Palatines to America German Genealogical Society

Recently, I discovered when my 5th great-grandfather, Freiderich Zearfoss arrived in Pennsylvania! Even with an unusual name, researching this ancestor isn't as easy as you might think. His surname isn't one you see all the time, but I'm finding it spelled almost a dozen different ways. Born around 1724 in the Palatinate region of Germany (a historical region in south-western Germany), he arrived on the ship Edinburgh on September 15, 1749 at the age of 25. The ship sailed from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and since I don't see any others with the same surname in the record of immigrants, it's quite possible he may have come alone on the voyage. He married after he arrived in America. His information is a springboard for another quest I've been on.

I've been looking for where my Shelly line came to America. There have been some confusing (uncited) details in many trees claiming the Shelly's were of English descent but moved to Holland, ultimately coming to America to avoid religious persecution. But once here, the Shelly's settled and lived in the German communities in Pennsylvania. My Ancestry ethnicity results show I have 21% Germanic Europe from my paternal side, likely an area of French & German Switzerland. Switzerland was directly adjacent to the historical Palatinate area of Germany. It seems possible the Shelly's may have originated in much the same area.

I'm hopeful finding where Freiderich was from will help me find more details on the Shelly family origins. While I was doing some preliminary research, I stumbled on a website called Palatines to America German Genealogical Society. While full access to the site does require membership, there are plenty of resources available for free. I've already been able to find Zerfass (one of the many surname spellings), Shelly and Snavely (another branch of my tree from Pennsylvania) surnames in the Ancestor Chart Project. It remains to be seen if any of the ancestors listed are my ancestors. They also have a robust list of links to external resources, but be prepared, some of them will require translation to English (your browser should prompt you to translate). Membership is $40 per year for US members, and their membership year starts in October. If you're interested in joining, it may be wise to take this into account to maximize your membership (especially if you're only interested in a one time membership.) 

For now, I'm going to take advantage of the free resources the site offers and do additional research on sites where I already have subscriptions. I haven't yet started pursing this Palatinate angle on Ancestry, and MyHeritage certainly has a wealth of European records. But I've added Palatines to America German Genealogical Society to my Genealogy Toolbox under Historical Societies so I'll have it handy when I need it. If you have ancestors from the Palatinate region, I'd be interested to hear if this site helps you in your own research.