USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania: The German influence in its settlement and development, Pat VII > Part 2
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But as the night of oppression and wrong was nearing its zenith, the light of a new and a better day was break- ing. The fateful voyage of Columbus changed the fate and fortunes of two continents. It cleared the way for the era of maritime adventure which followed it at once. Western Europe arose and from the Iberian to the Scandi- navian peninsulas the nations embarked upon a career of colonial enterprise. The marvellous tales told by the Genoese sailor of the new lands beyond the great ocean spread throughout the nations even more rapidly than the Fiery Cross among the ancient Highlanders of Scotland, and each one entered upon the game of seizing whatsoever it could of the spoils that seemed to await the earliest comer. England, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden and France at once entered upon the work of seizure and divi- sion.
What a boundless field for enterprise, adventure and wealth was thus opened up to the cupidity of nations and of individuals, and how quickly they availed themselves of
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the opportunity ! Colonists are needed to found colonies and at once every available agency was employed to make these new lands profitable to their newowners. Government companies were chartered, expeditions were authorized, princely land grants were made to individuals and each and all of these offered inducements to the lower ranks in life, the husbandmen, the mechanics and men of all work to enlist themselves in these new enterprises. Of course the most attractive inducements were held out to set this spirit of emigration in motion. The allurements of the pro- moter of the present day hardly surpass, in their false at- tractiveness, the fairy tales held up before the starving millions of the Old World by the Land Companies and other schemers whose interests lay in the numbers they could induce to cross the Atlantic and till their lands and thus make them valuable.
It would require pages to tell this part of my subject in all its fullness. The printing press, that greatest of all the agents in the world's civilization, was already held at its true value. The prospectus of to-day, it is true, was not yet known, but in its stead the booklet was equally effective. Scores of small pamphlets of from ten to one hundred or more pages each were written, printed and scat- tered throughout almost every country in Europe.3
CONCERNING PENNSYLVANIA.
To William Penn, and especially to his trusted agent Benjamin Furly, must be credited the honor of diverting by far the largest part of the German emigration to America,
3 In Volume VII. of the Proceedings of the Pennsylvania-German Society will be found the titles of more than two score of these booklets, all direct- ing attention to the Province of Pennsylvania. A few of the more important ones will be found in this volume.
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Penn in Germany.
to his own Province. This fact has in recent years been so clearly demonstrated as to receive universal recognition. A chain of fortuitous circumstances seems to have been forged in the Divine workshop linking a series of events that finally culminated in the most remarkable, as it is also the most interesting, migration of a people from one country to another, although separated by thousands of miles of watery waste, which the world has ever seen.
Allusion has already been made to the crushed, oppressed and poverty-stricken character of the peasantry in certain parts of Germany, notably in the Rhine provinces, com- monly known as the Palatinate. Religious persecutions were carried out against them even more relentlessly than the red hand of domestic and foreign wars. To a people ready to sacrifice and suffer all for conscience sake, the persecution by creed was as unbearable as that which de- spoiled them of their homes and their substance. Among these people thus affected, came in the year 1671 and again in 1677, a man of humble yet stately mien, one who preached the doctrines of peace and good will to STICE men. He too had passed ARMS OF PENN. through the tribulations of persecution for conscience sake. He could enter into the true inwardness of the men of the Palatinate, condole, soothe and encourage. It was William Penn, the Quaker, whose religious tenets they found in comparison differed little from those held by the followers of Menno Simon, which was in itself a
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strong bond of sympathy. Penn's heart went out to these resolute but amiable people. Still another bond, one of kinship, drew them to him. His mother, Margaret Jasper, was a Dutch woman and it has been alleged that Penn spoke and wrote in Dutch and in German also, although this is not certain. There are few stronger ties than those of language and this, perhaps, was not wanting.
