HomeMy WebLinkAbout527Spiral bound book, 22 x 29 cm, 42 pages prepared by Lester J. Hartick.
"THE HARTRICKS OF IRELAND
By Lester J. Hartrick
Johann [Hans] Georg Hartrick is the oldest traceable member of the Hartrick Clan and is
thus considered the Clan's founder. He was my Great6 [that's six greats], Grandfather.
He was born in the Lower, or Rhenish Palatinate of Germany about 1657. Here he married,
raised a daughter and a son George. He and his brother Matthew were neighbor farmers.
Their cousin Caspar Hartwig [1], lived nearby with his wife and three children.
A second Caspar Hartwig [2], lived some distance farther away. Outside of a garden and a
few animals for domestic use, their main crop was grapes used in the making of wine.
Conditions in this area had been bad for many years. Louis XIV of France had completed his
palace at Versailles. This was the standard of grandeur to which the Rhenish princes aspired.
To this end they built ever larger and more imposing castles along the Rhine.
Their lifestyles were matched to their castles. The funds for all of this excess came from taxes
levied on the farmers. The burden on Hans and Matthew was severe. Wars had been fought
in this portion of Germany off and on for many years. Foraging armies, both foreign and
domestic, had reduced their food supply to the extent that they were actually on the verge of
starvation. To make matters worse, Hans' wife had passed away, leaving him with two
children to raise alone.
The final crushing blow was the severe winter of 1708/1709. Even the oldest of inhabitants
could not remember a colder, more unrelenting, totally devastating winter.
Cattle were frozen to death in their stables. Worst of all, the grape vines were frozen and
withered. There was no way to make a living now other than to start over from scratch with
new seedlings. It would be years before they would be mature enough to bear the fruit that
afforded them a living.
The only bright spot in their lives was that they were permitted to worship as they pleased.
Generally in Europe, the religion of the ruler became that of the people. Germany had been
Roman Catholic since the days of the Holy Roman Empire, but Protestantism had been
making inroads into the religious scene for some time. In 1546, Palatine Elector Frederick II
became a Lutheran and in 1562 Frederick made the Palatinate Calvinist. The treaty of
Westphalia in 1648 recognized the Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches.
The fact that there were still practicing Roman Catholics in the Palatinate over 160 years
after Frederick's conversion, attests to the religious freedom practiced there.
Both Hans and his brother Matthew were Catholics.
Finally a light appeared at the end of this dismal tunnel. In an effort to populate the American
Colonies, Queen Anne of England sent agents throughout Europe and especially into the
Palatinate of Germany, to entice emigration. They distributed pamphlets with gold lettering
bearing the Queen's picture. In veiled language, it promised passage to America and
assistance in establishing farms there, to all who would but come.
Page No. 1.
"
"This pamphlet became known as the ""Golden Book."" Although the promises weren't
specific, the enticement was sufficient for the Hartricks. They, along with thousands of other
Germans, decided to start anew in America.
Now the Hartricks are not known for being bold and impetuous. On the contrary, they were,
and are circumspect; cautiously willing to take a chance, as long as it is on their terms and if
the odds are in their favor. This trait almost cost them their chance at a home in America.
Caspar Hartrick [1], was the first to go. He and his family safely made it to America in 1709.
There were six parties of Palatines to leave Germany at British expense and two by private
means that year. Hans and Matthew Hartrick and their families were members of the sixth
British sponsored party. Mary Hartrick and her husband waited so long as to be prohibited
from emigrating. So many Palatines were to leave Germany that the Kurfurst,
[Elector Palatine to the King], Hans Wilhelm, put a stop to further emigration,
on pain of death. In 1723 the British government gave Mary twenty shillings as payment for
her travel expenses, when she and her husband would be allowed to travel to England.
The records do not indicate that they ever left Germany, and they likely still owe the British
government the twenty shillings!
The Hartrick families spent between four to six weeks on their journey down the Rhein River
to Rotterdam. Along the way they were subjected to departure taxes and to frequent tolls.
This severely depleted the meager funds generated from the sale of their personal
possessions. Charitable countrymen along the way made small donations to assist
them in their journey.
In Rotterdam, they encamped for a time while awaiting a ship that would take them to
England. This would be the second leg of their long journey to the ""New World.""
The five preceding parties of emigrating Palatines had not left the tentage and campgrounds
in the best of condition. Also at this point, the resources and patience of the Dutch charitable
organizations had been stretched rather thin. Fortunately their encampment was brief.
The British ships that carried troops to the war of Spanish Succession, were diverted to
Rotterdam on their way home, to transport the Palatines to England. On the 27th. of July 1709,
the last party of emigrating Palatines boarded their awaiting troopship.
The next day they sailed for England.
Sailing between Rotterdam and London took between six to eight days.
Landing at St. Catherine's dock, they were transported to the campgrounds at Camberwell
and Blackheath, near London. As opposed to moving into an empty campground as they
had in Rotterdam, these campgrounds had a population of 10,000 Palatines already
encamped there. These latest arrivals and those to follow were to swell these numbers to
13,500!
If the Hartricks thought that they had seen hard times up to this point, they were mistaken.
The hard times were just beginning. London's population at this time was only 600,000.
The influx of Palatines represented a substantial increase that had to be fed and housed
as well as be provided with medical and sanitary needs. Nearly 1,000 of the Palatines
died during this encampment.
Page No. 2.
"
"Rising food prices, diseases, overcrowding, air pollution and a host of other ills were
blamed on the Palatine intruders. Feelings ran so high that at one point, a mob of 2,000
Londoners attacked the Palatines in an effort to drive them away.
Not being the stock of which heroes are made, the Hartricks, during this fray,
made themselves scarce and thus survived. This same skill has served the clan well in
many other wars and uprisings. Thus the clan has prospered and survived to the present day.
During the encampment, some of the Palatines found it expedient to claim that religious
persecution had caused them to come to England. This may have been true in a few cases,
but generally the claim was made for their own personal advantage.
