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 29
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Fort Augusta .- The first allusion to this fort is
at Shamokin, at the forks of the Susquehanna, as soon as the season would admit a passage of that river. And in a letter dated July 20th following, he stated that a fort was then building at Shamokin (where a camp was stationed for some time) by Colonel Clapham, who had five hundred men with him. Shortly afterward (Aug. 14) the Colonel ad- dressed a letter to the Governor dated at "Fort Augusta," in reference to a necessary supply of military stores. This fort was therefore built dur- ing July and August, 1756. No dimensions are given. But it was large and commodious, affording room for many men and a large quantity of military stores. Frequent reports of the supplies on hand and of the forces stationed there appear in the Records and Archives; and cruelties by the Indians were committed in the vicinity.
PREMIUM FOR SCALPS .- In pursuance of a resolu- tion for carrying on active measures against the Indians, the Board of Commissioners decided on April 9, 1756, to recommend to the Governor that bounties, or premiums, be paid for prisoners and scalps :
For every male Indian prisoner above ten years old, that shall be delivered at any of the government forts or towns. $150
For every female Indian prisoner or male prisoner, of ten years old and under, delivered as above .... 130 For the scalp of every male Indian above ten years old 130
For the scalp of every Indian woman, 50
PEACE DECLARED .- After the French had receded into Canada before the advancing army of English
Indians, continuing without interruption from the time of the first settlements until 1744, and even a decade afterward. The relations had become so pleasant and firm that certain Indians remained in the county unmolested during the war, and car- ried on their peaceful vocations, such as basket- making, bead-work, etc., and after the war, travel- ing parties of them frequently visited the county
MURDERED AND CAPTURED .- During this war, the tured thirty inhabitants of the county. Several of
110
HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
those who were taken captive returned after the war. Many persons were wounded and some of them died from their wounds. But, during these eight years, only four of the Indians were killed in the county, so far as ascertained.
MURDERED
June, 1754-Peter Geisinger, Tulpehocken.
June, 1754-Fred. Myers and wife, Tulpehocken.
June, 1754-Young girl, Tulpehocken.
June, 1754-Hostetter family, Bern.
June, 1754-Sebastian Brosius, Bethel.
October, 1755-Henry Hartman, Bethel.
October, 1755-Two men (unknown), Bethel.
October, 1755-Odwaller and another unknown,1 Bethel. November, 1755-Thirteen persons, unknown, Bethel.
November, 1755-Child eight years old, daughter of a man named Cola, Bethel.
November, 1755-Cola's wife and two children older, Bethel.
November, 1755-Philip a shoemaker, Bethel.
November, 1755-Casper Spring, Bethel.
November, 1755- Beslinger," Bethel.
November, 1755-Child of Jacob Wolf, Bethel.
November, 1755-John Leinberger, Bethel.
November, 1753-Rudolph Candel, Bethel.
November, 1755-Sebastian Brosius, Bethel.
November, 1753-Six men killed,a Bethel.
November, 1755-Unknown
man,
a
shoemaker
at
Brown's house, Bethel.
November, 1755-A child scalped and died,4 Bethel. November, 1755-A woman" and male child, Bethel.
November, 1755- Fifteen persons (excluding five pre- ceding), Bethel.
November, 1755-Christopher Ury, Bethel.
November, 1755-Youngman, Bethel.
November, 1755-Wife of - Kobel, Bethel.
February, 1756-Two children of Frederick Reichelder- fer, Albany.
February, 1756-One man, two women and six children,1 Albany.
February, 1756-George Zeisloff and wife, two boys and a girl, Albany.
February, 1756-Wife of Balser Neyfong, Albany. March, 1756-Peter Kluck and family, Albany.
March, 1756-A woman at Linderman's house, Albany. March, 1756-William Yeth, Hereford.
March, 1756-Wife of John Krausher, Hereford.
October, 1756-Two married women and two boys, Bethel.
November, 1756-Wife, daughter and son-in-law of Philip Culmore, Albany.
November, 1756-Martin Fell, Albany.
November, 1756-Two old men,9 Bethel.
November, 1756-Stonebrook, Albany.
June, 1757-Man unknown, near Fort Henry, Bethel. June, 1757-Two persons near Fort Northkill, Tulpe- hocken.
June, 1757-Adam Trump,20 Albany.
June, 1757-Peter Gersinger, Bethel.
