Blue book of Schuylkill County : who was who and why, in interior eastern Pennsylvania, in Colonial days, the Huguenots and Palatines, their service in Queen Anne's French and Indian, and Revolutionary Wars : history of the Zerbey, Schwalm, Miller, Merkle, Minnich, Staudt, and many other representative families, Part 1

Author: Elliott, Ella Zerbey
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Pottsville, Pa. : Pottsville, Pa. "Republican", Joseph Zerbey, proprietor
Number of Pages: 516


USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Blue book of Schuylkill County : who was who and why, in interior eastern Pennsylvania, in Colonial days, the Huguenots and Palatines, their service in Queen Anne's French and Indian, and Revolutionary Wars : history of the Zerbey, Schwalm, Miller, Merkle, Minnich, Staudt, and many other representative families > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34


BLUE BOOK of SCHUYLKILL COUNTY


HH34609


PUBLIC LIBRARY


OMNIVM-


ICIVIVMi


1


OF THE CITY OF


BOSTON


Mrs. Ella Berbery Cellist.


٠٠


To the Kohoucable Beach


whofe names are hereunto fullcribed, Inhabitants of north Heeft partsof Rotown flip of Oley, Jolyklockan, and pats Djacent. Sewing no Trad as yet Eftablifid amongst us, by means where of the suffer divers herrenencies, Chid about part of land ut prefect not Settled, through which hereby petitioned road is naturally designed to gor by means where of theres willbe no opposition made in laying of it out


Wherefore hoe your Petitioners humbly request feat you will be pleased to Order a High road to be laid out, Beginning at the Lutherian Meeting houle. at Jelpchocan; and to ein Ing. High road, at Quakers meeting hours near George Boone's Will in Oley.


Old pour petitioner's hall ever pray si


Benjamin Loone .


John collins Josephe taken Jonathan Bekon


4


Melaniai friger! en fait wat


May Div ort Soup


LIET


IC RY


PETITION FOR EARLY ROAD (SEPTEMBER, 1727) (MARDIN ZARBEN) MARTIN ZERBE, ONE OF THE SIGNERS


COPY


(Taken from the original petition for early road shown on opposite page.)


September, 1727.


To the Honorable Bench.


We whose names are hereunto subscribed, ye inhabitants of ye North west parts of ye Township of Oley, Tolpehockan, and parts adjacent. Having no Road as yet estab- lished amongst us, by means whereof we suffer diver incon- veniences and a great part of ye land at present not Settled, through which ye hereby petitioned road is naturally designed to go by means of whereof there will be no opposition made in ye laying of it out.


Wherefore, we your Petitioners humbly request that you will be pleased to order a High road to be laid out, Beginning at the Lutherian Meeting House at Tolpehockan to end in the high road, at ye Quakers Meeting House near George Boone's Mill in Oley.


And your petitioners shall ever pray.


Frederick Schaeffer, Adam Lish,


Petter Klub,


Sebastian Fischer,


N. Nevs,


Lenhart Riet,


Nicholas Rienr,


Jasper Riet,


Mardey Stub,


Mardin Battdorff,


Anthonn Schadt,


Lenhart Feg,


Jacob Korbell,


Phillip Braun


Johan Henrich Schnchert,


*MARDIN ZARBEN,


Nicholas Schaeffer,


Michael Aenrich,


Michael Ernst Herner,


Johan Entenfelt,


Johannes Christman,


Benjamin Boone,


Stephan Wasseicheidt,


Isaac Wiseman,


Adam Walbornn,


Jacob Kobft,


John Collins, Joseph Baker,


George Lish,


Jonathan Baker,


Abraham Link,


Hugh Edward,


Nicholas Rull,


William Roberts,


Cunrath Diffenbach,


Peter Hilton.


*Zerbey History, Part 2.


IN THE COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS OF THE PEACE, OF THE COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA.


In re opening of High Road, at Tulpehocken, &c. September Sessions, 1727.


I certify the foregoing to be a true and correct copy of the original petition in the case above stated, as full, entire and complete as the same now remains of Record in this office.


In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said Court this twenty-sixth day of February, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and twelve, (1912.)


(Seal)


JOHN E. WALSH, Pro. Clerk.


Blue Book


f


Schuylkill Omity


Who Was Who and Why


In Interior Eastern Pennsylvania, in Colonial Days --- The huguenots and Palatines --- Their Seruire in Queen Anne's, French and Indian, and Revolutionary Mars ---


history of the Zerbey, Schwalm, Miller, Her- kle, Hinnich, Staudt, and Many Other Representative Families.


