USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Germantown > The settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the beginning of German emigration to North America > Part 17
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The rest of their furniture is a calibash, or pumpkin, cleaned out to hold drink, wooden spoons which they make in their manner, and in case of need they use mussel or oyster shells. Their wooden dishes are made of the knots of trees and of hard pumpkin rind. Many of them have two or three sacks made of the wild hemp, shaded by dyes, brown, red and white, skillfully put together. They make smaller sacks of the straw of the Indian corn, in which they carry their furniture and a little hatchet, which they call Domehicken. They now get these from the Euro- peans. Formerly they used hard stones instead. Of this stone they also made their axes. There is a brown stone like a blood stone (jasper?) which they by many blows make sharp and pointed. Their barns they make in the earth, dig a hole the depth of a man, like a spring, line it with long grass, and there put their Indian corn, pumpkins and other things. Their dogs and pigs they accustom to come, not upon seeing them, but by following their voices. At nights they water their swine, and when they are fat,
25I
Indian Habits.
sell them to the Europeans for rum, since they do not much esteem pork.
The women do not help each other at the births of their children, but they go off entirely alone to some previously selected place. Nevertheless there is never seen among them an ill formed or crippled child. The children are soon bound upon a little board, upon which they fasten a skin and cover it with another, so that they can better be carried upon the back, and be held when they suck.
They fish with hooks. They make stone dams and enclose the fish. They bind a long row of twigs with the leaves together and draw it through the water, by which means the fish are driven into a corner, and they then capture them with the hands. They also have boats of hollowed-out trees, with the crevices stopped with moss, in which they chase the sturgeon. They capture wild beasts by their rapid and continuous running, and by shooting them. Some beasts they hunt by night by the clear moon. The wild cats they shoot with arrows. The amphibia, such as rats, martens, etc., they take by night in traps like our marten traps.
They have, by the presence and mode of life of the Europeans, learned to live in a disorderly manner in eat- ing, drinking, cursing, lying and cheating. One has shown the other the way. The Europeans have brought them brandy, beer, and other materials, and now the sav- ages seek them eagerly, and although it is forbidden by law, they find means to secure them to their injury.
They make a hole or grave, in which they bury the dead, to whom they give something to eat, and besides what he especially cared for in life ; also his bow and ar- rows or a flint, so that he can hunt upon the way, since they believe he now journeys toward the warm or cold
252
The Settlement of Germantown.
country, according as he has lived a good or evil life. The grave is covered with wood and grass, and then earth is heaped upon it. The wife and children often go there and lament. They have a certain length of time, in which to think of the dead. During this time they disturb the earth on the grave, so that no grass can grow on it. When the time is over, no man is permitted to call the name of the dead, since he is now forgotten.
They do not observe the seventh day. I once asked one of them why he worked upon Sunday. He gave me for answer that he must eat upon Sunday as upon other days, and therefore he must hunt, but that if he had had something on hand, then he would keep Sunday.
Kelpius tells of a visit that Penn made to the Indians in 1701, at Kintika, and that he endeavored to inculcate in them a belief in the God who rules the Heavens and the earth. Kelpius, who, notwithstanding the assistance of Furly, was none too fond of the Quakers, reported that the Indians listened gravely, and replied : " You ask us to believe in the great creator and ruler of Heaven and earth, and yet you yourself do not believe nor trust Him, for you have taken the land unto yourself, which we and our friends occupied in common. You scheme night and day how you may preserve it, so that none can take it from you. Yea, you even scheme beyond your life, and parcel it out between your children, this manor for one child, that manor for another. We believe in God, the creator, and ruler of Heaven and earth. He maintains the sun. He maintained our fathers for so many many moons. He maintains us and we believe and are sure that He will also protect our children, as well as ourselves. And so long as we have this faith, we trust in Him, and never bequeath a foot of ground."
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Friendly Intercourse.
This friendly intercourse with the natives, based upon the principles of mutual advantage and assistance, and accompanied by an appreciation and recognition of their meritorious characteristics, contrasts forcibly with the burn- ing of the women and children of the Pequods and other similar events, which have stained our American annals.128
128 When Uncas, the Mohican, captured Miantonomo, the Narragansett, the Commissioners of Plymouth advised the savage to kill his enemy and he " accordingly executed him in a very faire manner." Bradford's His- tory of Plymouth, p. 507.
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A Germantown Colonial Doorway.
CHAPTER XII.
GERMANTOWN AS A BOROUGH, AND ITS BOOK OF LAWS.
