History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158

USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I > Part 13

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The number of Germans in Pennsylvania was estimated by Governor Thomas in 1747 as 72,- 000. Michael Schlatter in 1751 gave the total population of Pennsylvania as 190,000, of whom one-third or 63,000 were Germans. In 1731 the Lutherans are supposed to have numbered 17,000 and the German Reformed 15,000. They came from the Palatinate chiefly, from Alsace, Swabia, Saxony and Switzerland; and as given in the rec- ords, from Wittemberg, and Zweibruecken, from Erbach, Nassau, Hanau, Darmstadt, Eisenberg, Basel, Mannheim, Durlach, Rittenheim, inhabi- tants of Lorraine, Mentz, Franconia, Hesse and Hamburg.

The first ship recorded is the William and Sarah, which arrived Sept. 18, 1727. Alexander Diefenderfer, a passenger on this ship, settled in the southwestern part of the county, part of his land lying in Bucks county and part in the pres- ent Lehigh county.

The size of these ships varied from 63 feet long, with 21 feet in breadth and 9 feet 7 1-2 inches as the depth of hold, with a tonnage of 108 tons, to 99 feet in length, with 26 feet of breadth and a tonnage of 311 tons. They sailed principally from Rotterdam, and thence to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. Few carried over 300 passengers, and many only half that number. The passage re- quired usually from six to nine weeks. Some- times, if the weather was stormy, it required as much as four months.

The trip down the Rhine lasted from four to six weeks and the passengers were packed densely in the vessels. The passage from Rotterdam to Philadelphia was fio for all over ten years: chil- dren, half price, except those under five years of age, who were carried free. The other costs, in- cluding the trip down the Rhine, amounted to at least $35.00, according to a writer who described a trip in the year 1 750.

Many spent $176.00 on the trip from home to Philadelphia. Those who were unable to pay their passage money were bound out to the highest bid- der on their arrival at Philadelphia, to serve three, four, five or six years for the amount due by

them, according to their age and strength. Large numbers of Redemptioners, or those who bound themselves, arrived in Pennsylvania in the years 1728, 1729, 1737, 1741, 1750, and 1751. Chil- dren from ten to fifteen were required to serve until twenty-one. When the term of service was over, a thrifty servant had saved quite a sum and could take up a tract of land. Many Germans be- gan life in this way and their descendants are now among the prominent citizens of the country. As early as 1722, one hundred Palatines were ad- vertised for disposal for terms of five years at fio a head.

Joseph Shippen, Jr., wrote from Lancaster, Sept. 16, 1769, to a friend: "Give my love to your brother and desire him to buy a young man, a Palatine, such as he bought before for Mr. Burd, who wants another and I will send down £20 the next Post to pay for him."

Passenger Ship of the Period of 1750

Among the earliest settlers in the section now Lehigh county were George Bachman and Philip Geisinger, Mennonites, who settled in Upper Sau- con and were naturalized as early as 1729; Peter Trexler, who was naturalized in 1729 and pur- chased a tract of land in Macungie from Caspar Wistar in the same year and Jost Henrich Sas- samanhausen, who settled on the line between Berks and Lehigh and who was also naturalized in 1729 or 1730.

The early settlers of Lehigh county came from no particular section, but from all parts of Ger- many and adjoining countries. Occasionally a colony of friends and relatives from one commun- ity settled in the same neighborhood, as the Swiss

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

settlement at Egypt and a colony of Palatines in Weisenberg .*

Large numbers came from the Palatinate, among whom were the Brauss, Clader, Dillinger, Egner, Mechlin, Meckell, Schall, Shankweiler, Stahler, Strauss and Wint families.

From Zweibruecken came the Guth, Gross, Keiper, Knerr, Newhard, Mickley, Baer, Hun- sicker, Eckert, Spaengler and Schneider fami- lies.

From Wurtemberg came the Koehler, Jacobs, Christman, Grim, Seiberling and Weiler families. From Alsace, the Balliet, Graff, Ruch, Rupp, Henninger and Stettler families; from Bavaria, the Keck and Saeger families; from Lorraine, the Wotrings; from Nassau, the Cooper and Gies families and from Schlesien the Schultzes and Yeakels.

From Switzerland came the Burkhalter, Koh- ler, Deshler, Roth, Kern, Troxell, Biery, Blumer, Showalter, Flickinger, Grob, Dubs, Eberhard, Frey, Giesy, Schwander, Bertsch, Peter, Neff and Huber families.