By Mrs. Ella Zerbey Elliott


Author of "Old Schuylkill Tales" and Other Short Stories. Formerly for Six Years on the Editorial Staff of the Pottsville, Urina., Republican.'


Pottsville, Ha .. "Republican" Joseph L. Żerhey, Proprietor Publishers 1916


On Serur


COPYRIGHT 1916 BY MRS. ELLA ZERBEY ELLIOTT


PRESS OF POTTSVILLE, PA., "REPUBLICAN"


E. L. CLIFFORD


BUSINESS MANAGER


J. H. ZERBEY, JR. ASSOCIATE EDITOR


i


SCHUYLKILL CO. BLUE BOOK Contents


CONTENTS


ILLUSTRATIONS


Follow


Frontispiece-Road Petition, Year 1727.


Page


Martin Zerbe's Homestead


1


Pioneer Homestead Map, 1723


36


Early Church, built 1727 42


Conrad Weiser's Signature


48


Patent from John Penn to Seven Stars (Minnich) Property, 1750


72


Land of Early Settlers on Tulpehocken


120


Schuylkill County Erected


141


Site of Mill John4 Zerbe, Tulpehocken


186


Mardin Zarvas Run, 1723, Wm. Penn Grant


200


Rear of Homestead of Martin Zerbe's Land.


208


Map George Zerbe Land, Schuylkill Haven 216


George Zerbe Homestead, near Orwigsburg, Pa. 232


268


Site of John Zerbe's Old Mill ..


308


Conrad Minnich Map, Land Deed


366


Stout Homestead, Settled 1736


392


Ancient Schwalm Castle


414


Andrew Schwalm Homestead, Orwigsburg, Pa.


420


PART I.


Translation of Road Petition.


Page


Title Page


1


Foreword


9


Prologue


12


Huguenots and Palatines


15


Settlers in Interior Eastern Pennsylvania, 1750-1752.


18


1730-1780


19


German Immigration


22


Huguenots and Palatines :


Come to London


25


Invitation to America


25


Sail for New York


26


Who Settlers Were


27


Settle in New York


29


Queen Anne's War


30


Water Right Agreement Johannes Zerbe, 1747


ii


BLUE BOOK OF Contents


Huguenots and Palatines, Continued:


Page


Soldiers in War, 1711


31


Company Lists . 34


Their Lands Resold


34


Pennsylvania Pioneers of 1723:


The Thirty-Three Families


36


Settlers Petition Governor 38


First Church Built, 1727 42


Petition for Roads, 1727


43


Tulpehocken Confusion 44


Province of Pennsylvania 50


Organization of Pennsylvania Counties to 1811.


51


Petition for New County


54


Remonstrate Against Revising Constitution


56


Failed


..


56


Constitution Amended


... .


57


Indian Troubles in Pennsylvania:


Indian Troubles


58


Policy


59


Forts


59


First Fort Dupui


60


Fort Augusta


60


Blue Mountain Forts


61


Forts Lebanon and Franklin


63


Chain of Forts


64


Friendly Indians


65


Indian Atrocities


67-69


The Finschers and Millers


70


John Penn Patent to Seven Stars (Minnich) Property, 1750 .. 73


Neyman and Other Massacres


74


Indian Stories


75-80


War of the Revolution:


War of the Revolution


81


Oath of Allegiance 85


Recruits From Schuylkill (Berks) Co.


85-97


Zerbes, Grubers, Rebers, Stouts, Swartzs, Merkles, Rieths,


97-104


Family Traditions


107-109


War of 1812-1814:


Soldiers From Schuylkill County


.109-113


Mexican War:


Schuylkill County Represented 114-120


The Early Settlers:


Early Notable Settlers 122


Conrad Weiser's Diary 124-132


Governor Schulze Story 134


Baltzar Gehr, Jacob Morgan, Douglass Family, etc .. 135-141


Schuylkill County Erected From Berks 141


etc., in the Early Wars


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Contents


Who Was Who:


Page


First Settlers of Schuylkill County 149


Neuferts, Whetstones, Potts 149


Klocks, Christs, Bresslers 150


Potts, Helms, Hessers


151


The Morris'


154


Boyers, Guldins, Colemans


155


Bocks, DeTurks, Mortimers


159


John R. and Benjamin B. Bannan


160


Lindemuths, Matzs, Roseberrys


163-167


Braun-Brown Family 168


Filberts, Weidmans, Krebs, Tysons 170-171


Spohns, Bechtels, Palmers 173-174


Kaerchers, Kepners, Shippens 175


Hobarts, Bairds, Pattersons


177-179


Zellers, Rahns, Seitzingers


180-182


PART II.