They were seeking the favor of charitable religious groups.
They were soon to learn more of religious persecution from the British than they ever suffered
in Germany.
The British had a little surprise awaiting the Palatines. They were required to swear
allegiance to the British Crown and become British subjects. Now this seemed reasonable
enough in that their destination, America, belonged to Britain at that time.
The British however, imposed a second requirement. In addition to being naturalized,
they required that the Palatines become Protestants. This, by taking the sacraments of the
Anglican Church, before a witness. This was acceptable to the expedient Hans and he
became ""A poor Protestant, saved by the Queen."" This however, was unacceptable to his
brother Matthew. Rather than change his religion, Matthew and his wife chose to be returned
to Germany. He was given five gilders expense money and along with 2,250 other Catholics,
was sent back to Rotterdam. From there they were to make it on their own to the fatherland
as best they could.
Now the Hartricks had emigrated from the fatherland to make a new start in America and
wanted no part of camping out in England. Other Palatines had been transported to America
from there. Caspar Hartrick [1] and his wife were part of group of 3,000 Palatines that had
been transported to New York. Another 600 Palatines had been sent to Carolina.
Hans and his two children were awaiting their transport to America, as others had before
them.
However, the resources of the British government for this enterprise had been exhausted.
Substantially more Palatines than anticipated, had responded to the invitation of the
""Golden Book"". Considerable time was spent by Parliament ""muddling through""
the problem of what to do with the excess of Palatines. Finally, the Irish Council offered to
accept a number of Palatines in Ireland. Hans and his children, along with 3,070 other
Palatines, were taken by wagon across England to Chester. There they boarded ships that
took them to Dublin. The first group landed in September of 1709; others followed in
October.
The Palatines found conditions in Dublin to be far worse than they were in England.
Dublin was a town of only 60,000 at that time, so the influx of over 3,000 Palatines was
proportionally twice that experienced by London.
Page No. 3.
"
"Merchants were charging inflated prices for food and passed counterfeit half pence coins to
them as change, while they were sold watered down milk. These and other such frauds and
hardships were practiced to such an extent that the Lord Mayor of Dublin issued a
proclamation promising prosecution of future offenders, ""..with the utmost rigor of the law.""
This is the point at which Hans' fortunes were finally to turn for the better. Since the earliest
times, Ireland had been enmeshed in wars, uprisings, clan fights, foreign invasions and civil
strife. However about 1700, all of this ceased and an unaccustomed peace settled over the
land. This lasted for almost a century during which the Hartrick Clan grew and flourished in
Ireland. The specific turning point was the selection of Palatine tenants by their Irish landlords.
This was done by drawing lots and it was Hans' good fortune to be drawn by the honest,
if not benevolent landlord, Able Ram. Caspar Hartwig [2], was settled in County Limerick.
Nothing more is known of him or his family.
The Ram estate in County Wexford was located in arguably the most desirable portion of
Ireland. The area around Old Ross in particular, is especially suitable for ""the art of high
tillage"", practiced by the Palatines there. The land is not rocky as in western Ireland, but is
gently rolling rich farmland, protected from storms approaching from the west by the
Blackstairs mountains. This is an area very reminiscent of the Palatinate of Germany in which
Hans must have felt quite at home. His farm even had a peat bog from which he was able to
cut fuel for his fire.
In all. seven Palatine families were assigned to the Ram estate and all seven remained.
This was not so with other Palatine families. Their landlords often treated their tenants badly
and a number of families left Ireland. By February 1711, fully one third of the Palatine families
had left Ireland.
Hans and his Palatine neighbors formed a small, close knit, closed community.
They were Protestant [even if newly so], German speaking, hard working farmers.
They used different tools and farming methods and were conspicuously more successful than
their Irish neighbors. As protection against hostile neighbors, Hans and his Palatine
neighbors had each been given a musket. These were called ""Queen Anne's"" after the
ruling British monarch of the time. The Palatines were enrolled in The Free Yomq
enry of Ireland, which was sort of a home guard or Militia. They were known as ""The German
Fusiliers"" or more commonly as ""The True Blues"".
The Hartrick Clan was remarkably devoid of inspiration in their choices of given names for
their male offspring. Children were almost all named either John, George or William.
This made sorting them all out a difficult task indeed.
Page No. 4.
"
"By ca. 1710, George Hartrick, [my great5 grandfather], married and by 1720,
he was registered on the Ram Estate, at the Townland of Moorfields. In due course his
children were born. These were My great4 grandfather, Matthew, [after his repatriated
Catholic uncle], born ca. 1710, John George, born ca. 1712, and William, born ca 1714.
The first of the Standish Hartricks is memorialized in St. Mary's Church in New Ross.
He and his son, George Standish Hartrick, owned and operated a ship called The British
Queen. In 1852, George, after at least two trips to America, sailed to Australia and
founded the burgeoning Hartrick Clan there.
About 1730 Mathew Hartrick married and had a son ca. 1731, whom he called John.
He was my great3 grandfather. This John married ca. 1766 and had a son born in 1777,
whom he called John, [my great2 grandfather]. This John was nicknamed ""Red"" in the Tithe
Applotment Book of Old Ross of 1826. On January 12, 1778, a second son named William
was born to John. In 1816, William emigrated to Ontario Canada with his wife Elizabeth and
their son William. Their descendants, with whom I correspond and visit, are now living in
Michigan.
The venerable John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, preached to the Palatines
at Old Ross in 1787. Until that time they had been under the religious guidance of the Church
of Ireland. The impact of his preaching is not recorded but it must have been akin to the
enthusiastically fervent reception of the Palatine communities in County Limerick.
The message of faith that he brought has endured for all of the succeeding generations of
Hartricks, even to this writer.
