USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
Though more than twenty-five thousand names of German immigrants are recorded in the Provincial Records from, and after 1725, few of those are recorded, who arrived in Penn- sylvania prior to 1700 .* Among the first whose name has been handed down, is that of Henry Fry, who arrived two years before William Penn; and one Platenbach, who came a few years later.
In 1632 some Germans arrived, and commenced a settle- ment called Germantown; among these were Pastorius, Harts- felder, Schietz, Spehagel, Vandewalle, Uberfeld, Strauss, Lorentz, Tellner, Strepers, Lipman, Renkes, Arets, Isaacs. About the year 1684 or '85 a company, consisting at first of ten persons, was formed in Germany, called the Frankford
· Hallische Nachrichten, p. 664.
39
INTRODUCTION.
Land Company, on the Mayne; their articles were executed in that city on the 24th of November, 1686. They seem to have been men of note by the use of each, of his separate seal. Their names were G. Van Mastrick, Thomas V. Wy- lick, John Le Bran, F. Dan. Pastorius, John J. Schuetz, Daniel Behagel, Jacobus Van Dewaller, John W. Peterson, Johannes Kimber, Balthasur Jowest. They bought 25,000 acres of land trom Penn. The Germantown patent for 5350, and the Manatauney patent for 22,377 acres. F. D. Pasto- rious was appointed the attorney for the company, and after his resignation, Dan· Faulkner was, in 1708, made attorney.
Those who left their Vaterland after 1700, endured many hardships on their way to their future, new home; some suf- fered much before, while others, after their arrival here. Pas- sing over a period of twenty years, from 1680 to 1700, they suffered comparatively little more than was the common lot of all the colonists of that period; but from 1700 to 1720, the Palatines, so called, because they principally came from Palatinate, whither many had been forced to flee from their homes in other parts of Europe, endured many privations be- fore they reached the western continent.
In 1708 and 1709 upwards of ten thousand, and many of them very poor, arrived in England, and were there for some time in a starving, miserable, sickly condition, lodged in ware- houses; who had no subsistence but what they could get by their wives begging for them in the streets till some sort of provision was made for them by Queen Anne; and then some were shipped to Ireland, others to America. In the month of August, 1709, pursuant to an address to her Majesty, Queen Anne, from the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ire- land, desiring as many as her Majesty should think fit to send thither, three thousand were sent to Ireland; many of whom returned again to England, on account of the hard usage they received from the Commissary, who did not pay them their subsistence .* In the summer of 1710, several thousand Pal- atines, who had been maintained at the Queen's expense in England, and for some time afterwards in America, were shipped to New York; some of whom, afterwards, came to Pennsylvania.
While investigating the history of the Germans, especially enquiring into the sufferings of those who lived for some time upon the bounty of
* Journal, House of Commons, England, vol. xvi. 594-98.
40
INTRODUCTION.
Queen Anne, I find that the whole charge, occasioned by the Palatines, to the Queen, for a space of two years, is £135,775 and 18 shillings .- Finch's Report to the House of Commons, England, April 14, 1711.
Hundreds of those, transported and sustained for some time by Queen Anne, were gratuitously furnished with religious and useful books, before their departure, by the Rev. Anton Wilhelm Boehm, Court Chaplain of St. James. The princi- pal book was "Arndt's Wahres Christenthum." Among these German emigrants were Mennonites, Dunkards, German Re- formed, and Lutherans. Their number was so great, as to draw the remarks from James Logan, Secretary of the pro- vince of Pennsylvania, in 1717-" We have," said he, " of late, a great number of Palatines poured in upon us without any recommendation or notice, which gives the country some uneasiness, for foreigners do not so well among us as our own English people."
Those who arrived between 1700 and 1720, settled in the lower parts of Montgomery, Bucks, Berks and Lancaster county. Several German families settled within the present limits of the last named county, between 1708 and 1711- the number was considerable before 1718.
In 1719, Jonathan Dickinson remarks, "We are daily ex- pecting ships from London which bring over Palatines, in number about six or seven thousand. We had a parcel who came out about five years ago, who purchased land about 60 miles west of Philadelphia, and prove quiet and industrious .* Some few came from Ireland lately, aud more are expected thence.
From 1720 to 1730, several thousands landed at Philadel- phia, and others came by land from the province of New York; the latter settled in Tulpehocken. These left New York, because they had been illy treated by the authorities of that province. The influx was so great as to cause some alarm. It was feared by some "that the numbers from Ger- many, at the rate they were coming in about 1725 and 1727, will soon, as Jonathan Dickinson expressed himself at the time, produce a German colony here, and perhaps such an one as Britain once received from Saxony in the fifth century. He even states as among the apprehended schemes of Sir William Keith, (who, it is said, favored the Germans for pur-
* Pequea settlement, Lancaster county,
41
INTRODUCTION.
poses of strengthening his political influence) the former Go- vernor, that he, Harland and Gould, have had sinister pro- jects of forming an independent province in the west, to the westward of the Germans, towards the Ohio-probably west of the mountains, and to be supplied by his friends among the Palatines, &c."* To arrest in some degree the influx of Ger- mans, the Assembly assessed a tax of twenty shillings a head on newly arrived servants; for as early as 1722 there were a number of Palatine servants or Redemptioners, who were sold to serve for a term of three or four years, at £10 each, to pay their freight.
English, Welsh, Scotch and Irish, who were unable to defray the ex- penses of crossing the Atlantic were sold as servants. In 1729 there arrived in New Castle government, says the Gazette, forty-five hundred persons, chiefly from Ireland ; and at Philadelphia, in one year, two hundred and sixty-seven English and Welsh, forty-three Scotch-all servants."
In 1727 six vessels arrived at Philadelphia with Germans; three in 1728: three in 1729 and three in 1730.
From 1730 to 1740 about sixty-five vessels, well filled with Germans, arrived at Philadelphia, bringing with them ministers of the gospel and schoolmasters, to instruct their children. A large number of these remained in Philadelphia, others went seventy to eighty miles from Philadelphia-some settled in the neighborhood of Lebanon, others west of the Susquehanna, in York county.
Some of the Germans who had settled on the west side of the Sus- quehanna were considerably annoyed by one Cressap, a Maryland in- truder. In 1736, Cressap publicly declared, that in the winter next coming, when the ice was on the river, a great number of armed men would come up from Maryland, and be in the woods, near the German inhabitants, and that he, with ten armed men would go from house to house, and take the masters of the families prisoners, and when they had as many as they could manage, they would carry them to the arm- ed forces in the woods, and return again till he had all taken who would not submit to Maryland. Several of the Germans were subsequently abducted, others were constantly harassed ; in many instances driven from their farms.
From 1740 to 1755 upwards of one hundred vessels ar- rived with Germans; in some of them, though small, there were between five and six hundred passengers. In the sum-
· Watson's Annals, ii. 255.
4*
INTRODUCTION.
mer and autumn of 1749, not less than twenty vessels, with German passengers, to the number of twelve thousand, at- rived.
Omitting the cames of the vessels, the arrivals are given from Au- RASI 24th 1749, 10 November 9. Aug. 24th, 240 passengers ; Ang. 30th, 300; Sept. 2. 340 : 9th 400 ; 11th 299 ; 14th 230 ; 15th 930 ; 19th 378; :5th 240: 96th $40: 27th 208 : 28th 242 : Oct. 2d 249; 7th 450 ; 10th 250; 17th 480: Nov. 9th 77.
Thousands of those who immigrated to Pennsylvania be- tween 1740 and 1765, lamented bitterly that they had forsa- ken their Vaterland, for the new world. It was a sad ex- change ! There was within this period a certain class of Germans, who had resided some time in Pennsylvania, well known by the name of Neulaender, who lived at the expense. pains and sufferings of the more credulous abroad. They made it their business to go to Germany, and there, by mis- representations and the grossest fraudulent practices, prevailed on their countrymen to dispose of, nay. in many instances to sacrifice their property, abandon their comfortable firesides. schools and churches, and come to the New World, which these Neulaender never failed to represent as a perfect para- dise, where the mountains were solid masses of gold, and fountains gushed milk and honey. Thus they did not only prevail upon persons of wealth, but upon those in moderate circumstances; and those generally ran short of means after paying their debts before leaving. " to come over" to better their condition : in four instances out of five, their condition was rendered none the better, but made infinitely worse; for those who had not wherewith to pay their passage-and of this class there were not a few-were. on their arrival, sold for a series of years, as servants, to pay the expense of their passage. Those disposed of, were termed Redemptioners, or Palatine servants.
