USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Warwick's Keystone commonwealth; a review of the history of the great state of Pennsylvania, and a brief record of the growth of its chief city, Philadelphia > Part 6
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but in his wanderings his conscience was suddenly touched by the teachings of a religious fanatic and forthwith he devoted himself to a serious and contemplative life. Pastorius, upon his arrival in America, lived for a while in a cave or hut dug out of the deep shores of the Delaware, supposed to be in the neighborhood of what is Chestnut street today, but after removing to Germantown to take up his home in the midst of his friends, he built a convenient and commodious stone house and devoted most of his time to literary work. The two leading churches in Germantown were the Reformed and the Lutheran and they put forth their best efforts to unite the various sects that sprang out of the Reformation and to join them in one body, but there really was not much accomplished in this direction.
The Tunkers were another sect somewhat like the Mennonites and wore, as the Quakers subsequently did, a distinctive style of dress, which in its main features may be seen even today in some of the counties of the State of Penn- sylvania, where the Dunkards reside in numbers. The word Tunker or Dunkard means a dipper, that is one who believes in baptism by immersion. They were also called Tumplers or Dumplers because of the peculiar motions they made in the water during the ceremony of this holy rite.
The men had long beards, wore serious faces and walked with a solemn gait. Like many of the German sects and Quakers, they refused to bear arms, to take oaths or pay taxes. They had grown to considerable numbers in Ger- many, but the whole sect emigrated between 1719 and 1729. Among their numbers were several men of great ability and vast learning. Many of them, having originally belonged to the Anabaptists, joined in time the Seventh Day Baptists. One of their members, by name Conrad Beissel, a devout Pietist, came to Pennsylvania in 1720 and he thought the religious life might be improved by celibacy and the adoption of a monastic existence. le induced them to make the Sabbath the last day of the week instead of the first and subsequently withdrew from all communication with his friends in the outer world and took np his residence in a cave on the banks of the Cocalico Creek in Lancaster County, where he lived the life of a hermit. The Dunkards, however, not will- ing to lose his spiritual instruction and guidance, sought him out and three hun- dred of them formed a monastic community. The settlement soon became known as that of the monastery of Ephrata. The men and women lived in sep- arate habitations. They did not spend their time in idleness, but devoted then- selves to mannal occupations : they farmed the land, built flour, paper and full- ing mills and set up a printing press. The books they published were printed and bound in the best style of art of that day and are much valned by collectors at the present time, not only because of their rarity but also because of their original designs, beautiful illuminations and clear type. They lived on vege- tables, slept on wooden benches, used blocks of wood for pillows and attended worship four times in the twenty-four hours. Such a manner of life did not induce to the imparting of health and they became thin and emaciated in ap- pearance. They walked with a slow, steady pace, looking straight forward with their eyes fixed on the ground, their hands often clasped in the attitude of prayer, nor would they turn while in meditation, to give an answer to a question pro- pounded by a stranger. The dress of the men consisted of a shirt, trousers and
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waistcoat. Their feet were encased in sandals and in the winter time they wore a long woolen gown which they exchanged for a linen one in summer. The women wore petticoats and the cowls of their gowns covered their faces when going into public. Their sensual affections having been diverted from their natural course, were poured forth, says Gordon, "on the mystic union with the Redeemer." Christ was the bride of one sex and the bridegroom of the other, and often their language of passion was what might be called sensuous and indelicate. This body of Protestant monks and nuns, after a short existence, almost disappeared and entirely so after the Revolution.
The Tunkers and the Mennonites spoke a common tongue and differed so little in their forms of belief that they were able to commingle and live amicably together in one community. They built up a village on both sides of what is now known as Main street, in Germantown. Their houses or cottages were cosy and substantial, and fruit and flowers grew in abundance. They formed a thrifty, prosperous settlement. It was unfortunate that they did not mingle more freely with their English neighbors. They adopted a seal which represented a clover leaf on which were a vine, a stalk of flax and a weaver's spool, with the words L'inum, linum, textrinum. It was to the learned Pastorius that they were indebted for this design. He based it upon the fact that most of the members of the community had been weavers in the old country, and cultivators of vine- yards.
