| A A A help |
The Montz Family of Louisiana 1721 - Present |
|
|
by Monty Montz |
||
|
Page 8 |
land to France. Louis XIV seized Strasbourg and Colmer in 1680-1681. France
acquired Lorraine in 1766. The people fought all efforts to turn them into Frenchmen. The French Revolution of
1789 brought a change of heart. The Alsatians became so French in spirit that when their land was awarded to
Germany in 1871, more than 50,000 of them moved across the border into France.
(12)
REASONS FOR SETTLEMENT CONCLUDED:
FROM THE PAST READING, IT IS EVIDENT THAT MANY EUROPEANS ventured to America for many reasons. From quoted passages
from other sources, it was indicated that Germany stayed in a state of ruin and exhaustion for many
decades after the Thirty Years' War. Possibly, these farmers and peasants throughout the countryside could not
make an adequate beginning as lands may have been frozen from sale by the governments. The general economy,
social conditions, and the entire well being of the people of Alsace-Lorraine were
stymied severely. They looked
to new lands for freedom from their plight.
ANOTHER REASON TO MENTION CAN MOST CERTAINLY COME FROM THE religious influence of the time. As aforementioned,
Alsace-Lorraine is mostly Roman Catholic. During the Reformation, the Holy Roman Empire came to odds with
other factions of religious beliefs. For many decades after the war. Catholics and Protestants must certainly
have felt ill-at-ease with each other. Possibly, factions within villages and towns continued flare-ups
and possibly persecutions against each other. The local peasants and other townspeople may have grown tired
of this and wished to seek a new life where they could worship their God in peace.
12 "Alsace-Lorraine," The World Book Encyclopedia ,
Vol. I, Chicago, 111., 1954, pp. 243-244.