Foreign Protestants
The Foreign Protestants were a group of non-British
History
In 1749, the
The recruiting drive was led by John Dick, a recruiting agent for settlers in the New World. The British government agreed to provide free passage to the colony, free land, and one year of rations upon arrival. Over 2,000 of the "Foreign Protestants" arrived between 1750 and 1752, in 12 ships:[1][2]
- Alderney (1750)
- Nancy (1750)
- Ann (1750)
- Gale (1751)
- Speedwell (1751)
- Pearl (1751)
- Murdoch (1751)
- Speedwell (1752)
- Betty (1752)
- Sally (1752)
- Pearl (1752)
- Gale (1752)
The immigrants disembarked at Halifax, where they were put in temporary quarters. The Foreign Protestants stayed at Halifax to assist the British in building the new outpost. They built their own chapel in Halifax, Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church. Issues arose as a number struggled with high rents in the "shanty town" they had to live in, as well as trouble accessing building materials and having to pay exorbitant prices, while they awaited their promised lands. Governor Hopson and his council had a large number of the Protestants removed and resettled in the Summer of 1753 to Merliguish/Merligash, renamed to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.[3]
Conditions in Lunenburg were initially quite poor and rumours that the people were not receiving all of the support authorized by the British Parliament resulted in the
Legacy
Most of the foreign Protestants settled along the
In the mid-18th century, the Foreign Protestants were the ethnonymic basis behind the name "New Brunswick", as well as support behind naming "Prince Edward Island" for a representative of the Braunschweiger dynasty.
Gallery
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Johann Phillip Henericie's Monument, 1st European to settle Riverport, Nova Scotia -
-
John Payzant (1749–1834) – taken captive for four years (age 6-10) -
Johann Gottlob Schmeisser – earliest known image of Foreign Protestant in Nova Scotia (c.1790) -
The Jessen Bell -
Rev Bruin Romkes Comingo, 1st Presbyterian minister ordained in Canada, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Lunenburg)
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Notable Foreign Protestants
- Johann Gottlob Schmeisser
- Otto William Schwartz
- Dettlieb Christopher Jessen
- Joseph Pernette
- John Payzant
See also
References
- ^ "The Emigration". Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ^ Glossems on Historical Events
- OCLC 28183025.
- ^ Bumsted 1992, p. 124-125.
- ^ Passenger Lists
Other sources
- Bell, Winthrop Pickard. The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia:The History of a piece of arrested British Colonial Policy in the Eighteenth Century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961
- History of Bridgewater, NS Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
- History of Riverport District, NS
- The Foreign Protestants
- The Foreign Protestants Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
- Montbeliard Monument
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