JOHANN NICHOLAS SCHAEFFER AND HIS DESCENDANTS: History of the Shaver Family of Rowan County, NC

The period of 1702 to 1727 marked the early migration of people from Germany and Switzerland. In the Rhineland their country had been enduring a war with the French and there was little hope for the future. This Thirty Years War, a period in which one out of every three Germans had perished, had laid waste to the land. The Palatines were also heavily taxed and endured religious persecution. In 1677, William Penn had visited the area, encouraging the people to go to Pennsylvania, a place where a man and his family could be free of the problems they were now encountering. Between 1708 and 1709, on invitation from Queen Anne, the Palatines began to arrive in London. Somewhere between twelve and thirteen thousand arrived there in the summer of 1708 alone. Here they lived in destitute conditions, depending on the charity of England. Johann Nicolaus Sch?effer and his wife Maria Catherine and family were among those Palatines. He immigrated from Kaiserslautern, in the Bunderland of the Rhineland-Palatinate, the son of Johann Peter Sch?effer and Anna Margaretha of Relsberg, District of Kusel, Deutschland. Nicolaus and Maria Sch?effer arrived in New York City in the summer of 1710 after a six-month voyage from London. They were among the settlers at Livingston Manor along the Hudson River in New York. This colony, however, proved to be a complete failure. In the fall of 1712 one hundred fifty families left for the Schoharie Valley about sixty miles norhtwest of Livingston. In the spring of 1723 Johann Nicholaus Sch?effer and about fifteen other families headed for Pennsylvania to settle on the Tulpehocken Creek, fifteen miles west of Reading where he raised his family.The Migration of the Schoharie Germans to Pennsylvania and the History of Tulpehocken Township - Notes on The Meaning of Tulpehocken: Sources: Dick Creps, Judy Thayer, and Dave Becker - Tulpehocken, which means "Land where the turtle sang and wooed" was also the name of a Creek in Eastern Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Swatara, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, led to the Tulpehocken Creek, which "fed" into Lancaster County which is today a distinct area of this research within Berks and Lancaster Counties, and into an even larger area.When the Palatinites went to New York, and got fed up with the British attitudes toward them, [Conrad] Weiser, and others began to look for other better places to settle. Apparently, Wm. Penn's folks had contacted them, offering land in the western part of Pennsylvania. Seemingly, the ulterior motive for the Penns was to provide themselves (in Eastern Penn) with a westerly buffer against the Indians. The PA authorities didn't throw down so many roadblocks against German Settlement, as did the British (who allowed only 10 acres per family and was not sufficient for adequate farming). The story of the Palatinates migration is mythical. You might like to order Earl W. Ibach's "Map".Conrad Weiser (father and son) knew about the Tulpehocken area of Berks County through numerous contacts with the Indian peoples of that area, and trips made to the region. It is unknown how long the negotiations took, but the decision was finally made to make the move to the Tulpehocken area. A petition exists which names those original migrants. This migration took place in 1723, when 33 families left New York upon the invitation of Governor William Keith of Penn. And settled in the Tulpehocken area. The following petition to Governor Keith from these Palatinates who would eventually settle along the Tulpehocken Creek in Eastern Berks County.