.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Cousin Lynn Freeman Cowan Brings A Bit of Vaudeville into our Family Tree. Enjoy a Piece of his Music. Mattson / Pierce Line.





From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
We have a bit of vaudeville in our family tree.  Lynn Freeman Cowan was our 1st cousin, 3 times removed.  That means he was the son of our Great Great Great Aunt Margaret May Pierce.  His biography is listed below.   


Birth: Jun. 8, 1888
Death: Aug. 29, 1973

He was a LT COL, US ARMY during World War II
He Received the WORLD WAR II LEGION OF MERIT

Cousin Lynn was a composer, songwriter, pianist, actor, director and singer, educated at Iowa State College with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree. He was a member of a vaudeville team with Bill Bailey. During World War II, he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Corps of Engineers, and he received the Legion of Merit.

In Okinawa, he managed the Castle Terrace Club. In 1963, he retired to Kauai, Hawaii. Joining ASCAP in 1942, his chief musical collaborator was Alex Sullivan. His chief popular-song compositions include "Kisses", "Dream House", "Just Give Me a Week in Paris", "Secret" and "I'm in Love with You"
(Information provided by Chuck Cummins)

The Relationship Chart follows along with a recording of one of his most famous hits Kisses.  We need to thank Angie Mattson for discovering this gem in our family history.  

Enjoy,
Victor

Relationship Chart

Lynn Freeman Cowan (1888 - 1973) 
Son of our Great Great Grand Aunt Margaret May Pierce
is your 1st cousin 3x removed
Margaret May Pierce (1868 - 1933) Our Great Great Grand Aunt married John Cowan
mother of Lynn Freeman Cowan
Andrew Jackson Pierce* (1835 - 1874) Our 3rd Great Grandfather
father of Margaret May Pierce
Edwin Sherman Pierce (1862 - 1909) Our 2nd Great Grandfather
son of Andrew Jackson Pierce*
Walter Edwin Pierce (1885 - 1956) Our Great Grandfather
son of Edwin Sherman Pierce
daughter of Walter Edwin Pierce. Violet married Walter Mattson
Children of Violet Pierce and Walter Mattson
Luella, Linda, John, Marvin
to Us


Below is the only online recording we have of Cousin Lynn's work.  Please sit back and enjoy "Kisses" by Lynn Cowan and Alex Sullivan.



                                   


This is the write up in the IMDb database




A few of Cousin Lynn's compositions



 



 
A mention of Cousin Lynn in The Music Trades.  1919 

 







Saturday, December 28, 2013

Williamson Line. Our 3rd Great Grandfather, Elijah Victor, Abandons Wife, Leaving Her Destitute.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

     Today in our digital gathering we review the court documents related to our third Great Grandfather Elijah Victor (Williamson Line).  
     It seems every family has one and we are no exception.  Our 3rd Great Grandfather, Elijah Victor, abandoned his third wife (not our blood line) and was taken to court and sued for maintenance.  Our relationship to Elijah comes through our Great Great Grandfather Whitty who was the son of Elijah's first wife Unicy, a native of Scotland.  

The Relationship Chart

Elijah Victor (1785 - 1860) Married Unicy
is your 3rd great grandfather
son of Elijah Victor
Effie Helen Victor (1867 - 1944) Married William Jonathan Williamson
daughter of Whitty (Whitley) Victor
Charles Williamson (1909 - 1966) Married Elda Vercellino (first) Elsie Jenson (second)
son of Effie Helen Victor
Charles Williamson  (1936 - ) Married Luella Mattson
son of Charles Williamson and Elda Vercellino
Kim, Victor, Kevin, Janice, Jon, Jilane, Lisa, Anette
Children of Charles Williamson and Luella Mattson

The following are the court documents related to the case.


Overseer of Poor
}}Warrant of
vs  }}
}}attachment

Elijah Victor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Filed February 23d
1846   JVernon  Clk

No 100 -- 1 Day
-------------------


Clrk will please
issue Subpoena for
Mary Victor
Jane Cooper &
Allen Collins ---
Patrick Meloy
 --- for
Plf ---                  
        Thos A Hendricks
Aty for Plf ----      



State of Indiana  }}
}}Sct
Shelby County}}
                    To Reuben Davidson & Enoch M Tucker  Overseers of the Poor of Hendricks Township in Said county Whereas complaint has been made before me  William Hacker  a Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid in the following words to wit

