CHRISTIAN MEYER and wife came to America with the Palatine emigration in 1710, arriving in New York with Governor Robert Hunter June 24th of that year. The Palatines remained there during the summer and in the autumn were transported by the colonial authorities to West Camp and East Camp (Germantown) New York, in furtherance of a scheme to produce naval stores for the British government in repayment of the cost of their passage. The exact date of their arrival at West Camp is not known but Governor Hunter reported to the Board of Trade in London on October 3rd of that year the fact that he had bought 6,000 acres of land of Robert Livingston on the east side of Hudson and the Fullerton tract of eight hundred acres on the west side and had just settled the first party of the colonists there. When the Livingston tract was purchased it was not known by the colonial authorities that there was no depth of water off the eastern shore, and the west side was bought where the channel ran close to the bank. The most of the colonists were settled on the eastern shore while many were located upon the western where the headquarters were. On November 14th, 1710, the governor reported "the Palatines have already built themselves comfortable huts and are now imployed in clearing up the ground." On this west side were three villages of the colony: Elizabeth Town, Newtown and Georgetown. The tract on the west side was a mile in length with Newtown in the centre. This was about the vicinity of the present West Camp railroad station. Somewhere here Christian Meyer built one of these rude dwellings for himself and his newly made wife. The naval stores project was a failure. On September 13th, 1712, it was definitely abandoned and the colonists were told to shift for themselves. The place of residence of Christian Meyer for the next few years is not definitely known. Governor Hunter and his wife had advanced to the Palatine project about $130,000. To secure part of this he had taken in his own name the title to the Fullerton tract on the west side of the river. There had been a change of administration in England and the new government refused to re-imburse Hunter. It claimed this tract as Crown lands. The title being in dispute the colonists sought homes, for the most part, a mile farther west upon the Kingston Commons at what was known as Katsbaan. How long Christian Meyer lived at West Camp, or if he was in Katsbaan cannot now be told. He next appears as the purchaser of the farm at Churchland, just west of the present village of Saugerties, on February 21st, 1724. Here he lived and died. Christian Meyer and his wife were from Wolferlingen, a village about six miles northeast from Coblenz in the Palatinate, on the west side of the Rhine. With them came Johan Jurge (George) Overbagh, Johan Pieter Overbagh, Peter Overbagh, Jurry (George) Snyder, John William Snyder and their families. Tradition has it that Christian Meyer was born near the river Rhine and had no intention of coming to America, but was a young man at the sailing of the Palatines and went on board ship to bid good-bye to Miss Anna Gertrude Theunyes, the step-daughter of George Overbagh, and was so long over the farewells that he found the vessel under full sail and the captain refused to turn back and put him ashore. During the voyage he and Miss Theunyes were married by the Reverend Joshua Kocherthal, the leader of the exodus, and thus they began their married life in the New World. The signature of Christian Meyer appears in the oath of abjuration and allegiance described in OLDE ULSTER in Vol. I, page 298. To the farm on the Kings Highway at Churchland he added a large tract which became the farms of his several sons, and built a mill upon the "Muddah kill," which ran across it. In 1728 he is named as one of the freeholders of Kingston; was an elder of the Katsbaan Church in 1730, in which year its records begin, and held that office repeatedly; was one of the builders of the stone church there in 1732 and his initials are still plainly to be seen on a stone in its walls "C. M. 1732." He was a member of Captain John Persen's Company of Foot in the militia of the Corporation of Kingston in 1738; and in the census of slaves April 3rd, 1775, is listed as master of three, "Cuff, Bet and Jud." In June, 1775, he was a signer of the Articles of Association and was an ardent Whig, staunch patriot and supporter of the Revolutionary cause to which he contributed twenty-five of his sons and grandsons as soldiers. Such a record has not its equal. His will was executed March 15th, 1773, and proved May 8th, 1783. It bequeaths to his sons Willem, Johannis, Stephanus, Benjamin, Petrus and Tobias; the children of his son Christian, deceased; the heirs of his daughters Marytje, Christina and Catrina, deceased, and his daughter Geertje. It also liberates and provides for his old slave, Cuff, during his life.*