Palatines.
Early in the eighteenth century many inhabitants of the
Lower Palatinate, lying on both sides of the
Rhine, in
Germany, were driven from their homes by the persecutions of Louis XVI.
of
France, whose armies desolated their country.
England received many of the fugitives.
In the spring of 1708, on the petition of
Joshua Koekerthal, evangelical minister of a body of Lutherans, for himself and thirty-nine others to be transported to
America, an order was issued by the
Queen in Council for such transportation and their naturalization before leaving
England.
The
Queen provided for them at her own expense.
This first company of Palatines was first landed on
Governor's Island, New York, and afterwards settled near the site of
Newburg,
Orange co., N. Y., in the spring of 1709.
In 1710 a larger emigration of Palatines to
America occurred, under the guidance of
Robert Hunter, governor of New York.
These, about 3,000 in number, went farther up the
Hudson.
Some settled on
Livingston's Manor, at
Germantown, where a tract of 6,000 acres was bought from
Livingston by the
British government for their use. Some soon afterwards crossed the
Hudson into
Greene county and settled at West Camp; others went far up the
Mohawk and settled the district known as the
German Flats; while a considerable body went to
Berks county, Pa., and were the ancestors of many patriotic families in that State.
Among the emigrants with
Hunter a violent sickness broke out, and 470 of them died.
With this company came
John Peter Zenger (q. v.) and his widowed mother, Johanna.