In this settlement lived a man by the name of Anthony Klincken. By his care and industry he had accumulated quite a sum of money and in his later years he led a life of leisure and devoted himself to the sports of the field and the stream. He was a most ardent sportsman and his larder was always well stored with the best and choicest varieties of game. lle is the first man of whom we have any account among the settlers of that early community who indulged in sport for the mere love of it. Ile frequently journeyed from Ger- mantown to Philadelphia, and he never came without bringing along his gun in order to have a shot at the ducks and water fowl which frequented a famous spatter dock pond on the outskirts of the city in the immediate locality of what we now call Fourth and Market streets.
Germantown in those days was more rural than urban and during the heated term of the year many citizens who could afford it made it a resort for their summer vacation. It became quite popular in this respect, notwith- standing the fact that during July and August mosquitoes and flies swarmed in numbers and made life all but intolerable.
The Tunkers and the Mennonites shortly after having effected their settle- ment, established schools, and set up a printing press and published a newspaper printed in German. The vast majority of the German settlers made no effort to acquire the use of the English tongue and this kept them separate and distinct as a community and, in a great measure, prevented that familiar intercourse between themselves and their neighbors, that would have obtained had they spoken a common tongue. In some localities of Pennsylvania even today, where live the descendants of the old German settlers, a language is used which is neither English nor German, but known distinctively as Pennsylvania Dutch, and which may be described as a combination of broken English and broken German. It
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might be supposed by one unacquainted with the matter that most of these emi- grants came from Holland, in view of the fact they were classed under the designation of "Dutch." The truth is, however, that all of them, with few ex- ceptions, came from Germany, from Alsace, Suabia, Saxony and from the Pala- tinate. They called themselves, in their own tongue, Deutch, which by the Eng- lish was easily transformed into Dutch. Even today, among some of our citi- zens, the word "Dutch" is used to include all classes of Germans, irrespective of the fact that they come neither from Holland nor Flanders, the habitat of the true Dutchman. A majority of the Germans who came to Pennsylvania appear to have hailed from the Lower Palatinate on the Rhine, where they suffered persecution, not only from the invasion of the French, but also at the hands of the Lutherans. It was this country that William Penn visited and in which he used his best exertions to induce its downtrodden people to find a refuge from persecution in his new province across the sea.
An interesting class of immigrants were the Schwenkfelders, of whom Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker has given us a learned account. They arrived in the good ship "St. Andrew" in the year of our Lord 1734. They had been shipped to America by the benevolence of some generous merchants in Amsterdam, who sympathizing with their conditions, determined to secure for them if possible an asylum from persecution in the new world. They had suffered untold hardships and had been reduced to poverty while in their native land of Silesia at the hands of both Catholics and Protestants. Their founder was Caspar Schwenk- feld, who was born in 1490, two years before the discovery of America by Co- lumbus. They early espoused the teachings of John Huss, and like many other sects in Germany were opposed to war, to the taking of oaths and to all the sac- raments that were held so holy by the Mother Church. Although they had sui- fered, they had been steadfast in their faith, but the terrible persecutions in- flicted upon them had made them secretive and timid, and upon their arrival in this country, in order that they might avoid publicity and not arouse the opposi- tion and antagonism of their neighbors, they met for religious worship in each other's homes. All these sects that came from Germany seem to have had but a slight difference in so far as their faiths were concerned. They were Mystics, Pietists and religious devotees, who in contemplation and meditation sought communion with the living God. Among them were the sects of the Amish, United Brethren, the Labidists, Newmooners, Zions Brueder, and many others too numerous to mention. There were many seets besides these that are well known. They arose, had a brief existence and passed away and their followers fell back into their original faith or were swallowed up by other congregations. Many of the emigrants who came to the province, however, were not identified with any of these sects, among them were to be found not only Deists, but Atheists, and some of the ships that arrived brought Church of England men, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Huguenots.
