The Young (Jung) Families of the Mohawk Valley

Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Young (Jung) Families of the Mohawk Valley
1710-1946
Compiled by Clifford M. Young & Published by
The Fort Plain Standard, Fort Plain, NY 1947
Donated by Bruce Hargrove.

DETAILED ANALYSIS AND PROOF OF GENEALOGY OF THE
JOHANN MATTHEUS JUNG LINE

Because of conflicting conclusions, this chapter is presented to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, the lineage and nationality of Ensign Jeremiah Young (the Revolutionary soldier of Schoharie); to identify his father, whom we might call Peter The Rock, because he settled in the Rock District of Carlisle; and to present in logical sequence what the records in general so clearly portray.

There seems to have been some confusion as to the identity of the Peter Young whom William E. Roscoe (Schoharie County Historian) says went from West Camp to this Rock District, which they called New Rhinebeck, with John Phillip Karker in 1760, especially as to whom he married; and of the Jeremiah Young who married Anna Winne. Genealogically, Jeremiah Young, who married Mary Salome Strobeck seems to have been almost an unknown quantity. Nevertheless, we find records showing this Peter to have been the son of Johann Mattheus Jung and Anna Veronica Mancken, and to have married Elisabeth Moschier, and not Margaretha Freymauer. The same old Dutch Church of Kingston that gave us the record of Peter's baptism in 1725 gives us that of his marriage in 1745. The former reads: "Mathys Jong" (Johann Mattheus Jong, Jung) "and Anna Fronik" (Anna Veronica), "Petrus" (Peter), "baptized Feb. 14, 1725; sponsors Joh. Pietr Overpag & Annatjen Zarrejis." The marriage record is as follows: "Dec. 20, 1745, Petrus Jong, born under the jurisdiction of Albany county, and Elizabeth Moschier, born in Dutchess county; both residing in Albany county."

The only question now involved is that of the parentage of our Jeremiah. We will attend to that a little later. As to his descendants, we are in possession of an old family record of the children of Jeremiah Young and Mary Strobeck which is believed to have been obtained from Jacob I. Young-one of these children-for the reason that, of all of Jeremiah's children, Jacob I. has been singled out and his own family records appended to those of Jeremiah; (regardless of the fact that this list was found among the effects of Melvin Young, a grandson of Abraham, a brother of Jacob I.). But this list does not reveal the names of Jeremiah's parents.

The much quoted Roscoe, in his ''History of Schoharie county", says that the children of the Peter Young above-mentioned (he whom we find today buried on his old farm, right where this historian says ''he settled in 1760-and but a short distance from the "Rock House" cave where his crippled wife was hidden during a Revolutionary raid) were as follows: Jacob, Zachariah, William, Mathias, (the first white child born in New Rhinebeck in the present town of Carlisle), Jeremy (Jeremias, JEREMIAH) Chris John (Christian), and Christina. We also find a Catherine, baptized Feb. 12, 1760; apparently just before Peter left West Camp for this New Rhinebeck district. Roscoe must have missed her.*

So now, as shown, the records prove the parentage of the Peter in question, and indicate that he married Elisabeth Moschier; and Roscoe has given us his children. Let us see what sponsors, and other matters show in support of the continuity of his line.

Johann Mattheus Jong (Jung) and his second wife, Catherine Diederich, were sponsors for Peter's first child, Jacob (my great-great-grandfather) in accordance with the grandfather-grandchild practice. Anna Veronica Mancken appears to have died shortly after 1730 and Johann Mattheus married Catherine Diederich October 14, 1731. Now note the succession of Moschiers; Jurg (Jurry-George) and Christina Muschier (Moschier) were sponsors for Christina, Peter's second child; Jacob and Catherine Moschier for the third child, Jeremiah, the Revolutionary soldier; (this sponsor, Jacob, was a son of the elder Jurry Moschier (Mosser); Johannes Muschier, and Gertrude Junk (Jung) were sponsors for the fourth child, Zacharias; (this Gertrude Junk was Peter Young's sister); and Wullem Diederich and Susannah Moschier were sponsors for Peter's fifth child, Catharina. (Susannah Moschier was a sister of Peter Young's wife, Elisabeth).

Now please note also the advent of the Strobecks and Petries:

Peter's sixth child, Mathias, married Helena (Lana) Petrie,-and Jacob Strobeck and wife, Margaretha, were sponsors at the baptism of Mathias' and Lana's child Margaret. We have no record of sponsors or baptism of Mathias, himself; or of Peter's other two children, William and Christian. William married Regina Myniker, and Elisabeth Petrie and Zachariah Young (William's brother) were sponsors for William and Rejina's son, Zacharias. Peter's son Christian (Chris John) married Christina Fichter and they had a son, Nicholas, May 5, 1800. The sponsors at Nicholas' baptism were Philip Kercher (Karker) and Catherine Fichter. Thus do these sponsors clearly identify this Peter with his father, Johann Mattheus, the Moschiers, the Retries, Karkers and Strobecks.

* It Is only fair to state that Roscoe was a historian and not a Young genealogist.

However, it appears that some have concluded that the Peter Young in question married Margaretha Freymauer (Freemire, Frimyer, etc.). But, unlike the above, the records and information in our possession just as emphatically do not support this conclusion. In the first place, the Lutheran church records at Schoharie show a Peter Young and Margaretha Freymauer were married Aug. 2, 1748, a year and seven months after our Jacob, first child of Peter Young as listed by Roscoe, was born. Our Peter's second child, Christina, was born Sept. 4, 1748, one month after the Peter Young-Freymauer nuptials. Both of these children were evidently born at West Camp instead of Schoharie.

From these old Lutheran records, made by Rev. Peter Nicholas Sommer at Schoharie, we get the following as the children of a Peter Young and Margaretha Freymauer, who were evidently living in Schoharie at an early date, and were probably born there: Elisabeth, born May 5, 1749; sponsors Michael Freymauer and wife; Johannes, born May 28, 1754; (note that this date conflicts with that of our Jeremiah in the old family record above mentioned, on his gravestone at Lawyersville, and his military record as given in the Compendium of American Genealogy, First Families of America, Vol. 5, page 375.) The sponsor at this Johannes' baptism was Johannes Freymauer; Eva, born Oct. 11, 1756, sponsors Hendrick Schaefer and wife; Catharina, born Nov. 19, 1758, sponsors Adam Braun and Catharina Ingold; Peter, born Aug. 8, 1761, sponsors Johannes Ingold and Magdalena; Annatje, born Oct. 28, 1764, sponsors Henrich Borst and Anna Werner; Johannes, born Aug. 7, 1767, (the first Johannes probably died), sponsors Rev. Peter Nicholas Sommer and wife. We find no Jeremiah among them, and no Moschiers at all as sponsors. On the contrary, we find the names of people known to have been in that part of Schoharie, but apparently not in the neighborhood of our Peter. Our Peter was evidently of the Dutch Reformed Church, not a Lutheran.

We intend to show that the Moschiers are further identified with baptisms in the Peter Young-Moschier line to include the first child of Jeremiah and Mary Strobeck. Moreover, we find them thus intimately recorded with other children of Peter's father, Johann Mattheus; as are also an Elisabeth Jung (quite possibly the widow of "the late Jerg Hans jung"); Eva Catharine and Anna Margaretha Mancken (presumably sisters of Johann Mattheus' wife, Anna Veronica Mancken), and several of the Diederichs. All this indicates a strong neighborhood clannishness transplanted from the old World-and promoted, no doubt, by a feeling of mutual dependence against the inhospitable strangeness of New World conditions.

But to go on with the process of elimination: It may have occurred to some that either Margaretha Freymauer or Elisabeth Moschier could have been a second wife to one Peter Young. To dispel any further consideration of this thought it is only necessary to be reminded that children were being born to both of them within the same period of time. So, again, in respect to this, it is conclusively evident that we are dealing with two Peter Youngs in Schoharie county at this time; although our Peter did not go there until 1760. This other Peter who married Margaretha Freymauer was there very much earlier-probably born there-and does not, as we have seen, appear to have had a son by the name of Jeremiah. Indeed, as shown, there is no room among his children for the birth date of the Jeremiah who married Mary Strobeck. We are reminded that this Peter and Margaretha Freymauer had a son Johannes, born on May 28, 1754; less than three months from August 21st of the same year, the birth date credited in at least three different places to the man Mary Strobeck married. It may be argued that the year is wrong. Nevertheless we lose no proof by admitting the possibility that the Katsbaan church record of Jeremiah's baptism Sept. 8, 1753 is correct, and that subsequent references to his birth have placed it in 1754 through a common error in chronological computation; for the Katsbaan record says he was a son of Peter Jong and Elisabeth Moschier.

The Dutch Reformed Church of Schoharie, on page 289 of the Vosburgh translation, reads as follows: "June 14, 1748, Piter Jung (son of Hendrick Jung) born in Schoharie, and Maritie Anderson, (daughter of Johannes Anderson) born at Hackensack, registered for matrimony." No further record has been found that this pair ever did marry; but later in the same year, as indicated in the foregoing (on Aug. 2, 1748) a Peter Jung married Margaretha Freymauer. If this was the same Peter as mentioned in the foregoing recorded "banns", he was, obviously, the son of Hendrick Jung who went to Schoharie from the Camps at a very early date.

So much for the Peter Young-Freymauer family. But what about the Jeremiah Young who is said to have married Annatje (Anna) Winne?

Jurrian (George) Jung (generally conceded to have been born in 1720) -who was also a son of Johann Mattheus, and a brother of Peter whom Roscoe traces from West Camp to New Rhinebeck in 1760 had a son Jeremiah, baptized Oct. 2, 1755. (Old Catskill record). Note that he was born only a year, or at most two years, later than our husband of Mary Strobeck. In the absence of proof to the contrary, and because we find the Winnes apparently identified with them, we are constrained to believe that Anna Winne married this son of Jurrian. Finally, then, we must admit that we have neither proof nor substantial indications that the Peter Young-Freymauer pair were the parents of our Jeremiah. The honor (if any) seems to go very definitely to the other Peter and Elisabeth Moschier. This "Peter the Rock" and the Jeremiah Young-Strobeck pair, lived close together there in New Rhinebeck and its vicinity and are laid to rest not far apart. The place apparently knew nothing of Jurrian. He seems to have spent his life in the vicinity of West Camp. Roscoe says, however, that Peter Young and John Philip Kreger (Karker) settled in this New Rhinebeck in 1760 "on lands belonging to a Young". In the Lineal Descendants of Rufus Rennington Young and Jane Vosburgh this is amplified by this statement:

"In the spring of 1760 there came to Schoharie county, N. Y. a number of families from Rhinebeck, now Redhook-a few miles north of the present Rhinebeck-to a place near the present Lawyersville, which they named New Rhinebeck. They settled in the north and northwest of Lawyersville, taking up lands then owned by Jurrian Young, a resident of Albany county. One of these first settlers, Peter Young, is said to have been a cousin of Johannes" (?) "and probably a brother of Jurrian. Both went there from Ulster county." (West Camp, or vicinity).

We have found in the Albany County Clerk's office an old deed book. No. 7, on page 304 of which is the record of a deed dated May 31, 1764 which indicates that "Jurian" Young owned three lots consisting of 1,000 acres of land in the New Rhinebeck district, out of which he deeded to Jurrian Musher" (Jurry Mosser) Lot No. 2 containing 150 acres, "sealed and delivered in presence of Jacobus Dederick and Johannes "Younck".

To summarize, we find the immigrant ancestor, Johann Mattheus, at West Camp, and his children, Peter and Jurrian and others, living there-Peter until 1760 and Jurrian apparently all his life. In the old Court Building in Albany we have found the original will of the ancestral Moschier-Jurry (George) Mosser-likewise "of West Camp" then "Albany county". That his name is spelled Mosser need occasion no surprise; it is another of the numerous variations. Few could even write; so, few could be expected to spell correctly, especially in trying to get their German into English. Jurry may have been incapacitated by illness, but his will bears "his mark", a prevalent signature of those limes. In this momentous document-abstract of which is quoted in the following, it will be observed that he mentions his daughter "Elisabeth, the wife of Peter Young", and her brothers and sisters; most of whom are, as previously mentioned, identified with baptisms in Peter's family. So there were, for some time, four generations of this Jung family at West Camp or vicinity, and the Moschiers were there with them-Moschiers persistently identified as sponsors with our line, even down to the first child of Jeremiah Young and Mary Strobeck, in conformity with the- identifying procedure of those primitive times. Confronted by the above mentioned indications of genealogical confusion, we have recognized this prevalence and unusual persistence of these Moschiers as sponsors as a help in establishing identities. They have rendered us a signal service, and we are glad indeed that they were there.

Abstract of Will of Jerry Mosser

"In the Name of God, Amen. Feb. 17, 1773. I, Jurry Mosser, of the West Camp in Albany Co. and Province of New York-I give and bequeath to my loving son Jacob a young mare, or in lieu thereof 5 pounds, and my large Dutch Bible, in bar to all claim as heir at law. I leave to my son Thomas the farm he now lives on, together with all the buildings, and the remainder of the lands which I have not made over to my son Jacob out of lot No. 5, out of which I have made over to my son Jacob three hundred and thirty acres, as by deed. My two sons, Jacob and Thomas, are to pay each an equal part of the quit rent. My son Thomas shall pay within three years after any decease to my executors 150 pounds for the use of my other children, and 18 pounds for money, lent him.

I leave to the Poor belonging to the Reformed Congregation of Church, at a place called Kaasbaan, for the relief of said poor, fifteen shillings. After my wife's death I leave all the rest of my estate to my children and children's children, as follows: Elizabeth, the wife of Peter Young; my grandchild, Elizabeth Kerker, Christina wife of Harme Fritts, Margaret, wife of Michael Finger, my grand-child, Christina Chifham, Helena, wife of Johannis Petrie, Lea, wife of Christian Petrie, and Susanna, wife of Christian Sax.

I make my trusty friends Harme Best, Johannis Michael, and Dirck Jansen of the Manor of Livingston in Albany County executors."

Witnesses, Petrus Van Gaasbeck, Christian Valkenburgh, Jon Habs.
Proved Oct. 2, 1782.

And there were others in the vicinity to help us piece out the story. William Brown, the father of John M. Brown, judge and historian, was there. He married Johann Mattheus Jung's second -child, Elisabeth as her second husband.

John M. was our Peter's next-door neighbor in New Rhinebeck. Wilbur Young, a descendant of Peter, still lives on Brown's old farm. The Petries were there, and very much in evidence in both the Hudson Valley and German Flats. The West Camp district also had its quota of Diedericks, Beckers and Wellers. These people were all related to and closely associated with this Young line down through the years; working westward together into Onondaga county and beyond. In Schoharie and the Mohawk valley our people also joined hands and neighborly interests with the Carncrosses, Diefendorfs, Fichters, Klocks, Kneiskerns, Sommers, Schells, and many others. Simms' History of Schoharie and Border Wars mentions many names our forebears have known, and with whose descendants we are familiar. Among them we find Jacob Diefendorf, John Adam Strobeck (brother of Mary), Henry Wetsel, Hillers, Bellingers, Van Alstynes, Moyers, Dockstader. Miller, Borst (Bort), Brown, Utman (Ottman) VanEpps, Karker, Dietz and others; all later to become familiar pioneer names in Onondaga county.

The Peter Young who came to Onondaga in 1810 with his two brothers, John J. and Christian I. (and was killed April 9, 1812 by a falling tree), was the first child of Jeremiah Young and Mary Strobeck, and was born in this same West Camp, or vicinity, on Dec. 23, 1782. (Linlithgo Reformed Church record-across the Hudson in Columbia county.) The old Young family record previously referred to gives the date as December 23, 1781. The sponsors at this Peter's baptism were "Peter Young and Elisabeth Musher," the child's grandparents. (Page 130, Linlithgo Reformed Church records). This ties the line of descent into the above mentioned old family record list of the children of Jeremiah Young and Mary Strobeck, which is substantially supported in other ways by available records.

This brings us to a consideration of my more immediate forebears and another branch of this same family. My great grandfather, Elias Young, was a son of Jacob Young, and a brother of Jeremiah- the Revolutionary soldier; both being sons of "Peter the Rock" (1725-1800). Elias, in common with the children of several generations of this Young (Jung, Jong) family, was evidently born at, or near. West Camp (Newtown) on the Hudson River. We find the record of his birth among those of the Linlithgo Lutheran Church in Columbia county-across the river from the above mentioned place. It reads: "Jacob Young and Maria" (Petrie) "Elias, born Sept. 21, 1777; sponsors Jacob Petrie and Catherine." This Catherine was probably a sister of Jacob Young, Elias' father, as there appears to have been a Catherine in the Peter Young-Elisabeth Moschier family; although, as elsewhere stated, Roscoe, in his History of Schoharie County, did not include her. She apparently married Jacob Petrie who may have been a son of the immigrant John Conrad Petrie, as he and Maria Catherine had a Jacob born Nov. 5, 1737.

According to the records we have found, Elias was the second child of Jacob Young and Maria Petrie. The Claverack Lutheran church, which was in the same locality, gives the following: "Jacob Young and Maria, Conrad, born July 3, 17 73-sponsors Conrad Petrie and Anna." If this was their first child, and named after his great grandfather, this sponsor was possibly the original immigrant, John Conradt Petrie, who was bound out to Robert Livingston at the age of 12 in 1710. But probably he was a name sake of the next generation and the child's. grandfather.

Within the next year or two after the birth of Elias, Jacob Young and his wife, Maria, appear to have gone to live at, or in the vicinity of, German Flats in what is now Herkimer county. This is consistent and probably coincident with his service in the Revolutionary war. Among the records of the German Flats Reformed Church we find those of four more of their children: Jeremias, born April 3, 1780. (The Linlithgo Dutch Reformed church also has this record). His baptismal sponsors were Jeremias Young, and Catherine Petrie, and doubtless this Jeremias was our Revolutionary war ancestor-not yet married to Mary Salome Strobeck, but, as a matter of historical record, known to have been in the service in the Mohawk valley section.

Incidentally, this "Jeremias, son of Jacob Young and Elisabeth, (probably her name was Maria Elisabeth) "married a daughter of Conrad Engle, and had 22 children", according to Roscoe in his History of Schoharie County.

The next child of Jacob Young and Maria Petrie was Maria, born Nov. 7, 1781; then Daniel, born Feb. 22, 1784; and John Coenraad, (note the old spelling this time) born Dec. 21, 1785. (This record is also found in the Linlithgo Dutch Reformed church). There may have been other children. The first Conrad may have died young. This family seems clearly identified by the fact that the records of these two children are thus found in both the German Flats district and in Columbia county; one born about the time Jacob entered the service in the Mohawk valley, and the other at the close of the war, when he may have returned to his former neighborhood.

As previously stated, Elias was born Sept. 21, 1777. The man whom our research indicates was his maternal grandfather, Han Jost (John Joseph) Petrie, died of his wounds the 30th day of August that same year. He was a sergeant in Col. Peter Bellinger's regiment of Tryon County Militia, and was wounded at the battle of Oriskany.

On March 18, 1806 (the bride's birthday) Elias Young married Elizabeth Sommers, a daughter of (John) Wilhelm Sommers. (This name, as usual, has been changed from Sommer to Sommers and then Seiners). Wilhelm Sommers-the John was dropped-was a son of the Rev. Peter Nicholas Sommer, early Schoharie Lutheran minister, and was then living on a farm near St. John's church in Sharon, Schoharie county. (Rev. Peter Nicolas left this church an endowment of $6,000 and it is still in use). Elias and Elizabeth probably also began their housekeeping on a farm in this vicinity, possibly on part of the land in possession of Peter Nicholas or his son Wilhelm, Elizabeth's father. William Sommers married Eva Frantz (France), probably related to Sebastian France, and possibly his own daughter.

The birth records of some of the children of Elias and Elizabeth show that they were born in Schoharie county, and some specify the town of Sharon. Probably all were born there except the last child who was born in Onondaga county. My father used to say that the family of Elias came to Onondaga county in the spring of 1825, from Cherry Valley, which is but a short distance from Sharon; and indeed might, broadly speaking, have meant the same place, as Cherry Valley was even then a village of some size and its location known.

The war records, elsewhere detailed, indicate that Jacob Young, "Ellas' father, was attached to Capt. Francis Utt's company in Col. Samuel Campbell's battalion of Tryon County Militia. This was evidently recruited from the Cherry Valley section, as Col. Campbell's fortified house was located on an elevated spot half a mile north of the village center. Incidentally, records show that Jacob's brother, Jeremiah, also served in that battalion.

Isaac Young, my grandfather, and first child of Elias, was 18 years old on the 17th of March,'the spring that the family came to Onondaga (1825). They drove their cattle over the old Cherry Valley turnpike, and settled again a couple miles northwest of North Syracuse then called Centerville or "Podunk", on the south side of the Caughdenoy road, (generally pronounced "Cockenoy" in those times). Evidently this new home was of logs, and its location was on the rise of land across the road and a little to the east from the buildings on the farm later owned by Elias Duffany.

Maria, the last child and only daughter of Elias Young was born at this place on Jan. 27, 1826. From her descendants in Michigan we get this birth date from people who knew her, and learn that she said she never saw her father, as he had died six months before she was born, which places the date about July, 1825, the year they settled there. It was a family tradition that he had died comparatively a young man. He was 47 years old.

Before finishing this dissertation may I remind" you again that the Jacob Young who married Maria Petrie, and the Revolutionary soldier, Jeremiah, were brothers, and are the branch ancestors of my own lines of Young descent from that point. Jacob's son, Elias, who married Elizabeth Sommers, had a son Isaac, and Isaac Young married Mary I. (?) Young who was a daughter of Christian I. Young*, a son of Jeremiah and Mary Strobeck. Isaac and Mary were my grandparents.

With reference to the foregoing, let me say in conclusion that we have found all of these people just where we should expect them to have been, in point of time, geography, matrimony, neighborly clanishness, and religion. Peter (1725-1800) is buried on his old farm "north of the Rock School House" in the town of Carlisle. Adjoining this farm,or close by, is the old farm of John M. Brown who wrote the historical sketch of Schoharie's early times. Their neighbors and relatives-the Karkers, Petries, Fichters and others, are buried in old farm cemeteries hard by. Jeremiah Young and Mary Strobeck are a little to the south in the Lawyersville cemetery. Their grave stone records are as follows:

JEREMIAH YOUNG MARY wife of Jeremiah Young died March 29, 1845, aged 90 years. 7 Jan. 20. 1817, aged 56 years, 3 months months and 8 days. 'He was a Revolu- and 13 days
tionary Soldier'. (This is exactly as it appears in the book. ajb)

As previously stated, the above death date and age of Jeremiah are

* In spite of all recorded evidence to the contrary, I firmly believe this middle letter "I" should be "J" (for Jeremiah), and that the error results from the practice of writing their capital J and I exactly alike.

in accord with the family and church records, and that in reference to his military service, with the exception of a probable error of a year which commonly occurs in old records; and these, with the association of an unbroken succession of family sponsors and other things, place Jeremiah and Mary Strobeck and their descendants definitely in the Johann Matthcus-Anna Veronica Mancken, and Peter-Elisabeth Moschier line.

GERMAN-DUTCH CONFUSION

Among some of the descendants of these people we find a traditional understanding that their ancestors were DUTCH-construed to mean Hollanders. Because of this belief, the correctness of the conclusion that they were German, has been questioned. Nevertheless, as regards our earliest known ancestor-Jerg Hans Jung, it is the validity of the tradition that appears to be in doubt-unless he, or his forebears, came originally to the Palatinate (definitely a part of old-time Germany), from Holland. Roscoe, in his History of Schoharie County, says that the father of our Peter Young came from Germany.

Joshua Kocherthal, the Lutheran minister-himself a German- who came to America with these Palatines, and, as stated, doubtless knew them personally, has , left his record at West Camp, of marrying Johann Mattheus Jung and Anna Veronica Mancken, as follows:

"Married Sept. 28, 1714, Johann Mattheus Jung, a son of the late Jerg Hans Jung of Gernbeitn, Commune Stromberg, Palatinate, and Anna Veronica Mancken, a daughter of master Jacob Mancken of Urbach, Commune Neuwied".

Both of these places are on the eastern bank of the Rhine in Germany.

It is true that we do not know where their forebears came from originally, or that down the intervening years this line of Jungs has not intermarried with Hollanders. In fact, we are frequently told-or find some genealogical statement-that people with whom the Youngs had married "came from Holland". Jan Jurriansen Becker, the early ancestor of Lana Becker who married Christian I. Young (my maternal great grandfather) "came from Holland in 1657" according to Becker genealogical sketch in possession of the museum at Schoharie. "The Baums came from Holland". Perhaps they were Hollanders; my mother said they were Low Dutch. Nevertheless, these statements can hardly be indiscriminately accepted as proof that certain Palatine, or pre-Palatine, emigrants were Hollanders. Kocherthal recorded five different Beckers, naming their Old World locations, and his records indicate they all came from Germany. Cobb, in his Story of the Palatines, says "no record exists of the starting of these people from their -homes upon the Rhine. .... This were impossible. .... Its beginnings in the Palatinate had to be in quietness and stealth. The Elector Palatine was of a mind to lose none of his subjects. .... He published an edict threatening death to all who should attempt to migrate from his domains. .... For years there had been a steady, though small, stream of the afflicted people seeking quieter countries. Northern Germany and Holland had received thousands of them."

From this we must conclude that Palatine families began quietly dropping down the Rhine into Holland for some years prior to the exodus of 1709-10, and that some with means and opportunity probably came to America prior to that time. But, doubtless there were many without means of going further, or who were temporarily satisfied with the hospitality of Holland, and remained there;-until the events of 1707-8 and 9 forced others from the Palatinate in droves, and Kocherthal arranged for a general migration to America.

It should be noted that the Rhine, flowing down through the Palatinate, but a short distance into Holland, offered easy transportation and made that country the natural sanctuary of these people. Then, too, events materialized in slower sequence in those days; so,doubtless, -some of them were there for some considerable time before going to England and America. These things may account for the statements that they "came from Holland."

To add to this confusion, these people were referred to in America as "Mohawk Dutch", "Pennsylvania Dutch", "Dutch Settlement", etc. Nevertheless, it appears that they were largely German. Dictionaries and encyclopedias explain this by saying that the German people were, -in general, called Dutch until about 1800.

Further indications that our people were not Hollanders is seen in John M. Brown's reference to the Schoharie settlers as "my German brethren"; and his statement that his maternal grandfather, Johann Mattheus Jung (our immigrant ancestor) "was the first that taught school among all the Germans in America", and that "he was a very perfect good reader and singer in the German Low Dutch and English." Brown was short of schooling, himself, and we may wonder if there should be a comma between his "German" and "Low Dutch" (or Holland Dutch), which might make it mean High Dutch (or High German) plus Low Dutch and English; or did he mean just Low Dutch (or Low German, which Webster defines as the language of the people of the lower lands in the northern part of Germany?)

Again, we have the record of the founding of the Reformed Church in the town of Cobleskill, Schoharie county. Roscoe says "it was founded in New Rhinebeck in 1788. Upon the records we find in German: 'In the year of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 1788, was by the Grace of God, here in Dorlach and Rhinebeck, found a High German Reformed Church by the Reverend F. C. L. Droffel (Broeffle) of Schoharie.' The following officers were ordained: