History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

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line," and it marked the division between the free and slave States for a hundred years.

In the fall of 1681 certain commissioners from Penn arrived, having been sent by him to treat with the Indians, purchase lands from them and lay out a great city. In his letter to the Indians he addressed them as follows :

"There is a great God and power that hath made the world, and all things therein, to whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in the world. This great God hath written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love and help and do good to one another. Now this great God hath been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the world; and the king of the country where I live hath given me a great province therein; but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent that we may always live together as neighbors and friends; else what would the great God do to us who hath made us, not to de- vour and destroy one another, but to live soberly and kindly in the world ?"

After the management of affairs in the prov- ince by a Deputy-Governor for over a year, Penn himself arrived and assumed personal con- trol. He arrived at New Castle on the 27th of October, 1682. On the next day he met the neighboring inhabitants, consisting of families

of various nations,-Dutch, Germans, Swedes and English. He produced before them his charter and deeds of feoffment and explained his system of government. The education of rich and poor was to be provided for ; justice was to be administered without delay ; prisons were to be regulated in such a manner as to lead to the reformation of criminals; and the penalty of death was to be abolished, except in the cases of murder and treason. Several days after this meeting the Assembly (which had been called by Markham to meet for the purpose) adopted his frame of government, and from that time onward the development of the province was wonderful. Philadelphia was then founded upon a plan which contemplated the growth of a magnificent city. The lands of the province were surveyed and settlements were located in various directions. Many houses were built ; immigrants, mostly English and German, came in great numbers; schools were founded ; a printing press was set up; a post was estab-

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

lished, and the great outposts of civilization were erected.

Penn was particularly successful in his treaty with the natives. He won their unqualified confidence. In the following kind and re- markable language he expressed his ideas and intentions to them :

" We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good-will; no advantage shall be taken on either side; but all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children, for parents sometimes chide their children too severely ; nor brothers only, for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain, for that the rains might rust or the falling tree might break. We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts; we are one flesh and blood."

These words made a deep impression upon the Indians, and they replied,-

" We will live in love with you and your children as long as the moon and the sun shall endure."

And such was the introduction of the English government, such the beginning of the promising settlements superinduced thereby. Its language as well as its laws was the fixed medium of in- tercourse. And it could not be disturbed, not- withstanding the great immigration of other nationalities, especially Germans. These were encouraged by the English, especially by the policy of William Penn ; and they, acknowledg- ing the government as they found it, conducted themselves accordingly. And this accounts for the continuation of the predominance of Eng- lish in every department of life, particularly as it concerned trade, legislation and jurisprudence.

A short sketch of the founder of Pennsylva- nia is appropriate in this connection.

William Penn was born at London, Eng., on October 14, 1644. He obtained a thorough education at home under a private tutor and at Oxford University, and then entered Lin- coln's Inn for the purpose of studying law. After prosecuting his studies for a while he, in 1665, accompanied his father, Admiral William Penn, to Ireland and took upon himself the management of a valuable estate. Subsequently he entered the army whilst visiting a prominent friend of the family in Ireland, and gained some experience as a soldier. Whilst in this ser-

vice his portrait was painted, which is said to be the only genuine portrait of him ever pro- duced. He then united with the Society of Friends, having been imbued with the principles of this sect through the preaching of Thomas Loe. His earnest preaching at Cork, in 1667, caused his arrest and imprisonment. His re- lease was effected through the Earl of Orrery ; but he began again with more vigor. His re- ligions writings then led to his second arrest, when he was imprisoned in the Tower. Whilst there he wrote his distinguished religions work, entitled, " No Cross, no Crown." His father obtained his discharge, but he persisted in ex- pressing his opinions and beliefs on the highways and in public places, for which he was arrested in 1670, and committed to Newgate. He was indicted and tried. During the trial he pleaded his own canse and the jury acquitted him. But he was detained, nevertheless, for a time. The jurors were fined for returning such a verdict. In Newgate he also wrote a number of religious articles, which were published in tracts. In 1674 he wrote and published an able defense of the freedom of conscience and the rights of Englishmen, which was entitled, "England's Present Interest Considered." In 1677 he ac- companied Barclay and others on a mission of preaching in Holland and Germany.

In 1681 he obtained a charter from King Charles II for the province of Pennsylvania, in satisfaction of a large debt which had been owing to his father for meritorious naval services, He visited his province in 1682 and remained two years. In this time he did many things for the welfare of the province. He distinguished himself by his kindness to the Indians, who gave him in return their unqualified confidence and regard. His great treaty with them at Kensington in 1682 has been immortalized by a masterly painting by Benjamin West, the famous American artist. He prepared and pub- lished various important papers relating to the advantages of Pennsylvania for inducing emi- gration thither, in which he was very successful with the Germans. In 1686 he secured the liberation of over twelve hundred imprisoned Quakers, and in 1687 also the passage of the "Toleration Act." In 1688 he was tried for

ENGRAVED BY JOAN SARTAIN

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From the Vragenal Medico in the possession of the Min wind. They Finant.