From Ansbach came the ancestor of the Kurtz family ; from Ittlingen, the Romigs ; from Nieder- bronn, the Kuntz and Schreiber families; from Titelsheim, the Knausses; from Neresheim, the Diefenderfers; from Hildeberg Hause, the Leis- enrings; from Frankfort-on-Main, the Semmels ; from Pfungstadt, the Erdmans; from Kolmberg, the Lichtenwalners; from Daueinheim, the Wints, and from Odenwald, the Holbens.

Among the Huguenots were the Balliet, Ves- queau, Voturin or Wotring, Verly, La Roche, Jacquet, Riebelet and Tournet families.

The Knepply, Kooken and Van Buskerck fam- ilies were from Holland.

The English families were the Jennings, Mory, Jarrett, Everett, Hyneman, Mayberry, Warner, Pugh, Blackledge, Thomas, Williams and Tool families.

The Welsh were the Owen and Samuels fam- ilies, and in 1774, Griffith Griffith settled in Heidelberg township.

From the following places in Germany came families of the same names as many of the set- tlers in Lehigh, some of whom may have been of the same stock. Sander from Ixheim ; Vollweiler from Mittelbach; Merkel from Schoenborn;

Hunsinger from Bussweiler; Bischof from Katz- weiler ; Metzger from Kriegsheim and Offstein ; Kratz from Desloch; Schmoll from Zweibrueck- en ; Shick from Heddesheim ; Koehler from Gross Karlbach; Hartmann from Alsenbrueck; Jung from Kollweiler; Beck from Mannheim; Frick from Duchroth; Hofman from Duchroth ; Boeber from Elsweiler; Eberle from Landau; Weiss from Edigheim; Schirardin from Rau- weiler and Jirardin from Neustadt.

The following is a translation of a passport issued to an emigrant who settled here in 1733. Similar passports were given to many of the early Palatines. It is written in German on sheepskin and was issued to the ancestor of the Lichtenwal- ner family.

"In the day of the reign of the most illustrious Prince and Lord, Carl William Frederick, Mar- grave of Brandenburg, Duke in Prussia of Mag- deburg, Stettin, Pomerania, of Cassuben and Wenden, of Mecklenburg, also in Schlesien of Crossen, Burgrave of Nuernburg, Prince of Hal- berstadt, Minden, Kamin, Wenden, Schwerin and Katzenburg, Count of Hohenzollern and Schwerin, Lord of the Lands of Rostock and Stargard, our most gracious Prince and Lord.

"The time-ordained Captain and Treasurer, and Beadle of the illustrious superior bailiwick of Kolmberg, I, John William Barchewitz, and I, John George Samuel Donner, do hereby publicly and to everybody testify and acknowledge, that the bearer of this, Johann Liechtenwaller, having been for four years a servant and master of the blacksmith trade at Kreuth, in the office most graciously entrusted to us, personally appeared before us and expressed the desire to emigrate to Pennsylvania with his wife Barbara and a son one year of age; this he wished to do for the improvement of his temporal welfare, after the sale of the goods belonging to his occupation and the adjustment of his revenue and taxes. In a becoming manner he requested us not only to release him from the duties which he had hither- to faithfully discharged, and to grant him an un- impeded departure, but also to give him a cred- ible testimonium and a respectful passport of his former relations in order that he might there- with make himself known in an honorable way.

"Since it is not otherwise known than that the above-named Liechtenwaller, during the four years in which he was in our employ, showed him- self at all times submissive and obedient, as be- comes a faithful subject, subjected himself to the public commands and prohibitions, discharged the public obligations in an orderly way and at the proper time, and also conducted himself peace- fully and harmoniously with everyone, so that there never appeared any complaint or grievance

*The following dialogue between a farmer, a resident of a city and a Swiss, illustrates the confusion of speech be- tween speakers of different dialects, caused by difference of pronunciation.

BAUER .- Wie is de Suppe so hasz!

STADTER .- Man sagt ja nicht hasz, sondern heisz. Has nennt man das Thier.

BAUER .- Dos haszt bei uns Hos!

STADTER .- Das ist wieder falsch. Hos bedeutet jenes Kleidungsstuck, womit Eure langen Beine bedeckt sind. BAUER-Dos haszt in Hus!

SCHWEITZER .- Aber mer sind jezt in Huus.

BAUER .- Dos iss'n Haus!

FIRST SETTLEMENT AS PART OF BUCKS COUNTY.

against him; therefore we should gladly have re- tained him as a subject, if circumstances had per- mitted. Yet we have borne him no scruple in the gratification of his request, but knowingly re- lease him of his servile duties, and grant him un- molested departure; moreover, we also entreat everyone of whatever station or dignity they may be, to manifest toward the above-mentioned Liech- tenwaller, because of his good behavior, all well- wishing, and to lend him a helping hand in the promotion of his success ; also to pass him and his at all places securely and unmolested, and to al- low him to enjoy this testimony in very deed.

