USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume II > Part 45
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In the formation of this, the first medical society in the colonies, Newark was represented by Drs. William Burnet and Bernard Budd, of Springfield, which was originally with the Oranges, Caldwell, Bloomfield and Livingston, it must be remembered, in the grant to Newark. Both were men of reputation, and well represented the medical profession of their town.
Up to the Revolution we have scarcely any information except the min- utes of the Medical Society, with its few meetings.
During the war, after the occupation of New York by the British, and the disastrous battle at Long Island, and Washington's retreat across New Jersey, it was necessary to establish hospitals in Newark. The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church, Court House and Academy were used for such purposes. They were in charge of Dr. William Burnet, physician general in charge of the Eastern District. They were well managed, and received the commendation of Dr. John Morgan, director-general of the Continental Army.
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The struggle for liberty for a time seemed to exhaust all the energies of the Medical Society, having, from the necessity of the physicians being all occupied in army service, failed to meet, and neglect seemed to be the order of the period. This was but for a short time. Soon they were arrang- ing for the upbuilding of the medical profession, re-establishing of the regular meetings, and in every way working hard with new hope and vigor.
In the year 1783 there was an act to regulate the practice of physic and surgery within the State of New Jersey, which was passed November 26: "Whereas, many ignorant and unskilful persons do take upon themselves to administer physic and surgery within this State, to the endangering of the lives and limbs of the good subjects of the same, who have been persuaded to become their patients, for the prevention of such abuses in future." This act seemed ample and wise, but the provisions for examination of candidates was delegated to two Judges of the Supreme Court, with the assistance of two physicians. The physicians of Newark represented a large number of the State Medical Society, and it was very inconvenient for them to meet with the irregular and infrequent meetings. To meet the local demands, there was formed in the year 1790 the organization known as the Medical Society of the Eastern District of New Jersey. This society was much opposed by the parent society, who were fearful of its designs; in fact, their fears were realized, for the State society, with its great loss of membership, for a time ceased to exist.
As the profession grew, with the rapid expansion of the towns in the eastern section, more need of consolidation was felt for the local profession till in the year 1816 the Essex District Society was organized, Newark having the largest number of members. This society is still in existence, and has grown greater and stronger with passing years. Newark has been to the front in all the advancements of medicine, and has had her representatives at work in all that has been done. From this time on we have enjoyed uninterrupted progress in medical affairs, and its practitioners have well represented the best in the march of improvement.
The need of closer union for scientific work was met by the formation in 1835 of the Newark Medical Association, which was continued for a num- ber of years.
Another grouping, the Essex Medical Union, was formed in the year 1859, which permitted other membership than the more local Newark society.
The rumbling of the coming storm-the Civil War-was heard by the local profession, and preparations were made for the demands which came thick and fast for the medical needs of that conflict. Newark was well repre- sented, and its physicians made fame for themselves, while they were working hard for their country in field and hospital for the relief of their stricken brethren.
To-day we have a city with its Board of Health, its grand hospitals, its associations of every character for the relief of sickness and distress; its numerous private medical societies-all working for the good of humanity, all working to be in the advance line of medical progress-wide awake, working unceasingly in society, laboratory and library, to the advancement of the honor of their profession. We have as good in our city as can be found anywhere in private as well as institutional work-men who have made their mark, and men who are pressing hard in the race and who will also make their names indelible, to the honor of the humble town of 1666, which has grown to the giant of to-day.
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THE GERMANS IN NEWARK. BY WILLIAM VON KATZLER.
INTRODUCTION-WITH A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE SEVERAL IMMIGRATION MOVEMENTS FROM GERMANY TO AMERICA.
Culture in the many-sidedness of its component branches is com- parable to a mighty symphony orchestra in which every human instrument is represented. Just as these instruments, varying in tone and form, unite in a chord of beautiful harmonies, so likewise in all its fields of development, in spite of their apparent lack of connection-from the simplest manual labor in field and meadow, in house and home, in the work-shop and so on through all the other manifestations of human endeavor up to the solution of the most difficult and abstruse problems of science by the scholar, the inventor and investigator in the laboratory, the observatory or the quiet study-cultural activity is united in that chord which sweeps and resounds through the world: Civilization!
