Aree Van Guinea was not even born when the 30 Years War broke out in Germany. The 30 Years War had profound implications in the "New World" of America - later to become the United States of America.
After the 30 years War - Germany Lay in Ruins
The Thirty Years War, was fought in Germany from 1618-1648. After the war, there were short periods of peace but the skirmishes and minor battles continued into the next century! The aftermath of that war and the succeeding battles which lasted into the 1700's, left much of Germany in utter ruins.Then the Spanish added insult to injury. Enter the Spanish Inquisition of the early 1700's.
The Germans suffered horribly for four generations. Their homes and property destroyed as a direct result of the ThirtyYears War.
The disenchanted, Germans were war weary and fearful of any approaching groups which, more often than not, waged war, plundered the people and destroyed what little personal property the German peasants had managed to scavenge from the previous 30 years of war.
A ray of promise surfaced from America. Certain land agents from America encouraged the Germans to travel to England and apply for passage to America - unbeknownst to the Queen of England, this flood of immigrants caught Queen Anne off guard. She and her advisors needed to make some hasty decisions regarding the approximately 13,000 Germans peacefully invading London in search of respite. A couple of plans were formulated and ships sailed for the coast of North America in 1709-1710. Two waves of German Palatines arrived in America eager to start a new life. The journey was not easy and some probably had second thoughts as to what they had gotten themselves into. The ships were dirty, the cargo space where they were extremely crowded, dysentery was a problem as were communicable diseases which were epidemic and only the strongest survived the voyage to America. One of the ships wrecked and all passengers were lost. When the second wave of Germans arrived in America and docked at Manhattan Island, the officials were weary of allowing such a sickly group into the general population. The ship and its passengers were diverted to Nutten Island off the coast of Manhattan so the passengers could become healthy. The island is now known as Governor's Island.
Many in Germany had embraced the Lutheran faith after Martin Luther's dispute with the Roman Catholic Chruch of Wittenberg in 1517.
After leaving Germany, They were relieved and thankful to establish a new beginning free from the 90+ years of war, destruction and persecution they endured while in Germany. A few Germans fleeing, settled in the area around Aree Van GeNee in Somerset County, New Jersey in 1710. America had an established Dutch Lutheran Church in New York, but there was no Lutheran Church in the fledgling Somerset County, New Jersey area in 1710. The Dutch Church had earlier petitioned for a Pastor to lead the Dutch Church of New York. The Church hired the first fully ordained minister in North America to lead the Dutch Lutheran Church. Although, he was a German Minister, the Dutch and German languages were similar, and as I understand, it was not difficult to make the transition from the Dutch to the German language. Reverend Falckner was ordained in Pennsylvania in 1703. As it turned out, Aree Van Guinea had two of his children baptized by Pastor Falckner in 1705 and 1708.
I can only surmise that discussions amongst the citizens circulated around the question of worship. Aree, who had been established in the area from as early as 1707, had a relationship with the German Lutheran Pastor named Reverend Justus Falckner from Germany.