PAINTED FROM LIFE IN THE YEAR 1666.

The only picture from its ver tuken-

GENERAL HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

treason and acquitted. In 1699 he visited Pennsylvania a second time, and, after remain- ing two years, he returned to England. In his efforts to establish a permanent government, etc., in Pennsylvania he became heavily involved with debts ; these pressed him so hard that in 1708 he was imprisoned for debt. His friends, how- ever, united in his behalf and effected his release. He also had serious and extended litigation in reference to the province, but he eventually succeeded in maintaining his grant and the rights secured to him under it. He died of paralysis at Rushcombe, on July 30, 1718, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His chil- dren held, governed and disposed of the prov- ince till the Revolution, when they released their rights to the commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania.1

GERMANS .- Soon after affairs in the pro- vince had attained an acknowledged permanent character the influx of settlers was won- derful. They came over the ocean by ship- loads at a time. The Germans were especially numerous. In Germany a company had formed about 1684 for the purpose of influencing emigration. It was called the "Frankfort Land Company." It was composed of ten men who lived at Frankfort-on-the-Mayne,-G. Van Mastrick, Thomas V. Wylick, John Le Bran, F. Dan Pastorious, John J. Schuetz, Daniel Behagel, Jacobus Van Dewaller, John W. Peterson, Johannes Kimber, Balthaser Jowest. They entered into articles of association on No- vember 24, 1686, and then purchased large tracts of land from William Penn,-the Ger- mantown patent for five thousand three hundred and fifty acres, and the Manatawny patent for twenty-two thousand three hundred and sev- enty-seven acres. For more than fifty years emigration was encouraged. Thousands of the emigrants were Palatines ; many proceeded from the Palatinate to England upon the invi- tation of Queen Anne, and tlience she trans- ported them to America. Among them were peo- ple of all religious denominations,-Mennonites, Moravians, Dunkards, Schwenkfelders, Lu- therans, German Reformed and Catholics.

The tide of emigration from Germany had become so great as to awaken apprehension on the part of the English, who controlled the government. In 1717, Logan, the secretary of the province, expressed his fears as follows : " We have of late a great number of Palatines poured in upon us, without any recommenda- tion or notice, which gives the country some uneasiness ; foreigners do not so well among us as our own English people." And, in 1755, Samuel Wharton said that they came in such numbers (estimated five thousand in 1754), "I see not but that they may soon give ns law and language too, or else, by joining the French, eject all the English." In the years 1749, 1750, 1751 and 1752 they were especially numerons (about twenty-five thousand). Many were poor and had not the means of paying their passage. Upon their arrival at Philadelphia they were sold for a term of years. Their services under these indentures discharged the cost of trans- portation. In this way they redeemed their freedom, and were called "redemptioners." The Palatine redemptioners were usually sold at ten pounds for a period varying from three to five years. The influx of these was particu- larly large in the years 1728, 1729, 1737, 1741, 1750 and 1751. They generally procceded northwardly and westwardly and settled in the districts now included in the counties of Mont- gomery, Berks, Lancaster, York and Cumber- land. Some of these Germans began to settle in Oley, Berks County, as early as 1712. They were industrious, and they, by their industry, soon had the country to show marked improve- ment.

The Germans were chiefly farmers. Gov- ernor Thomas alluded to them when he said, in 1738: "This Province has been for some years the asylum of the distressed Protestants of the Palatinate and other parts of Germany ; and I believe it may be truthfully said that the present flourishing condition of it is in a great measure owing to the industry of those people; it is not altogether the fertility of the soil, but the number and industry of the people, that makes a country flourish." 2

1 See Janney's "Life of William Penn."

¿ 4 Col. Rec., 315.

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

England encouraged the industrious Germans to emigrate to America, but she retained her own subjects ; and this class was at one time feared. The influx was so great that it was thought their numbers would soon produce a German colony here, and perhaps such a one as Britain once received from Saxony in the fifth century.1 The personal description of the territory by Penn himself to the Germans, his kindly encouragement to them to emigrate and possess its fertile soil and his liberal promises of religious toleration and of self-government had made a deep impression upon their troubled minds ; and corroborating letters to them, sub- sequently, from those who emigrated had in- clined them to more freely entertain thoughts of emigration. And thus influenced, they came into Pennsylvania by thousands-by such a continuous tide of immigration for a period of over fifty years, that the officers of the govern- ment became alarmed for the preservation of English laws and the continuation of English control. But their fears were not realized, though the province became German in charac- ter and industry, and in general social and re- ligious feeling.

