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Subject: Some Short Political and Religious-Ethnic Definitions to Help Beginners
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 03:25:43 EDT

The following is a list that I found helpful when trying to figure out a few
things about Palatines and other groups. There are also links to various
ethnic and religious groups at the main site at olivetreegenealogy.com. Ignore the
ads unless you want to pay attention to them. There is a lot of free
information here. Especially, ignore the prominent Ancestry.com look-up and scroll
down to find free links. You can always come back to Ancestry.com later.

Loyalist
Loyalist: Those men who sided with the British during the American Revolution
and who settled in Ontario, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.
UEL: United Empire Loyalist
UE: Unity of the Empire
OC: Order in Council [On 9 November 1789 at Quebec, it was ordered that the
Land Boards provide for the sons of Loyalists, as soon as they reached the age
of 21, and to daughters at age 21 or at marriage by providing to each a Lot of
200 acres]
Hessian: German troops used by the British in the Revolutionary War.



Mennonite
Mennonite: The Mennonites were a Protestant sect formed in 1525 who were
followers of Menno Simons, which arose from Swiss Anabaptists. They migrated to
America by way of Alsace, England and Russia. They settled primarily in Kansas,
Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
Swiss Brethren: Same as Mennonite
Amish: conservative division of the Mennonite Church


Huguenot & Walloon
Huguenot: French Protestants who fled from religious persecution. They first
went to Prussia, the German Palatinate and then came to America. Those in the
French West Indies escaped to the southeastern coast of America. Others went
to England and Ireland.
Walloon: Walloons are from southern Belgium. The language of the Walloons is
a dialect of French. Cornelis May of Flanders, Holland and about 30 to 40
families came to America in 1624 and established Fort Orange. This town is now
known as Albany, NY.


Palatine
Palatines: In 1688, Louis XIV of France began persecuting German Protestants
from the west bank of the Rhine River. Queen Anne of England helped a group to
come to America in 1708. More than 2000 arrived in New York in 1710 and
settled along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers.


Mohawk
Mohawk: The Mohawk (Kanien'kehaka) were one of the tribes within the Iroquois
(Haudenosaunee) Confederacy
Sachem: Chief, leader of tribe
Castle: Fortified village


Miscellaneous
Moravian: The United Brethren is a Protestant group formed in Bohemia about
1415 which spread to Poland, Prussia, Germany and England.
Quaker: The Society of Friends was formed in England in 1648. Early
restrictions brought them to New Jersey in 1675 and some 230 English Quakers founded
Burlington, NJ in 1678. William Penn was granted the territory of Pennsylvania
in 1681 and within two years there were about 3000 Quakers living there.
Scots-Irish: The descendants of the Presbyterian Scots who had been placed in
the northern counties of Ireland by British rulers in the early part of the
17th Century. Most came to America from 1718 until the Revolution. They settled
first in PA, then moved south and then westward to the frontier.


Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and
reliability of the information on The Olive Tree Genealogy pages, all
transcriptions are subject to human error, and researchers should always check the
original source of any list.

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/olivedict.shtml

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