[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 77 (Monday, June 15, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1127-E1128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COMMEMORATING THE LANDING OF THE PALATINE IMMIGRANTS

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                        HON. MAURICE D. HINCHEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 15, 1998

  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my friends and 
colleagues in Saugerties, New York, in commemorating the landing of the 
Palatine immigrants in Ulster County in October 1710. The Saugerties 
Historical Society will be dedicating a monument marking this event on 
Saturday, June 13th to celebrate the immigrant roots of our great 
nation and to admire the hard work and perseverance of these hard-
working people who struggled to get to America.
  The Palatine settlers in the Hudson Valley created some of the very 
first settlements of European peoples in America and their first winter 
was characterized by harsh weather--but they persevered, building a 
church and a schoolhouse, and settling into the Hudson Valley which 
reminded them so much of the Rhine river valley.
  The monument which will be dedicated on Saturday will be placed on 
the grounds of Saint Paul's Lutheran Church, where the remains of the 
Reverend Joshua Kocherthal are interred. Reverend Kocherthal was the 
leader of the Palatines and the person who was to lead them to their 
promised land in America. It is not surprising that the ideals that 
they brought to America would later that century be embodied in our own 
Constitution--that people of different nationalities and creeds and 
beliefs could come together to make this country the great nation that 
it is. Mr. Speaker, and my fellow members, please join me in 
celebrating this great immigration to America and the dedication 
ceremony which will be held this Saturday.

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