USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Germantown > The settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the beginning of German emigration to North America > Part 19
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
aig dom 15h 02 9th mon. 1696.
4 Struts cours glichroma. for allex hey day waschen, font Sontung gomanot an alta in Jury Krobotton, Big straff sean no filling.
Arde infra Am. 46.
280
The Settlement of Germantown.
28I
Branding Horses-Pigs.
Of this fine, one shilling shall be demanded, even though no actual loss is incurred by the racing, in case accusation is made. Also on Ist mo. 17, 1697.
45. Furthermore, all shooting is likewise prohibited to old and young on the first day of the week, otherwise called Sunday, under penalty of twenty shillings fine.
Also Ist mo. 17, 1696. Adde infra, num. 46.
47. In order that the benefit of our best and most com- plete brand of the clover leaf registered in Philadelphia, may be preserved strictly for the community, all inhabitants of Germantown who sell their own horses, marked with said clover leaf, or exchange them or otherwise part with them to any one who does not belong to our Corporation, shall before parting with the horse, burn upon him in ad- dition to such clover leaf, with the stamp prepared for the purpose, the letter G, under penalty of ten shillings fine. Also all who go away from this jurisdiction on their horses, shall be compelled to do so with their clover leaf so marked, under penalty of the now imposed fine of ten shillings for every animal that is not so branded with the letter G.
This law was made Decem. 18, 1696, by the General Court then assembled, and forthwith published by public reading.
48. No citizen or inhabitant of Germantown after four weeks from the date here set down, shall let any kind of swine or young pigs run in either the fields or streets under penalty of losing all such swine or young pigs that run loose which, after said four weeks, shall by certain persons thereunto appointed, be put up for sale, from which one- fourth part shall go to him who has taken them up, one- fourth to the officer who sells them the next day after the bill of sale has been up, and the other half to the com-
282
The Settlement of Germantown.
munity. Yet it is expressly directed that in case a hog or young pig shall against the owner's will, break out or run over a field or street, they shall reckon from the first twenty-four hours after the breaking out, before the above order goes into effect. Also if any swine or young pigs, which belong to some one living outside of Germantown, shall be found running loose upon said fields or streets, the owner of the same shall pay for every one, as often as it is caught, ten pence to persons appointed to receive it. In the meantime, before the herein mentioned four weeks are passed, every inhabitant shall have liberty to catch every hog or young pig which comes into his fields, and then the owner of the same is bound to pay to him who has them, two shillings each, or, if he refuse, the finder may bring them to the officer and he may put them up for sale according to a previously posted bill, and may keep the third part of the ransom money for his trouble.
This law was made 5th mo. 20, 1697, in the General Court and publicly put up, and the preceding 15th law re- pealed and withdrawn.
Vide num. 51.
49. It is ordered by the General Court that no one here in Germantown shall keep an inn without license or per- mission of the Court, and shall give bond in twenty-five pounds. So as to keep good order in his house no one shall entertain transient guests except only the inn-keeper.
In order to avoid drunkenness, no inhabitant or person within the jurisdiction of Germantown shall be permitted to sell rum or other strong drink to any Indians, or he shall be punished according to the circumstances as the Court shall find good.
Vide seq., num. 50.
50. On the 9th of 6th mo. 1701, the preceding 49th law
283
Swine.
was abolished, and the 46th was again established by the General Court with this proviso : That no inn-keepers on the first day called Sunday in God's service, shall hold gatherings of guests, and besides, throughout the whole week, no one except travellers shall be found here in an inn drinking later than nine o'clock at night, on pain of. whatever penalty the court of record shall inflict.
51. On Sept. 17, 1701, the 48th law was repealed, and the following two made by the General Court and pub- lished with those following : All swine, except suckling pigs, which are found after the 21st day of this month in the fields of Germantown, without a yoke of two feet long, the officer of the corporation, or in his absence, or if he re- fuse, some citizen with two of his neighbors as witnesses, is hereby entitled to catch or kill, and the half of it shall go to the officer, or in such case as mentioned above, the citizen who in such case has caught or killed the chased pig, for his trouble, and the other half shall fall to the community. For damages, up to the 22nd day of this month, for swine which are now running in said fields, the owner of the land upon which the swine are caught or killed, shall be recompensed according to the decision of disinterested persons.
