by
Richard A. Newhouse (http://www.greenepa.net/~newhouse/index.html)
GERMAN
IMMIGRANTS TO PENNSYLVANIA
1683
- 1808
Survival
of the Fittest
The
early German immigrants to Pennsylvania, from 1683 to 1808, were
predominantly
from
parts of SW Germany, known today as the states of Rhineland-Palatinate
(Rheinland-
Pfaltz) and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Others came from nearby German
communities
just over the border in Switzerland and in Alsace, France. Collectively they
were
all referred to as "Palatines" or "Palatinates" in the
historical literature.
Motivation
The
first significant number of Palatine immigrants arrived at Philadelphia in
1683 on the
ship
Concord, which has often been called the "German Mayflower". There
were many
reasons
why this group of Germans left the Fatherland. Their incentive started with
the
missionary
zeal of William Penn, who made many converts among the Palatines to the
Quaker
persuasion. Penn also secured a royal charter in 1681 for land in
Pennsylvania
and
the terms for purchases were made reasonable. One of his converts, Franz
Daniel
Pastorius,
became an agent for the Frankfurt Land Company in SW Germany that
handled
the land transactions. It was Pastorius, who organized and accompanied the
group
on board the Concord. After arriving in Philadelphia they settled in the
area known
as
Germantown, which historically has been referred to as the "Pastorius
Colony".
After
the Concord voyage, Palatines poured into Pennsylvania by the thousands
during
the
1700s. Some had the wanderlust, others were attracted to the prospect of
farming
large
tracts of land where the climate and alkaline soil were similar to that of
the
Palatinate.
Many just wanted to leave an area that was plagued with wars, religious
strife,
and
high taxes to support an army and a lavish monarchy.
(Other typical wayports in England include Southhampton, Cowes, Bristol, Liverpool, etc.)
Voyage
to America
There
were two ways for Palatines to pay for their voyage from Germany to
Philadelphia.
One
could pay cash or one could agree to be an indentured servant in America for
a range
of
two to eight years. A conservative estimate of the ship's passenger fare was
the
equivalent
of $176.00 dollars in cash; a considerable sum in the 1700s. The payment was
due
upon arrival at Philadelphia. If passengers lost their money along the way,
they were
forced
to be indentured.
The
usual route from SW Germany was a trip down the Rhine River to Rotterdam,
Holland;
passage by ship to a port in England; and from there across the Atlantic to
Philadelphia.
The route seems rather straightforward and gives the impression of
continuous
travel time. In reality this was not the case.
The
trip down the Rhine River by Gottlieb Mittelberger, a native of Wuerttemberg,
was
held
up so often by thirty or forty custom houses, not always conveniently open,
that five
to
six weeks passed before he reached Rotterdam. In Holland he experienced
another
delay
of five or six weeks before the ship was ready to sail.
Sailing
time from Rotterdam to England ranged from eight to fourteen days or longer,
depending
on the weather. After arriving at a port in England, passengers had to wait
a
week
to ten days, until the ship was ready to make Atlantic crossing.
In 1750 the trip by ship lasted about two to three months, depending on
how
favorable the wind was.
From
1683 to 1727, no effort was made by British officials to record passenger
lists.
However,
when altogether 50,000 Palatines entered the port of Philadelphia during the
year
1727, the Provincial Council adopted a resolution that required colonists to
swear
allegiance
to the Crown. Passenger lists were then required from all captains of ships.
Usually
these lists were limited to the names of male adults, who had to take the
oath of
allegiance.
Occasionally, some passenger lists would include the names of all women and
children
aboard.
(For a more detailed discussion of possible actual routes to the "new
world", along with charts, click on the "1700's
Sailing Charts" link.)
Survival
of the Fittest
Because
of the many delays experienced since they left the regions of the Rhineland,
most
passengers had used up their last bit of travel money and meager supply of
food
reserved
for the long voyage by the time their ship set sail from England. The
situation
became
even more desperate in overcrowded ships with inadequate supplies of food
and
water.
In the 1700s the causes of diseases were unknown and people seldom bathed,
even
under
more favorable circumstances. Soap was seldom used to cleanse the body; the
toothbrush
was unheard of and the flushing toilet was not yet invented. When 200 to 300
people
are crowded together in a ship for a duration of two or three months, a
hellish
environment
emerges. Suffocating stench, dysentery, swarms of lice, scurvy, cold,
dampness,
hunger and thirst prevail.
Children,
ages one to seven years, seldom survived the long voyage. Gottlieb
Mittelberger
reported seeing at least 32 bodies of children cast into the sea during his
voyage.
Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg wrote in his diary on August 30, 1742, that due to the
severe
shortage of water on board, passengers collected rain water using any kind
of
cloth
or rags they could find, then wrung out the dirty water into tubes and
barrels. The
collected
water, although "bitter to taste", was preferred over the foul
remnant of
drinking
water on ship. Two weeks later all the water was gone. Someone thought of
displaying
a Spanish flag to attract an English war ship. The plan worked, the ship was
stopped,
and water was delivered.