The luck of the Hartrick clan and Ireland's century of peace, ended the night of June 5th.,
of 1798. The Hartricks of Old Ross were well aware of the oncoming Irish rebellion against
the British, [and Protestants in general], and had fled to the safety of the defended town of
New Ross. There they were ""given accommodations"", by Charles Tottenham,
Sovereign of the town. Others of the Palatine community weren't so fortunate.
George Hornick was the victim of a revenge slaying at Killanne.
The church at Old Ross was burned as were all but four of the community's 100 homes.
By far the most heinous of the rebel actions was the holocaust of the nearby
Scullabogue Barn. The rebels rounded up over 100 Protestants and herded them into a
thatched roof barn. This they set afire. Those in the barn who were not suffocated or
trampled to death were burned alive. Those attempting to escape were piked to death
outside the barn by the guards. Included in this group were about 15 Irish Catholic servants
of the Protestant families. One of the Palatines, Philip Hornick, was later identified by the
pocket watch that he carried. This watch is still in the possession of his descendants in
Ontario.
When the Hartricks returned to Old Ross, they found their homes had been reduced to
smoldering ashes. Their livestock had all been burned along with their provisions and
personal possessions. All that they had were the clothes on their backs and what they
were able to carry with them when they fled.
Page No. 5.
"
"The personal qualities of independence, hard work and thrift however, could not be burned.
These came to the fore and served them well during the reconstruction to follow.
They petitioned the government for compensation for their losses.
Their homes and stables were rebuilt by their own hands.
The mutually beneficial relationships with their Catholic neighbors undoubtedly provided them
much help and succor in their hour of need.
The Hartricks of Ireland survived, but the Rebellion of 1798 was to prove a turning point in
their lives and fortunes.
John ""Red"" Hartrick married Anne Payne in 1802. In 1812 she bore him a son named
Edward John. She also died in that year, perhaps as so many women did, in childbirth.
Two years later he married Margaret Hornick, who on June 3d., 1815, also bore him a son
whom they named Charles Edward. He was my great grandfather. There were to be five
generations of Charles Edward Hartricks to follow. A third son, Henry, was born to John
""Red"" Hartrick in 1814 and a daughter, Maria, was born ca. 1817 and a second daughter
Mary was born in 1826..
John ""Red"" was the first of the Hartricks to venture into an occupation that was other than
farming. He had an urge to try life in the big city. Along with his wife Margaret and his four
children, he left the agrarian life at Old Ross and traveled to the big city of Dublin.
Here he established himself as a merchant until his death in 1834. He was buried in
the churchyard of St. Andrews Church there. His grave site is now part of a paved parking lot.
Somehow, the thought of a car leaking oil on the remains of my great great grandfather isn't
appealing in the least. Most recently, the church has been sold to the Irish Tourist Board and
thus has ceased to function as a church altogether.
His son Charles, [my great grandfather], continued the business until his emigration from
Ireland. His half brother Edward, having been educated as a minister, followed his calling to
Northern Ireland, where he is buried. Their mother along with her children Henry,
Maria and Mary, preferred to return to their people at Old Ross. She died in 1854 and was
buried there. Meanwhile Charles met and fell in love with the charming Huguenot lass
Mary Fuggart, [say foo-Gar]. They were married about 1840. In that same year,
Charles sold the family business. Using the proceeds of the sale, Charles and Mary Hartrick
emigrated to Canada to seek their fortune in the new world. As noted above, they weren't the
first Hartricks to leave Ireland and correspondence with other clan members has shown
that they weren't to be the last. However, all of the known Hartricks who emigrated from
Ireland, settled, if only briefly, in Canada.
The story of the Hartricks of Ireland ends here. A second article titled The Hartricks of
America, detailing the Clan's fortunes in the ""New World"", will follow in the next edition of
the Journal. A third article dealing with some of the psychological aspects of why we seek
to find our ancestors' history will complete the series.
Page No. 6.
Revision 1, March 1996.
"
"Illustrations:
St. Mary's Church, (Church of Irland), at Old Ross
The Hartrick farm home at Moorfields, Old Ross. County Wexford.
Lester J. Hartrick"
"THE HARTRICKS OF AMERICA
BY LESTER J. HARTRICK
The preceding article in this series, The Hartricks of Ireland, told the story of the Hartrick
Clan from their origins in the Palatinate of Germany, to their relocation in Ireland. T
his article will chronicle the Clan's history from County Wexford's green hills, through their
sojourn in Canada and their eventual settlement in The United States.
Although the Rebellion of 1798 was a pivotal event in the lives of the County Wexford
Palatines, a far more sinister and devastating event for the general Irish population was to
follow. By degrees, this was to effect Ireland more than any event before or since.
This was the Great Potato Famine. In terms of peacetime lives that were lost, it has been
described as being second only to Europe's Black Plague of the Middle Ages.
The potato blight was caused by the fungus Phytophthora Infestans. It's devastation was by
no means limited to Ireland, but occurred in Europe, especially in Germany, and in America
as well. However, the degree of the fungus' havoc was at a maximum in Ireland. Its effect on
the potato field has been described as looking as though the field had been destroyed by a
fire. It's onset in Ireland was insidious, first appearing in the seventeen hundreds.
In the early 1820's, it appeared in Connacht and Munster. Although localized,
the crop failures there in two successive years, were almost complete.
Famine relief organizations were established in Dublin as well as London to aid in the
disaster. With the exception of 1838, there were partial potato crop failures in each of the
1830's. The main brunt of the famine was not felt however, until the 1845-1848 period.
Total potato crop failures were experienced in the years 1846 and 1848.
An economist of the time noted that the diet of the country people consisted of potatoes
and milk for ten months of the year, and potatoes and salt for the other two months.
The two ""dry"" months were likely the cow's calving period. He also noted that they had
""a little butter."" The average daily consumption of potatoes was eight pounds per person.
This meant that an adult consumed about twelve pounds of potatoes each day,
while each child ate four pounds. With the plethora of foods available to us today,
it is difficult to imagine the sheer boredom of subsisting on a single augmented staple
as one's total diet.
