USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania: The German influence in its settlement and development, Pat V > Part 3
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" Mr. Hill, first Commissioner of Property, delivered himself to this Purpose.
" That it was stipulated at the first Settlement of this Province, between the Proprietor William Penn & the In- dians, that they should sell no Lands to private Persons or to any besides himself, or his Commissioners. And after- wards a Law was Enacted to the same Purpose, that all the Purchases made of the Indians by any other than the Proprietor or his Agents should be entirely void, which Law is still in Force. The Proprietors Commissioners, in his Absence, have ever been strictly carefull to avoid grant- ing any Lands that were not first duly purchased of the In- dians, nor would they ever suffer them to be putt off from any Lands on which they were settled, even where they had fully sold all their Rights till they would voluntarily remove. The Commissioners therefor would never have
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Patenting Indian Lands.
agreed to that Settlement of the Palatines on the Tulpy- hockin Lands for the Indians were then seated on them, but we see by what Methods they were disturbed. The Gentleman then at Helm, not only took upon him to order the Settlements of the Proprietors Lands, but so far to direct even in these affairs that the application must be made to him also, to be freed by HIS AUTHORITY from the Indians Demands.
" It fully appears therefore, where the sole Foundations of these Complaints lies, & how groundless all the Noise is, that has been made of the Commissioners patenting the Indians Lands. This can arise from no other than a mis- chievous Design to beget animosities, and raise a Dis- affection in the Inhabitants, And 'tis probable, that it is with a view to possess the People with an opinion that all our Treaties with the Indians, with whom a Friendship has been so carefully cultivated from the beginning, & of which we have reaped the happy Fruits are only on Affairs of Property & the Purchase of Lands, & therefore that the Publick should bear no part of the Charge. The contrary of this fully appears at this time, And when the Proprietor or his Commissioners have occasion to treat with the Indians about those Affairs, the Publick has never been troubled with the Expense of it."
The Governor then said.
" My Friends & Brethren :
" We have now brightned the Chain & strengthned our League, & we are as one People. I have commanded all the English, by a printed Proclamation published through all the Contrey, to be kind to the Indians, which you shall hear read unto you & interpreted."
And the same was accordingly interpreted unto them, with which they appeared highly satisfied.
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This brought the following reply from the Proprietaries to the Trustees, under date of Nov. II, 1728 :
" We are not without hopes that there is much more due from Palatines and others, that have settled on lands for some years Past, than will be sufficient for our Present Exigencies ; and that there is also several Thousand pounds on Bond due from others, who bought Lands many years since which it is now high time to call upon for payment, & Therefore, we think it Requisite that you should give them all notice to hand in their money, allowing them some Reasonable time to provide it, and if there should be any that Cannot raise it, we think you may Justly require That they should submitt their estates to a Rent charge Equiva- lent to the Principal & Interest, & that such as should neglect to pay or give that satisfaction, should be Com- pell'd to it by Law.
" We look upon the purchasing of the Indian Claims to any of the Lands that have been, or may be settled, to be a matter of great Consequence, & therefore, we desire that you will Take the most prudent measures which occur to you to accomplish it, especially, That of Turpehockin, & what you Can Reasonably thereabout concerning which you had so great a Dispute in your Treaty with the Indians."
It was one thing, however, to direct their Trustees to compensate the Indians for their lands, and quite another thing for the Trustees to procure the means with which to do it. On Sept. 17, 1729, Secretary Logan writes : " But of all these [the Tulpehocken and Minisink Lands] there is not one acre yet purchased of the Indians, and their Purchases will certainly prove high now. Who is to bear the charge of these is not for me to determine."