We have already said that the Germans who had come to the province of Pennsylvania segregated themselves from the original inhabitants and formed separate and distinct communities. This was unfortunate for the growth and future welfare of the country. It was a long while before they began to mingle with what were termed outsiders. In fact, even today, in some portions of the
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State of Pennsylvania, there are communities, direct descendants of these early settlers, separate and distinct from all their surroundings. The people are one unto themselves, dress in a distinctive garb and speak a foreign tongue. After the first settlements were made, however, the Germans and people of other nationalities, began to pour in irrespective of any question of religion or per- secution and that tide has been kept up ever since. They came because they heard fair reports of the new world, of its virgin soil that needed only cultiva- tion to make it bloom and blossom like the rose, a land that was rich enough to yield annual harvests of grain and fruit in profusion and where labor could find an abundant reward. Among these people who arrived in numbers so vast were all sorts and classes of men from every section of Europe, and it was feared that their influence would work to the detriment of the state, but, fortu- nately, as has always been the case up to this time, no matter whence they come the history of the Republic shows that the immigrants have yielded to our con- ditions rather than our conditions have yielded to them. Under the influence of universal public education, children at least of the second generation are nation- alized and become American in sentiment.
The German emigrants who came early to the province did not as a class settle in the towns, but being agriculturists, penetrated into the interior of the country to find good farms and in a short time they spread over all that part of Pennsylvania just east of the Susquehanna. They were prudent, skilled and thrifty farmers for those times, and were economical and frugal to a degree. They built rude but comfortable homes. The framework of the houses was made of huge logs covered with clapboards, and in the kitchen, which was the living room, was an immense open fireplace. On a cold winter's night
"When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail And Tom bears logs into the hall And milk comes frozen home in pail"
there is no sight more cheerful than a great hearth piled with blazing logs, and around such a fireplace the farmer and his family after their frugal supper would gather to crack nuts, eat apples, tell stories, recount the news of the day and watch the flames leap up the chimney, until the old Dutch clock in the corner struck the hour of nine. They also built commodious barns in which to garner the grain and the products of the soil; and stables and pens to protect the horses, cattle, sheep and swine from the inclement winter weather. Even to this day through Lebanon, York, and Lancaster Counties, the big red barns, bursting with fullness, give proof of the Dutch farmer's thrift and industry and that the land under his tilling is still rich and fruitful.
One of the finest breed of draft horses ever developed in this country came from a locality called Conestoga, near Lancaster. Perhaps there is not in the world a horse better adapted to farming purposes. The name Conestoga is also applied to the farm wagons used by these early settlers. These wagons were srongly and solidly built and were covered with a great white canvas roof stretched over hickory bows. Even to this day they may be seen occasionally in
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certain sections of the state, but their general use has long since been supplanted by the railroads. They were, however, once more brought into requisition when, in later days, the great tide of emigration poured into the far west across the prairies and over the Rockies. The wagon then was given the poetic designa- tion of prairie schooners, and not inappropriately, for its white top in midst of a vast plain closely resembled a sail at sea.
In the early days of the province it was the only means for the transporta- tion of freight and farm products between the country and the city. Loaded with turkeys, chickens, eggs, butter and country provisions of all kinds, it traveled weekly to market. When loaded, the canvas cover of the wagon was closed at both ends by drawing strings or ropes. The team, in many instances, when the roads were heavy and the distance to be traveled great, consisted of four horses while the driver rode on the tongue near horse. Often extending above the hames of each horse was an iron bow holding bells, which not only gave forth a merry jingle, but also frightened the wild beasts that might be lurking by the wayside. The arrival of the team at every village was a great event. The horses were rubbed down, fed and watered and given a rest before again starting on their route. In the meantime, the driver in the tap room, drank his glass of toddy and gathered the news of the day, and in turn informed the eager listeners of all the events that had happened in his neighborhood since his last visit. The great highway in those days, uniting the western settlements with the city of Philadelphia was the Lancaster Turnpike, a fairly well con- structed road. As population increased, Conestoga wagons, stage coaches and private conveyances of all kinds gave it a business air. There was plenty of provision for both man and beast, for, it is said, that there were sixty-two taverns between Philadelphia 'and Lancaster, that is one every mile of the dis- tance. The best kept Inn among the whole number, however, was that at Paoli, and here were entertained at different times, many of the most distinguished men of the Nation.
