Hi Ron and Peter,
Speaking of interesting single family migrations: The Fixari/Fixary family in the Banat are descended from Pierre Joseph FITZHARI, the only son of Albert FITZHARIS, an “Irish captain” serving in the Périgord legion of the French Army, and Claude Françoise BEGIN or BIGIN, who married circa 1701 in Phalsbourg, Lorraine, where Claude was from. There are no records I’ve been able to find to confirm Albert’s parentage, but it's plausible that he was one of the three sons of Edward FITZHARRIS of Limerick, Ireland. Edward was himself the son of the 2nd Baronet of Kilfinin, Limerick, and spent his life moving back and forth between England and other parts of Europe, including France, serving in various military and expeditionary regiments before being executed for treason in London in 1681. If Albert really was Edward’s son, he may have been born in France during a time when his Edward was living there; and given the way Edward died, it seems reasonable that Albert would have eventually gone back to France.
As to Queen Anne and the Palatines - my readings have suggested that the Palatines were fleeing Germany because of the War of Spanish Succession, and Queen Anne didn’t so much invite them to England as allow them to come over “in the name of Christianity.” So many refugees came that they couldn’t all be taken care of, so some were sent on to Ireland and others on to Pennsylvania.
Cheers,
Linda