One
German newspaper reported how rats on board a ship survived the water
shortages.
Some
of them gnawed out the stoppers of bottles of vinegar, dipped their tails
down into
the
liquid, then drew their wet tails through their mouths. Others at night
would lick the
perspiration
off the brows of people who were asleep.
By
the time the passengers arrived at Philadelphia and walked down the
gangplank (if
they
could walk at all), they must have looked like emaciated survivors of a
concentration
camp - no resemblance at all to the healthy robust immigrants we see in the
Hollywood
movies, stepping ashore lightly with a heavy trunk on their shoulder!
Notes
on the Immigration of Our Family Members
by
Karl Seitz (http://home.earthlink.net/~kseitz/gerim.html)
Nicholas
Beery Sr. (Bieri) was born either
in 1697 or 1704, according to different theories that can be found at the
website of Ray Beery
under Bieri to Beery. The theories also involve different parents. In any
event, Nicholas died Oct. 1, 1762 in York County, Penn. Nicholas is double
ancestor through sons John and Nicholas Jr. It is probable that he was
raised in Palatinate as family almost surely was driven out of Switzerland
permanently during severe persecution of anabaptists in 1710-11. He migrated
to Pennsylvania in 1727, arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam, Holland, 16
Oct. aboard the ship Friendship after four-month voyage against adverse
winds in which a fifth of passengers died. He probably spent first winter in
U.S. with Mennonites of Pequea Creek settlement in Conestoga (now Lancaster
County), Penn. Possibly as early as 1728, settled on virgin land on north
bank of Codorus Creek, mile or so north of present city of York in what
became Manchester Township but was then known as Springettsbury Manor.
Nicholas married Barbara Miller on Dec. 1, 1728 according to one source,
although Ray Beery favors a theory that places the marriage in Europe.
Nicholas appears to have been an unusually prosperous farmer. He was
arrested in 1736 or 1737 and taken to Annapolis by Maryland authorities
during a land title dispute that led to drawing of Mason-Dixon line.
Pennsylvania colonial records record 1747-48 hearings concerning
"Nicholas Pieri" and unsuccessful attempt by a Capt. Higginbotham
to evict Pieri on basis of Maryland land grant.
1727
passenger list of Friendship of Bristol with Nicholas Bieri (Beery), Sr.
aboard: Passenger
List
John
Cradlebaugh (originally
Kreidelbach) was born c.1750 in Germany. he died about 1820 in Fairfield
County, Ohio. Beery family tradition says John was educated in Holland by
uncle and supposedly sailed for America at age 19 to avoid uncle's desire
that he enter army. If so, birth date would be later than traditionally
given as Johannes Kriedelbach arrived Aug. 9, 1775 in Philadelphia aboard
the ship King of Prussia, which sailed from Rotterdam via Falmouth, England.
Unclear whether John settled in Somerset township, Washington County, Penn.,
before or after serving as American soldier in Revolution (Capt. Martin
Shutter's Pennsylvania troops). John is listed in 1790 census (Crigglebaugh)
as head of household with two boys under 16 and five females. He became a
German Reform minister after Revolution and had moved south to Whiteley
township, Greene County, Penn. by 1800. Listed as head of household
containing one male 16-26, one male over 45, one female 10-16, one female
16-26 and one female over 45. Moved to Fairfield County, Ohio about 1810,
(perhaps 1809 as he certified marriage in Fairfield County on May 4, 1809,
although he could have been visiting on a circuit), which was after three or
four of his children had moved there. Described in 1876 book as very
influential member of community by a grandson. John married Dorethea
Mundschaner (later Moonshiner) in 1782, probably in Washington County, Penn.
They had at least five children. She was probably born 1750-55 and died
after 1839, probably in Fairfield County, Ohio.
John
Rudolph "Hanse" Kagay (ca.1693-1748)
(from
the Second Preface of
“A History of the Kagy Relationship in America from 1715 to
1900”, by Franklin Keagy)
It
was about the year 1706 or 7, when a number of the persecuted Swiss
Mennonites went to England, and made a particular agreement with the
Honorable Proprietor, William Penn, at London, for lands to be taken up in
his new colony. A Swiss company was organized to emigrate to America and
settle in the wilderness, but who the projector of it was we have not been
able to learn. The pioneers were Hans Meylin, his sons Martin and John, Hans
Herr, John Rudolph Bundely, Martin Kendig, Jacob Mil1er, Martin Oberholtz,
Hans Fnnk, Michael Oberholtz, Wendel Bowman, and others, who came to
Conestoga in 1709; selected a tract of ten thousand acres of land on the
north side of Pequa creek, and shortly afterward procured a warrant for the
same. It is dated October 10, 1710; the land was surveyed and the warrant
recorded on the 23rd of the same month. This came to be known as the
"Swiss Settlement."