The potato was introduced into Ireland at Youghal, in County Cork, by Sir Walter Raleigh.
It is an almost perfect source of food. Its carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamin C,
when supplemented with milk, made a complete diet which was capable of sustaining a
person for an entire lifetime. Thus, the Irish came to rely on the potato almost exclusively,
as their soul source of food. They were planted in hills that were known as ""lazy beds.""
These were harvested on an as-needed basis. In this manner their main staple was secure
from foraging armies, in that soldiers and other such marauders, wouldn't take the time to
locate and unearth these culinary masterpieces.
Page No. 1.
"
"From this dependence on a single crop, the degree of disaster that the loss of the potato
wrought upon the country people, can readily be seen. The sufferings of the Irish were
greater than those of any other country in Europe, or America. We may tend to think that,
like the Black Plague of the Middle Ages, the potato blight is a thing of the past.
Unfortunately this is not true. A 1993 article in The Chicago Tribune stated in part:
""Variants of the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine 150 years ago
are spreading throughout the world, plant pathologists report. While
experts don't expect the blight to cause famine, they are concerned
because some variants are resistant to metalaxyl, the fungicide most
commonly used.""
The Palatines however were largely unaffected by this disaster.
Their ancestors had brought advanced farming methods with them from
Germany many years earlier. Examples of these were the diversity of crops that were
planted. These were rotated annually. A portion of their land was left unplanted each year.
This practice of allowing a field to lie fallow, permitted the land to recover from the preceding
years of productivity and thus regain its fertility. As opposed to the Irish ""lazy bed""
method of planting potatoes, the Palatines employed a hopper on their plows,
drill planting their potatoes in rows as the land was being plowed. Also,
instead of hand hoeing, they utilized horse drawn cultivators.
These were methods practiced by succeeding generations of Palatines and when
coupled with their native industriousness, resulted in farms of greater productivity and
contributed to the economic advantages enjoyed by the Palatines.
On a palatine farm, everyone worked. Boys of twelve years of age would drive a team of
horses by holding the reins, [the straps that controlled the horses movements],
behind their neck while holding the handles of a plow. Girls were trained to help with the
household chores from the earliest ages on. They were often in charge of the younger
children and assisted their mother in as many of the household tasks as they were able.
The Palatine wife was really a marvel of hard work, ingenuity and versatility.
She not only was the cook and housekeeper for her family, but she planted,
cultivated and harvested the family garden plot as well. She processed flax,
spinning it into linen and wove it into cloth that she used to make her families clothes.
She did the same with wool, carding and spinning it into yarn that was either woven into
cloth or knitted into clothing. She took care of the barnyard animals churned the butter,
gathered and candled the eggs, among other such tasks. When she was not busy with
these things, or having children, she worked beside her husband in the fields.
Truly, the gold at the end of the Palatines rainbow, was his wife.
Thus, for the Palatine farmers, the potato famine was little more than a nuisance,
in that only the potato crops were effected by the blight. They had an abundance of
other crops and foodstuffs to rely upon for their survival. They were even were able to
feed turnips to their pigs and other livestock, while their potato dependent Irish neighbors
were on the verge of starvation.
Page No. 2.
"
"The bounty of the Palatines was not kept within this close knit society, but was shared with
their less fortunate Irish neighbors. Tales of their labors in preparing and serving food to the
starving Irish are well documented by Michael McConville in his book, Ascendancy to
Oblivion. Dr. Patrick O'Connor, in his book, People Make Places, tells of a starving Irishman
entering a Palatines door-yard, looking for food. He was promptly given a turnip from which
he took one bite, but before being able to swallow, died of starvation!
A large cast-iron soup kettle remains to this day In the courtyard of the Ballantaggart House,
a youth hostel operated by Paddy Fenton in the Dingle Peninsula.
This was used by the British to prepare soup for the starving Irish.
As with the original Palatines, who were required to take the sacraments of the
Anglican Church before being allowed to remain in England, all that the Irish Catholics
had to do to be fed, was to take these same sacraments. Thus Britain's bounty was
graciously given to the starving Catholic Irish; with the choice of convert or starve to death.
Although conditions for the Palatine farmers were satisfactory during the worst of the famine,
such was not the case for those who had left the farm for other pursuits. About 1830,
my great great grandfather, John [the Red] Hartrick, left his father's farm at Old Ross.
Taking his wife and family with him, he moved to Dublin and became a merchant.
The law of supply and demand was in full effect during the famine.
The dearth of the potato supply forced dependence on other foods,
increasing their prices. This resulted in a rise in the cost of living,
which in turn produced a general depression of the country's economy.
This was especially so in Dublin, where the use of alternate foodstuffs was exacerbated by
country people coming into town, looking for food. The Irish died literally by the hundreds in
the streets of Dublin.
The full effect of the famine and resultant economic depression, was not experienced by
John [The red] Hartrick, who passed away 1834. Following this, his widow Margaret,
nee Hornick, returned to her people at Old Ross. She was buried there after her death in
1854. However, John's son, Charles Edward Hartrick [1], my great grandfather,
did experience the effects of the economic downturn. The business gradually declined so
that by 1840, Charles was forced to sell for whatever price he could get. Charles,
by this time had married Mary, nee Fuggart, [say foo-Gar], a charming Huguenot lass.
He was convinced that for the economic survival of he and his wife, that they must leave the
green land of their fathers and emigrate to the new world of America.
Let us for the moment consider just what such an undertaking meant.
First there was the very real danger of not surviving the voyage. Death rates of 10% and
higher were common in the emigrant ships. They were called ""Coffin Ships"".
Shipwrecks too were not an uncommon occurrence. Although the ship provided the
water and fuel for the preparation of their meals, the emigrants had to bring and prepare
their own food. With no refrigeration and likely vermin to contend with, mealtimes must
have presented a real challenge. For the Irish, this was somewhat less of a problem.
