Intolerable Conditions<\/strong><\/p>\n The majority of German immigrants to the United States were from the Palatinate, a fertile area of the southern Rhine River Valley.\u00a0 In the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> The Palatinate was repeatedly invaded during the Thirty Years War, (1618-1648). \u00a0Invading armies burned towns and crops across the Palatinate during this conflict.\u00a0 Before the region could recover from this terrible devastation, Louis XIV, king of France, renewed the persecution of Protestants.\u00a0 His armies invaded the Palatinate multiple times in the 1680s and 1690s to bolster France\u2019s claims in the region.\u00a0 Then natural disaster increased their hardship.\u00a0 The harsh cold of the winter of 1708-1709 killed fruit vines and trees, froze wine in Immigration and Pennsylvania <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the most inviting areas for the people of the Palatinate to settle was the colony of Pennsylvania.\u00a0 William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, a devout Quaker, hoped to make his colony a haven for all Protestants.\u00a0 Penn personally The port of Philadelphia was the primary landing place for immigrants arriving directly from Germany.\u00a0 In the spring of 1709, approximately one thousand Germans arrived in the British-American colonies per week following the harsh winter of 1708-09.\u00a0 By 1776, approximately 110,000 Germans had immigrated to the British-American colonies.\u00a0 The majority arrived in Pennsylvania, but as competition for good land increased, the \u00a0Germans, like their Germans in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia<\/strong><\/p>\n The first European to see the Valley of Virginia, on August 20th<\/sup>, 1670, was a German named John Lederer.\u00a0 Lederer had been hired by Virginia governor, Sir William Berkeley, to gather information on the Blue Ridge Mountains.<\/p>\n The fertile Shenandoah Valley between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains attracted settlers looking for good land to farm.\u00a0 The earliest German settler in the valley was Adam Miller (also Recently arrived immigrants from Germany finding less land available than they had hoped for in Pennsylvania, along with second and third generation settlers, gladly took up the offer of cheap and fertile land in the Shenandoah Valley. Large numbers of Germans from Pennsylvania swept into the valley before and during the American Revolution.\u00a0 After the Revolution, Germans pushed into the Southern slope of the valley below Lexington.\u00a0 This protected and profitable valley became a predominantly German area before the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n Germans in the Mountains of North Carolina<\/strong><\/p>\n For frugal German Wachovia\u2019s population had migrated directly from Pennsylvania.\u00a0 A few other German families came west from New Bern on the East Coast which was settled by German-Swiss in 1710.<\/p>\n The Dutch Cove area of Haywood County, located to the southeast of Canton, NC. Image from 1935 U.S.G.S. map.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n German settlers generally settled in the same areas as their \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_accordion _builder_version=”3.11.1″][et_pb_accordion_item title=”1″ open=”off” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”2″ open=”off” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”3″ open=”off” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”4″ open=”off” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”For more information” open=”on” _builder_version=”3.11.1″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” title_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_vertical_length=”0em” body_text_shadow_blur_strength=”0em”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][\/et_pb_accordion][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People of German descent are one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States.\u00a0 They came to be known by the misnomer \u201cDutch\u201d because Germans refer to themselves as Deutsch.\u00a0 Germans\u2019 persistent and hardworking nature allowed them to thrive in backcountry settlements such as the Southern Appalachians.\u00a0 People of German heritage have contributed greatly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" People of German descent are one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States.\u00a0 They came to be known by the misnomer \u201cDutch\u201d because Germans refer to themselves as Deutsch<\/em>.\u00a0 Germans\u2019 persistent and hardworking nature allowed them to thrive in backcountry settlements such as the Southern Appalachians.\u00a0 People of German heritage have contributed greatly to American society and culture.\u00a0 They like other European Americans left their homeland to escape poverty, hunger, religious persecution, and establish a better life.<\/p> Intolerable Conditions<\/strong><\/p> The majority of German immigrants to the United States were from the Palatinate, a fertile area of the southern Rhine River Valley.