USA > Pennsylvania > Historic background and annals of the Swiss and German pioneer settlers of southeastern Pennsylvania, and of their remote ancestors, from the middle of the Dark Ages, down to the time of the Revolutionary War > Part 18
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1689-Sixty Mennonites Imprisoned at Lensburg.
This year about 60 persons were persecuted by the Berne authorities (who were Anabaptists or Menno- nites). The Sheriff of Lensburg was ordered to make a register of all the Anabaptists and to deliver the list to the authorities at Berne, who deter- mined to make an effort to convert them. Graffenreid mentions the list of the persons found, but Müller does not give them, and we have not any access to the Graffenreid list. (Mül- ler, 167).
1690-Decree that All Mennonite Mar- riages are Void.
This year it was decided in Berne that Anabaptist or Mennonite mar- riages are absolutely void-that their children shall not inherit-that the inheritance shall fall to the authori- ties-that the property coming to those who were minors should be held by guardians appointed by the Govern- ment until it would be found out which way these minors would lean and what church they would embrace when they became of age- and that if they joined the Mennonites the property should not belong to them, (Müller, p. 135).
1691-Mennonites Declared Enemies of the Government.
This year complaint was made against the Mennonites throughout Switzerland, that they refused to swear fealty to the Government, and are therefore, dangerous and must be considered as enemies of the Govern- ment. This was a revival of the old mandate of 1671. It was further charged that they make a practice of condemning the authorities-that they
necessary to protect the fatherland from its enemies-that they are a detriment to the public and that they must all be driven out. This mandate the different Sheriffs are ordered to execute, (Müller, p. 145).
1691-Daniel Grimm of Langnau De- clared a Special Enemy.
Müller tells us (Do, p. 145) that this year Daniel Grimm of Langnau, liv- ing in the village of Geibel, was de- clared a special enemy of Switzerland because of his strong Mennonitism, and the Sheriff of Langnau and the authorities of Trachelswald were given strict orders to watch him and arrest him upon the least proof of his violating the ordinances.
1691-Berne Complains against Men- nonite Growth.
Müller tells us at the page last men- tioned, that this year Berne and other parts of Switzerland, lamented the fact that the Mennonites had increased greatly and especially that their big congregations in the district of Konol- fingen; and that they are so disloyal that the Government must reform them, and that they are so numerous that it is impossible to get any militia company together in that neighbor- hood, because those who are not Men- nonites take their part and refuse to do military duty.
1691-Division of the Confiscated Mennonite Property.
This year on the 17th day of No- vember, there was issued a mandate decreeing that the fines, the forfei- tures and all moneys raised by penal- ties upon the Mennonites or Anabap- tists should be divided into three parts, viz: one-third to be given to the Government authorities for sup- port of the poor-one-third to the expenses of the special court that was created to take charge of the Menno- nite violations of law-and one-third
125
MENNONITES LOOKING FOR LAND ON SUSQUEHANNA.
to the judges and officers who tried the cases against the Mennonites. This was a provision very well calculated to make the propaganda against the Mennonites effective and the officers zealous and active, (Müller, p. 132).
1691-The Palatines Promise Allegi- ance to the King and Fidelity to Penn.
The petition of Joannes Koster states that on the 7th of May, 1691, over 60 of these German Mennonites had in open Court at one time promis- ed allegiance to King William and Queen Mary and fidelity to William Penn; and that many others have done the same since and that all are will- ing and ready to do so, (Vol. 2 of Col. Rec., p. 241). Those items give us a hint of the difficulties under which the early Mennonites labored, and make their patience, loyalty and industry all the more commendable to us. Living as we do when liberty is universally enjoyed this discrimina- tion against them seems very unjust indeed as in reality it was.
1691-An Early Mennonite Father Secures Land on Susquehanna.
In the Second Series of the Penna. Archives, Vol. 19. p. 72, it is set forth that William Penn on the 16th day of July, 1691, granted 375 acres of land toward the Susquehanna River to Henry Maydock of Holmholl in the County of Chester (Lancaster County having been originally a part of Chester County) and that he could take up the land at once. Afterwards his son, Mordecai Maydock got a patent for it.
1691-The Dutch Minister Desires to Move from Long Island to This Province.
