Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1018

USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 10

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Jacob Hill

James Malone Jacob Meyer

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immediately together than any other subsequent Prior to 1727, most of them brought considerable class of settlers. The Indians must have appre- means, but afterwards, many of them were poor, ciated their virtues in suffering them to remain unmolested before the land was released. Hence and they came to be redemptioners on that account. The years in which they arrived were 1728, 1729, 1737, 1741, 1750 and 1751. The principal part of - MI 1716 them were farmers; but many were mechanics who brought with them a knowledge of those arts which are necessary and useful in all countries, com- prising carpenters and builders, weavers, tailors, tanners, shoemakers (cordwainers), comb-makers, smiths of all kinds, butchers, paper-makers and clock-makers. They became perfect mechanics and. workmen through a custom of "Peregrination" (Wanderschaft), which, as young men, just after the close of their apprenticeship, they carried on for one or more years in order to make themselves more proficient in their several trades. This was required of young mechanics before they were per- mitted to set up for themselves. By this course, OLD SWEDE BUILDING they were afforded opportunities of acquiring much useful knowledge which books could not supply, besides proficiency in their trade. They were called "Traveling Journeymen" (Handwerks-Bursch).

they were a peaceable people. There was amity be- tween them, and so the township came to be named in 1720.

GERMANS .- The German immigrants were the second to enter this section of territory. The first settlement by them was effected in 1710, along the Manatawny, in Oley. Many arrived within the next decade. To the east of the Schuylkill river they proceeded northwardly from Philadelphia. To the west, however, the first colony of Germans, be- fore 1730, entered from the west, proceeding from New York southwardly and from the Susquehanna river eastwardly into Tulpehocken Valley. The total number of Germans who settled in the county previous to 1752 cannot be estimated, but they were certainly more numerous than all the other nationalities taken together. In 1747 Governor Thomas stated that the Germans of Pennsylvania comprised three-fifths of the whole population, or about one hundred and twenty thousand.

Many of them were redemptioners, or persons who had bound themselves or one or more of their children to the masters of vessels, upon their ar- rival, for a term of years, to pay for their passage across the ocean. The usual terms of sale depended upon the age, strength and health of the persons sold. Boys and girls generally served from five to ten years, till they attained the age of twenty- one years. Many parents were compelled to sell the service of their own children in order to sat- isfy their passage-money, so that they might be released from the vessel upon which they were brought to this country. Children under five years of age could not be sold to service. They were disposed of gratuitously to persons who agreed to raise them and give them their freedom when they attained the age of twenty-one years. In this man- ner the redemptioners came to occupy a very hum- ble position ; but "from this class there have sprung some of the most reputable and wealthy inhabit- ants of the province." 2

This was the class of Germans which settled the country along the Schuylkill and its tributaries. They were a valuable acquisition to Penn and his sons in the development of their great province. They were just what a new country needed to start it grandly in the march of material progress. Their labor, economy, perseverance and stability added great and increasing wealth to the country. In this manner they prepared the way for the erec- tion of a new county, and having thus fitted the settlements for a separate political organization they proceeded earnestly in behalf of its establish- ment.

The Germans were along every stream except- ing the Wyomissing, Allegheny, and Hay creek in the southern section. They were in the valleys and on the hills rather than along the Schuylkill. This selection of localities was not accidental, for thev found the best quality of land away from the Schuyl- kill. The best farms in productiveness and ap- pearance are in the localities where they settled- in Oley, in Maxatawny, and in Heidelberg. And in these respective localities we still find the grand- children and great-grandchildren of the first Ger- man patentees.

And the Germans were extreme Revolutionists, having encouraged the war for Independence to the utmost of their ability. Their conduct was admir- able through the whole trying period, and when the great struggle was successfully ended, with the acquisition of increased power to the people, they naturally asserted their rights and took elect- ive offices to themselves.

HUGUENOTS .- Many of the earlier immigrants were Huguenots, who had been encouraged by Penn and the English government to emigrate to Penn- sylvania and New York. In France, this name was used as a term of reproach for those who aimed at a reform of religion according to the principles

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

enunciated by Calvin. The name attached itself Berthollet; Bast, Baste ; Deisher, Duchere; Deturck, to these reformers when they broke off all connec- tion with Lutheranism and began to organize them- selves both as a church and as a political body. Their churches sprang up with wonderful quick- ness during the middle of the sixteenth century; but they became very unpopular.

After the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, in 1572, the subordination of their religious interests to their political interests became inevitable, and having become followers of Henry of Navarre, heir to the French crown, their subsequent discon- tent obtained from him, as King Henry IV., in 1598 (April 13th), the famous Edict of Nantes. But the provisions of this Edict were found as help- ful for Catholics as for Protestants, and they were so modified as to show a decreasing favor of the Calvinists, who had dreamed of dominance and had hoped for equality, but were put off with tol- erance. This situation caused them to become dis- satisfied with the Edict; and the King then deter- mined to reduce them to nothing.

About 1590, the Huguenots carried on worship in about thirty-five hundred chateaux and two hun- dred towns, which were situated chiefly in the south and west of France. When Louis XIV took up his reign, the tranquility of the Huguenots began to pass away. In 1657, they were forbidden to hold colloquies, lest they might take to politics ; and in 1659, they were told to hold no more synods. Soon the court went further and conversions were undertaken. Wherever a pastor could be bribed, converted or got rid of, his temple was torn down. Their worship then became almost impossible in towns. As the King's conscience grew morbid, he became more eager to expiate his own crimes by punishing heretics. Within twenty years seven hundred churches were destroyed. Throughout that trying period, whilst thousands of them yielded to oppression or bribery, thousands of others fled the land. The emigration began in 1666, and contin- ued for fifty years. It is probable that, in 1660, there were over two millions of Huguenots who were regarded as the best and most thrifty citizens in that country ; and of these it is said fully a mil- lion escaped from their inhospitable fatherland. At last, the King revoked the Edict of Nantes, because he thought that the Huguenots were suppressed. This was on Oct. 15, 1685, and it was the sentence of civil death on all Huguenots. It crushed more than half of the commercial and manufacturing in- dustry of the kingdom.

De Turcq; Dippery, Duprez; Dilplain, Delaplaine ; Lessig, Lesecq; Lorah, Larue; Monyer, Monnier : Plank, De la Plank ; Sharadin, Girardin; Shappel, Chapelle; Shomo, Chaumont. Several of the un- changed names are Boyer, Delcamp, De Long, Le- van.

ENGLISH .- The English entered this territory and took up lands shortly before 1720. They were, accordingly, the third class of settlers. Their first families were the Boones, Ellises, Lees and Lin- colns. They settled in Oley,-the Ellises and Lees in the eastern section, along the Manatawny, and the Boones and Lincolns in the central and western sections along the Monocacy and the Schuylkill. Within ten years after their permanent settlement, they established a meeting-house for religious wor- ship. This was about 1726, at a point where the Exeter meeting-house stood until recently, in an elevated position near the northwestern limit of the Swedes' tracts, then called Amity township.

Shortly after 1730, they also settled along and about Hay creek and Allegheny creek, to the west of the Schuylkill, and also farther north, along and about the Maiden creek, immediately after the In- dians had released their rights to the territory. The first families in the former settlements were the Embrees, Lewises, Humphreys, Scarlets, Har- rys, Prices, Webbs, Hughes, Moores, Williamses and Thomases; and in the latter settlements the Parvins, Lightfoots, Huttons, Starrs, Davises, Pen- roses, Pearsons, Wileys, Wrights, Willits, Harveys and Reeds; and these respective families also es- tablished meeting-houses in the midst of their set- tlements, about the year 1736 - the one at the cross-roads near the center of Robeson township, and the other near the center of Maiden-creek.

All these families were connected with the Friends. They exerted a strong influence in these three sections of the county. The numerous Eng- lish names given to the townships east of the Schuyl- kill were suggested by them. George Boone was particularly prominent in the lower section, and Benjamin Lightfoot in the upper section, in res- pect to proceedings for setting apart new townships. They were surveyors and men of more than ordi- nary ability. And just as these two men were prom- inent in their branch of service, Anthony Lee and Francis Parvin were equally, if not more, prom- inent in these respective sections as justices of the several courts of the county. Indeed. until the Rev- olution, the Friends exerted the most influence in directing political affairs here notwithstanding their number was far less than the Germans. But dur- ing the Revolution and immediately afterward, the natural energy of the Germans carried them forward in political matters, just as it had carried

FRENCH .- Among the Huguenots, there were many settlers with French names, which may be found in the lists of the first taxables to the east of the Schuylkill. The spelling has been changed so much that they can hardly be recognized, this having been done by the assessors to conform to the English or the German pronunciation. Some them forward in agriculture and manufactures be- of these names and changes will be enumerated : fore it ; and Independence having elevated them into Bardo or Barto was Bardeau1; Bushong. Beau- political rights, they exercised these by placing champ; Bushour. Boucher or Buchat; Bertolet, themselves into power. So the Friends lost their

ERECTION OF COUNTY

official positions and consequently their public influ- settlement, southward of the Schuylkill and Cacoos- ence. ing. They co-operated earnestly with the Germans in obtaining a new county out of the upper sections of Lancaster and Philadelphia counties.

Before the Revolution, their number was strong and their religious meetings were active and suc- cessful, but since that time they have gradually de- creased.

IRISH .- Persons of Irish nativity did not settle in Pennsylvania for nearly forty years after Penn had

There were English people here besides the obtained the province. Penn visited Germany in · Friends. At first, between 1735 and 1740, before this behalf, kindling a strong interest in the prov-

the erection of the county, they were in the south- ince; but it would seem that he did not care for the ern and southeastern sections, the one body in Caer- Scotch or Irish, not having encouraged them to emi- narvon township, and the other in Amity. They grate. Accordingly, neither of these came until were members of the Established Church of Eng- after his death; and when they did arrive, they set- land, here called Episcopalians. Afterward, when tled that portion of the province which lay mostly the county was erected, they also appeared in Read- along the southern borders, adjoining Maryland. ing, though without sufficient strength to cause the Though some of them followed the course of the erection of a church for themselves until 1824.

· Susquehanna and settled in Lancaster county, the

WELSH .- Just as the Swedes settled in the coun- great body of them migrated into the country which ty on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill, so the lay west of the river. Very few proceeded up the Welsh settled in the county to the west of this river. Schuylkill Valley. They migrated through Chester county till they Doubtless the German element in this direction crossed the South Mountain, and though some of was not agreeable to them. Hence, they directed them reached a point beyond the mountain before their way to the westward from Philadelphia, im- the purchase of the territory from the Indians in mediately after landing, rather than to the north- 1732, yet the most of them entered this district im- ward. No settlement was effected by them in any mediately afterward. The Swedes did not have a of the districts which are now included in Berks township named after any of their places, but the county.

Welsh were earnest in this behalf, having named HEBREWS .- The same can be said of the Hebrews three townships, Caernarvon, Cumru and Brecknock. in this respect. Their immigration was so limited

The Welsh had purchased from Penn in England, before 1700, a large body of land, aggregating 40,- 000 acres, to be selected in Pennsylvania ; and these acres they located to the west of the Schuylkill. They settled the country so numerously that, before 1698, they had named six townships in the county of Chester.

Rowland Ellis was a prominent Welshman who induced a large emigration from Wales to this coun- try. After having persuaded Thomas Owen and his family to emigrate and settle in Chester county, he, himself, in 1686, embarked with 109 Welshmen. Some of the settlers were named Thomas Evans,

and so quiet that no notice was taken of them. Some of them have been in the county for many years, but almost entirely at Reading. A number of them settled along the head-waters of the Tulpe- hocken at or in the vicinity of Myerstown. Single individuals wandered to Womelsdorf, and even to Reading. In 1836 there were six of them at Read- ing-Abraham Speier, John Siegel, Mayer Siegel, Mayer Arnold, Alexander Heyman and Bernard Dreifoos.

The Hebrews here have been engaged almost ex- clusively in trading, and used the German language amongst themselves for many years. Through their Robert Evans, Owen Evans, Cadwallader Evans, children and local education, however, the English William Jones, Robert Jones, Hugh Griffith, Ed- language has become prevalent among them.

In 1864 the following were in Reading: Bernard

ward Foulke and John Humphrey. The territory which lay to the south of the South Mountain and Dreifoos, Solomon Hirsch, Abraham Speier, Mayer west of the Schuylkill was gradually settled by these Einstein, Aaron Henlein, Solomon Weil, Marcus Lyons, Isaac Mann, Isaac Hirschland, Joseph Loeb, Jacob Levy, Ralph . Austrian, Abraham Arnold, Aaron Einstein and Isaac Schwerin. Welsh people, and they migrated farther and farth- er up the river during the next fifty years. Before 1740, several hundred of them had settled in the district 'beyond this mountain. They were adher- NEGROES .- The negro is also worthy of mention. Slavery existed here to a very limited extent. The slaves of which any notice was found were owned al- most entirely by early ironmasters, but they were few in number. This condition of servitude was in- compatible with the notions of our early settlers; hence it was not encouraged. The farmers had no slaves. ents of the Baptist denomination. Their lands were taken up mostly along and in the vicinity of the Wyomissing and Cacoosing creeks, and there they were most thickly settled, the many tracts they took up aggregating 20,000 acres, before 1752. They were enterprising, having a gristmill along the Wy- omissing before 1740. This flowing stream was appreciated by them for its superior water-power, Pennsylvania instituted an early movement for the gradual abolition of slavery. An Act of Assembly was passed on March 1, 1780, to this end. The Act required the owner of slaves to file a statement in and they accordingly erected different factories along its banks for the manufacture of gun-barrels, files, etc. Agriculture was the principal employ- ment. Like the Swedes, they remained in their first the Quarter Sessions' office, giving age, surname,

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

etc., of each slave. A statement of this kind could they had advanced any distance, they realized their not be found in the office.

Colored people were at Reading soon after it was founded. It was not, however, till after 1820 that they became sufficiently strong to form a society for religious purposes. Some of them owned real estate before 1800, and long before their enfran- chisement in 1863, they were orderly, industrious and progressive.

Descendants of many of the first settlers are still flourishing in numbers, industry, wealth and social, religious and political influence in the county, and they have continued persistently engaged in agriculture upon or in the vicinity of the original settlements. Some moved to other districts of the county ; others to Reading. Many sons and daugh- ters migrated to the West and settled particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wis- consin, Kansas and Colorado. Some of the sons turned to the professions, and others to trades and manufactures, in which they realized rich rewards for their industry and well-directed energy. In tracing down all the pursuits of life carried on in the county, it is only occasionally that a complete stranger appears and identifies himself with her onward movement for any considerable length of time. This is especially the case in our politics. The names of the old families are continually on the surface. Not particularly demonstrative, they are like expert swimmers in deep water and float on majestically in the great stream of time, their heads always visible, their endurance prevailing.

FIRST OCCUPANTS, INDIANS

anticipations, for they were compelled to fight many severe battles in carrying out their determination to march onward. At last their enemy, the Alligewi, to escape extermination, abandoned the country, fled far southward and never returned. The victors then divided the country between themselves - the Iroquois choosing the country to the north along the great lakes and their tributary streams, and the Lenâpé taking possession of the country to the south of them, from the river eastward to the ocean.

The Lenape, on their way hither, became divided into three separate bodies. One body settled along the Atlantic ocean and the country adjacent for some hundreds of miles, comprising, it was sup- posed, one-half of the nation; and the other bodies settled to the east and to the west of the Mississippi river. That part of the body which was situated in Pennsylvania became known as the "Delawares." The word "Delaware" is unknown in the Indian language. At first the Indians thought that the white people had given this name to them in deri- sion, but when they were informed that they were named after a great white chief-Lord de la Ware -they were satisfied.

DELAWARE TRIBES .- The Delawares divided themselves into three tribes-the Unamis or Turtle, the Unalachtgo or Turkey, and the Minsi (some- times called Monseys) or Wolf. The first two were settled on the territory which lay nearest to the ocean, between the coast and the high mountains, and, as they increased in numbers, they extended their settlements from the Hudson river to the Po- tomac.

The Minsi lived back of the other tribes, to form, as it were, a bulwark for their protection and to watch the actions of the Mengwe. Their settle- ments extended from Minisink, on the Hudson (a place named after them where they had their coun- cil-seat), to the west, far beyond the Susquehanna. Their northern boundaries were supposed to be along the head-waters of the great rivers, Delaware and Susquehanna, which flowed through their ter-

ORIGIN .- Where the Indians of this vicinity came from and when they settled in this immediate sec- tion of country no one has yet determined. It has been generally conceded that they migrated east- wardly hundreds of years ago till they reached the large body of water which we call the Atlantic Ocean. As a nation, they were known as the Lenni Lenapé (original people). This general name ritory, and their southern boundaries along that comprehended numerous distinct tribes which spoke ridge of hills known in Pennsylvania by the name dialects of a common language-the Algonquin. of Lehigh.

According to the traditions of their ancestors, the Many clans sprang from these tribes. They se- lected distant spots as places of settlement, and Lenni Lenape were an unmixed and unchanged race, residing many centuries ago toward the set- gave themselves names or received names from ting of the sun, somewhere in the western part of other tribes. Their names were generally taken this continent. For some reasons not explained, after simple natural objects or something striking they determined to migrate toward the rising of the or extraordinary. Though they formed separate sun. After journeying for a time they arrived at and distinct clans, yet they did not deny their ori- the Mississippi river (Namasi Sipu, meaning Fish gin, retaining their affection for the parent tribe, of which they were proud to be called grandchildren. Many families, with their connections, lived by themselves. They were settled along the streams throughout the country. They had towns and vil- lages, in which they lived in separate clans, with a chief in each clan ruling over them. These chiefs River). There they fell in with another nation of Indians, who were also in quest of a new home to the eastward. Those were the Mengwec, or, as they have been named by the French, the Iroquois. At that river both nations united their forces, because they anticipated opposition to the east of the river from the ANligewi, who were a populous race of were subordinate to the council which comprised gigantic form. Shortly after their union, and before the great chiefs of the nation.

ERECTION OF . COUNTY

Minsi Clans .- The clans of the Minsi Indians in liberality; that they never had much, for they · were the Schuylkills, Susquehannas, Neshamines, never wanted much; that their wealth circulated Conestogas, Assunpinks, Rankakos, Andastakas and like the blood; that none wished for the property Shackmaxons. They were regarded as the most warlike of all the Indians in these tribes. Each clan had a chief to control its actions. The chief of the Schuylkill clan, which was settled along the Schuylkill and its tributaries, was, for a time, Man- angy; and each chief was under the command of a Grand Sachem.

GANAWESE .- The Ganawese (sometimes called the Shawnees, or Piscataway) were also one of the tribes of the Lenni Lenape. They had lived for- merly along the Potomac river, and were permitted by the governor of Pennsylvania to locate among the Schuylkill Indians, near Tulpehocken, in pur- suance of a request from Manangy (the Indian chief in this section) with a guaranty of their friendship by the Conestoga Indians. This request was made in 1705, because the Ganawese had been reduced by sickness to a small number, and had expressed a desire to settle here. It is not known whether they came immediately or not; but four years afterward they were classed with the Indians in this vicinity. In 1728 they were represented at Philadelphia by their king, Manawkyhickon, who was called Shekellamy, also Winjack; and he was appointed then by the "Five Nations." It is sup- posed that he lived at Shamokin, his tribe having by this time removed thither beyond the Blue Moun- tain.

After Conrad Weiser had settled in Tulpehocken, in 1729, an intimacy was cultivated between him and Shekellamy. In 1732 these two were appointed to travel between the Indians and the settlers, "in order to speak the minds of each other truly and freely, and to avoid misunderstandings"; and as they might have to endure. They recognized po- such agents they performed invaluable services in lygamy. our early history by the satisfactory and amicable adjustment of disputes. "They were universally re- spected for their wisdom in council, their dignity of manner, and their conscientious administration of public affairs."

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Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1018

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1018