Rhine River-eighteenth century- custom houses-GERMAN IMMIGRA

Well, at those custom houses (depending from where people came, they had to pass quite a few borders) they had to pay 'customs' = money for passing the border, for the goods they carried etc.

When you write, "sometimes getting released from the custom houses could take weeks", you certainly got this from a secondary or perhaps primary source.
It makes me bit wonder - but that could be connected more to political than to custom reasons, I think.

I remeber having read (online and published) a report about such a Rhine journey. I'll try to re.find it.

I could imagine that no-one here bothered about the health of immigrants - this seems to be more a subject for the authorities of the countries, where you immagrate to.

But I'll try to find out out about that, too.

RHINE RIVER
quite a few of the emigrants from palatine (germany : pfalz , not far from switzerland) went down the rhine river to the netherlands. while some shipped directly to north-america, others went to ireland first. from ireland many went to north-america later on, but some families also stayed in ireland and settled there. as far as the 'custom stations ' are concerned, have a look of a map of germany from the period of 1700 to 1870. you'll see that germany consisted of many small states. if a traveller wanted to pass through any of these states(and they usually had no choice if they wanted to get from A to B) they were required to pay 'customs duties' on their chattles. if you travel along the rhine river and its tributaries you will even today see many castles and fortresses built centuries ago. many of them were built to control the traffic on the river and 'collect' the duties. i understand that if travellers were unable to pay the duties, they were often required to perform work 'in lieu of' paying the monies. at other times adjoining states would not not allow travellers to enter their terrotory if there was an ooutbreak of disease in the other state, so travellers were forced to stay and wait for quarantine to be lifted. you can find some information on the 'palatines' in these google references. PALATINE-IRISH CONNECTION

hamburger,

thank you for your information. i wasn't aware that travelers also went to ireland before coming to america....i thought they went to england....it's interesting information.

i will also try to find a map of germany during the period you suggested. it is so difficult for me to imagine what it was like during the large palentine migration....i keep trying to picture it....i would really like to put myself there in the eighteenth century as an observer.

chris : did a bit of research for a friend last year. his family came with many others from palentine to ireland first. some then went to great britain before embarking on the journey to north-america. the group his family travelled with to ireland stayed in ireland for quite a few years - perhaps a shortage of money to pay for passage ? some eventually sailed for the united states; his ancestors sailed to canada were they settled in the renfrew area(eastern ontario - between toronto and ottawa). since many changed or anglicized the family names tracing has become rather difficult. his family name was originally MUELLER (umlaut) and now has become MILLAR (after being MILLER for a while). i'll see if i can find an old map of what eventually became GERMANY. good luck with your project. hbg

RHINE RIVER
chris : this is the best i can come up with in a quick search. CLICK it for enlargement. the different colours on the upper left card represent different 'fiefdoms' in the pre-germany of about 1800; you'll notice there are quite a few of them ! and each 'fiefdom' would likely have charged the traveller some money (custom duty, stamp duty etc.) for travelling through their territory - a nice racket, i'd say ! hbg MAP OF OLD GERMAN STATES

You should specify, too, what t meant by 'Palantine'.

'Palantine' was Bavarian quite a long time. However, it's not exactly that whta it today the state of "Rhineland-Palantine".

At about 1800, btw, there hadn't been lots of such 'fiefdoms': it was pretty all French along the River Rhine.

And at 1820, people hadn't to cross more than three or four borders at all.

Map of Germany 1812 (can be enlarged).

Some more perhaps interesting links:

'Pfalz' NOT 'Bavaria'

(Palatine) Museum of Emigration

WHAT'S NEW IN PALATINE GENEALOGY?

The German Palatinate

Found this on the web:
source

source: note No. 1358 in here

Historical Map of Rhenania-Palatinate 1789


Historical maps - Germany at the end of the 18th century

thanks guys for helping me out....looks like a lot of good information....i'll check it out and let you know how it goes.

i looked at the sites you gave me and found them informative, but had a bit of a problem looking at the maps....they were in german....i speak no german....sorry......wish i did.....especially since i am of german heritage.....so it was difficult for me to compare them to maps of today...i couldn't tell where borders and old german states were and what is there now....hope i explained my problem here clear enough....if not, i will try to clarify...thanks.

eventhough it was difficult for me to read the maps i was able to see how many german states there were.....one of the things i would like to know too.....is where exactly(from what town) did the immigrants begin their journey.....where was the first stop on the rhine?

did the travelers have to stop at custom houses in the netherlands as well? and i'm also assuming the netherlands during this time was called holland...is that correct?

i'm trying to get this all straight in my head.....places, and dates.....now, i hope my last question made sense also...if not, please let me know and i'll try to clarify.

btw.....the information about 26custom houses i found on google....it came from primary and secondary sources. i need a little more detail about the custom houses than what i've found in these sources.

i would like to paint a picture of what it may have looked like and/or experienced during the migration. can any of you help with that....or am i wanting something that may not be possible?

I really can't say, from the immigrants started - from the next harbour/landing place to their town/village I would think.

The first place to stop for customs? No idea about that, too - at the next border/custom house. (I could try to get a detailed map via my university's library, if you wish - which could be difficult, though, since I don't live that close to the Rhine that they had stored such.)

Maps in English should be in any better history atlas.

Holland was a former county of the Holy Roman Empire and, from 1579 to 1795 and a chief member of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. There are still two provinces in The Netherlands today, South and North Holland.
Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overijssel, Friesland, and Groningen formed in 1579 the Union of Utrecht and declared (1581) their independence: The United Provinces.
At the Congress of Vienna (1815) the former United Provinces and the former Austrian Netherlands were united to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Walter,

thank you for your feedback.....it has certainly given me something to think about.....as for the map...well, thank you very much for your offer about the map....but that's okay...somehow something will work out....i think part of my problem with this is that i was hoping for the information for what i'm writing by tomorrow....and have found that it's just not that easy to find.....soooo.....i will let it go...and make due with the information i have right now....and once i graduate in march....i will look further into the custom houses....i would think there would be books that mention them....wouldn't you?

anyways....thanks again for your information.
christine

re custom houses: I will try to find out some more info later today.

A quick check* resulted in nice pics for the beginning:

a (famous) custom house was the Palantine-Custom castle Kaub on the Rhine (there are a couple IN the Rhine as well):



a custom master:



the toll/custom by-law from 1555




*That site -google-translated - HERE

walter...thank you so much for the pixs....i have been trying to find pictures of them......this helps me so much....wow!! i really do appreciate it.

and thanks to everyone else for your suggestions and info....it has all been helpful.....now.....i've moved into the pennsylvania framework of my story and need your help...if you can.....please check out my new thread....pennsylvania-eighteenth century-philadelphia to lancaster.

any info you might have would be helpful....thanks.

Hi Christine,

I just happened to stumble onto your thread, from where, I have no idea!

I'm researching along the same lines you are, building a family heritage website for the Gutbrodt /Goodbread family. We came over in 1721 and I not only want to document the genealogy, but the history as well. I am studying the political climate and the culture of the Nordheim, Wurttemberg areas in the early 1700's.

I would love to work with you on this. I think we could help each other a lot! If you'd like to compare notes, contact me at [email protected].

Tracey
Boone, NC