Part VI - The Bash Family
The name has been variously spelled Berch, Barch, Besch, Bosch, and Busch in available records.
by Lorine McGinnis Schulze
Olive Tree Genealogy
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ Copyright � 1996
[This article has been published, with my permission as Irish Palatine Story on the Internet in Irish Palatine Association Journal, No. 7 December 1996]
The Palatinate or German PFALZ, was, in German history, the land of the Count Palatine, a title held by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Geographically, the Palatinate was divided between two small territorial clusters: the Rhenish, or Lower Palatinate, and the Upper Palatinate. The Rhenish Palatinate included lands on both sides of the Middle Rhine River between its Main and Neckar tributaries. Its capital until the 18th century was Heidelberg. The Upper Palatinate was located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as it flows south toward the Danube and extended eastward to the Bohemian Forest. The boundaries of the Palatinate varied with the political and dynastic fortunes of the Counts Palatine.
The Palatinate has a border beginning in the north, on the Moselle River about 35 miles southwest of Coblenz to Bingen and east to Mainz, down the Rhine River to Oppenheim, Guntersblum and Worms, then continuing eastward above the Nieckar River about 25 miles east of Heidelberg then looping back westerly below Heidelberg to Speyer, south down the Rhine River to Alsace, then north-westerly back up to its beginning on the Moselle River.
The first Count Palatine of the Rhine was Hermann I, who received the office in 945. Although not originally hereditary, the title was held mainly by his descendants until his line expired in 1155, and the Bavarian Wittelsbachs took over in 1180. In 1356, the Golden Bull (a papal bull: an official document, usually commands from the Pope and sealed with the official Papal seal called a Bulla) made the Count Palatine an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. During the Reformation, the Palatinate accepted Protestantism and became the foremost Calvinist region in Germany.
After Martin Luther published his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517, many of his followers came under considerable religious persecution for their beliefs. Perhaps for reasons of mutual comfort and support, they gathered in what is known as the Palatine. These folk came from many places, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and beyond, but all shared a common view on religion.
The protestant Elector Palatine Frederick V (1596-1632), called the "Winter King" of Bohemia, played a unique role in the struggle between Roman Catholic and Protestant Europe. His election in 1619 as King of Bohemia precipitated the Thirty Years War that lasted from 1619 until 1648. Frederick was driven from Bohemia and in 1623, deposed as Elector Palatine.
During the Thirty Years War, the Palatine country and other parts of Germany suffered from the horrors of fire and sword as well as from pillage and plunder by the French armies. This war was based upon both politics and religious hatreds, as the Roman Catholic armies sought to crush the religious freedom of a politically-divided Protestantism.
Many unpaid armies and bands of mercenaries, both of friends and foe, devoured the substance of the people and by 1633, even the catholic French supported the Elector Palatine for a time for political reasons.
During the War of the Grand Alliance (1689-97), the troops of the French monarch Louis XIV ravaged the Rhenish Palatinate, causing many Germans to emigrate. Many of the early German settlers of America (e.g. the Pennsylvania Dutch) were refugees from the Palatinate. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Palatinate's lands on the west bank of the Rhine were incorporated into France, while its eastern lands were divided largely between neighbouring Baden and Hesse.
Nearly the entire 17th century in central Europe was a period of turmoil as Louis XIV of France sought to increase his empire. The War of the Palatinate (as it was called in Germany), aka The War of The League of Augsburg, began in 1688 when Louis claimed the Palatinate. Every large city on the Rhine above Cologne was sacked. The War ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick. The Palatinate was badly battered but still outside French control. In 1702, the War of the Spanish Succession began in Europe and lasted until 1713, causing a great deal of instability for the Palatines. The Palatinate lay on the western edge of the Holy Roman Empire not far from France's eastern boundary. Louis wanted to push his eastern border to the Rhine, the heart of the Palatinate.
While the land of the Palatinate was good for its inhabitants, many of whom were farmers, vineyard operators etc., its location was unfortunately subject to invasion by the armies of Britain, France, and Germany. Mother Nature also played a role in what happened, for the winter of 1708 was particularly severe and many of the vineyards perished. So, as well as the devastating effects of war, the Palatines were subjected to the winter of 1708-09, the harshest in 100 years.
The scene was set for a mass migration. At the invitation of Queen Anne in the spring of 1709, about 7000 harassed Palatines sailed down the Rhine to Rotterdam. From there, about 3000 were dispatched to America, either directly or via England, under the auspices of William Penn. The remaining 4 000 were sent via England to Ireland to strengthen the protestant interest.