July, 1757-Three men and four children, 11 Bethel.
1 Possibly these two and the two immediately before are the same. 2 Near by an Indian-of Delaware tribe-was found dead and scalped-scalped hy Frederick Weiser. Another was shot and scalped several weeks afterward.
3 Supposed to have been soldiers. 4 Two others also scalped.
5 Under this woman, her babe only fourteen days old was found. It was alive, wrapped up in a little cushion.
G Four of their children were scalped at the same time. They had eight children with them. Two probably died. The father was wounded.
7 All killed at house of Jacob Gerhart, situate in the upper section ot the township, commonly known as the "Eck" (corner). Eight of them were burned.
8 One of them reported as likely to die from scalping. 0 Ten women and children were rescued at this place from the cellar of a burning building.
10 Found with a knife and a spear (fixed to a pole four feet long) in his hody.
11 All murdered and scalped in one house.
July, 1757-Two children near Bickel's.
July, 1757-Martin Jaeger and wife," Greenwich.
July, 1737-Two children of John Krausher, Greenwich.
July, 1757-One child of A. Sechler, Greenwich.
July, 1757-One child of Philip Eshton, Greenwich. July, 1757-Ten people.13 September, 1757-A man shot in bed whilst sick. September. 1757-Two families.14
April, 1738-Jacob Lebenguth and Margaret his wife, Tulpehocken.
April, 1758-Wife and two children of Nicholas Geiger, Tulpehocken.
April. 1758-Wife of Michael Ditzeler, Tulpehocken. June, 1758-Wife of John Frantz, Tulpehocken.
June, 1758-Son of John Snabele, Tulpehocken.
October, 1758-A man, Bethel.
September, 1763-John Fincher, wife and two sons, Albany.
September, 1763-Four children at house of Nicholas Miller,13 Albany.
September, 1763-Two children of Frantz Hubler, Bern. November, 1763-Three men near forks of Schuylkill.26
TAKEN PRISONERS
June, 1754-Daughter of Balser Schmidt (fifteen years old), Tulpehocken. -
June, 1734-Three children of Frederick Myers (two boys, 10 and 6 years old. and a girl 8 years old), Tulpe- hocken.
June, 1754-Son of - Reichard (eight years old), Tulpehocken.
February, 1756-Son of Balser Neyfong, Albany.
March, 1756-Son of William Yeth, Hereford.
November, 1756-Girl named Stonebrook, Albany.
June, 1757-Son of Adam Trump, Albany.
June, 1757-Young woman from near Fort Henry, Bethel.
July, 1757-Three children from near Bickel's.
July, 1757-Two children at same time.
September, 1757-Five children.
June, 1758-Three children of John Frantz, Tulpe- hocken.
September, 1763-Wife and three children of Frantz Hnbler, Bern.
MISSING
November, 1756-Wife and child of Martin Fell, Al- bany.
November, 1756-A boy seven years old, Albany. October, 1758-Three men missing, Bethel.
September, 1763-Daughter of John Fincher, Albany. September, 1763-Wife of Nicholas Miller, Albany.
REVOLUTION, 1175-83
CAUSE .- The Parliament of Great Britain passed an Act on March 22, 1765, which required all in- struments of writing, such as deeds, bonds and promissory notes, to be written on parchment or paper stamped with a specific duty, otherwise they were to have no legal effect ; but this measure met with such general opposition in Great Britain and throughout the American Colonies, and was found to be so unpopular, that the Act was repealed in
12 John Krausher's wife and child. Abraham Sechler's wife, and a child of Adam Clauss were scalped at the same time and badly wounded.
13 Alluded to in Weiser's letter. Probably he referred to party killed in Greenwich.
14 No number mentioned.
15 Two of Miller's children were prisoners, but were rescued. When rescued they were tied together, in which manner they had been driven along.
10 These are supposed to have heen the last persons killed by the Indians at this time. But during the Rvolutionary war, in August, 1780, John Negman and his two young children were cruelly murdered by the Indians thirty-three miles from Reading on road to Shamokin; and at the same time a little girl was carried off.
111
WAR PERIODS
the following year. The cheapest stamp was of the value of one shilling. The stamps on documents increased in value according to their importance. All the colonists manifested unbounded joy over the repeal of this odious law.
