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Cotham-Gibbs Ancestry ~ Maps to Kagay Migrations

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by Richard A. Newhouse  (http://www.greenepa.net/~newhouse/index.html)

 

GERMAN IMMIGRANTS TO PENNSYLVANIA

1683 - 1808

Survival of the Fittest

The early German immigrants to Pennsylvania, from 1683 to 1808, were predominantly

from parts of SW Germany, known today as the states of Rhineland-Palatinate

(Rheinland- Pfaltz) and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Others came from nearby German

communities just over the border in Switzerland and in Alsace, France. Collectively they

were all referred to as "Palatines" or "Palatinates" in the historical literature.

 

Motivation

The first significant number of Palatine immigrants arrived at Philadelphia in 1683 on the

ship Concord, which has often been called the "German Mayflower". There were many

reasons why this group of Germans left the Fatherland. Their incentive started with the

missionary zeal of William Penn, who made many converts among the Palatines to the

Quaker persuasion. Penn also secured a royal charter in 1681 for land in Pennsylvania

and the terms for purchases were made reasonable. One of his converts, Franz Daniel

Pastorius, became an agent for the Frankfurt Land Company in SW Germany that

handled the land transactions. It was Pastorius, who organized and accompanied the

group on board the Concord. After arriving in Philadelphia they settled in the area known

as Germantown, which historically has been referred to as the "Pastorius Colony".

After the Concord voyage, Palatines poured into Pennsylvania by the thousands during

the 1700s. Some had the wanderlust, others were attracted to the prospect of farming

large tracts of land where the climate and alkaline soil were similar to that of the

Palatinate. Many just wanted to leave an area that was plagued with wars, religious strife,

and hig