On page 785, Stephen C. Ba!liet states "Johannes Balliet, in the spring of 1784, settled in the Sugar Loaf Valley of Pennsylvania (...) Before the year 1784, little direct evidence was found as to his origin, parentage, or record in general. The few references found and traditions handed down assumed he was John, the son of Paulus, or possibly John, the son of Joseph. No information was unearthed that would remotely suggest Johannes was a son of either Paulus or Joseph. As far as has been determined, Joseph did not have a son John. The delineation of the line of John, son of Paulus, precludes any probability of Johannes and John, son of Paulus, being one and the same. The only alternative is that Johannes Balliet was a pioneer immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania sometime before the Revolutionary War.

(...) we will direct our attention to the Baillets of Lorraine, France, and attempt to put together a plausible account of Johannes' origin in France. Jacob Balllet, of France, 1642 - 1706, had three sons:

1. Stephan Balliet, father of Paulus Ba!liet who came to Pennsylvania in 1738.
2. Abraham Balllet, father of Joseph Balliet who landed at Philadelphia in 1749.
3. Johann Nicolas Balllet (Sr.), (...) was born in October, 1680, and died January 24, 1745 at Schalbach, Lorraine, France. He married Margaretha Durand, who was born in 1684 and died at Schalbach on March 27, 1766. They had eight children (...). It is known from records at Schalbach that a Johann Nicolas Baillet (Jr.7), a cousin of Paul and Joseph, married Susanna Alleman on November 17, 1743 (Laux, p. 18). It is not unreasonable to assume that this Johannes Nicolas Balliet Jr. was a son of Johann Nicolas and Margaretha Balllet. Johann and Susanna settled in Switzerland shortly after the death of Johann Sr. in 1745."

On page 786, Stephen C. Balliet continues: "No record was discovered showing that Johann Nicolas and Susanna Alleman Balliet came to America." Since both had near relatives in Pennsylvania (...) it is within the realm of possibility that the family of Johann Nicolas emigrated to Pennsylvania (...) possibly between the years 1755 and 1760.

Johannes Balllet's will, written in 1800, states: "Sealed in the presence of my Mother and executor in Luzerne county." From this statement, one can not help but conclude that Susanna Allenmn Balllet was also living in Luzerne County and that Johann Nicolas undoubtedly died in Pennsylvania previous to 1800."

On page 797, Stephen C. Balllet gives the connection between Johannes Balllet of Sugar Loaf, Johann Nicolas Balllet and his wife, Susanna Allemand: "Jolm Nicholas Jr. and Susanna Balllet had a son Johannes Balllet, who was born about 1746 at Sclualbach. Due to the continued persecution of the Huguenots, John Nicholas Jr. and his family fled to Switzerland and remained there for a number of years. No record was discovered as to when Johannes came to America or whether he was accompanied by both parents and other children of the parents. According to Johannes' will in 1800, his mother was living with him in Luzerne County, so in all probability, John Nicolas Jr., his wife Susanna, Johannes, his brothers and sisters (if any) made the voyage together. As near as can be estimated, they arrived in America between 1755 and 1760 and settled in what is now Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.~

Stephen C. Balliet is right when he says that the immigrant Johannes Balllet came from Schalhach, Lorraine. In the eighteenth century, Schalbach was a tiny village that belonged to the lordship of Finstingen, Lorraine. The village west of Schalbach is Rauweiler. Rauweiler was part of the County of Nassau-Saarwerden, Alsace. The village east of Schalbach is Wintersbourg, Lorraine. Wintersbourg belonged to the County of Lutzelstein. Lutzelstein was part of France, but the counties of Nassau-Saarwerden and of Finstingen were part of the Holy Roman Empire Geman Nation.

From 1618 to 1648, Germany was devastated by the Thirty Years War, and Alsace-Lorraine was part of Germany in that time. Although Switzerland was neutral during the war, plenty of young Swiss men served as mercenaries in the various armies: French, German, Austrian, Swedish, Croatian, etc. Switzerland also sold food and weapons to the other countries. When the war was over in 1648, the Swiss soldiers went back home, and were redundant and jobless. The Swiss export dropped and so did the prices. The following economic crisis induced an emigration to Alsace-Lorraine. Louis XIV, King of France, persecuted the Protestants from 1685 to 1698, but the county of Nassau-Saarwerden was part of Germany, so there was neither persecution nor emigration. In 1698, the treaty of Rijswijk, Holland was signed and religious freedom was restored.