This opposition, however, led Parliament to pass a declaratory Act (which accompanied the repeal- ing Act) asserting their power over the Colonies in all cases whatsoever. And in 1767, an Act was passed imposing certain duties on tea, glass, paper, and painters' colors that were imported into the Colonies. There was no representation in Parlia- ment from the several Colonies; and they, regard- ing taxation of this kind as unjust and tyrannical, held public meetings, formed associations to dis- courage, and even to prevent, the importation of British goods, and passed appropriate resolutions ; which they forwarded to the King. His ministers, believing that a reduction of the tax would restore tranquility, ordered this law also to be repealed, saving only a tax of three pence per pound on tea ; and in 1770 an Act was passed accordingly. But even this was not satisfactory to them, and their recommendations to one another not to receive any tea were strictly carried out.
In the meantime, the East India Company had accumulated seventeen million pounds of this article on hand, and fearing great losses, they led Parlia- ment to authorize the exportation of tea to any part of the world free of duty. With such encour- agement, the company in 1774 loaded several ships with tea and sent them to the American Colonies; but the colonists were firm in their resolution and determined to obstruct the sale of it and to refuse to pay even so slight a tax as three pence per pound. When the ships arrived near Philadelphia and New York, the captains were warned not to land, and, fearing this warning, they returned to England. The tea sent to Charleston was landed, but it could not be sold, and after having been stored for a while in damp cellars it became a total loss to the company. And at Boston, while efforts were being made to land the tea, certain men in the disguise of Indians stole their way upon the vessels, broke open 342 chests of tea and threw the contents overboard.
When Parliament heard of these proceedings, an Act was passed, called the "Boston Port Bill," di- recting the port of Boston to be closed and the custom house to be removed to Salem; and other humiliating Acts were also passed which were offensive to the people of Boston. Information about these Acts reached Boston on May 10th, and on the 13th, at a town meeting, the inhabitants resolved :
Copies of this resolution were transmitted to all the other Colonies. It awakened not only a feeling of sympathy but a strong spirit of co-operation, and led them to concur in the propriety of calling a Provincial Congress. Public meetings were held at different places, such as county towns, and, be- sides discussing topics so important to liberty and the general welfare, committees of correspondence were appointed to communicate the actions of the several meetings to one another throughout the Col- onies. In this way, it was discovered that the same feeling prevailed everywhere, and naturally there came to be united efforts toward accomplishing a common result for the benefit of all.
About this time the terms "Whigs" and "Tories" were introduced to designate either those who were arrayed on the side of the Colonies in sympathy with Boston, or those who were in sympathy with the policy of the British government.
MEETING AT READING .- When the news reached Reading, in Berks county, the citizens manifested great excitement, and meetings were held at which the action of the British government was con- demned. These meetings were called by notices headed "Boston Port Bill," and posted throughout the town.
At one of these meetings (which comprised a respectable body of inhabitants of the county) held in the Court-House at Reading, on July 2, 1774, Edward Biddle, Esq., in the chair, the following resolutions were adopted :
This assembly, taking into their very serious considera- tion the present critical situation of American affairs, do unanimously resolve as follows, viz. :
1. That the inhabitants of this county do owe, and will pay due allegiance to our rightful Sovereign, King George the Third.
2. That the powers claimed, and now attempted to be put into execution by the British Parliament, are funda- mentally wrong, and cannot be admitted without the utter destruction of the liberties of America.
3. That the Boston Port Bill is unjust and tyrannical in the extreme. And that the measures pursued against Bos- ton are intended to operate equally against the rights and liberties of the other colonies.
4. That this assembly doth concur in opinion with their respective brethren of Philadelphia, that there is an abso- lute necessity for an immediate congress of the deputies of the several advices, in order to deliberate upon and pur- sue such measures as may radically heal our present un- happy disturbances, and settle with precision the rights and liberties of America.
5. That the inhabitants of this county, confiding in the prudence and ability of the deputies intended to be chosen for the general congress, will cheerfully submit to any measures which may be found by the said congress best adapted for the restoration of harmony between the mother-country and the colonies, and for the security and firm establishment of the rights of America.
6. That, as the people of Boston are now suffering in the grand and common cause of American liberty.
committee hereafter named do open subscriptions for their relief. And further, that the said committee do lay out the amount of such subscriptions in purchasing flour and other provisions, to be sent by them to our said suffering brethren.