State of Indiana  }}
}}Sct
Shelby County}}

      Before  William Hacker  a Justice of the Peace in & for Said county  Enoch M Tucker  and  Reuben Davidson  two Justices of the Peace of Hendricks Township in the county aforesaid by this their Complaint Shows that  Elijah Victor  late of said Township has deserted abandoned and Separated himself from  Mary Victor  his wife without reasonable cause And that said  Mary lives and has her Settlement in Said Hendricks Township   And that the Said  Mary by the desertion aforesaid of her husband is left in a destitute Situation and without the means of Suport and & maintanance   And that the Said  Elijah Victor  has and owns property and Estate which would contribute to the maintanance of his wife were it not that he has so deserted her and witholds all Suport from her -- Which property & Estate consists in part in three Beds one Cow, one, two horse wagon, the rent Corn of the said  Elijah Victors  farm for the year 1845, Supposed to be 300 bushels, one dark bay Mare   And the rents and profits of the following described land to wit   The South part of the East half of the North East quarter of  Section 26   Township 12   Range 6   and the South west quarter of the North East quarter of Section seven  Township & Range aforesaid   Which rents and profits are Suposed to be worth Eighty Dollars per year.
          And that they the said Enoch Tucker  &  Reuben Davidson  are the only Justices of the Peace of Said Township       They the said complainants therefore ask that a warrent may issue to them as the overseers of the Poor of Said Township authorising them to take and Seize so much of the aforesaid goods and Chattels of the said  Victor  and to attach and receive so much of the rents and profits of the lands aforewaid as may be necessary for the Suport and Maintainance of the Said  Mary Victor
Shelbyville   December 4 th 1845        
Reuben Davidson  }}  Overseers to
Enoch M Tucker  }}  the Poor

These are therefore to Command & authorise you to take and seize the Said goods & chattles of the said  Elijah Victor  to-wit   Three Beds   one Cow   one two horse Wagon   the rent Corn of the said  Elijah Victors  farm for the year 1845 suposed to be three hundred bushels   one dark Bay Mare and the rents and profits of the following described land to-wit  The South part of the East half of the North East quarter of Section 26 Township 12 Range 6   And the South west quarter of the North East Quarter of Section Seven Township & Range aforesaid or so much thereof as will be sufficient for the Suport of the Said  Mary Victor  to be disposed of as the Judges of the Shelby Circuit Court should order and direct for the Maintanence of the Said  Mary Victor  the wife of the said  Elijah Victor  so as aforesaid alledged to be deserted and such goods & Chattles and property you do safely keep and hold the same subject to the order and disposition of the Circuit Court aforesaid     And of this writ you will make due service and return thereof before the Judges of the Circuit Court on the first day of the next term thereof to be holden at the Court house in Said County on the fourth Monday of February next
Given under my hand and seal
this 4th day of December 1845  
/s/   William Hacker   {{seal}}
Justice of the Peace    
Costs as within writ ---
Justice fee --- $   ,50
Overseers fees for
Esq Davidson five
days & Esq Tucker
three days --- [illegible] $8.,00
the day of the return ---

Return ---
Clerks fees ---

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delivery Bond
Filed February 23rd 1846
          J Vernon Clk


          Know all men by these presance that we  Elijah Victor  and  Wm H Fleming  of the county of Shelby are held and firmly bound unto  Enoch M Tucker  and  Reuben Davisson  of the Township of Hendricks and County aforesaid in the Sum of Sixty dollars for the payment whereof will and truly to be made and done we bind our selves our heirs Executors and administrators Jointly and severly firmly by these presants sealed with our Seals and dated the 6th day of December AD 1845
the condition of the above obligation is such that whereas by virtue a warrant isued by  William Hacker  a Justice of the pease of Adison Township in the county aforesaid to  Enoch M Tucker  and  Reuben Davisson  overseers of the poor of hendricks Township in said county directing them to ceize on the goods and chattles of  Elijah Victor  the Said  Enoch M Tucker  and  Reuben Davisson  have this day ceized on one dark bay mare and two beds as the goods & chattles of the said  Elijah Victor  to safe keep untill the 4th mondy of Februiary next now if the said  Elijah Victor  will punctuly delliver the said mare and two beds to the said  Enoch M Tucker  &  Reuben Davisson  in as good plite as they now are on the 23d day of February next at the court House in Shelbyville in the county aforesaid then the above obligation is to be void and of none effect otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue in law
Signed Sealed and/s/ Elijah Victor {{seal}}
delivered in presance of      }/s/ Wm H. Fleming {{seal}}
/s/ E F Fleming
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Overseer of the Poor
of Hendricks Tonship
Shelby County Indiana
vs
Elijah Victor

