Johan Peter DOPP

                   Implied from his baptism date..

In 1666, plague killed 75,000 in London.  In 1667 the Great Fire of London occured and Moliere's "Misanthrope" was published.

                      The Palatinate Emigration

    The Palatinate Emigration describes the movement of thousands of German peasants and artisans from the upper Rhine Valley in Germany to America in 1709-1710.
     According to Lucy F. Bittinger, writing in "The Germans In Colonial Times", the causes of the Palatine Exodus were several, including war, famine and religious persecution. Religious persecution was a minor cause however.
     The Palatinate is an area of Germany along the upper Rhine, Neckar and Main Rivers. It lies just north of France and east of Luxembourg.  Its main city is Zweibrucken.
     The Dopps were part of the migration in which hundreds of families picked up what they could carry and fled their homes due to the devastation of war and weather.  An estimated 15,000 fled to the coast of Holland where Queen Anne of England sent ships to pick up the refugees and take them to London.
     Although the Upper Rhine area was savaged by war over the previous 50 years, the primary problem for the people living there was the high taxes imposed by Eberhard Ludwig, the Elector Palatine, to pay for the wars. The primary industry in the area where the Dopp family lived was wine and more than half the people worked in the vineyards.
     The combination of war and taxes made living very difficult. In 1708 Mother Nature capped matters off with the worst winter in centuries. According to records from the time period, wild animals and birds froze to death in the extreme cold.   Wine froze in the casks, vineyards and orchards were destroyed and hundreds of people died of exposure. The people received no help from the rulers during and after this terrible winter.
     The migration began in May 1709 as hundreds walked to Rotterdam looking for food. As the summer passed, Holland was overwhelmed by refugees. At the peak of the migration, Holland received about 1,000 refugees per week.  By June 1709, England had accepted 5,000 but at least 10,000 remained. By October 1709 some 15,000 refugees were in London in makeshift and temporary shelters. Another 15,000 remained in Holland, unable to find passage out of Europe. After taking in about 32,000 refugees, England refused to accept anymore because of an inability to care for so many homeless people.
     The problems faced by England were huge, mainly how to house and feed so many people. Of the 32,000 refugees, about half were children. The British army erected tents in several camps, including in Blackheath. Queen Anne personally donated food, clothing and money for the refugees. Many churches solicited donations throughout the country and raised several hundred thousand dollars. The Queen provided coal at Christmas and her commissioners issued straw for bedding every 1 1/2 weeks.
     As the number of refugees swelled, public sentiment began to turn against them. The Queen's efforts to resettle them elsewhere in England failed. In the meantime, several hundred men enlisted in the army. Sickness in the camps was pervasive and about 3,000 died, probably of typhus or cholera.
     Many of the refugees were Catholics, a religion unacceptable to the English people.  In an effort to quiet the people, the Queen ordered the refugees to become Protestant. 3,500 refused and were sent back to Germany.  The Queen sent about 4,000 refugees to settle vacant land in Ireland.  This was the most successful settlement. She also sent 650 to North Carolina.
     Another 3,000, including Johannes Dopp and his family, were sent to New York. The Queen provided transportation and settlement fares, support for one year, materials to build houses and 40 acres of land. In return, the refugees agreed to work for the Navy for a term of one or two years.
     Early in 1710, ten ships, including the Lyon and the Henry Frigat, carried the refugees from England. On the voyage, about 500 of the passengers died, nearly all young children under the age of ten. One ship, the Henry Frigat, wrecked on Long Island before reaching New York with the loss of some lives.  (NOTE: Later research suggests that many people survived the wreck.  The true tragedy is this ship carried the arms and temporary tent housing for the refugees.)
The Lyon arrive June 13th and the remaining ships on June 14th.  The passengers on the ships were so sick that they were quarantined on Governor's  Island (Nutten Island before the name changed) where many more died.  Many children were orphaned by these deaths,  The orphans were bonded as apprentices to many colonists in New York and other colonies.  Boys were apprenticed to age 17, girls to age 15.  (See http://olivetreegenealogy.com/pal/pal_kids1710-14.shtml for the list by names.)
     The  remaining refugees established two new settlements.  East Camp, now called Germantown, received half the survivors.  West Camp, near Saugerties, received the remainder. The settlers of East Camp later founded Rhinebeck.
    The Dopp family settled in the East Camp area and prospered.