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 4
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"Magistrate Wm. Webb, of Kenneth Square, Chester County, attempted to arbitrate the matter and promote peace. He seated himself between Leutbecker and Stoever, in the church; Leutbecker stated his grievance in a few words, when Stoever gave him the lie direct and a bitter altercation ensued. Mr. Webb appointed Leonard and Mich-
(Note 1-Schmauck's History. Grabner's Geschichte Lutherischen Kirche, pp. 100-112.)
(Note 2-John Caspar Stoever's baptismal records contain the names of three children, baptized by him, 1727, in this church.)
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
ael Rieth custodians of the church and ordered a lock and key, but the opposing faction gained entrance through a woman crawling in through the foundation and opening a window. A bitter warfare followed, sticks loaded with pow- der were placed in the stove and stones were hurled through the roof and windows of Leutbecker's home. His health failed under these persecutions and he died 1738."
(Dr. Mann, in his life of Rev. Melchoir Muhlenberg, says, "Leutbecker was a tailor, a pious man." He is buried at Span- genberg.)
"The committee agreed that Stoever should preach one Sunday in each month ; this was against the decision of 'Squire Webb, that trouble would ensue and who had ordered him away. Stoever did so, and then asked for another Sunday, and finally the original possessors were crowded out."
"About this time Count Zinzendorf began a noble work in christianizing the Indians. He had been assured by Court-preacher Ziegenhagen, in London in 1737, that "no Pastor would be sent to Pennsylvania, that the Germans were too poor to pay for one," and he conceived the idea that he had a mission to perform to draw together all Germans, in one undenominational body, but really to propagate Moravianism. For this purpose he laid aside his title and began to gather together such Germans as were not satisfied with the minis- trations of the Lutherans, and thus occurred what was termed the "Tulpehocken Confusion," which began July 18, 1742.1
There were about one hundred thousand Germans in Pennsylvania in 1741. The Reformed denomination existed under similar conditions to that of the Lutheran. No well developed denominational organization could claim rights based on priority of occupancy. There were not a dozen reg-
(Note 1-The Confusion at Tulpehocken, Transactions of the Mora- vian Historical Society, Vol. 4, p. 238.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Penna. Pioneers of 1723
ularly ordained ministers in the state laboring with these people, and the conditions were appalling.
"After Leutbecker died, a poor shoemaker from Germany acted as school teacher for several years for the people, then came Gottlob Buttner, who preached for them, but the troubles caused his resignation. He was recalled, the congregation having purchased the ground and the church, twenty-two signing the call making them a free church, May 30, 1742. Johannes1 Zerbe,
Peter Teck,
Leonart, Michael, Johannes, and Caspar Rieth,
Johannes Fincher,
Peter Nicklass,
Frederic Gerhart,
Michael Schoeffer,
Jorg Lesch,
Hannes Lautermilch,
Hermanus Walborn, and others.
The deed between John Page, of London, and his agents gave them the land through the original patent of the tract, for the rent of one red rose, to be paid June 23, every year, forever.
This pretty custom, observed annually in Manheim, Lan- caster County, has never been followed in Zion's or Rieth's Church.
They were released for 4 lbs. 17 S. lawful money.2 3
To this deed was affixed the sign and seal, August 16, 1742, of Conrad Weiser, J. P., as "an impartial spectator dur- ing the time of the Tulpehocken confusion."
Surad Weiser
Caspar Stoever, Lutheran, was accused of trying to turn Zion's Church over to the Moravians. Also, that when he
(Note 2-Deed appears in full, in Transactions of the Moravians, Vol. 4, p. 255.) (Note 3-Zerbe History, Part 2.)
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
went to England, it was said, that he collected money for the church and bought a plantation in Virginia for himself, stock- ing it with negroes for his own use. Stoever, in common with other great inen, was not without his traducers. He per- formed a noble part in the early civilization of the State, but had his weaknesses; like John Conrad Weiser, Sr., of whom it was said that, "when he went to England, to plead the cause of the Palatines before Queen Anne's Court, he encouraged the taking away of their lands that he might obtain a grant of land and found a colony of his own, in Ohio." It was for this reason, it was insinuated, he did not come to Pennsylvania until he came to die in 1746. His plan did not succeed and the Germans had lost confidence in his leadership.
"With Gottlob Buttner was John Phillip Meurer, a teacher. He came as a Moravian evangelist to Pennsylvania in 1740. He was invited by the Free Congregation, of the Tul- pehocken to officiate for them, and Zion's or Rieth's church became Moravian. The Stoever party retired and built the "Christ Church," west of Stouchsburg, May, 1743. Dr. Schantz's "Sesqui Centennial Discourse" gives the 165 signers, copied from the church record.
