The lower Palatinate (Unterpfalz), the division with which we are chiefly concerned was made up of territory on both sides of the Rhine, embraced roughly within the space marked off by the cities of Mainz, Norms, Heilbronn, Landau, and Zweibrucken. It included the Electoral Palatinate with Heidelberg, and for a time Mannheim, as its capital; and also the Principality of Simmern, the Duchy of Zweibrucken (Deux Pont). The first Count Palatine ruled from 945 until 996, and although the office was not hereditary it appears to have been held mainly by his descendants until the death of Count Herman III in 1155. In ll55 the German king, Frederick I, appointed his stepbrother Conrad as Count Palatine. In 1214, on the death of the reigning count, the Palatinate was given by the German King Frederick II to Otto, the infant son of Louis I, Duke of Bavaria. The Palatinate was ruled by Louis of Bavaria on behalf of his son until 1228, when it passed to Otto, who ruled until his death in 1353.

     When the possessions of the house of Wittelbach were founded, a dispute arose over the exercise of the electoral vote, and the question was not settled until 1356 when the Golden Bull bestowed the privilege upon the Count Palatine of the Rhine who exercised it until 1623. The Palatinate was divided into four parts among the sons of the German King Rupert in 1410, but in 1559, on the extinction of the senior line, Frederick, Count Palatine of Simmern, succeeded to the Palatinate becoming the elector Frederick III.

     This Frederick III was the elector who introduced Calvinism in the Palatinate and made it the established religion. Under his direction, the Heidelberg catechism was drawn up in l563. He also aided the French Huguenots and extended his protection to Protestant refugees of every sect, especially to the Protestants of France. He was often called by his admirers the Alfred the Great of the Palatinate. Under his kindly rule the Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Anabaptists flourished, notwithstanding the fact that severe Calvinism was the theology of the established or reformed church.

     During the Wars of Louis XIV, the Palatinate, one of the richest and most fertile lands in Germany, was mercilessly devastated by the French armies in 1674 and 1689. In 1685 the Simmern lines died out and was succeeded by the collateral line of Neuberg whose members were of the Catholic faith. This led to the emigration in 1704-10, of a large number of Protestant inhabitants (estimated at 13,000) to England. These went at special invitation of Queen Anne, who was seeking desirable subjects to train in British ways and later send to her colonies in America. In England these people from the Palatinate were pitiable objects of English charity and at the same time creators of serious discontent among the British poor; for bread was scarce and commanding double price, while these foreigners were supported by public collections and by the Queen. It is not surprising that they are so often spoken of as 'the poor Palatines'. But these are the words with which Lord Macaulay describes them:

     "Honest, laborious men, who had once been thriving Burghers of Mannheim and Heidelberg, or who had cultivated the vine on the banks of the Neckar and the Rhine. Their ingenuity and their diligence could not fail to enrich any land which should afford them asylum".

     In England these people lived in tents from the early summer of 1709 until they sailed in mild weather in January 1710. From there a large body crossed over to Ireland, while others went to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1710 between 3000 and 4000 Palatines settled in Columbia and Ulster Counties, New York, whence many removed to Montgomery and Herkimer Counties to the region around Worcester, Massachusetts, and to Pennsylvania. For more than a century these good people continued to come to the United States, and a colony of Palatines settled in New Jersey as late as the 1850's, finding there some who had come a hundred years earlier.

     Baron Christopher von Graffenreidt and Ludwig Michel who had been attracted to North Carolina by their previous association with the now deceased Duke of Albermarle, found these 'Poor Palatines' in England intermingled with Swiss and people from several of the German provinces. He and Michel were looking for a profitable speculation, and ready to grapple with this problem for a consideration. It was understood that the Queen would not only assume the expense of their transportation, but also bestow upon them considerable assistance. This really took place and this last sum amounted to 14,000 pounds sterling.

     Other advantages and promises gilded the enterprise. Between von Graffenreidt and the Lords Proprietors was drawn up an elaborate contract which still exists. His pay was five and a half pounds apiece for their comfort on arrival and for their support for a year in their new homes. Young people, healthy and laborious and of all kinds of occupations were selected, and ample provision was made for their comfortable voyage in well-equipped ships. Von Graffenreidt appointed three directors, notables from North Carolina then in London.

     In the group then were French Protestants from Guyenne and from Gascony, a few French Swiss, German Swiss, and Germans from beyond the Palatinate. One of these young Germans was a son of August Hermann Franck, Professor of Oriental languages (changed to a professor-ship of theology in 1698) at Halle, a pupil of Spender and the teacher of Zinzendorff. Professor Francke was a pietist preacher, whose activity however, took the practical direction of founding, endowing and organizing schools for the religious training of the poor neglected children of his city and its surrounding country.

     Nor did Francke overlook their more material needs of a practical sort. He set up a printing office for his boys and opened an apothecary. He had them instructed in the natural sciences and in their native language. He gave them systematic physical exercises, and had them instructed in manual trades. All his foundations exist at the present time (- speech given in 1929 -), and several thousand pupils annually receive instructions in the buildings grouped around the Francke Platz in Halle. A bronze statue of the founder adorns the center of the square.

     The pietist preacher had been in correspondence with Cotton Mather about the chance of his son Johann - already a man - might have to make a man of himself in New England; and Johann was now in London ready to sail for Boston, but fate decreed otherwise. Hans saw among the poor Palatines a beautiful girl named Sevil Muller and New Bern, rather than Boston, became the destination of John Martin Francke and Sevil Muller was his destiny. Sevil was the daughter of Jacob and Katherine Muller who came with their children to New Bern from the Palatinate in 1710.

     Francke had with him his surveying instruments, and he brought along many small wares that he thought might be useful to colonists. He went up one bank of Trent River and down the other, starting out with his surveyor's compass on his shoulder and his peddler's pack on his back. He returned to New Bern in less than two years., with a fine estate called Little Germany not far from the head of the river, with land on both sides of the Trent, and with his pockets full of ready money. He was immediately elected a member of the General Assembly of 1712; and returned to New Bern as a Justice of the Peace. His sons took wives from the best that the colony afforded; and. his wife's brothers, the Mullers - Jacob, John and Phillip, have also had an honorable part in building up North Carolina and other states.

This article was originally published in the Kinston, NC Daily Free Press on Oct. 11, 1929 and is based on an address by a Dr. Collier Cobb of the University of NC to an annual meeting of the Society of Descendants of the Palatines.