Again, on Nov. 16, 1729, he tells them :
" Another great Point which must, without any Loss of
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Arrival of Thomas Penn.
time, be resolv'd on, is to make new Purchases of the Indians, without which we may expect a war that would run this Province in the extreamest Confusion, none being worse fitted for it. I have always been scrupulously care- ful to suffer no settlemts to be made, as far as I can prevent it, on their Claims, but S. W. Keith made the first out- rageous steps in settling those Palatines at Tulpyhockin. In the meantime I have done all in my power to caress those Indians and keep them in temper, alwayes soothing them with an expectation that their brother, John Penn, their Countryman, would come over, & exactly treading his & their Father (W. Penn's steps.) would doe them Justice."
The correspondence given is sufficient to afford the reader an insight into the condition of affairs. Whilst we have seen that our German immigrants from New York Province were not especially welcome, and that, even in Pennsyl- vania, the shadow of another ejectment hung over them, yet it is a great pleasure to consider the comparatively honorable treatment accorded them in the latter Province. Unwelcome as they were, when the Proprietors realized that they were actually there and were disposed to do right, they, in turn, were willing to make any just terms with the strangers whereby they might obtain their long- sought homes.
Finding that the presence of one of the Proprietors was sorely needed, Thomas Penn came over in August, 1732, and started in to straighten out matters. Not only were satisfactory arrangements made, gradually, with the Pala- tines, enabling them to gain valid titles to their properties, but on September 7, 1732, a deed was obtained from the Indians, for which due compensation was given, covering the entire Schuylkill Region, including, of course, that
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drained by the tributary Tulpehocken Creek. Giving, as it does, the price paid for the garden spot of Pennsylvania, also the names of the Delaware Sachem, and other In- dians, together with a proof of the fact that Conrad Weiser, himself, had a hand in it, the writer deems the deed of sufficient interest to give in its entirety.
EAM
CHAPTER VI.
INDIAN DEED-SASOONAN &C, 1732.
MANETTO INDIANDRUM/
E, Sasooaan alias Al- lummapis, Sachem
of the Schuylkill Indians, in the Province of Pensilvania ; Elalapis, Ohopamen, Pesqueetomen, Mayeemoe, Partridge, Tepakoaset alias Joe,
on behalf of our Selves and all the other Indians' of the said Nation, for and in Consideration of twenty brass Kettles, one Hundred Strowdwater Match coats of two Yards each, One Hundred Duffel Ditto, One Hundred Blankets, One Hundred Yards of half Thicks, Sixty linnen Shirts, Twenty Hatts, Six made Coats, twelve pair of Shoos and buckles, Thirty pair of Stockings, three Hundred pounds of Gun Powder, Six Hundred pounds of Lead, Twenty fine Guns, twelve Gun Locks, fifty Tommy- hocks or hatchets, fifty planting houghs, one Hundred & twenty Knives, Sixty pair of Scissars, one Hundred To- bacco Tongs, Twenty four looking Glasses, Forty Tobacco Boxes, one Thousand Flints, five pounds of paint, Twenty
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four dozen of Gartering, Six dozen of Ribbon, twelve dozen of Rings, two Hundred Awl blades, one Hundred pounds of Tobacco, four Hundred Tobacco Pipes, Twenty Gallons of Rum and fifty Pounds in Money, to us in hand paid or secured to be paid by Thomas Penn, Esq", one of the Proprietors of the said Province, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, Have Granted Bargained Sold Released & Confirmed and by these presents Do Grant Bargain Sell Release and Confirm unto John Penn, the said Thomas Penn & Richard Penn, Esq's, Proprietors of the said Province, all those Tracts of Land or Lands lying on or near the River Schuylkill, in the said Province, or any of the branches streams fountains or springs thereof, East- ward or Westward, and all the Lands lying in or near Swamps Marshes fens or Meadows the waters or streams of which flow into or towards the said River