Germany’s religious factions had been simmering ever since 1517 when Martin Luther tacked 95 suggestions for improved service to his local church door in Wittenburg. As opposition to the Catholic Church grew, others took up the idea of reformation. In 1536 John Calvin went to Geneva to teach his form of the new protestant religion. His ideas spread from Switzerland down the Rhine River as far as the Palatinate area of Germany, linking some parts of Switzerland and this portion of Germany by religion.
By 1600 all of Europe was divided between the Catholic and the various forms of protestant religions – Lutheran and Calvinist being the most prominent. Friction between the religious factions grew, reaching a climax when Archduke Ferdinand was elected Emperor of Bohemia. He had been elected by the Jesuits and vowed to eradicate Protestantism wherever he ruled. The Bohemian Diet, upon the urging of protestant leaders, disposed Ferdinand as King and proclaimed Frederick of the Palatinate as King. The result of this action was the Thirty Years’ War which would grow to involve all of Europe.
In 1799 King Charles of Spain died after willing his throne to Prince Philip, grandson of Louis XIV of France. The potential for France to annex all of Spain and her possessions again stirred the fears of Europe and by 1702, Europe was at war again.
It’s easy to see that, with the continuing religious persecution and wars, in addition to the feudal system, heavy taxation, pestilence, famine and the example of others coming to America, a chance to start a new life in America, hard as it might be, seemed to make a lot of sense to a lot of people. The Germans were hard working, industrious people and certainly not afraid to test themselves.
After the war ended by the Treaty of Utrecht, Queen Anne of England offered Germans the privilege of emigrating to the English colonies in America upon the condition that they pledge allegiance to the Crown in the new world. At her death, she was succeeded by George, the Prince of Hanover, and the waves of German emigration began.
The usual method of the Palatinate Germans who chose to migrate to the new world was to build a large raft or flatboat on the Rhine River or its tributaries and load it with all of their possessions and household goods. Then, they would float down the Rhine to Rotterdam where they would sell the boat and such belongings that they could not take with them for passage money on the English ships. The ships took them to England where they were required to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown and then they were reloaded and taken to America, mostly landing in Philadelphia.
However, our ancestors didn’t quite agree with all of these rules. They were Catholics and would not have been given a chance to offer allegiance to England. (It was not the desire of Queen Anne to settle Catholics in the English colonies. Catholics were given the chance to become Protestants or return to their native lands). And, given the chance, they would have refused.
Georg Mayer, his wife Magdalena Fronberger (married 14 February, 1699) and their young son, Nicolas (born 1704) made the decision to settle in America after the John Law “Company of the West” started distributing pamphlets in Germany telling of enormous wealth and fertile lands in America and offering transportation to anyone interested in developing the land that would be given to them. But, sometime after they left their home in Southwest Germany, Georg died apparently. There are no confirming records, but it is generally thought that Magdalena and Nicolas made their way across France to the port of Lorient on the west coast.
From the German side of the Rhine, families traveled on the Rhine to Strasbourg where they entered the Canal de la Marne au Rhin (a canal which connected the Rhine with the Marne River near Joinville). The Marne River flows into the Seine River. Continuing on the Seine, the immigrants passed through Paris and on to Lorient. This is presumed to be the route Magdalena and Nicolas started their journey.
From Lorient they sailed to the gulf coast of America in 1721 and disembarked at either Ship Island or Dauphin Island off the coast of Mobile, the same area where Simon Jacques Brignac had landed with the French marine in 1717. From there, they made their way, by inland waterways to the area of St. Charles Parish (The German Coast, or La Cote des Allemands) on the Mississippi River.
The 1724 census of the German village of Hoffen, on the Mississippi River, lists the two of them (Magdalena as the widow of Georg) plus a twenty-year-old orphan as residents for three years. This confirms that they arrived in 1721.
Nicolas married Anna Marie Kautzen ca. 1729, and they farmed until his death sometime before 1766. Anna continued living on the farm with her grandson, Christophe until her death on 03 October, 1771.
Alphonse Mayer and Celestine Lambert were married on 28 June, 1848 in French Settlement. He was born in St. James Parish, on 13 Dec, 1830; she in Ascension Parish, 26 July, 1834. It is not clear how they ended up in French settlement. Celestine probably moved from Ascension Parish with her family when she was a little girl, Alphonse probably moved to French Settlement when they married.
A History of the Voncannon Family and Early European History
German Coast Families – European Origins and Settlements
In Colonial Louisiana, by Albert J. Robichaux, Jr.
The Brignac Family and Their Relatives in Louisiana, by Janice Deitch Young
Terrebonne Life Lines – Winter, 1983 – vol.2, #4