(Among them occurs the names of George Peter, Jacob and John Zerbe, sons of Mardin Zerbe (Zarva).1
Rev. Tobias Wagner also gave a list of the members, now issued in pamphlet form.
Meurer was an itinerant and could not remain more than a few months. Peter Bohler succeeded him. Public dis- putations on the doctrine of sanctification with Pastor Tobias Wagner, of Christ Lutheran Church, were held and personal animosity and religious disputes governed the situation alter- nately. The first regular Moravian Church in the rural dis- tricts was formed April 9, 1745. The signers were John Zerbe, the miller, and wife Elizabeth ; the Fischers, father and
(Note 1-Zerbe History Part 2.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Penna. Pioneers of 1723
son, who were of the original thirty-three families; the Con- rads, and the Muenchs and Michael Rieth and wife, all of Heidelberg Township.
With the exception of the Conrads and Muenchs, the oth- ers were of the Zion's or Rieth's church. This church was known as the Heidelberg Moravian church and was disbanded January, 1760. (Bishop Spangenberg, Moravian, who organ- ized the church, frequently preached at Jonathan Herbein's home and at Abraham Bertolettes', in Oley1.
Other technical difficulties followed with the arrival of Pastor Muhlenberg, son-in-law of Justice Conrad Weiser, who no longer assumed the role of an impartial arbitrator but inter- fered ; and was guilty of making a forcible entry into a school house and threatening to take the church from the Moravians if it was not at once surrendered.
January 21-24, 1748, and again June 2, 1748, the Moravian Synod was requested to send a suitable person to take charge and replied, that "none could be found;" and also declined to defend its property, "since it is contrary to the principles of the Moravian church to have recourse to the law." The mem- bers that remained continued with the Heidelberg church and Moravian activity ended in the Tulpehocken and the "Confusion" was over .?
The Moravians retired from activity in Berks County 1760.
PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Province of Pennsylvania was chartered by Charles the Second, King of England, in the thirty-third year of his reign, March 4, 1682, to William Penn, son of Sir William Penn, Admiral. To enable him to extend the English Empire, and to reward the son for the services of his distinguished
(Note 1-Ancestors of Dr. J. H. Herbein, of Pottsville, and the Ber- tolet family, of Schuylkill Co.)
(Note 2-Transactions of the Moravians, Vol. 4, Part 1.)
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
father, and also to wipe out the debt owing Penn, by the crown for those services, the Province was granted him and his heirs.1
The consideration named in the patent was "two beaver skins, to be delivered at Windsor Castle, January Ist, every year and a fifth of all gold and silver ore to be found within its limits."3
The Province was governed by a Provincial Council of seventy-two persons, a General Assembly and a Governor.
Three counties were established at the first settlement of the Province, 16SI : Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks. With this establishment eighty houses were built in Philadelphia. A Swede settlement existed there before the advent of Wil- liam Penn, who came in 1681 and returned to England August 16, 1684. In 1699 he again visited the colony and returned November 1, 1709. William Penn died July 30, 1718, at Rushcomb, England.3
Lancaster was erected 1729, and York and Cumberland followed in 1749 and 1750. March 1I, 1752, Berks and North- ampton were formed; but it was not until March 1, 1811, that Schuylkill was included; forty-four counties out of the 67, which form the State, having preceded it.
Organization of Counties of Pennsylvania Up To 1811, When Schuylkill County Was Erected.
Adams-January 22, 1800, formed of a part of York.
Allegheny-September 24, 1788, formed of a part of West- moreland and Washington.
Armstrong-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Alle- gheny, Westmoreland and Lycoming.
Beaver-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny and Washington.
(Note 1-Original documents in Land Office, Harrisburg.)
(Note 2-Duke of York's Book of Laws, p. 465.)
(Note 3-Votes of the Assembly, Vol. 1.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Penna. Pioneers of 1723
Bedford-March 9, 1771, formed of a part of Cumberland.
Berks-March II, 1752, formed of a part of Philadelphia, Chester and Lancaster.
Bradford-February 21, 1810, formed of a part of Luzerne and Lycoming.
Bucks-One of the three original counties of the Province, in 1682.
Butler-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny.
Cambria-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Hunting- don, Somerset and Bedford.
Centre-February 13, 1800, formed of a part of Mifflin, Northumberland, Lycoming and Huntingdon.