Given a sack of potatoes, [if the were to be found], they were pretty well set for the trip
with the type of fare to which they were accustomed.
Page No. 3.
"
"For the Palatines, who were accustomed to having a well rounded diet,
shipboard fare must have presented an unappetizing round of monotony.
The provisions for sanitation were rudimentary to say the least. At best, just a pot and a
window to throw it out of. The roughness of the ride in these little leaky wooden ships must
have been sickening for the land lubber immigrants. The seas which I encountered during a
Caribbean Caribbean cruise, were rough enough to make me loose my lunch.
This while on board a ship that was literally hundreds of times larger than the emigrant ships.
Finally there was the sheer boredom that such a trip must have meant. After a week on a
luxurious cruise ship, I've had enough of the ""seafaring"" life and I'm ready to go home.
The emigrants spent as much as two months and more to make their perilous crossings.
Charles didn't keep a diary recording the events of his crossing, but his 3rd cousin,
[once removed] Peter Hartrick, did keep track of at least the dates. He left Ireland on the
16th of April in 1859, arriving in Montreal, Quebec Canada, 62 days later on the 13th of Junel
This of course didn't end the journey. He had to travel overland another 75 miles from
Montreal, to reach his final destination of Dunvegan, Ontario. Canadian main roads in those
days were merely 33 foot wide strips of cleared land through the primeval forest. Although
cut close to the ground, the tree stumps remained in place, so that a wagon had to navigate
between or over them as best as they could. Graveling of even the main the roads was to
come later.
Charles and Mary may well have had a bit better voyage than most emigrants of that and
later times. Charles' second cousin, Standish Hartrick, along with Standish's son George
Standish Hartrick, operated a ship called The British Queen, or more familiarly, The Queen.
This ship made two voyages to India and at least one to America. The shipping firm of
Standish Hartrick and Son, operated from offices in Dublin and Liverpool England.
Although it's a bit speculative, I believe that having a shipping firm in the Clan, may well have
influenced Charles and Mary to avail themselves of the services of the firm of Hartrick and
Son to secure their passage to America on board The Queen. Research on the ship to
determine it's builder, size and configuration, is ongoing.
Let us for the moment, take a look back at the fortunes of the first known Hartrick to have
emigrated to America. In 1709, about 3,600 of the original Palatines to leave Germany were
able to secure passage directly to America. Caspar Hartrick, a cousin of the founder of the
Hartrick Clan, was in that group. The passage for his wife and himself as well as a daughter
and two sons, was both long and dangerous.
In order to compensate for the low passage rates in effect at that time,
the Palatines were literally packed into the emigrant ships.
These were small, cramped sailing vessels, that had recently been freight carrying ships.
They were hastily converted into the more profitable emigrant service. With the delay in
sailing and the long slow ocean crossing, these first Palatine emigrants were on board
their ships for six months! Many of the Palatines in their cramped quarters could not get
fresh air or even see the light of day.
Page No. 4.
"
"The resultant unsanitary conditions and vermin took their toll. They were described by the
doctors of that time as having ""Palatine Fever"". This particularly effected the younger
children, who died in great numbers from what was later known on immigrant ships as
""Ships Fever."" We know this today by the name typhus. It is spread by infected fleas and
body lice and is more deadly than typhoid fever. One 1710 report stated that of the 2,814
Palatines in one convoy, 446 had died; a death rate of 15.8%! This was partially offset by
30 children being born on shipboard.
Death at sea was so frequent as to become commonplace and was reported with almost a
cavalier attitude. I quote in part from the diary of Thomas Alexander Langford,
aboard the New World, on a voyage from Liverpool to New York. The time frame is
October to December, 1853.
""Wed. Oct. 26th. Nice breeze this morning but in the evening the wind
turned contrary and got very rough, tore one of the sails on the foremast.
All night the vessel rocked dreadfully. We are between England and
Ireland.
Thurs. 27th. At 3:30 a.m. the wind raged dreadfully, they were afraid that
she would run too near the land. The wind fell after daylight. It got nearly
dead calm after dinnertime and continued so until after dark.
Fri. 28th. Calm all day and we have been standing still. This morning at
11 o'clock a German lighting his pipe with a match in the steerage set fire
to his bed and only for the carpenter the vessel would have been set on
fire. This afternoon I saw a man and a child thrown out. [Buried at sea].
Rained a little this day.
Sat. 29th. We had a good breeze last night which continued to-day,
rained about four hours this morning. We got into the Atlantic to-day. A
young woman thrown out this evening.
Sun. 30th. A nice wind this morning until 11 o'clock when it began to blow
very hard till night, before nightfall they had to reef all sails. Last night a
man died next room to me, he had a wife and five of a family, was thrown
out this morning with two others. This evening two more children were
thrown out.""
It is hard to imagine being so desperate to relocate, as to knowingly resort to such a
voyage in order to start literally from scratch in an unknown place. Surely our ancestors
were made of staunch material! Their study has taught me a whole new respect for them
along with the realization that I owe them a debit that of course can never be repaid,
except perhaps by telling their story to the present and future generations.
Caspar and his family must have survived the ordeal of the Atlantic crossing in that they
were reported in New York in 1709 as having come from England.
Page No. 5.
"
"Beyond this, there has been no further record of them here in America that I've been able to
uncover. They were just swallowed up into the American dream.
The master of The Queen was the son of the shipping firm's founder.
The son, George Standish Hartrick, was educated at Gatwick Hill School in Bath, England.
Working in the offices of the firm made him restless and he decided to go to sea.
After his several voyages to America and India, he returned to New Ross,
Ireland and married Mary Matilda Symes. On his wedding day in 1852,
they set sail for Australia to join the gold rush. There they raised a family of 12 children and
founded the flourishing Australian branch of the Hartrick family tree. I will leave the further
chronicling of the Australian Hartricks to an antipodian scribe, one of whom is a member of
The Irish Palatine Association.
