German immigrants and their descendants are integral to New Jersey's history. When the state was young, they founded villages that are now well-established communities, such as Long Valley. Many German immigrants were lured by the freedom and opportunity in the Garden State, especially in the nineteenth century, as they escaped oppression and revolution. German heroes have played a patriotic part in the state's growth and include scholars, artists, war heroes and industrialists, such as John Roebling, the builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Thomas Nast, the father of the American cartoon. Despite these contributions, life in America was not always easy; they faced discrimination, especially during the world wars. But in the postwar era, refugees and German Americans alike--through their Deutsche clubs, festivals, societies and language schools--are a huge part of New Jersey's rich cultural tapestry.

Excerpt from The Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches, and Genealogies This work is the result of an attempt to discover the exact time of the first settlement of New Jersey by people of the German race. It is believed that this fact has been ascertained with sufficient certainty. Between 1710 and 1713 nearly all palatines, who have left any trace of their presence, began to arrive in the State and to fulfill their important part in the upbuilding of this commonwealth. In the course of this investigation extending, as it needs must do, in so many directions and having to do with so many records, a large amount of valuable material would naturally accumulate. This has appeared to the author to be worth pre serving, even though the labor and expense and risk of so large a book would be required for that purpose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.