Some of our ancestors come from the Palatinate, and location in what is now Germany.  Here are some
notes on that area of the world from Doc Derry's website (www.fullmooncustomcycles.com):

Dr. Friedrich Krebs was an archivist at Palatinate Archives in Speyer, and he gleaned information
from German records about people who asked permission to leave or who left without paying proper
fees. There would be no mention of the ship they were on because that information could not have
been known. They would have gone down the Rhine to Rotterdam and caught whatever ship was available.
Many ships did arrive in Annapolis between 1751 and 1754, but there are no known lists of those ships
and the passengers.....yet.

Germany, as we know it today, did not exist until the late 1800's. Many regions or provinces existed
as individual small countries. In addition to the many small countries that separated Germans,
Germans were also separated by a wide variety of religions including Lutheran and Catholic and a
variety of smaller religions such as Moravianism, Church of the Brethren, Amish, and Mennonite.

Although individual Germans had previously made their way to the British and Dutch colonies, no
group migrations or compact settlements existed until after 1683. However, by the 18th century, and
through the early 20th century, millions of Germans migrated to America, many coming in groups, yet
still many coming only as individuals or small family units.

NOTE: The following came from an un-named source, however, the author gives a very good and accurate
description of Palatine and Palatinate.

Just what is a "Palatine"? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines Palatine (among other things) as:
"a native or inhabitant of the Palatinate" or "a feudal lord having sovereign power within his
domains". It defines "Palatinate" as: the territory of a Palatine". So much for dictionaries... its
no wonder the term is not understood.

Generally speaking, a "Palatine" is someone who came from the region of Germany called "The
Palatinate". Germany as a country has not existed very long. Prior to 1871, what is now Germany was
a number of separate states, such as Württemberg, Prussia, Bavaria, etc., whose boundaries changed
frequently as a result of war and other causes. The Palatinate was one of these states, and was
located along the Rhine River, roughly where the modern German state of Rhineland~Pfalz is located.

In the 18th and early 19th century, the term "Palatine" was used in America to describe immigrants
from "The Palatinate" and other adjoining German-speaking areas. Finding an American reference to
someone being from the "Palatinate" may not point to a specific place of origin, but rather an
approximate location in or near western or southern Germany.

Many of the German~speaking people that came to North America did not come directly from what is now
Germany. Many of them came here after spending time (from a few months to a few generations) in other
countries, such as Switzerland, England, Russia, Ireland, France and other countries.

~ A More Technical Description of the Palatinate ~

Palatinate, Or German PFALZ, was, in German history, the lands of the Count Palatine, a title held
by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Geographically, the Palatinate was divided
between two small territorial clusters: the Rhenish, or Lower Palatinate, and the Upper Palatinate.
The Rhenish Palatinate included lands on both sides of the Middle Rhine River between its Main and
Neckar tributaries. Its capital until the 18th century was Heidelberg. The Upper Palatinate was
located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as it flows south toward the Danube,
and extended eastward to the Bohemian Forest. The boundaries of the Palatinate varied with the
political and dynastic fortunes of the counts palatine.

During the War of the Grand Alliance (1689-97), the troops of the French monarch Louis XIV ravaged
the Rhenish Palatinate, causing many Germans to emigrate. Many of the early German settlers of
America (the Pennsylvania Dutch) were refugees from the Palatinate. During the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars, the Palatinate's lands on the west bank of the Rhine were incorporated into
France, while its eastern lands were divided largely between neighboring Baden and Hesse.

After the defeat of Napoleon (1814-15), the Congress of Vienna gave the east-bank lands to Bavaria.
These lands, together with some surrounding territories, again took the name of Palatinate in 1838.