USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania: The German influence in its settlement and development, Pat VII > Part 6
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34 Colonial Records, Vol. IV., p. 315.
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Governor Thomas' Message.
of a proper Building at the public Expence, not only to ac- commodate such as shall arrive hereafter under the same Circumstances, but to prevent the future Importation of Diseases into this City, which has more than once felt the fatal Effects of them.
"The numbers of People which I observed came into this Province from Ireland & Germany, pointed out to me the necessity of an Hospital or Pest House, soon after my arrival here; (August, 1738.) and in 1738 I recommended it to the Assembly of that year, who seemed so far from disapproving it, that they gave me hopes of building one so soon as the Circumstances of the Province should admit. I very heartily wish for the sake of such ffamilys, Inhabitants of this City, as suffered in the late Mortality by the Loss of some who were their Chief Support, and will therefore feel it for Years to come, and on account of the Irish & German Strangers, that it had indeed been done as soon as the Circumstances of the Province did admit of it. But as it can profit nothing to bewail Evils past, I hope you will now make the proper Use of them by doing all in your Power to Prevent the like for the time to come.
" I am not insensible that some look with jealous Eyes upon the yearly concourse of Germans to this Province, but the Parliament of Great Britain see it in a different Light, and have therefore given great Encouragement by a late Act to all such foreign Protestants as shall settle in his Majesty's Dominions; And indeed every Man who well Considers this Matter must allow that every indus- trious Laborer from Europe, is a real addition to the wealth of this Province, and that the Labor of every foreigner in particular is almost so much clear Gain to our Mother Country.
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" I hope I need not take up more of your or my own Time to convince you that what is now again recommended is both for the interest of the Province and the Health of this City. Evils felt are the most convincing Arguments. I shall only add, that as Christians and as Men, we are. obliged to make a Charitable Provision for the sick Stranger, and not by Confining him to a Ship, inhumanly expose him to fresh Miserys when he hopes that his Suf- ferings are soon to be mitigated. Nothing but the build- ing an Hospital or Pest House in a proper situation can, in my Opinion, be a suitable Charity or an Effectual security for the future, more especially as the Country people are grown so apprehensive of the Disease that they will not be persuaded to admit the infected into their Houses."
To the foregoing message, every word of which was true, the Assembly returned the following answer :
" A Message to the Governor from the House of Rep- resentatives.
" May it please the Governor :
" As great numbers of People from Ireland & Ger- many are yearly imported into this Province, some of whom have been affected with Malignant & Dangerous Distempers, it is Evident to Us that a convenient House to accommodate such as shall hereafter arrive under the like Circumstances, may be of great Use to them, and a means to prevent the spreading of infectious Distempers among Us, the Effects of which the City of Philadelphia has lately felt, altho' we think a due Execution of the Laws might in part have prevented them. How this failure hap- pened, at whose Door it ought to lye, and the Means of preventing it for the future, we shall take another Occa-
The Assembly Makes Answer. 81
sion to Consider, and therefore we wave further Notice of it here.
" When the Governor was pleased to recommend the Building an Hospital or Pest-house to the Assembly in the Year 1738, it was thought too great an undertaking for the Circumstances we were then in; and if it be Con- sidered that the Province hath since been at great and un- usual Expences, we think it may justly be said that the State of the Public Treasure neither at present nor at any time since the year 1738 hath been in a much better Con- dition for such an Undertaking than it was at that time. Nevertheless, as it will not only be Charitable to Strangers who may hereafter come among us in the distressed Cir- cumstances before mentioned, but also of benefit to the in- habitants of this Province, we are therefore determined to take this Matter into Consideration, and to direct a plan to be proposed and an Estimate made of the Money which would be requisite for the Building and yearly maintenance of such an Hospital, to be laid before Us at our next Sit- ting. In the mean Time, as it is a Matter of Consider- able Importance, we may have the Opportunity of Know- ing more generally the Minds of our Constituents, and it will give such of them as shall think it fit an Opportunity of applying to us touching the necessity of such a Build- ing, and the Manner of doing it which may render it most useful & least burthensome to the Province; And on the whole we may the better be enabled to judge of the part it will become Us to act in the Affair.
