Jacob Rawn was born 17 Aug 1767 to Johan Rheinuh and Maria Elisabeth(?) His god parents were Jacob Dinges and Michel Seitzer. Jacobs’ family were refugees who had fled the war ravaged lands of the Palatine in 1709. At that time, Queen Anne of Britain offered them refuge in England where thousands of Palatines camped in tents around the walls of London.
A North American Indian leader who was brought to London from the New World viewed these destitute people and offered them some of his hunting grounds to settle on. Ten ships sailed to the province of New York. Many died on the way, but the survivors were hardy folk and successfully pioneered what is now upper New York state. It was not easy as they endured and fought alongside the British in the French & Indian Wars and later for the American side in the American Revolutionary War in 1776.