Genealogical Records:


Origin of the Zerbeys 187-192


Zerbeys in America 192-194


First Generation 194


The Manors 198


Second Generation


200


(MARTIN ZERBE'S LINE)


John Jacob Zerbe 200


John Zerbe 203


Heinrich Boyer 204


Albrecht and John Philip Strauss 204


George Peter Zerbe 207


Third Generation


211


Peter, Jr., Elizabeth, Valentine


211


Michael


212


John George Zerbe


216


(John) George and Anna Barbara Zerbe's Children ..


220


Hon. Daniel Zerbe


222


Herring Family Tradition


225


Daniel Zerbe, Cressona


226


Henry Zerbe, Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pa ..


227


John Adam Miller


229


232


Fourth Generation George Zerbe Children 233-239


232


Rev. Frank Ellsworth Graeff, D. D. 238


239


John F. Zerbey Family 241


Heber S. Zerbey Family 241


Joseph Henry Zerbey Family 242


"Pottsville Republican" . . . .


242


Robert A. Zerbey Family


245


..


iii


Wm. Merkle Zerbey


iv


BLUE BOOK OF Contents


Genealogical Records, Fourth Genration, Continued


Page


Frederic E. Zerbey Family 245


"Schuylkill Weekly Republican" 246


Charles D. Elliott 246


Ella Zerbey Elliott


246


Adelia E. Zerbey Family


249


Sara Frances Zerbey Family.


250


Rieths or Reeds


250


War Records


254


Ship Lists .257-258


Zerfass, Serfas, Surber, Sarvar, Sevir, Sarvas. .258-260


259


British Oath of Allegiance


260


Penna. Oath of Allegiance


261


Taxables in Berks County, 1752.


262


Early Churches in Schuylkill County


262


The First Census


262


Grubers Intermarried


263


Sontag Family


266


(LORENTZ ZERBE LINE)


First


Generation


266


Lorentz Zerbe Family


267


Second Generation 269


John Zerbe, the Miller, Family


271


Blue Mountain Lands


272


Tulpehocken Confusion


274


Second and Third Generations


277


Dr. Samuel and Maria Isles


279


280


Christian Zerbe


281


Benton H. Zerbe


282


John Zerbe's Law Suit


284


Nathan Zerbe John Zerbe, Cumru Township 288


289


Jonathan and David Zerbe .289-291


Rev. John W. Zerbe


292


George Adam Zerbe, Land and Family


. 294-297


George Zerbe, Tulpehocken, and Family


.297-298


Tyrone and Altoona Zerbes


298


Reading, Pa., Zerbes 301


299


Location of Land, Early Settlers


Host's Church 304


The Jacob Zerbes 304


Joel Zerbe Children 307


Philip Zerbe, of Washington Twp., Schuylkill Co. 309 Descendants .309-323


Centre County Zerbes . 323-325


Northumberland County Zerbes .325-332


Old Church, and Tombstone Records


.333-347


276


Leonard Zerbe


Valentine Zerbe


Third and Fourth Generations


Unclassified Zerbes 303


287


Unclassified Zerbes


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Contents


V


PART III.


Allied Families


Merkles


Church Records


.351-355


Taxables


355


In Wars


357


Wills and Records


357


Michael and Elizabeth, Children


359


Daniel Bartolet's Descendants


361


Isaac Strauch 363


362


Michael Merkle Family


364


Minnich, Muench History


Capt. Conrad Minnich Hotel


Conrad Minnich. Second


373


Minnich, Minnig Genealogy


. 378-387


Phila. Branch Muenchs. .387-393


Staudts. Stoudts, Stouts 393


Miller, Filbert, Kershner, Lerch, Ebling, Snyder, Mau- rer, Wagner and other Families .393-397 397