FTER the town had become populous enough to war- rant its having control of its own affairs, a charter of incor- poration, dated May 31, 1691, was issued to Francis Daniel Pas- torius, bailiff; Jacob Telner, Dirck op den Graeff, Hermann op den Graeff, and Thones Kun- Arms of 1Rotterdam. ders, burgesses; Abraham op den Graeff, Jacob Isaacs Van Bebber, Johannes Kassel, Heifert Papen, Hermann Bon and Dirck Van Kolk, committeemen, with power to hold a court and a market, to admit citizens, to impose fines, and to make ordinances. The bailiff and first two bur- gesses were constituted justices of the peace.136 The primi- tive Solons and Lycurguses of Germantown did not want their laws to go unheeded. They were not keen enough to invent that convenient maxim Ignorantia legis neminem excusat. It was, therefore, ordered that "On the 19th
136 Penna. Archives, Vol. I., p. III.
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THE SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN.
Leges JennSilvaniana The great Law of the Province
Jenn Silvania
Gab. 5. 14. All the Law is fullfilled in one word In this: Thou Shalt Love, they neighbour as thy Self add. Rem. 43.10.
Matth: 7:12: All things, whatsoever ye would that men Should do to you, Dove even fo to them for this is the Law and the Shophets add. ap: 22: 4. 39.chi, Salus Soquiti Júprema Ex Clto.
Francis Daniel Sartorius his Book Conquerations
TITLE .- PASTORIUS' MS. BOOK OF LAWS.
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The Weavers.
of Ist mo. in each year the people shall be called together, and the laws and ordinances read aloud to them."137 Oh ye modern legislators ! think how few must have been the statutes, and how plain the language in which they were written, in that happy community.
Math. v: Greffer
As we have seen, the greater number of the first Cre- feld emigrants were weavers. This industry increased so that Frame described Germantown as a place-
" Where lives High German people and Low Dutch Whose trade in weaving linnen cloth is much ; There grows the Flax as also you may know That from the same they do divide the tow ;"
and Thomas says they made " very fine German Linen such as no person of Quality need be ashamed to wear." When, therefore, Pastorius was called upon to devise a town seal, he selected a clover on one of whose leaves was a vine, on another a stalk of flax, and on the third a weaver's spool, with the motto, " Vinum, Linum, et Tex- trinum." This seal happily suggests the relations of the town with the far past, and it is a curious instance of the permanence of causes that these simple people, after the lapse of six centuries, and after being transplanted to a distance of thousands of miles, should still be pursuing the occupation of the Waldenses of Flanders. The cor- poration was maintained until January II, 1707, but al- ways with considerable difficulty in getting the offices filled. Says Löher, "They would do nothing but work
137 Raths Buch.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
and pray, and their mild consciences made them opposed to the swearing of oaths and courts, and would not suffer them to use harsh weapons against thieves and tres- passers." Through conscientious scruples Arent Klincken declined to be burgess in 1695, Heivert Papen in 1701, Cornelis Siverts in 1702, and Paul Engle in 1703 ; Jan Lensen to be a committeeman in 1701, Arnold Kuster and Daniel Geissler in 1702 ; Matteus Millan to be constable in 1703 ; and in 1695 Albertus Brandt was fined for a failure to act as juryman, " having no other escape but that in court in Phila. he was wronged upon the account of a jury." New-comers were required to pay for the right of citizenship, and the date of the conferment of this right doubtless approximates that of the arrival.138
The records of the Court occasionally gave particulars which aid us in getting a view of the manner of life and habit of thought of the residents. Upon one occasion the Court was adjourned "by reason of the absence of some for religious meeting over Schuylkill." Intended mar- riages, and notices of things lost and found, were posted up in conspicuous places in the town. Both Maria Mar- garet Zimmermann, the widow of the astronomer, and Peter Cornelius Plockhoy were given the burgher right " gratis." Johannes Pettinger, on the 19th day of the IIth month, 1694, " did push, and evilly handle" Johannes Kuster, for which he was properly fined two shillings.
On the 7th day of the 3d month, 1695, Peter Keurlis was attested : " why he did not come when the Justice sent for him. He answered : He had much work to do.
"Whereupon he further was attested : Why he refused to lodge travellers ? Answer : He only intended to sell drink, but not to keep an ordinary.
"Then he was attested : Why he did sell barley malt beer
138 Raths Buch and Court Record.
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The Court.
4d a quart against the law of this province? Answer : He did not know such a law. Lastly, he was asked why he would not obey the law of Germantown corporation, which forbids to sell more than a gill of rum or a quart of beer every half a day to each individual. Answer : They be- ing able to bear more he could or would not obey that law." This recalcitrance led to a fine of five pounds. Keeping the fences in order and the hogs from running at large caused much trouble. John Silans confessed that on Sep. 6, 1695, " he did beat, wound and evilly entreat " John Pettinger, who apparently had a faculty for getting into scrapes, and was fined ten shillings. A jury found on 24th of 4th month, 1701, " we the jury find that through carelessness the cart and the lime killed the man. The wheel wounded the back of his head and it killed him."
A defendant was brought into the court concerning cer- tain fees and charges and the accounts were produced be- fore him. He said : "The paper was cut off and blotted and that this was done since he delivered it to the Court and that who could trust such a Court?" This was too much, and the Court adjourned for four weeks.
Reynier Peters was fined twenty shillings for calling the Sheriff " a rascal and a lyar " on the open street. George Muller was fined for laying a wager " to smoke above one hundred pipes in one day." Owners of lands were required to put stakes with their names on them along the boundaries. Nov. 28, 1704, Daniel Falckner came into Court and behaved very ill " like one that was last night drunk and not yet having recovered his witts."
No serious crime and no attempt at oppression occurred during the fifteen years covered by the record.139
139 Collections of the Historical Soc. of Pa., Vol. I., p. 245. During the first eighteen years at Plymouth four men were hanged for murder and one escaped. Bradford's History of Plymouth, p. 432.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
The corporation laws, prepared by Pastorius and care- fully written by him and others in a volume in German and Dutch script, were supposed to have been utterly lost. The volume met with strange vicissitudes and was a few years ago discovered by accident in the possession of a citizen of one of the states on the Pacific slope. Up to the present time these laws have remained unknown and, constituting as they do the earliest body of municipal legis- lation extant in Pennsylvania and perhaps in the country, their historical importance cannot be overestimated. These laws and ordinances are as follows :
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The Laws of Germantown.
Leges Pennsilvaniae h. e.
The Great Law of the Province of Pennsilvania.
Gal. 5 : 14 All the Law is fulfilled in one word in this : " Thou shallt love thy neighbour as thyself. Add Rom. 13 : 3. Matth. 7: 12.
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the Prophets. Add, Caps 22 x 35 etc.
Salus Populi Suprema Lex est. Francis Daniel Pastorius his book.
1690.
I. Copy of the Germantown Charter.
2. Laws, Ordinances and Statutes of the Community of Germantown, made and published from time to time in meetings of the General Court of that place.
3. The laws of the Province of Pennsilvania antecedent to the said Charter and By Laws.
The law is good if a man use it Lawfully. I Tim. I : 8.
Summum Jus, Summa Injuria. Extreme right is ex- treme wrong. Between just laws and righteous men no antipathy. Good laws bind evil people.
The greatest bait to offend is the hope of impunity.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
COPY OF THE CHARTER.
I William Penn, Proprietor of the Province of Pennsil- vania in America under the Imperial Crowne of great Britaine by vertue of Letters Patent, under the great Seale of England doe grant unto Francis Daniel Pastorius Civil- ian, Jacob Tellner, merchant, Dirk Isaacs Opte Graef Linnenmaker, Herman Isaacs opte Graef, Tennis Coen- derts, Abraham Isaacs opte Graef, Jacob Isaacs, Johannes Cassels, Heyvart Papen, Herman Bon, Dirck van Kolck, all of Germantown, yeomen, that they shall bee one Body Politique and Corporate in deed and in name, by the name: of the Bailiffe, Burgesses and Comonalty of Germantown in the County of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsil- vania, and them by that Name one Body Politique and Cor- porate in deed and in name for ever I doe for mee, my heirs and Successors create, make and declaire by these
presents. And that they and their Successors by the name of the Bailiffe, Burgesses and Comonalty of Germantown bee and at all times hereafter shall bee persons able and capable in Law with a joynd Stocke to trade, and with the same or any part thereoff to have, take, purchase, possesse and enjoy mannors, messuages, lands, tenements, and Rents of the yearly value of fifteen hundred pounds p. Ann. liberties, Priviledges, jurisdictions, franchises and heredi- taments of what kinde, Nature or Qualitie to them and their Successors, and assigns ; and also to give, grant, de- mise, aliene, assigne and dispose of the same. And that they and their Successors, by the name of the Bailiffe, Burgesses and Comonalty of Germantown shall and may bee persons able and capable in Law to plead and bee im- pleaded, answer and bee answered, defend and bee de- fended in whatsoever Courts and places, and before what-
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The Charter.