Agreement of Counsel

Filed in open Court
February 24th 1846
          J Vernon Clk



Overseers of the Poor of    }  Complaint against
Hendricks Township}Victor for abandening
        vs}Mary Victor  his wife
Elijah Victor
                    The agreement made between  Thomas A Hendricks  attorney for the Plaintiffs and  Cyrus Wright  attorney for Defendant --- It is agreed by & between Said Attys that judgment be rendered for Said Plaintiffs against Said Defendant, and that Said Plaintiff receive of Said Defendant the Sum of Seven dollars & fifty cents for expenditures made in this prosecution, And the further Sum of Eighteen dollars, nine dollars of which is to be paid instanter, and the remaining nine dollars at the expiration of Six months from this date, for the use of the said  Mary Victor  the wife of said Defendant --- And that judgement be further rendered that Said Plaintiff receive of Said Defendant the further Sum of Eighteen dollars Each and Every year whilst Said Defendant & his Said wife  Mary  remain & live Separate and apart, for the use and maintainance of Said  Mary Victor,  --- And that Executions Shall issue for the collection of the aforesaid Sums of money as they may respectively become due --- & it is further agreed by & between Said attorneys that the first of the aforesaid yearly payments and instalments of Eighteen dollars Each year become due and payable,after the Expiration of one year from this date, upon the twenty fourth day of february in the year Eighteen hundred and forty Seven, and that the yearly payments aforesaid thereafter to be made by said Defendant be due & payable upon the twenty fourth day of February of Each Successive year dated this February 24th AD. 1846
Thos. A Hendricks   atty for Plf
Cyrus Wright   atty for Deft.

In open Court
          I  Elijah Victor  hereby confess judgment in the within named cause, and agree that judgment be entered according to the within agreement
February   Twenty fourth  AD1846
/s/   Elijah Victor
Transcribed by Phyllis Miller FlemingNotes from Jim Baker:
     Eli and Elizabeth (Colision) Hollis lived in Sussex County, Delaware.  They had several children.
     Eli died in some mishap, perhaps killed by Indians.  A Hollis letter from the time asks "Isn't it awful what happened to Cousin John and Uncle Eli?"  Apparently the details were already known to both parties and weren't given in the letter.
     Eli's widow, Elizabeth, remarried in 1829 to Elijah Victor, a widower and a carpenter, who took the family to Shelby County, Indiana.  A daughter, Eliza Hollis, married my ancestor  George Baker  there; she is my g-g-grandmother.
     When Elizabeth died in Shelby County, Elijah remarried to Mary Young on 27 Apr 1837 in Johnson County.  They lived in Shelbyville.  In 1845, Mary sued him for divorce, charging desertion.
     There was a lot of friction in Shelby County between the recent German immigrants and the native Americans, mostly the Southerners. According to the  Independent Banner  newspaper, Sat. August 10, 1854:
"Elijah Victor of Shelbyville was involved in an altercation with three Germans at a brickyard east of town in which one German was killed and one wounded."
     Elijah would have been 69 years old at the time.
     Elijah ran to Iroquois County, Illinois, but later returned to Shelbyville. It is probable that his case was determined to be self-defense, since he appears to have been outnumbered.
     Elijah remarried again to  Sarah Newton  on 10 Nov. 1859, in Shelby.  He is listed as age 75, and is living with his fourth wife, Sarah, in Shelbyville on the 1860 census.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Photos of our Williamson Great Uncles. Shopping on Christmas Eve

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Merry Christmas!

