If you prefer to skip the first four pages discussing the background of Palatine Emigration to America go to Ships' Listing Page
The following text and dates and ship names are from the book Pennsylvania German Pioneers by Ralph B. Strassburger and William J. Hinke, published in 1934 by the Pennsylvania German Society, Norristown, PA.
The lists of early arrivals in Pennsylvania, which are printed in this volume, are of such importance for the history of Pennsylvania Germans in this country, that it seems worth while to present at some length the history of their origin. This is all the more desirable, because the existence of these lists is a unique phenomenon, which merits explanation. In none of the other ports of the American colonies, through which German settlers entered, were such lists prepared or preserved. Thousands of Germans came to America through the ports of Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston and Savannah. Thus, for example, all the early German Reformed missionaries, sent to Pennsylvania by the Church of Holland, came by way of New York. The same is true of the Lutheran missionaries, who were sent from Halle, Germany. But whatever settlers came through these other ports, their names are lost, at least in the large majority of cases, because no record was kept of them at the time of their arrival. In Philadelphia alone did the authorities insist on the preparation of careful and detailed lists of arrivals. We naturally ask, what reasons induced them to have these lists prepared with so much care? In order to answer this question fully we must go back to the beginning of German immigration into Pennsylvania.
One of the best surveys of the early German immigration into Pennsylvania is given by the Rev. Henry Melchior Muehlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church, who himself came to Pennsylvania in 1742, and evidently gave a good deal of attention to this question of immigration. In his report to Halle, dated July 9, 1754, he writes:
|Q Shortly before and at the opening of this century some Germans made the beginning by crossing the great Atlantic ocean and settling in this land of the West. They settled here and made use of the freedom which we enjoy here undisturbed in matters of religion, according to the fundamental laws of the First Proprietary of this Province of Pennsylvania, William Penn.|q|Pxiv|p
|Q In the first period, namely from 1680 to 1708, some came by chance, among whom was one Henry Frey, whose wife is said to be still living. He came about the year 1680. About the same time some Low Germans from Cleve sailed across the ocean, whose descendants are still to be found here, some of whom were baptized by us, others still live as Quakers.|q
|Q In the second period, in the years 1708, 1709, 1710, to 1720, when the great exodus from the Palatinate to England took place, and a large number of people were sent by Queen Anne to the Province of New York, not a few of them came to Pennsylvania. These got along with some devotional books, sermon books, Arndt's True Christianity and hymn books, with which they had been provided through the unwearied interest of the Rev. Anthony William Boehm, at that time court preacher at St. James. Even at that time some reached here, who, although some of them may have had good intentions, had separated from our fellowship in Europe, for reasons unknown to us. They kept separate here and lived by themselves. These had no concern for the preservation of the pure doctrine or the building of the necessary churches and the erection of good schools, much less did they attempt to purchase lands for such buildings in the interest of their descendants, although they could have bought one hundred acres for a price which we have now to pay for half an acre. They allowed their children and grandchildren to grow up without the necessary instruction, omitting also the use of the means of grace, the Word of God and the sacraments.... Most of them went over to the Quakers, whose religion, as is well known, is here in the ascendant, or with later arrivals they joined other churches which have sprung up here, or they did not want to have anything to do with religion. At the end of this period a large number of High Germans arrived, who were real Separatists. They brought along a deep-seated hatred of or disinclination to the doctrine. and constitution of our Church, or they were Baptists (Dunkers, as they are called here), Mennonites, Schwenkfelders, or similar kinds, whose full recital would lead us too far astray....|q |Pxv|p |QIn the following third period, from about the year 1720 to 1730, the number of High German Evangelical Christians, from the German Empire, the Palatinate, Würtemberg, Darmstadt and other places increased largely. Also many families from the State of New York came over here, who had been sent there by Queen Anne. These have spread and settled in all parts of this province....|q
|Q Some of those who arrived in the middle of this period brought preachers along or secured them accidentally, such as Messrs. Henckel, Falckner, Stoever, etc., some of whom died early, others were unable to cope with the work. Our brethren, living in New York State and New Jersey, turned to Hamburg and Holland and from there secured bye and bye some preachers, such as Messrs. Kochendahler, Justus Falckner, Berke-meyer, Knoll, Wolf and Hartwich, some of whom died long ago, others, because of quarrels arising among them, have not been able to build up Zion. They also received books and assistance for schools and churches from Holland.|q
|Q At the end of this and the beginning of the next period a still larger number of Germans came to this country. These brought some schoolmasters along with them or took up with some who came with them. These read at first sermons, but soon imagined they were able to officiate as ministers and dispense the sacraments, although they took poor care of the children. Thus the province has been peopled more and more with Englishmen, Scotch and Irish, as well as with German Lutherans and Reformed people.|R1|r |q
We are now in a position to fill in this excellent outline of Muehlenberg with some interesting details.
