admin Pioneers of Newburgh, N. Y.
The settlement of what subsequently became the town and then the city of Newburgh, N. Y., on the west bank of the Hudson river, was made in 1709 by a company of immigrants from the Palatinate of the Rhine. This company, driven from their homes by the wars which had devastated the Palatinate during the reign of Louis XIV, reached London in the spring of 1708, and were sent to New York by Queen Anne in September of that year. From New York they were removed, in the spring of 1709, to the district then described as Quassek creek and Thanskamer. The company included the following families :
1. Joshua Kockerthal, minister, aged 39; his wife Sibylle Charlotte, aged 39, and their children, Benigna Sibylle, aged 10, Christian Joshua, aged 7, and Susanna Sibylle, aged 3 years.
2. Lorentz Schwisser, husbandman and viner, aged 25 ; his wife Anna Catharine, aged 26, and their child Johannes, aged 8.
3. Fleinrich Rennau, stocking-maker and husbandman, aged 24; his wife Johanna, aged 26, and their children, Lorentz, aged 2 years, and Heinrich, aged 5 months. Also, Susanna and Maria Johanna Liboschain, sisters of his wife, aged respectively 15 and 10 years.
4. Andries Volck, husbandman and viner, aged 30; his wife Ann Catharine, aged 27, and their children, Maria Barbara, aged 5, George and Hieronemus, aged 4, and Anna Gertrude, aged 1 year.
5. Michael Weigand, husbandman, aged 52; his wife Anna Catharine, aged 54, and their children, Anna Maria, aged 13, Tobias, aged 7, and George, aged 5 years.
6. Jacob Webber, husbandman and viner, aged 30 ; his wife Anna Elizabeth, aged 25, and their children, Eve Maria, aged 5, and Eve Elizabeth, aged 1 year.
7. Johannes Jacob Plettel, husbandman and viner, aged 40; his wife Ann Elizabeth, aged 29, and their children, Margaret, aged 10, Anna Sarah, aged 8, and Catharine, aged 3 years.
8. Johannes Fischer, smith and husbandman, aged 27 ; his wife Maria Barbara, aged 26, and their son Andries, aged 2 weeks.
9. Melchior Gulch, carpenter, aged 39; his wife Anna Catharine, aged 43, and their children, Anna Catharine, aged 12, and Heinrich, aged 10 years.
10. Isaac Turck, husbandman, aged 23 years, unmarried.
11. Peter Rose (or LaRoss), clothweaver, aged 34; his wife Johanna, aged 37, Mary Wierman, his mother-in-law, aged 45, and Catharine, her child, aged 2 years.
12. Isaac Feder, husbandman and viner, aged 33 ; his wife Catharine, aged 30, and their son Abram, aged 2 years.
13. Daniel Fiere, husbandman, aged 32; his wife, Anna Maria, aged 30, and their children, Andrew, aged 7, and Johannes aged 6 years.
14. Herman Schuneman, clerk, aged 28, unmarried.
The land patent which had been promised to these emigrants was not issued until 1719, and by that time several changes had occurred in the company. Johannes Jacob Plettel died on the passage to America, and his widow married George Lockstead; Joshua Kockerthal also died; Peter Rose removed to Pennsylvania and transferred his interest to one Burger Meynders, a blacksmith; Lorentz Schwisser, Isaac Turck, Heinrich Rennau, and Daniel Fiere removed elsewhere, and Christian Henricke and Peter Johnson or Jansen had been added to the company. These changes were recognized by the government, and the patent was issued to the then occupants, viz. : Lot No. 1 to George Lockstead and Anna Elizabeth his wife, Margaret, Anna, Sarah, and Catharine, their children, 250 acres – the interest being originally held by Johannes Jacob Plettel ; whose wife and children became his heirs ; No. 2 to Michael Weigand and Anna Catharine his wife, and Tobias, George, and Anna Maria, their children, 250 acres ; No. 3 to Hermam Schuneman and Elizabeth his wife, 100 acres; No. 4 to Christian Henricke, 100 acres ; No. 5 to Sibylle Charlotte Kockerthal, the widow of Joshua Kockerthal, and to Christian Joshua, Benigna Sibylle, and Susanna, Sibylle, their children, 250 acres ; No. 6 to Burger Meynders, 100 acres ; No. 7 to Jacob Webber and Ann Elizabeth his wife, and Eve Maria and Eve Elizabeth, their children. 200 acres; No. 8 to Johannes Fischer and Maria Barbara his wife, 100 acres ; No. 9 to Andries Volck and Anna Catharine his wife, and George, Hieronemus, Maria Barbara, and Anna Gertrude, their children, 300. acres.
SOURCE: Vol, I, No 4, January 27, 1912 Genealogy: a journal of American ancestry