During two hundred years there have resounded from America in this world-concert, German tones, beginning softly, almost shyly, but, soon con- tinuing in a crescendo to a strength and timbre which to-day attracts the attention of the nations.
The thirteen families of weavers, who, more than two hundred years ago, under the guidance of Franz Daniel Pastorius, entered this country as pioneers of German culture, and vindicated German industry and Ger- man technical skill, have, in the course of time, grown to fifteen or even twenty millions of Germans or descendants of Germans, who have partici- pated in all fields of cultural development with constantly increasing success, and have become a factor in ethical, economical and social considera- tions, the beneficial effect of which on the entire cultural development of the American nation is unmistakable. There are thousands and thousands of German names among the principal commercial firms, manufacturers and engineers of the country; there are millions of German names among the successful farmers and business people in all trades and industries; and additional millions of bearers of German names enjoy the highest esteem as industrial workers. In the sphere of art, especially of music, the Ger- mans have acted as pioneers in opening up new paths. In the field of science, German influence has become the ideal, and in this country there are no high institutions of learning, whose faculties do not include members with German names and German courses of study. In the army and navy we find a large number of German names, and a great many of the possessors of these hold the chief positions of command. The ranking rear-admiral of the United States navy is a German by birth, education and sentiments. Even among the other high government officials we find many bearers of German names, as, for example, among the members of the cabinet of President Taft and of other former Presidents.
The Germans in this country are the champions of certain universal virtues, which have attained to a higher development in Germany than elsewhere. Sincerity, depth of feeling, fidelity and thoroughness are char- acteristically German traits which are manifested here a hundredfold.
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America offers the Germans political freedom, social equality and material well being. These are precious gifts, and it is only fitting that the German should gratefully offer his best, namely, that German depth of feeling and fidelity and thoroughness, in the service of business, science and art. No better union is conceivable than that of the German with the American, of the ideal with the practical, of thought with deed, thoroughness with alert- ness, depth of feeling with ambition, fidelity with resolution.
The German element in America is no political appanage of the Ger- man Empire; it espouses the cause of an ideal Germanism which reigns far above mere dependence on an Empire. Throughout the German-American public-mindedness, which the German of the Empire cannot understand, there thrills something of that unutterable melancholy with which we think of our paternal home, our youth and our mother; there vibrates something of that veneration with which we gild over and transfigure the past; and it sounds like a final maternal admonition, to guard and cherish the trans- mitted heritage-Forever!
But here, in the new Fatherland, we have taken root and waxed strong in the breezes and dew of freedom. Well do we know what the painfully won unity and strength of the German nation signify for our position here, where we have stood so long alone, as individuals or as German in general- national orphans-but, ever and again there breaks forth in us, with the clarion note of just pride, as we look back upon our history in America, the thought:
Proudly may the German acclaim, High may his heart beat at the name, To himself he owes his fame.
Ruehmend darf's der Deutsche sagen, Hoeher darf das Herz ihm schlagen: Selbst erschuf er sich den Wert.
In order to give as complete a history of the German immigration into New Jersey and Newark as space will permit, it is perhaps necessary to point out the circumstances and events in Europe which caused all these thousands of diligent, sober and Godfearing people to leave their homes, in order to find new avenues of existence in the land beyond the sea. This has been done in the early chapters.
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CHAPTER I. THE FIRST GERMAN IMMIGRATION INTO AMERICA.
GERMANS IN EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS-PETER MINUIT-JACOB LEISLER-PETER FABIAN-THE CAUSE OF THE GERMAN EMIGRATION-THE MISERY OF THE WAR OF THIRTY YEARS AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION-THE FIRST GERMAN COLONY IN GERMANTOWN-EXODUS OF THE PALATINES UNDER JOSHUA VON KOCHERNTHAL.