The first of the Irish Hartricks to emigrate from Ireland was William [Hartrick] Hatrick, [1].
Both spellings of the name are inscribed on a single monument in the churchyard of
St. Mary's Church, [COI], at Old Ross, in County Wexford. My great grandfather,
Charles Edward Hartrick, [1], signed his name ""Hatrick"" when he applied for U.S.
citizenship in 1880.
William Hatrick [1], his wife Elizabeth and their son William Hartrick [2]., settled near the
village of Duffins Creek, [Originally known by it's French name of Rivirie au Saumon,
now known as Ajax], in Pickering Township of Ontario County,
[originally known as York County, now known as Durham County],
in the province of Upper Canada, [now known as Ontario], Canada. Needless to say,
these name changes didn't made the researching of the Hartrick Clan any easier.
According to William McKay, in his book, The Pickering Story, William Hartrick [2] married
Pheobe Haight when she was twelve years old! This must have been truly a match made in
heaven in that it lasted throughout their lifetimes. The descendants of William Hatrick [2],
are members of The Irish Palatine Association,
William Hartrick [2] became the holder of substantial lands in the county.
He was a much respected magistrate in Pickering Township for about thirty years.
His home, . built in 1843, at 22 Linton Avenue, in Pickering, Ontario,
has been designated as a Historical Landmark. The street was named after one of
William's daughters, who's married name was Lydia Linton.
With the anchor of a Hartrick family in Canada secured, the chain of clan migration which
was to follow could begin. The push of deteriorating economic conditions in Ireland and the
pull of a relative, successfully established in Canada, were both in place.
Thus the stage was set for the immigration of my branch of the clan.
With the promise of better economic conditions beckoning, my great grandfather,
Charles Edward Hartrick [1] and his wife Mary, decided to emigrate to Canada.
They are estimated to have left Ireland about 1840. It is likely that they returned to
Moorfields at Old Ross for a final visit with their family and friends before sailing on
The Queen from the harbor at New Ross.
Page No. 6.
"
"With the master of the vessel being a cousin, I'm sure that these circumspect Hartricks
considered that their crossing was likely to be considerably more comfortable than many
other of Ireland's emigres. Their destination was Pickering Township in Ontario Canada.
Their port of entry was most likely Quebec City in that province of Canada.
The 26 mile long rail line between Laprairie and St. John in Quebec was the only railroad
line in Canada in 1840. Even this was of no help, since it ran generally north and south.
This meant that the journey from Quebec City to Duffins Creek in Pickering Township,
had to be made via the St. Laurence River and Lake Ontario, or overland. Depending on
the wind and weather, a coastal schooner could make the voyage from Quebec City to
Pickering Harbor in Frenchman's Bay, in about two weeks. If overland, the route of 400
plus miles most likely would have taken about 30 days. It is most likely that Charles and
Mary traveled to Pickering by schooner.
It may well have been that the meager monetary gain realized by selling the business in
Dublin, was spent on the trip to Canada. It appears that Charles Edward Hartrick [1],
never became a land owner there. An extensive search of the land transaction records
in the Archives of Ontario, failed to find any mention of him. I have therefore concluded
that he rented or leased his farm in Pickering Township. He built his one story log cabin in
the wooded wilderness and settled into the business of being a farmer.
In June of 1845, my grandfather, Charles Edward Hartrick [2], was born. I have used this
numbering system to differentiate between the several generations of William's and Charles'
to follow. His siblings were Margaret, born in 1847, Thomas, born in 1849, John W.,
born in 1855, James, born in 1857 and Jenny, of whom I have no further information at this
time. The youngest son, Robert G. Hartrick, was born in the United States in 1861.
Charles [1], reverted from merchant to farmer and for reasons yet to be discovered,
found himself displeased with that life in Canada. Perhaps it was the change in climate
from the benevolent temperatures of County Wexford, to the harsher Canadian winters.
I personally believe that it was his displeasure with not owning the land that he worked
coupled with his desire to return to the world of commerce. This he did when he finally
emigrated to the United States and established himself in the village of Royal Oak,
Michigan
In Canada, the Hartricks, as well as the other Palatines that they joined and those who
were to follow later, lost their identity as Palatines. There were no further economic
advantages to being so identified. The favorable rents paid by the early Palatines in Ireland,
did not apply in Canada. In that the Protestants were now in the majority,
the separation from their Irish Catholic neighbors no longer needed to be maintained.
The 1851-52 Census Returns for Pickering Township shows that the Protestants
numbered 4,223, while there were only 519 Roman Catholics reported.
There were an additional 1,207 who reported themselves as having no religious affiliation.
Thus the Catholics were in the minority by a margin of over ten to one.
Page No. 7.
"
"That same census return listed the foreign origin of the inhabitants of Pickering Township as
being 1,035 from Ireland, 823 from England, 441 from Scotland, 11 French Canadians and
89 native Canadians. Apparently not everyone wanted to divulge their national origin but of
those who did, the foreign born outnumbered the native born by a margin of almost twenty six
to one.
The Palatines were in an area where everyone was essentially on the same footing.
They were almost all foreign born farmers who were, for the most part, Protestant.
Being largely undeveloped, land was inexpensive, thus the farms were larger.
A standard lot was 200 acres. These were generally sub-divided into two 100 acre farms.
No longer were they cheek to jowl with their neighbors as they were in Ireland.
Thus they were more independent of each other and there was no longer a reason to
maintain the protective, close knit, closed Palatine society, of the ""Old Country,""
As a youngster, I was often asked by my peers, ""What are you?"" By this, they meant,
of what national origin was my family. In America, unless you are an Indian,
everyone or their family came from someplace else. This is even true of the Indians,
except that they have been here so long that we consider them to be natives.
A by-product of this rather curious practice was that the children made each other aware
of their family's national origins. In my case, I didn't know, so I asked my parents.
