German Genealogical Movement Time Line
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Central European Time Line T P Miller Revised 9 Feb 2005 1400-1464 as the "nonconformists" by both the Catholic Gutenberg type setting process was and Protestant Churches. developed leading to the publication of several versions of the Bible. This provided 1518-1523 the opportunity for many educated people to Ulrich Zwingli began the Reformation in have access to what was, up until this time, Switzerland, which led to the formation of reserved for the church priests and scholars. the Reformed [Calvinist] Church. This allowed the members of the congregation to question some of the "rules" 1524-1525 of the church. The Peasant's war was crushed. This mass uprising against secular authorities was 1348-1665 inspired but repudiated Martin Luther. The Bubonic plague or "Black Death” threatens all of Europe. Over 25 million 1530 Europeans died in periodic outbreaks. This The Lutherans adopted the Augsburg led to the church holding vast amounts of Confession [creed]. property due to the theocratic form of government prevalent at the time. There was 1530-1648 a general disenchantment with the church Non-Catholics were subjected to extreme due to the failure of the clergy to stop the persecution during this period. This included spread and the devastation brought about by forcible conversion, expulsion and death in the plague. The wealth of the church some areas. provided the motivation for the ruling class to exploit the opportunity to enrich 1555 themselves by supporting the religious The Peace of Augsburg between Catholics rebellion leaders and movements. and Lutherans only stipulated that subjects must adopt the religion of their local ruler. 1419-1436 This resulted in Northern Germany The Hussite wars took place in Bohemia. becoming mostly Lutheran and Southern John Huss was the leader of the reform Germany being mostly Catholic. movement. He was burned to death in 1415 causing his followers to demand more 1562 freedom. The first attempt at establishing a settlement in America was in 1562 when Alsatian and 1517 Hessian Protestants settled in what s now Martin Luther posted his theses disputing North Carolina. The settlement lasted only the traditional religious doctrine of the until 1566 when it was destroyed by the Roman Catholic Church. This was the Spanish Menendez, The first permanent beginning of what is referred to as the German settlement did not come until 1683 Protestant Reformation or Revolution. The when a group of pietists from the German printing press created an awareness of his Palatinate area came to America on the ship work which otherwise would have been Concord and settled in Germantown considered of little interest to other than Pennsylvania. academics and theologians. The wealth of the church brought secular support from 1563 those seeking to profit from the downfall of The Catholic Counter Reformation began in the current theocratic arrangement. Bavaria. However, the concept of approved state religions persisted. This, in turn, led to persecution of many of what was referred to Page 1 of 4 Central European Time Line T P Miller Revised 9 Feb 2005 1568 The start of a particularly notorious 1671-1677 persecution of the Protestants in the Spanish William Penn made missionary trips through Netherlands including Belgium by the Duke Southern Germany. of Alva. This started a large-scale flight of Walloon Calvinists, especially to the 1683 Palatinate, Hesse and Brandenburg, and The start of the German group immigration Dutch-Flemish-Frisian Mennonites to the to North America. Danzig area of Germany which was under the Polish crown at the time. The religious 1683 flight started in about 1530. First settlement in Germantown Pennsylvania is established with Germans 1582-1585 who came mostly from the Pfalz. Pope Gregory XIII proposes calendar reform. Most Catholic countries of Europe 1685 adopt the Gregorian calendar. Prussia adopts King Louis XIV of France revokes the Edit it in 1612, by most Protestant countries in of Nantes, which granted freedom of 1700, by Great Britain in 1752 and by religion. Persecution and forcible conversion Russia in 1917. This can lead to confusion of the French Protestant Huguenots caused regarding birth, death and marriage dates of hundreds of thousands to flee to your ancestors. Further confusion was Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, introduced when the German Lutherans Great Britain and North America. Frederick initially refused to follow the Catholic Wilhelm, the Great Elector, helps many practice. Thus, there was a period of time immigrate to Brandenburg. when people in the same town used two different calendars. 1689-1697 The war of the League of Augsburg resulted 1617 in the French burning down many towns in John Calvin's works were published. the Palatinate and mass flight of the population. 