\u00a0 In the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> centuries the people of the Palatinate suffered from seemingly constant hardship.\u00a0 Peasants were dominated by feudal lords who taxed the poor heavily in order to support their lavish lifestyles.\u00a0 The official faith of a particular region was determined by its ruler.\u00a0 Therefore, peasants whose religion differed from that of their lords faced persecution.\u00a0 The exploitation of the people of the Palatinate by their lords was not all that they had to suffer.\u00a0 The Palatinate was repeatedly invaded during the Thirty Years War, (1618-1648). \u00a0Invading armies burned towns and crops across the Palatinate during this conflict.\u00a0 Before the region could recover from this terrible devastation, Louis XIV, king of France, renewed the persecution of Protestants.\u00a0 His armies invaded the Palatinate multiple times in the 1680s and 1690s to bolster France\u2019s claims in the region.\u00a0 Then natural disaster increased their hardship.\u00a0 The harsh cold of the winter of 1708-1709 killed fruit vines and trees, froze wine in casks, and killed livestock.\u00a0 Louis XIV continued his invasions of the Palatinate during the war of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) hoping to win the throne of Spain for his grandson Philip.\u00a0 A European wide famine in 1740 and 1741 again made life in the Palatinate unbearable. \u00a0These successive hardships encouraged the people of the Palatinate and neighboring areas to leave in droves. \u00a0In the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> centuries, the Palatinate would lose hundreds of thousands of inhabitants.<\/p> Immigration and Pennsylvania <\/strong><\/p> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the most inviting areas for the people of the Palatinate to settle was the colony of Pennsylvania.\u00a0 William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, a devout Quaker, hoped to make his colony a haven for all Protestants.\u00a0 Penn personally traveled to the Palatinate in 1682 to encourage the people there to settle in Pennsylvania. \u00a0In October 1683, thirteen German families, the first organized group, arrived in Philadelphia and soon established Germantown.<\/p> The port of Philadelphia was the primary landing place for immigrants arriving directly from Germany.\u00a0 In the spring of 1709, approximately one thousand Germans arrived in the British-American colonies per week following the harsh winter of 1708-09.\u00a0 By 1776, approximately 110,000 Germans had immigrated to the British-American colonies.\u00a0 The majority arrived in Pennsylvania, but as competition for good land increased, the \u00a0Germans, like their neighbors the Scots-Irish, began to look for new territory on which to settle.<\/p> Germans in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia<\/strong><\/p> The first European to see the Valley of Virginia, on August 20th<\/sup>, 1670, was a German named John Lederer.\u00a0 Lederer had been hired by Virginia governor, Sir William Berkeley, to gather information on the Blue Ridge Mountains.<\/p> Recently arrived immigrants from Germany finding less land available than they had hoped for in Pennsylvania, along with second and third generation settlers, gladly took up the offer of cheap and fertile land in the Shenandoah Valley. Large numbers of Germans from Pennsylvania swept into the valley before and during the American Revolution.\u00a0 After the Revolution, Germans pushed into the Southern slope of the valley below Lexington.\u00a0 This protected and profitable valley became a predominantly German area before the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p> Germans in the Mountains of North Carolina<\/strong><\/p> For frugal German people the inexpensive land in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina was a wonderful temptation.\u00a0 This was especially true after North Carolina established a free \u201cheadright system\u201d in the late 18th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 This \u201cheadright system\u201d gave one hundred acres to male heads of household who were willing to settle in western parts of the state.\u00a0 The Germans of western North Carolina generally migrated from Pennsylvania to the Yadkin River Valley.\u00a0 When the Yadkin valley began to become crowded, children of settlers there moved to the Catawba River Valley.\u00a0 As the next generation grew to adulthood, and desired their own decently sized farms, they moved west again.\u00a0 A few migrated directly from Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Others came from the Moravian settlement of Wachovia, now Forsyth County.\u00a0 Most of<\/p> Wachovia\u2019s population had migrated directly from Pennsylvania.\u00a0 A few other German families came west from New Bern on the East Coast which was settled by German-Swiss in 1710.<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_6797\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"174\"] German settlers generally settled in the same areas as their neighbors who were mostly Scotch-Irish.