This article is a very brief overview of Palatine peoples in Pennsylvania and New York. There are some great articles and webinars that cover specific events in Germany and the U.S. I added some links below to these if you think you descend from these people or are just interested in the topic.
The Palatinate or Pfalz is located in Southwestern Germany along the Rhine. In the U.S., Palatine was historically used to describe German immigrants. However, for the purposes of most genealogy groups and webinars I have come across, it refers to German immigrants from a specific time period, the mid 1600s to the mid 1700s. These people mainly settled in Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley of New York. The settlers in the Hudson Valley eventually migrated further north and west into the Mohawk Valley.
My family has strong ties to the Mohawk Valley and that is how I came across the term “Palatine”. Most people I have talked to, had never heard this term in reference to a settler group. So the digging into history and articles began.
During the 17th and early 18th century the Palatinate was consistently devastated by war: the 30 Years War (1618-1648), the Nine Years War (1688-1697), and the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) to name a few. These wars coupled with harsh winters and poor crop yields led to mass migrations.
Some groups left the Pfalz and settled in Pennsylvania. They are referred to as the Pennsylvania Dutch (the Amish and Mennonites while popularly known were just a small part of this migration). None of these people were Dutch; rather they were German speakers of a dialect called “Deitsch” (Deutsch). So they would more accurately be dubbed Pennsylvania Germans.
A later wave of settlers (in the early 1700’s), were also called Palatines although they came from many locations within what is now Germany. They were offered the promise of peace and free land by Queen Anne of England. Some 13,000 Germans migrated to England in 1709. They had very few possessions and lived in encampments outside of cities. England was ill prepared to deal with this vast number of people. Famine and disease broke out in their camps.
In 1709, the first 900 Palatines arriving in England were given accommodations by wealthy English. Three thousand were settled in Ireland. Many of these Palatines ended up returning to England by 1711. Another 3000 were sent to New York in 1710. Many were returned to Germany.
Of the 3000 Palatines sent to New York in 1710, it is estimated that about 2500 arrived (850 families). The groups settled along the Hudson river where they were contracted to work for two years to pay England back for the passage to New York. After their contracts were up, families migrated up to the Mohawk Valley, Canada, and south to New Jersey.
Mennonites, Amish, and the Pennsylvania Dutch Language
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Palatinate_(Pfalz),_Germany_Genealogy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Palatines
https://https://www.hankjones.com/palny.htm
http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml
https://www.cyndislist.com/germany/palatines/
http://threerivershms.com/Contents.htm
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