" Who they are that look with jealous Eyes on the Ger- mans the Governor has not been pleased to inform Us, nor do we know; Nothing of the kind can justly be at- tributed to Us, or any preceeding Assembly to our knowl- edge; On the Contrary, the Legislature of this Province,
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before the late Provision made in the Parliament of Great Britian, have generally, on application made to them, ad- mitted the Germans to partake of the Privileges enjoyed by the King's natural born Subjects here, and as we look upon the protestant part of them in general to be Laborius, Industrious people, we shall cheerfully perform what may reasonably be expected from Us for the benefit of those al- ready among Us, and such who may hereafter be imported.
" Signed by Order of the House. "John Kinsey, "Speaker."
It will readily be seen that the foregoing reply is so much petty quibbling, intended to excuse the non-performance of a duty, for neglect of which there really was no excuse. But Governor Thomas was a good politician, had as good a command of the English language as the members of the Legislature, and above all had the right side of the ques- tion. He promptly sent that body a rejoinder on the fol- lowing day, January 8th, in the following words :
" Gentlemen :
" I am not a little pleased to find by your Message of Yesterday, that you agree to the necessity of building a Pest House for the reception of Sick strangers, and to pre- vent the Spreading of infectious Diseases they may happen to have Contracted in their Voyage hither, and I cannot allow myself to doubt of your taking a speedy & proper Means for the Completion of so charitable a Work.
" Whilst the German petitioners complain that many have lost their Lives by being confined to the ships, you express your Dissatisfaction that the Laws have not been Executed ; that is, I suppose, that sick passengers were not confined to the Ships. A former Assembly however, com-
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Pastorius' Tract on Pennsylvania.
Surge Sefareibung Des D. H. Reids Stadt IndsBeim/ Samt Dero vielfältigen Unglucie Sallent und wahrhaftigen Urfachen ihrer fo grofs fen Decaden; und Erbarmungs fut: Digen Buftandes /
Miten glaubfourdigen Documentis und Brieflichen Urfunden ( Der iso lebenden lieben Burgerfchafft / und Dero SRachtommen / zu gutes nachricht) alfo fufammen getragen / und in Den Druck gegeben
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Melchiorem Adamum Paftorium, altern Burgemeiftern und Ober- Rich tern in befagter Stadt.
Bebrudt zu nurnberg ben Chriftian Sigmund Broberg. Im Jahr Chrifti 1692. TITLE-PAGE OF MELCHIOR ADAM PASTORIUS' TRACT ON Windsheim and Pennsylvania.
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WOMEN
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posed of many of the same Members with the present, after the very same Measures taken as to me, were pleased to tell me in their address ' That they had a grateful sense of my Care in putting in Execution the Law for preventing Sickly vessels from coming into this Government.' But all I say or do now must be wrong. The Resolutions of the last Assembly on this Matter sufficiently explain to me what is meant by ' taking another occasion to consider at whose Door the late sickness in Philadelphia ought to lie.' I shall be glad to see your attempt to justify what was in- sinuated & assumed in those Resolves; Accusations & Complaints are no new things to me, but thanks to my In- tegrity they have been so far from doing me a prejudice that they have shown me to his Majesty & his Ministers in a Light more advantageous than I could otherwise have expected ; ffor this favor tho' not designed as such, Gen- tlemen, I thank you.
" If I do not strictly adhere to form in imputing to you what was done by the two preceeding Assembly's I hope you will excuse me, for as you are nine in ten of you the same Members, I do not know how to separate your actions from your Persons.
" I cannot but differ with you (which I am sorry is too often the Case) in the State of the Public Treasury since 1738, for the Public accounts in my Opinion Show that the Province has at no point of Time since been unable to Erect the proposed Building ; you have, I con- fess, been at some unusual Expence, but I cannot call it great as you do, since £1,500 out of the £2,500 said to be Expended has been stopt out of my support. I know of no other call Upon the Province since for an Unusual Ex- pence. If you have generously and out of Compassion for the Sufferings of your Subjects in Britain remitted
£
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The Governor's Rejoinder.
£3,000 to your Agent for their Relief, I conclude you were well able to Spare it, And that otherwise you would not have done it.