My mother told me that my great grandfather came to Canada and the United States,
from Ireland. My Canadian born grandfather came with his father to Michigan.
This was the beginnings of my life long interest in the history of my ancestors.
Charles [1] was not the last of the Hartrick's to leave Ireland for Canada. As noted above,
Peter left Ireland in 1859. His descendants largely remained in Canada and form part of the
population of present day Ontario. See figure No. 1, for their present day locations.
An 1877 map of Pickering Township shows a cluster of seven Hartrick farms around the
village of Duffins Creek, [now called Ajax].
Today there are 128 Hartrick families, in the United States, scattered from coast to coast.
Not all of the American Hartricks are descendants of the Irish Palatines.
There is at least one documented case in 1853, of a Friedrich Hartrick arriving in America,
after having emigrating directly from the state of Hohenzollern, in Germany.
During the 1850's and 60's Canada's railroad system was burgeoning. In 1856, Montreal and
Toronto were linked by the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. In 1860, Toronto was linked with
Sarnia Ontario. This was only a short ferry ride across the St. Clair river from Port Huron,
in the State of Michigan. Taking advantage of this latest advance in transportation in about
1860, Charles [1] moved his family to the United States.
If New York is considered the ""front door"" to the United States, then Canada must be
considered the ""back door"". Large numbers of immigrants, especially Irish,
have entered through this ""back door"". Immigration quotas had not yet been put in place,
so all that was needed was to put your foot on American soil, and a simple application
made you a citizen.
Page No. 8.
"
"Being ever cautious, Charles [1] and his sons waited until March of 1880 to apply.
There being no suffrage for women, the female members of the family did not bother to
become citizens.
In 1862, my grandfather Charles [2], was just 17, when the American Civil War broke out.
Just the right age to be a ""soldier boy."" As noted in the previous article,
the Hartricks were not of the stock of which heroes are made.
Taking advantage of a provision of the military draft law of that time, Charles [2] bought a
substitute for himself for $300. Thus he avoided the draft, the clan has survived and
continued to grow.
Charles [1] purchased property in Royal Oak Michigan, a present day suburb of Detroit.
His home was built there in 1880. It still stands at 1305 Hartrick Street, named in his honor,
in Royal Oak. Now for a moment, from the ""Twilight Zone"". Originally, the home was built for
Charles and Mary Hartrick. The present owners, [unrelated to the Hartrick Clan],
are also named Charles and Mary! Their attorney in the purchase was Bruce Hartrick.
Just what Charles [1] did for a living is something yet to be discovered, but it appears that it
wasn't farming. An 1908 map of Oakland County Michigan shows the Hartrick property off
Woodward Avenue as being quite small; just a couple of village lots at best. Perhaps it might
be speculated that he once more pursued the life of a merchant, as he had in Dublin so many
years before.
The descendants of Charles [1] and his wife Mary, include several attorneys and at least one
judge, a veterinarian, a dentist, several respected businessmen as well as many engineers
and educators. Thus Mary and Charles made a positive contribution to their adoptive country.
Charles [1] and his wife Mary were laid to rest in the Royal Oak Cemetery,
with a monument remarkably similar in design to the Hartrick monument in the church yard of
St. Mary's Church, [COI], at Old Ross, County Wexford, Ireland.
When on his own, my grandfather, Charles [2], rented the Medbury Farm on what is now
Woodward Avenue, near Royal Oak. This was less than 1/2 mile from his father's home.
There is no doubt that he became a successful farmer and dairyman. He married Esther
Livonia McDowel, who bore him a son that they named Frederick. ""Little Freddy""
succumbed to scarlet fever at the age of twelve and their two other children died in infancy.
Esther died in 1878 at the tender age of 22. Charles [2] then married Margaret Brown who
bore him two children; Carrie and Lewis, before her passing. Lewis holds the clan record
for longevity, having survived to age 90. Finally, Charles [2] married Lydia Tetley.
She bore him three children; Mable in 1886, Charles Edward [3], [my father], in 1892,
and Gladys in 1897.
Through ""hard work and strict economy"", [quoted from his obituary], while renting the
Medbury farm, Charles [2] was able to save enough money to purchase his own farm at
Rochester Michigan. This was known as the Knight property. It had been an original land
purchase by Mr. Peter Knight from the Federal Government.
Page No. 9.
"
"Here, Charles [2], operated a dairy farm, producing and delivering milk to the residents of
near-by Rochester Michigan. He was a strict ""tea-totaler""; so much so that he wouldn't
raise rye wheat on his farm for fear that someone might make it into whisky.
It was he who lit the spark that would result in generations of engineers.
He took my father into Rochester to watch the Corliss steam engines operate at the sugar
mill there. This resulted in my father's fascination with machinery and things mechanical.
Charles [2] died suddenly in 1907.
In retrospect, my father, Charles [3], was truly a renaissance man. It was he who made the
quantum leap from the agrarian or commercial life of his ancestors, into the machine age.
Later this included the electronic age as well. As a boy, his imagination was already at work.
When the farm's windmill blew down, he salvaged the ladder and constructed a
high dive at the swimming hole on farm's creek. In true Hartrick tradition of conservative
caution, he didn't dive from it, but some of his older friends did. The tracks of the interurban
Detroit United Railway crossed this creek at the back of his father's farm. Hooking a wire
from the overheat trolley line, he dropped the other end into the creek and was thus able to
electrocute fish. Truly there is a providence that looks after boys, otherwise none would
survive.
With only a grammar school education for credentials, he left the farm in 1910 for Detroit
where he was employed in a drafting room trimming drawings. After attending a few night
school courses, he became a draftsman and finally a mechanical engineer. During World
War I, he was a civilian employee of the Navy Department, engaged in the design of aircraft
engines. Thus another Hartrick escaped military service. After the war he married my mother,
Lucy Frances Bezemek. She bore him two sons; Charles Edward [4], in 1920 and myself in
1928, as well as a daughter, Doris Mary in 1922. My father's final employment was as the
chief mechanical engineer for The Chicago Motor Coach Company.