That, if the other Colonies would unite with them to stop all importations from Great Britain and the West Resolved, That it is the duty of all the inhabitants to Indies until those Acts should be repealed, it would prove . contribute to the support of the said sufferers, and that the the salvation of North America and her liberties; but if they should continue their exports and imports, there was reason to fear that fraud, power and the most odious oppression would triumph over justice, right, social happi- ness and freedom.
112
HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
7. That Edward Biddle, James Read, Daniel Brodhead, Henry Christ, Esqs., Christopher Schultz, Thomas Dundas and Jonathan Potts, gentlemen, be, and they are hereby appointed a committee to meet and correspond with the committees from the other counties of the Province.
The committee raised money and forwarded flour and provisions to the suffering brethren at Boston soon after the meeting. Reading was a prominent center of trade in 1774, and the country round about possessed an abundance of grain and provisions. There were numerous gristmills within a radius of ten miles, and the collection of many barrels of flour was a comparatively easy matter for such a worthy cause, especially under the appeal of such influential men as composed the committee. Biddle and Read were attorneys; Christ an inn- keeper; Potts a physician ; Dundas a merchant ; Brodhead a large miller of Heidelberg ; and Schultz a prosperous farmer of Hereford.
From this meeting to the close of the Revolution, the people of Reading and of the county partici- pated actively in all the affairs of the province. They were represented by delegates at the several conferences; and they contributed their quota of men, money and supplies in the successful prosecut- tion of the war.
LEXINGTON AWAKENS COUNTY .- The battle of Lexington was fought on April 19, 1775, and when the news of the battle reached Reading, about a week afterward, a company of men was formed, who wore crape for a cockade as a token of sorrow for the slaughter of their brethren ; and each town- ship in Berks county resolved to raise and discipline a company of soldiers. And the following extract of a letter from Reading, dated April 26, 1775, shows forcibly the feeling that prevailed :
We have raised in this town two companies of foot under proper officers; and such is the spirit of the people of this free county, that in three weeks time there is not a township in it that will not have a company raised and disciplined, ready to assert at the risk of their lives the freedom of America.
The companies mentioned were commanded by Capt. George Nagel and Capt. John Spohn.
FIRST OFFICERS FROM COUNTY .- The first meet- ing of the Committee of Safety at Philadelphia was on Jan. 2, 1776, which Edward Biddle attended. Congress had recommended that Pennsylvania fur- nish four battalions of troops; and at this meeting the Committee were to agree upon the four colonels who were to be placed in command. On the 4th of January, they selected field officers, George Nagel, of Reading, being one of them. Then they also selected thirty-one captains for the four battalions, among those chosen being John Spohn, Peter Scull and Peter Decker, all of Reading, and on Jan. 6th, they selected thirty-two lieutenants, among them Daniel Brodhead of Reading.
The population of the county was largely German and of German descent, and this preponderance of names over those of all other nationalities was to be expected. The proportion was fully nine-tenthis. They used the German language in their daily affairs, excepting the transfer of title to real estate, which was required to be in the English language by a provincial law. The location of the English people in 1775 was mostly at Reading, and in Robe- son, Caernarvon, Union, Exeter, Oley, Maiden- creek and Richmond townships, or eight districts out of twenty-nine ; but the major part of the people in these districts also were German, excepting the southern section of the county.
It can be stated that Berks county was then dis- tinctively the most German county of the eleven counties in the province. It was natural for the electors of the county to show a positive sympathy for this movement, because it was in accordance with their notions of political freedom. They had a firm belief in local government and desired to carry it on successfully without unnecessary re- strictions or burdens. Taxation without represen- tation was to them an unreasonable and unjust doc- trine, and they were not disposed to tolerate its continued enforcement.
The system of militia, which had been provided by the Assembly, was appreciated by them, and they co-operated sincerely in its establishment through- out the county. They effected an organization and responded to the call for troops in a willing and prompt manner. The militia returns of the county for 1775 show the organization of seven battalions ; and by July there were at least forty companies ready to answer the call for military duty in actual warfare. Their zeal will be more fully appreciated when we understand that there was not a single post-office in the county, and that the only means of dispatching communications was by express riders.