Schuyl- kill, situate lying and being between those Hills called Lechaig Hills and those called Keekachtanemin Hills, which cross the said River Schuylkill about Thirty Miles above the said Lechaig Hills, and all Land whatsoever ly- ing within the said bounds and between the branches of Delaware River on the Eastern side of the said Land, and the branches or streams running into the River Susquehan- nah on the Western side of the said Land, Together with all Mines Minerals Quarries Waters Rivers Creeks Woods Timber & Trees, with all and every the Appurtenances to the hereby Granted Land and premises belonging or ap- pertaining, To have and to Hold the said Tract or Tracts of Land Hereditaments and premises hereby Granted or mentioned or intended to be hereby Granted, (That is to say all those Lands situate lying and being on the said River Schuylkill and the branches thereof, Between the Mountains called Lechaig to the South, and the Hills or
Indian Deed. 389
Mountains called Keekachtanemin on the North, and be- tween the branches of Delaware River on the East, and the waters falling into Susquehanna River on the West,) with all and every their Appurtenances, unto the said John Penn, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, their Heirs and Assigns, To the only proper use and behoof of the said John Penn, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, their Heirs and Assigns forever, So that neither We the said Sasoonan alias Allummapis, Elalapis, Ohopamen, Pesqueetomen, Mayeemoe, Partridge, Tepakoaset alias Joe nor our Heirs nor any other Person or Persons hereafter shall or may have or Claim any Estate Right Title or Intrest of in or to the hereby Granted Land and premises or any part thereof, But from the same shall be Excluded and forever debarred by these presents, In Witness whereof the said Sasoonan alias Allummapis, Elalapis, Ohopamen, Pesqueetomen, Mayeemoe, Partridge, Tepakoaset alias Joe have hereunto set their Hands and Seals, at Stenton, the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord one Thousand Seven Hundred and thirty two, and in the Sixth year of the Reign of King George the Second over Great Britain, &c.
We, the above named Sasoonan alias Allummapis, Ela- lapis, Ohopamen, Pesqueetomen, Mayemoe, Partridge. Tepakoasset alias Joe, Doe hereby Acknowledge to have had and Received of & from the above named Thomas Penn, all & every the above mentioned parcells & quan- tities of Goods and fifty Pounds in Money, being the full Consideration for all & Singular the above Granted Lands & premises, and Doe Acknowledge our Selves fully Satis- fied & contented for the same, as Witness our Hands.
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Sealed and Delivered by Sa- soonan, Alalapis, Pesquee tom, Ohopamen, Maye- moe, Partridge & Tepakoa- Pesqueetom, his x mark.
set, in the presence of James Logan, Thomas Freame,
Isaac Norris, Jun",
Robt. Charles,
Peter Lloyd, W. Plumsted,
James Hamilton, Mord. Lloyd, James Steel.
Sasoonan als Allumapis, his x mark. Alalapis, his x mark.
Ohopamen, his x mark. Mayemoe, his x mark.
Partridge, his x mark. his Tepa x hoasset, mark.
Be it Remembered, that on the twelfth day of July, in the Year 1742, I, Lingahonoa, one of the Schuylkill In- dians, in the Province of Pensilvania, happening not to be present when my Brethren, Parties to the above Deed, signed & executed the same, but having now received my full Share and Proportion of the several Goods & Con- sideration above mention'd weh was left for my use in the Hands of James Logan, Esq', And having now heard the sd Deed read interpreted & explained to me, I Do hereby signify and testify my full & free Consent Agreemt & Ap- probation of & to the granting bargaining & selling all the above described & granted Lands, And do hereby join in the Sale & Conveyance thereof, To hold to and to the use of the above named John Penn, Thomas Penn & Richard Penn, their Heirs & Assigns forever. Witness my Hand and Seal, at Philadelphia, the sd 12th July, 1742.
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Indian Deed.
Witnesses present-
. B. Franklin, Wm. Peters, Conrad Weiser,
The x mark of
Lingahonoa.
Lyn Ford Lardner.
