USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Germantown > The settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the beginning of German emigration to North America > Part 4
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57 Ibid.
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Frankfort Land Company.
It appears that Falkner had some kind of a writing, under which he claimed the right to act alone for the com- pany, because Pastorius says in opposition to it that it was a mere declaration signed by but two of the company and they the youngest, that it did not attempt to revoke the prior power given to the three attorneys, and that when Lowther presented it on behalf of Falkner to the court at Germantown and asked to have it recorded, the court re- fused upon the ground that it must be proved by two wit- nesses. Thereupon, Falkner, being over head and ears in debt, and having failed to sell under this authority, united with Sprogell and made a friend of David Lloyd by giving to him a thousand acres of land which belonged to Benjamin Furly, of Rotterdam.58 Lloyd suggested an action of ejectment based upon the claim of Sprogell, and in which there could be a recovery by arrangement with Falkner acting as attorney for the company, and it is as- serted by Pastorius that it was carried forward to judgment without notice to him, Jawert, or any one else interested in behalf of the company. He further complains : " And many honest men in high and low Germany, who are sin- cerely inclined to truth, Peace, Righteousness & Chris- tianity, would not be occasioned to think so strange of this the Pennsylvanian Lawyers Way of Ejectment sine die ; especially when they hear that one called a Quaker had a hand in it; and the sd Pastorius might at least have ob- tained somewhat of a salary for his Service done unto the sd Company Seventeen Years and a half, and what he dis- bursed of his own during that time. Now the Company being thus miserably dispossessed of their Estate, as afore- mentioned, the sd Pastorius one with Arnold Cassel went to David Lloyd, and Complaining of the Wrong, also de-
58 Pastorius MSS. Phoenixville now stands upon this land.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
sired his Advice, presented him a small fee, which he re- fused to take; but told him that he the sd Pastorius & Johannes Jawert were not included in the Ejectment, which they knew already. And when the. sd Pastorius further asked the sd David Lloyd what was best for him to do? David drawing his shoulders told him that his land (viz., the 1000 acres) was Involved in that of the Company, and that he must seek for it at Sprogels, which Counsel the sd Pastorius scrupled to embrace."59
In these proceedings and in the manner indicated a judg- ment in ejectment was obtained in favor of the plaintiff, execution was issued and possession given.
Sprogell immediately began to cut the timber. On the Ist of March, 1708-9 Pastorius and Jawert presented peti- tions to the Governor and Council. Pastorius says that Sprogell " thro the contrivance or Ploting of Daniel Falk- ner, in ye last adjourned Court held for the County of Phil- ada, the 15th of January, by means of Fictio juris as they term it (wherewith your petitioner is altogether unac- quainted) hath gott a writt of Ejectmt, wch it doth not effect your petitioner, yet the said Sprogel would have Ejected him out of his home," and that Sprogell " gott the said Writt of Ejectmt, so as to finish this his Contrivance in the County Court, to be held third day of the next month, between wch and the former no Provincial Court doth intervene for a Writt of Error, & hath further feed or retain'd the four known lawyers of this Province, in order to deprive as well your Petitr., as likewise Johannes Jawert of all ad- vice in law, wch sufficiently argues his cause to be none of the best."
Jawert says in his petition that Sprogell " upon his arrival from Holland first told your Petitr. that he had bought ye
59 Pastorius MSS.
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Ejectment Suit.