Swiss families emigrated to Alsace-Lorraine from 1650 to 1750. Most of them were reformed. Many Swiss immigrants became tenant farmers in the Duchy of Lorraine although the duke of Lorraine persecuted Protestants too, whether they were Lutherans or Calvinists. That's why these Swiss had their baptisms, marriages and burials celebrated by minister Samuel de Perroudet (1665-1748). It was a kind of diaspora whose members were not afraid of the long journey to Diedendoff. De Perroudet was the Reformed pastor of Diedendoff from 1700 to his death. Between 1700 and 1723, before Rauweiler became a Reformed parish, lie was the only Reformed minister. People from more than 30 villages attended his service. The consequence is that he was very busy. At Easter 1721 he had to administer Holy Communion to more than 400 people so that he fainted several times. That's why people from Schalbach happened to have their baptisms, marriages and burials celebrated by the Lutheran pastor of Wintersbourg, although they were Reformed. This minister was Johann Ludwig Herrmann.

The counts of Nassau-Saarwerden as well as those of Lutzelstein were Lutheran but both welcomed Reformed Huguenot refugees. When the region became French later on, the names of the towns were translated. Finslingen or Vinstingen became Fenetrange and Lutzelstein became La Petite Pierre. In 1751 the lordship of Finstingen became part of tile Duchy of Lorraine. In 1767 the Duchy of Lorraine became part of the kingdom of France. Finstingen was not ruled by one lord. It was a condominium; in 1664 there were seven lords of Finstingen:

1. Ernest Bogislas, Dttke of Croy and of Aerschot, governor of Pomefanta. He was a vassal of the Elector of Brandenburg, Germany;
2. His cousin Marie-Claire of Croy, Duchess of Havre and Croy, Princess of the Holy Empire, Lady of Mons--en-Hainaut, Belgium;
3. Anne-Marie, "Wildgr'afin" of the Rhine and of Salm;
4. John, Rhinegrave of Salm and of Morchingen, Baron of Piittlingen (in French: Morhange and Puttelange, Lorraine);
5. John Louis, Rhinegrave, Count of Kriechingen, Baron of Pdttlingen (in French: Crdhange and Puttelange, Lorraine);
6. The Countess of Cratz
7. Charles Theodore Otto of Salm.

Some of these lords were Catholics, others were Lutherans, but none of them were Reformed. Although Schalbach belonged to the branch of Salm, which was Lutheran, it seems that there was no Protestant parish in Schalbach. The Lutherans of Schalbach worshiped in Wintersbourg and the Huguenots in the neighbering County of Nassau-Saarwerden: first in Diedendoff, then in Rauweiler. The counts of Nassau-Saarwerden had four Reformed churches built: in 1700 at Diedendorf, in 1722 at Rauweiler, in 1730 at Altweiler and in 1740 at Burbach.

Stephen C. Balllet is wrong when he assumes that Johann Nicholas Baillet and his wife Susanna Alleman emigrated to America. The church records of Rauweiler give the date of death for Johann Nicholas Balllet as 21 Sep. 1783, and state he was 64 years 16 weeks old. Susanna Alleman died at Schalbach on 11 Mar. 1803, age 84 years and 27 days. This would put both their births in 1719. Johann Nicholas Baillet and Susanna Alleman had eight children:

1. Stephan Balliet, bap. 4 Apr. 1745 Rauweiler
2. Maria Catharina Balliet, bap. 9 Mar. 1746 Rauweiler, d. before 1749
3. Johannes Balliet, bap. 26 Feb. 1747 Rauweiler, baptismal sponsor in Rauweiler in 1763, m. Maria Barbara Schneider in 1771 in Pennsylvania. Stephen C. Balliet is wrong when he supposes Johannes emigrated between 1755 and 1760.
4. Johann Jacob Balliet, bap. 29 Aug. 1748 Rauweiler
5. Maria Catharina Balliet, bap. 23 Nov. 1749 Rauweiler, m. Wintersbourg, Lorraine 25 Oct. 1773 Lorentz Muller, son of Johann Peter Muiler and Maria Catharina Schweitzer
6. Magdalena Balliet
7. Maria E!isabetha Balliet, bap. 21 Jan. 1753 Rauweiler, m. ca. 1774 Daniel Zeiser
8. Johann Nicolaus Balliet, bap. 2 July 1758 Rauweiler, m. Rauweiler 20 Jan.1784 Magdalena Frantz, daughter of Nicholas Frantz from Schalbach.