" Either the Memory of some of your Body who were members in 1738, must have failed them very much ; or their Sentiments of the Importation of foreigners are, for very Substantial Reasons, much alter'd ; ffor, not to dwell upon a small Instance of the assembly's Displeasure to me at that Time for saying a little too much of the Indus- try of the Germans, I refer you to the Minutes for the As- sembly's address to the Proprietor in 1738, to convince you that what I said of their having been looked upon with Jealous Eyes by some, was not altogether without founda- tion. What follows may be found in that address :
" And this House will, in a proper Time, readily join with the Governor in any Act that may be judged neces- sary, as well for protecting the property of the Proprietors and others from such unjust Intrusions for the future and for the preservation of the peace of the Government, as for Guarding against the Dangers which may arise from the great & frequent Importation of fforeigners." 35
It is not necessary to follow this quarrel between the Governor and the Assembly any further. Suffice it to say that eight days later the Assembly replied to the last quoted communication of the Governor in a screed nearly thrice as long, in which an attempt is made to traverse the latter's very effective and convincing homethrusts.
It appears that a Dr. Græme had for many years, more than twenty, by appointment of an earlier Governor and the consent of the Provincial Council, visited unhealthy vessels. About this time he presented a bill reading as
35 From the Minutes of the Provincial Council, in Colonial Records, Vol. IV., PP. 570-571.
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follows : " To going on Board Visiting & reporting to his Honour, the Governor, the State and Condition as to ·Sickness & Health of six Palatine vessels, and one with Negroes from South Carolina, at a Pistole each, £9. 16s." Of course the Assembly found fault : there was no expla- nation of the service rendered; the names of the ships were not given, there was no evidence they were infected ; so the House would not approve the bill. It turned up again in the following year accompanied by another bill for £8. 8s., but without the desired explanations. Finally he was allowed £10 in payment of both. After that he refused to serve any longer, and Dr. Lachany and some other doctors, no doubt moved by professional etiquette, also refused to act in this capacity, and the result was an- other war of words between the Governor and his unman- ageable Assembly. The latter body drew up and passed a series of resolutions, the first one of which read as fol- lows: " That for the Governor & Council to draw in Question, arrange & Censure the proceedings of the Representatives of the ffreemen of this Province in As- sembly met, after the Adjournment of such Assembly, is assuming to themselves a power the Law hath not intrusted them with, is illegal, unwarrantable, a high breach of their Privileges, and of Dangerous Example." 36 With the dis- charge of this Parthian shot we shall leave these belig- erents, who kept up their quarrels for a long time after with all their original impetuosity.
The outcome of this quarrel was, however, that in 1742, Fisher's Island was purchased for the sum of £1,700 by a Committee who were to hold the estate in trust. This island contained three hundred and forty-two acres, and was situated near the junction of the Schuylkill with the
36 Colonial Records, Vol. IV., P. 523.
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
HEAD DRESS AND UTENSILS.
(A) QUILTED HOOD, BEAVER HAT. LEGHORN BONNET AND TORTOISE-SHELL COMBS.
(B) SEINE FLOAT, BREAD TRAY, FRUIT BASKET, SPARK CATCHER AND WARMING PAN.
لكن
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Fisher's Island Bought.
Delaware, on the southwest side of the Schuylkill, near its · mouth. The name Fisher's Island was taken from the man who owned it. The named was changed to Province Island, and later to State Island. There were some build- ings on it at the time and these were utilized as hospitals. Fines were imposed upon any one harboring a person who had been ordered to the Island. In January, 1750, the Assembly appropriated £1,000 to erect a pest house.37
Sometimes when the passengers on an arriving ship were afflicted with a severe disorder, they were not per- mitted to land, but were compelled to remain on board the close quarters of the infected vessel, a practice which it may be supposed did not contribute much to their speedy restoration to health.38
Under date of October 27, 1738, Lloyd Zachary and Th. Bond, physicians, presented a certificate to the colonial council to the following effect : " We have carefully ex- amined the state of health of the marines and passengers on board of the ship St. Andrew, Captain Steadman, from Rotterdam, and found a great number laboring under a malignant, eruptive fever, and are of the opinion, they can- not, for some time, be landed in town without the danger of infecting the inhabitants."