said Estate of those persons residing in Germany, but after- wards denying it, again preferred to buy ye same of your Petitr., who is a partner thereof, and his joynt attorney,. Danll Falkner, and when your Petitr. could not accept of his terms, he offering a very inconsiderable sum, then he promised one hundred pounds to your Petitr. gratis, or to put up for himself ; but your Petitr. not willing to betray his trust, broke off ; and so before he was aware & with- out ye least of his knowledge said Sprogel . . . ejected the said Germans out of ye said their estate . . . and besides he, ye said Sprogel & Falkner, to make this their abominable plott to bear, did fee all the known attornies, or Lawyers, of this Province, either to speak for ym, or to be silent in Court, in order to deprive your Petitr. of all advice in law, even so much as to find none to signify this, your Petitioners complaint, or to draw a Peticon to your Honour and Council in due form in our English method." 60
The clerk of the council says that the attempt was so heinous that it was scarcely considered credible. The petitioners were called in and examined, and it then ap- peared that " David Lloyd was principal agent & Contriver of the whole, and it was affirmed that he had for his pay a thousand acres of Benjamin Furley's land which he the said Benjamin was so weak as to intrust to Sprogel with the disposal of." It was ordered that " notice be given by all Conveyances that may be to the Frankfort Society of Purchasers yt they forthwith send full powers to reverse ye judgment according to law." 61
So far as we know the judgment was never reversed and Sprogell retained possession. In 1713 Jawert presented the matter to the Friends' meeting doubtless for the purpose
60 Colonial Records, Vol. II., p. 430.
61 Colonial Records, Vol. II., p. 432.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
of having some condemnation visited by them upon David Lloyd. Fortunately we have this communication which says :
" To the Monthly Meeting of those whom the world calls Quakers, at Philadelphia :
" Honorable Respected Friends : I have been informed by my Friend Pastorius that you desire to let you know the proceedings agt the Francfort Company, which Company every member of it have always bore a great respect & love to those wch the world calls Qrs for good but will take it very strange, to be used as they have been, in their Country & under their Govermt. Not that I can say or suppose that any of the real friends which fear God have had any hand in it, neither can I blame the honorable Court that was at that time, they were ignorant of the matter ! But I must blame one of your friends, as he calls himself, David Lloyd, to take such dirty cause in hand for the lucre of some great reward. Respected friends, to tell you first by what power daniel Falkner did that wicked act he hath none at all, not so much as to sell one foot of the Companies land without my consent, which will ap- pear by the letter of Attorney of which friend Pastorius has a Copie. But it seems falkner by the advice of abovsd friend D. L. produced a letter of one of the Company in Court, when they was just breaking up, which impowers him, to sell the land as he says. If this letter was a true letter it could impower him no more as if any stranger had impowered him because of the agreement between all the members of the Company to act or do nothing without the Consent & knowledge of all the members, of which I and Pastorius are 2, much lesser to sell all their land by ONE'S order. When this wicked plot was contrived by them two Children of darkness, Daniel Falkner and Sprogel, they knew well enough that they could do nothing honestly without my consent, as one of the chief owners & attourney for the said company. Now to get me in, & save the money they saw they must give the lawyers, abovesd Sprogel came to my house and offered some small sum of
49
Letter of Jawert.
money for the land to wch I could not consent. So Sprogel seeing that would not do offered me hundred pounds for a bribe, of wch the rest of the company should not know, besides my share in the land. But I told him that I rather would loose all my land than betray my trust. Seeing now that their wicked design would not prevail with me they sett david to work, without doubt he was well paid for it, (for which I understand friend furly suffers). David lloyd willing that his brethren should have a share in the buty, or else would not be seen to act alone, getts two more. Macnemary had but two periwicks, worth about ten pounds, for his fee as he told me himself. Now when it was concluded among them to fullfil their design they thought the fittest time when the Court was breaking up. According they did. But Mr. Clark being there which had had no share yet thought it very strange that such a weighty business should be called at the breaking up of the Court, asked what it was. David Lloyd finding Clark inquiring very earnestly in the matter, for fear their wicked design should be discovered, said "Thom. hold thy tongue, thou shalt have fourty shillings" And so it was done. When friend Pastorius gave me notice of this I went directly up to Philadelphia and going to the Lawyers found all their tongues bound, was therefore obliged to petition the Governor & Council to allow one Lawyer, which was Clark, who had only a promise of fourty shill- ings, but not received the same. But could not untie his tongue before I gave him tenn pounds ready down in sil- ver & gold. For which ten pounds & other fast expenses I had not so much good as I had of a pott good beer & a penny roll. Friend Pastorius & Caspar Hood can tell more of it. But hope that the Lord that is the right Judge will not suffer such wickedness, but will lead the hearts of upright men to punish such wicked doings. I design to be up so soon as possible & see what I can do in it with the help of God and Christian Friends. I must beg your pardon dear friends that I trouble you with such a large letter. Wish the Lord your God and my God may com- fort & bless you through his son Jesus and the power of
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The Settlement of Germantown.
