Es ist weit weg von Tipperary!

[muckefuck]

In the Eighteenth Century there was a German migration into Ireland from the Palatinate of the Rhine. In 1709 a fleet was sent to Rotterdam by Queen Anne, which brought over about 7,000 of these refugees to England. About 3,000 were sent to North America, where they settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The remainder, except a few families which remained in England, came over to Ireland, and settled principally in the County of Limerick. (Matheson, Special report on surnames in Ireland (Dublin, 1909), p. 29.)

Finally I've got an explanation for how the hell the van der Heydts ended up in a place no one would think of looking for Germans (until possibly the U-boot scares of WWII). I figured this might also be a clue to how some of monshu's German-surnamed great-great-great-great-grandfather ended up being born in Tipperary instead of someplace more reasonable, with a name ending in -heim or -weiler. Low and behold:

Within County Tipperary was another area of Protestant settlement, some twenty miles south of Roscrea, separated from the North Tipperary settlement by a low sweep of mountains. These Protestants lived at places such as Littleton and Killenaule, and a few came from adjoining parishes in County Kilkenny, but they were especially numerous on the Barker estate at Kilcooly. They were of diverse origins, but many were of Palatine descent. In 1772 Sir William Barker of Kilcooly Abbey, "with a view to establishing a Protestant colony on his estate," induced Palatinate farmers from the Rathkeale area of County Limerick to move to his lands by offering them generous terms on freehold leases. Five families, those of Paul Smeltzer, Adam Baker, Daniel Ruckle, John Switzer, and Sebastian Lawrence, took a lease in Newpark. These surnames were to become familiar in areas of Palatine settlement in Upper Canada. (Elliot, Irish migrants in the Canadas (Kingston, 2004), p. 290)) [my emphasis].

Comments

[bigjohnsf.livejournal.com]

Apparently during one of the potato famines, some Irish fled to Brittany, which is apparently why I have some French ancestors whose name was McCarthy, though after staying there for only a generation they went to Louisiana and settled in the Oklahoma Territory.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

There was a steady trickle of dispossessed Irishmen into France and Spain from the Cromwellian Conquest onwards. That's way, for instance, you can buy cognac named "Hennessy" and sherry named "Osborne".

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

The mostest interesting thing about that is that my primordial Hite ancestors came over from the Palatinate. And now, perhaps via Ireland. Even my German blood is Irish!

[f8n-begorra.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting -- this is very interesting (especially as I went to school in Roscrea). And adding to the mix there were also a bunch of Hugenots in the area, and some "Planters" thanks to QE I. As for me, on my Father's side we're Irish back through the centuries, but we always regarded my mother as a "blow in" since her people came from Spain in the 6th century.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

There was a paragraph in the report about Huguenots as well, but I didn't know at the time that Paul Smeltzer's wife (Anne Mercere) was one, so I didn't read it. I'll have to rectify that tomorrow.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Interesting! My Palatinate ancestors are the ones who came to Pennsylvania. I don't think I had any who came via Ireland.

German-speakers were sure moving around a lot in those days.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Well it was a rather shitty time to be in Germany!