There is no accurate record of the earliest German immigration to America. Edward Eggleston, a diligent student of colonial history, claims that Germans came with the colonists of Massachusetts Bay and without doubt some of the so-called Dutch of the New Netherlands were High Dutch, or Germans, from the Rhine beyond the Holland border. The liis- torian Bancroft speaks of a German who accompanied the Humphrey Expedition to Newfoundland in 1583, and who assayed the gold ore which was found in that country. He, with his sample of ore, was drowned on his way back to Europe. There is not a question but that German artisans were amongst the settlers in Virginia in 1607, and a leading man in that province was Johannes Ledered, the first explorer of the Allegany Mountains and a pathfinder of the southwest of Virginia. During the official term of Governor Minuit there lived a number of Germans in New Amsterdam; amongst these was Hans Kierstedt, from Madgeburg in Saxony. He was a physician and surgeon, and probably the first of German-American physicians on this continent. His wife was a very intelligent woman who could speak the Indian language and whose services as interpreter were frequently called into use. On the ship "Otter," which landed in New Amsterdam in 1660, were six Germans; amongst them was Jacob Leisler from Frankfort-on-the- Main, who later became Jacob Layseler, governor of New York.
The foregoing rather fragmentary historical remarks attempt to show that Germans appeared even in the period of American exploration. Ger- man immigration, indeed, begins with the commencement of the propagation of German culture on American soil, about the year 1620. From the very first stages of American pioneer life the German has worked side by side with the English, the Dutch and the Swode, and it is from this early period of home-making that the remarkable traces of German mental activity are visible. It is necessary to lay special stress upon these facts, because among Americans there is a false idea that German immigration only commenced on the 6th of October, 1683, when Franz Daniel Pastorius landed with thir- teen families belonging to the linen and weaving trades of Crefeld. Their settlement of Germantown, the hardships and trials of these early settlers, their Christian endurance and indefatigable industry and their hard-won success, make one of the most interesting chapters in the history of this country, but cannot be narrated in these pages. These early German settlers made the first protest against negro slavery on this continent. The protest had its origin in a gathering of Germans, who met on the 18th of April, 1688, in Germantown. A document, still preserved, was drawn up in the handwriting of Pastorius and signed by many. It was addressed to the monthly meeting of the Quakers, and its design was to bring the matter of slavery before the gathering for debate and action.
The principal causes of the great German immigration at the end of the seventeenth century and in the eighteenth century were destructive wars, religions persecutions and the tyranny of autocrats. It was the misery
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and poverty which followed that struggle of thirty years for religious liberty in Germany; which devastated the country, destroyed cities and villages, made wide stretches of the land a barren wilderness and killed by the sword, and still more by pestilence, hundreds of thousands of people. This terror began the war of Thirty Years, and continued through several years of war that followed. When Louis XIV., King of France, fought against Holland and Germany, the Rhine country was repeatedly ravaged, the devastation earning for the French general, Turenne, and later General Melack, the execration of the world. The Palatinate, particularly, and other portions of Germany were devastated by fire and sword in 1689 and 1695, destroying the towns, villages and castles, until to this day, from Drachenfels to Heidelberg, the line of march is marked by crumbling walls and blown-up towers. As a sample of that destruction we may mention the remains of the beautiful castle of Heidelberg, which many American tourists have seen.
The next large emigration to this country was the exodus of the Pala- tines in 1708 and 1710. This was caused by the devastation of the war of the Spanish succession from 1706-1713-the tyranny and extravagance of their potentate, Eberhard Ludwig of Wurtemberg, perhaps the nearest type of the German caricature of Louis XIV., and finally religious persecution. The first troop of Palatines who had left Frankfort-on-the-Main, under the leadership of their pastor, Rev. Joshua von Kochernthal, were very kindly received in England by Queen Anne and were furnished with free trans- portation to New York, where it was intended they might be used to settle the frontier as a buffer against the Indians. This caused others to follow in masses, so that in October, 1709, between 15,000 and 32,000 came to London in the hope of receiving transportation to America. What to do with the hordes of foreigners was a grave question with the authorities. A large number-about 3,000 persons-were sent to Ireland and settled in the province of Munster.1 A large number was shipped to the Carolinas and about 3,000 persons were destined for the colony of New York. They left in ten small ships in April, 1710, on which they must have been closely crowded, as the mortality amongst them was high; nearly seventy per cent. died, and almost all the children succumbed to the hardships of an ocean voyage. One of the Palatine ships, wrecked accidentally or by design upon the coast of Long Island, has given rise to the legend which Whittier has immortalized in verse in his pathetic "Wreck of the Palatines." The immi- grants finally settled in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys, and their works and deeds there under Welser, Captain Kneiskern, Hartman, Windecker, Harkimer (Herkheimer), are written with indelible letters upon the pages of the early history of this country.