the Holy Spirit. I am respected friends your friend and servant.
"John Jawert, " Maryland, Bohemia river, March the 25th Ano. 1713."
Some years later the survivors of the Company offered to convey such interests as they possessed to the Society in London organized for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts. This Society made an investigation which led to no substantial results. The efforts of the Pietists of Frankfort which began in religious enthusiasm ended in pecuniary misfortune. Wanting in that earnestness or per- sistency of purpose, or perhaps not driven by the same ur- gency of oppression, which led the purchasers at Crefeld to cross the seas, they constituted an interesting episode but not a potent factor in the early life of Germantown.
TOS
MI
.DIRIGE.
London.
THE SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN.
*** Pear
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the wy sigu ages of the me
But He Hhe a bon than half the fall of this ray! Be Content there 16, DenAI HI amits.
on theney to thes fases, that Efter (have news)
gotten Art
u mar Detfans will fix. Gant The vis trent, hos pains Alys
but main ad Mustre uro i But never tale of Borrowing. The minutity Dislikes the Thing. Sie.
Senatorth Y'a hat at have ret nothing that may come. En1 Titu , Des Prascatia Fatigale Dificultades Patientin Extralong Doles Prudential ut Ico Pictay
PAGE FROM THE BEE-HIVE OF PASTORIUS. WRITTEN IN SEVEN LANGUAGES.
to which I have no thst Dat med por teres part tuit
CHAPTER III.
FRANCIS DANIEL PASTORIUS. 62
E now approach the career of one, who though his connection with the settlement was in a sense accidental, and though the movement which led to it cannot be ascribed to his endeavors, was nevertheless the most interesting and con- spicuous figure in associa- tion with early Germantown. Pastorius. He well deserves an exalted place among American wor- thies and his life in its self abnegation, its literary produc- tiveness and its breadth of liberality, appears the more ad- mirable when contrasted with the narrow intelligence and restricted outlook of the leaders of the Puritan settlements
62 The sources of this biography are Pastorius' Umständige Geograph- ische Beschreibung Pennsylvaniae, 1700; his Thesis 1676; his MSS. in the Historical Society of Penna. and in my possession ; and Dr. Seiden- sticker's papers in the Deutsche Pionier, Cincinnati, IS70, Vols. II. and III.
51
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The Settlement of Germantown.
or with the tobacco-dealing and Indian robbing impulses of those who have been called Cavaliers. His grand- father, Martin Pastorius, was assessor of the Court at Erfurt. When Gustavus Adolphus captured the town the soldiers were quartered in the house, which was Francis Daniel Pastorius upon the horse- market, and plun- dered it, driving out the children with their drawn swords. The father rode to Mayence to make complaint, but again fell into the hands of the Swedish soldiers and was driven out naked and so badly beaten that in a few weeks afterwards he died. His wife was Brigitta, daughter of Christian Flinsberger, of Mühlhausen.
