| What were the origins of the families on the Loyal Judith of November 1740? Did Johannes Ley come alone or with his mother (remarried) or with another relative? |
| It appears from research I have been able to do so far that a large portion of the passengers of the Loyal Judith in its November 1740 run were from the Grafschaft Valdenz part of the Duchy of Zweibrucken in the Rhineland. The Palatine migrants of the mid 18th century did not leave unformly from across the Palatinate. The farming people who made up the bulk of the migrants were bound to the rulers of the local German principalities by feudal obligations that would persist for another century in Germany. Some rulers were more generous in allowing migration that others, and additionally the desire to move swept different parts of the Palatinate at different times. The Duchy of Zweibrucken was extensive having far flung parts inherited or conquered over the centuries from the Rhine to the Saar region and from the Moselle to the northern villages of what is now French Alsace. The Dukes of Zweibrucken inherited the Grafshaft Veldenz (area around Meissenheim and Alsenz south of Bad Kreuzach) in the late Middle Ages. Anne Kunselman Burgert translated the Zweibrucken manumission protocols of the 18th century and the areas correspinding to Veldenz (Meissenheim and Landsberg) Meissenheim 1740 Bischoff, Adam Oberhausen Dieterich, Isaac Bisterschied * Geib, Johann Heinrich Meddart Gerhard, Leonard Lettweiler * Haas, Johann Abraham Meddart * Hegener, Johann Peter Desloch Keller, Antoni Lettweiler * Knockerman, David Oberhausen Krieger, George Duchrodt Kuchler, Joseph Callbach * Mauer, Johann Adam Becherbach * Maurer, Adam Lettweiler * Schneider, Philip Odenbach ** Schuster (children of Philip) Oberhausen Theobold Jacob Meddart * Wolff, Johannes Gangloff * Zell, Johan Nicklaus Rehborn * Zimmerman, David Duchrodt Zimmerman, Gerhard Duchrodt Landsberg 1740 Bohn, Peter Tielman Unkenbach * Conrad, George Unkenbach * Conrading, Anna Catharina Unkenbach ** Grimm, Veltin (Valentine) Unkenbach * Hart, Ulerich Alsenz * Lindeman, Justus Unkenbach * Sornberger, Johann George Niedermoschel * Of these individuals, those with a double asterisk mark can be identified with individuals who were on board the Loyal Judith and those who have a double asterisk share a surname with an individual who was on the Loyal Judith (many died on these voyages and the head of the family starting out might not still be alive on arrival in Pennsylvania) The list of surviving male adult passengers of the Loyal Judity on November 25 1740 is More than half of the Meissenheim Manumitees and all of the Landsberg manumitees were on the Loyal Judith. |