With the settlement of Germantown in 1683 and its increase of pros- perity, and with the arrival of the Kochernthal contingent in New York, the Germans had gained a foothold on American soil. Pennsylvania and New York served as a basis of distribution of the German people over the most favorable area in the neighborhood, particularly New Jersey.
1 Descended from this stock were the founders of Methodism in America, Philip Emburg (Amberg) and Barbara Heck. Cf. "Ireland and the Century of Methodism," by Cook.
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CHAPTER II.
THE EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY.
GERMANS IN NEW JERSEY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY- GERMAN VALLEY-SETTLEMENTS SPREADING OVER HUNTERDON, SOMERSET, MORRIS, AND OVER PART OF SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES-PALATINE IMMIGRANTS FIRST GERMAN SETTLERS IN ESSEX, HUDSON, PASSAIC AND BERGEN COUNTIES-THE MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT IN SOUTH JERSEY- EMINENT DESCENDANTS OF THE EARLY GERMANS-RELIGION AND MORALS OF THE SETTLERS-THE REDEMPTIONERS AND THEIR HARDSHIPS IN THE NEW COUNTRY-THE ENORMOUS MORTALITY ON SEA-LIFE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS-SOME OF THE GERMAN PREACHERS IN COLONIAL TIMES.
There is a tradition that the northern counties of New Jersey, the region between the Raritan and the Passaic, were favored by an accident in getting their first German settlers. In 1707 a number of Germans of the Reformed Church, residing originally between Wolfenbüttel and Halber- stadt, embarked for New York, but by adverse winds were carried into Delaware Bay. In order to reach their destination among the Dutch of New York, they took the overland route from Philadelphia through New Jersey. As they entered the beautiful valley of the Musconetcong 1 and the Passaic River country, they were so well pleased with the goodly land that they resolved to go no farther. They settled in the region of German Valley ( Morris county), whence they spread to Somerset, Bergen and Essex counties. While it is possible that Germans arrived in these parts as early as 1707-'08, the first authentic record of the presence of a German in that region is that of the baptism of a child of John Peter Appleman and Anna Magdalina, August 1, 1714. This event occurred at the house of Ari de Guinea (Harry from Guinea, a Christian negro). The child had been born on March 25, and the parents had come into the State at least a few months previously. The date (1713) is therefore adopted by the Germans of New Jersey as the beginning of their history." Another event on record is the first religious service in German Valley, which took place in 1743 (or 1744), according to a letter addressed to Michael Schlatter by the people of Fox Hill, Lebanon and Amwell (German Valley) in 1747, which speaks of the service as having taken place three or four years before. A religious service of this kind naturally presupposes a settlement of some dimensions, and, therefore, the first settlers must have come to German Valley long before. The first German Lutheran church in New Jersey was opened for worship in 1731, in what is now Potterstown, about a mile east of Lebanon (Hun- terdon county )."
1 A tributary of the Delaware forming the boundary line between Morris and Hunterdon counties on the east side, and Sussex and Warren on the west.
2 The facts above and following on the early German settlements of New Jersey are very largely taken from Chambers' "The early Germans of New Jersey, their History, Churches and Genealogies," Dover, 1895. The work is based on careful and accurate historical researches, on examination of church records (particularly in German Valley and Its neighborhood) ; Iand records at the county- seats; books of wills at Trenton; county and family histories; and finally, tomb- stones In old graveyards.
3 The church at Potterstown (Rockaway) was dedicated Saturday, September 11. 1731. Berkenmeyer and two elders from New York were present, also the Rev. Dr. Falckner. On Sunday, the 12th, communion was administered to about thirty persons, at which Berkenmeyer and Falckner officiated. Sachse, "The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania," p. 330, takes this note from Berken- meyer's Diary. See also Archives of the Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, Pa.
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There is evidence also that some of the Paiatine immigrants of 1710 settled in New Jersey, records ' of baptisms and marriages kept by the First Lutheran Church of New Jersey, furnishing this proof. The parish of the Rev. Dr. Justus Faickner, who began his ministry in New York in 1703-this parish extended over a vast area, from Aibany in New York to the Puritan region (Hunterdon county) in New Jersey. The Germans in New Jersey would be justified in taking 1710 as their beginning, or three years before the date they selected, when they celebrated the 180th anniversary of their settlement.5
In south Jersey there were Germans who came with the Swedish settlers long before 1700, but they lost their identity among the pre- dominate race. In Salem county, not far from the sources of the rivers Cohansey and Alloway, where now stands the little town of Friesburg, there was a German Lutheran congregation."