"In witness whereof this passport is executed by us above-named officers personally subscribed to, corroborated with the greater seals of our office and voluntarily granted to Liechtenwaller for his legitimate use. Granted at Kolmberg, April 25th, in the year 1733 after the birth of Christ, our only Redeemer and Saviour.

"JOHN WILLIAM BACHEWITZ, "JOHN GEORGE SAMUEL DONNER."

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

These hardy pioneers, after their arrival at Philadelphia, at once sought land suitable for cultivation. Finding that the land in what is now Bucks and Montgomery counties was al- ready taken up by earlier arrivals, they pushed on into the interior, then almost an unknown coun- try, across the Lehigh Hills, some by the Goshen- hoppen route, others through Oley and Maxe- tawny, travelling over the Indian trails and in the primeval forest made their stand. Some were attracted by the similarity of the hills and valleys to their homes in the mountains of Bavaria and Switzerland; some by the flowing springs and well watered meadows, while others sought the level country covered with heavy timber.

If the pioneer brought his goods in a wagon, that was the family's home until a suitable tract was selected, upon which, usually, was a spring or through which a creek flowed. Everything was of the crudest sort, until by aiding each other, they erected log cabins, often of only one room, with an earthen floor. The next step was to clear land for agriculture. Each year a little more was cleared and every foot was utilized in planting.

In clearing the land two methods were used. One was the process of girdling, or belting, which consisted in chopping a ring out of the bark en- tirely around the tree, three or four inches wide. In this way the sap taken up through the roots was checked and the upper part of the tree grad- ually died. The pine died the quickest while oaks often lived two or three years after having been girdled. This method saved the labor of chop- ping down, which was also done in some sections,

after which considerable was burned. When the deadened tree fell, the roots were taken out with the trees. After many trees had fallen, the brok- en limbs and smaller trees were removed. When the logs were reduced to lengths of 12 or 15 feet, so they could be handled, the owner had a log-roll- ing. In destroying underwood and bushes, they were generally "grubbed,"after which a field was fit for cultivation in the second year after it was cleared.

The log cabin is one of the earliest forms of dwellings known in well-wooded countries. The Teutonic tribes, in the time of Tacitus, built "with unhewn timber" and certain Indian tribes had winter houses of logs. The hut of round logs, notched at the corners, with open cracks and with- out floor or loft, was the rudest form known to the American settler. This was gradually im- proved by the addition of a floor of rough punch- eons hewn out with an ax; then by the chinking of the cracks with bits of wood and the daubing of these with clay. There were many cabins without chinking or daubing; one man had his head bitten by a hungry wolf, which thrust its nozzle through the open cracks of his dwelling while he was asleep. Some lightly covered the cracks by attaching long, rough shingles, called clap-boards, by pegs to the outside of the logs. On the frontier, the house of logs, from which the bark had been peeled, was a mark of gentility and a second story was a luxury, though often reached by steps from the outside or a perpendicular lad- der inside the house. The dwelling of logs hewn and squared distinguished its owner as a man of wealth and dignity.

Nails were scarce and wrought by hand. Many houses were built without iron; the hinges and latches were of wood and the shingles or clap- boards of the roof were held in place by "weight timbers." The fire places were necessarily large for a huge fire was required to heat the house. The chimneys were, in earlier days, built of sticks of wood, well plastered on the inside with clay, which often took fire. Oiled paper was used for windows before window glass came into use. In some sections sheets of mica were used. The more prosperous farmer built his house of stone.

In Pennsylvania invariably the barns were larger, the smoke houses smaller than in the south. There was often no shade. With the Pennsyl- vania German farmers, the bake oven invariably stood by the house, often a part of it, and the spring house of log or stone near-by. Many a house was built directly over a spring. Some can be seen today with walls two feet or more thick, where, by custom crocks of milk and but- ter have been kept for one hundred and fifty years or more.

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The sleeping accomodations were usually very crude. In some sections the family and guests slept in a row upon the floor ; some had deer or bear skins upon which to rest. As late as 1788, in an inn on the New York frontier, everybody slept about a central post that upheld the roof, heads outward and feet toward the center. Among the Pennsylvania settlers the trundle bed was much used, pushed under the standing beds in the day time. Pillows and bed sacks were often filled with mistletoe or down from the cat- tail flag; or with cotton from the milkweed, called "silk grass." The more prosperous used feather and down beds. These were universally used among the Pennsylvania Germans, who often slept between two feather beds, even in summer time. Floors were swept with brooms of birch or hemlock twigs, with Indian brooms of shaved wood or of corn husks, or with imported brooms of hair ; sometimes the floor was dry-rubbed with sand ; sometimes the parlor floor was strewn with sand laid off in ornamental figures.

