Resistance

The long winter finally over, the naval stores project was ready to commence in May 1711.  However, the Palatines refused to work and threatened to strike out for Schoharie, which by now was being referred to as a Land of Cannan.   Their argument stemmed from the belief that the contract which had been read to them on the ships promised them each forty acres of land in Schoharie and seven years to repay their debt.  This would have allowed them to build up their farms while they produced tar and pitch for the British navy. 

To quell the unrest, Governor Hunter called a meeting of the Listmasters where he reminded them of the Queen’s benevolence which had saved the Palatines from starvation.  Since there was no copy of the contract, neither side could prove one way or another what had been promised.  Hunter sent the Listmasters away with orders that they remind the rest of the Palatines of their obligation.

While this meeting took place, several hundred of the Germans had gathered on a nearby hillside brandishing the rifles which Hunter had given them.  Concerned that their leaders may be held hostage, they were prepared to rescue them.  When Hunter heard about this show of force, he sent out sixty professional soldiers to confront them.   The Palatines immediately backed off.  Once safely out of the soldiers range, they shot their rifles into the air in a show of defiance. 

Over the next few days Governor Hunter sent troops into the camps and retrieved all of the firearms.  The Palatines had been in America for almost a year, and it was time they started working.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

East Camp and West Camp

By November 1710, the Palatines had been moved north from New York City to East Camp and West Camp along the Hudson River.  Each family was given a 40’ by 50’ plot of land upon which they built huts and cleared an area for spring planting.  Robert Livingston, from whom Governor Hunter had purchased the land, had been given a contract to supply the Palatines with bread and beer.  Each family was also to receive beef or pork three times a week, and fish, cheese, flour or peas on the other four days.   Governor Hunter acquired additional funds to provide them with one dairy cow per family, and collectively three hundred horses, six hundred pigs, farm implements, and six hundred guns.   All of this cost more than what the British government had agreed to pay, so Hunter took out personal loans to cover it.  He strongly believed that the tar and pitch project would be so profitable that the government would gladly reimburse him.  Meanwhile the Listmasters kept accounts of how much each family received.  As the tar and pitch project couldn’t begin until spring, the Palatines were growing deeper and deeper in debt.

The inactivity of the long winter of 1710 - 1711 bred discontent among the Palatines.  They were aware of the original plan to settle on fertile land in Schoharie, and felt betrayed.  Described in a letter to Governor Hunter, the following conversation which occurred around a fire one evening, gives indication as to their restlessness.

“We came to America to establish our families – to secure lands for our children, on which they will be able to support themselves after we die.  That we cannot do here.” said one man in disgust.

“What is to be done in that case, but to have patience?” replied one of his companions.

“Patience and Hope make fools of those who fill their bellies with them.”  responded the first man, quoting a familiar German saying.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

Fertile Land

In the camps on Nutten Island, the Palatines began the process of reestablishing their families, as well as their churches.  They were grouped together by the ships they had arrived on, so that the Listmasters, who kept records of the provisions each family received during the voyage, could continue this work on land. 

Governor Hunter had been advised by the Board of Trade in England to look into land along the Schoharie River for the project.  This land belonged to the Mohawk Indians, but they had previously offered it to the Queen.  Her Majesty’s surveyor general was sent to assess the land, and he reported back to Governor Hunter that the land was too fertile.  The tar and pitch project required pine forests which grew on poor and rocky soil.  So instead, Hunter purchased 6,000 acres of land along the Hudson River from Robert Livingston, as well as another 6,300 acres across the river.

Land “too fertile” is an oxymoron to a farmer, and the Palatines were not pleased when they heard it.  Forgetting the need to pay back 18 months of support, they balked at the notion that their labors were better suited in pine forests. 

Today the Schoharie Valley remains an amazingly fertile land.  Nothing compares to this area in early summer when the crops are growing in the fields.  Farm stands overflow with abundance.  We eat vegetables until we can’t eat any more, and then we start canning.  The Palatines were absolutely right, fertile land is good land.  However, they had a debt to repay.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

New York City

After a 4 month delay off the coast of England, the voyage across the ocean took another 2 months.  Finally the first ship, the Lyon of Leith, reached New York with 350 Palatines on board.  A total of 10 ships had left England and 8 of them arrived at their destination by the end of June.  The other 2 ships encountered problems along the way, arriving in July and August.  A doctor aboard the Lyon of Leith reported that all of its passengers had been sick during the voyage.  There are no records of how many Palatines died during the voyage, but it is estimated that upward of 500 people who boarded the ships in December did not survive.

