USA > Pennsylvania > The Pennsylvania-German in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 > Part 25
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He died at Philadelphia, September 29, 1804, and was buried in the hallowed ground of Christ Church, beside the remains of his wife, Henrietta Boude.
David Rittenhouse.
He was born near Germantown, Pa., April 8, 1732, the son of Matthias Rittenhouse, who came from the borders of Holland and settled on the Wissahickon.
He was brought up on his father's farm for which his mechanical genius entirely unfitted him. In his eight- eenth year he built a workshop by the public road, and set up the business of a clock and mathematical instrument maker. At twenty-three he planned and made an orrery, by which he represented the revolution of the heavenly bodies more completely than had ever been done before. On the third of June, 1769, he was one of the committee of the American Philosophical Society to observe the transit of Venus, and, on the ninth of November, the transit of Mercury, his report of which events gave him a great reputation.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776; member of the Pennsylvania Board of War, March 14, 1777; and treasurer of the state from 1777 to 1789. In 1792 he was appointed director of the
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mint of the United States, in which he continued until 1795, when he resigned on account of ill health. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston, in 1782, and of the Royal Society of London in 1795. In 1791 he succeeded Dr. Frank- lin as president of the American Philosophical Society, which office he held until his death.
He died in Philadelphia, June 27, 1796, and lies buried in the graveyard of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church.
George Schlosser.
George Schlosser, of the city of Philadelphia, son of Rev. George Schlosser and Sophia Joannetta Ellwester, was born at St. Arnnal, Saarbruck, Nassau, Germany, in 1714. He came to America, with his parents, in 1751, and located at Philadelphia, where he became a successful merchant.
He was a deputy to the Provincial Convention of July 15, 1774, and that of January 23, 1775; member of the Provincial Conference that met at Carpenter's Hall, June 18, 1775; and of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776. He was one of the Committee of Observation for the city of Philadelphia, August 16, 1775. In 1778 Mr. Schlosser advanced the state £2,000, to provide for the great wants of the army. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 he, with Stephen Girard, and Peter Helm, were volunteer workers in the hospital.
He was a true patriot, and died at Philadelphia in February, 1802.
Frederick Kuhl.
Frederick Kuhl was a native of Philadelphia and died in that city.
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He was chosen a member of the Committee of Inspec- tion, August 16, 1775, his district embracing from the south side of Vine Street to the north side of Arch Street. In the spring of 1776 he was nominated for the As- sembly, but was defeated by a few votes, owing to the success of the conservative party. He was chosen a mein. ber of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776, and, by that body, appointed a justice of the peace. He served faithfully as a member of the Council of Safety, and Marshall speaks of him as an active citizen. In 1784 he was elected to the General Assembly, and, in 1791, was one of the trustees of the University of Penn- sylvania.
(OLD) NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. Simon Driesbach.
A native of Witgenstein, Germany, he was born Feb- ruary 18, 1730.
He came to America about 1754, and settled on a large farm in what is Lehigh township, Northampton county.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776; of the Assembly from 1776 to 1780; one of the commissioners appointed by the Pennsylvania war office to collect blankets for the continental troops, May 2, 1777; member of the Council of Censors, October 20, 1783. During the war he rendered efficient service in organizing and maintaining the militia of the county. Two of his sons were in the army. He was a member of the House of Representatives, 1793-1794. He died on his farm, near the present town of Weaversville, Northampton county, December 17, 1806.
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Peter Rhoads.
Was the son of Peter Rhoads, or Roth, a Lutheran clergyman and a native of Germany. He was born 1730, came to America, with his parents in early life, and settled in Allentown.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776, and member of Assembly from 1777 to 1780; member of the Committee of Safety, July 24, 1776; judge of the court of common pleas in 1777; justice of the peace, December 4, 1783; member of the Convention of 1789-1790; and, under that constitution, commis- sioned an associate judge, August 17, 1791. He died at his residence, in Allentown, in 1801.
BERKS COUNTY. Daniel Hunter.
Daniel Hunter, of Berks county, was born in Oley township, about 1729; his parents were emigrants from Germany, and originally named Yeager.
Upon the formation of the Berks County Committee, at the beginning of the Revolution, Mr. Hunter took an active part in public affairs; he was a member of the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776, and of the Con- stitutional Convention of July 15, 1776. He was ap- pointed, by the Pennsylvania war office, one of the cont- missioners to procure blankets for the continental army, May, 1777, and paymaster of the militia, August 25, 1777. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1782, and, while in attendance on that body, was taken ill, re- turned home, and died in the latter part of February, 1783.
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John Lesher.
John Lesher, of Berks county, a native of Germany, was born January 5, 1711, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1734, at first located among "the Brethren " of North- ampton county, but subsequently removed to Oley town- ship, of Berks county, where he established, at an early day, an iron furnace.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776, and served in the General Assembly from 1776 to 1782. On January 20, 1778, Mr. Lesher was appointed, by the Supreme Executive Council, one of the commissioners for purchasing provisions for the conti- nental army. He died in Oley township on April 5, 1794.
Charles Shoemaker.
Was born at Germantown, Pa., about 1745. His an- cestors came to America with Pastorius. He located in Windsor township, Berks county, at an early date. He was a member of the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776, and of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776; justice of the peace, July 25, 1777; appointed, by the Assembly, December 16, 1777, to take subscriptions for the continental loan; one of the commissioners who met at New Haven, Conn., November 22, 1777, to regu- late the price of commodities in the colonies. On October 9, 1784, he was commissioned a judge of the court of common pleas, under the Constitution of 1776. He served as a member of the House of Representatives, from 1791 to 1802, and, again in 1812-1813; subse- quently state senator, 1813-1816. He died at his resi- dence in Windsor township in April, 1820, having been, for almost half a century, a gentleman of great pronti-
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nence and influence in Berks county-reliable, upright, conscientious.
Michael Bright.
He was born, November 24, 1732, near Sheridan, Lebanon Co., Pa., and located at Reading about 1755. His father, Michael Brecht, emigrated from Schriesheim, in the Palatinate, to Pennsylvania, in 1726, when twenty years old.
Mr. Bright carried on the trade of saddler until 1762 when he became an innkeeper, and owner of the Farmers' Inn, northwest corner of Fifth and Washington Streets, still standing but somewhat altered.
In 1774 he was elected county commissioner, and served three years. He became a member of the Standing Com- mittee of Observation for the county, in December, 1774. He died at Reading, in August, 1814.
George Ege.
George Ege was born March 9, 1784, and settled in Berks county about the year 1774, when he became the sole owner of the Charming Forge, a prominent industry on the Tulpehocken Creek, in Tulpehocken (now Marion) township, of Berks county.
During the Revolution he was an ardent patriot, and supplied the government with large quantities of cannon balis. He was a member of the General Assembly for 1779-1780 and 1782; upon the adoption of the state constitution of 1790, he was made associate judge in 1791, and served continuously until 1818.
He became owner of other iron industries, a large land-holder and very wealthy. He died at his home in the Charming Forge, December 14, 1829.
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Sebastian Levan.
Was born in Maxatawney township, Berks county. He was son of Jacob Levan, one of the first judges of the county, 1752-1762.
At the breaking out of the Revolution he represented his district on the Standing Committee of Observation in 1774. Subsequently, he served in the State Assembly during 1779 and 1780, and as a Councillor in the Supreme Executive Council, from 1782 to 1784. He was also active in the county militia, being colonel of a battalion. He died in August, 1794.
Christian Lower (Lauer).
The name of his father, Christian, appears in the list of those who emigrated from Schoharie, in New York, to Tulpehocken, in 1723.
He was born in Tulpchocken township, Berks county, and taught the trade of a blacksmith. He took an active part in the Revolution.
In August, 1775, he was selected as one of the colonels of the Associated Battalions, and attended the convention at Philadelphia. He officiated as a county commissioner in 1777, 1778 and 1779; served as a sub-lieutenant, in supplying the quota of troops, from 1780 to the close of the war, and represented the county in the General As- sembly for the years 1779, 1782 to 1785, 1793, 1794 and 1796. He died in January, 1807.