1618-1648 1701-1714 The period of the Thirty-Year's War. Many The Palatine suffered great destruction from German areas were devastated and the French raids. population dropped from 15 million to 10 million. The Peace of Westphalia granted 1710-1711 the Calvinists equal rights and gave The first relatively large-scale immigration subordinate German rulers more of Swiss and Palatines to the American independence. Substantial migration colonies took place. occurred, especially the Swiss to the Palatinate to repopulate the more ravaged 1731-1738 areas. Restrictive emigration laws made it The expulsion of Salzburg Protestants from difficult and expensive to leave certain areas the Austrian Empire began. Some went to such as Wurttemberg. America; most went to East Prussia and other European areas. The Schwenkfelders 1622 and Moravian Brethren also came to January 1 was declared to be the beginning America in 1733-1741. of the year in Germany. Previously it was March 25. Page 2 of 4 Central European Time Line T P Miller Revised 9 Feb 2005 1740 nonconformist religions, which included the Freedom of worship was decreed in Prussia. Mennonites. 1744-1772 There was a large-scale migration of the 1786 people from western Germanic areas, The start of the immigration of the German especially Lorraine, to the lower Danube Mennonites from Pennsylvania to Ontario region under Maria Theresa, the Austrian began. It became quite heavy after 1807. empress. 1789-1824 1750 The heaviest German immigration to the The first group immigration of Germans to Black Sea region of Russia [the Ukraine] Canada. took place. 1763 1817 Catherine the Great manifesto invites The Lutheran and Reformed Churches are Germans to settle in Russia granting them ordered to merge into the Evangelical incentives including free land, freedom from Church in Prussia and elsewhere at about the military service, and many special same time. Religious groups are ordered to privileges. maintain vital records in what is now Rumania. 1764-1767 The heavy immigration of Germans to the 1838-1854 Volga River region of Russia. The main wave of emigration of "Old Lutherans", who rejected the Evangelical 1772-1795 merger, to New York, Wisconsin, Missouri The partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Texas took place. and Austria, took place in three stages in 1772, 1793, and 1795. Poland no longer 1846-1857 exists until 1918 after World War I. The first large wave of German emigrants came to the United States peaking in the 1775-1783 1854. Many came after the crop failures of The American Revolutionary War took 1846-1847, which affected most of Europe. place with independence declared in 1776. Famine and cholera epidemics were Thirty thousand Hessian and other German common during this time. Others escaped mercenaries fight for Great Britain. after the 1848-1849 revolutions were Thousands remain in the United States and crushed throughout Germany and other Canada after the War. European countries. This coincided with the American boom. 1781 The Patent of Tolerance is issued that 1861-1875 guarantees freedom of religion in Austria. The heaviest immigration of Germans This opened up the opportunity for mostly from Poland to Volhynia took place. Protestant immigration. 1864-1875 1782-1787 The second wave of German emigrants to Heavy German immigration to the Danube the United States took place peaking in region of southern Hungary, Galicia and 1873. Many people left to avoid military Bucovina. These were regions acquired by service. Others emigrate because the Austria under Emperor Joseph II. Special Industrial Revolution destroyed the cottage privileges were extended to the industries. Page 3 of 4 Central European Time Line T P Miller Revised 9 Feb 2005 1871 1937-1939 The special privileges of Germans are The Fascist regime persecution of minorities revoked in Russia causing emigration to caused the relocation of many Germans to North and South America. Many Mennonite countries outside of central Europe families from Galicia Austria and Russia including the United States and South emigrated to the U.S. America. 1874-1914 1938 Many Germans from Eastern Europe German families, responding to anti German immigrated to the Great Plains states and the sentiments, changed the spelling of their Canadian provinces. surnames to an Americanized version of the original or, in some cases, an entirely 1880-1893 different surname. Given names were also The third wave of German emigrants to the affected. United States took place with the all-time peak in 1882. This coincided with the 1945-1950 American economic boom that was briefly There was a large influx of displaced interrupted by the depression of 1884. peoples to the States from Europe. [DP’s] 1890-1914 A heavy migration of Russian Germans into Siberia took place. 1892 Ellis Island was opened as an immigration- receiving center in New York. Immigrants were previously processed at Castle Garden. 1893-1896 There was an economic crisis in the United States. This caused many German immigrants to relocate further west. 1917 Severe discrimination is directed against German-Americans when America entered into World War I.