Be it Remembered, that on the twenty fourth Day of September, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Seven, Before me, William Allen, Es- quire, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, Per- sonally appeared James Hamilton, William Plumsted and William Peters, of the City of Philadelphia, Esquires, and severally made Oath on the Holy Evangelists as follows, And first the said Deponents, James Hamilton and William Plumsted, say that on or about the Day of the Date of the within first written Deed, they saw the same Deed signed and sealed as within by the within named Sassoonan, Alalapis, Pesqueeton, Ohopamen, Mayeemoe, Partridge, and Telakoasset, in Presence of them these Deponents and the several other subscribing Witnesses thereto, and that the names James Hamilton and William Plumsted thereto subscribed to attest the same are the proper Hand- writing of them these Deponents severally and respec- tively, And the said Deponent, William Peters, on his Oath saith, that on or about the Twelfth Day of July, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Two, he the said Deponent, William Peters, was present and saw the within written Deed Poll or Memoran- dum of that Date, which is subjoined or wrote under the said within written Deed of the said Sassoonan and Others, duly signed as within, and sealed by Lingahonoa, One of the Schuylkill Indians therein named, both the said Deeds having been first carefully read, interpreted and explained,
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to the said Lingahonoa, before his Signing as aforesaid, in Presence of this Deponent and the other subscribing Witnesses, And that the Name William Peters subscribed as a Witness to the said Lingahonoa's Signing and Sealing the said subjoined Deed Poll or Memorandum, is the proper Handwriting of the Deponent.
Will. Allen.
Indorsed-Indeed Deed-Sasoonan, &c .- for Lands on Schuylkill. Dated 7th Septem", 1732. Recorded Page II4. N. B. Boileau, Secy.
Commencing the world anew under such circumstances, as our Palatines were obliged to do, is it any wonder that there was more or less disorder at their settlement, in the sense that there was no government and that every one did as he pleased. Evidently the effort was made to systematize matters, but without avail. They had not yet recovered from the first effects of their newly found freedom. Weiser pointedly remarks : "There was none among the people who could govern them; every one did as he pleased ; their obstinacy, to this day (1745), has been much against them."
There were constant accessions, however, to the number of the first feeble band. In 1728-other families left Scho- harie and settled there, amongst whom were :
Leonard Anspach, George Zeh,
Caspar Hohn,
Johannes Noecker,
Johan Jacob Holsteiner,
Michael Lauer,
Andreas Kapp, Jacob Werner,
Johan Philip Schneider,
Jacob Katterman,
Jacob Löwengut,
Heinrich Six, 4
Philip Theis,
Conrad Scharf,
George Schmidt.
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
ANNA EVE, WIFE OF COLONEL JOHN CONRAD WEISER. "A CHRISTIAN PERSON OF EVANGELICAL PARENTAGE." BORN, JANUARY 25, 1700; DIED, DECEMBER 27. 1778.
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
JOHN CONRAD WEISER. BORN, NOVEMBER 2, 1696; DIED, JULY 13, 1760.
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John Conrad Weiser.
In 1729, however, they received their most important accession when Conrad Weiser, Jr., left Schoharie with his wife and four small children, Philip, Anna Madlina, Fred- erick and Anna Maria, the eldest but five years of age, and settled one mile east of the present town of Womelsdorf. He was followed in the spring of 1744 by his brother, Christopher Frederick, who settled not far distant and from whom spring most of the Weiser descendants living at this time in that general vicinity. John Conrad Weiser, the father, did not migrate to Pennsylvania, but remained in residence in New York. According to one account he
" piloted this small colony to Tulpehocken," but " the crowd proved too anarchal for him." Of this we have no evidence, and we do know that he never settled in Penn's Province. In the year 1746 he felt a yearning desire to see, once more, his children and grandchildren at Tulpe- hocken. With the assistance of Conrad he reached his son's home, but with much difficulty. He was very infirm and frail when he came and lived but a short time after, when he fell asleep in death, surrounded by his weeping descendants, at the age of 86 years. His remains are pre- sumed to lie in the graveyard adjoining the Tulpehocken Church, but the tomb can no longer be distinguished among . the many in that locality, if, indeed, it be there. So ended.
