USA > Maryland > Annual report of the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 1st-6th, Vol. 1-6 > Part 3
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5. Report of the 100th Anniversary of the " Otterbein " Church by Rev. Win. Mittendorf.
6. History of the Revolutionary War, in 4 vols., published by the French historian F. Soules, donated by Mr. Wm. G. Gail.
7. Copy of the 100th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the German Society of Pennsylvania.
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8. 27th Annual Report of the German Hospital in Philadel- phia, both by Rev. Dr. B. Sadtler.
9. Copies of the."German Pioneer" by Consul Gen'l F. Raine.
10. Copy of " The Freiheit," international organ of the Anar- chists using the German language, by Rev. F. Ph. Hennig- hausen.
11. Some fifty volumes of diversified character, donated by a number of German booksellers through Mr. Alfred Voerster of Leipzig.
12. Map of Baltimore and its surroundings,
13. Official map of Texas, both by Prof. C. F. Raddatz.
The Society added but one book to its library by purchase, viz .: "Hallische Nachrichten." The proprietors of the two daily German papers of Baltimore, viz .: "The German Correspondent" and "The Baltimore Journal" have kindly furnished this Society with a copy of their issues without any further charge, than that of the carriers. These papers are being filed and preserved for future use in our library.
On the 20th of March, 1887, the Society met with a loss as heavy as it was sad in the death of one of its founders and most active members, Mr. Christian A.x.
His departure from this earth, where he had ever been zealous in doing good, was announced in proper terms in the April meeting, and the Society gave expression of its high esteem of the deceased and its regret for his death by constituting the May meeting a "Christian Ax" Memorial meeting.
Not only the members of the Society, but in answer to a general invitation, many personal friends of the deceased were present at this meeting. A number of enlogistic addresses testi- fying to the excellent character of the deceased were made by members of the Society, and suitable resolutions were offered and unanimously adopted. As the proceedings of this meeting have been ordered to be published and are about to be distributed by the committee named for that purpose, it is not necessary to refer to them in this report at greater length.
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The Society at the close of the first year numbered 71 active and five corresponding members. 16 active and one corresponding member were added during the present year, making a total of 87 active members. One member died, five withdrew and the names of two were dropped from the list, leaving at the end of the second year an active membership of 79; corresponding members-six.
Respectfully submitted,
F. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN, Sec'y.
Baltimore, Md., February 14th, 1888.
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LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS.
President: Rev. J. G. MORRIS, D. D., L. L. D.
Vice-Presidents: L. P. HENNIGHAUSEN, Esq. PHIL A. ALBRECHT.
Secretary : Rev. F. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN, D. D.
Treasurer: ED. NIEMANN.
Executive Committee: (all the Officers included.) DR. LEWIS H. STEINER, Chairman. .
Mr. Ed. F. Leyh,
Dr. Julius Goebel,
Prof. C. F. Raddatz, Mr. Ernst Hoen.
Rev. H. Scheib. H. G. Hilken.
J. A. Heldmann, M. D.
Dr. Emil Bessels.
Chas. Weber, Jr.
Gustav Gieske.
Chas. G. Blumhardt.
Jacob Plack.
George W. Gail.
N. G. Nunsen.
Wm. Knabe.
Wm. A. Numsen.
Ernst Knabe.
F. Matthieu, M. D.
G. W. Lehmann, Ph. D. John II. Smith, M. D.
Wm. E. Schloegel.
Prof. Henry A. Wood.
Valentine Scheer.
Chas. J. Wiener, Esq.
Ernst Fleischmann.
Col. Henry C. Tieck. Basil Sollers.
Sam. D. Smucker, Esq. Rev. B. Sadtler, D. D.
Hon. Harry Welles Rusk. Ch. C. Bombangh, M.D. Henry Vees.
Edg. H. Gans, Esq.
Wm. F. Frick.
Moritz Hahn.
Henry Becker.
Herman Schoecke.
Hon. Simon Wolf.
George J. Bechtel.
John Uhrig.
Prof. Emil Schultz.
Eberhard Hayen. Emil Schmidtborn.
L. H. Nieman.
Ed. Wishmeyer. Ernst Schmeisser.
Col. F. Raine.
Isidor Loewenthal.
Ferd. Reinhard, M. D.
Geo. Wm. Sattler.
Rev. Win. Muss-Arnolt.
Henry Lautz.
Rob't M. Rother.