Christopher Schultz.
He was one of the Mennonite family of that name in Hereford township of Berks county, where they settled at an early period.
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He was much interested in the movement for inde- pendence. He attended the first public meeting at Read- ing, on July 2, 1774, and was appointed on the Com- mittee of Correspondence. On December 5, following, he was placed on the Committee of Observation. He also officiated as justice of the peace from 1777 to 1784, and died September 28, 1789.
Jacob Shoemaker.
Jacob Shoemaker, an elder brother of Charles Shoe- maker, was born at Germantown. He became a resident of Reading some time before 1768. In that year he was elected sheriff of Berks county, and commissioned for three years. In December, 1774, he was made a member of the Committee of Observation. He died at Reading in Sep- tember, 1783.
Benjamin Spyker.
Born in the Palatinate, about 1723. His father, John Peter Spyker, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1738, and settled in Tulpehocken township of Berks county.
During the French and Indian War he was a close neighbor to Col. Conrad Weiser, and actively aided him in his efforts of defense against the savages, especially in the early part of that war, when his home was, on various occasions, used as a place of rendezvous.
At the beginning of the Revolution he assisted in or- ganizing the Associators of the county, and preparing them for active military service. He represented Berks county in the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776, and in the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776 He served as a justice of the peace for many years. Ifis death occurred in September, 1802.
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Peter Spyker.
Peter Spyker, a brother of Benjamin Spyker, also located in Tulpehocken township of Berks county, shortly after his landing at Philadelphia in 1738. He was a farmer.
He was appointed one of the judges of the county in 1763, and continued in that office until his death in Au- gust, 1789.
He was especially appointed as president of the courts in 1780. He was the principal judicial officer of the county during the Revolution, and served as a justice of the peace, for the Tulpehocken district, from 1777.
Henry Vanderslice.
Henry Vanderslice, son of Anthony Vanderslice and. Martha Pannebecker, was born March 9, 1726, in Provi- dence township of Montgomery county, where he was brought up as a miller. About 1760 he removed to Exeter township of Berks county.
In 1774 he was elected sheriff of Berks county, and held that position for three years. During the Revolu- tionary War he bore a prominent part in the military affairs of the county; when Congress directed a Declara- tion of Independence to be read publicly on July 8, 1776, he, as sheriff, performed that distinguished service at the court house in Reading.
On November 19, 1789, he was appointed a deputy surveyor. He died at Reading, February 10, 1797.
Christopher Witman.
He was a shoemaker at Reading in 1756. In 1774 he became an innkeeper, his public house being situated
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on the southwest corner of Penn Square and Fourth Street.
In December, 1774, he was selected as one of the Com- mittee on Observation, and officiated as county treasurer from 1775 to 1778.
LANCASTER COUNTY. Prior Jaebez.
Prior Jaebez, or Peter Miller, of the Ephrata Com- munity, one of the most erudite men of his time in Penn- sylvania, turned his learning to a most patriotic purpose during the Revolution, for which a more extended credit should be given than has been done in the past.
At the outbreak of the war Congress was in constant receipt of communications from various foreign powers, and, at times, were at great loss to find some one who could not only translate them into English but would also be able to turn the English language into that of the correspondent. Many of the professors and scholars of the academy, who might have been competent, were either fugitives or suspected of toryism. At this juncture Charles Thomson bethought himself of the quiet recluse at Ephrata, Prior Jaebez. The offer to do this work was made to him, and promptly accepted with the proviso, tradition says, that he was not to receive a penny for his services. That this was accepted appears by the records of Congress.
On April 8, 1768, Peter Miller (Prior Jaebez) was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.
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WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Christopher Lobengiere.
The son of Christopher Lobengiere, a native of Witten- burg, Germany, was born in Dauphin Co., Pa., in the year 1740. He removed, in the spring of 1772, to Mt. Pleasant township, Westmoreland county. He served on the Committee of Correspondence, 1775-1776; a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776; mem- ber of the House of Representatives, 1791-1793. He died July 4, 1798.
