“Carolina Crazy” The Migration of our Swiss-German Ancestors to Orangeburg, South Carolina and Autuaga, Alabama

Example of a pamphlet distributed in Europe to encourage immigration

In the early – mid 1700’s there was a big marketing campaign launched in Switzerland and Germany trying to attract settlers to townships set up in inland South Carolina. Pamphlets were sent out extolling the economic value of the land and escape from religious persecution. These pamphlets helped start a craze called “Rabies Carolinae” in Switzerland (aka Carolina Madness).

Our ancestors, the Shaumloffel family from Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany came in 1716 (settled in Charleston but the daughter, Lovisia, married into the Horger family of Orangeburg), the Horgers from Guttannen, Switzerland came on The Samuel in 1735, the Whetstones from Zurich, Switzerland came in 1737 and the Stoudenmires from Germany came in 1750.

Jacob Horger (Clara Forbes Batton’s 5x Great Grandfather ) was in the first group of settlers who came through Charleston and were escorted to what would become the township of Orangeburg on the Edisto River in July 1735. According to a Stoudenmire/Whetstone researcher, Mrs Gokey, the Stoudenmire family landed at Cape Fear and had to walk the 150 mile trip to Charleston before heading to Orangeburg.

Another fun fact from Mrs Gokey, there was an attempt to tie our Stoudenmire family to a noble German estate in the late 1800s.  The technology didn’t exist to prove the family’s connection (the noble ancestor was supposedly in the female line) so the claim to the estate in Germany couldn’t go forward. 

Elizabeth Houser 1786-1853

Just after the Creek Wars, around 1819, another trend nicknamed “Alabama Fever” broke out in South Carolina.  With promise of good land, mild climate, and abundance of waterways a number of the families decided to head west.  Sixty-nine wagons formed a train and headed through Georgia to Alabama.  Our ancestors in the group were John George Stoudenmire and his wife, Mary Magdelene Whetstone along with her brother, Reverend Henry Whetstone and his wife, Elizabeth Houser.  Members of the Debardeleben family also made up part of the wagon train.

Rev Henry Whetstone 1784-1834

They settled in the Dutch Bend area of Autauga, Alabama on a bluff overlooking the Alabama River.


For a more extensive list of the families who made the migration from South Carolina to Alabama
click HERE