At the period of his travels through Germany, Penn had not yet acquired the ownership of Pennsylvania; it came four years after his last visit. Naturally, one of the first things he undertook was to secure colonists for his newly- acquired province. The attention of Englishmen prior to that period had been directed to New England, to Mary- land, Virginia, and the young colonies to the south of her. The Quakers, it is true, rallied around him and they were his earliest adherents, and his was for a time a Quaker colony. But Penn was a man of broad and enlightened views. He cared little to what nationality his people be- longed provided they were otherwise desirable. Nor creed nor birth nor color was excluded from the laws he formu- lated in 1682.4
A recent writer has referred to the influence exercised by the personality of Penn upon the Germans in the Rhine provinces in these words : "To all of them the news in 1681 that the tall young Englishman who four years before had passed through the Rhine country, preaching a doc- trine of religious life not very different from that of Menno Simon, was now the proprietor in America of a vast re- gion-greater than all Bavaria, Wurtemburg and Baden together-and that he had invited them to come and live there, without wars and persecutions, under laws which
4 JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG'S Memorial History of Philadelphia, Vol. I., p. 62.
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Sale of Land Begins.
they should share in making-such news must indeed have roused and stirred many a discouraged peasant house- hold." 5
An earlier author wrote : "It has ever been the policy of our government (Pennsylvania), before and since the Revolution, and the disposition of our people to receive all sober emigrants with open arms, and to give them imme- diately the free exercise of their trades and occupations, and of their religion." 6
It was this liberal spirit that at once induced him to turn towards his erstwhile friends in Germany. They, next to his own Quaker friends in England, were nearest his heart, and accordingly we find that among his first efforts to se- cure colonists were those directed towards Germany. He made them acquainted with his territory in America. He appointed agents to procure emigrants. Benjamin Furly,
an English Separatist, was perhaps the principal and most active of these and to him a large measure of credit is due for giving direction to the rising tide of Teutonic immigra- tion. As early as March 10, 1682, he had sold several 5,000-acre tracts of land to merchants of Crefeld. This, it will be seen, was before Penn had himself visited his princely domain. In 1683 the elder Pastorius, as agent for a number of German friends, bought 25,000 acres, and on these the town of Germantown was soon after located.
That was the beginning, and thenceforward many
5 JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG'S Memorial History of Philadelphia, Vol. I., p. 62.
6 TENCH COXE, A View of the United States of America, p. 74.
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other agencies were at work to increase the number of German immigrants. The Frankfort Land Company did its utmost to attract settlers to its lands. Such colonists as were already here wrote home attrac- tive accounts of the new home they had found in the forests of Pennsyl- vania. No one, however, was more industriously engaged in this work than Penn himself. As early as 1681 he issued a pamphlet giving infor- mation concerning his province to such as wished "to transport them- selves or servants into those parts." German and Dutch translations were also printed and scattered broadcast through the Low Countries and Ger- many. In 1682 he sent out in Eng- lish and German his Brief Account of the Province of Pennsylvania. Another description of his province was issued in English, Dutch, Ger- FETT AMSEL. (Blackbird) domestic fat man and French in 1684. But his lamp, on stand. were not the only pamphlets sent out. Thomas Budd published an account in English in 1685 ; Cornelius Bom one in Dutch in the same year ; Dr. Moore one in English in 1687; the elder Pastorius one in Ger- man in 1692 ; Gabriel Thomas' well-known Account came out in English and German in 1698 and had an excellent effect, as had also Daniel Falkner's Curiouse Information, published in Frankfort and Leipzig in 1702.7
7 The above are only a small portion of this early Pennsylvania literature. Fac-simile title pages of the above will be found in various places throughout this volume. For fuller details see JULIUS F. SACHSE'S Fatherland, Volume VII., Proceedings of the Pennsylvania-German Society.
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CHAPTER III.
PENN'S OWN DESCRIPTION OF HIS PROVINCE, IN WHICH ITS ADVANTAGES AND ATTRACTIONS ARE FULLY AND MINUTELY SET FORTH FOR THE BENEFIT OF INTENDING EMIGRANTS. "Bald zienen sie im fernen Westen Des leichten Bretterhauses Wand ; Bald reicht sie müden braunen Gästen, Voll frischen Trunkes, eure Hand.
"Wie wird das Bild der alten Tage Durch eure Träume glänzend weh'n ! Gleich einer Stillen, frommen Sage Wird es euch vor der Seele steh'n."
N the preceding chapter reference has been made to some of the early litera- ture sent out by Penn and others concerning Pennsyl- vania. None is more attract- ive and interesting than the one entitled & further Account of the Probince of Pennsylvania and its Unhabitants. for the Satisfaction of those that are (Adbenturers) and inclined to be so, written by Penn himself and published in 1685. It is full yet concise and, as will be seen, very fairly represents the actual con-
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dition of things as they existed in the Province at that time. As I know of no better account, I have reproduced it almost in its entirety. There can be no manner of doubt that, scattered throughout Central and Western Europe in various languages, it was a mighty factor in directing im- migration from the Fatherland towards Pennsylvania.
