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The Germans that settled in the Mohawk Valley came from a region known as the “Palatinate” and so were called “Palatines” or “Palatine Germans.” Their first settlement in colonial New York was established by early 1709 near present day Newburgh, New York. In 1710, thousands of Palatines sailed for colonial New York and settled in the lowed Hudson Valley. By 1712, poor treatment and the failure of a pitch-making project drove many families to the Schoharie Valley and then the Mohawk Valley. The Nellis family is one of the oldest Palatine families to settle in this area. The arrival and travels of the three Nellis brothers above parallel the Palatine experience in early New York.
According to the 1875 Federal Census, Peter J. Nellis (ca. 1835-1926) lived in a brick house valued at $5,500 (about $128,000 today). He was married and had five children at home ranging in age from three to eighteen. The 1880 Federal Census states that he tilled fourteen acres, growing hay, oats, and potatoes; that he kept swine, three “milch” cows, and forty chickens—producing five hundred pounds of butter and two hundred dozen eggs. Note that obvious brick house in this drawing, and the well-maintained buildings of a prosperous farm.
Exhibition History"Fritz Vogt: A Sense of Place," Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, NY, May 29, 2021 - December 30, 2021
Artist
Fritz G. Vogt
(c. 1841 - 1900)
Residence of Peter J. Nellis, Palatine, N.Y.
Date1894
DimensionsSight: 21 1/4 × 28 1/2 in. (54 × 72.4 cm)
Object numberN0040.2015L(38)
Credit LineCollection of Frank S. Tosto
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label Text“Among the Palatines who arrived in this country in 1710 were three brothers, William, Christian and Johannes Nellis…they hewed a road across the Catskills, and came to the Schoharie river…Afterwards Johannes Nellis went to Pennsylvania…and in 1720 William and Christian settled in the Mohawk valley…” –History of Montgomery County, 1892The Germans that settled in the Mohawk Valley came from a region known as the “Palatinate” and so were called “Palatines” or “Palatine Germans.” Their first settlement in colonial New York was established by early 1709 near present day Newburgh, New York. In 1710, thousands of Palatines sailed for colonial New York and settled in the lowed Hudson Valley. By 1712, poor treatment and the failure of a pitch-making project drove many families to the Schoharie Valley and then the Mohawk Valley. The Nellis family is one of the oldest Palatine families to settle in this area. The arrival and travels of the three Nellis brothers above parallel the Palatine experience in early New York.
According to the 1875 Federal Census, Peter J. Nellis (ca. 1835-1926) lived in a brick house valued at $5,500 (about $128,000 today). He was married and had five children at home ranging in age from three to eighteen. The 1880 Federal Census states that he tilled fourteen acres, growing hay, oats, and potatoes; that he kept swine, three “milch” cows, and forty chickens—producing five hundred pounds of butter and two hundred dozen eggs. Note that obvious brick house in this drawing, and the well-maintained buildings of a prosperous farm.
Exhibition History"Fritz Vogt: A Sense of Place," Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, NY, May 29, 2021 - December 30, 2021
On View
Not on view