Marriages, Land Warrants 398


Muellers (Millers) Henry Miller 399


Family History .399-402


Andrew and Elizabeth Miller, Descendants. 403-409


History of the Reber Family 409


Conrad Reber Descendants 409


The Wildermuth Family 411


Origin of the Schwalms 413


First Schwalms in America 413


416


Baptismal Records


417


Andrew Schwalm, Sr., Family


418


Andrew and Hannah Schwalm Family


420


Frederic and Catharine Hacseler Family


421


Haeseler's Ancestry 423


427


Dr. Francis W. Boyer Family


427


James A. Medlar Family 428


428


Boyer Ancestry 429


John Andrew Schwalm Family 430


430


Allen H. Swalm 430


Henry A. Swalm 430


Joseph M. Schwalm Family


431


Sarah L. Schwalm 432


Thomas Clouse and Amanda Schwalm Family 432


Thomas K. Wagner and Susan J. Schwalm Family 432


Hegins Valley Schwalms 433


Hubley Township Schwalms


435


367


371


Graves of 1776 Men Marked


376


Caspar Phillips' Children


William E. Boyer Family


Edmund S. Boyer


Dr. Thomas W. Swalm


Page


351


351


vi SCHUYLKILL CO. BLUE BOOK Contents


Page


Pottsville Erected


437


Great Road or King's Highway


437


Turnpike Roads, Canal, Railways, Stages, etc.


438-440


Discovery of Coal


440


Settlers of Norwegian Township


441


Pottsville Erected


443


Pottsville's First Houses and First Settlers


443-445


Old Time Stories


447-455


Hessian Ancestors


455


Wills Probated Before 1800


455-456


Blue Book of Schuylkill and Berks Counties


Who Was Muha


THE ILLUSTRATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE FROM ORIGINALS DESIGNED SOLELY FOR THIS WORK.


NOTSO' FUBLIC LIBRARI


FRONT VIEW OF HOMESTEAD ON SITE OF MARTIN ZERBE'S LAND, SETTLED UPON IN 1723.


Hart


FOREWORD


In preparing this work, which includes the labor of years, the author has used only the best means available for the purpose. The idea of presenting such an array of facts, that makes of the book one neither entirely for private circulation, nor yet one solely for public distribution, first occurred to the writer about ten years ago, when after gathering much genealogical matter, for the main branch of the family, it was found that it was so involved with, and a part of, the pathetic, beautiful and romantic history, of the Huguenots and Pala- tines of the old world, thousands of whom were subsequently the founders of interior southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of other States, that it was next to impossible to divorce the one from the other.


The early settlers of Pennsylvania were not a showy race, they were plain and unassuming people, but they made his- tory and it seemed incumbent upon the author to transmit and preserve it. We are the descendants of French and German ancestry. There are those who are inanely ashamed of their descent and have a horror of being counted among the Penn- sylvania Germans. We are not of these. We are proud of our birthright. We have the homely treasure of a dialect peculiarly our own and we glory in its quaint figures of speech, so largely corrupted with the English, that as a sub-language or idiom it must soon be relegated to the archives of the past.


The Pennsylvania Germans and Huguenots were mainly husbandmen and tillers of the soil. To their untiring industry and perseverance, that wielded the maul, the axe and the mattock, felling the majestic monarchs of the forest and turn- ing the almost impenetrable wilderness into arable fields, rich with tasseled wheat and ripened corn; and making the barren wastes green with verdure and the bleak hillsides to


IO


BLUE BOOK OF Foreword


blossom like the rose, to them, is due much of the present flourishing condition of this our native State.


Plain, but loyal and God-fearing citizens of this Com- monwealth and the States of the Union in which their de- scendants have found homes, they possessed indomitable will, energy and perseverance and were of the stock, from which subsequently, sprung men in every walk of life, from the highest offices in the gift of the people; the presidency, the gubernatorial chair, the Senatorial, Congressional, and Leg- islative chambers, the highest professions, the brave soldier and sailor, on land and sea, down to the plain and unassum- ing civillian who filled his mission by performing his simple duty in life. All honor to the Pennsylvania Germans !


To the works from which the book has been partly com- piled : the Pennsylvania Archives, The Pennsylvania German Society Publications, Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Associators, Rupp's and Montgom- ery's Histories of Berks County, Cobb's Palatines, Koeppen's Middle Ages, Menzel's Germany, Palatine Refugees in Eng- land, Wheaton's Northmen, etc., etc., we are largely indebted.