Melchior Adam, son of Martin, was born at Erfurt, then containing twenty thousand people, on the 21st of September, 1624. In his childhood he met with many misadventures. Once, when nine months old, his mother fell with him from a boat into the Rhine, and later he felt the weight of the swords of the sol- diers in the army of Gustavus. He went to school at Erfurt, and studied poetry and rhetoric there, and at Wurtzburg, philosophy. He traveled to Gotha, Fulda, Frankfort, Mayence, Aschaffenburg, Wurtzburg and to Rome, where, August 26, 1644, he entered the col- lege, and after four years was graduated Lit. Doctor. It indicates the manners of the times that once he slept in a very dark chamber of an inn, while under the bed lay the body of a dead man which emitted a dreadful odor. From Rome he went to Vienna and thence to France, and at Nancy could find no inn and walked the streets all night, hearing the dogs bark and the cocks crow. At Meaux he and his friend were arrested as
53
Melchior Adam Pastorius.
spies, and when he showed his passport and letters from Cardinal Mazarine was told: "It is these books which make all the trouble and disturbance in the land." He reached Paris at a time of great tumult and unquiet, and, being compelled to keep within his room, there wrote four little books. On the 12th of June, 1649, he departed for Amiens, Lyons, Geneva and Basle, and the same year at Sommerhausen was converted to the Lutheran faith. He married Magdalena, daughter of Stephen Dietz and Mar- garetha Fischer, and widow of Henrich Frischman. Learned in both law and theology he settled at Winds- heim, of which he wrote a history and where he held many offices, including those of burgomaster and Superior Judge.
Francis Daniel Pastorius, son of Melchior and Magda- lena, was born in Sommerhausen, Sept. 26th, 1651. His sponsors in baptism were Daniel Gering, Doctor of Law at Leghitz, and Franciscus, Freyherr of Limburg, the latter of whom gave him a red scarlet coat, little sword, a hat with a feather and little white boots, " thus making a fool of me in my tender years." At eleven years of age his father took him to Windsheim and there he went to the gym- nasium to school. The teacher, Tobias Schumberg, a Hungarian, knew no German, and the pupils were com- pelled to talk to him in Latin. On the 3Ist of July, 1668, he entered the school at Altdorf and from there August II, 1670, he went to the University of Strasburg, where he began to study law and French. In July of 1672 he was at the high school at Basle, but in November returned to Windsheim. On the 13th of April, 1673, he went to Altdorf and July 2d from there to Nuremburg and Erfurt and thence to Jena, where on the 13th he renewed his study of the law and learned Italian, and in January, 1674, and
5
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The Settlement of Germantown.
again April 18, had a public discussion in that language upon some legal problem. Thereafter having visited Naumburg and Gotha he journeyed, July 31, to Regens- burg in order to secure a better knowledge of jurisprudence, and on April 16, 1675, he returned from Bayreuth to Wind- sheim. From there, Sept. 17th, he went again to Altdorf, where finally on the 23d of November, having passed his examinations, he read his inaugural thesis and was gradu- ated in law. His copy of this Latin thesis entitled " Dis- putatio inauguralis de rasura docmentorum " printed at Alt- dorff, and the only known copy, is now in my library. It closes with a Latin anagram upon the names of Melchior Adam Pastorius, his father, Dorothea Esther Volckmans, his stepmother, Franciscus Daniel Pastorius and Johannes Samuel Pastorius, his brother, and is explained in his own manuscript. After having taken his degree he went home to Windsheim. On the 24th of April, 1679, he made a jour- ney to Frankfort on the Mayn and there had a private school of law for some students and practiced a little. The oppor- tunity arose to visit Worms, Mannheim and Speyer. From December 1, 1679, to June 26, 1680, he lodged with Squire Fickard, " A merry hearted old gentleman." On the latter day he began a tour through Holland, England, France and Switzerland with Johann Bonaventura von Rodeck, " a noble young spark," whom he accompanied as tutor and to whom he had been recommended by Doc- tor Spener, " The brave patriarch of the Pietists," and returned to Frankfort fresh and well on the 16th of No- vember, 1682. There he met in the house called " Saal- hof" Dr. Spener, Dr. Schutz, Jacob Van de Wall and Eleanora von Merlau, and heard from his friends many reports concerning Pennsylvania. Already some God- fearing people, among whom were the Notary Christian
55
Francis Daniel Pastorius.
