Coming to America
The Moor and Hamm families
were the first to come to America as part of the Palatine Immigration of
1710. Richard Speed first appeared in 1758, more
than likely aboard a ship with other British militia who served in The Seven
Years War.
Prior to “The Seven Years
War” (as it was referred to in Europe) or the “French and Indian War” (as it
was referred to in America) entrepreneurs were developing the Hudson Valley of
Colonial New York. Two such developments influencing the Speed’s history in
America were The Manor Rensselaerswyck and The Manor Livingston.
Manors were vast land
estates occupied by tenants (mostly farmers.)
They were seen by the owners as an advantageous way to cultivate the land
and produce goods that could then be sold to England.
The town of Claverack (where
Richard first appears on a US Federal census) was once a part of “The Lower
Manor” of The Manor Rensselaerswyck. It was detached in 1704 when it came
under the direction of, Hendrick Van Rensselaer. This would have been about five
years prior to the Moors and Hamms coming to America.
The Manor Livingston
was created from land patents granted to Robert Livingston in 1686. Mr. Livingston was once
the secretary of the Manor Rensselaerswyck. He married Alida Schuyler, the widow of his former
employer. Alida inherited a vast fortune and it was probably due to this that
Robert was able to become one of the wealthiest landowners in colonial New York.
Governor Elect Robert Hunter of New York (along with the Earl of Sunderland) is
said to have sponsored the idea of sending the Palatines to the Hudson Valley
where they could be used to make stores for the British navy (namely tar and
pitch.) The area chosen for their camp had an abundant supply of trees necessary
for tar production. The Palatines
could also be used if necessary to act as a buffer against the French in Canada.
On September 29, 1710 Gov. Hunter of New York entered into an agreement with Mr.
Livingston (who was then the Commissioner of Indian Affairs) to purchase 6000
aches of land for the purpose of settling the German immigrants.
Richard’s wife Elizabeth
Moor (along with her parents) were in this group of immigrants who came from
Germany (via England) in 1710. Known as “The Palatine Immigration of 1710”
this group consisted mainly of poor families who had just emerged from one of
the worst winters of Germany’s history. Almost
as if seizing the opportunity, the British government took advantage of their
hardship by circulating the so-called “Golden
Book” which made New America seem irresistible to the destitute Germans.
Promised land and no taxes for seven years in return for their hard labor, these
impoverished people tired of being plundered by the French and being taxed
ruthlessly by the local jurisdiction, volunteered by the thousands to voyage to
the colonies in hopes of a new life. It is reported that of the 13,000 people
that fled to London in 1709 only a forth of them went on to New York, most were
sent back home or to other places. The trip from London to New York was a sad
and horrid journey filled with sickness, disease, and death.
Packed aboard eleven ships with poor sanitation facilities and
inappropriate food were 847 families (or about 2500 individuals).
Typhoid (called “ships fever”) broke out on the ships and about 470
people died on the voyage or within a month of landing at New York. Parents lost
their children and many children lost both parents.
Fear of disease prompted the New York City council to not allow the ships to dock at New York
mainland and demanded that the Palatines stay offshore on Governor’s Island.
Governor Hunter apprenticed some of the children to work in New York and he paid
their families for their services. His
records of these payments from 1710 to 1712 still exist today and are referred
to as “Hunter’s Subsistence Lists.” Sadly,
it is on this list that we find the Moor and Hamm families. Peter Hamm on Hunter
Lists #265 and Henrich Moor on Hunter Lists #516.
I doubt that the naval
stores program really got off the ground, and even if it did, it would have been
short lived. First, the entire naval stores program started to unravel when
James Bridger, who was apparently
the only knowledgeable person in the making of tar and pitch, was replaced by
Richard Sackett who knew little of the process. Then, in 1711, some of the
Palatines took part in an abortive British expedition against the French in
Canada. Add to this the fact that when the Whigs replaced the Tories the entire
project was censured by the new governing authority. By 1712, Gov Hunter had
lost his subsistence from the government and was then forced to stop his
subsistence to the Palatines. The
Palatines up to this point had been provided tools and other subsistence from
the program and now that the program was aborted, they were left to fend for
themselves, even their tools were taken away. Some purchased land from the
Indians only to end up in court litigation because the land no longer belonged
to the Indians. By 1715 when all the Palatine immigrants became naturalized they
had spread out over much of colonial New York. I am assuming that most of these
people became tenants of the manors in the area. It would have been hard to find
land that was not already claimed around the Hudson Valley.
Tenant farming was pretty
much a loosing proposition for the tenants. When the Palatines lost their
subsistence from England all the tools etc that were given to them were taken
away. With no money, no land, and no tools, the only option most of them had was
to sign a lease with the manor owners agreeing to pay them in produce from the
farm and timber cut from the land. Saving money on Livingston Manor would have
been hard with rules that made it illegal to bake your own bread, forcing the
tenants to purchase bread bake by the manor bakery. By the end of the lease they
had little money to purchase their own land and signing a new lease at a higher
rent was about their only option. They may have been free to worship as they
wish but the manor owner had a say as to what preacher would be allowed to
build a church on his land.
By
1766 (at a time when Richard Speed and Elizabeth were on Livingston Manor)
tempers of the tenants were getting short. Some manor owners were now wanting
cash in addition to produce and livestock and also wanting shorter leases. A
short lease meant that the tenant farmers had no hope of assuring their
descendants a place to live. There was a tenant rebellion in 1766, which
wasn’t very successful at the time, but I suppose it brought some awareness to
the plight of these poor people because by 1791 laws were being enacted that
gave the tenants the land that they were living on.
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