A. II. Brinkmann.
Hermann von Kapff. Lewis Dohme.
Rev. L. Vogtmann. Col. J. Thomas Scharf. C. Bohn Slingluff, Esq. Christopher Lipps. Frederick Pohlmeyer. Justus II. Danzeglock.
Geo. Bauernschmidt. Fred. C. Kniese.
Geo. A. von Lingen. Chas. Ruhstrat.
Prof. E. Deichmann,
H. A. Schroeder. Geo. Savage, Esq.
Wm. Schnauffer.
Henry Arens. Prof. O. Fuchs.
A.v.Hoff-Gossweiler, M.D.
JONATHAN HAGAR,
THE FOUNDER OF HAGERSTOWN.
EY
BASIL SOLLERS.
1794488
JONATHAN HAGAR,
THE FOUNDER OF HAGERSTOWN.
. URING the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the Mo- nocacy river was the extreme boundary of civilization in Maryland. Westward extended the original wilderness, utilized only by the Indians and the white trappers and hunters. When the first tracts of land in this region were patented, the patentees were thought to have committed great folly, since the land would not repay the purchase money and the quit rents for many generations. In this the wiseacres were wrong, however, since the population increased to such an extent in fifty years, that in 1776 a new county was formed composed entirely of what had been original wilderness in the first quarter of the century. The following very liberal proposals by Charles, Lord Baltimore, published March 2nd, 1732, probably set the current in motion.
" Wee, being desirous to increase the number of honest people within our province of Maryland, and willing to give suitable encouragement to such to come and reside therein, do offer the following terms :
" 1st. That any person having a family, who shall within three years come and actually settle, with his or her family, on any of the back lands on the northern or western boundarys of our said province, not already taken up, between the rivers Poto- mack and Susquehanna, where, we are informed, there are several large bodies of fertile lands, fit for tillage, which may be seen without any expence, two hundred acres of the said lands, in fee- simple, without paying any part of the forty shillings sterling, for every hundred acres, payable to us by the conditions of plan- tations, and without paying any quit rents in three years after the first settlement, and then paying four shillings sterling for every hundred of acres, to us, or our heirs, for every year after the expiration of the said three years.
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"2nd. To allow to each single person, male or female, not above the age of thirty, and not under fifteen, one hundred acres of the said lands, upon the same terms as mentioned in the pre- . ceding article.
" 3rd. That we will concur in any reasonable method that shall be proposed for the ease of such new-comers, in the pay- ment of their taxes for some years ; and we doe assure all such that they shall be as well secured in their liberty and property, in Maryland, as any of his majesty's subjects in any part of the British plantations, in America, without exception ; and to the end all persons desirous to come into and reside in Maryland, may be assured that these terms will be justly and punctually performed on our part. Wee have hereunto sett our hand and scal at arms," etc.
"The richness of the soil, and salubrity of the air," says 1 Mr. Eddis, "operated, however, very powerfully to promote popu- lation ; but what chiefly tended to the advancement of settlements in this remote district, was the arrival of many emigrants from the Palatinate, and other Germanic States. These people, who from their earliest days, had been disciplined in habits of industry, sobriety, frugality, and patience, were peculiarly fitted for the la- borions occupations of felling timber, clearing land, and forming the first improvements ; and the success which attended their efforts, induced multitudes of their enterprising countrymen to abandon their native homes, to enjoy the plenteous harvest which appeared to await their labors in the wild, uncultivated wastes of America."
Mr. Wm. Eddis, from whose "Letters from America," the above extract is taken, came to the province of Maryland in 1769, to fill an office in the gift of Governor Eden. By the law of the province it was necessary that he reside here three years before taking office. He spent a portion of these years in traveling in various parts of the country. Ilis letters written to friends in England, and published in London, 1792, long after his return to that country, give us a most interesting and authentic account of the province at the period of his residence here from 1769 to 1776. After describing Frederick as observed in his travels west, he says, "About thirty miles west of Frederick-town, I passed through a settlement which is making quick advances to perfec-
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tion. A German adventurer, whose name is Hagar, purchased a considerable tract of land in this neighborhood, and with much discernment and foresight, determined to give encouragement to traders and to erect proper habitations for the storage of goods, for the supply of the adjacent country. His plan succeeded ; he has lived to behold a multitude of inhabitants on lands, which he remembered unoccupied ; and he has seen erected in places, appro- priated by him for that purpose, more than an hundred comfort- able edifices, to which the name of Hagar's Town is given, in honor of the intelligent founder." This passage was my first in- troduction to Mr. Hagar, which resulted in the publication of a short article in "The Tutor" some years ago in which I brought together a few facts relating to him. Doubtless it was owing to this article that I was honored by a request to read a paper be- fore you to-night. In doing so, I must beg you to remember that the material at my command is necessarily scanty, in isolated and widely scattered fragments, which can only be gathered by much patient labor, and often only by accident. There was during Mr. Hagar's life but one paper published in the province and that was engaged in the dissemination of foreign news more than in the recording of local affairs. Such facts as I have been able to gather I shall now lay before you, dwelling more at length upon those which appear to me to possess the most general interest, or to need explanation.
Jonathan Hagar was born, if his age at the time of his de- cease is correctly given, in the year 1714. He obtained a patent for two hundred acres of land, Dec. 16th, 1739, which he named "Hagar's Choice," in what is now Washington, then a part of Prince George's, afterward a part of Frederick County. He prob- ably resided there prior to that date, since "a bounded white-oak standing on the side of a hill within fifty yards of said Hagar's dwelling-house," is mentioned in his boundary lines.
In 1740, he married Elizabeth Kershner, or Grischner. April 21st, 1752, his daughter Rosina was born, and Dec. 13th, 1765, his son Jonathan.
In 1753, he obtained a patent for 1780 acres of land, and named it "Hagar's Delight," the difference in size making the difference between his choice and his delight, I suppose. In 1762, he obtained "Stony Batter," one hundred and eighteen acres, and
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"Exchange," twenty-four acres ; in 1763, " Brightwell's Choice," fifty acres, " Addition to Stony Batter," eighty acres, and "Found it out," sixty-two acres; in 1765, "New Work," seven hundred and fourteen acres. Thus he obtained by patent eight tracts of land, aggregating two thousand four hundred and eighty-eight acres.
February 11th, 1762, the following communication was sent to the " Maryland Gazette," in which it was inserted :
"To the public.
"The opening of the river Patowmack and making it passable for small craft, from Fort Cumberland at Wills's Creek to the Great Falls, will be of the greatest advantage to Virginia and Maryland, by facilitating commerce with the back inhabitants, who will not then have more than 20 miles land carriage to har- bour, where ships of great burthen load annually, whereas at pres- ent many have 150; and what will perhaps be considered of still greater importance, is the easy communication it will afford with the waters of the Ohio.
"The whole land carriage from Alexandria or George Town will then be short of 90 miles ; whereas the Pennsylvanians (who at present monopolize the very lucrative skin and fur trades) from their nearest sea port have at least 300: a circumstance which must necessarily force that gainfnl trade into this channel, should this very useful work be affected ; and that it may, is the unanimous opinion of the best judges, and at moderate expense compared with the extraordinary convenience and advantages which must result from it." The communication stated that "it is proposed to solicit the public for their contributions by way of subscription." Eleven managers were appointed for Vir- ginia and the same number for Maryland. Two of the managers, one from each colony, were to act as treasurers. "Some skillful gentlemen" had "agreed to view" the Great Falls in the spring, and if they should report the opening or passing of them practi- cable (which is now generally believed) it is proposed that what- ever balance remains in the Treasurers' hands after compleating the first design, shall be appropriated to that purpose."
In the " Maryland Gazette," June 10th, 1762, "The mana- gers have now the pleasure to inform the public, that sub- scriptions are filling very fast, and that people in general, but
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more especially in the back countries, and those bordering upon Patowmack, discover so much alacrity in promoting the affair, that there is not the least doubt but a sum will be raised, suf- ficient to carry on the work by the day appointed for the meeting," 26th day of July next.
I mention this enterprise at length because Jonathan Hagar was one of the managers for Maryland, and laid out in the same year a town on land belonging to him, which he named Elizabeth town, after his wife. Thomas Cresap, also one of the managers, advertised lots at Oldtown, "one hundred lots or thereabout" were to be laid out contiguous to Frederick Town, on land belong- ing to Daniel Dulany, and lots were for sale at Fort Cumberland. There was a general movement looking to the opening up of the back country, the establishment of towns for commercial pur- poses, and the opening of channels of communications which should draw to these towns the lucrative trade in furs and skins of the western wilderness. This movement was led by the great landholders of that region, one of whom was Jonathan Hagar. It was the beginning of the contest to secure the transportation of western products to the seaboard ; a contest which is still waged with the greatest bitterness, and every movement in which is watched with the most lively interest. Jonathan Hagar was not the least successful among the many competitors for the stream of emigration flowing into those parts, for his town, as we have seen, consisted in 1770 of " more than an hundred comfortable edifices."
In 1771, Mr. Hagar, or Capt. Hagar as he is sometimes called, was elected a delegate to the General Assembly of the province. JIe had been naturalized in 1747, and, as his legislative career throws considerable light upon the status of a naturalized subject in the first three quarters of the eighteenth century, I shall dis- euss it as fully as my information will allow.
In the Lower House of Assembly, convened by Robert Eden, Esq., Governor, Oct. 2d, 1771, the committee on elections and privileges reported, among other things, Oct. 5th., "That Messrs. Jonathan Hagar, William Luckett, Charles Beatty, and Thomas Sprigg Woottan, delegates for Frederick County, are duly re- turned," and further, "Your committee beg leave to report to the Honorable House, that they are informed and believe, that Mr.
ยท
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Jonathan Hagar, a member returned for Frederick County, is not a natural born subject, that he came into America, and was natu- ralized some time before the said election." After the report of the committee had been read a second time, it was resolved, " That this House will, on Tuesday next, at the sitting of the House, take into consideration that part of the said report relative to Mr. Jonathan Hagar." On Tuesday, Oct. 8th, " The House proceeded to take the same into consideration, and permitted Mr. Hagar, on his prayer to be heard by counsel. The counsel appeared, and being heard, he withdrew." On motions to that effect, the following British Statutes, Provincial Act and Resolves were read, viz .: 12 and 13 W. III, c. 2; 1 Geo. I, c. 4; Act of Assembly of 1716, Chap. XI; 13 Geo. II, e. 7; Resolves of the Lower House of As- sembly of Oct. 18th, 1753, and 22 Geo. II, c. 45. "Then the House took the several Statutes, the Act of Assembly and the Re- solves above mentioned into consideration ; and after some debate thereon, Mr. Hagar withdrew, and Mr. Speaker, by the direction of the House, put the following question : "That Jonathan Hagar, returned as a representative for Frederick County, not being a natural born subject, nor descended from a natural born subject, but naturalized in the year 1747, since the Stat. of 13 Geo. II, agreeable to said Stat., long before said election ; hath been a re- sident of this province ever since, and hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, be eligible ?" Resolved in the negative.
" In consequence of the aforegoing Resolution, Mr. Hagar was called in, and Mr. Speaker, by the direction of the House, ac- quaints him that he is discharged from any further attendance on this House as a member thereof."
The vote stood twenty-four in the negative to twenty-three in the affirmative in a House composed of fifty-eight members, thirty from the Western and twenty-eight from the Eastern Shore. Three members were absent or did not vote from the Western Shore, and eight from the Eastern. The voting members of the Western Shore where Mr. Hagar was best known, stood fifteen to twelve in favor of his eligibility, and the voting members of the Eastern Shore stood twelve to eight against it. On the affirma- tive we find the names of Thomas Johnson who in 1775 nominated George Washington as Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and in 1777 became the first Governor of the State of
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Maryland; of Wm. Paca, signer of the Declaration and third Governor; and of Wm. Smallwood who distinguished himself as a General in the Revolutionary war, and became fourth Governor of the State. The most distinguished name on the negative is that of Samuel Chase, in after years judge of the Supreme Court of the United States.
An examination of the law in the order in which it was read before the House in their deliberation on Mr. Hagar's case, aside from its bearing on the legal status of a naturalized subject in 1771, shows conclusively, that the contest was between the pro- gressive spirits and the conservative; for the law was against Mr. Hagar's eligibility.
The Statute of 12 and 13 W. III, Cap. 2, entitled "An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject," provided in 1700 that "after llis Majesty, and the Princess Anne of Denmark, and in default of issue of the said Princess Anne and His Majesty respectively, the Most Excellent Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of llanover" be the next in succession to the Crown; and among other things, "that after the said limitation shall take effect as aforesaid, no person born out of the kingdoms of England, Scotland or Ireland, or the dominions thereunto belong- ing (although he be naturalized or made a denizen, except such as born of English parents) shall be capable to be of the Privy Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any office, or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown, to himself or to any other or others in trust for him." Stat. 1 Geo. I, Cap. 4, 1714, explains that the provisions of the above act were not intended to apply to any person who was naturalized at or before His Majesty's accession to the Crown, but " for the better preserving the said recited clause entire and inviolable" directs that in all future bills for naturalization the above shall be inserted.
