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palatines to america
german genealogy society


Palatines to America German Genealogy Society : New York Chapter

President: Tom Shannon
Vice-President: Vacant
Past-President: Garry Finkell
Director at Large: Joe Lieby
Director at Large: Jay Wopperer
Secretary: Vacant
Treasurer: Gary Finkell (interim)
Membership: Gary Finkell
Programs: Christopher White
Newsletter Editor: Linda Schmieder
Historian: Vacant

Download the most recent Yorker newsletter

The Henry Z. Jones Jr. Palatine Research Center
The Germantown Library, New York Chapter of Palatines to America and Germantown History Department announce that the research collection of noted genealogist and author, Henry Z. Jones Jr., is now available for public use in Germantown. Jones is widely known for his many decades of research into the Palatine German migrations to new York and elsewhere, 1710 and later migrations included. He is the author of The Palatine Families of New York, 1710, Volumes I, II, and supplement;  More Palatine Families: Some Immigrants to the Middle Colonies 1717 to 1776. He also co-authored the three volume Even More Palatine Families: 18th Century Immigrants to the American Colonies and their Austrian, Swiss, and German Origins, and several other books regarding genealogy.
--HudsonValley360, April 21, 2022


Email: PalamNY@gmail.com
Facebook.com/PalAmNew York

Gravestone Cleaning Project

The New York Chapter has made gravestone cleaning a big part of what we do. During last year's annual meeting, program chair Christopher White demonstrated how to do the cleaning.

Christopher White cleaning gravestoneChristopher White demonstrating how to clean a gravestone.

Update: The New York Chapter of Palatines to America and the Germantown (NY) Library are happy to announce a pilot program of a look up service for the Henry Z Jones Jr Palatine Research Center. Interested researchers may email inquiries to palatines@germantownlibrary.org. Please keep inquiries as specific as possible and reference the library search feature at germantownlibrary.org before writing. Please allow up to seven days for an answer.

The New York Chapter of PalAm has used the monies previously donated towards this effort on getting the collection from California to New York, purchasing a scanner to digitize the letters, and funding this look up service on a trial basis through the end of July 2023.

If you find the look up service useful and want it to continue further, please consider making a tax deductible donation to the New York Chapter of PalAm earmarked for the Hank Jones collection.



Canajoharie & Palatine Bridge, NY 1881; https://lccn.loc.gov/2005626674

East Camp markerPalatine Park

In October 1710 some 1200 Palatines established “East Camp” on the east bank of the Hudson after a long and arduous voyage from southwest Germany via Queen Anne’s England. It was the largest single migration in the colonial era. The Palatines came seeking land, but first they had to fulfill their contract with the Queen to produce pitch pine tar for the Royal Navy on land sold to the Crown by Manor Lord Robert Livingston. The pitch pine venture failed in just two years, but the hardy immigrants persevered and in due course realized their dream. Many Germantown residents today trace their ancestry to those original Palatine settlers.







Known as "East Camp", the colony had four villages: Hunterstown, Queensbury, Annsbury, and Haysbury. The area was later renamed "Germantown."



We visited Gen. Nicholas Herkimer's house outside of Little Falls NY as part of our Fall 2022 seminar. In 1723, Nicholas Herkimer’s grandparents (Georg and Magdalena) and his parents (Johan Jost and Catherine) were among the German Palatines to be granted land in the Burnetsfield Patent. Today this includes the towns of Herkimer, Mohawk, Ilion and part of Little Falls, NY. They were among the thousands of Protestant refugees from the Palatinate region of the Rhine River Valley who fled war, famine and religious persecution.

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