soever Judges and Justices, Officers and Ministers of mee, my heirs and Successors in all and Singular Pleas, actions, Suits, Causes, Quarrels and demands whatsoever, and of what kinde, Nature or Sort soever. And that it shall and may bee lawfull to and for the said Corporation and their Successors to have and use a Common Seale for any Busi- ness of or concerning the said Corporation and the same from time to time at their will to change or alter. And for the better government of the said Corporation I doe further grant to the said Corporation that there shall bee from henceforth one of the said Corporation to bee elected and to bee Bailiffe of the said Corporation, and four other of the said Corporation to bee elected and to bee chosen Bur- gesses of the said Corporation, and that there shall bee from henceforth six persons members of the said Corpor" elected and bee Committeemen of the said Corporation, which said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Committeemen shall bee called the Generall Court of the Corporation of Germantown. And that they or any three or more of them, whereof the Bailiffe with two, or in his absence any three of the Burgesses, to bee always Some, shall bee and are hereby authorized, according to such rules, orders and directions as shall from time to time bee made and given unto them by the Generall Court of the said Corporation (and for want of such rules orders and directions (when desired) as they them- selves shall thinke meete) shall manege, govern and direct all the affaires and business of the said Corporation and all their Servants and Ministers whatsoever and generally to act and doe in all other matters and things whatsoever so as they shall judge necessary and expedient for the well governing and Government of the said Corporation, and the Improvement of their Lands, tenements and other estate, joynt Stock and trade; and to doe enjoy, performe and
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The Settlement of Germantown.
execute all the powers, authorities, priviledges, acts and things in like manner to all Intents and purposes as if the same ware done at and by a Generall Court of the said Corporation.
And I doe by these presents assigne, nominate, declare and make the said Francis Daniell Pastorius of Germantown Civilian to bee the first and present Bailiffe, and the afore- said Jacob Tellner, Dirck Isaacs opte Graef Herman Isaacs opte Graef and Tennis Coenderts to bee the first present Burgesses, and the aforesaid Abraham Isaacs opte Graef, Jacob Isaacs, Johannes Cassels, Heyvart Papen, Herman Bon and Dirck van Kolck the first and present Committeemen of the said Corporation ; the said Bailiffe & Burgesses & Committeemen to continue in their respec- tive offices and places untill the first day of December next, ensuing the date hereof, and from thence untill there bee a new choyse of other Persons duely to succeed them, ac- cording as it is hereinafter directed ; unless they or any of them shall happen to dye or bee removed by order to bee made by a Generall Court of the said Corporation before the expiration of that time ; and in case any of them shall happen to dye or bee removed before the said first day of December, it shall and may bee lawfull to and for the per- sons assembled at any Generall Court of the said Corpor- ation whereoff the Bailiffe if present with two, or in his ab- sence three of the Burgesses to bee Some to make choyse of any other fit person beeing a member of the said Corpora- tion in the place of such person so deceased or removed, which person so to bee chosen shall continue in the said Place and office during the Residue of the said time. And I doe further for mee, my heirs and Successors give and grant to the said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Committeemen of Germantown and their Successors, that it shall and may
The Charter. 263
bee lawfull to and for the said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Committeemen at and upon the said first day of December in every year successively for ever hereafter (unless the said first day of December happen to fall on the first day of the weeke, and then at and upon the next day follow- ing)-to assemble and meet together in some convenient place to bee appointed by the Bailiffe, or in his absence by any three of the Burgesses of the said Corporation for the time being, which assembly and meeting of the said Cor- poration at such time and place as aforesaid shall bee and shall bee called a Generall Court of the Corporation of Germantown, and that they being so assembled, it shall and may bee lawfull to and for the major part of them which shall bee then present, not being less than seaven in number, whereof the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in absence of the Bailiffe three of the Burgesses for the being to bee some, to elect and nominate one Bailiffe, four Burgesses and Six Committeemen for the purposes afore- said, and also such other officers as they shall think neces- sary for the more due Government of the said Corporation out of the members of the said Corporation, which are to continue in their respective offices and places for the ensu- ing year, unless within that time they shall happen to dye or bee removed for some reasonable Cause as aforesaid, and upon the death or Removall of the Bailiffe, any Bur- gesse, or any of the six Committeemen, or any other officer at any time within the year, and before the said first day of December, it shall and may bee lawfull to and for the generality of them the said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Com- mitteemen for the time being, or the major part of them present at any Generall Court of the same Corporation to bee for that purpose assembled, whereof the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in the absence of the Bailiffe three
-
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The Settlement of Germantown.
of the Burgesses for the time being, to bee always some, to elect and nominate a Bailiffe, Burgess or Burgesses, Com- mitteeman or Committeemen as there shall bee occasion in the place and room of such person or persons respectively as shall so happen to dye or bee removed.