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from an earthly standpoint, a fruitless life, sterling, good man as he was ; one filled with toil and trouble, surrounded by danger and difficulty, and unaccompanied by present reward. The character of the elder Weiser has not been sufficiently appreciated. Descended from an honorable family, like his ancestors a " Schuldheisz," or chief mag- istrate of Gross-Aspach, County of Bachnang, Duchy of Wurtemberg, Germany, as well as a man of means even after the utter ruin of his home in 1693, it was but natural that he should become the leader of the mass of Palatines who were gathered at London, in 1710, for transportation to America. Instead of added honor this meant but added toil, suffering and responsibility. How well he performed his duty is now a matter of history. His stand against im- position in New York Province, his perilous visit to London for justice, his assiduous efforts to find homes for his coun- trymen, his patriotic service with the contingent from New York to fight the French in 1711, have all been told but too briefly. The great mistake of his life was his second marriage, in 1711, to a woman much younger than himself, by whom he had three children-John Frederick, Jacob and Rebecca. She seems to have been not only unkind herself to her step-children, but to have been instrumental in causing the father to use harshness towards them. The immediate result was that two of the sons-George Fred- erick and Christopher Frederick-were bound out, in 1711, with the father's consent, by the Governor of New York, to a gentleman on Long Island, and the family began to break up. His own happiness seems to have been greatly disturbed, as is evidenced by his longing to visit Pennsyl- vania. Like many another he was forced to look above for that peace which was denied him here below.
When Penn purchased, in 1732, from " the tawny sons
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First Settlers.
of Tulpahoca " their lands, the villages, which they occu- pied, clustered " north of the present site of Womelsdorf, under the Kittatiny or Blue Mountain," embracing the ter- ritory west of the Schuylkill River, as previously men- tioned. Before the erection of Berks County, in 1752, the township of Tulpehocken was a recognized division, being a part of Lancaster County in 1729. Because of its great size, in 1734 another township was laid off from it and erected, called " Heidelberg " to commemorate that part of the fatherland from whence many of the settlers came. These two districts were, later, again subdivided, but such subdivisions are of no special bearing on our present paper. The early inhabitants, therefore, of the old townships of Heidelberg and Tulpehocken were composed, mainly, of the immigrants from New York Province, and their names are of especial interest to us.
Rupp names the following as amongst the first settlers :
John Adam Diffebach
Peter Lebo
Christian Lower
Christopher Weiser
John Spycker Jacob Lederman
George Beistein
Jacob Ketterman
Jacob Fisher
Peter Ansbach
John Soller Jacob Sorbert
Michael Ried
Francis Wenrich
Frederick Reed
Ulrich Schwartz Stephen Conrad
Henry Boyer
Conrad Sherf John Livergood
Martin Stip Abraham Lauch
Peter Sanns Adam Stein
Peter Serby
Casper Reed (Ritt) Peter Reed
John Edwards
Herman Walborn
George Landauer
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George Null
Lenard Rees
Jacob Livergood
Adam Lesh
Francis Parvin
Philip Brown
Henry Seller
Peter Shever
Ludowick Ansbach
Felty Unruth (Onroo)
George King
Jacob Miller
John Fohrer
Jacob Hubelor
Christopher Keiser
Jacob Wilhelm
John Trautman
Jacob Bartner
Michael Detweiler
Nicholas Olly
Nicholas Kinser
John Hovershen
John Moir
Simon Scherman
Henry Stein
John Riegel
Christian Moir
Jacob Schwaner
George Sherman
Henry Millberger
Peter Keephart
Wolf Miller
William Keyser
George Paffinberger
George Jacob Sherman
George Kantrico
Gottfried Rohrer
Daniel Moir
Jacob Hoffman
Martin Schell
Mathias Doebler
Adam Jordan
George Wolf
Jacob Tantor
Bartel Dissinger
Jacob Fullman
George Tallinger
Mathias Noffziger
Jacob Reed
John George Meirslem
Frederick Kaufman
Jacob Miller
Christian Frank
Simon Bogenreif
Rudolph Moir
Andrew Wollinbeck
Michael Kofner
George Gotyman
George Brosius
Henry Reidenbach
Jacob Bortner
John Baltzer Shever
Jacob Casert
Valentine Brindseil
Casper Reed
Martin Warner
1
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First Settlers.