Vide num. 55.
51. So also was the following ordered : All citizens here in Germantown shall have full right to catch and bring to the officer all horses, cows, calves, and pigs found running loose upon their enclosed fields, and the officer shall pay them one shilling for each head, and shall receive beside from the owner of the cattle so caught two shill. together with all costs for trouble and fodder. But in case he catch them himself, he shall have only the two shill. and said costs. But he who has to pay the officer for his cattle, shall re-
284
The Settlement of Germantown.
ceive whatever he pays out in this way, provided his own fence is good and regular, from those or him whose fences or fence are not sufficient, besides all lost time and costs of judgment whatever they come to in the dispute.
Horses which can jump the prescribed fence are to be kept with a strong halter around the neck or else kept in a stable.
Num. 12. Each and every property, half property or smaller place upon which any one dwells here in German- town, shall have a special yard (werf) fenced in so that the cattle may not so easily run into the common field. And such yard fences shall be like the other field fences, strong and sufficient to keep out cattle ; also this shall be regu- larly examined by the fence inspector. Whoever neglects to make this fence or to repair it, must make good all damage caused thereby, and also when accusation is made against him, must pay three shillings fine.
This was made in place of the above 12th law, I mo. 17th, 1696.
Num. 13. All fences shall be five feet high, and the highest part protected with strong rails, and otherwise so made and contrived as to keep the cattle out of the fields. Also, no one shall be permitted outside on the street, to leave trees and such things against the fences, by which little pigs and other harmful animals might the more easily climb up and get over. Whereupon any one on being in- formed of such offence by the fence inspector, shall repair the same within twenty four hours, or on neglect of the same shall be fined six shillings.
This was also made I mo. 17th, 1696.
Num. 14. If horses, oxen, cows, etc. come through or over a fence, and do harm, and the fence inspector of that quarter recognize that such fence is firm and in good con-
285
Swine-Roads.
dition, the proprietor or owner of the cattle shall be in- debted and compelled to repair all damage.
This was also made I mo. 17, 1696.
Number 15. Any one may set a dog upon swine or young pigs which come upon these streets, but with strict care not to kill them. But if a hog comes into the fenced off land, every inhabitant of this quarter is free to catch it and show it to the owner of the hog, and then the latter shall be bound to pay for every hog or young pig so caught which is one year old six shillings, for one a half year old three shillings, for the good of the community. But if he will not pay in such manner, he who caught it shall bring it to the officer, who at the earliest four hours after he has previously published it shall publicly sell the hog, and give the money received for it to the rent master, but keep back for himself six shillings from every pound.
This also was made I mo. 17, 1696.
Vide num. 48.
Num. 19. The road master, as often as common service is needed to be done, shall the day before call upon as many persons as he considers necessary for the present work, and those persons are bound to be upon hand and to work. Whoever does not come himself or send some capa- ble person in his stead, shall have to pay six shillings fine for each day, but if he is so sick that he cannot do his own work, or if he has a wife in child bed in his house, in this case he is not compelled to serve. The aforesaid road master must always keep just and accurate reckoning with all of those who remain in arrears, and give over the same annually in the last court of record in the same year.
This was made instead of the preceding 18th on common service, I mo. 17, 1696.
Num. 31. The foregoing deeds and contracts shall be
286
The Settlement of Germantown.
· sealed by the Bailiff with the common town seal and then first copied of record, and for the sealing only six pence shall be paid, but for the recording one shilling.
This was made in place of the 40th, I mo. 17, 1696.
Number 36. The general court shall yearly appoint two men of the community who every two months shall inspect the chimneys and fire places, and where they find them imperfect they shall give a certain time to the man living in the house to remedy it, and if the latter neglects doing it, he shall be fined six shillings.
Also made I mo. 17, 1696.
Vide Num. 55.