\u00a0 However, several areas in the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina were settled by and named for Germans.\u00a0 These include Dutch (Deutsch<\/em>) Cove, a community in Haywood County established in 1796 by a Revolutionary War Veteran of German descent named Christian Sargent Messer. The Plott Balsam Mountains in Haywood and Jackson Counties were named for the Plott family, German immigrants who settled on Plott Creek in 1801. Johannes Plott, who first immigrated to North Carolina in the 1750s, crossed the Atlantic with his family\u2019s hunting dogs.\u00a0 His son Henry, who settled in western North Carolina in 1801, continued to develop the breed.\u00a0 Others recognized the dogs\u2019 value and soon Plotts were one of the preferred hunting breeds in the mountains.\u00a0 Today, Plott Hounds are one of four recognized breeds that were developed in the United States.<\/p> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> \u00a0<\/p>![\"Map](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/two.png\" "\\"Map\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Map](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/one.png\" "\\"Map\\"")
<\/p>\n
In the early 18th<\/sup>century, increased French activity in the Ohio country prompted Virginia\u2019s government to take actions to defend the Old Dominion\u2019s western claims.\u00a0 Therefore, in 1730 Virginia\u2019s laws were changed to grant land speculators a thousand acres for each family they could settle west of the Blue Ridge, a law intended to create buffer settlements, of primarily Scots-Irish and Germans, in the mountains to ![\"A](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/1141.jpg\" "\\"Montains\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-23-at-2.01.57-PM-174x300.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p><\/p>
In the early 18th<\/sup>century, increased French activity in the Ohio country prompted Virginia\u2019s government to take actions to defend the Old Dominion\u2019s western claims.\u00a0 Therefore, in 1730 Virginia\u2019s laws were changed to grant land speculators a thousand acres for each family they could settle west of the Blue Ridge, a law intended to create buffer settlements, of primarily Scots-Irish and Germans, in the mountains to protect\u00a0 older settlements in the Piedmont and Tidewater regions.\u00a0 German Jost Hite established one of these buffers communities, the Opequon settlement, in 1731.<\/a><\/p><\/a> The Dutch Cove area of Haywood County, located to the southeast of Canton, NC. Image from 1935 U.S.G.S. map.[\/caption]For More Information Please see:<\/h3>
![Map by Nicolas Sanson<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>Shenandoah Valley 1801-1805, Wikimedia Commons, Shenandoah Valley<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>DTabCam, Plotthound, November 30, 2009, Wikimedia Commons, Boss plotthound<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>Ad Meskens, Contestoga Wagon, (1883) by Newbold Hough Trotter, State Museum of Pennsylvania, 2009, Conestoga Wagon<\/a>.<\/i><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,10,598],"tags":[246,431],"class_list":["post-4242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-people","category-places","tag-german-migration","tag-plott-hounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Sanson-Jaillot,_1692_-_Partie_Occidentale_du_Palatinat_%28...%29.jpeg\"){kind=link}
![Shenandoah Valley<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>DTabCam, Plotthound, November 30, 2009, Wikimedia Commons, Boss plotthound<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>Ad Meskens, Contestoga Wagon, (1883) by Newbold Hough Trotter, State Museum of Pennsylvania, 2009, Conestoga Wagon<\/a>.<\/i><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,10,598],"tags":[246,431],"class_list":["post-4242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-people","category-places","tag-german-migration","tag-plott-hounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Shenandoah-valley.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Boss plotthound<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>Ad Meskens, Contestoga Wagon, (1883) by Newbold Hough Trotter, State Museum of Pennsylvania, 2009, Conestoga Wagon<\/a>.<\/i><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,10,598],"tags":[246,431],"class_list":["post-4242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-people","category-places","tag-german-migration","tag-plott-hounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Bossplotthound.JPG\"){kind=link}
![Conestoga Wagon<\/a>.<\/i><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,10,598],"tags":[246,431],"class_list":["post-4242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-people","category-places","tag-german-migration","tag-plott-hounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.wcu.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Conestoga_Wagon_1883.jpg\"){kind=link}