Christopher Sauers, of Germantown, who for many years printed a German paper, in which he spoke freely of the re- ligious and civil liberty, and prosperity of the province of Pennsylvania : and, as he believed, many Germans had been thereby induced to come over; but seeing their miserable condition, felt constrained to address Gov. Denny to use his influence in their behalf. In a letter, dated Germantown, March 15. 1755, says, " It is thirty years since I came to
43
INTRODUCTION.
this Province, from a country where we had no liberty of conscience-when I came to this Province, I wrote largely to my friends and acquaintances of the civil and religious li- berty, privileges, &c. ; my letters were printed and reprinted, whereby thousands were provoked to come to this Province, and they desired their friends to come. Some years ago the price was five pistoles freight, and the merchants and cap- tains crowded for passengers, finding the carrying of them Inore profitable than merchandise. But the love of gain caus- ed that Stedman lodged the poor passengers like herrings, and as too many had not room between the decks, many were kept upon deck-sailing to the southward, and these unac- customed to the climate; and for want of water and room, took sick and died very fast, so that in less than one year two thousand were buried in the seas and Philadelphia. Stedman, at that time, bought a license in Holland, that no captain or merchant could load any as long as he had not two thousand. This murdering trade made my heart ache, especially when I heard that there was more profit by their deaths than carry- ing them alive. I thought my provoking letters were partly the cause of so many deaths. I wrote a letter to the Magis- trate at Amsterdam, and immediately the monopoly was taken from John Stedman. Our Legislature was also petitioned, and a law was passed, and good as it is, never was executed. Mr. Spaffort, an old, poor captain, was made overseer of the vessels loaded with passengers, whose salary amounted to $2,300 a year, for concealing that the people had but twelve inches space, and not half bread nor water. Spaffort died- the Assembly chose Mr. Trotter, who let every ship slip, although a great many people had no room at all, except in the Long Boat, where every man perished. Among other grievances the poor Germans suffer, is one, viz : that when the ignorant Germans agree fairly with merchants at Holland for seven pistoles and a half, when they come to Philadel- phia, the merchants make them pay whatever they please, and take at least nine pistoles. The poor people on board are prisoners ; they must not go ashore or have their chests delivered except they pay what they owe not; and when they go into the country, they complain loudly there, that no jus- tice is to be had for poor strangers-they show their agree- ments in which it is fairly mentioned, that they are to pay seven pistoles and a half to Isaac and Zachary Hope at Rot-
44
INTRODUCTION.
terdam, or their order at Philadelphia, &c .- and as this is much practiced, the country is wronged £2000 or £3000 a year. It was much desired that a law might be passed that a Commissioner might be appointed to inspect, on the arrival of vessels with passengers, their agreements, and judge if 73 pistoles makes not seven and a half. Some asked, "Is there no remedy?" They were answered, " The law is, what is above forty shillings must be decided at Court ; and each must make his own cause appear good and stand a trial. A poor comfort indeed ! Two or three thousand wronged persons to depend upon the discretion of the merchants. They are anx- ious to come on shore to satisfy hunger-they pay what is demanded-some are sighing, some cursing; some believe their case differs little from such as fall into the hands of a highwayman, who presents a pistol and demands according to his own terms. They also complain that the captains of- ten hurry them away without any agreement, or the agree- ment is not signed; or, if a fair agreement is written, signed and sealed, it will not be performed, and they must pay what- ever is demanded. And when their chests are put into stores, and by the time they have procured money from their friends to pay for what they agreed, and more too, and demand their chests, they find them opened and plundered of their contents: or sometimes the chests are not to be found for which they had paid."
In another letter to the Governor, dated Germantown. . May 12, 1755, C. Sauers says, "The merchants and impor- ters filled the vessels with passengers, and as much merchan- dise as they thought fit, and left the passengers' chests behind -sometimes the loaded vessels with the Palatine's chests only. The poor people depended upon their chests, in which they had some provisions, such as they were used to, viz : dried apples, pears, plums, mustard, medicines, vinegar, bran- dy, gammons, butter, also clothing, such as shirts and other necessary linens, and some of them had money and what they brought with them, and when their chests were left behind, or shipped in other vessels, they suffered for want of food- and when there was not a sufficiency of provision laid in for passengers, they famished and died-when they arrived alive, they had no money to buy bread, or any thing to sell of their spare clothes-neither had they clothes so as to change linens, &c., they were not able to keep themselves clean, and free ot vermin.
45
INTRODUCTION.