     Yesterday was a busy shopping day which ended with my refusal to play that retailing game and my total surrender to the beauty and majesty of gift cards.  Our first stop was the bank.  I'm glad the teller was the only other person in the lobby to witness my wailing and grief as I signed the form to withdraw good American cash from my account.  It's a good thing Christmas only comes once a year, else we'd all be half starved beggars, wandering the streets signing carols in exchange for a bit of boiled beef or an underdone potato. 
     "Merry Christmas," the teller said as we concluded our business.
     "Humbug," I replied.  "Its just a fine excuse to pick a man's pocket every 25th day of December."
     Our next stop was Kneaders Bakery.  My sister Lisa sent $50 to be used on goodies for the family's Christmas Eve party.  The line of cars at the drive thru and people in the shop was epic.   Jilane gave up and returned to the car empty handed.  We sped out of the parking lot listening to her vent about the store's poor management and how she would reorganize the staff to ensure that customers like her were served as soon as they crossed the store's threshold.  "I had $50 to spend in there.  Ha, it's there loss. We'll just go to WalMart instead!" She gloated.   
     "Let's see, Kneaders Bakery vs. WalMart..... ummmmm I think we are the losers not Kneaders," I explained. 
     "Humbug," I thought I heard her mumble as we darted in and out of local traffic. 
     I needed to purchase a gift for my Mother and Aunt Linda (yes, you capitalize Mother in my family or the will be minus one inheritor).  Jilane suggested Bella's in American Fork, a store which specializes in clothes for very curvy and fluffy older women.  She parked street side while I ran in to make a quick gift card purchase.  There was nothing quick about it. The store was dark, as in no lights were on.  It had that 1900's old wood and plaster smell and a short line of people were waiting at the register.  I took my place at the back of the line wondering why their lights were off.  "This place can't even afford to keep their lights on," I thought.  That thought began to eat away at me.  "What if I buy a couple of gift certificates and then this place goes out of business before they're used? I'd be out the money; MY money - earned dollar by dollar in front of a 6th grade classroom.  Ten minutes or so later I reached the front of the line. "I'd like to purchase a couple of gift certificates," I said nervously to the young 20 something behind the desk.  
     "I'm so sorry, but the powers out and I can't sell gift certificates without the cash register."  She looked and sounded apologetic, as if that had the power to restore the 10 minutes of my life spent standing in a useless line.  "They say the power will come back on at 1:00 P.M." She smiled bravely as she explained my unfortunate circumstances.  I wasn't happy.  I stood in that line waiting and wondering why the lights were out and why she was writing sales receipts on an ancient yellowing sales book last used when her great grandmother purchase a corset back in 1911! 
     "Humbug," I cursed as I walked out of the shop.  My shopping day was definitely heading south and getting worse with every stop. 
      I got in the car and mistakenly explained the situation to Jilane.  My story gave her another 20 minutes of material to spit flames over as she did a fast and furious drive to the Highland / Lehi Kneaders and Smiths.  My seatbelt held me down and somewhat secure, but there was no safety device to protect our ears from the venomous curses she hurled at any driver who didn't meet her standards of speed and urgency.
     Our next stop was the Highland Harts gas station.  I needed to buy my brother in law a sheet of 32 ounce soda coupons.  He drinks fountain Diet Coke by the gallons.  It would be the perfect gift for the procrastinating yet thoughtful shopper. 
     "I'm sorry sir, but we don't carry the coupons," the girl at the register replied.  "How about a Conoco gift card."
     "Will it work at the Pleasant Grove Harts?" I asked.  She looked confused.  I walked away.  Jilane treated us all to Big Chills before continuing our shopping quest.  There's something to be said about a nice tall refreshing soda to calm a Christmas shopper's shattered nerves.      The parking lot of the Lehi Kneaders Bakery was 3/4th full.  That was a good sign; our vigor and determination was restored.  We entered the store with Lisa's $50, ready to buy. The store's shelves were heavily picked over. The vultures had already been leaving nothing but bone and sinew for the rest of us last minute shoppers. We found a few overpriced French puffs and pastries along with an assortment of sourdough breads and the like, but the delicacies we wanted were long gone. "Do you have any pumpkin bread with chocolate chips?" I asked a middle aged woman in black with the flour dusted apron and Kneader's name tag. 
     "Dear, we sold out at 7:30 this morning. You've left it a bit too late," she answered as she pulled the sign off the shelf.  I could tell I wasn't the first to ask her that by the tone of her voice and the extra force she used to take down a simple velcro sign advertising one of their signature products (a product they should never sell out of). 
     Jilane gave me the look.  "We're going to Smiths."
     "Its a mad house there," the man next to us in line.  
     "Another contribution to our festive mood," I replied.  
     "Let's go."  Jilane was out the door as she spoke. 
     I started to say "BahHumbug," but stopped. I remembered that Kneader's keeps bread samples at the cash register. "I'll teach them to be sold out of pumpkin bread with chocolate chips," I thought as I bypassed everyone else in line to get to the register.  I reached around a customer waiting for her credit card to be returned and took a couple slices of sourdough bread.  "Humbug," was my verbal tip for their unremarkable service.
     Smith's Food and Drug was the next stop on our Holiday Quest.  Happily we found the goodies we needed for the family party.  I wandered the store while Jilane did some of her other last minute shopping.  I must have been a pathetic sight - you know, the guy who puts his shopping off until the last minute.  Several clerks stopped what they were doing and asked if they could help me find something.  "How about an end to Christmas?" I replied. They thought I was cute.  Cute wasn't the look or feel I was trying to give off. 
     Our last stop was the Pleasant Grove Harts.  They didn't have the drink coupons either. I purchased a gift card and called it quits.  We were done for the day.  I got home, turned on the computer and printed a series of Amazon.com gift cards for everyone.  Why hadn't I thought of that earlier?  It was quick and painless.   I've made a new holiday partner - Amazon and Victor Williamson - friends for life.