The
price to be paid for the above 10,000 acres was five hundred pounds sterling
money. Having erected temporary shelters to answer their wants, some set
about it and put up dwellings of more durability. Martin Kendig built one of
hewed walnut logs on his tract, which withstood the storms and rain, the
knawing tooth of time, for one hundred and ten years, and would have stood
generations longer, but was removed and a more elegant one took its place.
Martin Kendig appears to have been one of the most active and energetic
men in the Swiss colony.
After
they had become fairly seated they thought of their old homes, their country
and friends. "They remembered them that were in bonds as bound with
them and which suffered adversity," and ere the earth began to yield a
return in "kindly fruits" to their labors, consultations were held
and measures devised to send some one back to the "Vaterland," to
bring the residue of some of their families; also their kindred and brothers
in a land of trouble and oppression to their new home; into a land where
peace reigned and the comforts of life could not fail. A council of the
whole society was called, at which their venerable pastor, Hans Herr,
presided, and after fraternal interchange of sentiment, much reflection
and consultation, lots were cast in conformity to the customs of the
Mennonites, to decide who should return to Europe for the families left
behind and others. The lot fell upon Hans Herr, who had left five sons in
the old country. This decision was agreeable to his own mind, but to his
friends and charge it was unacceptable; to be separated, “Von ihrem
prediger," from their preacher, could be borne with reluctance and
heaviness of heart only. They were all too ardently attached to him to
cheerfully acquiesce in this determination; reluctantly they consented to
his departure, after much anxiety manifested on account of this unexpected
call of their pastor from them. Their sorrows were alleviated by a proposal
made on the part of Martin Kendig, that if approved he would take Hans
Herr's place. This was cordially assented to by all.
Without
unnecessary delay, Martin, the devoted friend of the colony, made ready,
went to Philadelphia, and there embarked for Europe: after a prosperous
voyage of five or six weeks he reached the home of his friends, where he was
received with apostolic greetings and salutations of joy. Having spent some
time in preliminary arrangements, he and a company of Swiss and some
Germans, bade a lasting adieu to their old homes and dissolved the tender
ties of friendship with those whom they left. With his company,
consisting of the residue of some of those in America and others, he
returned to the new home, where they were all cordially embraced by their
fathers and friends.
With this accession, the settlement was considerably augmented, and
numbered about thirty families. Though they lived in the midst of the Mingo
or Conestoga, Pequa and Shawanese Indians, they were nevertheless safely
seated and had nothing to fear from the Indians, with whom they mingled in
fishing and hunting, and who were exceedingly hospitable and civil to the
whites; the latter often shared with the Indians the shelter of their cabins
in inclement weather. For seventy-five years these humble Christians and
their children lived in unbroken friendship with these sons of the forest;
proving conclusively that in the bosom of these children of nature there
exists the same principles of humanity, love and kindness, that is found in
the more enlightened races of men; and had after generations pursued the
same kind policv toward the Indians as did these pious followers of that
noble Christian reformer, Menno Simon, the bloody chapters that blacken the
history of our country would never need to have been written.
Settlements having now been fairly made amidst the Indians, the hardships
that first presented themselves in the beginning of the settlement began to
vanish, or were surmounted. Their success, the glowing accounts given by
them of the scenery of the country about them, the fertility of the soil,
the abundance of the game in the forest around them, the quantity and
delicacy of the fish which the creeks and rivers yielded, but above all the
kind and amicable relationship they cultivated and maintained with their
Indian neighbors, all conspired to make them the objects of attention and
one of the points whither emigration tended in an increasing stream.
In the year 1715, the settlement was increased by the arrival of the
following persons from the old country who had heard Martin Kendig's glowing
description of the new home. Among these were Hans Mayer, Hans Kagy,
Christian Hershey, Hans Pupather, Michael Shank, Peter Leman, Melchoir
Brenneman, Henry Funk, Ulrich Howry, Michael Miller, Jacob Boehm, Theodorus
Eby and others. The descendants of the above named persons are scattered all
over the States, and are among the most respectable and wealthy citizens of
Lancaster and adjoining counties in Pennsylvania. In after years some of the
above named persons and their descendants became allied to the Kagy's by
blood and marriage, as will be shown later on.
In tracing back to discover who our fathers were, the author deems it of
no less moment to know who our mothers were, because to our mothers is
largely due all the virtues that adorn human character. It is confidently
believed that Hans Kagy, whose full name was John Rudolph Kagy, was the
first one of the name in America, and also that he was unmarried at the time
of his arrival here; and that in a year or two after his arrival he married
a daughter (Rebecca) of James Patterson.
Neff family immigration accounts (See New Market, Virginia
references to marriages between Kagays and Neffs): Conrad,
Jacob Neff, 1735, Mercury out of Rotterdam