OF THE PRODUCE OF THE EARTH.
I. The EARTH, by God's blessing, has more than an- swered our expectation ; the poorest places in our Judg- ment producing large Crops of Garden Stuff and Grain. And though our Ground has not generally the symptoms of the fat Necks that lie upon Salt Waters in Provinces Southern of us, our Grain is thought to Excell and our Crops to be as large. We have had the mark of the good Ground amongst us from Thirty to Sixty fold of English Corn.
2. The Land requires less seed : Three pecks of Wheat sow an acre, a Bushel at most, and some have had the in- crease I have mention'd.
3. Upon Tryal we find that the Corn and Roots that grow in England thrive very well there, as Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats, Buck- Wheat, Pease, Beans, Cabbages, Turnips, Carrots, Parsnups, Colleflowers, Asparagus, Onions, Char- lots, Garlick, and Irish Potatoes; we have also the Span- ish and very good RICE, which do not grow here.
4. Our low lands are excellent for Rape and Hemp and Flax. A Tryal has been made, and of the two last there is a considerable quantity Dress'd Yearly.
5. The Weeds of our Woods feed our Cattle to the Market as well as Dary. I have seen fat Bullocks brought thence to Market before Mid Summer. Our Swamps or Marshes yield us course Hay for the Winter.
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Penn's "Brief Account."
:
A brief Account of the Province of Penntplbanta, Lately Granted by the
KIN
G,
Under the GREAT
Seal of England, TO WILLIAM PENN
AND HIS Heirs
and Affigns.
S Ince (by the good Providence of God, and the Favour of the King) a Country in America is fallen to my Lot,. I thought it not lefs my Duty, then my Honeft Intereft, to give fome publick notice of it to the World, that thofe of our own or other Nations, that are inclin'd to Tranfport Themfelves or Families beyond the Seas, may find ano. ther Country added to their Choice; that if they fhall happen to like the Place, Conditions, and Government, (fo far as the prefent Infancy of things will allow us any profpect) they may, if they pleafe, fix with me in the Pro- Vince, hereafter defcribed.
I. The KING'S Title to this Country before he granted it.
It is the Fw Gentium, or Law of Nations, that what' ever Wafte, or uncul- red Country, is the Difcovery of any Prince, it is the right of that Prince. that was at the Charge of the Difcovery: Now this Province is a Member of that part of America, which the King of Englands Anceftors have been at the Charge of Difcovering, and which they and he have taken great care to preferve and Improve.
1 I. William
TITLE-PAGE OF PENN'S Brief Account, 1682.
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6. English GRASS SEED takes well, which will give us fatting Hay in time. Of this I made an Experiment in my own Court Yard, upon sand that was dug out of my Cellar, with seed that had lain in a Cask open to the weather two Winters and a Summer ; I caus'd it to be soun in the beginning of the month called April, and a fortnight before Midsummer it was fit to Mow. It grew very thick : But I ordered it to be fed, being in the nature of a Grass Platt, on purpose to see if the roots lay firm : And though it had been meer sand, cast out of the Cellar but a Year before, the seed took such Root and held the earth so fast, and fastened itself so well in the Earth, that it held fast and fed like old English Ground. I mention this, to con- fute the Objections that lie against those Parts, as that, first, English Grass would not grow ; next, not enough to mow; and lastly, not firm enough to feed, from the Levity of the Mould.
7. All sorts of English fruits that have been tryed take mighty well for the time: The Peach, Excellent on standers, and in great quantities : They sun dry them, and lay them up in lofts, as we do roots here, and stew them with Meat in Winter time. Mus Mellons and Water Mellons are raised there, with as little care as Pumpkins in England. The Vine especially, prevails, which grows everywhere ; and upon experience of some French People from Rochel and the Isle of Rhee, GOOD WINE may be made there, especially when the Earth and Stem are fin'd and civiliz'd by culture. We hope that good skill in our most Southern Parts will yield us several of the Straights Commodities, especially Oyle, Dates, Figs, Al- monds, Raisins and Currans.
الدواء
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Fishes of Pennsylvania.
OF THE PRODUCE OF OUR WATERS.