Corlis sent me a few pictures of our Williamson great uncles and aunts I'd like to share with you today.

First, the Relationship Chart

Relationship Chart

George Matthew Williamson (1834-1928) and Margaret Ann Willis (1835-1921)
to their children
Abraham, Benjamin, Ella, George, James, Selina, William Jonathan, Matthew, Lucy Ann, Thomas, Samuel, Walter, Archer, Bertha, Ralph

William Jonathan Williamson (1858-1934) married Effie Helen Victor (1867-1944)
to their children
Ima Della, Vinnie, Inez, Lillie Ethel, Josie Elvery, Emmett, Walter, Charles, Maurice
Charles is my Grandfather, father to my dad Charles Ray.



Emmett Williamson's High School Graduation Picture


Great Uncle Emmett Williamson and wife Laura's Wedding Picture 



Emmett and Laura's anniversary picture taken in the 1960's



Great Uncle Maurice and soon to be wife Josie taken in 1935 or 1936

Maurice and Josie's wedding picture taken June 7, 1937


               

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Our 8th Great Grandparents Died at Sea on their Voyager to the New World

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Today we read about our 8th Great Grandparents Johann Valentin Laux and Anna Catharina Ruehl


Relationship Chart


Johann Valentin Laux (1658 - 1710)
is your 8th great grandfather
daughter of Johann Valentin Laux
daughter of Elisabetha Catharina Lauck
son of Magdalena Schauer
son of Henry Fiddler
son of Abraham Fiddler
daughter of Heinrich (Henry) Fiddler
son of Eldora Elizabeth Fiddler
daughter of Walter Edwin Pierce
daughter of Violet Mae Pierce
You are the son of Luella Mattson - (not you?)


Their Story

Johan Valentine Laux and Anna Catherine (Ruehl) Ruhl
     This family lived in was in Hesse Darmstadt, now a part of Hesse Nassau, in the area of the old town of Wallau. Wallau in what was called "The Palatine" in Germany.  After the Wars of King Louis XIV this area along the Rhine was totally devastated and starvation was a reality. King Louis the XIV was upset with this group of people and worked to destroy them.  Johan Valentine and family went with 30,000 other Palatines to London in 1708 and 1709.  The Queen had invited these German Protestants to live in England's American Colonies.  Some of these people ended up being sent to Ireland and others were returned to the ruined area of Rhine.  
     In 1708 Valentine and his family were sent to Limerick, Ireland per church records at Wallau.  At first he was not included in a group being allowed to go to the American Colonies.  As it turned out, Johan Valentine along with  his wife and children were among 4,000 Palatines that left on one of 10 ships from England on Christmas Day 1709 for the American Colonies. These people were destitute and looking for a new home and opportunity. 
      The ship arrived in New York on June 14, 1710, but it was not without casualties.  Among the 4,000 Palatines who set sail for America, seventeen hundred died at sea.  Both Johan Valentine and his wife Catherine were among almost half of the passengers on this voyage who died at sea  A number of their children did arrive in New York and among them was our ancestor Elisabeth Catarina (Laucks) Laux The hardship of the journey would not end here.  Problems continued into the next generation of our family that arrived in America. 


From THE LAUX OR LOUCKS FAMILY from web site (318) the Laux history is described.

The German home of the Laux family was in Hesse Darmstadt, now a part of Hesse Nassau, in the neighborhood of the ancient town of Wallau.
This area is called the Palatinate, which was the garden spot of Germany. However, the Thirty Year's War and the Wars of King Louis XIV had ravaged and desolated the palatinate of the Rhine. Where once were fields of grain and vineyards and contented villages, nothing was left but the blackened ruins of cities, towns and hamlets. Famine and pestilence was prevalent.