The courtesy of Dr. J. W. Jordan, and his assistant Librarian, Ernest Spofford, of the Pennsylvania Historical Society Library, Philadelphia ; Dr. Schulze and Prof. Wm. A. Schwarze, of the Moravian College and Archives, Bethlehem ; the officials of the Pennsylvania State Library, Harrisburg, and the custodians of historical society libraries in Reading, Lebanon, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, in submitting original manuscripts for our inspection, for material, cannot be over- estimated nor too warmly commended.


The attachees of the Chester, Lancaster, Dauphin, Berks, Northumberland, and Schuylkill County Courts and the Court of Quarter Sessions, Philadelphia, and the custodians of the records of some of the early churches, were uniformly oblig-


II


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Foreword


ing in their offers of assistance in the unearthing of records. Many individuals, too, lent their best endeavors and through these the work was made possible.


To the chronological and genealogical data of the Zerbe line, many of the family name contributed and rendered in- valuable assistance. Others, too, collaborateurs in genealog- ical lines that were involved with the above, gave aid and the results speak for themselves.


The many difficulties to be contended with in a work of this nature, are but little understood by the average critic, who rarely sces anything to commend but seeks rather to con- demn or tear down that which he, perhaps, could not origin- ate or erect, himself ; we pass him by and without further apology, present the work to those interested and to an in- dulgent public.


ELLA ZERBEY ELLIOTT.


12


BLUE BOOK OF Prologue


PROLOGUE


It seems singular to the student of the present time, that only within the last thirty years has the history of the United States been considered of enough importance to be included in the curriculum of the large universities, in this country. A young man could, three decades ago, graduate from a four years' course in Harvard College, with all the honors and yet not know, even, of the existence of the Declaration of Inde- pendence or how the Constitution of the United States was framed. Other colleges, too, ignored American History. A boy was required to know of the history of Greece and Rome and during the term he was permitted to acquaint himself with the history of England, but that of the United States was ignored. An inspection of the curriculum of our public schools at the present time, too, reveals the fact that history is studied in a formal way for one year only, the eighth. This condition of things, happily, is passing away ; an effort now being made to introduce into the schools, as text books, such parts of Pennsylvania history that are relative to general school work.


New England history, as written, was largely biased by prejudice or else the truth was wilfully perverted. In the minutes of the Proprietary Government of Pennsylvania, and such reports as have been published in the Archives, there are found facts that prove this assertion.


The official records of a State alone can preserve its true history. The States of New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and others began the publication of their Colonial and Revo- lutionary history before Pennsylvania awakened to the fact


13


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Prologue


that she was lagging behind and it was not until April, 1837, that the immediate publication of the Colonial Records was ordered by the Legislature.


In 1752 the Assembly directed the publication of the Journals of the House, from 1684, which up to that date had remained in manuscript. These annals are records of the uninteresting details of the government of the colonies of Great Britain and much that should have gone down in his- tory was suppressed, as State secrets, for fear of the displeas- ure of the British government.


With the opening of the French and Indian wars the history of Pennsylvania became replete with interest. The Indian massacres along the frontier, the letters of the British officers and others higher up in the English government, make a wonderful story and one that no one who professes to be conversant with early history dare long remain unfamiliar with.


No state in the Union has a history of greater import- ance than Pennsylvania. In her metropolis was located the seat of the colonial government when liberty was declared and on her borders and within her domain the decisive strug- gle for independence culminated. It was in this State that American Independence had its birth and here, too, when the cause under Washington was almost hopeless and the New Englanders deserted it and went home, that Pennsylvania arose in its supremacy and saved the day.


The commonwealth is slowly unveiling the rich treas- ures in her possession but many, too, of the invaluable docu- ments in her vaults were lost, through the ravages of time, dampness and mildew and through the peculations of dis- honest custodians, who were the prey of private collectors ; and some through lack of binding or transmission to print, and others to the careless methods with which they were preserved.


14


BLUE BOOK OF Prologue


It is a discredit to Pennsylvania that a more thorough and systematic effort is not made by authorized bibliograph- ers ; in addition to the transcribers employed on the archives, to at once rehabilitate what remains of these rich and rare treasures, as every year of delay means an added loss.


The Moravian, Lutheran and Reformed churches, in the theological state libraries, at their colleges and seminaries, too, contain many untabulated original manuscripts in the German script that remain untranslated and are fast fading away.