DISPUTATIO INAUGURALIS De
RASURA DOCU- MENTORUM,
Qyam, DIVINA SUFFRAGANTE GRATIA, AUCTORITATE MAGNIFICI JCTORUM ORDINIS in Incluto Noribergenfium Athenæo, pro LICENTIA Summos in Utroqve Jure Honores ac Privilegia DOCTORALIA, more Majorum, rite capeffendi, Publico Eruditorum Examin fiftit FRANCISCUS DANIEL PASTORIUS, Windesheimenfis. 'D. 23. Novembr. A. ab incarnatione J. C. clo Ioc LXXVI.
ALTDORFFI, Literis HENRICI MAIERI, Univ. Typogr.
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The Settlement of Germantown.
Fenda and Frau Baurin, had determined to emigrate thither and had packed their goods. A keen desire came over him to sail in their company, having seen and ex- perienced sufficient of the frivolity of Europe to lead there a quiet and Christian life. He presented and sent his books to his brother, John Samuel, and after many letters ob- tained the consent of his father, together with two hundred rix dollars, and thereupon went to Kriegsheim, where he saw Peter Schumacher, Gerhard Hendricks and Arnold Kassel, and made ready for the long journey. On the 2d of April he left Frankfort and came to Cologne, where he was pleasantly received by David Van Enden, Daniel Mitz and Dotzen, the representatives there of the King of Denmark. Dotzen expressed a desire to go with him, but his wife would not consent. There she went from house to house in a carriage, but perhaps in America she would have to look after the cattle and milk the cows. On the IIth of April he went down the Rhine to Urdingen and from there on foot to Crefeld, where he spoke with Thones Kunders and his wife, and with Dirck, Hermann, and Abraham Op den Graeff and many others, who six weeks later followed him. On the 16th of April he came to Rotterdam and stopped with his friend Mariette Vette- kuke, and saw there Benjamin Furly, Peter Hendricks, Jacob Telner and others. On the 4th of May he sailed from Rotterdam, and on the 8th reached London, ac- companied by Tobias L. Kohlhaus. He lodged with John Hodgkins, in Lombard Street. Together with a little party of emigrants, Jacob Schumacher, George Wertmuller, Isaac Dilbeck and his wife Marieke and two boys, Abraham and Jacob, Thomas Casper, Conrad Bacher (alias Rutter) and an English maid, Frances Simp- son, he on the 6th of June sailed from Gravesend, on the
57
Francis Daniel Pastorius.
ship America, whose captain was Joseph Wasey, on the 7th reached Deal, on the 10th left England, and on the 16th of August arrived in the New World. Another pas- senger was the celebrated Thomas Lloyd, afterward Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, with whom Pastorius established an intimate friendship. Since Lloyd did not understand German, and Pastorius was then unused to talking in English, they carried on their conversation in Latin. Upon arriving in Philadelphia he went at once to Penn, who received him with an affectionate friendship, invited him to dine, and once, after an absence of several days, came and made him promise to dine with him twice a week, and expressed much love for the Germans, which feeling he hoped would be reciprocated. Pastorius built a little house in Philadelphia, where many of the people were then living in caves, thirty feet long and fifteen wide, and made a window, for want of glass, of paper dipped in oil. Over the door he wrote : " Parva domus sed amica Bonis procul este Prophani," at which Penn, when he read it, laughed aloud. We get an idea of the condition of the new Philadelphia when we learn that Pastorius in going from the river bank to the house of the baker Cor- nelius Bom, a few streets off, lost his way among the bushes.