To flee from these horrors became the thought of thousands, who had given up any hope of ever seeing Germany the abode of peace again  where men might reconstruct homes, rear families and make a living.  Also, the Wars of King Louis the XIV had been directed particularly against the Palatinate because it was the home of thousands of his Protestant subjects, who'd fled from his tyranny, both before and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His desire was to see them completely destroyed, which he almost accomplished. In 1708 and 1709 30,000 Palatines left the valley of the Rhine and went to London where the kind-hearted English Queen Anne had invited "the distressed Protestants of Germany to make homes in her American Colonies.
Addition Information fits in well here

Beginning the Voyage
     The Palatines built rafts of logs to sail down the Rhine to Rotterdam. This was a voyage that would take them 4 - 6 weeks. There were fees and tolls to be paid, but often they were provided with food and money and clothing by pious countrymen. They worried constantly about being stopped and detained or turned back by the authorities. 
     While waiting for the English ship/sloop, one such vessel was the H.M.S. Drake, to cross the North Sea and English Channel, they camped outside of Rotterdam. The encampment outside Rotterdam was miserable. The shacks they made, covered with reeds, were the only shelter they had from the elements. The Burogmaster of Rotterdam took pity on them and appropriated 750 guilders for distribution among the destitute. Meanwhile, The British government employed three Anabaptist Dutch merchants, Hendrik van Toren, Jan van Gent and John Suderman, to supervise the loading and sailing of the emigrants to England. 
     The Palatines arrived in increasing numbers in Holland at the rate of nearly a thousand per week. On June 14, 1709, James Dayrolle, British resident at the Hague, informed London that if the British government continued to give bounty to the Palatines and encourage their migration, half of Germany would be on their doorstep. The immigrants were coming so fast it was impossible to care for them. So the British tried to turn back many Palatines, especially the Catholics, and by late July refused to honor their commitments to support the German arrivals. Many of those arriving, if not sent back, made their way to England by private charitable contribution or at their own expense. These people would most likely not have been catalogued so no record of their passage, except possibly a passenger list would exist. The Palatines would arrive in London and await a ship to cross the Atlantic in Blackheath settlement. The British government issued 1,600 tents for their use at encampments formed at Blackheath, Greenwich and Kensington, Tower Ditch and other areas. 
     The Palatines arriving in England beginning in May 1709 continued to have problems sustaining themselves. Some Palatines made small wooden toys to sell; some were reduced to begging, a task usually carried out by the married women. Many children born in the encampments died. Marriages and baptisms taking place in the encampments are registered at St. Nicholas Church in England. The longer the Palatines waited in England, the worse their condition became. They had to depend on alms and charity to survive. At first, the people of London were sympathetic, but as time went on the poor of London regarded them as competition for food and reduced the scale of their wages. Shopkeepers feared that their wares would not be sold with the continued presence of the unenfranchised Palatines. Mobs of people began attacking the Palatines with axes, hammers and scythes. The upper classes became alienated from them, fearing they were spreading disease and fever. Even Juries were prejudiced against them. 
     To alleviate the situation, the government began to ship groups of Germans back to Germany, many were sent to other parts of England where they were made day laborers and swineherds. Others were dispatched to Ireland, the Americas and British held Caribbean islands. The disbursement of the Palatines depended on British evaluation of the need to expand a Protestant presence in the British domain.   Source


Among the group of Palatines were three cousins, Phillip, Nicholas and Valentine Laux and their families. Of these suffering, starving and almost naked Palatines many were sent back to the Rhine in a heart-broken condition. Several thousand were sent to Ireland where they made homes in the County of Limerick. Thousands more perished at sea while on shipboard from fevers and lack of food and drink.

Among four thousand Palatines which left England in ten vessels on Christmas Day in 1709 were Phillip, Nicholas and Valentine Laux and their families. After a perilous voyage of nearly six months, they arrived in New York on June 14, 1710. Of the four thousand who left England, seventeen hundred died at sea. Among them were Valentine Laux and his wife.The remaining 2300 were encamped in tents on Nutting Island, now known as Governor's Island.

In the late autumn about fourteen hundred were taken to Livingston Manor, about one hundred miles up the Hudson River. The widows, sickly men and orphaned children remained in New York where they were treated shamefully. The children were taken from the remaining parent and were arbitrarily apprenticed by Governor Hunter to the citizens of New York and New Jersey. Many of these orphans never saw their fathers or mothers again.
Arriving at Livingston Manor were Phillip and Nicholas Laux. Also,Valentine's four children--Johann Jacob, Abraham, Elizabeth Catharina & Elizabeth Christina Laux--ended up there. Valentine's oldest son, Johann Jacob Laux, who'd married Anna Elisabeth Stemler 29 Oct. 1709 at Wallau, died there prior to 24 June 1711. His widow md. (2) 26 June 1711 at West Camp, Livingston Manor, New York THOMAS EHMANN, widower of Schornbach in Wurtenburg, Germany.