Num. 46. To prevent drunkenness no citizen or under- tenant under Germantown jurisdiction shall sell to any Indians rum or other strong drink, also inn keepers are hereby forbidden to tap more than each half day one quart of beer or a gill of rum for each Indian man or woman, on pain of whatever punishment the court shall find good, according to the magnitude of the offence.
This law also was made in the General Court I mo. 17, 1696.
Num. 52. To the foregoing 3rd ordinance was added on the 12 mo. 26, 1701-2 by the General Court :- And any one who already has his dwelling upon said four or two acres may not himself or have any one else build a dwelling or stable upon land lying back of it.
Num. 53. On the aforesaid 26 day of 12 month 1701-2 was substituted by the general court in the 51 ordinance, fifteen inches instead of two feet.
Num. 54. On the same 26 day of 12 mo. 1701-2 the fol- lowing law was made :- Behind each and every property in Germantown the fences shall stand away forty feet from the line, so that the cattle may pass through. But so long
287
Officers.
as the neighboring property does not reach the said back fence, every man in Germantown is free to fence in and use the land up to the line.
55. Also on the 26th day of 12 mo. 1701-2 by the Gen- eral Court, the 23d law about the dogs, the 36th about the chimney inspector, and the last part of the 5Ist law about. the swine, were repealed.
56. On the 11th of 3 mo. 1703 in the General Court, there was substituted in the 21st law two rods for the four rods.
Those who held the town offices during the period of its corporate existence, so far as they have been ascertained, were as follows :
1691. Bailiff : F. D. Pastorius. Burgesses : Jacob Tel- ner, Dirck Op den Graeff, Hermann Op den Graeff. Re- corder : Jacob Isaacs van Bebber. Clerk : Paul Wulf. Sheriff : Andreas Souplis. Constable, Jan Lucken.
1692. Bailiff : F. D. Pastorius. Burgesses : Reynier Tyson, Abraham Op den Graeff, Van Bebber. Recorder : Arnold Cassel. Clerk : Paul Wulf. Sheriff : David Scherkges. Constable : Peter Keurlis.
1693. Bailiff : Dirck Op den Graeff. Burgesses : R. Tyson, J. Lucken, Peter Schumacher jun. Recorder : Arnold Cassel. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jacob Schumacher. Constable : P. Keurlis.
1694. Bailiff : Dirck Op den Graeff. Burgesses : R. Tyson, Peter Schumacher jun., Abraham Tunes. Re- corder : Albert Brand, later, A. Cassel. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jan Lucken. Constable : P. Keurlis.
1695. Bailiff : A. Cassel. Burgesses : Arent Klincken, Jan Doeden, Peter Schumacher jun. Recorder : Heivert Papen. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jan Lucken,
288
The Settlement of Germantown.
after May 7 Isaac Schumacher. Constable: Jan Silans and Johann Kuster.
1696. Bailiff : F. D. Pastorius. Burgesses : Peter Schumacher jun., Reynier Tyson, Lenart Arets. Recorder : Thones Kunders. Clerk : Anton Loof. Sheriff: Isaac Schumacher. Constable : Andreas Kramer und Joh. Kuster.
1701. Bailiff : Daniel Falckner. Burgesses : Cornelis Sivert, Justus Falckner, Thones Kunders. Recorder : Johannes Jawert. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jonas Potts.
1702. Bailiff : Arent Klincken. Burgesses : Paul Wulff, Peter Schumacher, Wilh. Strepers. Recorder : Joh. Con- rad Cotweis. Clerk: F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jonas Potts.
1703. Bailiff : James Delaplaine. Burgesses: Thones Kunders, Daniel Falckner, J. C. Cotweis. Recorder : Richard van de Werff. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Thom. Potts, jun. Constable : Walter Simens.
1704. Bailiff : Arent Klincken. Burgesses : Hans Hein- rich Mehls, Peter Schumacher, jun., Anton Gerkes. Re- corder : Simon Andrews. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Con- stable, Wilhelm de Wees.