In 1710 New York City had a population of 6,000.  As was the situation in Rotterdam and again in London, the sudden influx of 3,000 immigrants was more than the city was capable of supporting.  Because of this, it was decided that the Palatines would be settled on Nutten Island in army tents.  Governor Hunter reported that they were in a “deplorable sickly condition.”

There were many widows and orphans by the time the Palatines reached America.  Because the men would be the laborers for the Tar and Pitch project, anyone without a man in the family was considered useless.   Many widows remarried quickly to solidify their future in this new land.  However, orphaned children, as well as children of widows were apprenticed to the residents of New York City.  This created the first of many problems between Governor Hunter and the people he was supposed to be helping.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

The Contract

During the last week of December 3,000 Palatines were allowed to board the ships that would carry them, at long last, to America.  Their perseverance had paid off.  Once on board the ships, however, all they did was wait; again.

Governor Hunter, in an effort to protect his own interests in this venture, felt it was necessary to have a contract that clearly spelled out the conditions of this arrangement.  He wanted to be sure that the Palatines had no doubt about their responsibility to pay back the British Government for their transportation and support.  The Board of Trade drafted a contract that was eventually approved by the Attorney General.  The Palatines were not invited to participate in this process.

The overcrowded ships sat off the southern coast of England as winter eventually gave way to spring.  After four months of intolerable living conditions aboard the ships, the Palatines heard the terms of their contract as it was read to them.  As this was one more step in moving forward, they didn’t question the contract.  They also didn’t sign it.

In the middle of April 1710, fourteen months after many of the Palatines had walked away from their homes, they finally set sail for America.

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

Tar and Pitch

Governor Hunter of New York saw the Palatine situation as something other than the burden it actually was; an opportunity.  He proposed a German settlement in the forests of New York to produce naval stores of tar and pitch.   There, the Palatines would also serve as a human barrier against the French and their Indian allies.

The primary producer of tar and pitch in the early 18^th century was Sweden.  Tar was used on a ship’s ropes to prevent rotting, and pitch was used to caulk the hulls.  As it was a necessary commodity for the British Navy, they had long been searching for a way to produce it for themselves. 

In early December, Hunter’s proposal was accepted by the British Board of Trade.  The money that the Palatines earned by the production of the naval stores would be used to pay off the cost of their settlement and subsidies.  After their debt was paid, each person would be granted forty acres of land. 

At last a plan that made sense; at least for the British.  As farmers, the Palatines were ill-suited to work in pine forests, nor did they want to.  However, regardless of how the Germans felt, ships were chartered to send 3,000 Palatines to New York.  They were finally on their way.  Almost….

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

Resettlement

The Palatine situation was getting out of control, and the British government had to take action.  They attempted to move small groups of Palatines to villages and towns throughout the country by offering to subsidize their settlement.  However, it had little effect.  The British citizens were not sympathetic to the Germans, and instead were concerned about diseases that the Palatines might spread from the squalor in which they lived.  Not in my backyard was the general consensus.  By mid-summer the government, out of desperation, came up with three new plans which involved other British holdings.

As they were working to strengthen the Protestant interest in Ireland, the British government offered the Palatines a small subsidy to settle there.  Over 3,000 of them took the offer and sailed for Dublin, but soon realized that it was no better than the situation they had left in Germany – they were tenant farmers again.  Just over a year after they left England, two-thirds of them had made their way back; once again looking to the British government to assume their care.

Another plan, North Carolina, was much more appealing.  Each family was offered 250 acres of land to settle.  The government carefully selected 600 young, strong and healthy Palatines to make the trip.  Unfortunately, it ended in disaster.  They suffered a voyage of over 3 months at sea in squalid conditions.  Half of the Palatines didn’t survive the trip, and more died in conflicts with the native Tuscarora Indians.

Jamaica, too, was an option, with a plan to send 1,000 immigrants to increase the British stronghold on the island.  The proposal, however, never got off the ground due to its complexities. 

The Palatines had made their way from Germany to Holland to England with each leg of the journey becoming more onerous.  The possibility of a free life and land was dashed each step of the way.  What was to become of them? 

Grateful to reside in beautiful Schoharie County, I wonder as I look back at the Palatines’ journey how close I came to being a citizen of England, Ireland, or even Jamaica?  What providence kept my ancestors, Gerhardt and Maria, from being chosen for one of those destinations? 

The British government had one more option that was beginning to take hold – the New York territory.  (YAY!)

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness