Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys
The Walrath Family
This article was sent to us by Jerome "Jerry" Walrath. It appeared St. Johnsville Enterprise and News, October 29, 1942. The owner of the E & N at the time was Lou D. MacWethy. His granddaughter has permitted articles from this time period to be used on the Fort Klock web site. These are the descendants of Peter Jacob Walrath, Jr. and Loxea Lay. Peter Jacob Walrath, Jr. was a grandson of Jacob W. and Magdalena Walrath.
Walrods and Walraths Traced by Canadian
"One Branch of the Walrod Family Tree, Dating Back to the Year 1710" by W. Bruce Walrod, Munson, Alberta, Canada.
Mr. Walrod has traced to the tenth generation the descendants of Gerhard and Henrich Wallerath who came to America in 1710. This book is strictly a genealogical record with names and dates only and makes no attempt to be literary.
Because the editor believes that many readers are connected with the family or are interested in its cross-references we are printing the records of the family up to and including the fifth generation.
Introduction
Although the family name has been spelled WALROD by our branch since about the year 1800, there have been many variations of that spelling in the 232 years since Gerhard and Henrich Wallerath, one of whom is now thought, after many years of thorough genealogical research, to be our common ancestor, landed on our American shore in 1710.
Wallerath, Wallrath, Walrath, Walradt, Wallratt, Walrodt, Walrad and Walrod are some of these variations over the years. We never will know the reasons for all of these changes but it was a German name, pronounced, "Vol-rodt" by German speaking people and a gradual change to a more English pronunciation took place over the years. The census, too, taken periodically by English-speaking people may have been partly responsible, giving the German name a more English spelling. It was during the lives of the sons and daughters of Nicholas Walrath, born in 1750, that the change to Walrod took place in our branch of the family. Johannes Walrath, born in 1783, and baptized as such, for instance, was John Walrod in later life.
In the Revolutionary War, 1775-1787, the following men served under Col. Jacob Klock in the Tryon County (N.Y.) militia: under the name Wallerath there were Adam, Hannes, Isaac, Jacob H. and Nicholas: under the name Walrath there were Heinrich, Isaac, Nicholas (from whom all but a very few of those shown in this record evidently are descended), Adolph, Henry, Friterich and Heinrich: under the name Wallrath there are Jacob and under the name Walrad there were Adolph, Gerhart, Jacob, John and Peter.
In the first U. S. Government census, taken in 1790 the following Walradts are listed as living in the State of New York: in the town of Canajoharie there were Adolph Jr., Frederick, Frederick H., John H., John S., John Peter, Peter and William: In Palatine town there were Isaac, Jacob H., Nicholas and Peter H., and under the spelling Walrodt the following are listed as living in Palatine: John, Adam, Adolph and John.
We have proof also from the National Archives, Washington, D. C. that there were Walradts in the War of 1812-14. Johannes, Abraham and Nicholas Walrath our direct ancestors as shown in this record, also all served in the War of 1812.
Queen Anne was the English Sovereign in 1710 and America, since it was before the Revolutionary War, was under British rule. During the latter part of the year 1709 about 3000 emigrants from the German Rhine Palatinate, Zweibruecken, Hesse Cassel and Waldeck landed in Holland on their way through England to the English colonies in America. Because the Queen had given orders prohibiting the entrance of more immigrants at that time this party of 3000 was detained in Holland for five weeks and this may be the explanation of the fact that certain present-day Walrods, in Iowa and in Nebraska and in other parts of America, some closely related to us, claim Dutch, rather than German descent.
We have records showing that Gerhard and Henrich Wallerath with their wives and five children, were in this party of 3000 as was Ulrich Simmendinger, from Reutlingen in the province of Wurtemburg, with his wife and two children. They left Germany in 1709 and after their delay in Holland, sailed from London for America in a fleet of ten ships, in January, 1710, Robert Hunter, the newly appointed governor of the province of New York, also was in the party. A trip across the Atlantic in 1710 was quite different from a present day crossing and in the six months required, 480 passengers died and one vessel was wrecked on the American coast.
The survivors eventually reached New York but, owing to their sickly condition, they were quarantined for five months on Nutten (now Governor's) Island. Here 250 more succumbed to ship's fever and 84 orphaned children were apprenticed to respectable citizens. (To be continued)
From the St. Johnsville "Enterprise and News", Nov. 5, 1942.
In the fall of 1710 Gov. Hunter settled the remaining colonists on a tract of 6000 acres on the east bank of the Hudson river. Later, they spread to both sides of the river and then westward to other counties along the Mohawk river. A number of our ancestors, as the years passed, settled in Palatine Town, in Canajoharie and in Cherry Valley. Some went to the Schoharie Valley and some to New York (city). Among those returning to New York was Simmendinger. He found employment on Long Island and remained there until August 14, 1717 when, with his wife (his two children had died by this time), he returned to his native city in Germany by way of Amsterdam, and subsequently published his "Simmendinger Register" of approximately 500 Palatine families.
"This" as shown on the fly leaf, "is a true and authentic register of persons still living, by God's grace who, in the year 1709, under the Wonderful Providence of the Lord journeyed from Germany to America or New World and there seek their piece of bread at various places." This register was prepared by Simmendinger after his return to Germany. It throws light on the limited information we possess relative to the early struggles of the hardy Palatines who first, settled along the Hudson and, later, the Mohawk valley.
Little is known of this register until it showed up in the New York Public Library in 1926. It consists of 24 pages, printed in German, now translated to English, and is now a matter of public record and Photostat copies can be had by addressing the New York Library. He states plainly in the introduction that the names given are all who were established here in America at the time of his departure in 1717. Henrich and Gerhard Wallerath were included in this list and it is from this point that the within Walerath-Walrod history gets its American start.
First Generation
Gerhard or Henrich Wallerath
These two men are listed among the many Palatine refugees who landed at what is now New York, on June 13, 1710. Historical data of the period of 1710 and on, contains numerous references to their activities. Although it cannot be proven, after many, many years of research, it seems at least probable that one of them is the common ancestor of most, if not all, of the Walraths or Walrods living in America today. For instance the following article appeared in the St. Johnsville (N. Y.) ENTERPRISE AND NEWS, A WELL-KNOWN GENEALOGICAL PUBLICATION, ON APRIL 4, 1934:
"The first Walrath in this country seems to have been Gerhard who was one of the Palatines sent over by Queen Anne about 1709-10 and who lived at the original settlement at East Camp, now Germantown, Columbia County, NY He seems to have been one of those who, dissatisfied with life at East Camp, removing to Schoharie."
The Simmendinger Register shows that Gerhard had three children and that Henrich had two children and it is thought that one of these children was Jacob W., to whom our ancestry definitely can be traced.
SECOND GENERATION
Jacob W. Wallrath, born Feb. 21, 1723, died Feb. 1, 1790, married Magdalena Fox, born Dec. 18, 1726. Their children were Nicholas, Catharine, Margaretha, Isaac, Lea, Isaac, Rachel, Magdalena, Peter J., Jonah, Amelia, Maria, Margaretha and Catharine.
It will be noted that there are two Isaacs in the above list. In explanation of this it is probable that the first Isaac died and another child was given the same name as seems to have been the custom in those days. This would apply, also, with the two named Margaretha and the two named Catharine.
There are many, many families of Walraths and Walrods throughout the United States and Canada at the present time to whom our relationship cannot now be traced. One reason for this is that the following history is of the descendants of only one of the above named fourteen children of Jacob W., (the one exception to this is that three of the descendants of Peter J. are known).
It is impossible, at this late date, to trace more than our own direct line. The second Isaac, listed above, was born in 1758 and may have been the the Isaac Walrath who is listed among those who served in the Revolutionary war. And it is quite probable that his descendants are living in different parts of America by now. Also, who knows to what parts of the country descendants of Peter J. and of Jonah, born in 1764 and 1766, may have scattered by now. We have a partial record of the descendants of Peter J. but none whatever of the Jonah. Some of the Walrods, now living in Iowa, in Nebraska, in Saskatchewan and in other places, to whom we are now unable to trace relationship, may be descendants of Peter J. or Jonah. We do not know.
(To be continued)
*The continuation listed the above referred to lineage from Jacob W. Walrath and Nicholas Walrath, b. 1750. A copy of Bruce Walrod's publication is on file at the Montgomery Dept. of History and Archives, Fonda, NY. Most of the descendants of Nicholas and Anna Barbara Schultz Walrath spelled their name WALROD. The descendants of Peter Jacob, Jr. (son of Peter J. the brother of Nicholas) and Loxea Lay Walrath have met for a reunion every year since 1870 except for two years during W.W.II. This reunion has been held in the Cooperstown area. It is now believed that this line descends from Gerhardt Wallrath, 1710 Palatine immigrant.
Notes from Jerry Walrath: The 'to be continued' gave the genealogy that the author Bruce Walrod had researched. I do not have it from the E&A article but as it was printed in the Walrath Family Newsletters. It was printed over a number of editions. I scanned each and every page of the newsletters, over 600, and saved each as a *.jpg file. They can be accessed at: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~walfam/WFNewsletter/WFNpages.html There is no index as of yet but the Jerry L. Walrath who prints the newsletters for editor Reetha Clancy is working on saving each page as a *.doc file. Hopefully he will offer the index online.
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