Swiss or German?

By 1709, indigent German Palatines had flooded into London as a result of advertisements that Queen Anne was seeking settlers for the new American colonies.  Swiss officials were also looking for a way to rid themselves of the “undesirable” paupers living in and around Bern.

Baron Christoph von Graffenreid and John Martin Franck, Swiss and German speculators, arranged for the Swiss and German refugees to make passage on sailing ships to the New World.  John Lawson, early surveyor, explorer, and author of “A New Voyage to Carolina”, who had already laid out plans for the town of Bath on the Pamlico River and New Bern on the Neuse and Trent rivers, returned to London to help make arrangements for the Swiss and German settlers.

In January 1710, Lawson and approximately 650 German Palatines sailed from London on two ships towards their new homes in colonial North Carolina.  After thirteen turbulent and off-course weeks at sea (the average trip took eight weeks), some 350 of the Palatines had died.  They arrived first in the James River, Virginia (most likely Jamestown on the James River) where one of the ships was ravaged by a French privateer vessel.  The surviving Palatine party then made their way south to the plantation of wealthy owner Thomas Pollock, situated in present day Bertie County on Chowan River and Salmon Creek.  From there, they traveled by boat through Albemarle Sound, through Pamlico Sound, and up the Neuse River to the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers at New Bern.  This is where von Graffenried and Lawson had previously laid out the plan for New Bern.

Von Graffenried and his party of Swiss left Rotterdam, Holland and arrived at Newcastle, England on April, 10 1710 for final departure on July 31, 1710.  During the journey of the Swiss down the Rhine River to Rotterdam and then to Newcastle, only a few of the Swiss died.  Laying at anchor for eight days, the flotilla of seven ships, some sailing for other ports, then departed for their Atlantic crossing.

Arriving at Hampton, Virginia (most likely Jamestown on the James River), the Swiss party including von Graffenried, traveled south, presumably by the same route of the German Palatines and finally arrived at New Bern on September 29, 1710.

So, were the original Kornegays part of the Swiss paupers or German Palatines?  The answer lies in Y-DNA testing of Kornegay males.  Y-DNA is that part of the chromosome that is passed down from father to son and father to son, unchanged down through the generations.  With genetic population analysis, scientists can pinpoint country of origin with great precision.  A recent Y-DNA test of a Kornegay male by FamilyTreeDNA confirmed that the Kornegay family originated in Switzerland and not Germany.  FamilyTreeDNA also provided a list of males who have been tested and who have matching Y-DNA.  The list contained three Kornegays, three Kenagys, and one Gnӓgi who lives in Switzerland.  The original Kornegay family was therefore Swiss!

For more in depth reading on these topics, see:

https://www.ncpedia.org/swiss-and-palatine-settlers

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/graffenried-christoph

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/lawson-john-0

Jones, Jr. and Rohrbach. 2002.