The Irish Palatines and the Methodist Church in North America: Irish Origins

Robert Fizzell
 
How could a diverse group of german-speaking migrants become a unified community that propagated an English-based religion? In 1709, when our ancestors left the Palatinate, they came from many different villages in different principalities with different religions and possibly even speaking different dialects. It is interesting to explore what it might have been about these diverse german people that they became the ambassadors of one religious perspective that developed in England, and was based in the English Established Church. By reviewing a bit of their background, I hope to show that they were well prepared to adopt and spread a religious innovation.

There were many factors which converged to lead to this large migration, including the terribly cold winter and rumors that the Queen of England would give them land in the New World. As farmers of vines and orchards, the families were left without resources when the terrible winter froze and killed their plants. Also, they came from an area that has been ravished by warfare. It was an area in which the Protestant forms of Christianity had taken root, but where no form of Protestantism dominated. While it was advantageous to claim that they were escaping religious persecution, there is limited evidence for this. 

It is significant that this was an area that experienced large population changes in association with the 30 Years War. Many of the Palatine families relocated here from across Europe during the war and cannot be found in the Rheinland earlier than about 1648 when that war ended.

When dealing with large scale migrations, it is tempting to make generalizations based on the condition which they were leaving. However, we must note that no matter how bad the conditions might have been in the Rheinland, 13,000 people, perhaps 3000 families is a small portion of the population. My ancestor and his family were the only ones from his village to leave. In general, there are two things about these families we must note. First, there were at most only a few from any one village. Second, they did come from villages. While there are several large cities within the Rhein valley, we find few urban dwellers among the migrants. So, while there may have been good reason to leave, only a few peasant families chose to do so. These, then, are clearly unique individuals. While there are a few letters and journals that talk about the decision to leave, it is safe to say that these persons were more ambitious, more risk-takers and probably less emotionally tied to their roots. These were special people. And, as noted above, many of these families had possibly been in this area for only a generation or two since the Thirty Years War.

The expectation of the Palatines was that they would be shipped to the American colonies and be given land there. Unfortunately, the shipping to America was not available. Rather, they were settled into camps, warehouses and other temporary accommodations around London while they waited for shipping. At first, they were accepted as poor suffering refugees. But as they came to number over 13,000 and as spring turned to summer and fall was on the horizon, the novelty wore off for the local English citizens, who became hostile; and conditions in the camps began to deteriorate. The government was pressured to remove these Palatines as quickly as they could. 

Several of the English landlords in Ireland saw this as an opportunity to begin to populate Ireland with more Protestants and to get the government to support these people as cheap labor. They offered to let the Palatines settle on their land as tenant farmers if Parliament would provide substantial financial aid. By spring of 1710, 821 families had been sent to Ireland. But many soon  found that they were treated very poorly by the landlords and would not receive the land, tools and rent subsidies they expected. Many left their new settlements, some going to live on their own around Dublin, others going back to England or even back to the continent.

Ultimately, most of the migrants who stayed in Ireland ended up on one estate in three villages in County Limerick. The landlord, Sir Thomas Southwell, treated these 103 families well, gave them land at reduced rent for “three lives,” and provided tools and seed to help them get started. While he fully expected that Parliament would reimburse him for these expenses, he did not evict the Palatines when Parliament failed to provide the expected funds. 

Centered near the ancient town of Rathkeale, the three Palatine villages on the Southwell Estate were known as Ballingrane, Courtmatrix and Killeheen. Some families formed a small settlement near the landlord’s castle called Castlematrix. They built cottages of field stone set with mortar, with thatched roofs. On their 8 acres per family, they established gardens, apple orchards and fields of flax and hemp to make linen and course cloth. Sir Thomas Southwell had set up a linen mill from which he hoped the Palatines would generate some income for him. This never was particularly successful, however. The orchards provided them with apples for the cider presses which were a common part of most homesteads. They raised some poultry and livestock, and maintained a mixed agriculture of wheat, potatoes and a variety of vegetables. While the Catholic tenants in Ireland had to devote a substantial portion of their land to raising flax which was given to the landlord for rent, the Palatines paid less rent and had more land for diverse agriculture. Travelers noted that the Palatines were successful farmers, commenting on their neatness and their industrious character.

These settlements formed a largely isolated culture of German-speaking protestants among Gaelic-speaking Catholics. They were able to maintain their own culture and language for about three generations, but seemed to generally have a peaceful relationship with their Catholic neighbors. They brought their german sense of community organization with them, electing a burgomaster and maintaining a commons for grazing and for a rotation of cultivated land among the families. 