If they were taken into houses, and trusting on their ef- fects and money, when they come, these effects and moneys were either left behind, or their chests were either plundered by the sailors on the vessels, or if the vessels arrived before the sailors broke open the chests, they were searched by the merchants' boys, and their best effects, all taken-and there was no remedy for all this. And this last mentioned practice, that their chests were broken open and effects stolen, has not only been common these 25, 20, 10, 5 years, but it is a com- mon custom, and the complaints are daily.
If I was ordered to print advertisements, at the request of those who lost their chests by leaving them behind them against their will, or were opened and plundered at sea when they were sent after them, in other vessels, or were broken open and plundered in the stores at Philadelphia. If these chests had been sold at half their value, it would amount to a large sum .- Your Honor would be astonished to hear the complaints of more than 2000 to 3000 people."
The writer's paternal grandfather, Jonas Rupp, a native of Sinsheim, was among the number of those who were robbed: his chest broken open, all his effects stolen, and himself on his arrival, friendless and pennyless, sold as a Redemption servant, for two years and six months to one Leonard Umberger, near Lebanon. Jonas Rupp arrived in the ship Phoenix, commanded by Captain Spurrier, September 25, 1751. Out of four hundred and twelve who embarked in the same vessel, only one hundred and eighty survived to land at Philadelphia ; and of these many died soon after their arrival.
The Rev. Muhlenburg says, speaking of Redemptioners:
Denn wen die Teutschen von den Schiffen hier an kommen so mussen diegenigen, welche die Fracht nicht aus ihren eig- enen Mitteln bezahlen koennen, sich mit ihren Faniclien gleichsam verkaufen, da sic denn so lange dienen muessen bis sic ihre Fracht obverdient haben; solche werden servants oder Knechte genannt. Wenn denn dieselbe ihre Fracht be- zahlt und noch et was verdient haben, so ziehen sic nach und nach ins Landhinauf, und kaufen was eigenes-Hallische Nachrichten, p. 54. See Appendix A. Neulaender.
On another occasion he says :
Weil viele von den nach Pensylvanien eilenden Teutschen ihre Fracht zu bozahlen nicht im stande sind, so werden sic, zu deren Vergutung, auf einige Jahre an die reichsten Ein- wohner als leibeigem knecht verkauft. Es koinen solcher
46
INTRODUCTION.
zur Verlassung ihres Vaterlandes verfuhrten, und dadurch ofters in leibliches ud geistliches Elered gesturtzten Teuts- chen Leute von zeit zu zeit noch immur sehr viele in Penn- sylvanien an Im Herbst 1749 sind 25 schiffe voll Teutschen neuen Cohnister nach und nach vor Philadelphia eingelaufen und ausser donen, du der Tod unterwegs aufgerieben, haben sich dorauf 7049 Personen befunden. Es ist leicht zu er achten, da dir Begierd, das Vaterland mit der neuen Welt zu verwechsehn, schor so viele Jahre her unter denen niemals weniger, als mit den gegenwartigen Unstanden, vergnugten Teutschen herschet, das Land bereits uberflussy mit Leuten besetzt Ley. Und so ists. Es wunelt von Leuten, so dass auch du Lebers ollitter imes theueren werder. Eben duses aber ist Ursach, warun du nein rus Land komerde, nicht so veile Vortheib geneisen koner, als die ersten genossen haben.
To alleviate the sufferings of these strangers, a society was formed among the more wealthy. and benevolent; but their means were not adequate to the wants of "suffering thous- ands."
Their sufferings were confined to the period mentioned, as may be seen from the following letter from Dr. Muehleng- berg ---
" Januar 7ten, 1768.
" Im Vergangenen Spaetjahr, sind wieder funf bis sechs schiffe voll mit Teutschen Emigranten vor Philadelphia ange- kommen, davon noch ein grosser Theil auf dem Wasser lieg- en, weil nicht allein ihre Frachten sehr hoch gestiegen, son- dern auch ein allgemeiner Geldmangel vorwaltet, so dass sic nicht wie in vorigen Zeiten, verkauft werden konnen, und, so zersagen, in ihrem Ebend umkomen muessen. Die die mit solchem Menschenhandel interessirte Herren wollen das Geld fuer ihre Frachthaben. Wenn aber keine Kaeuter sind, so behalten sic ihre Waare, und lassen sic lieber verderben, als dass sic solche vershenken solten. Es ist ein grosser Jammer, wenn man seine arme betrogene Mitge schoepfe so im Elend sichet, und nicht helfen kann." p. 816.