Chester-One of the three original counties, established at the first settlement of the Province, in 1682.
Clearfield-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Hunting- don and Lycoming.
Crawford-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny.
Cumberland-January 27, 1750, formed of a part of Lan- caster.
Dauphin-March 4, 1785, formed of a part of Lancaster.
Delaware-September 26, 1789, formed of a part of Ches- ter.
Erie-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny.
Fayette-September 26, 1783, formed of a part of West- moreland.
Franklin-September 9, 1784, formed of a part of Cum- berland.
Greene-February 9, 1796, formed of a part of Wash- ington.
Huntingdon-September 20, 1787, formed of a part of Bedford.
Indiana-March 30, 1803, formed of a part of Westmore- land and Lycoming.
Jefferson-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Lycoming.
-
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
Lancaster-May 10, 1729, formed of a part of Chester.
Luzerne-September 25, 1786, formed of a part of North- umberland.
Lycoming-April 13, 1795, formed of a part of Northum- berland.
Mckean-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Lycoming.
Mercer-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny.
Mifflin-September 19, 1789, formed of a part of Cumber- land and Northumberland.
Montgomery-September 10, 1784, formed of a part of Philadelphia.
Northampton-March II, 1752, formed of a part of Bucks.
Northumberland-March 21, 1772, formed of a part of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northampton.
Philadelphia -One of the three original counties estab- lished at the first settlement of the Province, in 1682.
Potter-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Lycoming.
Schuylkill-March 1, 1811, formed of a part of Berks and Northampton.
Somerset-April 17, 1795, formed of a part of Bedford.
Susquehanna-Feb. 21, 1810, formed of a part of Luzerne.
Tioga-March 26, 1804, formed of a part of Lycoming.
Venango-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny and Lycoming.
Warren-March 12, 1800, formed of a part of Allegheny and Lycoming.
Washington-March 28, 1781, formed of a part of West- moreland.
Wayne-March 21, 1798, formed of a part of Northampton.
Westmoreland-February 26, 1773, formed of a part of Bedford, and, in 1785, part of the purchase of 1784 was added thereto.
York-August 19, 1749, formed of a part of Lancaster.
(Smull's Hand Book.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Penna. Pioneers of 1723
PETITION FOR NEW COUNTY
The first attempt to erect a new county, out of the parts of Philadelphia and Lancaster counties, lying adjacent to the Schuylkill River, was made in 1738. Two petitions were pre- sented Council, January 13, 1738, by Lieutenant Governor George Thomas, of the Province of Pennsylvania. One from the inhabitants of Providence and Limerick, Philadelphia County, and another from those of the northeast side of the County of Lancaster, praying that a new county along lines presented on a map before that body, might be created, "That they were laboring under inconveniences, by reason of their distance from the Courts, held at Philadelphia and Lancaster," and many other reasons were given.
The substance is as follows :
Ist. The Town of Lancaster, where the Courts are held, is seated very advantageous for a Division. ***
2d. That our trade and commerce are equal with that of our neighbors, and demand like privileges. ***
3d. If the seat of justice was fixed upon the Schuylkill River, we could then cheerfully attend Courts and dispose of our produce. ***
4th. That many of us are divided from Lancaster by ridges of mountains, etc. ***
5th and 6th. The natural advantages of the situation favor the erection. ***
Your petitioners humbly pray, etc.
Among the signers of the original petition, who have descendants in Schuylkill County, were:
Johannes Kirshner, Tobias Bickel, Henry and Jacob Razer (Reeser), Peter Herbein, George Unruth, Andrew
(Note-The original copy of the petition from that part, now Berks County, may be seen at the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. It contains the names of 172 signers, of which 61 were of Welsh extraction and the rest Swiss, French and Germans.)
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
Boyer, Leonard Reed, Cunradt Weiser, John George Ceh, Peter Ritter, Henry Gruber, George Heil, Godfrey Fiddler, John Schall, John Zerbe, Phillip Zerbe.
The petition was laid upon the table for further con- sideration.
May 19, 1739, Lieut. Governor Thomas addressed a mes- sage to the Assembly, in which he mentions the proposed di- vision favorably. The Assembly, however, did nothing and after waiting six years the petitioners renewed their request for a new county, addressing another petition April 25, 1745. This was also laid on the table. This was followed by a similar petition praying that, "their former petition may now be con- sidered." Several other attempts were made to prevail upon the Assembly to consider the division; and on the 28th of February, 1745, a committee of the petitioners appeared before the House to urge the matter. A resolution was passed that, "The House will at their next sitting take the said petition into consideration," but it was dropped for five years more.
