LANTZ GENEALOGY

                      GERMANY AND THE GERMANS
         The seventeenth century found Europe in the grip of
     religious reformation and wars.  The main sufferers from
     these wars were the dwellers in the Rhine Valley whose
     country was used as a battleground during the greater part
     of the century.  The Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) during
     which their homes were devastated and their country over-
     run by the Swedes and the Imperialistic armies of Austria,
     the French and their German, English and Dutch foes left
     the entire region in direst poverty and misery.  Again in
     the war with the French (1686 to 1697) the Palatinate, as
     the Rhine Valley was called was devastated.  The Imperial
     government was engaged in wars almost continuously
     throughout the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries which made
     recovery very slow and difficult.
         It was in this war devastated country that the Lantz's
     were at home.  Of their early history in this country it is
     doubtful if any records exist as fire and sword most likely
     obliterated all trace of them.  One member of the family,
     Marshall Lannes became celebrated as an officer under
     Napoleon.
         In 1677, William Penn visited the Rhine Valley; he saw
     the conditions there, and on receiving his grant of Pennsyl-
     vania in 1681, he wrote to Benjamin Farley recommending
     it as an asylum for oppressed sects.  Literature about Penn-
     sylvania flooded the country, and small bands of Germans
     began coming to America.  The first colonists settled in
     Germantown in 1683.  They were forty Mennonites led by
     Pastorious.  Other small bands followed.
         1708-09 was a terrible, cold winter which destroyed the
     vines and fruit trees, and caused much suffering.  About
     fifteen thousand of these poor people went to England, living
     in camps in dreadful misery and destitution, many dying.
     Several thousand were settled in Ireland, other thousands
     (Catholics who refused to become Protestants) were de-
     ported to Germany, and about four or five thousand came
     to America.  Some of these came to North Carolina where
     many were massacred by the Indians; and others came to
     Virginia.  The largest single body however was set ed on
     the Hudson at West Camp (Saugerties) and East Camp in
     the fall of 1710.
                           Johannes Lans

         Johannes Lans who appears to be the first of the name
     to come to America, was among the thousands to settle on

                                15

 NEXT