Although the Palatines were scattered as agricultural settlers over much of Ireland, major accumulations were found in Counties Limerick and Tipperary. As the years progressed and dissatisfactions increased, many of these folk seized opportunities to join their compatriots in Pennsylvania, or to go to newly-opened settlements in Canada.
There were many reasons for the desire of the Palatines to emigrate to the NewWorld: oppressive taxation, religious bickering, hunger for more and better land, the advertising of the English colonies in America and the favourable attitude of the British government toward settlement in the North American colonies. Many of the Palatines believed they were going to Pennsylvania, Carolina or one of the tropical islands.
The passage down the Rhine took from 4 to 6 weeks. Tolls and fees were demanded by authorities of the territories through which they passed. Early in June, the number of Palatines entering Rotterdam reached 1 000 per week. Later that year, the British government issued a Royal proclamation in German that all arriving after October 1709 would be sent back to Germany. The British could not effectively handle the number of Palatines in London and there may have been as many as 32 000 by November 1709. They wintered over in England since there were no adequate arrangements for the transfer of the Palatines to the English colonies.
In 1710, three large groups of Palatines sailed from London. The first went to Ireland, the second to Carolina and the third to New York with the new Governor, Robert Hunter. There were 3000 Palatines on 10 ships that sailed for New York and approximately 470 died on the voyage or shortly after their arrival.
In New York, the Palatines were expected to work for the British authorities, producing naval stores [tar and pitch] for the navy in return for their passage to New York. They were also expected to act as a buffer between the French and Natives on the northern frontier and the English colonies to the south and east.
After the defeat of Napoleon (1814-15), the Congress of Vienna gave the east-bank lands of the Rhine valley to Bavaria. These lands, together with some surrounding territories, again took the name of Palatinate in 1838.
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John Martin Bash, of German ancestry, arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 24 August 1749, on the ship �Elliot,� which carried a boatload of Palatines, who sailed from Rotterdam via Cowes, England. It was a common custom among the German Palatines to have John as a first name and to be called by the second name. The Pennsylvania ship lists are very complete; he was listed as Johan Martin Busch. He was 21 years old.
Martin was likely married about 1761/2, in or around Lancaster County to Cathrine ____, who was born before 1763.
They were in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1764, when their second son was born. When they moved to Westmoreland County, is not known. Many Lancaster County men started migrating to Westmoreland County during the Revolutionary War years.
During the Revolutionary War, Martin Bash was a Private, in Captain James Clark�s Company, of the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Militia. Proof of this is to be found in �PA Archives� 5th Ser., Vol 4, pages 429 and 735; 3rd Ser., Vol. 23, page 319.
He was in the tax lists of Mount Pleasant Township in 1783. He bought land there in 1785, but sold it 10 years later, and bought land in Washington Township, on the Kiskimenetas River.
The Bash family is still well represented in Westmoreland County. Data concerning the four sons, John, Martin, Jacob and Henry is fairly well known, but nothing at all is known there about the last three children, Barbara, Catharine, and Michael. At first, one might think that this was because the younger children were the ones who migrated West at early dates, and that consequently, they and their descendants lost touch with the relatives who remained in Westmoreland County.
However, investigation shows that the Westmoreland County Bashes were all originally members of the Lutheran or Reformed Churches; whereas, Barbara, Catharine and Michael and their respective families were all ardent Methodists.
There was a rift in the family over this matter of religion - a rift which caused such a wide break that the three youngest children left home, and never again resumed family relationships. When Barbara Bash joined the Methodists, it was in the face of such opposition from her father that on Sundays she had to climb out her bedroom window, carry her best clothes to the woods, and dress there in order to attend church. Although Barbara named a son Martin Bash Smith, he always signed his name Martin B. Smith and never would tell anyone what the born stood for.
In 1803, Martin and Cathrine, (Deed Book 7, p 66,) sold to their son Henry their remaining property in Washington Township, for 300 pounds, 190 acres, with this stipulation:
�the said Martin Barch, reserves to himself during his and his wife�s natural life, as long as he or she either of them may live, two fields, viz: the field wherein the house stands, and the field ajoining it fronting on the river agreeable to the present bounds of said field, with the Newhouse wherein he the said Martin now lives, and one-half of the barn with a liberty at all times to cut fire wood and rail timber, what may be necessary to keep up the fences of the fields�Cathrine Bash was still living in 1808, when the above deed was notarized, but we do not know when she died.
Martin Bash died inter-state. On 30 March 1824, letters of administration were granted to his son John Bash, and Martin Bowman. They gave bond for 500 dollars, the small amount probably being sufficient for such personal property as Martin had at the time of his death, since he had already disposed of all his land. No settlement of the estate could be found. Martin never deeded any land or made any settlement on his three youngest children.
Children: