Germann in Merishausen SH

[dkgerman]

First, let me apologize that I do not speak German. I am an American. My father remembers his grandfather speaking German at home, but my great-grandfather was the last German speaker of my family.

In 1709-1710 about 3,000 Protestants from north-east Switzerland and south-west Germany immigrated to England. They were then transported to New York to manufacture tar for the British Navy. Among these emigrants was a Jacob Germann, his wife and son. My research here leads me to suspect that Jacob Germann was my ancestor, but after 1717 I can find no records of him or his descendants. An American genealogist named Henry Jones has written that Jacob's family was from Merishausen, in Canton Schaffhausen.

If anyone has any contacts with the Germann families still living in Merishausen, or knows anything about the 1710 Palatine immigrants from Switzerland to America, I would very much appreciate hearing from you!

Thank you,
Douglas German

[Peter.D]

Hello Douglas,

Merishausen is in fact one of the traditional places of origin (Heimatort) of the Germann families. Unfortunately, the church records only begin in 1727 (with the exceptions of marriages in 1715/16). I therefore suggest you contact the State archives of Schaffhausen and ask them if they can find records on the emigration to England in 1709. With some luck, somebody has already explored this topic.

What do you mean by 'Palatine'? The city in Illinois?

Peter

[Wolf]

There is an interesting article on the topic:

Ernst Steinemann; Zur Schaffhauserischen Auswanderung, in: Beiträge zur Vaterländischen Geschichte, herausgegeben vom Historisch-Antiquarischen Verein des Kantons Schaffhausen, 13. Heft 1936.

The introduction states (translated): "The list contains names and destination as far as they could be determined in the protocols and the manuals of the council, the extracts of Veith, the chronic of Im Thurn und Harder and other sources. Remarkably there are no indications in the church records of the town [Schaffhausen ] and the villages."

The list is online with minor modifications.

Unfortunately no Germann is mentioned in 1709/10.

[dkgerman]

Hello Douglas,

Merishausen is in fact one of the traditional places of origin (Heimatort) of the Germann families. Unfortunately, the church records only begin in 1727 (with the exceptions of marriages in 1715/16). I therefore suggest you contact the State archives of Schaffhausen and ask them if they can find records on the emigration to England in 1709. With some luck, somebody has already explored this topic.

What do you mean by 'Palatine'? The city in Illinois?

Peter

Thank you, Peter. I will try that. An area now part of western Germany, west of the Rhine, has historically been known as the Palatinate. Immigrants to America from that region were called Palatines, and you are correct, the city in Illinois was founded and named by them.

From wikipedia:

Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the Rhine Rift plain in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.

[Peter.D]

Thanks for the clarification, Douglas. I know the Palatinate (Pfalz), but I was puzzled because you had written 'Palatine'. Many Swiss emigrants first settled in the Palatinate and later on moved further to the States.

Peter

[dkgerman]

There is an interesting article on the topic:

Ernst Steinemann; Zur Schaffhauserischen Auswanderung, in: Beiträge zur Vaterländischen Geschichte, herausgegeben vom Historisch-Antiquarischen Verein des Kantons Schaffhausen, 13. Heft 1936.

The introduction states (translated): "The list contains names and destination as far as they could be determined in the protocols and the manuals of the council, the extracts of Veith, the chronic of Im Thurn und Harder and other sources. Remarkably there are no indications in the church records of the town [Schaffhausen ] and the villages."

The list is online with minor modifications.

Unfortunately no Germann is mentioned in 1709/10.

But there is this:
l665
Neuhausen:
- Germann Jakob, nach Heidelberg

Interesting that his name is also Jakob, although probably too old to be the 1710 Jacob who went to New York.