Johann Nicholas Balliet and Susanna Alleman never emigrated to Switzerland either. They had no reason to do that. But Susanna Alleman was of Swiss origin. Her father Johann Jacob Alleman (born ca. 1676, died Mar. 1762) had immigrated to Schalbach, Lorraine about the year 1700. He had come from St. Stephan in the canton of Berne, Switzerland.

Johannes Balliet's parentage as it is given by Stephen C. Balllet is wrong, too. Later amateur genealogists made the same mistake because very few were aware of inhabitants of Schalbach having their children baptized at Wintersbourg. The author of this article7 as well as Dr. Gerhard HEIN had shared Stephan C. Balliet's belief that Johannes Balliet's father, i.e. Johann Nicolaus Balliet Jr., was a son of Johann Nicolaus Balllet Sr. and his wife Margaretha Durand. Mr. Jean HOFFMANN, who is a member of the Alsacian Genealogical Society, recently found out that Johann Nicolaus Balliet Jr. was the only child Stephan Balliet and his wife Maria Catharina Schweitzer had baptized at Wintersbourg. The emigrant Johannes Balliet of Sugar Loaf is therefore a nephew to the first emigrant of the Balliet family: Paulus Balliet of Whitehall who emigrated in 1738.

Stephan Balllet married Mafia Catharina Schweitzer on 26 Apr. 1707 in Burbach, County of Nassau-Saarwerden (Alsace). They had eleven children:

1. Anna Maria Balliet, bap. 1 Mar. 1708 in Diedendorf, m. Jacob Allemand. They emigrated to Pennsylvania with eight children and landed at Philadelphia 20 Oct. 1747. 8 They settled in Lehigh Twp., Northampton Co. Anna Maria was killed and scalped during the last Indian massacre in Lehigh Co. on 8 Oct. 1763.
2. Maria Catharina Balliet, bap. 17 Feb. 1710 in Diedendoff, d. before 1725
3. Anna Elisabetha Balliet, bap. 10 May 1711 in Diedendoff, d. 11 Dec. 1787, m. in Rauweiler 13 Jan. 1737 Johannes Koch from Postroff, Lorraine
4. Paulus Balliet, bap. 16 Aug. 1716 in Diedendorf. The ancestor of tile Balliets of Whitehall. 10
5. Johann Nicolaus Balliet, hap. 8 June 1719 in Wintersbourg, m. 17 Nov. 1743 in Rauweiler Susanna Allemand from Schalbach.
6. Susanna Ba!liet, bap. 31 Aug. 1721 in Diedendoff, d. before 1722
7. Susanna Balliet, bap. 25 Aug. 1722 in Diedendoff, d. in Schaibach 6 Apr. 1746, m. in Rauweiler 21 July 1742 Heinrich Frantz from Schalbach, son of Peter Frantz and Maria Hahn.  Henry emigrated to Pennsylvania. He arrived in Philadelphia 20 Oct. 1747 with his three daughters, Margaret Coap. 2 May 1743 in Rauweiler), Anna Maria (bap. 14 Sep. 1744 in Rauweiler) and Sara (bap. 24 Feb. 1746 in Rauweiler). From Sept. 1757 to 1764 Margaret was captured by Indians. Henry was killed by Indians and scalped in 1763.
8. Maria Magdalena Balllet, bap. 18 June 1723 in Diedendoff
9. Maria Catharina Ba!liet, bap. 29 June 1725 in Diedendoff, d. before 1732
10. Mafia Catharina Balllet, hap. 10 June 1732 in Rauweiler, m. John Nicholas Solt in Pennsylvania before 1760.
11. Sara Balliet, baptismal sponsor in 1742 at Diedendoff, Alsace.

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