They Came from Germany, Aboard the Thistle

By Rev. James R. Hawk

Hawk`s research was motivated by the relationship of his wife, Darlene (Grindstaff) Hawk, to her eighth generation grandfather, Dietrich Crantzdorf (Grindstaff)_born in 1650 in Zweibruken in the Lower Palatinate of Germany. In 1738 Dietrich`s two sons, with wives, boarded the Thistle for Philadelphia _ along with a notable grandson, named Nicholas. Some regions of the Lower Palatinate, heirs of the Protestant Reformation, had become almost depopulated by plundering armies of strong Catholic persuasion. Hawk notes that 1738 was recognized as the deadliest of the sailing seasons, famously called`the year of destroying angels`. Included in Hawk`s work are named Palatine ships of 1738, passenger loads, and dates of embarkation and debarkation. Hawk closely examines the nightmarish crisis at Rotterdam, where waves of Palatines arrived for the Spring voyages, but where ships were late in arriving. The bottleneck caused draining of resources,overloading of ships,rationing at sea, and indenturing upon arrival at Philadelphia. Hawk`s data suggests that delays in debarkation and turmoil were caused by short-spaced departures of overloaded ships from Rotterdam. The popular Dutch ship, fluyt, was commonly used for carrying immigrants to the New World, and Hawk`s work includes an image of this ship, from Culiver"s classic, Old Ships _ courtesy of Dover Publications. Weary Palatines faced a firestorm of social and political resistance at Philadelphia during debarkation . The governor called for the construction of a `Pest house` for those with`Palatine fever`. About 50 years after Dietrich `s grandson, Nicholas, left Germany, he received very large land grants in Johnson County,Tennessee.
Nicholas and his generztions_including that of Darlene (Grindstaff) Hawk_ enjoyed prosperity from farming,harvesting timber, and mining iron ore. In 1948 a large TVA dam, approved by President Roosevelt, covered the lovely
lands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Feb 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483446400

Rev. James R. Hawk

The author pastored several churches during a thirty-five-year period, before his retirement in 2016. He published They Came from Germany, Aboard the Thistle __ a historical account of German migration to America. His formal education included the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Graham Bible College. He taught for two years at Northeast State Community College in East Tennessee. The author and his wife, Darlene, of fifty-four years have three sons and five grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2016 Rev. James R. Hawk.

Cover design by James Hawk

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ISBN: 978-1-4834-4639-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4640-0 (e)

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 02/11/2016

Contents

Introduction

Dietrich Crantzdorf

Religious Differences Emerge in Germany__ the Harbinger of Wars

The Grindstaff Ancestors in Germany in the Year 1738

The Grindstaff Ancestors in Rotterdam in the Year 1738

Johann Nichel Cransdorf

The Grindstaff Ancestors and the Perilous Sea Voyages of 1738

Statistical Insights Regarding the Voyages of 1738

The Ship Design of the Thistle in Contrast to the Bilander Thistle

The Grindstaff Ancestors and their Arrival at Philadelphia in 1738

The Grindstaff Ancestors and Debarkation at Philadelphia in 1738

Johann Michael Grindstaff

Grindstaff’s in the Battle of Eutaw Springs

Grindstaff’s in other Battles of the Revolutionary War

The Siege of Fort Watson

The Siege of Ninety Six

Biographical Information on Jacob Grindstaff and his militia forays against the Cherokee Indian Nation

Nicholas Grindstaff Sr.

Early Grindstaff’s and Slave Ownership

Nicholas Issac Grindstaff, or Issac Jr.

Issac Jr.’s Nephew, Nick the Hermit

The Grindstaff’s and the War Between the States

Official Concerns of the Confederacy over Rebellion in East Tennessee

The Grindstaff’s Prosper by the Coming of the Railroad to Johnson County

General Grant Wilburn Grindstaff

The Old Grindstaff Cemetery

Dudley Brown Grindstaff

Dudley’s Mysterious Business Venture

Dudley __ a Klansman

The Early Iron Ore Industry in Johnson

The Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company (VIC & CC)

The Timber Industry in Johnson and Carter Counties

Floods along the Watauga River in Carter County

Curtis Brown Grindstaff

Ancestral Grindstaff lands taken by the TVA after the Flood of 1940

After the 1940 Flood

Before and After The TVA

Dudley Grindstaff__ Time-Traveler

References and Commentary

Appendix A

Children and Grandchildren of Catherine and Michael Grindstaff

Appendix B

Children and Grandchildren of Nicholas Grindstaff Sr.

Appendix C

Deed of Land Nicholas Grindstaff Sr. to Nicholas Grindstaff Jr.

Appendix D

Bill of Sale Nicholas Grindstaff Sr. to Issac Grindstaff Jr..

Appendix E

Bill of Sale Nicholas Grindstaff Sr. to Issac Grindstaff Jr,

Appendix F

Bill of Sale Nicholas Grindstaff Sr. to John Grindstaff

Appendix G

Last Will and Testament of Nicholas Grindstaff Jr.