I. Mighty WHALES roll upon the Coast, near the Mouth of the Bay of Deleware. Eleven caught and workt into Oyl one Season. We justly hope a considerable profit by a Whalery; they being so numerous and the Shore so suitable.
2. STURGEON play continually in our Rivers in Summer : And though the way of cureing them be not generally known, yet by a Reciept I had of one Collins, that related to the Company of the Royal Fishery, I did so well pre- serve some, that I had them good here three months of the Summer, and brought some of the same so for England.
, 3. ALLOES, as they call them in France, the Jews Allice, and our Ignorants, Shads are excellent Fish, and of the bigness of our largest Carp: They are so Plentiful, that Captain Smyth's Overseer at the Skulkil, drew 600 and odd at one Draught; 300 is no wonder; 100 familiarly. They are excellent Pickeled or Smok'd, as well as boyld fresh : They are caught by nets only.
4. ROCK are somewhat rounder and longer, also a whiter fish, little inferior in relish to our Mallet. We have them almost in the like plenty. These are often Barrell'd like Cod, and not much inferior for their spending. Of both these the Inhabitants increase their Winter Store: These are caught by Nets, Hooks and Speers.
There are abundance of lesser fish to be caught of pleas- ure, but they gint not cost, as those I have mentioned, neither in Magnitude nor Number, except the Herring, which swarm in such Shoales that it is hardly Credible ; in little Creeks they almost shovel them up in their tubs. There is the Catfish or Flathead, Lampry, Eale, Trout, Perch, black and white Smelt, Sunfish, etc. : also Oysters, Cockles, Cunks, Crabs, Mussles, Mannanoses.
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OF PROVISION IN GENERAL.
I. It has been often said we were starv'd for want of food ; some were apt to suggest their fears, others to insin- uate their prejudices, and when this was contradicted, and they assur'd we had plenty, both of Bread, Fish and Flesh, then 'twas objected that we were forc't to fetch it from other places at great Charges : but neither is all this true, tho all the World will think we must either carry Provision with us, or get it of the Neighborhood till we had gotten Houses over our heads and a little Land in tillage, we fetcht none, nor were we wholly helpt by Neighbors ; The Old Inhabitants supplied us with most of the Corn we wanted, and a good share of Pork and Beef : 'tis true New York, New England and Road Island did with their pro- visions fetch our Goods and Money, but at such Rates that some for almost what they gave, and others carried their provisions back, expecting a better Market neerer, which showed no scarcity, and that we were not totally destitute on our own River. But if my advice be of any Value I would have them to buy still, and not weaken their Herds, by Killing their Young Stock too soon.
2. But the right measure of information must be the pro- portion of value of Provisions there, to what they are in more planted and mature Colonies. Beef is commonly sold at the rate of two pence per pound; and Pork for two pence half penny ; Veal and Mutton at three pence or three pence half penny, that Country money; an English shilling going for fifteen pence. Grain sells by the Bushel; Wheat at four shillings ; Rye, and excellent good, at three shillings; Barley two shillings six pence; Indian Corn, two shillings six pence; Oats, two shillings, in that money still, which in a new Country, where Grain is so much wanted for feed,
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Prices of Grain and Cattle.
as for food, cannot be called dear, and especially if we consider the Consumption of many of the new Commers.
3. There is so great an increase of Grain by the dilli- gent application of People to Husbandry, that within three Years, some Plantations have got Twenty Acres in Corn, some Forty, some Fifty.
4. They are very careful to increase their stock, and get into Daries as fast as they can. They already make good Butter and Cheese. A good Cow and Calf by her side may be worth three pounds sterling, in goods at first · Cost. A pare of Working Oxen, eight pounds : a pare of fat ones, Little more, and a plain Breeding Mare about five pounds sterl.
5. For Fish, it is brought to the Door, both fresh and salt. Six Alloes or Rocks for twelve pence; and salt fish at three fardings per pound, Oysters at 2s per bushel.
6. Our DRINK has been Beer and Punch, made of Rum and Water : Our Beer was mostly made of molasses, which well boyld, with Sassafras or Pine infused into it, makes very tollerable drink; but now they make Mault, and Mault Drink begins to be common, especially at the Ordinaries and the Houses of the more substantial People. In our great Toun there is an able Man, that has set up a large Brew, House, in order to furnish the People with good Drink, both there, and up and down the River."
