- AKA: Johann Casper / Kasper
- Caspar Getman and his family were some of the many Germans who fled their homeland between 1708 and 1710. Their homes were situated in the rich agricultural land near the Rhine river valley, and had been destroyed on several occasions during French and German wars. Between 1701 and 1709 the area was particularly ravaged.
An unusually hard winter in 1708 compounded the situation, causing a wide spread famine. Thousands of Germans were forced to seek refuge elsewhere.
Reverend Joshua Kockerthal, a Lutheran minister appealed to the Queen of England (a German protestant) for assistance. In October 1708 he and 54 other palatines were sent to conduct an exploratory settlement at Newburgh on the Hudson River. By November 4, 1709 a plan was devised to send German settlers to the colonies to produce naval supplies for the British Navy. Most of the refugees traveled to Holland and were then taken to London prior to being sent to the colonies. A few settled in various parts of Great Britain.
Caspar's first wife, Anna Magdalena was the mother of his first three children. Records indicate that he married his second wife, Maria Barbara, who accompanied him and the children during the migration. It is known that Caspar and Maria Barbara had seven (possibly eight) children when arriving at Rotterdam. They arrived in London by June 11, 1709, as part of the fourth group of emigrants from Holland, having been delivered aboard a ship commanded by Capt. George Golands.
The Getman family was subsequently sent to West Camp on the Hudson River (West Camp was at Saugerties, East Camp was at Livingston Manor / Germantown). Nearly a third of those who set out on the journey did not survive. Caspar and all but two of his children died at sea during the voyage.- Occupation: Vinekeeper
- Baptism: Lutheran
- Kasper Gettman, his wife, and 8 ch. were of Capt. George Golands ship in the 4th party in Holland in 1709 (Rotterdam Lists). ... were in the 4th arrivals in England (London Lists); the family was recorded near other N.Y. 1709ers such as Henry Fehling, Conrad Krantz and Martin Zerbst on the English list. (The Palatine Families of New York, Henry Z Jones Jr, Picton Press, Rockport Maine, 2001)
- Henry Jones, in More Palatine Families, has located a Caspar Gettmann and wife Anna Magdalena with a son Johann Jacob bpt 7 Aug 1695 at Sien-Hachenbach, and later as Johann Caspar Gottmann (umlaut o) and wife Anna Magdalena with a son Johann Philip bpt 24 Feb 1698 at Steinbockenheim near Alzey, (between Mainz and Manhein on the west side of the Rhine). Both churches were Lutheran.
- Anna Magdalena was the mother of Frederick, born about 1693, Anna Magdalena would have died between 1698 and 1709, and Caspar would have married Maria Barbara, she become Frederick's stepmother, during that time. The London Lists of 1709 have children ages 16, 14, 8, 6, 5, 5, and 2. From these numbers the death and remarriage could have been from 1698-1701 or 1704-1706.- Death: On board Ship to USA 1710
- 11 Jun 1709 he was recorded in England
- 1710 Family arrived in the colonies without Casper
- Occupation: Husbandman & Vinedresser
- Ethnicity/Relig. LutheranFOURTH LIST - Vol. 2, No. D69 and D 70. Public Record Office, London List of Poor Palatines who arrived at St. Catherine's June 11th, 1709, Taken June 16
Getman, Caspar, Hs. & V., age 36, sons 16-14-8-5, daughters 6-5-2, L.- The Jones version of the fourth list is shown above, the Getman Genealogy version includes a fourth daughter age 1.
- Caspar Getman, two sons and three (possibly four) daughters died during the trip to the colonies. Cause of death, ship-fever, was so common it became known as Palatine fever. It is now known to have been Typhus.
- The New York Subsistence Lists compiled between 1710 and 1712 include two listings for the remnants of the family. Neither are indicate the location of those counted: 1710, Gettmannin Barbara 2 – 0 and 1712, Gettmannin Maria Barbara 2 – 0. Both of these indicate Maria Barbara and one other adult. That adult must be her stepson Frederick who would have been 17 in 1710.
Previous interpretations of the listing have been inclined to interpret this data as Maria Barbara and 2 children. The listings actually indicate the head of the family and the number of adults (head included) (2) followed by the number of children (0). The record actually indicates that of the children only Frederick survived the trip.
- Baptism record: Family Search website (Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971)
Johann Jacob Gettmann Event Type: Baptism
Event Date: 7 Aug 1695
Event Place: Sien, Sankt Wendel, Saarland, Deutschland
Event Place (Original): Sien, Koblenz, Sien, Rheinland, Preußen
Gender: Male
Father's Name: Jacob Patel Caspar Gettmann
Mother's Name: Anna Magdalena Gettmann
Note: Taufen, Heiraten, Tote u Konfirmationen 1685-1798
Page Number: 50;20;51;21
- Maria Barbara, the second wife of Caspar Getman and was widowed during the voyage to the colonies, where she and two children over ten (Frederick and Jacob) were recorded in Governor Hunter's lists of Palatine emigrants.
Evidently she married Johannes Bierman soon after their arrival at West Camp, on the Hudson River. This can be surmised from the fact that she was allowed to remain in the colony and the children were not apprenticed by Governor Hunter.
West Camp had been established for the purpose of producing pitch for the British Navy and was unsuccessful. In addition the palatinate settlers were poorly treated and felt they had been assured land in the Schoharie Valley (a fertile area approximately 40 miles to the west). Johannes Bierman, Maria Barbara and their children were among those who left after approximately three years of service/servitude at West Camp to begin a settlement in the Schoharie Valley.
The Simmendinger Register has the following listing - Biermann, Johann (ehefrau + 3 kinder) ... New Annesbury, New York
- Mary Beerman was granted lot #11, 100 acres of land on the North side of the river "At the Little Falls" Johannes was also provided land in the grant - (Burnetsfield Grant, 30 April 1725 - A History of Herkimer County, Nathaniel S. Benton, J. Munsell, 78 State Street, Albany, NY, 1856 - pg.44)- Hunter Lists #237 and #238
- The Getman Family Genealogy lists a daughter age 1 in the 1709 listing at St. Catherine's, Jones's listing does not include this person.
- Other sources indicate that Caspar had a wife and 8 children with him when he left Rotterdam.
- The last item in the London listing is "L", indicating that the family was Lutheran. Two possibilities exist: 1- Jones missed the entry for the 1 year-old daughter, 2- The Getman Genealogy includes the entry which as a 1, instead of an "L".
- The presumtion made in this data is that an infant daughter died in 1709 during the trip from Rotterdam to London.
- In either case there is no indication that the possible infant survived the voyage to the colonies.