Clocks and watches were exceedingly rare. Hour glasses and sun-dials were not plenty. Time was computed by the sun's altitude or by guess. Furniture was from Germany or bought in Phil- adelphia, which was their market place

Church bells were necessary to announce serv- ices, but rarely could the early settlers hear a sermon. Almost every family had a psalter or "Gebetbuch," some Bibles, and usually the most intelligent among them read from these to others. As a rule they were very pious, the majority hav- ing felt religious persecution in Europe.

The characteristic feature of the earlier houses was the fire place, sometimes large enough to drive a cart and horse between the jambs and often the logs were drawn to the hearth by a horse.

The Germans used a stove called by some "a box with one side out." Sometimes the open side of this stove was outside of the room, or even of the house, and the fire was fed from without. A traveler could tell at sight that a house with a single chimney in the middle was inhabited by Germans and furnished with stoves; the smoke from each led into one flue and was so taken off; or if two chimneys, one at each gable end, with- out fire places, after the English plan. In the open fire place was a crane or chain with pot- hooks to hold kettles, sometimes a small oven in the side of the chimney. The fire in the hearth was rarely allowed to die out; if so, coals were brought from a neighbor's house. For light, the pitch-pine torch was used.

Dishes were of wood and pewter. Plates were sometimes mere square blocks of wood but often rounded on a lathe. Pewter superseded wood

and was universally used. People drank from mugs of pewter, ate from pewter basins and plates and used spoons of pewter.

As an illustration of the domestic life of the early settlers the following appraisement of the household goods of Gottfried Knauss, who died in Whitehall township in 1777, which his widow Regina Louisa Knauss took at the appraisement, is given. The appraisement was made May 17, 1777.

s. d.

A stove and pipe, (Rohrofen), 5

A bed,

A cow, 4

Three iron pots. .

A teakettle and a coffee-mill,

Two pewter platters,

12 6

Two pewter dishes,

IO 6

Six pewter plates,

A pewter pot, .

Six pewter spoons,

2 6

Three spoons, a meat-fork and a can- dlestick,

A bucket, a small bucket (Shopfkuebel) and a butter tub, (Butterkuebel), .. Two table cloths and two towels,

A baking-trough, (Backmuld)

Ten bushels wheat,

A corn hoe, (Welshkorn hack )

A spinning-wheel, 5

A chest, II 0 0

£ 23. 8.6

Meat was broiled on the live coals. Potatoes and green corn were roasted in the Indian way on the hot ashes. Cakes of corn meal, buckwheat or rye were baked on a stone, an oak board or a pew- ter plate, before the fire. A good baking stone was a valuable thing. In 1750 one was sold at public sale.

Dried peaches were cooked with meat when vegetables were scarce. Sassafras flowers made a "curious preserve" and pokeleaves were boiled for spinach. Small beer was made by mixing a de- coction from spruce and birch or sassafras twigs with molasses and water. Drinking was univer- sal. The birth of a child, the moving into a new house, an election, a wedding, a funeral, an auc- tion, and even religious meetings, were occasions for drinking. In 1744 an effort was made to per- suade men to abstain from "unseasonable tippling in the forenoon."

Tea drinking became general after 1730, but was violently opposed by many as fatal to health and injurious to the mind. In 1756, a writer

A hymnbook, ..

FIRST SETTLEMENT AS PART OF BUCKS COUNTY.

says: "Our people have shamefully gone into tea drinking." Snuff was used universally.

Clothes were a badge of rank. To dress above one's station was an affront to superiors. The wig was a mark of a gentleman. Deer skin or sheep skin and leather breeches, jacket and coat were worn. Often they were made of raccoon or deer skin. The hunting skirt of linsey-woolsey or buckskin was worn in winter and of tow linen in summer.

Wood was the universal fuel, lighted by the aid of the tinder box with flint, steel and punk, as matches were unknown. Powder flashed in the pan of a gun often lit the fire, which was pre- served with great care, carefully covered with ashes at night, so that embers remained in the morning.

To make clothing, flax was raised and sheep were kept for a supply of wool. Flaxseed was sown at the same time as oats.