More petitions were offered, that were read and re-read and again deferred. February 4, 1752, the petitioners were on hand with still another petition from the inhabitants of Read- ing, that stated that, "That town had but one house, 1750, and that it now contained 130 dwellings and 160 families, of 378 persons, many of whom had removed thither, from comfort- able and good plantations, with the expectation of entering trade with the erection of a new county," etc.
After fourteen years of determined persistence, the peti- tioners were finally rewarded and the bill became a law, and March II, 1752, Berks County was erected.
(Note-4 Col. Records, 317-318.)
(Note-The new dispensation of reckoning time had not been adopted, at this date, in the colonies and January is referred to as "the eleventh month," (March was the first) and May, as the "third month." The Pennsylvania Legislature, March 11, 1752, recognizing the Act of the English parliament, 1751, adopting the Gregorian calendar, instead of the Julian, beginning the year January first, instead of March 25.)
4
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BLUE BOOK OF Penna. Pioneers of 1723
The city of Reading was laid out in 1748 and named after the principal town in Berkshire, England. In one of the pe- titions for a new county the advantages to be secured from its erection are enumerated. Town lots were sold in 1749, by Francis Parvin, Conrad Weiser and Thomas Hartley, but the village did not thrive until the establishment of the county, in 1752.1
REMONSTRATE AGAINST REVISING CONSTITUTION
In 1779 an attempt was made to destroy the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Memorials were presented the representa- tives of the Commonwealth remonstrating against that body, adopting measures that would result in an alteration of the Constitution of the State, and the Freemen of the interior coun- ties, petitioned against it.
A general form of remonstrance reads: "Whereas, certain designing persons, under various specious pretences, but in reality prompted by ambition, pride and avarice, are endeav- oring to destroy the Constitution and form of government of this State, and to deprive the citizens of the inestimable privi- leges it secures to them, thereby introducing disorder and anarchy on purpose to pave the way for that detestable aris- tocracy which they have long meditated.
And Whereas, etc."
This general form of remonstrance was signed by indi- viduals throughout the State, and it formed the nucleus upon which the petitions from the various counties were founded.
REMONSTRANCES FAILED
Remonstrances, numerously signed, were forwarded the Legislature from Cumberland, York and Lancaster Counties, the latter county addressing the assembly by townships; and
(Note 1-Francis Parvin was the great grandfather of Frank Parvin, formerly of Pottsville, Pa.)
1
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Penna. Pioneers of 1723
in more than one instance handling these, their "honorable representatives of the Freemen, of Pennsylvania," without gloves.
Berks County was particularly active in its remonstrance against this "Tory" measure, and sent a lengthy petition against this "extraordinary action of the executive branch." Among the seven hundred and thirty-five signers, in Berks County, occur many well known names, the ancestors of some of the most substantial citizens of Berks, Schuylkill and ad- joining counties, some of whom have been mentioned else- where in these pages.
Adam Schultz, John: Zerbe.
Christian Kaercher,
James Filbert,
Daniel Rieth,
Andreas Miller,
Henry Batdorf,
WVm. Lerch,
John Rieth,
George Matz,
Christian Zerbe,
George Reber,
Lenhart Stub,
Jacob Strouss,
Casper Strauss,
George Orwig,
Balser Gehr,
Jacob Hoffman,
John Neifert,
Benjamin Zerbe
Mathias Staudt,
Christian Gruber,
John Staudt,
Peter Filbert,
Abraham Staudt,
Daniel Zerbe,
and many others of the same surnames and other well known Schuylkill County names.1
CONSTITUTION AMENDED
The remonstrance was signed by 18,000 petitioners in the State, but it failed of its object. The constitution adopted with the birth of the colonial government, September 6, 1776, was altered at the State House, Philadelphia, November 24, 1789, ten years later, when the delegates from Berks County voted for it.
(Note 1-Penna. Archives, Second Series, Vol. III, pp. 299, 332.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Indian Troubles in Penna.
Indian Troubles
T IS not within the province of this work to dissect, analyt- ically, the reasons that led the Red Men to commit their terrible atrocities upon the inoffensive inhabitants of Pennsylvania. It is true the Indians were in actual posses- sion of this broad land of ours, until the white man came and instigated a policy with the aborigines that was at once both unfair and lacked even the basic principles of just dealing and honest purchase of their possessions. From the first treaty of William Penn and his English agents, to the close of the Revolutionary struggle, through the last century and up to the present time, the policy of the Colonial and United States governments has been to keep the Indians under sub- jection by paying them only a moiety of what their lands were worth, and then permitting them to be defrauded of their purchase money through dishonest Indian agents and unscrupulous individuals, whose dealings with them were based on the axiom, "There is no good Indian but a dead Indian."
The Quakers hoped by the policy of presenting the Red Men, annually, with a few gewgaws, to maintain friendly relations with them ; and the Moravians endeavored to instil their religious faith into them, but the inroads made upon their hunting and fishing grounds, the constant encroachment upon their lands by hordes of white settlers who squatted upon their possessions without any pretense of paying for them, the
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Indian Troubles in Penna.
repeated pushing back of the Indians beyond the newly created frontiers, aroused the savage instincts within them, and the hostilities that followed are not surprising but rather, perhaps, vindicate their course.
INDIAN POLICY
After Braddock's defeat, in 1755, they took to the warpath, carrying death, destruction and rapine before them, until 1783-1800, when the final settlement was made with them and the policy adopted to abandon the Province for a life upon the government reservations.
The Blue Mountains, of Berks, (Schuylkill) ; and Lancas- ter, (Lebanon and Dauphin) counties, were the range along which the fiercest attacks and assaults were made. No regular warfare was maintained, but bands of savages would creep silently upon the defenseless settlers and commit the most terrible atrocities upon them, scalping them or dashing out their brains and setting fire to their humble dwellings, killing or stealing their cattle and burning their crops.1
INDIAN FORTS
In 1756 the Provincial Government established a chain of forts along the Blue Mountains, from the Susquehanna to the Delaware, at distances from ten to fifteen miles, or more apart, on both sides or at the gaps between the mountains. These forts were reinforced by block houses, already erected by the settlers, as places of refuge and frequently garrisoned by the soldiers of the Province.
The report of the Commission to locate the Indian forts devotes about two-thirds of Vol. I, "Frontier Forts, Pennsyl- vania," to the forts along the Blue Mountains. Those of the
(Note 1-Daniel Rupp says, "More than 300 men, women and children were killed by the Indians, along the Blue Mountains, in the Indian troubles between 1750 to 1757.)
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BLUE BOOK OF Indian Troubles in Penna.
land within the East and West branches of the Susquehanna River are next in importance. Actual settlement of the Wyo- ming Valley was not made until after the purchase of 1762; and the forts in the Wyoming were crected from that date to 1783. The forts of the Cumberland and Juniata Valleys began with the Harris block house, on the site of Harrisburg, at Harris' Ferry, and included forty-five forts, covering sixteen counties, being erected mainly by the settlers after the Indian purchase, of 1736, and maintained by them to protect the great highway of commerce to the west as well as the lives and homes of the settlers.
THE FIRST FORT DUPUI
The first settlement in Pennsylvania was not at Philadel- phia, as is generally supposed, but on the Delaware River, at Shawnee, in Monroe County, near Stroudsburg, where a set- tlement existed made by a Hollander, from the Netherlands, and was known as the Minisink Flats. It antedated the William Penn purchase, of 1682, many years. These men were Holland miners, and dug ore from the river banks and culti- vated the fertile river bottoms for their subsistence. Before 1725, Samuel Dupui, a Huguenot, settled there and built a log house, afterward replaced by a stone house, which was used in 1755 as a defense against the Indians and was known as Fort Dupui, defending the entire country south of the Blue Mountain.
PROMINENCE OF FORT AUGUSTA
Fort Augusta, Sunbury, Northumberland County, Penn- sylvania, on the east bank of the main branch of the Susque- hanna River, near the junction of the north and west branches, was built 1756. The French and English were struggling for supremacy in America at this date. The French owned Canada and the Lakes, and were encroaching upon New York and
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Indian Troubles in Penna.
Pennsylvania. In 1756 a party of them, with their Indian allies, came to the forks of the Susquehanna, bringing three small cannons with them. The friendly Indians at Shamokin, now Sunbury, had urged Governor Morris to erect a block house for his and their defense. Seeing the number of men at Fort Augusta, then partially constructed, the French and Indians withdrew, throwing their cannon into the river. The importance of that point, as a vantage ground, was recognized by the Provincial government and a regular fort was built ; two thousand pounds having been voted for its construction by the Provincial Assembly, and it was regularly defended and manned by a regiment of four hundred men, who were deployed to protect the friendly Indians and the settlers of the surrounding country, leaving fifty men to garrison the fort.1
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