On the 28th of November of this year De Lavall and Albertus Brantam reported to William Penn's commis- sioners of property that the Dutch minister of Flatbrush upon Long
Island desires to settle himself in Pennsylvania and that there would be about two hundred families with him, and that they would like to have 40,000 acres of land. He stated that if they could not be accommodated in Penn- sylvania they would go to New Castle in Delaware or to Maryland. It was represented that the colony were all sober and industrious. The authorities answered that they would be glad to have these German people come and that they would look for a tract for them, and report to them in two days. Accordingly on the 30th the Commis- sioners of Property gave a report in writing to De Lavall and Brant, that Pennsylvania would encourage their people to come and that they had sev- eral tracts that would accommodate them, and also that they should come and view the tracts, (See Series of the Penna. Archives, Vol. 19, pp. 78 and 79). On the 26th of December the Dutch Minister wrote and asked what would be the lowest price for the land and how far from Philadelphia they could settle and how far from a navig- able creek. The Commissioners re- plied that they wish the German settlers would send some one to view the land, that there were several tracts and different prices, but that they could have it all near the Schuyl- kill River if they wished, (Do., p. 80). I can not find any further record of this proposal so that it does not seem likely that the Germany colony settled here.
1692-Incidents of Mennonite Faith Preserved at Langnau.
In the collection of Baptist or Men- nonite manuscripts at Langnau (which is a town in the Western part of Switzerland near Berne), dated 1692, we find the following items jotted down by Johannes Mozart. the Re- formed minister at that place, giving the following facts as to the attitude
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126 INCIDENTS OF EARLY MENNONITE FAITH AND CONVERSION.
of the recently converted Mennonites toward the Reformed Church.
He states that he often visited Ully Krieg (now Krick), a recent convert and that he was very strong.
Of Hans Snyder of Trub, he says that Snyder became stubborn about the baptism of his child and said that there are so many views about bap- tising children that his child will not be baptized until it grows up.
Of Michael Burkholder, he says that Michael was an old Baptist or Men- nonite and so was his wife-and that they lived at Maettenberg. She had been a member of the Mennonite Church forty years. Michael said that it was God's will that they should not any longer go to the Reformed Church; but that his son Jacob goes and as his father, he (Michael) did no: have anything against that, if Jacob wanted to go.
Ully Fisher, he says was an Ana- baptist or Mennonite at Signau and when he asked him why he stopped going to the Reformed Church, Ully said, "What will I do in that grand stone pile?" He also sa'd. "Why do the people say 'My Lord' to you? Only God should be called 'Lord': and priests should not be called 'Father' either. Your grand stone pile is too full of pride. We must be humble."
God does not dwell in temples made by hands.
Mozart says that he reasoned with Dan Grimm and Hans Burkholder; they said, "We object to the Church because you preach that we must honor people and rulers and that doc- trine we have renounced." Mozart says further that Grimm was one of the leaders in the peasant war in younger days.
In Mooshad, Mozart talked with an Anabaptist preacher and showed him a spiritual hymn he had composed; the Mennonite or Anabaptist said it had some good in it but "you should see what I composed." Mozart asked him what he and the other Anabap- tists thought of the state church and he answered, "You are with the world."
Christian Wahley said to Mozart that since he became a Mennonite he could not go to the Lord's Supper in the state church, because the mem- bers are too careless in their habits and that they drink and have frolics, and such persons must not put their lips to the Lord's cup.
Ullv Steiner's wife said that since she became an Anabaptist or Menno- nite, she had found a short cut to Heaven: that she is sure she is on a direct way now.
Mozart said he talked to Fisher's Michael Gerber, one of the same sect from Wannethal said that he would rather suffer death than go back to the State Church. Mozart asked him what would become of those Anabaptists that do go back again to the Reformed Church. He said, "God have pity on them, they will find out what will become of them." sister and she said, "Yea, verily, I would join the Anabaptists but I am not worthy to be one of them-they would not accept me because they are a holy people. My brother, Ully Fisher was formerly a Godless man when he was in the stylish church. but since he is a Mennonite it is alto- gether different with him, like when Mozart further says that this year (1692) there were in Langnau, 28 known Anabaptist or Mennonite fam- ilies, and that nearly everybody was well disposed toward them. In fact, he says they had such influence there at that time that even our own mem- Paul was converted and enlightened." Mozart says she did join later and so did her mother and sister Magdalena: and he says that when he asked Mag- dalena about falling off from the State Church, she said that she is going to try to live a righteous life, and that | bers do not want to hear us preaching
127
LIST OF MENNONITES DRIVEN OUT OF LANGNAU.
anything against them, and that the public opinion was with them, the prominent people being very sorry to see them moving away. He says sev- eral of them left but the most of them had to be driven out by force. They were first sold out as bankrupts and then driven out, (Müller, p. 125).
1692-List of Mennonites Driven Out of Langnau.
Müller tells us at the page last cited, that the following Mennonites among others were driven out of the Langnau district, because of their religion about this time.
1. Ully Gerber and his wife, Kath- arine of Wissenhollen; and a son Peter and daughter Elizabeth.
2. Michael Gerber's son Michael of Wannethal.
3. Oswald Bracher's wife Barbara (Sterchi) and himself of Frittenbach.
4. Jacob Wissler of Eyschachen and his four children, Christian, Peter. Katharine, Levi, and his wife Magda- lena.
5. Michael Burkhalter, the shoe- maker of Maettenberg, an old man, and his wife, who had been a Menno- nite for forty years.
6. Dan Grimm of Geibel and Hans Burki, his neighbor, the first of whom before he became converted to the Mennonite Church was a petty Judge and the latter, a Poor Warden.
7. Jacob Schwartz, in Moss and his wife, Elizabeth Schenk Schwartz and their son Ully; also Peter Schenks and Barbara, the sister of Elizabeth.
8. Also the old fish woman, Eliza- beth Aeschman and her two daughters, Magdalena and Elsa.
9. Ully Brasers' wife and Christian Tanner's wife, both from Wallistolen. These last two have permitted them- selves to be persuaded to the Menno- nite faith by their brother Ully Fisher, a very dangerous Anabaptist of Sig- nau,-in fact one of the worst of them.
10. Ully Aeschlimann's wife Magda- lena (Herman) of Rigenen.
11. Ully Bieris's wife of Katzbach, who was Maria Hoffer. She became a Mennonite or Aanabaptist in Trub and came with her husband to Langnau in 1692.
12. Ully Steiner's wife. She went at one time in distress to Caspar Luethi, a minister of the Mennonite Church at Langnau, and he proselyted her to that faith.
13. Anna Blaser Müller, wife of Michael Müller. Her husband ran away but she stayed.
14. Anna Gysler, whose maiden name was Mülten.
15. Young Hans Gerber of Yngey, who was a son-in-law of Caspar Luethi.
These are among the list who were banished from the region of Berne and Langnau and perhaps a larger section of Eastern Switzerland in 1692 for their faith. The people said that God would punish Switzerland for doing this and as it did not rain for a couple of months. the people said, "Now God is punishing this cruel country for what it has done," (Mül- ler, p. 125). We will all observe here that nearly all of these ancient Swiss names are also present prominent Lancaster County names.
1693-Local Surnames in Thun, Ober- hoften and Burgdorf, (Switzerland).
It was now decreed that all sales, transactions and obligations of the Anabaptists or Mennonites, were to be void-that in the said districts. the whole military force must come out and register. that is, all the males from fourteen and over-that all must take the oath of allegiance, and that all who refuse will be considered Anabaptists or Taufers. The payment provided for apprehending an Ant- baptist teacher was $25.00 if a resi- dent, and $50.00 if he was a foreign teacher.
128
FAMILIAR NAMES-ORIGIN OF THE AMISH.
There was a mandate a few weeks later, in May, declaring that these Anabaptist or Mennonites (who went to church Saturday night, and would often be compelled to wait until Sun- day night to go home, so as not to be caught) should be closely hunted about Berne, and all suspicious per- sons be arrested, (Müller, p. 157).
Following these instructions there were discovered in the towns of Thun, Oberhoften and Bergdorf, a large number of these people. The follow- ing aged people were excused by the authorities :
From Thun, Christian Schneider- Anna Neuwhouss-Christian Müller- Hans Kropf-Michael Müller-Abram Stayman-Anton Kropf and Jacob Neushousen.
From Oberhoften, Hans Wolf and Madaline Ammon.
From Bergdorf. Hans Kohler-Jacob Schüppack (Shaubach) - Christian Yawh-Adam Reist-Barbara Sterchi (Stirk)-Oswald Bracher - Elizabeth Schank - Michael Burkholder - Ita Ross-Kaspar Luethi (an old teacher) -Peter Weidmer (Witmer) and Chris- tian Walti.
I have mentioned these names be- cause we recognize again in them. ancestors of our Eastern Pennsylvania Swiss-descendant families of today, (Müller, Do).
1693-Origin of the Amish Menno- nites.
This year there was a division among the congregations of Menno- nites in Berne. A faction of them fol- lowed Jacob Ammon, and the remain- der remained under the leadership of Hans Reist. The factions were known as the Amish and Reist factions. The parting was quite bitter: each party putting the other under the ban. The division was deep and painful.
The Reist party were the Emmen- thalers-that is, their stronghold was in the Thal or valley of the Emmen
creek, which lies a short distance northeast of Berne. They held that there should be no emigration or at any rate that they should neither emi- grate nor mix with the Amish, who were the "Oberlanders"-that is, they lived on the Ober or upland regions in Switzerland. This split was not on fundamental doctrines; but upon the question of strictness versus liber- ality of rules. It really had its origin in Holland where a discussion arose upon the question of discipline and behavior, especially with reference to worldliness and association with the worldly. When the same question was taken up by these brethren in Switzerland, the feeling became more intense than it was in Holland. and resulted in those who believed in strict literal adherence and severe unworldliness following Jacob Am- mon, and those who took the some- what more literal view, following Hans Reist.
.
The Dutch Ambassador, Runckel, reasoned with the Amish but they would not be convinced. The Reist Mennonites claimed that they were the old original Mennonites and became as bitter against the Amish as the Amish lid against them, and for a time took the stand that if the Amish migrated out of Switzerland, they would not follow them. Nevertheless, it was the Reist Mennonites who first reached the Pequea valley here in Pennsylvania. They also tried to get others to break away from the "Oberlanders," as they called them, that is, the Amish.' It seems that when the Amish were sent down the Rhine, some of the Reist Mennonites were forced into the ship with them, but they left the ship near Alsace and Upper Palatinate and did not go on to Holland.
This division was carried from Switzerland into Alsace and into the Palatinate, and also to America where it is preserved today.
:
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ORIGIN OF THE AMISH MENNONITES
129
vision and the discussion resulting from it at the time, in the library of the Reist Mennonites in the Emmen- thal or valley. These documents among others, consist of:
1. The separation letter or history of the division, by Christian Blanck.
2. A report of the said division or schism, by Peter Geiger, dated 1693.
3. A confession of faith of the Amish, gotten up by Jacob Ammon and written into form by Hans Gut in the Palatinate.
4. A letter to the Swiss brethren written from Markirch in the Palati- nate, December 13, 1697, by Hans Rudy Nagele (Negley) - Christian Pleam-Rudolph Husser-Peter Lee- mann and Christophel Dohltan.
5. A report of the happenings in the division movement during the year 1694.
6. A letter by Hans Rudy Nagele of May 6, 1694, to Jacob Ammon and his adherants.
7. A letter to the same by Jonas Lohr from Alsace, dated September 28, 1695.
8. A letter by Gerhart Rossen in Hamburg, dated December 2, 1697, to the Alsace Mennonites.
9. A letter dated October 19, 1699. by Jacob Gut (Good), in the name of all the congregations of the Upper build temples either grand or modest, Palatinate to Rudy Husser-Peter but they would worship God in the old way as did Abraham and the patri- archs and the early disciples, that is, in the homestead. He also said that the Bible compels him to introduce keeping aloof from the world by being strict. Leman-Christian Dollam-Hans Mei- er-Christian Neucomet (Newcomer) -Hans Rudy Negele-Rudy Blotchan, Reist Mennonites in the lower Palati- nate; and to Peter Hapegger (Ha- becker)-Peter Geiger and Hans Bur- ki, of the Emmenthal in Switzerland.
Therefore, he held that all former members who were expelled should be avoided-if, of a married couple. one was under the ban, the other must separate from him or her-and mem-
10. A declaration by the servants, elders and deacons from the Palati- nate and from Switzerland, who ad- hered to the Reist faction and who called themselves, "such as can not be bers of his family must not be allowed in accord with Jacob Ammon, and to eat with other members that are therefore, his opponents," containing under the ban.
There are manuscripts upon the di- ; conisderable doctrinal controversy. This is signed by those Reist Menno- nites who are mentioned in No. 9 above, and also by Hans Reist-Ulrich Kolb -- Nichlaus Baltzli - Doerse Rohrer-Jacob Schwartz-Dan Grimm and Ulrich Baltzli, from the Emmen- thal; and by Jacob and Hans Gut --- Peter Zolfinger-Benedict Mellinger and Hans Henrich Bar, from the Palatinate.
11. A letter of the 26th of February, 1711, by Hans Bachman and others in the Palatinate.
12. A letter of the 23rd of December, 1697, by Peter Lemann and Rudy Hus- ser (Houser) from Manheim.
13 to 15. Treatises on the subject of feet washing and smoking tobacco.
During the year 1693, Jacob Am- mon, while this subject of separation was uppermost in his mind, with several other believers in Switzerland went from congregation to congrega- tion to get converts. By what author- ity he did this is not shown; but the proceedings, as we have said before were generally believed to have gotten impulse from the Netherlands, where the Mennonites were discussing for many years, the question of strictness and liberality. Ammon considered himself the head of what he called. "The Real Christian Order." He said that he would not have his followers
130
LOCAL GERMAN-SWISS POLITICALLY OPPOSE THE QUAKERS
Müller tells us that a few years after this separation, feet washing was first introduced by the Amish; and later practiced by the Reist Men- nonites, who did not do so before. He says that the Reist party objected to the ban because it was too sharp and strict a law, was not Christian and would cause misery in, and break up families, separating husbands and wives, parents and children. Müller says further that, Ammon got most of his followers in the beginning from the Berner Oberland; but that he had one strong leader in the Emmenthal, and that was Isaac Kauffman, (Mül- ler, p. 315).
We find here again the location of the ancestors of our Lancaster County .and Eastern Pennsylvania families.
1693-The Germans Adhere to Fletch- er; and Do Not Side With the Quakers.
Because the Quakers would no heed the demands from Great Britain to organize a military in 1692, William Penn's Government was taken out of his hands and Benjamin Fletcher of New York was made military Governor of Pennsylvania. While the Germans were against anything warlike as well as the Quakers, they were glad of an opportunity to take sides against the Quakers when they had a chance, be- cause the Quakers put them to much inconvenience and expense on account of being foreigners. This year they sent a paper to Fletcher promising him to adhere to him and his require- ments and to rebuke the Quakers for their opposition to him. (Vol. 1 of Votes of Assembly, p. 71.) However, John De Lavall with seven Quaker members of the Council sent an ad- dress to Fletcher protesting against his rule in Pennsylvania; De Lavall, we remember, was a German. (Vol. 1 Col. Rec., p. 370.) Francis Daniel Pas- torius, the leader of the German colo- ny, accepted the office of Justice of the
Peace and showed his willingness to break away from the Quakers and help Fletcher. (Do., p. 371.)
These and other events show that the Germans took the opportunity of Fletcher's presence to show their dissatisfaction with the Quakers.
1694-Plockhoy, Sole Survivor of the III-Fated Mennonite Colony on Delaware, Reaches the Village of Germantown.
In Cassel's History of the Menno- nites, p. S8, it is stateo that, in the year 1694 an old blind man and his wife came to Germantown. His mis- erable condition brought much sym- pathy from the Mennonites there. They got him naturalized free of charge and gave him a plot of ground to build a little house on and make a garden, which he could use as long as he lived. They planted a tree in front of it and the minister took up a col- lection to build him a house. He was Peter Plockhoy, leader of the Dutch Mennonite colony of 1662, who after thirty-one years of wandering from the South, where it seems he was sold into slavery, reached a resting place with his brethren at Germantown.
1696-Hans Graff Arrives in German- town.
The famous Hans Graff, one of the founders of the Lancaster County set- tlement, first appeared in Pennsylvania in 1695 or 1696 and joined the German colony at Germantown. He remained there for some time and joined the German-Swiss settlement in the neigh- borhood of Strasburg about 1709. (Lyle's History of Lancaster County, p. 63.)
1698-Henry Zimmerman Arrives in Germantown.
Rupp in his history says on p. 126 that another old father of the Church by the name of Henry Zimmerman (or Carpenter) arrived this year and in-
131
GERMAN MENNONITES NEAR SUSQUEHANNA
spected the brethren at Germantown. He then went back to Europe for his family and brought them over in 1706 and settled first in Germantown and then removed within the bounds of Lancaster County in 1717. His de- scendants are especially numerous and respectable.
1701-Cornelius Empson's Colony.
This year Cornelius Empson applied for 20,000 acres of land along the Octoraro. An account of it may be found in the Sec. Series of the Penna. Archives, Vol. 19, p. 245. Empson seems to have been a minister or at least he was acting for twenty families who desired to settle together. On p. 280 it is stated that he renewed his request, and the names of the people are given. They do not seem to be German, however, but some of them seem to be Huguenots, whether they were Mennonites or not I can not tell. The method, however, of applying for land was very much like that im- pressed by Mennonite leaders for their people.
1701-Mennonite School Started.
This year a school was started in Germantown with Pastorius for teacher. Some time later Christopher Dock commenced his celebrated school on Skippack. Further particu- lars about these events may be found in Kauffman's Book, p. 129.
1701-The Germans Petition to be Free From Taxes about Phila.
This Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the Germans, by a petition signed by himself in behalf of the whole German population in German- town, asked the Council of Pennsyl- vania to exempt the Germans from paying any taxes, for the reason that they were a corporation of their own, that is that they were chartered as the Germantown Colony. He sets forth for his brethren that, William Penn had especially requested his German
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