1706. Bailiff : James Delaplaine. Burgesses : Thones Kunders, Lenart Arets, Isaac Schumacher. Recorder : Caspar Hood. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Wil- helm de Wees. Constables : Cornelius de Wees, Simon Andrews und Joh. Kuster.
1707. Bailiff : Thomas Rutter. Burgesses : Joh. Kus- ter, Wilh. Strepers, Peter Schumacher. Recorder: Cas- par Hood. Clerk : F. D. Pastorius. Sheriff : Jonas Potts. 141
141 Seidensticker.
THE SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN.
-
RUINS OF AN ANCIENT MILL ON CRESHEIM CREEK.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SETTLEMENT.
HERE are many fea- tures about the settle- LOVE ment of Germantown, which make it an event not CE NI only of local but of national P P. and cosmopolitan impor- E 3 tance. Regarded from the point of view of the intro- duction into America of the results of European learn- ing and cultivation, it is believed that no other set- tlement on this side of the Atlantic, certainly neither Jamestown, Plymouth nor Philadelphia, had so large a proportion of men who had won distinction abroad in lit- erature and polemics. And it must be remembered that the intellectual thought of that age was mainly absorbed in re- ligious controversy. Those in the advance of theological inquiry upon the continent of Europe, who had begun to forecast the condition of things we now enjoy, and who were thus brought into hopeless conflict with the concen-
289
290
The Settlement of Germantown.
trated forces of church and government, looked to Penn- sylvania, not only as a haven, but as the only place in the world, with the possible exception of Holland, where their views might have an opportunity to bear fruitage. Of those interested in the settlement as purchasers Schutz, Ueberfeld, Eleanora von Merlau, Petersen, Kemler, Zim- mermann and Furly, and of the actual settlers Plockhoy, Pastorius, Bom, Thomas Rutter, Telner, Koster, Kelpius, Daniel Falckner and Justus Falckner, all wrote books and produced literary labors some of them of magnitude and importance
In Germantown were begun the weaving of linen and cloth, and the manufacture of paper. The great carpet and other woolen industries of the state and the publishing houses and newspapers of the country may alike look back to the clover leaf of this ancient burgh with its motto : " Vinum Linum et Textrinum," with something of the same feeling that inspired the crusader of the middle ages when he gazed upon the cross. At Germantown began the inflow into America of that potent race which under the great Hermann in the battle in the Teutoberger wald overthrew the power of Rome, which in the sixth century conquered and colonized England and now supplies her kings, which in the sixteenth century under the lead of Luther confronted the Pope, and which has done so much to enrich, strengthen and liberalize the state of Pennsyl- vania and to establish those commonwealths in the west where in the future will rest the control of the nation.
But of more moment than any of these was the lesson taught to mankind by the settlement. The linen weavers of Germantown, no matter how humble may have been their station, or how inconspicuous may have been the events of their lives, were the farthest outcome of the ages,
29I
Calvinists and Anabaptists.
and of the future they were the prophets. Set aloft as an example here were the men who in advance of their fel- lows, had struck what has become the key-note of Ameri- can civilization and the hope of futurity for all the races of the world. When Bullinger, the learned and able ex- pounder of the views of the Swiss Calvinists, wrote in 1560 his " Origin of the Anabaptists," he said in describ- ing their heretical beliefs : " But they hold stiffly the oppo- site and maintain that the government shall not interfere in questions of religion and belief. It appears to these Bap- tists to be unreasonable that any sword should be used in the church except the word of God, and still more unrea- sonable that a man should submit questions of religion or belief to the determination of other men, that is, to those who control the government."142 He unconsciously, and by way of condemnation, marked the lines definitely. He believed that heresy was a sin against God and a crime against the state and as such to be punished by the law. The Anabaptists, on the contrary, taught that matters of faith were between the man and his God with which the government had nothing to do. The doctrines advocated by Bullinger, extending later into England, led to the or- ganization of the Puritans, and to the founding of the colony of Massachusetts, as a theocracy, where Quakers, Baptists, Antinomians and other heretics were punished and expelled. The doctrines of the Anabaptists carried through Holland to England resulted in the formation of the sect of Quakers and the founding of Pennsylvania, where all were welcome and all were permitted to cher- ish their own creeds. To Germantown as Mennonites came the Anabaptists themselves. Though in England even yet the church and state are united, in America the
142 Widertoufferen Ursprung, Zurich, 1560, p. 165.
292
The Settlement of Germantown.
