They called it the Promised Land. In America, with hard work and thrift, a body could “git” his own land. In America, it didn’t matter who you were; it just mattered what you could do.
The Dietrich family, as with most Palatinate families, would have begun the planning of their sons, Wilhelm and Peter’s leave taking at least a year before the voyage. For most families, it would take that long to get the coinage together.
Some families were known to have sold their farms in the Palatinate to ensure money for the voyage and purchase of land in North America, but Wilhelm and Peter would be traveling under the “redemptioner” design. Upon arrival in North American, 16 year old Wilhelm would work off his voyage cost by signing a contract to work as an indentured servant for five to seven years, and 10 year old Peter would likely become an apprentice, signing up to this program until his 21st birthday.
There were advantages to becoming an indentured servant or apprentice. In addition to having the ocean voyage paid, the servant would live in an established home – most likely another Palatinate family already in America. They would have room and board, clothes and care, and would learn the lay of the land in America, before going out on their own. The apprentice program taught young people a valuable trade.
Even though the voyage would be paid, there would still be a need to pay customs charges in Rotterdam and Cowes, England, and to buy the food they would need for the period up to and including the six to eight week journey. They would have planned to leave through Rotterdam, which would allow this program, as shippers in Hamburg and Bremen would demand full cash payment.
The practical plans having been made, it was left to the family to deal with the emotional pains of the leave-taking. Peter’s parents and siblings were surely like all other families who sent their loved ones away for a chance at a better life. The heartache of saying goodbye was surely more intense in the 1700’s, with little opportunity for communication and the knowledge they would likely not see each other again. But it was the best, sometimes the only course of action, a parent could follow.
Between 1727 and 1775, approximately 65,000 Germans landed in Philadelphia and settled in the regions of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Every single one of these travelers surely had mixed feelings about the excitement of a new land and the sadness at leaving the Fatherland.