Christopher Ulrich Johann Jacob Snebly Mathias Bricker John Pontius
William Brath
Gottfried Fitler Peter Mink
Casper Stump
Peter Criser Daniel Lucas
Mathias Wagner
William Keyser
Nicholas Miller
Philip Gebhart
George Weaver
George Ulrich Fisher
Philip Meade
William Dieler
John Philip Bunger
Conrad Reber
George Christ
Valentine Bungardner
Conrad Wirth
Nicholas Lang
Thomas Kern
Frederick Stap
Mathias Shefer
Valentine Neu
John Ridnore
Christian Kurtz
Jacob Stough
John Ebberts
John George Mats
Michael Alberts
William Sassaman
Peter Laux
Adam Rehm
Peter Krieger
John Adam Weaver
John Weiser
Jacob Houksvert
It is to be regretted that this list is imperfect and incom- plete in various respects. The next available lists are the taxables of 1759. After the lapse of thirty years the num- bers of the original settlers were more or less increased by the addition of others from below, and decreased by the removal of some of their own descendants. Therefore, whilst interesting in many ways, the lengthy later lists lose much of value in their bearing on our subject and should . hardly form a part of this paper.
Nicholas Hamber
CHAPTER VII.
THE IMMIGRANT'S FIRST AIM FOR CHURCH AND SCHOOL.
OW that our Palatine immi- grants have, at last, not only reached their destina- tion but have been allowed to settle in peace and been put in the way of obtaining clear titles to their property, it is well to re- call the fact that they came not for adventure, neither did they curse the land of they adoption by carrying with them the lust for gold, but they came to find a home and to bring with them a steadiness, an energy and a godliness of character which was to lay a solid foundation for the future of Penn's Prov- ince and bless it above all its sister Colonies or States. Aye ! more than that, it was to be the leaven which, though hidden at first in the Pennsylvania loaf, was gradually to spread its influence throughout the whole country and permeate the entire Union. What, then, was the first act of these
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An Ancient Landmark.
people, denounced, time and again, as " ignorant boors," because, forsooth, they spoke a tongue which their learned neighbors could not understand, thus necessitating the use, by themselves, naturally in a more or less imperfect man- ner, of their neighbors' language? It was, after having erected a house in which to worship their God, to place beside it a school house for the education of their children. Other settlers, in other colonies, had likewise built their churches, but it can hardly be affirmed that any of them, following the example of these despised Germans, made it an invariable rule to provide, at such early stage in their experience, for the education of their offspring.
This subject, as a whole and in detail, will be treated hereafter. It behooves us, therefore, to now consider, in a general way, only so much of it as may pertain to the early history of the immigrants from New York Province. Were the traveler of to-day, having taken a train at Reading, Penn'a, over the Lebanon Valley Railroad, to disembark at Sheridan Station and ramble along the Mill Creek road, due south, for half a mile, he would come to what is still a well proportioned, substantial stone structure, with a capa- cious cellar, half under ground, whence flows a strong and beautiful stream of clear water, having its rise here in a perennial spring. It is the Zeller homestead, erected by Heinrich Zeller, one of our New York Palatines, in 1745, as shown by an engraved headstone within the wall, al- ways kept in good repair by the family, and now the prop- erty of his eighth lineal descendant, Mr. Monroe P. Zeller, whose modern residence is nearby and who is, himself, a cultured and talented gentleman, a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and various musical conservatories abroad, where he is by no means unknown for his abilities in that direction. The Rev. P. C. Croll, who has wandered
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