The Dutch had discovered the country ; the Swedes had effected the first permanent settle- ments in it, but had lost control, not so much by want of energy and enterprise as by want of encouragement and support from their govern- ment ; the English had defined the rights of property and government and characterized the laws, language and associations ; but it remained for the Germans to come after these, take pos- session of the great portion of its territory and control its destiny. This was a fortunate cir- cumstance for Pennsylvania. Who will say that either of the other nationalities mentioned, if they had kept control of the country in all its departments, would have shown a qualifica- tion to develop it in so great a degree and in such harmonious proportions as the German in respect to agriculture, industry and population ? Who will say that the people would have manifested the same general social, political and religious tendencies ? Who will say that they

would have caused such a general distribution of land, wealth and power? And who will say that they would have created and maintained such general social and political equality ? All these developments, proportions, tendencies and equalities are found here now, after the lapse of two hundred years. In all these years the German influences predominated. Her names of persons, her language and her manners have been preserved, notwithstanding the gov- ernment ordered the names changed to, and education taught, and the laws published and judicial proceedings recorded in, the English. This is an exhibition of inherent natural great- ness and power truly wonderful as it is admir- able.

WELSH .- The Welsh made early purchases from Penn in England, amounting to forty thousand acres of land on the west side of the Schuylkill River. Their number of settlers had multiplied to such an extent before 1692 that they settled six townships in Chester County within ten years after it had been formed. They moved gradually northwardly, and took up lands along the head-waters of the Conestoga and vicinity. Some of the lands are now in- cluded in Caernarvon, Brecknock, Robeson and Cumru townships, in Berks County. In 1686 and 1698 many Welsh families arrived. Among them were William Jones, Robert Jones, Thomas Evaus, Robert Evans, Owen Evans, Cadwalla- der Evans, Hugh Griffith and John Humphrey. They took up lands by patent. Through them certain townships were named. And their de- scendants are still on the first settlements. Some of these Welsh immigrants moved to the east of the Schuylkill, into the district now included in Montgomery County, but none of them pro- ceeded so far north wardly as to enter the district now part of Berks County. Those who entered and settled in the county remained to the west of the Schuylkill.

IRISH .- Comparatively few Irish immigrants settled in Pennsylvania. They were not among the first, and their limited number could not and did not in the least affect the established laws, associations and institutions of the province. It was quite different with the Ger- mans. The English had possession of the

1 2 Watson's " Annals," 255.

GENERAL HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

territory ; they controlled the government and influenced the direction of all the affairs of the province. Still the Germans modified every- thing. This modification arose not only from their great numbers, but also their nature and enterprise.

The first Irish immigrants came into the province about 1719. They located mostly near the Maryland line, in the territory which was theu included in Chester County. In 1729 Logan was apprehensive of evil from the Irish settlers. The common fear was that if they continued to come in such numbers as they were then coming, all Ireland would be here and they would eventually make themselves proprietors of the province. The Assembly deemed it advisable to levy a tax of twenty shillings on each servant in order to discourage their immigration. He thought it strange that they continued to crowd into places where they were not wanted. Many convicts were among them. This was the alarming feature. Even the Indians feared a breach between them and the settlers, because the Irish were rough to them. And in 1730 he complained of the audacious and disorderly manners of the Scotch- Irish in forcibly taking possession of Conestoga manor. They were dispossessed and their huts were burned. Thirty-three years afterwards they figured conspicuously in the cruel massacre of the Indians at Conestoga.

In 1735 and 1740 Scotch-Irish immigrants settled in the territory beyond the Susquehanna River, in what was then Lancaster County, now in York and Adams Counties. They came from Scotland and the north of Ireland. The Germans had settled in the upper section, or York County, and the Scotch-Irish in the lower, or Adams County. Their respective nationali- ties preserved them distinct peoples and eventually led them to separate into two distinct county organizations. The names of the Scotch- Irish are particularly prevalent in Adams County. The settlers were principally of the better class of peasantry and the lands are to a great degree still possessed by their descendants. They were recognized for their intelligence, in- dustry and morality. These qualities have been very successfully transmitted to the present

time and have exerted a beneficent influence over the people of the district in several re- spects, social, industrial and political. I could not discover any settlement of this class in Berks County.

GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA SINCE 1681.

PENN'S CHARTER .- The original charter, as prepared by Penn, supervised and amended by the crown officers, and granted by King Charles the Second on the 4th of March, 1681, is a long document. In order to avoid its en- tire publication in this history, to save time to the general reader in obtaining a knowledge of its contents and to make it more intelligible, I have condensed it in the following manner :

In the preamble Charles II., King, etc., gives all people to know that William Penn, out of a com- mendable desire to enlarge the English empire and to promote such useful commodities beneficial to her do- minions, as well as to reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion-had applied for a grant of a certain part of America not yet cultivated and planted.

