The German Migration in the 18th Century: Overview

Research shows that most Pence families hailed from the Pennsylvania Dutch, a group of German immigrants who settled in America following the Thirty Years War. In the 1700s, they arrived in Philadelphia, and like their fellow Pennsylvanian Dutchmen, they spread throughout the west and south. The Pence family joined in the planting of new churches, usually Reformed, Lutheran, or Brethren. In the 18th century, the family primarily populated four centers: Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, and Franklin Counties. But we must first understand what drew them to Pennsylvania in the first place.

THE OLD COUNTRY

Let us consider three factors: Timing, location, and DNA. 

Timing & location: We know that most of the Pence's arrived in Pennsylvania between 1728-1750. We know they settled in Pennsylvania Dutch territory. We also know that their names were written upon the "German pioneer passenger lists", which points to the Palatinate as their point of origin. Later passenger lists, which contain more detailed information, reveal Bentz's as claiming southwest Germany (often Baden) as their birthplace.

DNA: The Pennsylvania Dutch include a variety of paternal DNA lines (more on y-DNA in later posts). My particular Pennsylvania Pence line (R1b-U106-Z319) is currently thought to be Germanic in origin. This would add support to the timing and location points above as to the Pence’s almost certainly being of Germanic heritage. As  pure flight of fancy, we might wonder from which Germanic tribe we hail. Both the Alemanni and the Franks controlled the Palatinate area after the Fall of Rome, and are therefore tempting candidates. But there were other indigenous people who had lived in the region prior.

While a part of the Frankish empire, the Palatinate fell under the control of the provinces of Austrasia and Swabia (c. 500AD) – which was later consolidated into East Francia (c. 840AD). The Palatinate, as it  came to be known in the Middle-Ages, later included much of northwestern Bavaria, Schwabia, and Baden-Wurttemburg.

Over the next 800 years, the Palatinate became the most powerful of the German states. But by the 1560s,the peaceful times were coming to an end. The rivalry between the entrenched Catholics and the upstart Calvinists touched off the bloody Thirty Years War (1618-1648), which decimated the region, only to be further devastated by the War of the Grand Alliance (1688-1697) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). The continual bloodshed in the region is estimated to have reduced the German Palatines from a half-million to no more than fifty thousand.

By the early 1700s, those living in the Palatinate had had enough of war, poverty, disease, and starvation. When Queen Anne of England offered some of the Palatines passage to Pennsylvania, in return for fealty to the Crown, it was accepted enthusiastically. And there were many others willing to pay or indenture themselves for the opportunity.

The usual route to the new world started with a trip down the Rhine River to Rotterdam,  passage by ship to England, and from there across the Atlantic to Philadelphia. But this simple path wasn't quite so simple. The trip down the Rhine alone could last six weeks due to all the custom houses along the way. Add another six weeks in Rotterdam while the ship was made ready, and perhaps another two weeks (depending on the weather) for the rather simple voyage over to England. And there, in England, they'd sit  another week or more while their ship was outfitted for transatlantic travel. Of course, time is money, and there wasn't much of the latter to be had - particularly after all that waiting. Passage to America could run as much as ten pounds Sterling (about $3000 in 2013 US dollars). Not an easy sum for destitute farmers to amass, which, of course, contributed to the use of indentured service – possibly between 1/3 and 2/3 of the Palatinate immigrants accepted this route. Daunting as it was, more than 65,000 Germans landed in Philadelphia by 1765. Pence immigration crested prior to the French and Indian War, slowing to a trickle thereafter.

Sadly for genealogists, no effort was made by British officials to record passenger lists between 1683 to 1727. But thereafter, passenger lists were mandated. Usually these lists were limited to the names of male adults, who had to take the Oath of Allegiance.

Transatlantic voyages of that period are described by other writers in gut-wrenching detail. It's hard to read without flinching. Suffice to say that many ships sank, disease and malnutrition claimed thousands of lives, and children were the least spared. When the ships finally arrived in Philadelphia, the immigrants that hobbled out of the boat would have relied heavily on the Germans who'd arrived in earlier ships. This sort of immigrant support system sometimes evolved into entire villages, such as Germantown, Pennsylvania.