Person Page - 61

GSMD #71256. Much more copyrighted information is available. Especially see Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historical & Genealogical Society, 1995.)

Recent findings by Schurtz family researchers suggest that Michael was from Switzerland originally. From a Facebook entry:

"... I only have a plausible theory that if you are descended from the Michael Shurts/Scherz/Shirts that came over in 1710 then you've come from a line of formerly Swiss mountain farmers that around 1650 were driven out of a small town, Aeschi, situated on a ridge above Lake Thun. The farmers were Protestant, perhaps Mennonite, and their rulers were Catholic. They moved to Speyer, in the Palatine, where there are records of them... I am building this theory on the research by... and now I'm not sure which Shirts did the research - will have to search for that book!
"There are also, however Scherz's from Thuringen in eastern Germany, and all over the place, actually. Just south of the city of Freiburg where I live there is a miniscule town "Schertzingen". So... I don't think one can definitely answer more than those parts of Europe in which German is spoken or was formerly spoken - and that includes a lot of places including parts of Poland, Rumainia and so on!"^2,3

This son may have gone directly to New Jersey instead of to the Hudson Valley with his family. Note, however, that there is a Passenger Arrival entry for a Michael Shurtz with wife Elis. from Canada in 1720. (Did he go to Canada from NY in 1710 after arriving with the Palatines? Or was this just a visit to Canada?)

Per Henry Jones: "Michael, called a single man b. Darmstadt at his marriage 2 Feb 1711 to Elisabetha Stier, wid/o Friederich Schmidt (Hackensack Ref. Chbk.) Michael was entered in the Janeway Accounts 1736-1745, called a Pallantine living near George Scomp. Perhaps he was the Michael Schortz noted on Map 2, Lot 213 in Penn Patents on the Forks of the Delaware (HJ). The will of Michael Shurts of Reading Twp., Hunterdon Co., NJ was dated 3 Sept 1759 and probated 26 Nov 1759 (N.J. Wills: Lib. 10, p. 96). The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, suppled by the Concordia Historical Institute to Mr. Morris A. Shirts of Cedar City, Utah - who kindly shared them with me, note the passing of Michael under the entry for 19 Sept 1759:
"(I) then rode to visit an aged Luth., named Michael Schertz, who came to this country in the times of Queen Ann. He was on his deathbed. He desired the Lord's Supper, not having received it in more than 20 yrs., owing to the almost constant strife that had prevailed in the congregation and also because he had, in the meantime, lost his hearing. During his last illness, however, his hearing had to some degree returned... Although the aforementioned 80 yr. old man had not been attending public services for a long time, the Bible and these other edifying books had held him to the life which is of God, and so I found that he had a sound knowledge of the order of salvation. For over an hour, I listened to him praying the most powerful prayers. He prayed with such emphasis that there coulld be no suspicion that this might be hypocracy or sham, especially since it was the utterance of a dying person.
"Muhlenberg conducted the funeral services for Michael 24 Sep 1759. The ch. of Michael Schurtz and Elisabetha were...."¹