isles but shipped nearly 3,000 Palatines to New York.
As mentioned in the Who Do You Think You Are episode last Friday, there were those in the British Colony of Carolina who were enticing people of this region of Germany with promise of free passage paid by the British Crown and free land in America. Although this may have prompted some families to leave Germany for England, I believe that the majority of families who fled were content to find a new life on the European side of the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Wikipedia, "agents working on behalf of the Colony of Carolina had promised the peasants around Frankfurt free passage to the plantations." I was somewhat suspicious of the story. What was the motive behind encouraging a large group of refugees to come to England with the expectation of support from the British government? Also, Frankfurt is not in the Electoral Palatinate region. It is in the region called Hesse.
The area from which most of the refugees came is also called the Palatinate of the Rhine, the Pfalz and the Lower Palatinate. It includes the cities of Heidelberg, Mainz, Speyer, Mannheim and Worms.
Spending the last few days doing some research, I found, as with many stories, there is a mixture of truth and fiction.
Another Swiss gentleman, a native of Berne, was residing in the Carolina Colony. Christopher DeGraffenried, while on a visit to London, met Lewis Mitchell. Together they devised a proposal and presented it to the Lord Proprietors of Carolina. On October 10, 1709, the Lord Proprietors entered into an agreement with Mitchell and DeGraffenreid that gave them access to 10,000 acres of land in what is now North Carolina.
When Queen Anne learned of DeGraffenreid's plan to settle Palatine families in the Carolina Colony, she saw this an opportunity to relocate some of the refugees in England to America. The number of Palantines that went to North Carolina from England differs in the various accounts. However, it seems that the condition of these 600-650 people was so weakened that almost half of them died before reaching the Carolina Colony.
From the accounts that I have read, some of the 600+ people who left England for the Carolinas included persecuted Protestants living in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. The current name of the city near which the refugees settled is New Bern, North Carolina.
Sources:
Sanford H. Cobb. The Story of the Palatines An Episode in Colonial History. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897.
Lawrence N. Morgan. "Land Tenure in Proprietary North Carolina." The James Sprunt Historical Prublications 12.1 (1913): 41-64.
William Gilmore Simms. The History of South Carolina from Its First European Discovery to Its Erection into A Republic. New York: Richardson & Co., 1866.
L. L. Hendren. "DeGraffenreid and the Swiss and Palatinate Settlement of New Bern, N. C." An Annual Publication of Historical Papers Series IV. Durham, NC: Historical Society of Trinity College, 1900, 64-71.
I too have ancestors that were German Palatines. Like Tim McGraw's ancestor, Jost Hite, my Palatine ancestors came from Germany via England to New York. However, unlike Jost Hite, my anestors remained in New York where most of the German Palatines were settled by the British around 1710.
The Electoral Palatinate was in southwestern Germany along the Rhine River. The Electoral Palatinate along with other regions in the area were plagued by wars between 1684 and 1714 that left the area impoverished. By 1709, families fled the region with almost 13,000 people arriving in England in a six-month period. The British government settled most in the British Isles but shipped nearly 3,000 Palatines to New York.
As mentioned in the Who Do You Think You Are episode last Friday, there were those in the British Colony of Carolina who were enticing people of this region of Germany with promise of free passage paid by the British Crown and free land in America. Although this may have prompted some families to leave Germany for England, I believe that the majority of families who fled were content to find a new life on the European side of the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Wikipedia, "agents working on behalf of the Colony of Carolina had promised the peasants around Frankfurt free passage to the plantations." I was somewhat suspicious of the story. What was the motive behind encouraging a large group of refugees to come to England with the expectation of support from the British government? Also, Frankfurt is not in the Electoral Palatinate region. It is in the region called Hesse.
The area from which most of the refugees came is also called the Palatinate of the Rhine, the Pfalz and the Lower Palatinate. It includes the cities of Heidelberg, Mainz, Speyer, Mannheim and Worms.
Spending the last few days doing some research, I found, as with many stories, there is a mixture of truth and fiction.
- In 1709, the Whig party in England managed to pass an act that would allow Protestant immigrants to become naturalized by paying a small fee.
- The winter of 1708-1709 was extremely harsh and resulted in crop failures in the German Palatine.
- The Whig party established a charity to assist the "Poor Palatines."
- The number of immigrants overhelmed the English.
- Rev. Joshua Kocherthal published a pamphlet in 1706 in which he recommended the Carolina Colony as a possible site for German Palatine colonization.
Another Swiss gentleman, a native of Berne, was residing in the Carolina Colony. Christopher DeGraffenried, while on a visit to London, met Lewis Mitchell. Together they devised a proposal and presented it to the Lord Proprietors of Carolina. On October 10, 1709, the Lord Proprietors entered into an agreement with Mitchell and DeGraffenreid that gave them access to 10,000 acres of land in what is now North Carolina.
When Queen Anne learned of DeGraffenreid's plan to settle Palatine families in the Carolina Colony, she saw this an opportunity to relocate some of the refugees in England to America. The number of Palantines that went to North Carolina from England differs in the various accounts. However, it seems that the condition of these 600-650 people was so weakened that almost half of them died before reaching the Carolina Colony.
From the accounts that I have read, some of the 600+ people who left England for the Carolinas included persecuted Protestants living in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. The current name of the city near which the refugees settled is New Bern, North Carolina.
North Carolina Highway Historical Marker C-10
Sources:
Sanford H. Cobb. The Story of the Palatines An Episode in Colonial History. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897.
Lawrence N. Morgan. "Land Tenure in Proprietary North Carolina." The James Sprunt Historical Prublications 12.1 (1913): 41-64.
William Gilmore Simms. The History of South Carolina from Its First European Discovery to Its Erection into A Republic. New York: Richardson & Co., 1866.
L. L. Hendren. "DeGraffenreid and the Swiss and Palatinate Settlement of New Bern, N. C." An Annual Publication of Historical Papers Series IV. Durham, NC: Historical Society of Trinity College, 1900, 64-71.
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