The Palatine Redemption servants were sold for, from two to five years. Many of them often serving out their time faithfully, became, by frugality and industry, some of the most wealthy and influential citizens of the State.
47
INTRODUCTION.
"In later times, say about the year 1753 to 1756, the Ger- mans having become numerous, and therefore powerful as make-weights in the political balance, were much noticed in the publications of the day. They were at that period of time, in general, very hearty co-operators with the Quakers or Friends, then in considerable rule in the Assembly. A MSS. pamphlet in the Franklin Library at Philadelphia, sup- posed to have been written by Samuel Wharton, in 1755, shows his ideas of the passing events, saying, that the party on the side of the Friends derived much of their influence over the Germans, through the aid of C. Sauers, who pub- lished a German paper in Germantown, from the time of 1729, and which, being much read by that people, influenced them to the side of the Friends, and hostile to the Governor and council. Through this means, says he, they have persuaded them that there was a design to enslave them ; to enforce their young men, by a contemplated militia law, to become soldiers, and to load them down with taxes, &c. From such causes, he adds, have they come down in shoals to vote, (of course, many from Northampton,) and carrying all before them. To this I may, says Watson, add, that I have heard from the Norris family, that their ancestors in the Assembly were warmly patronized by the Germans in union with Friends. His alarms at this German influence at the polls, and his pro- posed remedies for the then dreaded evils, as they show the prevalent feelings of his associates in politics, may serve to amuse the present generation. He says the best effects of these successes of the Germans will probably be felt through many generations! Instead of a peaceable, industrious peo- ple, as before, they are now insolent, sullen, and turbulent ; in some counties threatening even the lives of all those who opposed their views, because they are taught to regard gov- ernment and slavery as one and the same thing. All who are not of their party, they call "Governor's men," and them- selves, they deem strong enough to make the country their own! Indeed, they come in, in such force, say upwards of 5000 in the last year, I see not but they may soon be able to give us law and language too, or else, by joining the French, eject all the English. That this may be the case, is too much to be feared, for almost to a man they refused to bear arms in the time of the late war, and they say, it is all one to them which king gets the country, as their estates will be equally
4S
INTRODUCTION.
secure. Indeed it is clear that the French have turned their hopes upon this great body of Germans. They hope to al- lure them by grants of Ohio lands. To this end, they send their Jesuitical emissaries among them over to persuade them over to the Popish religion. In concert with this, the French for so many years have encroached on our province, and are now so near their scheme as to be within two days' march of some of our black settlements"-alluding, of course to the state of the western wilds, overrun by French and Indians, just before the arrival of Braddock's forces in Virginia, in 1755.
"The writer (Wharton) imputes their wrong bias in gene- ral to their " stubborn genius and ignorance," which he pro- poses to soften by education-a scheme still suggested as ne- cessary to give the general mass of the inland country Ger- mans right views of public individual interests. To this end, he proposes that faithful Protestant ministers and schoolmas- ters should be supported among them. That their children should be taught the English tongue ; the government in the mean time should suspend their right of voting for members of Assembly ; and to incline them the sooner to become En- glish in education and feeling, we should compel them to make all bonds and other legal writings in English, and no newspaper or almanack be circulated among them, also ac- companied by the English thereof.
Finally, the writer concludes, that " without some such measure, I see nothing to prevent this Province falling into. the hands of the French."* A scheme to educate the Ger- mans, as alluded to, was started in 1755 and carried on for several years.t
The number of Germans about the year 1755, was not short of sixty or seventy thousand in Pennsylvania ; nearly all of them Protestants; whereof, according to the Rev. Schlotter's statement, at the time, there were thirty thou- sand German Reformed-the Lutherans were more numerous. Besides these, there were other Germans, viz : Mennonites, German Baptists, (Dunkards,) Moravians, some few German Quakers, Seventh-day Baptists, Catholics, and Schwenkfilders.
" Herr Schlatter rechnet die Anzahl der Refor nirten Teutschen in
. Watson's Annals, ii, 257.
+ See .Appendix, B .- Scheme to educate the Gergans.
49
INTRODUCTION.
Pensylvanien auf 30,000-Herr Schlatter Reformirten glaubt, dass die Reformirten nur den dritten Theil der Tentschen in Pensylvanien ausmachen .- Hal. Nach. 512.
The number of German Catholics did not exceed (1755) 7 hundred. In the autumn of 1754, one hundred and fifty-eight Catholics arrived at Philadelphia.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.