And likewise that it shall and may bee lawfull to and for the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in the absence of the Bailiffe three of the Burgesses of the said Corporation, for the time being from time to time so often as they shall find cause, to sumon a generall Court of the said Cor- poration of Germantown, and that no assembly or meeting of the said Corporation shall bee deemed and accounted a generall Court of the said Corporation unless the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in absence of the Bailiffe, three of the Burgesses and four of the Committeemen at least bee present.
And I doe for mee my heirs and Successors give and grant unto the said Corporation of Germantown and their Successors full and free liberty, power and authority from time to time at any of their generall Courts to admitt such and so many persons into their Corporation and Society, and to increase, contract or divide their joynt Stoke, or any part thereof, when so often and in such proportions and manner as they or the greatest part of them then present (whereof the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses or in his absence three of the Burgesses for the time being to bee always some) shall think fitt. And also that the said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Committeemen for the time being from time to time at their said generall Courts shall have power to make, and they may make, ordaine, constitute and establish such and so many good and reasonable Laws, Ordinances and Constitutions as to the greatest part of them at such generall Court and Courts assembled, whereof the
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The Charter.
Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in absence of the Bailiffe three of the Burgesses for the time being, to bee allways some, shall seem necessary and convenient for the good Government of the said Corporation and their affairs ; and the same Laws, Orders Ordinances and Constitutions so made to bee put in use and execution accordingly, and at their pleasur to revoke, alter and make anew, as Occa- sion shall require. And also to impose and set such mulcts and amerciaments upon the breakers of such Laws and Ordinances as to them or the greater part of them so as- sembled (whereof the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in absence of the Bailiffe three of the Burgesses to bee always some) in their discretions shall bee thought reasonable ; which said Laws and Ordinances shall bee put in execution by such officers of the said Corporation, for the time being, as shall bee by the said Court appointed for that purpose, or in default of such appointment by the Bailiffe and two of the Burgesses, or in absence of the Bailiffe by three of the Burgesses for the time beeing to bee chosen; and the said mulcts and amerciaments so imposed and set upon the breakers of the same Laws and Ordinances as aforesaid shall from time to time bee levied and receaved by such the officers and servants of the said Corporation (in that behalf to bee appointed in manner as aforesaid) to and for the use of the said Cor- poration and their Successors by distress or otherwise in such manner as the said generall Court shall direct and appoint not contrary to Law, without the Impediment of mee, my heirs and successors, or of any the officers and ministers of mee, my heirs and Successors, and without any account to bee made, rendred or given to mee, my heirs and Successors for the same or any part thereof ; or else that the said mulcts and amerciaments or any part thereof
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The Settlement of Germantown.
may upon the offenders submission or Conformity bee re- mitted, pardoned or released by the said generall Court of the said Corporation at their will and pleasur. And that the Bailiffe and two eldest Burgesses for the time being shall bee Justices of the Peace, and shall have full power and authority to act as Justices of the Peace within the said Corporation and to doe all act and acts, thing and things whatsoever, which any other Justice or Justices of the Peace can or may doe within my said Province. And further, I doe hereby grant to the said Bailiffe, Burgesses and Comonalty of Germantown, that they and their Suc- cessors shall and may have, hold and keep before the Bailiffe and three of the eldest Burgesses of the said Cor- poration and the Recorder for the time being of the said Corporation one Court of Record to bee held every six weeks in the year yearly, for such time as they shall think fitt for the hearing or determining of all Civil causes, matters and things whatsoever (arising or happening be- twixt the Inhabitants of the said Corporation) according to the Laws of the said Province and of the Kingdome of England, reserving the liberty of Appeall according to the same. And also to have, hold and keep one publick market every sixth day in the week in such convenient place and manner as the Provinciall Charter doeth direct. And further to doe and act any other matter or thing what- soever for the good government of the said Corporation and the members thereof, and for the maneging and order- ing of the estate, Stoke and affairs of the said Corporation as they shall at any time or times thinke or judge expedi- ent or necessary, and as any other Corporation within my said Province shall may or can doe by Law not being in- consistent to the Laws of England or of my said Province. Hereby giving and granting that this my present Charter
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