- From "Irish Pedigrees", by John O'Hart, vol.2
-
- The following notice of the "Poor Palatines" occurs in the
- Memoirs of
Thomas, Marquis of Wharton, by Sir E. Steele, p. 66:
"In this year (1709) the Poor Palatines came into England, and my Lord
Wharton, whose wisdom was too extensive to be confined to the narrow views
of an ignorant selfish faction, procured the Privy Council of Ireland to
join with him in an humble address to Her Majesty, that as many of the
poor Palatines as Her Majesty should think fit, might be settled in that
kingdom; where they should be very kindly received, and advantageously
settled."
Other notices of the Palatines will be found in the "Annals of Queen
Anne", 1709, 8vo, pp.166-168 ; in Boyer's "Political State of Great
Britain", Vol. I, pp.133, 276-280; Ferrar's "History of Limerick",
pp.409-412, edition 1787; Mr. and Mrs. Hall's "Ireland", Vol. I., p.353,
355, 372 ; Lord Dunraven's "Memorials of Adare; Lenihan's History of
Limerick"; Fitzgerald and McGregor's "History of Ireland; "Irish Lords'
Journal", Vol.11., p.312; "History of Queen Anne", Vols. I. and II. In
Marsh's Library, Dublin, there is a Manuscript, classed V, 3. i. 27, which
contains documents relative to the Palatines, and lists of their families;
and in the Treasury there is, according to "Notes and Queries", a bundle
of papers which contains particulars of the numbers, arrivals, and
expenses of the Palatines. In June, 1709, there were 6,600 of them in
London: those of them who were lodged in barns were to be removed at
Midsummer. The Queen had ordered them a thousand tents, but there was no
place to pitch them.
According to the "Irish Evangelist", Vol. I., No. 9, June, 186O, the
following is a short history of the Palatines:
"In the year 17O9, seven thousand Protestant Lutherans were driven from
their homes in the Palatinate, by the French, under Louis XIV. On hearing
the intelligence, Queen Anne sent ships for them, and conveyed them to
England. Grants were given by the Crown to permit of their settling in
these countries; but about half of the number proceeded to North America.
Probably a few families stayed in England; and the rest came to Ireland,
and were chiefly located on the Southwell property, near Rathkeale, county
Limerick. Each man, woman, and child was allowed eight acres of land, for
which was to be paid five shillings an acre, yearly, for ever. The
Government agreed to pay their rent for twenty years, in order to
encourage the Protestant interest in Ireland, and make them all
freeholders. They supplied every man with a good musket (called a Queen
Anne piece) to protect himself and his family. They were embodied in the
free yeomanry of the country, and were styled True Blues, or German
Fusiliers; and were commanded by one Captain Brown."
Some of the Palatines settled in the Co. Carlow,
some in the Queen's
County, some in the county Tipperary, some in the county Wexford, some in
the county Kerry, some in the county Limerick, etc.
In Carlow there is a
hamlet named "Palatinetown"; so called, no doubt, from a settlement of
those refugees in that neighbourhood, under the auspices of Mr. Burton, of
Burton Hall, at the commencement of the 18th century; but, with the
exception of those of Keppel, Hanbridge, and a few others, families of the
Palatine race have disappeared from that neighbourhood.
Mr. Dogue, of
Wells, of that period, was also a patron of the Palatines; many of whom
settled on his estate in the county Wexford. In the county Limerick some
of them settled at Castle Oliver, near Kilfinnan, southwest of Knocklong,
and others of them in Ballyorgan, in the barony of Coshlea; but it would
appear that the Palatines were introduced upon the Adare property, about
A.D. 1777-8.
In Carlow, a hamlet named Palatine Town indicates
one of their settlements. The vast majority of them were farmers and
vineyards - men by trade and their numbers included carpenters,
smiths, wheelwrights, bakers, masons, shoemakers, weavers, coopers,
schoolmasters, tailors, herdsmen, butchers and a few (surgeons?
indecipherable).
To this day their names have changed but only slightly
and are characteristically German, such as Baker, Barrowbier (Barrow),
Barkman (Bartman), Bethel, Benner (Binner), Bovenizer (Bobanizer),
Bowerman (Bowman), Coach, Cole, Dobe (Doupe), Dulmage (Delmege), Fizelle (Fitzell),
Fyffe, Glazier, Legear, Ledwig (Ludwig), Lowes, Mich, Millar, Pyper,
Rhinehart (Reynard), Rodenbucher, Ruttle (Ruckle), Schmidt (Smythe),
Schumacher, Shier (Shire), Shoultace (Shouldice), Sparling, Stark,
Switzer, Teskey.
The Palatines still use their distinctive
Christian names, such as Adam, Absolom, Ebenezer, Ernest, Frederick,
Jacob, Jasper, Julius, Ethel, Rebecca, but native Irish names like Aongus,
Ciaran, Kevin, Oscar, Nuala, and Una may also be found amongst them.
A number of 18th century travellers who visited
the Palatines Colonies gave interesting impressions of their mode of life.
John Wesley visited them several times between 1756 and 1789, as the
following entries in his journal show:
In 1709 several hundred families of German
origin settled in Ireland. Known as the Palatines, they established roots
mainly in Counties Carlow, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary and Wexford. From
there they emigrated to many parts of the English-speaking
world–Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and the USA.
Some twenty Protestant families from Lower Palatinate on the middle
Rhine settled adjacent to the estate of Benjamin Burton in county Carlow
circa 1711. Burton was appointed a Palintine Commissioner in 1709
and invited the German colonists to Carlow. A settlement called
Palatinestown was established, where according to a traveller writing in
1780 "the industrious settlers had transformed bog-land into fertile
ground" this area is today known as Palatine. Within a short period after
their arrival (1720 - 25) the families had scattered or emigrated.
The reason for the disappearance of the Palatinates from county Carlow
remains a mystery but for some reason they abandoned the area . Today only
the name of the present-day village Palatine and the survival of the
family surname Keppel in the county are the only reminders of the
Palatinate presence in Carlow,
Mike Purcell - May 2007
Other Sources:
Lecture given by Ambassador Sean G. Ronan to the German -Irish Society
at the House of the Rhineland-Palatinate Representation in Bonn, 8th
February 1973
[
Huguenots in Carlow ] [ Palatine
G.F.C. ]
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