Baron Christoph von Graffenried. In 1710 over 400 immigrants from the Swiss and German Palatinate arrived in the Pamlico region to establish the town of New Bern. Famine, war, religious unrest, and economic difficulties had forced thousands of Germans out of the upper Rhine Valley after 1708. Many migrated to London and were quickly identified as potential New World colonists. In 1710 a Swiss company planning a settlement in North Carolina turned to these refugees. Baron Christoph von Graffenried, a member and representative of the company, recruited several hundred hardy colonists from the refugees in London. After a transatlantic voyage and a difficult journey overland from the James River in Virginia, the Germans arrived at the junction of the Trent and Neuse Rivers in early September 1710.

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