contest has been ended, and the constitutions of all the states of the union provide for the exercise of liberty of conscience. When men have once persuaded them- selves that the Lord has drawn an impassable distinction, to their advantage, between them and their fellows, the step towards the assumption of intellectual and physical control over the less fortunate is easily taken. All peoples have found their bondsmen among the outside barbarians. It is not therefore surprising that when the memorial of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slav- ery, was presented to Congress in 1790, it should meet with the opposition of Fisher Ames and the support of Hiester, Muhlenberg and Wynkoop, the Pennsylvania German contingent then in the House. 143
When Plockhoy in 1662 declared that no slavery should exist in his colony, it was only three years later than the decree of a Massachusetts court which directed that the Quakers, Daniel and Provided Southwick, should be sold in the Barbados,144 and when the Op den Graeffs, Pas- torius and Hendricks presented their well-reasoned pro- test in 1688, the other American colonists, as well as the English and the Dutch, were busily engaged in mak- ing their annual profits from the trade in slaves.
The settlement of Germantown then has a higher import than that new homes were founded and that a new burgh, destined to fame though it was, was builded on the face of the earth. It has a wider significance even than that here was the beginning of that immense immigration of Germans who have since flocked to these shores. Those burghers from the Rhine, better far than the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, better even that the Quakers who established
143 Journal of the House, p. 62.
144 Hazard's Historical Collections, Vol. II., p. 563.
293
Conclusion.
a city of brotherly love, stood for that spirit of universal toleration which found no abiding place save in America. Their feet were planted directly upon that path which leads from the darkness of the middle ages down to the light of the nineteenth century, from the oppressions of the past, to the freedom of the present. Holding as they did opinions banned in Europe, and which only the fullness- of time could justify, standing as they did on what was then the outer picket line of civilization, they best repre- sented the meaning of the colonization of Pennsylvania, and the principles lying at the foundation of her institu- tions and of those of the great nation of which she forms a part.
E
THE
INDEX.
Agreement forming Frankfort Land Autographs :
Company, 32-38
Aldekerk, 148
Alsace, 118
Altona, Communities at, 12 Altdorf, 53, 54
Altheim, 118
Alkmaer, 137
Ames, Fisher, 292
Ames, William, 14, 112, 114
Amiens, 53
Petersen, Johan Wilhelm, 24, 41
Schutz, Catharina Elisabetha,4I
Schutz, Johan Jacob, 29 Sellen, Hendrick, 174 Shoemaker, Peter, 118
Sprogell, John Henry, 44 Story, Tho., 14
Van Bebber, Matthias, 255
Van de Wall, Jacob, 22 Von Mastricht, Gerhard, 34, 41 Von Wylich, Tho., 28
Anhalt, 215
" Anleitung zu gründlicher Ver- standniss," 27
Antwerp, 10 Antinomians, 29I
Appeal, Keith's, 134
Arents, Jacob Classen, 140 Arets, Lenart, 3, 4, 17, 18, 19, 63, 159, 288
Armentown, 19 Armitage, Benjamin, 63 Arnheim, 162
Barclay, Robert, 9, 12, 16
Arnold, Gottfried, 21, 219 Aschaffenburg, 52 Autographs :
Behagel, Daniel, 22, 41 Falckner, Daniel, 41, 230 Falckner, Justus, 233 Furly, Benjamin, 137
Jawert, Balthasar, 32, 41' Jawert, Johan, 4I Kelpius, Johannes, 41, 223 Kemler, Johannes, 27, 4I Le Brun, Johan, 36, 41 Op den Graeff, Herman, 150 Pastorius, Francis Daniel, 52 Penn, Wm., 3 Hendrick Pannebecker, 122
Amsterdam, 2, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 10I, 107, 119, 125, 126, 130, 131, 138, 140, 162, 170, 174, 195, 197, 198, 205, 206, 208, 209, 222 Amsterdam, Coat of Arms of, 144 Anabaptists, 7, 8, 9, 16, 84, 291
Anders, Schwed, 92 Andrews, Simon, 140, 288
Andross, 19
Babbitt, 154 Bacher, Conrad, 56 Backersdorf, 133 Baltimore, 97
Baptists, 29I Baptists, Origin of, 12 Baptist Movement, 8 arbados, 105, 112, 292
Barlow, Samuel L. M., 21I Bartlesen, Sebastian, 139
Basle, 53 Battenberg, 8, 9' Baumann, W., 63 Baurin, Frau, 56 Bayreuth, 54
295
296
Index.