Appendix H

Children and Grandchildren of Martha and Issac Jr. Grindstaff

Appendix J

Children and Grandchildren of Nancy and Grant Wilburn Grindstaff

Appendix K

Warranty Deed of Wilburn Grindstaff to Dudley Brown Grindstaff

Appendix L

Last Will and Testament of G.W. Grindstaff

Appendix M

Tennessee Land Grant # 2211 of the year 1812 to Nicholas Grindstaff

Appendix N

Sale of Land by Dudley and Sarah Grindstaff to Jacob &d Elizabeth Grindstaff__ May 23, 1914

Appendix P

Deed between G.W. Grindstaff et al and J.D. Grindstaff (for one acre)

Appendix R

Children and Grandchildren of Sarah and Dudley Grindstaff

Appendix S

Children and Grandchildren of Darlene Grindstaff Hawk and Rev. James Hawk (author))

Appendix T

Distinctions between the Southern Railway and the Tweetsie Railway

Photo and Image Credits

About the Author

To

Our children__ born of the Thistle

Introduction

During the 1700s well over 100,000 Palatines migrated from their war-torn German homeland to the New World. The voyages were nothing short of nightmares. At the Port of Philadelphia weary survivors fanned out into the frontier. Many settled in Philadelphia.

Herein are the accounts of the Patriarch Dietrich Crantzdorf’s sons who sailed the Atlantic, aboard a ship called the Thistle, and the experiences of those who eventually settled in Tennessee. Their voyage in 1738 was during the worst of the sailing years___ famously called The Year of the Destroying Angels__ because of the miseries and losses at sea.

The Crantzdorf surname evolved into Grindstaff. Their men fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the War Between the States, and forays against the Cherokee Indian Nation. They eventually settled in the Doeville area of Johnson County, Tennessee.

Dietrich Crantzdorf*

In 1738 two of Dietrich’s sons left the Lower Palatinate of Germany for the New World__ each with his wife and a child. The sons, Johann Nichel and Johann Bartholomew, lived near Hornback, then a part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Hornbach is presently a small town of a few thousand___ about a mile from the German border with France.

Over the next 200 plus years Dietrich’s descendants would search for their destinies in America. In the new country they filled the shoes of pioneers, soldiers, farmers, slave owners, entrepreneurs and civil servants. Some like Nick the Hermit would win the hearts of thousands__ but only after his death. Others, like sixth generation grandson Dudley, would wear many hats__ magistrate, community leader, farmer, business man, Klansman___ almost everyone’s friend.

Old German and American records provide a variety of Dietrich’s surnames__ Crantzdorf, Krantzdoef, Krantzdorff. Dietrich’s grand daughter, Anna Rosina, was 19 years old in 1738, when she married and sailed with Johannes (John) Gohn (Goon). The historical records of the Gohn families of Pennsylvania give her last name as Cramtzdorf. Johann Nichel and Johann Bartholomew sailed to America under the name Cransdorf according to Yoder (26) and Kroehler (27).

Gohn of Rimschweiler, Fredrick Cromer of Rimschweiler, Barthel Cransdorf,and Nickel Cransdorf, of that place, all six with their wives and children to America.

Dietrich’s sons are named in List of Emigrants from Zweibrucken__ September 19, 1738, ship Thistle. Zweibrucken is located approximately two miles north of Hornback.

Dietrich was born before 1650 and died after 1714. His father was Johann Daniel Crantzdorf, according to a WikiTree source. Dietrich and Anna Catherine were married in about 1688 in the Catholic Church in Hornbach__ also the church where Johann Nichel and Barbara were married.

The database of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, lists four sons of Dietrich and Catherine___ Johannes, Phillip, Johann Nichel and Johann Bartholomew.

Hornbach is in the Lower Palatinate of Germany, about 75 miles south from the city of Mannheim, which had a 2013 population exceeding 300,000. Palatinate identifies an existing named area of Germany, once controlled by the Roman Emperor, Charlemagne. Palatines were soldiers of that empire

Religious Differences Emerge in Germany__ the Harbinger of Wars

Wars resulting from religious differences erupted in the Lower Palatinate, eventually reducing it to a wasteland.

State religions in the Palatinate were Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. Alliances shifted when Martin Luther (1483-1546) inflamed the Catholic hierarchy by nailing his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, accusing the church of heresy. This opened the door to Protestantism in 1517. The emergence of Calvinism during the early 1500s may have further incited broad religious differences. Political leaders of different persuasions alternated in power in the Palatinate. Political turmoil and in-fighting raged into the sixteenth century.

As religious sides were chosen, the conflicts caused broad socio-political quests for power, attracting nations of differing beliefs. The Palatinate was a gathering place for Protestants, drawing people from other countries. They gathered for reasons of personal support and freedom from persecution. The respected American statesman and historian, Henry Cabot Lodge, in his speech on The Restriction of Immigration, stated that early German migrants were Protestants of the Palatinate (20).

The Grindstaff Ancestors in Germany in the Year 1738

Dietrich’s two sons immigrated