Nection 1 .- Recognizing the services of his father, Admiral William Penn, to the government in the war against the Dutch, in 1665, and favoring his petition, the King granted unto William Penn, his heirs and assigns, the large body of land now known to ns as the State of Pennsylvania.

Seclim 2 .- Grants all harbours, rivers, etc., fishes and ores, with free egress, ingress and regress.

Section 3 .- Creates Penn proprietary, requires alle- giance and the payment of an annual rent of two beaver-skins and of one-fifth of all gold and silver-ore found on the premises, and names the province PENNSYLVANIA.

Section 4 .- Confers authority to make and execute laws, raise money for public use, etc.

Section 5 .- Grants authority to create courts with incidental powers.

Section 6 .- Grants authority to make ordinances for the government of the people, and direct the law of descent to continne as in England, until altered.

Section 7 .- Directs that a transcript of its laws shall be forwarded to the privy council of England, which, if found inconsistent with the government, shall be declared void.

Section 8 .- Gives the right to English subjects to emigrate to Pennsylvania.

Section 9 .- Grants license to carry on trade with any English ports, subject to customs, duties, etc.

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Section 10 .- Grants the right to subdivide the terri- tory, to create boroughs, markets, etc.

Section 11 .- Requires all commodities, etc., ex- ported, to be unloaded in the ports of England, and, after one year, permits trade with other countries, subject to duties, etc.

Section 12 .- Grants power to erect ports, harbors, etc.

Section 13 .- Grants power to assess and collect cus- toms, etc., at the port, etc.

Section 14 .-- Requires an agent to be located at Lon- don to answer offenses, etc., against the laws of Eng- land, etc.

Section 15 .- Prohibits correspondence with any King, etc., at war with the English government, or warfare with any power at peace with the govern- ment.

Section 16 .- Grants right to create military for pro- tection, and to pursue and vanquish enemies, robbers, etc.

Section 17 .- Grants right to dispose of divided ter- ritory in fee or subject to rents, etc.

Section 18 .- Confirms all sales of estates to be made to purchasers.

Section 19 .- Grants license to purchasers to erect manors and establish courts-baron with incidental powers.

Section 20 .- Prohibits the levy of customs or taxes without the consent of the proprietary and his Assem- bly, or of the English Parliament.

Section 21 .- Requires from all courts and judges a recognition of this charter.

Section 22 .- Provides for the sending of preachers on application of twenty inhabitants.

Section 23 .- Requires the most favorable construc- tion of the charter to be made for the proprietary, etc., but which shall not prejudice allegiance, rents, etc.

On the 11th of July, 1681, William Penn agreed upon certain conditions for the regula- tion of affairs in his province. These condi- tions consisted of twenty paragraphs. The first ten paragraphs referred to the location of a town, the laying out of roads, lots, etc., and the improvement of lots by possession, etc.

The 11th and 12th provided for the purchase and sale of articles in a public market.

In the 13th offenders, whether settlers or natives, were to be punished according to law.

In the 14th Indian offenders were to be tried by a mixed jury of twelve men, half Indians and half settlers.

In the 15th Indians were to enjoy equal rights with planters, for improving property, etc.

In the 16th English laws relating to slander, drunk- enness, cursing, trespassing, etc., were to govern.

In the 17th all live stock should be marked within three months, otherwise to be forfeited to the Gov- ernor.

In the 18th every acre in five acres, in clearing off land, was to be kept in woods, especially oak-trees for shipping, and mulberry trees for silk.

In the 19th shipmasters, upon their arrival, were to give names of passengers, describe freight, etc, with- in two days afterwards.

And in the 20th all persons who intended to leave the province were to publish their intention.

Subsequently Penn published three frames or plans of government, a table of laws and a Charter of Privileges. The first frame, with its preface, was published April 25, 1682; the table of laws May 5, 1682; the second frame April 2, 1683 ; the third frame November 7, 1696 ; and the Charter of Privileges October 28, 1701. All these charters, frames, etc., appear in full in the first volume of the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania and cover nearly fifty pages, closely printed.

FIRST FRAME .- Penn introduces the first frame by a superior preface. In it he refers to the necessity of government through the sinful- ness and disobedience of man, and he regards government not only useful for purposes of cor- rection, but for the care and regulation of our many daily affairs which make up much the greatest part of it. Men entertained different notions about systems of government ; all sys- tems were modified in the course of time, and each system had its admirers. But he regarded that government free to the people under it, whatever its frame, where the laws ruled and the people were a party to the laws.

"Governments like clocks "-said he-" go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined, too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad ; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. I know some say, let us have good laws and no matter for the men that execute them; but let them consider that, though good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or evaded by ill men; but good men will never want good laws nor suffer ill ones. It is true, good laws have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is where they have not power to escape or abolish them, and the people are generally wise and

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418