What is true of the State and church, is also true of the individual. The history of the early pioneers is rich with information interwoven with the struggles, fortitude, endur- ance and sterling worth and work of the colonists, that re- mains uncovered and unhonored, through the apathy and carelessness of their descendants, and the custodians of docu- ments that relate to their history.


The early pioneers passed through many stirring and even thrilling vicissitudes, but they were formed of the fibre that makes heroes and not only endured untold hardships but lived and even thrived under them. Without the help of these rugged and fearless people, the nation under its heroic lead- ers, in the struggle for liberty, would have sunk into the depths of thraldom, unknown decay and servitude to an older, wealthier and more powerful country and liberty would never have been proclaimed throughout our beloved land.


15


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Huguenots and Palatines


The Huguenots and Palatines


HAT Norsemen and not Christopher Columbus discovered America and also, that, to the Teutonic race belongs that honor, is conceded by scholars and historians. The Norse Sagas embody the real history of the Germanic race. Greenland has many evidences of their settlement and farther south there are relics and proofs that the North American Indians absorbed these races and, as Father Charlevoix, Jesuit Priest, states, "Taught the aborigines the story of the cross be- fore the advent of the early missionaries," who have been accredited with that pioneer work.


Writers of American history, thus far, have not accorded the Germans their due, in regard to the discovery of this Con- tinent. The injustice of biased statements or else the total ig- moring by historians of what was done by Germans in the exploration, development and early settlement of America, has led the Pennsylvania German Society, a body of men composed of Pennsylvanians, born of German descent, to decree the com- pilation of a new and critical history of this Commonwealth. A large sum of money has been subscribed to enable Savants to make a thorough research of the libraries and repositories of learning in the old world; and particular epochs and sections are made the especial study of members of the Society appointed for the purpose and the results forthcoming are of such a com- prehensive and thorough nature as to revolutionize many hereto- fore accepted historical facts and add many unknown truths to the basis of those already proven1.


(New History of Penna. The Penna. German Society, Vol. VII., pp. 33-198.)


16


BLUE BOOK OF Huguenots and Palatines


The Swedes were the first settlers in Pennsylvania in 1638. The first commissioners from Wm. Penn to treat with the Indi- ans came over in 1681, and Wm. Penn, himself, arrived Oct. 27, 1682.2 In 1701 a small colony of Swedes settled on the Schuyl- kill River near the mouth of the Manatawny Creek, 10,500 acres were surveyed and layed off for them. They built the first church for religious worship, in interior Pennsylvania, 1716, and owing to the amicable relations between themselves and the Indians, called their settlement Amity (Chester County). This name has been retained as the name of that township, in Berks County, to the present day. A small colony of Germans came in 1712 and settled on Manatawny Creek. Then another colony of thirty-three families came in 1723, journeying south from New York. 1, 2


They were Huguenots and Palatines, who had cast their lot together, in a common cause, to escape religious persecution, fled their native land and came to the new world to build up homes away from the thraldom and dictation of Kings and Princes.


During the middle of the 16th century, the reformers under Calvin became strong in France, not only as a religious sect but as a political body. The name Huguenots was given them in derision and they were bitterly opposed by the French Court and disliked by the Roman hierarchy. Strong in their Pro- testant belief they could not change it to conform with that of the ruling prince.


Frederic II, the elector Palatinate, was a Lutheran, Frederic III a Calvanist. Ludovic V restored the Lutheran Church, his son who succeeded him became a Calvinist and he was succeeded by a Catholic, who cruelly oppressed the Protestants.


In 1634 the city of Heidelberg was taken by Louis XIV of France. In 1688 the French army invaded Germany and devas- tated the beautiful Palatinate of the Rhine, causing suffering and


(Note 1-D. Rupp, Thirty Thousand Immigrants, Appendix.) (Penna. Archives, Vol. 7, p. 291.)


(Note 2-Penna. Archives, Vol. 7, pp. 118, 125, 262.)


17


SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Huguenots and Palatines


desolation worse than the German war, which brought ruin and starvation to thousands. More than 40 cities and hundreds of towns and villages were reduced to ashes. The inhabitants were driven into the fields in mid-winter. The cities of Manheim, Heidelberg, Worms, and Mayence were partly destroyed. The city of Heidelberg was rebuilt and in 1693 was again taken by the French and laid in ashes. 15,000 men, women and children were made homeless, stripped of all their possessions, turned into the fields by night, destitute and half naked, but with characteristic pluck they again rebuilt the city and restored their homes under the promise that they should have protection.




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