The Expedition

In July 1711 Governor Hunter ran out of money and could no longer pay for the bread and beer which was being provided to the Palatine families in the Camps.  Also at this time the War of the Spanish Succession had come to North America.  Governor Hunter was required to send an expedition north to Montreal to assist in the British campaign to invade Canada, and three hundred Palatine men readily signed up.  They were part of a troop that also included 700 Indians, mostly Iroquois.  It was perhaps the first opportunity for the Palatines to develop a relationship with the Iroquois, whose land bordered Schoharie.  The expedition was short-lived.  It left Albany in early August, only to be turned back in late September due to a failed military campaign. 

Here is where things begin to get a bit murky for my family.  Our ancestors, Gerhardt and Anna Maria, after their long and arduous journey, were established at East Camp.  Family lore is that Gerhardt left on the expedition to Canada, but never returned.  Anna Maria and her two daughters were left to fend for themselves back at the Camp.  Since historians state that everyone from the expedition arrived safely back at the Camps, what became of Gerhardt? 

In “The Palatine Families of New York 1710” noted Palatine researcher, Henry Z. Jones Jr. wrote that Gerhardt eventually settled in Stone Arabia, 30 miles northwest of Schoharie.  Records show that he applied for a patent on land there in 1723.  How did he get there, and why?

The family Bible, now 315 years old, once held the family history.  That information has faded over the centuries, but one piece clearly remains, Gerhardt’s name, presumably in his own handwriting.  He left his home in Germany, taking his meager possessions with him.  One, not so meager, possession was that enormous Bible.  It must have been important to him.  Did he abandon his family……and his Bible?  I run my hands over the battered cover of that very same Bible and don’t want to believe that he did.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

                      “The Palatine Families of New York 1710” by Henry Z. Jones, Jr.