One of the most interesting class of settlers was the Moravians. The sect was originally known under the title of Unitas Fratrum. They arose in Bo- hemia and the neighboring province of Moravia, nearly a century before the Mennonites were organized. The sect grew with amazing speed and at the advent of Luther they had made such inroads into the Mother Church, that they were vastly in the majority in the two states of Bohemia and Moravia. A per- secution, however, was begun against them and carried on so pitilessly and so relentlessly, that the sect was greatly reduced in numbers, and in some localities almost exterminated. . The followers were scattered throughout Poland, Hun- gary, Transylvania, Russia and Silesia and were gradually growing weaker until Count Zinzendorf, in 1722, by his endeavors and preaching revived the old faith. They were a mystic, emotional people, and affected with the spirit of Pietism. One of their characteristic features was a deep love for music and the hymns which they used in their services were not only weird but grandly devotional. Even to this day their churches in Bethlehem and throughout Northampton County hold Easter Services of a most peculiar character, but which at the same time are most impressive. They began to arrive in America in 1734. A number of them settled in Georgia on some land which had been offered to the Schwenk-
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felders; the latter, however, preferred coming to Pennsylvania. Subsequently the Moravians were called upon by the province of Georgia to take up arms against the Spaniards bnt declining to be involved in war, they abandoned their early settlements and found their way to Pennsylvania in 1739 and settled near Nazareth, on the Lehigh river. This was one of the Penn Manors, one of those old fiefs of the English Crown which required the proprietor to deliver annually a red rose at the Castle of Windsor. In 1741, the whole settlement moved to Bethlehem, which town in time became, as it were, the metropolis of their church in America. Ilere it was that they introduced their communal system. The Church held the title to all the lands and gathered all the results of the com- bined labor of the community, and in turn made provision for the maintenance of the people by providing for them the necessities of life. Schools were estab- lished for the children and protection given to those inhabitants who were maimed, sick or overtaken by old age. Honses were provided for the bachelors, as well as for the single women and still others for the widows. I do not find that any provision was made for the widowers. So thrifty and enterprising was the community that it acquired the ownership of one or two ships, commanded by Moravian captains, which vessels conveyed from the old world to the new all emigrants who desired to join the settlement.
The Moravians carried on a number of trades most successfully. They had button mills, grist mills, saw mills, tanneries and potteries, and when not actu- ally engaged in their vocations, spent their time in an effort to reform and con- vert the Indians.
In 1741, Count Zinzendorf came to Pennsylvania and remained here for a little over a year. He visited Philadelphia and Germantown and made several excursions among the red men, penetrated into the wilderness, and was one of the first white men whose eyes rested on the beauties of the valley of Wyoming.
The Moravians were noted for their good, wholesome cooking and during the colonial days their inns had a world-wide reputation. The main road leading from Philadelphia to Boston passed through Bethlehem and that brought many travelers to the town. It was a relay station for the stages travelling between the cities. Many colonial taverns had a great reputation, but there were none that equalled those of the Moravians. At Nazareth "The Rose" and "The Crown" were noted for their accommodations, but "The Sun" at Bethlehem, which was under the direct management of the church, was without an equal in the country. Even foreigners who came here temporarily and visited the inn spoke of it in the highest terms. When a traveller arrived, his horse was at once taken to the stable and his luggage carried to his apartments, which con- sisted generally of a sitting room, with two bed chambers. He was supplied with a servant to look specially after his wants and was given a private key to come and go at his own desire. The Moravians were not prohibitionists and their cellars were filled with the best brands of wine, especially Madeira, which was a very popular drink at that day. The table was supplied with game and fresh vegetables of great variety, while the home-made pastry is sand to have been unexcelled. Venison steaks were broiled on a spit over a blazing wood fire and served on hot plates. The Bellevue-Stratford may have finer and more delicate entrées and more luxurious appointments and surroundings, but it is a
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grave question whether it could furnish a meal that would be more appetizing to a hungry man. The most prominent men of the nation stopped at these inns and enjoyed their generous hospitality. Lafayette nursed his wounds after the battle of Brandywine, in Bethlehem. These hostelries were delightful resorts in the summer season, and it became fashionable in time for tired denizens of the city to spend their vacations here. They were most cozy and comfortable, too, in the bleak and stormy days of winter, when great open fires blazed in the hearths. These inns were renowned for their hospitality and the stranger at the hands of the host always received a kindly welcome.
"Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, Must sigh to think he still hath found llis warmest welcome at an inn."
Many passengers travelling by stage would stop at these inns over night, some- times for several days to rest and break the monotony of a long ride, for it was no easy task to journey in a crowded stage for hours at a stretch, especially when the road was heavy or the weather hot or inclement.
It is in the counties of Northampton and Lehigh, where are to be found today many of the descendants of the Moravians, that Pennsylvania Dutch can be heard spoken in its purity. Even many of those that use English speak it with a peculiar accent, and much amusement is afforded the passengers on the railroads as the brakemen call out at the stations "Bass," "Nazares" and "Bes- lehem," meaning Bath, Nazareth and Bethlehem.
Many Lutherans had come into the province on the tide of immigration, and in 1742 Peter Muhlenberg arrived. He began to strengthen the congrega- tions, of which there were only about two in the province. He instituted a pro- paganda, but in his inroads upon the sects he encountered, as might have been expected, strenuous opposition, for it must be borne in mind that many of the Germans who had come over to Pennsylvania in the early days had been per- secuted by the Lutheran Church. They mistrusted Muhlenberg and charged him with all sorts of crimes and wicked intentions. Not to be dismayed, how- ever, he kept boldly at his work, and succeeded after strenuous efforts, in es- tablishing a Lutheran Church in this country. In fact, he had arrived in time to save a few congregations from utter disintegration. Muhlenberg, although mistrusted by his German brethren, was a man of education, broad and liberal in his views and of the highest character and integrity. He became one of the distinguished generals of the Revolution, and during the war, while addressing his congregation upon the subject of patriotism, threw off his clerical gown and appeared in full regimentals, and bade the congregation good-bye as he started forth to take charge of his command.
In 1595, under the reign of Elizabeth, a terrible insurrection broke ont in Ireland. From the date of the partial conquest by Henry 11., the condition of that island had been distressing and deplorable. The chiefs of the different clans or tribes waged constant war among themselves, but when Elizabeth undertook to impose upon the natives the Protestant religion, the people at once united their
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forces, and fought with a determination that could have been induced only by religions zeal. Things went from bad to worse and in the northern part of the island a war of extermination began, so cruel and so merciless that the Queen herself declared that if the work of destruction were continued there would be nothing left of her kingdom but ashes and corpses. At last, after a vigorous and bloody warfare, when the people were reduced to the verge of starvation, Ireland submitted to England's rule.
In the conflict between England and Ireland, the greater part of the pro- vince of Ulster which had rebelled against Elizabeth's power, had been seized by the Crown and the land owners evicted. In order to hold a check upon the malcontents of the rest of the island, King James L., of England, and VI. of Scotland, granted the lands which had been seized by Elizabeth to his Presby- terian subjects both in England and Scotland, the requisite for the title being that the holder should be an unqualified Protestant. The city of London established a settlement called Londonderry, and it was at once occupied by English and Scotch immigrants. In this way Protestantism was firmly and finally established in the north of Ireland. These settlers in time were recognized and designated distinctively as Scotch-Irish. During the commonwealth of Cromwell, the con- fiscation of Irish lands was continued and many Englishmen were induced to emigrate and settle upon the lands so confiscated. These people have been known in Ireland ever since as Ulstermen, but are known to us under the common appellation of Scotch-Irish.
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