ASSOCIATORS .- At the inception of the Revolution, there were eleven counties in the province of Penn- sylvania :
Philadelphia York
Bucks Cumberland
Bedford Northumberland
Chester Berks
Westmoreland
Lancaster Northampton
On June 30, 1775, the General Assembly ap- proved of "the Association entered into by the good people of this Colony for the defense of their lives, liberties and properties"; decided to pay the necessary expenses of the officers and soldiers while in active service, repelling any hostile invasion of British or other troops ; and recommended the coun- ty commissioners of the several counties to "im- mediately provide a proper number of good, new firelocks with bayoncts fitted to them, cartridge boxes with twenty-three rounds of cartridges in
GERMANS TO RESCUE .- By looking over the every box, and knapsacks." The allotted number names of the numerous men in Berks county who for Berks county was four hundred.
participated in the movement for independence, it Edward Biddle and Henry Christ were then the will be found that they are almost entirely German. representatives from Berks county ; and Biddle was
113
WAR PERIODS
selected by the Assembly as one of the Committee of Independence, and directing it to be read on of Safety "for calling forth such and so many of Monday, July 8th, at 12 o'clock noon, at the place the Associators into actual service when necessity requires." The committee consisted of twenty-five members. where the election of delegates was to be held. This was done by Henry Vanderslice, the sheriff of the county, on that day at the Court-House, on
as follows :
The preamble to the Articles of Association read Penn Square, the bell having been rung earnestly beforehand, as elsewhere, to call the people together so that they should learn the significance of that important public document.
We, the officers and soldiers, engaged in the present association for the defense of American liberty, being fully sensible that the strength and security of any body of men acting together consists in just regularity, due subordination, and exact obedience to command, without which no individual can have that confidence in the sup- port of those about him, that is so necessary to give firm- ness and resolution to the whole, do voluntarily and freely, after consideration of the following articles, adopt the same as the rules by which we agree and re- solve to be governed in all our military concerns and operations, until the same or any of them shall be changed or dissolved by the Assembly or Provincial Con- vention, or in their recess, by the Committee of Safety, or a happy reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and the Colonies.
There were thirty-two articles which provided for the regulation of military affairs, and these articles the Associators were expected to sign. The Com- mittee of Safety in Berks county recommended the adoption of the Articles.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMPANIES .- On July 28, 1775, the Assembly approved of the resolution of Congress, passed July 18th, which recommended :
That all able-bodied men between sixteen and sixty years of age in each colony immediately form themselves into regular companies to consist of one captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, four sergeants, four corporals, a clerk, drummer and fifer, and sixty-eight privates.
That the officers of each company be chosen by the respective companies.
That the companies be formed into Battalions, offi- cered with a Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel, two Majors, and an Adjutant or Quartermaster.
That the officers above captain be appointed by the As- sembly or by the Committee of Safety.
And that each soldier be furnished with a good musket that will carry an ounce ball, with a bayonet, steel rani- rod, worm priming wire with brush, fitted thereto, a cut- ting sword or tomahawk, a cartridge box that will con- tain twenty-three rounds of cartridges, 12 flints, and a knapsack.
The musket barrels were three feet eight inches long, and the bayonets sixteen inches long ; the bore of the barrels of sufficient size to carry seventeen balls to the pound.
COUNTY COLONELS .- Delegates from the eleven counties, numbering altogether fifty-three, assem- bled at Philadelphia on Aug. 19, 1775, for the pur- pose of adopting Articles of Association. They were colonels of the Associated Battalions, and the representatives from Berks county were:
Edward Biddle Daniel Brodhead Christian Lower Mark Bird Balser Geehr
DECLARATION READ IN COUNTY .- In pursuance of a resolution of Congress, the State Board of Safety addressed a letter to the Committee of Berks County on July 6, 1776, enclosing a copy of the Declaration 8
Douglass
Reading
Amity
Exeter
Rockland
Colebrookdale
Hereford
Ruscombmanor
District Oley
Ontelaunee Section
Albany
Maiden-creek Richmond
Greenwich
Maxatawny
Windsor
Longswamp
--
WEST OF THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER
Schuylkill Section
Brecknock
Cumru
Union
Caernarvon Robeson
Tulpehocken Section Bern
Heidelberg Tulpehocken
Bethel
.
BEYOND THE BLUE MOUNTAIN
Brunswick and Pine-Grove.
COMPANIES IN SERVICE
The following companies from Berks county were in the Revolution from its inception in 1775 to its successful termination in 1783, so far as the com- piler has been able to ascertain them. This table is as complete as it can be made at this time and presents sufficient evidence to show the patriotic spirit of the people and the response they made to the government in its numerous calls for troops. The names of the colonels and captains only can be given.
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