The Act of the Maryland Assembly of 1716, Chap. XI, di- recting the manner of electing delegates, &c., says in the pre- amble, "the safest and best rule for this province to follow in electing such delegates and representatives is the precedents of the proceedings in Parliament in Great Britain, as near as the constitution of this province will admit." After directing the
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manner of electing delegates in Sec. 2, and compelling attendance in Sec. 3, the act provides in Sec. 4, "That no ordinary keeper within this province, during the time of his ordinary keeping, or any other person disabled by any laws of England from sitting in Parliament shall be elected, chosen or serve as a deputy or repre- sentative in the said General Assembly, so to be hereafter called, convened and appointed, as aforesaid." This was the law as it stood in 1771.
Stat. 13 Geo. II, Cap. ? , 1740, was the law under which Mr. Hagar was naturalized, and not as stated by Mr. Scharf (Hist. Md., Vol. II, p. 156, note) by the General Assembly. The preamble states that "many foreigners and strangers from the lenity of our Government, the purity of our religion, the benefit of our laws, the advantages of our trade, and the security of our property, might be induced to come and settle in some of His Majesty's colonies in America, if they were made partakers of the advantages and privileges which the natural born subjects of this realm do enjoy ;" and it is enacted "that from and after the first day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty, all persons born out of the legiance of His Majesty, his heirs or successors, who have inhabited and resided, or shall inhabit or reside for the space of seven years or more, in any of His Majesty's colonies in America, and shall not have been ab- sent out of some of the said colonies for a longer space than two months at any one time during the said seven years, and shall take, make and subscribe" various oaths, declarations and pro- fessions of faith established by law for the security of the throne and the protestant religion, "before the chief judge or other judge of the colony wherein such persons respectively have so in- habited and resided, shall be deemed, adjudged and taken to be His Majesty's natural born subjects of this kingdom, to all in- tents, constructions and purposes, as if they and every of them had been or were born within this kingdom." Every judge was required upon the taking the oath, &c., "in open court between the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon" "to make a due and proper entry thereof in a book to be kept for that purpose in the said court," and the secretary of the colony was directed to make a similar entry in a book for the purpose in his office. A certificate under the seal of the colony was then given to the per- son naturalized, " which shall be deemed and taken to be a suf-
.
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ficient testimony and proof thereof, and of his being a natural . born subject of Great Britain, to all intents and purposes what- ever, and as such shall be allowed in every court within the king- doms of Great Britain and Ireland, and also in the said colonies in America." The ample rights conferred by naturalization un- der this act were however materially effected by two provisos, first, that no person, except a Quaker or a Jew, should be natu- ralized "unless such person shall have received the sacrament of the Lord's supper in some protestant and reformed congregation," in Great Britain or the colonies, within three months next before taking the required oaths, &c .; second, that no person so natu- ralized shall be of the Privy Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, &c.
A portion of the Resolves of the Lower House, Oct. 18th, 1753, reads " Resolved also unanimously, That all the Statutes of Eng- land, made for the security, confirmation or advancement of the rights, liberties and privileges of the British subjects, for the pre- vention or detection of bribery and corruption, and the main- tenance and preservation of freedom in elections, the direction and regulation of returning officers, except in such cases wherein sufficient provision hath been or shall be established by Aets of Assembly, have the force of laws within this province, and as such ought uniformly and inviolably to be received and observed."
Stat. of 22 Geo. II., cap. 45, 1749, provided for the naturali- zation of foreigners who should serve on board English vessels engaged in the whale fisheries, and has for our purposes no inter- est except the provision that such naturalized subjects shall not be of the Privy Council, members of either House of Parlia- ment, etc.
We have thus seen that laws of England passed in 1700 and 1714, before the election law of Maryland, as well as those passed in 1740 and 1749, all declared the ineligibility of naturalized subjects to seats in parliament : that the Maryland Act modeled the House of Delegates of the colony on the House of Commons of Great Britain, and made ineligible to it, all who were by Eng- lish law ineligible to parliament; that the Resolves of 1753, de- clared all these British Statutes to be in force in Maryland; and yet Mr. Hagar lost his seat by a single vote.
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