Our first known Shutts ancestors were Philipp and Maria Catharina (Wilhelm) Schütz, Palatine immigrants from the German Rhineland. Philipp and Maria were part of a massive immigration that started in 1709 in the Rhine River valley, along the German-French border, and ended in 1710 in the Hudson River valley of Southeastern New York.

Philipp and Maria Schütz lived in the area of Rockenhausen and Dielkirchen, towns within the Rhenish, or Lower, Palatinate district of Germany. This region had been ravaged by war throughout the 17th century. First was the Thirty Years War, from 1618 to 1648, involving Germany, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Holland, France, Sweden, and England. Each country took part in the war for its own social, political, or religious reasons. Then, in 1688, King Louis XIV claimed the Rhineland as a part of the Kingdom of France, and followed with a bloody invasion and occupation that lasted nine years. The Palatine countryside was pillaged by French soldiers, set on expanding the religious and political influence of their king. By 1697, however, the Rhineland had returned to German rule, albeit corrupt.

Already overrun by decades of war, the Palatine region suffered one of its worst winters in 1708 and 1709. Beginning in October, the temperature dropped below freezing, and stayed so cold for so long that, by January, even the great Rhine River had frozen over. This was devastating to an agrarian society, such as that of the Palatines. Entire herds of cattle died in their barns. Grapevines and fruit trees were destroyed. And on top of everything else, the people were being financially bled dry by their rulers, who used heavy taxes to fund their own lavish lifestyles.

In March of 1709, many Palatine Germans decided to leave the Rhineland in search of a better life elsewhere. They began sailing down the Rhine to the port city of Rotterdam, Holland, from which they would sail across the North Sea to England. The English used widespread propaganda to entice the Palatines into leaving their homelands, promising a better life and climate in the colonies of Carolina and Pennsylvania.

In all, over 13,000 Palatines made it to England. There were so many of them that the English had to find places to send them all, to avoid overcrowding English towns and cities. Many were sent to Ireland, some to the British colonies in the West Indies. In April of 1710, about 3,100 set sail for the colony of New York. They had signed contracts to work in New York Governor Robert Hunter’s naval stores, an endeavor to fortify England’s military might in America, threatened by the French in Québec. Philipp and Maria Catharina Schütz, along with their five children, were among this group of Palatines. On June 14, 1710, their ship, Tower Frigate, reached the shores of New York.