Settling

Anxious to join the 50 families who had already made it to Schoharie, between 450 and 500 Palatines left their temporary shelters in Albany and Schenectady in late winter. 

“In the same year in March, did the remainder of the people…………proceed on their Journey, and by God’s Assistance, travell’d in fourtnight with sledges thro’ the snow which there Cover’d the ground above 3 foot deep, Cold and hunger, Joyn’d their friends and Countrymen in the promis’d land of Schorie.”

Still they needed assistance to survive, since the fields they would soon cultivate would not produce for many months.  This time their assistance came from the Dutch Reformed Church in New York which sent food to Schenectady for the Palatine settlers in Schoharie.  One shipment from New York consisted of eighty bushels of corn, five hundred pounds of smoked pork, and one hundred pounds of bread.  This arrived in July and helped sustain them until harvest time.

Governor Hunter, still expecting the Palatines to work off their debt, sent orders to Schoharie forbidding them to cultivate the land.  He went so far as to make plans for them to work in pine forests near Albany.  His orders were ignored.

 

Reference:  

“Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness
“Document History of the State of New York”

Weiser

One of the Palatine men who was a Listmaster on the ships and in the Camps was Johann Conrad Weiser.  The Listmasters were responsible for keeping records of each family’s debt.  In that capacity he was in service for the Queen, however, Johann had developed a distrust of Governor Hunter and became one of the leaders representing the Palatines in their disputes against him.  When the opportunity came to leave the Camps, Johann was instrumental in the migration to Schoharie. 

In route to Schoharie, Johann chose to keep his family in Schenectady for the winter; all but his 16 year old son, Conrad.  With uncanny foresight, Johann met with a Mohawk leader, Quainant, and arranged for Conrad to live with the Indian’s family.  While residing in the Mohawk village, Conrad was to learn their language and customs. 

The 50 families who continued on to Schoharie arrived in early winter with no firearms for which to defend themselves or hunt for food.  As was later described by one of those first settlers, “…had it not been for the Charity of the Indians who shew’d them where to gather some eatable roots and herbs, must inevitably have persih’d every soul of them.”  A dependency on the Mohawks was already being established.  Young Conrad Weiser’s winter with them would cultivate an invaluable relationship.

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

Schoharie Bound

With the announcement in September 1712 that the Governor would no longer support them, the Palatines began to disperse.  Some left for New York City, some for New Jersey, and several hundred for the promised land of Schoharie.  Before the Schoharie contingent could leave they were faced with the complication that the land where they hoped to settle belonged to, and was occupied by, the Mohawk Indians.

Knowing that they could not survive without the permission and support of the Mohawks, the Palatines sent a delegation in October to ask permission to settle in Schoharie.   Since the Mohawks had earlier granted the land to the British for Governor Hunter’s tar and pitch project, they felt they had no authority to stop the Palatines.

The Germans set out immediately.  They travelled on established roads for much of the way, eventually veering off on to a well-traveled Indian path.   With winter settling in, many of the Palatine families took refuge along the way in Albany or Schenectady, but there were 50 families who would not be stopped.  Although they were cold, tired and half starved, they cleared a way through 15 miles of woods and made their way to Schoharie.  

The massive group of German immigrants who arrived in America in 1710 were now scattered and their epic journey beginning, yet again.  Although he was no longer able to support the Palatines, Governor Hunter was not quite done with them.  As they left, he instructed them to return to the Camps in the spring and resume their work in the pine forests. 

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

Summer 1712

Following the futile military expedition to Canada in September 1711, the Palatine men returned to the Camps where they and their families settled in for another difficult winter. 

In the spring Governor Hunter remained confident that the naval stores project would succeed, and to ensure that the work continued unhindered he instituted some changes.   First, he made a show of force by posting 30 soldiers around the Camps.   Second, instead of the men merely working off their debt, he allowed that half of the profits from the tar and pitch be paid to them while the other half went toward their expenses. 

With these changes in place the work in the pine fields began again.  The men continued to strip bark from the trees, but now they were also able to begin the process of making tar and pitch utilizing the pine knots gathered by the children.  The summer of 1712 was much quieter and more productive in the pine forests.  Back at the Camps the women were becoming accustomed to growing crops, such as corn, which had been previously unknown to them.  The Palatines were finally settling in.

For Governor Hunter, however, the problems continued.  His credit had run out and he had no more money.  Just as things were beginning to go well, he was forced to give up.  On September 6, 1712 the Palatines were told that the naval stores project was officially over and the government would no longer support them.  

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

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.

The Process

The pine forests where the Palatine men were sent to work were approximately 6 miles from the camps, resulting in them being away for weeks at a time.  They were not fully aware of the laborious  process for making tar and pitch, and one can only imagine their reaction upon learning it.  First they would strip bark from sections of standing trees.   This would result in the trees oozing gum where the bark had been, and eventually sealing back over.  The trees would need to be stripped again and again over a two year period.  Those sections of the trees would eventually become saturated with gum, at which time the trees would be felled and cut.  The sections where the trees had been stripped would be slowly burned in an earthen kiln, with a barrel beneath to catch tar that gradually seeped out.   The tar could be used on ships ropes to keep them from rotting, and on ships hulls to protect from salt water corrosion.  Some of the tar would be boiled in large cauldrons until the liquid evaporated, making pitch.  This served as a caulk on ships hulls to keep them watertight.

Another much simpler and faster byproduct of the process was to use the gum soaked pine knots from fallen branches.  These could be used immediately, versus the two year stripping process.  The Palatine children soon followed the men into the forests to gather pine knots.  Within the first two weeks of the project, the men had stripped thousands of trees for the first step in the process.  The children, however, had gathered several wagon loads of pine knots and were apparently the only ones accomplishing something.  This did not set well with the already disgruntled Palatine men.  The women, who had been left behind in the camps, were unhappy with the responsibility of the livestock and fields to care for by themselves. 

Meanwhile, Governor Hunter was growing deeper in debt as he used his personal credit to continue providing for the Palatines.  No one, it seemed, was destined to come out ahead in this project.

 

 

Reference:  “Becoming German” by Phillip Otterness

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