In spite of these commonalities, these were communities with a newly created culture. The settlers probably came from slightly different cultural traditions in their communities of origin. They may well have spoken different dialects. Now they were thrown together in Ireland and forced to become unified communities. The new location offered a harsher climate and poorer land than they had known in the Rheinland. Having noted above that these were special people, we see here their ability to work together, innovate and meet obstacles. While many of their fellow immigrants had rejected the living conditions in Ireland, these determined settlers accepted what they were offered and made the best of it.

It is questionable as to how devoutly religious the Palatines were. Being a mixture of Lutheran and Calvinist, with perhaps a few recently converted Catholics, they may well have let religion play a less important role so as to maintain the sense of community. The early settlements did not build local churches, but there is some evidence of their having local preachers, and some did attend the nearby Church of Ireland in Rathkeale or Adare. King George, being german-speaking himself, saw to it that the Irish Palatines had german-speaking clergy. 

One particularly important individual in the early Palatine community was Philip Guier, who immigrated to Ireland as a child in 1709. He grew to become burgomaster, school teacher and local preacher in Ballingrane. In his school, he welcomed Catholic neighbors as well as local Palatines. By about 1750, he learned of Methodism and began preaching this perspective to the Palatine communities where it was well received. The communities built Methodist preaching houses as places where they could study Methodist teachings and hear the itinerant preachers. For regular worship, they continued with the Church of Ireland. In 1752, Philip Guier was appointed by the first Irish Methodist Conference to be the Methodist preacher to the Palatines.

Beginning in 1756 John Wesley visited the settlements of Palatines in Ireland at least 14 times, including visits to Ballingrane ten times. He was highly pleased by the acceptance of his message by the Irish Palatines and he noted, “An oath is rarely heard among them or a drunkard seen in their borders.” While his descriptions of the great devotion that the Palatines demonstrated were probably colored by his desire to feel his message had impact, it is clear that the teachings did lead to many Palatines taking Methodism quite seriously.
 
This community of German-speaking immigrants took to Wesley’s message as fitting their plain, simple and industrious life style in which personal responsibility was highly valued. That this was a community of people who had already shown themselves to be willing to modify their traditions was certainly an asset to such rapid adoption of the new teachings. Furthermore, their experience as a self-contained, democratic community, fit well with the Methodist practice of a communal religious experience. Wesley so impressed these people that artifacts of his visits are still preserved in their communities today. 

For a few generations, the Palatines continued to identify themselves as members of the Church of Ireland while maintaining “preaching houses” in their communities where they could follow the teachings of Wesley. Later, Methodist churches were built in the communities, and the separation from the Church of Ireland was complete. 

The lasting impact of Methodism can be seen still in the pride with which local Palatines treasure the symbols that mark the memory of Wesley’s visits. The Killeheen preaching house is gone, but the plot where it stood was rededicated in 2009. The gate from the preaching house yard is still preserved. In Ballingrane the home of Barbara Ruttle Heck is still occupied by the Ruttle family and the pear tree in their yard where Wesley preached is preserved. In the Embury-Heck Methodist Church, the horn that called people when Wesley came to visit hangs on the wall. Members of the Ruttle family will even demonstrate the use of the horn for visitors. And, the Methodist Church still serves the religious and social need of many of the modern Irish Palatines.
 
By the middle of the 18th Century, the Palatines were undergoing a major change. Their rents were being increased and their population had grown beyond the resources of their little villages. New settlements were founded on the estates of other British landlords. Wesley and his fellow Methodist preachers also visited these new settlements. Most significant for us, however, was one migrant group that left Ireland in 1760 and headed for New York. Among these adventuresome individuals was Barbara Ruttle Heck and her cousin Philip Embury.

From the evidence here, it is reasonable to assert that the Irish Palatines were a group of originally diverse people who, by their character and the experiences of their history, were able to come together to build a community and a culture. They were also fit by these things to adopt a new religion and become the loyal ambassadors of it. 

Sources for further study

Crook, William.  Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism.  London:  Hamilton, Adams and Co., 1866. 

Cooney, Dudley Levistone. This Plain, Artless, Serious People. Glenageary, 2000.

Jones Jr., Henry Z. The Palatine Families of Ireland. Second Edition. Picton Press, 1990.

Knittle, Walter Allen, Ph.D. Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration: A British Government Redemptioner Project to Manufacture Naval Stores. Philadelphia, 1937.

Lapp, Eula.  To Their Heirs Forever.   Belleville:  Mika Publishing Company, 1977.

O'Connor, Dr. Patrick.  People Make Places: The Story of the Irish Palatines. Oireacht Na Mumhan Books, 1989.

Spellissy, Sean and John O'Brien. Limerick The Rich Land. Spellissy-O’Brien, Ennis 1989.

The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (numerous editions).