The bulk of the early German settlers were located within the present boundaries of the counties of Hunterdon, Somerset, Morris and parts of Sus- sex and Warren. Chambers1 gives about three hundred German family names compiled mainly from church records before 1762 within the above named district, giving evidence of quite a large population. The German settlers of Passaic, Bergen and Essex counties have come from the region of German Valley or may have entered from Hudson county; i. e. they were mere immigrants coming from New York City.
Besides these settlements, there are records of a few other German colonies. At Elizabethtown, where the first English settlement was made in 1664, there were many German settlers prior to 1734, as we learn from the "Urlsperger Reports." " In addition to these we get information about others from the reports of the Moravian preachers. These ministers had regular preaching stations in the more southerly counties of New Jersey at Maurice River, Penn's Neck, Raccoon, Cohansey, Middletown, Trenton, Maidenhead, Crosswicks, Crawberry and Princeton. These stations pre-
suppose the existence of German settlers in considerable numbers, for the Moravian preachers commonly preached in German, many of them not knowing English well enough to preach in that language. A prosperous Moravian colony, at least for a period, was the Hope Settlement, erected in Warren county. American travelers' passing through, commented "on the strong, neat and compact Moravian houses, mostiy of stone, the mechanics' shops, the stores, and above all a saw mili, the finest and most curious mill in America." This mill is also mentioned in the travels of a French soldier 10 in 1728, one of the members of Lafayette's staff. In 1807
4 The names are given by Chambers, p. 35. A road survey in 1721 in the vicinity of Amwell township, Hunterdon county, makes mention of "The Palatine land." This is another evidence of the early settlements of the Palatines in New Jersey.
" This memorable event occurred in 1893, in German Valley. The Rev. Theo- dore Frelinghuysen was one of the moving spirits.
" "Hallesche Nachrichten," Chambers, vol. i, pp. 184-269. They were served by the Swedish Pastor Trauberg, 1726-80, 21,760; Pastor Handschuh had 120 communi- cants. They built and rebuilt churches, one of brick bearing the date 1768, "The Emanuel Church."
7 On pp. 34-37, and in the appendix of his book.
8 Von Reck, Urlsperger Nachrichten, p. 159.
. Hon. William Ellery and Hon. William Whipple, two signers of the Declar- ation of Independence in 1777, wrote about it in their diary, from which the above quotation is taken.
10 "Travels in North America," p. 307, published 1780-82, by the Chevalier de Chastelleux.
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the properties at Hope were sold by the Moravian Brothers, and the mem- bers of the settlement removed to Bethlehem or other Moravian towns. All their settlements were managed on the co-operative plan, and if any proved less advantageous it was abandoned or sold so as not to be a burden to the others.
The early settlers, though poor in this world's goods, bore a good reputation for industry, piety, and a pathetic desire for the ministrations of some one who could speak to them in their own tongue. For this they made great sacrifices in their poverty, and showed a patience truly mar- velous with disappointments in the character of some of their early min- isters, which they were often called upon to endure. Along with religion there went a high tone of morality. The people lacked the enterprise of other communities, but they also lacked the taste for wantom speculation, which so often proved an "ignis fatuus" leading to disaster and ruin. They cultivated contentment with the allotments of Providence. They practised honesty, not only as the best policy, but as indispensable to peace of mind. They rendered obedience to the law of the land as a duty they owed to God. This love of country was both a passion and a principle. These pioneers were so pre-eminently a religious people that their story is largely a history of their churches; yet they were not neglectful of the school. In 1760 the sum of a thousand pounds-large for the times-was left to New Germantown for the support of their church and school. The people most willingly bore the trouble and expense of importing ministers from Germany, that they might thereby secure men of learning and regular ordination. The recommendation of Murlenberg, that the ministers sent out should be able to speak Latin, so as to be able to communicate with their English fellow-clergymen, shows what these Jersey German pioneers demanded of their pastors.
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