Since it cost Queen Anne a considerable amount of money to send the impoverished Palatines to the American Colonies, the emigrants were  expected to reimburse the government for the 10,000 pounds they'd spent getting them there. The government set up a contract with them to manufacture naval stores, such as making tar, pitch and raising hemp in America. However, the plan proved to be a failure, for the forests and soil in that region were not adapted to the production of naval stores. Thus, the condition of the Palatines again became desperate for the necessities of life.
Still the Palatines were men of honor and were willing to carry out the terms of their contract, but in a region where their labors would be rewarded by sure returns. Also, they showed their loyalty to Queen Anne by enlisting in the military expedition (French & Indian War--also called Queen Anne's War from 1709-1713) against Canada in 1711. One-third of their able-bodied men served in that campaign with the promise that they would receive wages the same as the other soldiers and that their families would be taken of while they were gone. Also, the arms they carried and fought with would be given to them on their return. After serving with great bravery and credit in this expedition, in which quite a few of them lost their lives, the survivors returned home to find their families in a famished condition. No food had been given to them by the Colonial Governor Hunter as he'd promised during their absence. Despite the government's promises made when they enlisted, the rifles they carried during the battles were also taken away from them.

Knowing that they had been unjustly wronged and mistreated, the Germans remembered that, while they'd been waiting in London for transportation to the American Colonies, a group of Indians from the Mohawk Valley, who pitied their forlorn condition, told them they could have lands in Schoharie when they came to America. Remembering this, they petitioned Governor Hunter, when he visited their village, if they could settle in Schoharie on the lands promised them by the Indians.. In a great fury, he insolently refused, saying, "Here is your land where you must live and die."

Determined to break away from the injustices inflicted on them and from the spot where nothing but treachery and starvation seemed eminent if they remained, one hundred and fifty families, among them Phillip Laux's family, made their preparations late in the year 1712 and started for Schoharie, about sixty miles northwest of Livingston Manor. With their women and little children, they had to make their way through a roadless wilderness without horses to draw or carry their belongings. So they harnessed themselves to crudely constructed sledges on which they loaded their baggage, children and the sick and then dragged them the best they could through the snow which covered the region they traveled through. Often they encountered long stretches of snow three feet deep. After three weeks of much hardship and suffering from exposure to the intense cold, they reached their destination.
After their arrival there, famine stared them in the face and, had it not been for the charity of the friendly Indians, who showed them where to gather edible roots and herbs, all of them would have perished. But their indomitable courage and energy enabled them to survive their dreadful plight and a year later they had made improvements on their land and had houses to live in.

For the next ten years, more Germans left Livingston Manor for the Schoharie Valley where they flourished. This caused vindictive animosity by Governor Hunter and his associates at Albany, so they set out to destroy what the Germans had accomplished. Due to defective titles cunningly contrived by unscrupulous land agents, the Germans lost their lands and improvements. Once more the victims of injustice, the Germans left the scene of their unrequitted labors to found new, and this time, permanent homes in more hospitable regions, the majority going to the Mohawk Valley where they soon became prosperous and where their descendants are found today. Among them are many of the descendants of Phillip Laux.
As for the German families who remained at Livingston Manor, they endured the hardships the governor inflicted upon them. But that
didn't keep them from trying to better themselves. When they heard Sir William Keith, Baronet and governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, extole the opportunities in his province as well as the protection afforded the pioneers, they were willing to risk their lives and property to locate within the borders of Pennsylvania.

So, in 1773 thirty-three families made the dangerous trip to Pennsylvania. Led by a friendly Indian, they started out with their meager household goods packed on horses or on their backs and headed over an Indian trail for the headwaters of the Susquehanna River in southern New York. They traveled over mountains, valleys and through forests until they reached the headwaters of the Susquehanna River. Here they constructed rafts upon which they placed their women and children and household goods. Under the most thrilling and adventurous experiences, they floated down the river for about two hundred miles to the mouth of Swatara Creek (south of Harrisburg, Pa.). Here they met the men who'd driven their cattle and horses along the river bank.
From the Swatara, they followed its windings until they reached the beautiful New Lebanon Valley and came to the source of the Tulpehocken Creek. (Tulpehocken is an Indian word that means "Land of Turtles.") This beautiful stream winds through the valleys and among the hills for seventy-five miles and empties into the Schuylkill. It was along this stream and in the northwest section of what's now called Tulpehocken Township that the Germans settled.

