provisions and farming utensils-the Queen visiting them in person; and though many Christian inhabitants of London provided great numbers with food and blankets, still there were thousands for whom no provision had been made, who, being strangers in a foreign land, had to go begging through the streets of London, while their wives and children lay almost naked and starving on Blackmoor. Many were even beaten or otherwise maltreated by the unfeeling populace of London. At last, when the famishing multitudes began to disperse over the country and fears were aroused, government took the matter in hand. Seven thousand, and amongst these especially the Roman Catholics, 3,584 in number, with their priest, were sent back to Germany. About 4,000 were taken to Ireland to settle some waste lands in county Limerick, and of the remaining 20,000 hardly one-half were in 1710 taken to America and scattered in the different British colonies, while many perished in England or at sea.

About 5,000 came in ten ships with Governor Hunter of New York, arriving there June 10, 1710, part of whom immediately went to Germantown, while the rest founded several German villages on the Hudson, as Rhinebeck, Ancram, Palatine Town or the Camp, New Paltz, Germantown or the East Camp, and the German Flats. Though the Queen had promised them a tract of land," "to be granted for the maintenance of Lutheran parish schools and ministers for the Germans, who either had settled or who should hereafter settle in the neighborhood of the river Hudson," this grant was wrested from them under various pretenses, and the oppressions of New York land-owners obliged 2,000 Germans to remove in 1714 to Albany, Beaverdam, Schenectady and other places.

• Hazelius' History of Lutheran Church, p. 25.

About one hundred and fifty families determined to remove to Schoharie, a place about forty miles to the west of Albany. They, therefore, sent deputies to the land of the Maquas to consult with the Indians about it, who allowed them to occupy Schoharie. For the Indian deputies, who were in England at the time the German people were lying in tents on Blackmoor, had presented Schoharie to Queen Anne that she might settle these people upon it. Indian guides

were sent to show the Germans where Schoharie was. John Conrad Weiser, father of the well-known Indian interpreter, Conrad Weiser, was the first of the German deputies, and left his son Conrad, then seventeen years old, with an Indian chief to learn the Maqua language during the Winter."

In November, 1713, when the deputies had returned from the Maqua country, these one hundred and fifty families removed from Livingston Manor to Albany and Schenectady, so as to be able to move in the Spring to Schoharie. Bread was very dear, but the people worked very hard for a living, and were kindly assisted by many of the older settlers. In the Spring of 1714 they removed from Schenectady to Schoharie, in great poverty. Borrowing horses and cows, plows and harness wherever they could, they made common stock, and broke up jointly so much land, that they raised nearly enough corn for their own consumption the following year. But this year they suffered much from hunger, and made many meals on the wild potatoes and ground beans which grew in great abundance at that place. When they wanted flour they had to travel thirtyfive to forty miles to get it, and then had to borrow it on credit. They would get a bushel of wheat here, a

7 Collections of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. I, p. 2, et seq. Conrad Weiser's Family Register.

couple at another place, and were often absent from home three or four days before they could reach their suffering wives and children, who were crying for bread.

The people had settled in seven villages, in which they lived peaceably for several years without preachers or magistrates. Each one did as he thought proper. But as they had taken possession of the land without informing the Governor of New York, they were soon exposed to new trials and hardships; for Governor Hunter, after letting them know his dissatisfaction, sold the land to seven rich merchants, four of whom lived in Albany, the other three in New York.

Upon this a great uproar arose both in Schoharie and Albany, because many in Albany wished the poor people to retain their lands. The people of Schoharie divided into two parties; the stronger wished to keep the land, and, therefore, sent deputies to England to obtain a grant asking not only for Schoharie, but for more land in addition. But their plans did not succeed according to their wishes. The deputies had to leave secretly, and embarked at Philadelphia in 1718. As soon as they got to sea they fell into the hands of pirates, who robbed them as well as the crew of their money, but then let them free. The ship had to put into Boston to purchase provisions for the crew and passengers, in place of those taken by the pirates. When they reached England they found times had changed, and that Queen Anne was no longer on the throne. However they found some of the old friends and advocates of the Germans among whom were the Chaplains at the King's German Chapel, Messrs. Böhn and Roberts, who did all in their power to help them.

The affairs of the deputies finally reached the Lord Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and the Gov

ernor of New York, Robert Hunter, was recalled. Meanwhile the deputies became involved in debts; one of them, becoming homesick, embarked for New York and died at sea. The other two were thrown into prison. They wrote promptly for money, but, owing to the ignorance and carelessness of the persons whose duty it was to transmit what the people had collected, it reached England very slowly. Meanwhile Robert Hunter, having arrived in England, had arranged the sale of the Schoharie lands in his own way before the Board of Trade and Plantations. The opposite party was in prison without friends or money. Finally, when a bill of exchange for £70 arrived, they were released from prison. Hereupon they petitioned anew, and finally obtained an order addressed to the newly-appointed Governor of New York, William Burnet, to grant vacant lands to the Germans who had been sent to New York by Queen Anne.

Towards the end of the year 1720 William Burnet arrived in New York, and soon after J. Conrad Weiser presented a petition in behalf of the Germans. The Governor appeared friendly, and stated what kind of an order from the Lords of Trade and Plantations he had brought with him, with which he would comply, but that their deputies yet in England were not content with the decision, though they could get nothing more done.

After the return of the deputies in 1723 Governor Burnet gave patents for land to the few who were willing to settle in the Maqua country, namely, in Stone Arabia, and above the Mohawk Falls, where they founded Canajoharie, Little Falls, etc. The majority resolved to move into Pennsylvania, whither they had been invited by Governor William Keith, who, it is said, had at that time an

8 Letters of James Logan.

8

idea of forming an independent province in the West, to be supported by his friends, the Palatines and Irish; for his chief popularity at that time was with these elements of the population.

Many of the Germans in Schoharie united and cut a road through the forest to the Susquehanna River, carried their goods there, made canoes, and floated down the river to the mouth of Swatara Creek, driving their cattle overland. Going up the creek they found suitable places in Tulpehoken, and here began a settlement in 1723.

Others followed this party and settled here, without the permission of the Proprietary of Pennsylvania or his Commissioners and also against the consent of the Indians, from whom the land was not purchased till 1732. As their nearest white neighbors lived thirty miles off, they had to contend with many hardships. There was no one to govern them — each one did as he pleased. In 1729 Conrad Weiser, afterwards well known as an Indian interpreter, removed to the neighborhood of the present Womelsdorf, and soon became a man of influence among the Palatines in Tulpehoken, Heidelberg, Mill Creek, etc.

Their numbers steadily increased. In 1719 Jonathan Dickinson remarks: "We are daily expecting ships from London which bring over Palatines, in number about six or seven thousand. We have a parcel who came out about five years ago, who purchased land about sixty miles west of Philadelphia and prove quiet and industrious. This is besides our common supply from Wales and England. Our friends do increase mightily, and a great people there is in the wilderness, which is fast becoming a fruitful field."

9 Rupp's History of Northampton County, p. 7.