Bebber's Township, 141, 142 Beer, Edward, 142 Bees, 62
Behagel, Daniel, 19, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 38
Behagel, Daniel, Coat of Arms of, 22 Behagel, Daniel, Autograph of, 22
Behagel, Jacob, 28
Bellers, Robert, 178, 194
Berends, Claes, 139, 170
Bergerland, 139
Berkeley, Sir William, 2II
Berleburg, 222
Brugge, 10 Buckhold, 9
Buckholz, Heinrich, 128
Buckholz, Mary, 128 Budd, Thomas, 152, 154 Bullinger, 29I
Bun, Peter, 139 Burgomasters of Amsterdam, 209 Burlington, 134, 147, 152, 157, 220
Calvin, 9 Calvinistic Church, 84, 114 Calvinists, 29I Carpenter, Samuel, 125, 154, 165, 166, 167
Carr, Sir Robert, 210
Casdorp, Herman, 169
Casper, Thomas, 56
Cassel, Abraham H., 120, 122
Cassel, Arnold, 45, 287
Cassels, Johannes, 260, 262
Catholic Clergy, 114
Bom, Agnes, 129
Bom, Cornelius, 57, 84, 102, 124, 128, 129, 130, 290
Bom, Cornelius, Letter of, 102 Bon, Hermann, 131, 151, 254, 260, 262 Bowman, Wynant, 176 Bowman, Ann, 176
Bowyer, Thomas, 66
Bradford, Andrew, 174
Bradford's History of Plymouth, 235, 253, 257
Bradford, William, 64, 134, 138, 152, 154, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 221, 233
Brandenburg, 89
Brandt, Albertus, 126, 256, 287 Bremen, 219
Brick Kiln, 42
Brook Farm Experiment, 177
Brown, Henry Armitt, 128
Brown, Peter, 158
Berlin, 220
Bermudas, 105
Berne, 100
Besse's " Suffering of the Quakers," II4 Bible of Hans Peter Umstat, 128 Bibliographical Incident, 13I Bibles, 170
Bidermann, Ludwig, 215, 217
Bietigheim, 218
Biestkens, Nicolaes, 17
Biork, Rev. Eric, 226, 233
Black wall, 6
Bleikers, Johannes, 4, 5, 18
Bleikers, Peter, 18
Blomerse, Mary, 82
Blootelingh, A., 130
Blumenberg, 215, 219
Bockenogen, Jan Willemse, 128 Bodensee, 136 Boehm, Jacob, 212, 216, 218, 219
Caton, William, 14, 114
Catrou, 8, 10 Cavaliers, 52 Cave of Pastorius, 19
Caves in Philadelphia, 57
Chalkley, Thomas, 14 Charlotta Sophia, Duchess, 222
Charter of Germantown, 254, 260-267 Chestnuts, 87
297
Index.
Church, Mennonite, 168, 169, 170 Claassen, Cornelia, 174
Claessen, Cornelius, 139, 176 Clark, Thomas, 49, 78
Claus, Jacob, 16 Claypoole, James, 5, 6, 18, 92, 124 Cleves, 6, 79, 168 Coats of Arms of :
Amsterdam, 144 Behagel, Daniel, 22 Crefeld, I
Frankfort, 21 Holy Roman Empire, 143 Jaquet Family of Nuremburg, 89 Jawert, Balthasar, 32
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.