When Germantown was laid out he opened what is called the "Germantown Grund und Lager-Buch," containing the record of the conveyances of lands, and he wrote this prefatory invocation :
Salve Posteritas Posteritas Germanopolitana et ex argumento insequentis pagina primitus observa Parentes ac Majores Tuos Alemaniam
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The Settlement of Germantown.
dulce Solum quod eos genuerat, alueratque diu Voluntario exilio- deseruisse ; (oh ! Patrios focos !) ut in Silvosa hac Pennsylvania deserta Solitudine minus soliciti residuum Aetatis Germane h. e. instar fratrum transigerat Porro etiam addiscas Quantae molis erat exant lato jam mari Atlantico in Septrionali istoc Americae tractu Germaniam condere gentem Tuque Series dilecta Nepotum ! ubi fuimus exemplar honesti Nostrum imitare exemplum. Si autem a semita tam difficili aberravimus Quod poenitenter agnoscitur ignosce ; Et sic te faciant aliena pericula cautem. Vale Posteritas ! Vale Cermanitas ! Æternum Vale.
Whittier has happily rendered it in English verse as follows :
Hail to posterity ! Hail future men of Germanopolis ! Let the young generations yet to be Look kindly upon this. Think how your fathers left their native land, Dear German land, O ! sacred hearths and homes ! And where the wild beast roams In patience planned
59
Francis Daniel Pastorius.
New forest homes beyond the mighty sea, There undisturbed and free To live as brothers of one family. What pains and cares befell, What trials and what fears, Remember, and wherein we have done well
Follow our footsteps, men of coming years ; Where we have failed to do Aright or wisely live, Be warned by us, the better way pursue. And knowing we were human, even as you, Pity us and forgive. Farewell, Posterity ; Farewell, dear Germany ; Forevermore farewell !
We gain some idea of his personal appearance from a letter of Israel Pemberton, a boy of fourteen, upon whom he had used the birch, who wrote 13th of 6 mo. 1698: " The first time I saw him I told my father that I thought he would prove an angry master. He asked me why so : I told him I thought so by his nose, for which he called me a prating boy." He describes himself as " of a melan- choly choleric complexion and therefore (Juxta Culpepper p. 194) gentle, given to sobriety, Solitary, Studious, doubt- ful, Shamefaced, timorous, pensive, constant and true in actions, of a slow wit, with obliviousness, &c.
If any does him wrong, He can't remember 't long."
From his father and other relations he received altogether twelve hundred and sixty-three Reichsthaler, of which he says, " Tot pereunt cum tempore Nummi."
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The Settlement of Germantown.
He was thoroughly familiar with and wrote fluently in the Greek, Latin, German, French, Dutch, English, Ital- ian and Spanish languages. Of his command of the Latin the following letter to his old teacher Tobias Schumberg gives evidence :
DE MUNDI VANITATE.
Vale mundi genebundi colorata Gloria Tua bona, tua dona sperno transitoria Quae externe, hodierne, splendent pulchra facie, Cras vanescunt et liquescunt sicut Sol in glacie.
Quid sunt Reges? quorum leges terror sunt mortalibus, Multi locis atque focis latent infernalibus. Ubi Vani, crine cani Maximi Pontifices? Quos honorant et adorant cardinales supplices, Quid periti? Eruditi sunt Doctores Artium Quid sunt Harum, vel Illarum studiosi partium? Ubi truces Belli duces? Capita militiae? Quos ascendit et defendit rabies saevitiae. Tot et tanti, quanti quanti, umbra sunt et vanitas, Omna Horum nam Decorum brevis est inanitas. Qui vixerunt, abierunt, restant sola nomina, Tamquam stata atque rata nostrae sortis omina. Fuit Cato, fuit Plato, Cyrus, Croesus, Socrates, Periander, Alexander, Xerxes et Hippocrates, Maximinus, Constantinus, Gyges, Anaxagoras, Epicurus, Palinurus, Daemonax, Pythagoras, Caesar fortis, causa mortis, tot altarum partium, Ciceronem et Nasonem nil juvabat Artium. Sed hos cunctos jam defunctos tempore praeterito, Non est e re, recensere. Hinc concludo merito : Qui nunc degunt, atque regunt orbem hujus seculi, Mox sequentur et labentur velut schema speculi. Et dum mersi universi sunt in mortis gremium, Vel infernum, vel aeternum sunt capturi praemium.
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