-----Original Message-----
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GARLOCK/2007-06/1183045474
From: garlock-bounces(a)rootsweb.com [mailto:garlock-bounces@rootsweb.com]
On Behalf Of Mike Gainor
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 10:45 AM
To: GARLOCK-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [GARLOCK] (no subject)
I ran across this somewhat humorous blurb today on Johann Christian
Gerlach, son of Hans:
The Germans'western communities seemed particularly isolated from and
resentful of English intrusion. Weiser wrote that the backcountry
Germans "have no notion of the English government and laws, and are
themselves not always satisfied with the administration of such"(80)
John Wernig, the Reformed pastor at Stone Arabia, agreed. In 1752,
Wernig, who had not been part of the 1710 migration to New York,
described the 1710 immigrants living in Stone Arabia as "fat horses and
oxen, which have gone to rich pasture for a long time and then refuse to
take the bit or bear the yoke." They did not respect "the noble English
freedom." Instead the "liberty, peace wealth and abundance which they
enjoy cause them to be uncivil, wanton, proud and violent."(81) The
Germans in Schoharie also showed little respect for English law and
civil order. Johann Christian Gerlach, a 1710 immigrant serving as a
judge in Schoharie, made a mockery of the English judicial system.
According to Schoharie tradition, Judge Gerlach resolved a particularly
difficult case by deciding that "Der blandif an derfendur bot hash
reght; zo I dezides.der khonshtoplle moosh bay de kosht." ("The
plaintiff and the defender are both correct, so I have decided that.the
constable must pay the cost.")(82) Source: Becoming German: The 1709
Palatine Migration to New York, by Philip Otterness, p. 156