BEDFORD COUNTY. Henry Rhoads.
Henry Rhoads was a native of Amity township, Berks Co., Pa., of German parentage and education, born about 1740. He settled in Bedford county prior to 1770, and took up a large tract of land, on which he resided until the close of his life, March, 1794.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776; and, on February 27, 1778, appointed a justice of the peace.
MARKET SQUARE IN GERMANTOWN.
CHAPTER XVII.
WASHINGTON'S STOREHOUSE AND SUPPLY DEPOT.
HERE is no more beau- tiful sight in the world than that which greets the eye of the traveler, who may pass through the rich and fertile valleys of that part of eastern Pennsylvania which is made up of the, so-called, German counties of Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, North- ampton, Lebanon and Lancaster.
Nestling between the surrounding hills, which protect them from the ravages of the tempest, and furnish them with a never-failing supply of water, stand the substantial Pennsylvania-German farm- houses, adjoining barns which are bursting with plenty, and encircled by acres of waving grain or green fields. Beneath his feet the Pennsylvania-German treads upon other acres of mineral wealth, which keep in operation the never-ceasing wheels of industries that supply the world with its needed iron or fuel.
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Today the interior of eastern Pennsylvania stands un- equalled for its home-like beauty, its fertile and highly cultivated fields, its agricultural and mineral wealth, and for its multitudinous industries.
While not to the same extent, yet to the same degree this truth held good during the Revolutionary War, and was fully appreciated by the commander-in-chief of the American army, and by the Congress of the United States.
It matters not how brave the soldiers of an army may be, nor how excellent the arms with which they carry on their warfare, if they be without food, clothing and munitions, their efforts are of no avail. It was the great need of these which prolonged the War for Independence; the lack of them would have caused ignominious defeat.
There was but one colony of the thirteen, which strove to cast off the yoke of Great Britain, that was so situated as to enable it to furnish, in sufficient quantity and variety, all the supplies needed by the troops, and that colony was Pennsylvania ; and there was but one part of this colony from which these supplies could be adequately secured, and that was the part occupied by its Pennsylvania-Ger- man citizens.
Had they been even luke-warm in their patriotism, or had they utterly refused to part with their hard-earned possessions, as, with the example of others before their eyes, they might well have done, nothing but dire disaster would have been the result. The effort to attain inde- pendence would have been an utter and speedy failure.
Because the Pennsylvania-Germans did open wide their hearts, homes and hands, generally without reward or recompense, without thanks, without praise, without even a suitable acknowledgment of their deeds in the histories which their own descendants are taught in their own
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schools, we are what we are today, the greatest republic on the face of the earth, or in the history of the world.
The darkest days of the Revolution came in the years 1776, 1777, and 1778, with the defeat at Long Island, the capture of Fort Washington, the defeat at Brandy- wine, the capture of Philadelphia, and the miscarriage of all plans at Germantown. It was then that our noble forefathers, without food and starving, without clothing and freezing, still clung to the cause for which they were willing to lay down their lives; it was then that Washing- ton, with the feeble remnant of his army, while chased about like the hunted hare, watched his opportunity to strike a feeble blow here and there; it was then that men were dying, by the score, on the bleak hills of Valley Forge; and it was during these dark days of these dark years that the American army found its refuge on the borders of the Pennsylvania-German counties of our state, from which it drew its supplies of all characters, and to which it sent its sick and wounded to be nursed back to life.
Not only were these supplies, which could have been obtained from no other source, given, at that time, cheer- fully and unsparingly, but, at all times of the war, the same good work was kept up in the same manner, even though under different conditions.
The crucial, and most constantly active, period of the Revolution, was that from the winter of 1776 to the summer of 1778, when, in connection with the operations relating to the capture and evacuation of Philadelphia, the American army was tramping up and down the Schuyl- kill valley, or operating in its near vicinity.
Its camps were almost constantly on Pennsylvania- German farms, and when the troops disappeared from
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one camp to occupy another, with them disappeared every- thing which represented months of weary toil on the part of the Pennsylvania-German owners, whether crops already harvested in the barns, or those still in the field; whether grain and vegetables for food, hay for forage, or straw for bedding. And this was not because soldiers, in all wars, are accustomed to prey upon the property of others, but because the soldiers of the Revolution, and the horses of the Revolution, were hungry men and hungry animals, without even, at times, the necessities of life.
Worse even than the pangs of liunger were the suf- ferings of half-naked and bare-footed inen, when exposed to the pitiless cold, and it is not to be wondered at that, as her husband lost the fruits of his labor in the field, so was the Pennsylvania-German matron called upon to sacri- fice the fruits of her labor at the loom, in the form of blankets and clothing.
The plague of locusts was but a trifle to the visitation of the American army. The former left something, but the latter nothing, and it was no small sacrifice which the Pennsylvania-Germans made when they thus sustained the soldiers of Washington's army during the summer and fall of 1777.
This service, however, fell bat to the few, and gave but a temporary relief to those in need. A systematic effort became necessary for continued sustenance. To that end committees were appointed, which were on continual duty during 1777 and part of 1778, some to collect blan- kets and clothing, others to gather forage, and still others to procure food supplies. Almost literally from door to door went their emissaries throughout the German counties, accompanied by wagons into which the dona- tions were loaded and, as filled, forwarded to the army.
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Beyond these came the regular supplies for the troops, procured in the regular way by purchase, even if paid for in a depreciated and almost worthless currency. Of these the flour came from the Pennsylvania-German mills, and the cannon, with their cannon-balls, largely from Penn- sylvania-German foundries and furnaces.
As though all this were not sufficient, even the paper needed to make cartridges was furnished by the Pennsyl- vania-Germans, and it was no small sacrifice and loss to them, as well as ourselves at this day, when, for that pur- pose, the government seized the unbound leaves of the " Martyr Book," published by the theosophic community at Ephrata, at that time the greatest work of its kind ever attempted on this continent, and carried them off in two wagons guarded by six soldiers.
The extent of these sacrifices on the part of the Penn- sylvania-Germans, and the actual quantity of material thus supplied by them, will never be known, but we do know that, by them, the army was kept together, and the independence of our country assured.
From the meager records in existence an attempt will now be made to produce some data, which is not intended to be a complete summary but merely a partial showing, tending to give an idea of the whole. The better to ac- complish this end we will consider the subject under the separate head of the various counties.
CHESTER COUNTY.
One of the most interesting and valuable industries of Chester county, in connection with the Revolutionary War, was the Warwick Furnace, on its northern boundary, near the village of Coventry. So valuable, indeed, was its work as to give it a national reputation. It was here
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that large quantities of cannon and cannon-balls were cast for the army, and, while the struggle for liberty was in progress, the furnace was in constant operation for the government.
A few days after the battle of Brandywine the Amer- ican army retired from the neighborhood of Goshen,
Friends' Meeting House, where an expected battle was prevented by a rain storm, to the Warwick Furnace, where they procured a fresh supply of ammunition.
During the winter that followed, when the hardships encountered by the army at Valley Forge, filled the country with despair, the cannon at Warwick were in constant
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danger of seizure by the British, quartered at Philadel- phia, within easy marching distance. One day the furnace bell sounded an alarm, and the peal summoned the loyal people in the vicinity to come and secrete the guns. They hid them in the stretch of meadow below the mill, and in front of the mansion house, and, tradition has it, that, after the interment, the fields were ploughed so that no trace of the excavations could be seen.
Buried cannon and shells are still discovered, probably those which contained imperfections. One of the shells, thus unearthed, was exceedingly heavy, about a foot in diameter and hollow, the thickness of the metal being about one inch.
During the year 1776 sixty cannon, of 12 and 18 pound caliber, were cast at Warwick for the continental forces. Col. Frederick Antes was appointed, by the State Council, to test these cannon and decide upon their acceptance. The first four-pounders cast in America were made here.
On March 15, 1736, an agreement was made between Samuel Nutt and William Branson, of the first part, and John Potts, of the second, to erect the " Reading Furnace," and carry on said business near Coventry.
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