Again : "The foreigners, in number 49, imported in the ship Francis and Elizabeth, Captain Beach, being
37 WATSON'S Annals of Philadelphia, Vol. III., p. 333.
"The crowded condition of emigrant ships both from Germany and Ireland had frequently received the attention of the Legislature. The landing of the sick was forbidden, but for a long time no adequate provision was made for their care. But in 1741 an island of 342 acres, subsequently called Province Island, lying at the confluence of the Schuylkill with the Delaware, was pur- chased and a lazaretto established, where such were landed. * * * Strange to say, no provision was made for their support. The expense was chargeable to the importers and ship captains, who had their recourse against the effects of the immigrants."-GORDON'S History of Pennsylvania, pp. 237-238.
38 Colonial Records, Vol. IV., p. 306.
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sickly, were not permitted to be landed. Likewise the foreigners, in number 53, imported in the ship Rachel, Captain Armstrong, were so sickly that it was thought dangerous to suffer them to land altogether; whereupon the sick were ordered to be separated from the well, and such as recovered, with the well were to be qualified oc- casionally." 39
39 Colonial Records, Vol. V., p. 410.
SKIMMER AND MUSSTOPF.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY DEMAND OF THE GERMANS FOR NATURALIZATION. - REQUEST DENIED, BUT GRANTED LATER .- HOW THEY SPREAD OVER ALL THE LAND AND BECAME THE SHIELD AND BULWARK OF THE QUAKERS BY GUARDING THE FRON- TIERS AGAINST THE INDIANS.
"From Delaware's and Schuylkill's gleam, Away where Susquehanna twines, And out o'er Allegheny's stream In places distant fell their lines."
By river and by fountain, Where'er they touched this strand ; In wood and vale and mountain, They found a fatherland.
S has already been stated CONCORDIA RESPATVE CRESCUT the great and persistent influx of Germans alarmed the Provincial Assembly, which at that early period was composed almost exclu- sively of British born sub- jects. Several efforts to se- ROYAL ARMS OF HOLLAND, A. D. 1694. cure naturalization met with much coldness. Their in- dustry and abstention from politics were well known, but
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failed to remove the existing jealousy. As early as 1721, Palatines, who had long been residents in the Province, applied for the privileges of naturalization, but their claims were quietly ignored until 1724, when permission was granted to bring in a bill, conditionally however, that each applicant should obtain from a justice of the peace a cer- tificate of the value of their property and the nature of their religious faith.
A bill carrying the foregoing provisions was passed and laid before the Governor in 1725, but was returned by him without his approval, on the ground that in a country where English law and liberty prevailed, a scrutiny into the private conversation and faith of the citizens, and es- pecially into the value of their estates was a measure at once unjust in its character and establishing a dangerous precedent. The House yielded to the Governor's reason- ing and the bill was withdrawn. But the Palatines became more urgent for the privileges of citizenship as they saw a disposition on the part of the authorities to defer their re- quest, doubtless apprehending that sinister motives con- trolled the action of the Assembly.
In 1729 the question was once more brought up and the following bill was introduced. It was passed on October 14, 1729, and received the assent of Governor Gordon :
Whereas, By encouragement given by the Honorable William Penn, Esq., late Proprietary and Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, and by permission of his Maj- esty, King George the First, of blessed memory, and his predecessors, Kings and Queens of England, &c., divers Protestants, who were subjects to the Emperor of Ger- many, a Prince in amity with the Crown of Great Britain, transported themselves and estates into the Province of Pennsylvania, between the years one thousand seven hun-
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Gov. Gordon Advises Naturalization.
dred and eighteen ; and since they came hither have con- tributed very much to the enlargement of the British Em- pire, and to the raising and improving sundry commodi- ties fit for the markets of Europe, and have always behaved themselves religiously and peaceably, and have paid a due regard to the laws and Government of this province ; And whereas, many of said persons, to wit, Martin Meylin, Hans Graaf and others, all of Lancaster county, in the said province, in demonstration of their affection and zeal for his present Majesty's person and Government, qualified themselves by taking the qualification, and sub- scribing the declaration directed to be taken and subscribed by the several acts of parliament, made for the security of his Majesty's person and Government, and for prevent- ing the dangers which may happen by Popish Recusants, &c., and thereupon have humbly signified to the Governor and Representatives of the freemen of this province, in General Assembly, that they have purchased and do hold lands of the proprietary, and others, his Majesty's subjects within this province, and have likewise represented their great desire of being made partakers of those privileges which the natural born subjects of Great Britain do enjoy within this province; and it being just and reasonable, that those persons who have bona fide purchased lands, and who have given such testimony of their affection and obedience to the Crown of Great Britain should as well be secured in the enjoyment of their estates, as encouraged in their laudable affection and zeal for the English consti- tution :
Be it enacted by the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Esq., Lieu- tenant Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, &c., by and with the advice and consent of the freemen of the said province, in General Assembly met, and by the authority
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of the same, that (here follow the names of one hundred and five heads of German families) all of Lancaster county, be, and shall be to all intents and purposes deemed, taken and esteemed, His Majesty's natural born subjects of this province of Pennsylvania, as if they, and each of them had been born within the said province; and shall and may, and every one of them shall and may, within this province, take, receive, enjoy, and be entitled to all rights, privi- leges and advantages of natural born subjects, as fully, to all intents and constructions and purposes, whatsoever, as any of His Majesty's natural born subjects of this prov- ince, can, do, or ought to enjoy, by virtue of their being His Majesty's natural born subjects of His Majesty's said province of Pennsylvania." #
From this time forward long lists of persons, mostly Ger- mans, however, were presented to the Assembly, asking that the petitioners be granted the privileges of naturaliza- tion and citizenship. As we are nowhere informed that these hard-working, industrious citizens anywhere turned in and kicked the Quaker law makers out of their places of honor and profit, it may be taken for granted they did all they promised in their oaths of naturalization. When the troublesome times of the Revolution came along none were stauncher in their support of the Independence of the Colonies.
From the following endorsement which appears on the copy of an act passed by the General Assembly, sitting from October 14, 1738, until its adjournment on May I, 1739, naturalizing a large number of Germans, I infer there must have been a charge for naturalization and that considerable revenue was derived from this source : #1
40 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV., pp. 147-150.
41 J. I. MOMBERT'S History of Lancaster County, pp. 424-426.
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Dispersion of the Immigrants.
PHILADEL'Y, the 18th of September. Then received of Abraham Witmer the sum of one pound and two shillings (and one pound before) which is in full for his Naturalization. I say received by me. Christian Grassold, Collector.
It was customary to take the immigrants upon disembar- kation to the Court House in Philadelphia to be qualified, but this practice was varied. Sometimes this ceremony oc- curred at the office of the Mayor, and again at the office of some attorney, no doubt authorized for that purpose.12
The names of the incoming Palatines were published in the Colonial Records from September 21, 1727, until Au- gust 30, 1736, when the practice was discontinued.
WHERE SOME OF THEM WENT.
It is interesting to follow these people after reaching Pennsylvania. The little colony of 33 persons who planted
CONESTOGA TEAM AND WAGON.
themselves at Germantown under the headship of Francis Daniel Pastorius, in 1683, was slowly augmented during the following two decades. But by 1702, as Judge Penny-
42See note in RUPP's Thirty Thousand Names, p. 47.
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packer tells us, they began to penetrate into the regions beyond their own limited domain. The acquisition of land seems ever to have been a prominent characteristic with the Germans, and it may be said to continue to this very hour. Even then the spirit of speculation was rife among them. Their early cleared farms had become valuable. There were always those who, having money, preferred to buy farms from which the heavy timber had been cleared and on which good buildings were erected. The prices for wild lands were so reasonable that men were tempted to sell their early holdings and, with the aid of their sturdy sons and daughters, to enter upon and conquer new lands in the interior.
Then, too, the inflowing tide became so strong that there were no longer lands near the older settlements to be taken up, and they were perforce compelled to move far into the backwoods. Lancaster County, Berks County, Lebanon County, York and Dauphin, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Northampton all heard the tread of the invading hosts.
One characteristic of these German immigrants deserves especial mention. While many of them were handicrafts- men, by far the greater number were bauern-farmers - and to this calling they at once betook themselves. In- deed, the first thing upon their arrival in Philadelphia was to find out the nearest route to the unsettled lands of the Proprietary, and thither they betook themselves at the ear- liest possible moment. The backwoods had no terrors for them. As a race of tillers of the soil, they were well aware that the character of the timber was an indication of the nature of the ground on which it stood. They were not afraid to work. The felling of the trees and the clearing of the land neither intimidated nor deterred them from locating where these impediments to farming were great-
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