This Further Account is too lengthy to be quoted in full here. He quotes a long letter written by one who had been in the Province and describes the existing conditions in the most favorable language. After this he resumes his own narrative, from which we make another extract.
" I. It is agreed on all hands, that the Poor are the Hands and Feet of the Rich. It is their labour that Improves Countries ; and to encourage them, is to promote the real
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benefit of the publick. Now as there are abundance of these people in many parts of Europe, extreamly desirous of going to America ; so the way of helping them thither, or when there, and the return thereof to the Disbursers, will prove what I say to be true."
Then follow his several schemes for the settlement of immigrants upon his lands. The amount of lands to be allotted to each family; the improvements that will be built for them, the stock and farming tools that will be supplied, even their seed for the first year's harvest; this is followed by the easy terms upon which payment may be made, this for those who have the means to transport them- selves thither, but no more. Still another plan provides for such as are destitute of any resources. To each family of such 100 acres are allotted, with £15 in hand before starting to provide adequately for the journey.
All in all, as we read over this scheme of colonization it appeals to our hearts and better natures as the wisest as well as most generous that had ever appeared among men. Plato's Republic, and Sir Thomas More's Utopia present nothing with all their wealth of ideal beneficence more striking than this practical, every-day humanitarianism of William Penn.
TIMES FOR MAKING THE VOYAGE.
While it was possible for ships to reach and leave Phila- delphia during every month in the year, save occasionally during the inclement season of mid-winter, the late winter and autumn months were generally chosen for the depar- ture from Europe. We accordingly find the ship arrivals were most numerous in early spring and late in the fall. April and May, September, October and November wit- nessed the largest influx of immigrants during the year.
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. Seasons and Length of Voyage.
Of such moment was this matter that Penn himself devotes a chapter in one of his various pamphlets, addressed to such as were casting their eyes across the Atlantic, to the proper season for the experiment. I quote what he says on this subject :
" OF THE SEASONS OF GOING, AND USUAL TIME OF PASSAGE.
" I. Tho Ships go hence at all times of the Year, it must be acknowledged, that to go so as to arrive at Spring or Fall, is best. For the Summer may be of the hottest, for fresh Commers, and in the Winter, the wind that prevails, is the North West, and that blows off the Coast, so that sometimes it is difficult to enter the Capes.
"2. I propose, therefore, that Ships go hence (from Eu- rope) about the middle of the moneths call'd February and August, which allowing two months for passage reaches in time enough to plant in the Spring such things as are carried hence to plant, and in the Fall to get a small Cot- tage, and clear some Land against next Spring. I have made a discovery of about a hundred Miles West, and find those back Lands richer in Soyl, Woods and Fountains, than that by Deleware ; especially upon the Susquehanna River.
"3. I must confess I prefer the Fall to come thither, as believing it more healthy to be followed with Winter than Summer ; tho, through the great goodness and mercy of God we have had an extraordinary portion of health, for so new and numerous a Colony, notwithstanding we have not been so regular in time.
"4. The Passage is not to be set by any man ; for Ships will be quicker and slower, some have been four months, and some but one and as often. Generally between six
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and nine weeks. One year, of four and twenty Sayl, I think, there was not three above nine, and there was one or two under six weeks in the passage.
" 5. To render it more healthy, it is good to keep as much upon Deck as may be ; for the Air helps against the offen- sive smells of a Crowd, and a close place. Also to Scrape often the Cabbins, under the Beds; and either carry store of Rue and Wormwood; and some Rosemary, or often sprinkle Vinegar about the Cabbin. Pitch burnt, is not amiss sometimes against faintness and infectious scents. I speak my experience for the benefit and direction that may need it." 8
The very minuteness with which every detail is given in- dicates the desire to leave no room for misunderstandings. He was anxious that there should be no cause for com- plaint. His very frankness must have convinced his read- ers and won them. All this became apparent to the new immigrant and this was no doubt one of the principal reasons why the reports sent back to Germany were almost univer- sally favorable, and proved instrumental in keeping up the immigration movement so many years.
Peter Kalm, the Swedish botanist and traveller, who visited America in 1748, bears strong evidence to the fact that the large immigration of Germans was in a great measure due to the solicitation of those already here. He says : " The Germans wrote to their relatives and friends and advised them to come to America ; not to New York where the government had shown itself to be unjust. This advice had so much influence that the Germans who after- wards went in great numbers to North America constantly avoided New York, and always went to Philadelphia. It
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