From the sowing of the flax seed to the com- pletion of the tow or linen garment there was work for men and women. Men prepared the soil and selected the best part of a field for sow- ing flax seed. It was sown at the time oats were sown-and usually in the same field. It was gathered a few weeks before oats harvest. It was drawn with the roots in bunches, which were tied separately and shocked. Ten to twelve bunches formed a shock. It was allowed to stand on the field until the tops became dry and brown. Straw-binders were laid on the ground, the flax placed on the same, and larger bundles formed, which were taken to the barn floor. Here the seed end of the flax was beaten on an elevated plank or on a barrel, to remove the seed, which was sep- arated from the chaff by means of a fan and at a later period by a wind mill. The flax seed was carefully stored, as it was a valuable product to supply an oil which commanded a high price. The flax was rebound and taken to a clean part of the field, where it was spread on the ground and al- lowed to remain a few weeks until rain and sun- shine had made the inner part of the flax brittle and the outer part tough. It was rebound and removed to the barn or other building where it could be kept. Then followed the breaking of the flax. The first requirement was a fireplace and a fire, over which, on elevated bars or rails, the flax was laid and dried to become more brit- tile. The flax breakers, often four or five in number, surrounded the fireplace and broke the flax as best they could and in time on a flax break. When this process was ended, the flax was re- bound in bundles containing twenty-five handfuls and again taken to the barn. Then followed the first hackling to separate the boll of the flax. This was done on a coarse hackle. The flax was then

swingled on a board or plank by means of a wand or wooden knife, and in later years on a break wheel. After the swingling followed hackling on a hackle screwed to the top of a bench. The hackle consisted of a board about ten inches long and three or four inches wide, into which wrought-iron nails about five inches long had been driven. The hackling separated the tow from the fine flax and thus yielded tow and flax. The tow was placed in boxes or barrels and the flax was formed into switches, the ends of which were joined, and a number of such switches were united by a cord and kept in bundles.

The spinning of tow and flax, the work of mothers and daughters, who rose early and often retired late, required much time and labor. The spinning wheel and reel were not wanting. The spinning of tow was first in order. The tow was placed on the fork of the wheel and spun. The spinning of flax, which was wound on a specially made holder, was done on the same wheel on which tow was spun. The reel (haspel) was used for winding the spun tow and flax. One hundred and forty-four revolutions of the reel marked by the indicator were required for a cut. These were formed into skeins, a skein of tow containing four cuts and one of flax six cuts. The skeins of spun tow and flax were boiled in a mix- ture of ash and water-to make the same soft and tender, and were subsequently laid on the grass or hung on bars to dry and to be bleached.

In weaving the same loom was used for mak- ing tow cloth and linen with different gearing for each. The woven material was usually one yard wide. After the web had been made ready a part of it was glued (geschlicht). While time was given for drying the weaver was busy in spooling, and thus there was a constant change from weav- ing to spooling. Tow cloth was often of differ- ent stripes. The woof for the same was colored yellow by means of the bark of hickory trees or peach leaves and blue with indigo. After weav- ing, plain tow cloth and linen were washed, spread on grass, sprinkled regularly and given time to bleach. The proper bleaching often re- quired several weeks of time. The materials thus obtained and linen thread of various thicknesses, also spun at home, were now ready for use.

The tow cloth was used for clothing, bedding, table cloths, towels, bags, coverings and other ar- ticles. Linen cloth of various degrees of fineness was used for shirts, summer clothing, bedding, table cloths, towels and many other purposes.

Linen goods were often checked goods-made of linen colored differently.

In the course of years the pioneer and his de- scendants raised sheep. A husbandman would have from ten to twelve-but frequently also

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

from twenty to twenty-five or more sheep. Sheep shearing was in order in May of each year. The wool secured was washed and then dried on grass. It was then carefully cleaned and picked so that no impurities might remain. It was taken to the carding mill, where it was first carded on rollers, on which there were strips of leather filled with fine wires and fine nails and then passed between rollers on which there were ribs which formed the rolls of wool, which dropped from the cylin- ders. The wool, after being thus formed into rolls, was taken home, where it was spun on the large and small spinning wheels. The weaving of the wool was the same as that of tow and flax. When the supply of wool was yet limited, in weaving, the web was often the product of flax and the woof of wool. The material obtained was known as the linsey-woolsey. It was a much better material for winter clothing than tow cloth and linen cloth, and extensively used for such pur- poses. Cloth woven entirely of wool was for best clothing for wear on Sunday and special occa- sions. The woolen cloth was taken to the fulling- mill. Here it was placed in large receptacles, in which soap and water were used. The material was beaten and turned and when it was removed from the receptacles to be washed it was found narrower and thicker than before. It was then colored black, brown, gray, deep yellow, or red. After being dried, trimmed and rolled it was ready to be taken to the owner's home and was ready for use. Flannels were of different colors and were used for dresses and undergarments.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1158

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158