Bellinger Beginnings

 While the Strandt and Henrickson paternal lines are fairly recent immigrants to our country, our maternal lines go much further back. Carl Strand(t)'s family goes back to 1870, and may or may not have been ethnically German. Mildred's paternal line goes back to 1709 and is German.

Mildred Viola Trueman Bellinger was born in 1900 to Charles and Elnora Trueman Bellinger. Mildred was interested in family genealogy too and had traced the Bellinger line back to the late 1700's in New York. I've been able to go a little further back and trace the Bellinger family back to 1709. To a Johannes Nicholaus Bellinger. Nicholaus was born November 17, 1664 in Rodenback, Bad Durkheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. This land is located in southwest Germany. It was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1214 the land was given to the Duke of Bavaria. The people of this land were Roman Catholics until the 1560's when they adopted Calvinism. A strong Protestant movement was formed. In 1618 The Thirty Years War was fought on this land. Then in 1689 The War of the Grand Alliance was fought. French troops devastated the area. After 2 back to back wars the lands and people were depleted. In 1708/1709 the area suffered one of it's harshest winters on record. The harshness of the winter caused many of the vineyards in the area to fail. After war, and harsh natural conditions, the people had had enough.

In Spring of 1709 Queen Anne of England invited the people of the Palatine to come to the British colony in America. England would sail the people to America, in return, they agreed to work for the British by harvesting tar and pitch for the British navy. Also, they would act as a buffer between the English and the French and Indians. The people of the Palatine accepted Queen Anne's offer. They sailed down the Rhine river to Rotterdam. From there they made their way to England. At one point there may have been up to 32,000 Palatines in England. Some stayed in England, some were shipped to Ireland, and some were sent to America. Johannes Nicholaus Bellinger, his wife, and his sons, were shipped to America.

Johannes Nicholaus settled in New York with other Palatine refugees. There is a plaque with his name on it, memorializing him and the other refugees who left Germany and came to America. 

The Bellingers stayed in New York with other Palatine and German refugees until Philip Bellinger. Philip, born in 1783 in German Flatts, New York moved his family to Defiance, Ohio sometime between 1830 and 1840. His son, Oliver Bellinger, moved his family from Ohio to Michigan between 1842 and 1845. We know from Mildred's family history that she wrote down, that Oliver and his family walked from Ohio to Michigan. First going to Grand Rapids, and then settling down in Allegan. Oliver's son, David, is Mildred's grandfather. David fought in the Civil War. His unit marched under General Sherman on Sherman's march through Georgia to the sea. David enlisted in August of 1862 and stayed until June 1865. In August 1865 he married Loretta Foster. Their oldest son was Charles Bellinger. Charles was the father to Mildred.

The Bellingers have been in America since before it became a country. They were refugees fleeing their homeland looking for a better life. They fought in the American Revolution and the Civil War. Mildred was very proud of the Bellinger line, and I am too.