The first ship, of which a record has survived bringing a larger number of Germans to Philadelphia, was the ship "America," Captain Joseph Wasey, which landed at Philadelphia on August 20, 1683. It brought Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of a colony of German Mennonites, who came in two sections. The smaller number came in this first ship, in the company of Pastorius. They were: Jacob Schumacher, George Wertmüller, Isaac Dilbeck, his wife Mariette and two boys, Abraham and Jacob, Thomas Gasper, Conrad Bacher (alias Rutter) and an English maid Frances Simpson. They had left Rotterdam May 4th and Gravesend June 6, 1683.|R2|r|Pxvi|p
|F|R1|r See Hallesche Nachrrichten, new ed., Vol. II, pp. 194-196.|f
The main body of Mennonites followed shortly afterwards. They came with Captain Jeffries, on the ship "Concord," a ship of 500 tons, 130 feet long and 32 feet wide. It had left Gravesend on July 24, 1683, with thirteen Mennonite families, consisting of thirty-three persons. They came from Crefeld, in the County of Cleves. The heads of these families were: Dirck, Herman and Abraham Isaac Opp den Graeff (three brothers) Lenert Arets, Tunnes Kunders, Reinert Tisen, Wilhelm Strepers, Jan Leusen, Peter Keurlis, Jan Simens, Johan Bleickers, Ahraham Tünes and Jan Lücken. They reached Philadelphia on October 6, 1683. Shortly afterwards, on October 24th of the same year, Pastorius founded Germantown for them, where forty-two people settled in twelve homes. Most of them were weavers, the rest were farmers and tradesmen. These were the German "Pilgrim Fathers," who sought and found freedom of worship in Pennsylvania.
The next group of Germans to arrive in Philadelphia were the "Mystics of the Wissahickon," as they have been called. They arrived on the ship "Sarah Maria Hopewell," Captain Tanner, on June 23, 1694. The leader of the party was John Kelpius. Among the members were Henry Bernhard Koester, a former Lutheran minister, Daniel Falckner, who in 1703 became the first Lutheran pastor ordained in the province, John Selig and Conrad Matthaei, the last a Swiss from the Canton of Berne. They selected as their place of settlement a tract, known as the Ridge, near the place where the Wissahickon Creek rushes through a narrow ravine and joins the Schuylkill.|F3|f
In the second period, mentioned by Mr. Muehlenberg, from 1710 to 1720, there were three German colonies that deserve special mention. |Pxvii|p
|F|R2|rA letter of Pastorius, describing his journey to America, and his settlement at Germantown, was discovered by the writer years ago, in the City Library of Zurich, Switzerland. It was published by former Governor Penny-packer in his Settlement of Germantown, pp. 133-151 (Proceedings of the Pennsylvania German Society, vol. IX).|f
|F|R3|rFor the history of this colony see Sachse, German Pietists of Pennsylvania, 1694-1708, Philadelphia, 1895.|f
The first was a colony of ten families of Swiss Mennonites, who settled after their arrival on 10,000 acres of land "near the head of the Pequea Creek," in Lancaster County. They came on the ship "Mary Hope," Captain John Annis. They left Gravesend on June 29, 1710, and landed in Philadelphia on September 23, 1710. On the same ship came also the Rev. Samuel Guldin, and his family, a Swiss pietist, who had been deposed by the ecclesiastical authorities of Berne, because of his pietistic inclinations. He wrote an interesting letter|R4|r to his friends in Switzerland, describing at length his journey across the ocean as well as the conditions which he found on his arrival in Pennsylvania.
Another noteworthy group of Germans arrived in the year 1717. It was a group of Lutherans, headed by the Rev. Anthony Jacob Henckel and his son-in-law, Valentine Geiger. They arrived on one of three vessels which reached Philadelphia in September, 1717. On September 19, 1717, "Capt. Richmond, Capt. Tower & Capt. Eyers, waited upon the [Provincial] Board with a List of Palatines they had imported here from London; by which list it appeared that Capt. Richmond had imported one hundred & sixty-four, Capt. Tower ninety-one, and Capt. Eyers one hundred and eight."|R5|r In 1718, Anthony Jacob Henckel acquired a tract of 250 acres in Hanover township, where as Muehlenberg testifies, he "ministered for a number of years to the first settlers of that region."|R6|r
Get your own Free Homepage
This page was last updated on Tue, Oct 30, 2001.
Page created by: DTBost@aol.com