To list but a few of his accomplishments, in the 1930's he designed an automatic
transmission for busses. To my knowledge, this was the first of it's kind.
This used the principle of centrifugal force that he had seen as a boy,
in the governors of the Corliss engines that his father had taken him to see.
He holds the patent for a recording fare box that was able to discriminate between
legitimate and counterfeit coins. He originated glassed-in smoking compartments for busses.
His designs were used for the bus driver's street announcement system. The complete d
esign of the big six cylinder bus engines was his.
He employed his innovative genius during the severe winter of 1933-34 in Chicago.
The heating boiler of the huge bus complex where he was employed failed in sub zero
[Fahrenheit], weather. Railroad tracks passed near the bus bam with a spur track serving
the facility. Father made arrangements with the railroad to have a locomotive spotted on
the siding. Steam was then piped from the locomotive to heat the building while the boiler
repair work was completed.
As a side business during the early days of radio, he designed and custom built receiving
sets. Custom recordings were made on the ""Hartrick"" label. Our bathtub at home was
used in the developing and printing of his photographs.
Page No. 10.
"
"For his own amusement, he was an amateur cartoonist. The list could go on and on,
but is presented here to show the environment in which I was fortunate enough to have
been raised. In the back of my mind was the thought, ""If he can do it, so can I!""
My father had several mannerisms whose roots can be traced back to his forefathers in
Ireland. If we children were noisy, he'd say, ""Stop that Bedlam in there!"" This being a
direct reference to the infamous Bedlam Insane Asylum in England. When someone would
sneeze he would give them a sort of anti-blessing by saying, ""Bad cess to you"".
The root of this saying goes back to the Black Plague of the middle ages.
The onset of the plague was marked by sneezing, so literally the saying meant,
a bad tax on you for having gotten the plague.
Finally, when we were naughty, father would say, ""I'll snatch you bald.""
The root of this stems from the form of torture used by the British, on the Irish.
When a person was suspected of having information which they considered valuable,
and that person was reluctant to talk, the British, at the time of the Irish rebellion of 1798,
employed what they called ""Pitch Capping"". A hat or cap was filled with hot liquid tar and
then crammed onto the victims head. When the mass had cooled, it was removed,
along with the victim's hair and scalp, by snatching it off his head from the rear forward.
Pitch capping was also employed by the British during the American Revolutionary War.
Now I'm quite sure that my father didn't know the root meaning of this last phrase,
or he wouldn't have used it. But it is interesting to know that these phrases were passed
down from father to son, all the way back to the Ould Sod.
My older brother Charles [4], is a retired electrical engineer and his son, Charles [5],
is an executive with an engineering firm. His field of expertise is computer assisted drafting,
[CAD]. This however is where the family tradition of the name Charles Edward ends.
Charles [5], named his son Patrick Edward. Has a little bit of old Erin remained even to the
present day?
My older sister, Doris Mary, became a teacher, and was an inspiration for my efforts at
writing. Her encouragement and guidance were taken to heart and aided me considerably.
She passed away without issue, October 16, 1987.
Our family built a summer home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the early 1930's.
This later became our year-round home. Thus, most of my grammar school education was in
a one room country school. High School was in a near-by small town. Like my father,
I left home at 17 years of age, to seek my fortune in the city. I was employed in Chicago as
a draftsman for a few years before being employed by the City Of Chicago.
There I worked as a draftsman until being appointed as an engineer in 1965.
I then headed the group that performed mechanical engineering for Chicago's airports.
You see, my father had taken me to watch Corliss engines run in a sugar mill as had his
father. After 38 years of service with the City, I retired.
In order to fulfill my military obligation to the draft laws still in effect after World War II,
I joined the Illinois Army National Guard. In true Hartrick Clan fashion, I enlisted on the last
day that this option was available. After a little more than 40 years of continuous service,
I retired.
Page No. 11.
"
"Illustrations:
The home of Charles Edward Hartrick (1), 1305 Hartrick Street, Royal Oak, Michigan.
(Irish Palatine Association Journal 1994)
Charles Edward Hartrick (the 1st) & his wife Mary Fuggart
The home of Charles Edward Hartrick (2) Rochester, Michigan.
Chares Edward Hartrick (2)
"
"Illustrations:
William Hartrick (2) home, 22 Linton Avenue, Pickering, Ontario
The home of Charles Edward Hartrick (3), near Stephenson. Michigan.
Charles Edward Hartrick (3)
"
"Thus another Hartrick has successfully escaped full time military service and the clan
continues on.
In 1950, I married Dorothy Howe. We had two children, William Henry, born in 1953 and
Jeannette Marie, born in 1964. Dorothy passed away in 1968. I presently share my life
with my friend, Sophia Konieczski.
In the family tradition, I took my son, William Henry to watch steam engines run in one of
Chicago's water pumping stations. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering,
but after graduation, decided to follow his first love; railroading. He currently drives
locomotives for the Burlington Northern Railroad. He too fulfilled his military obligation
through service in the Illinois National Guard.
Jeannette is employed by a Michigan Avenue [Chicago], advertising firm.
She is married to an attorney. One of Jeannette's ideas for a television commercial was
recently aired. The story line was that by using the telephone,- [the service of the client],
Jeannette, of Hartrick's Boutique could inform her customers that the merchandise that they
were seeking, had come in to the store.
The story of the Hartricks of America ends here with the present generation.
I leave the continuation of the Hartrick saga to the future generations to chronicle.
As promised, the next issue of The I.P.A.Journal will cover some of my own thoughts on the
psychological aspects of genealogy. It will attempt to answer why we seek to learn the history
of our ancestors.
Rev. B, 3-19-‘95
Page No. 12.
"
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