Five years later, more German families migrated from New York to the Tulpehocken settlement. Among these were Abraham Laux, Elizabeth Catharine Laux and her husband, Michael Schauer, and Elizabeth Christina Laux and her husband, John Van Hoosen. In German the surname is spelled LAUX, but the English interpreted it as Loucks or Laucks, which is the way it's spelled today in the United States.
JOHANN VALENTINE LAUX, the father of Elizabeth Christine Laux, was born at Wallau, Hessna-Darmstadt, Prussia (now Germany), the son of
Hans Laux and Anna Catharina Ruhl, the daughter of Henrich Ruhl and Elizabeth Schneider, the daughter of Lorentz Schneider of Medenbach. 
Hans Laux and Anna Catharine Ruhl were md. 8 Nov. 1681 at Wallau. Wallau is 10 kilometers south-east of Weisebaden, Germany. Although the church books begin in 1658, most of them are in poor condition and some are partially destroyed.


According to the church records of Wallau, Hans Laux and Anna Catharina Ruhl had the following children :

1. Jacob Laux, confirmed as the son of the late Hans Laux in 1667. He md. 8 Jan. 1678 Elisabetha Margreta Stiglitz at Wallau.
2. JOHANN VALENTINE LAUX, confirmed as the son of the late John Laux in 1672 at the age of 13 in Wallau, md. 8 Nov. 1681 at Wallau Hesse- Darmstadt, Prussia (now Germany) ANNA CATHARINA RUHL, who was confirmed in 1670 as the daughter of Henrich Ruhl & Elisabeth Schneider.

A note in the Wallau church records states that Velten Laux with his wife and four children went to Ireland in 1708 because they couldn't
go to the New Land.
According to the records of Wallau, JOHANN VALENTIN~ LAUX and his wife, ANNA CATHARINE RUHL, had the following children:
1. Johann Jacob Laux, chr. as Johan Jacobum 5 Apr. 1683 at Wallau; md. 29 Oct. 1709 at Wallau Anna Elizabeth Stemler;  d. before 24 June 1711.
2. (daughter) Laux, chr. at Wallau & d. 19 Jan. 1685 at Wallau.
3. Elisabetha Margaretha Laux, chr. 21 Dec. 1686 Wallau; bur. 20 June 1690 at Wallau.
4. Johann Reinhardt Laux, chr. 12 Trin., 1689 at Wallau.  NFI
5. Johann Abraham Laux, chr. Dom. Invocavit. 1691  Wallau; confirmed at Wallau in 1702, aged 15 yrs; md.
Marie Catherine Becker in 1710 in New York.
6. Johann Michael Laux, chr. 5 June 1694 Wallau; d. 19 Nov. 1695.
+7. Elisabeth Catharine Laux, chr. 7 Oct. 1696 at Wallau; md. Johann Michael Schauer in 1717.
8. Elisabeth Christina Laux, chr. abt. 1700 at Wallau. Her baptism record isn't found in the badly damaged church books. She md. 11 Apr. 1720 Johannes Van Hoesen at East
Camp, Albany, New York.
+(7) ELISABETH CATHARINE LAUX OR LOUCKS, was chr. 7 Oct. 1696 at
Wallau, HessnaDarmstadt, Prussia (now Germany), the daughter of Johann Valentine Laux & Anna Catharina Ruhl; bur. 17 Sept. 1772; md. abt. 1717 in Albany Co., N.Y., JOHANN MICHAEL SCHAUER or Shower, chr. 30 May 1699 at Massenbach, three kilometers north of Schwaihern Germany, the son of Michael & Magdalena Schawerin. He left a will  dated 17 Nov. 1771 and probated 26 Aug. 1772 in Berks Co., Pa. They had the following children:

 1. Johann Adam Schauer; md. (1) unknown &
    (2) 16 June 1748 Elisabeth Koch; will dated 27 June 1762 & probated 21 Aug. 1762.
 2. Elisabetha Schauer, chr. 1 Feb. 1720 Tar Boss; chr,. Loonenburg.
+3. Catharina Schauer; md. 30 Aug. 1743 at Heidelberg - Henrich Frey.
 4. Magdalena Schauer; md. 13 June 1744 Johann Henrich Fiedler (Fitler).
 5. Anna Maria Schauer, chr. 19 Nov. 1730 at Heidelberg. NFI
 6. Maria Catharina Schawer; named in father's will.
 7. Anna Christina Schawer; named in father's will.
 8. Ephrosina Schawer; named in father's will.
 9. Sybilla Schawer; named in father's will.
10. Susanna Schawer; named in father's will.
11. Eva Schawer; named in father's will. 
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