Area History: The Palatinate, the Palatines and the Pennsylvania Germans: by Ralph Beaver Strassburger Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera. tsh@harborside.com USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ____________________________________________________ The following is from The Strassburger Family and Allied Families of Pennsylvania, by Ralph Beaver Strassburger, 1922, pp. 19-45. These pages are transcribed in their entirety, exactly as found in the book. The Palatinate, the Palatines and the Pennsylvania Germans I. THE PALATINATE The Palatinate (German Pfalz or Rheinland-Pfaltz) is a name given to a district of Germany, a province of Bavaria, lying west of the Rhine. It is bounded on the north by the Prussian Rhine Province and the Hessian Province of Rhen Hessen, on the west by Baden, from which it is separated by the Rhine, on the south by Alsace-Lorraine, and on the west by Trier and Coblenz, which belong to the Prussian Rhine Province. The word 'paladin,' of which palatine is a variant, is derived from the Latin 'palatium,' palace, and was first used in the time of Charlemagne to designate those officials who were concerned with the administration of the finances of imperial lands or who assisted the King in his judicial duties. Some of these officials, instead of remaining near the person of the King, were sent to various parts of the empire to act as judges and governors, the districts over which they ruled being called palatinates. Being in a special sense the representatives of the Sovereign, they were entrusted with more extended power than hereditary counts, and thus later came the more general use of the word "Palatine," as applied to persons entrusted with special powers, and also to districts over which these powers were exercised. The German counts palatine, with one or two exceptions, soon became insignificant. One exception was the Count Palatine of the Rhine, who became one of the most important lay officials of the empire. The first Count Palatinate of the Rhine was Hermann, 945-996, and held hereditary until Count Hermann III, 1115, in which year the German King, Frederick I, appointed his step-brother, Conrad von Hohenstauffen, as Count Palatine. Conrad, who was one of the most enlightened rulers of his day, took up residence at Juttenbuhel, near Heidelberg, which became the capital of the Palatinate. In 1214, this Palatinate was given by Frederick II to Otto, infant son of Louis I, King of Bavaria, who died in 1253, and his possessions being divided, the elder son, Louis II, received the Palatinate and Upper Bavaria. At a later date Upper Bavaria was called the Upper Palatinate to distinguish it from the Rhenish or Lower Palatinate. Elector Frederick III succeeded in 1459. He was a keen, though not very bigoted, Calvinist; was one of the most active Protestant princes, and was followed, 1583, by his son, Louis IV, who was a Lutheran, and he in turn, 1583-92, by Frederick IV (Frederick the Wise,) who gave every encouragement to the Calvinists. He was founder and head of the Evangelical Union establishment to combat the agres- sive tendencies of the Roman Catholics. His son, Elector Frederick V, accepted the throne of Bohemia and this brought on the Thirty Years' War. He was quickly driven from the country and his electorate was devastated by Bavarians and Spaniards. At the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, the Palatinate was restored to Frederick's son, Charles Louis, but was shorn of Upper Palatinate, which Bavaria retained as a prize of war. Scarcely had the Palatine begun to recover from the effect of the war when it was attacked by Louis XIV, King of France, and for six years, from 1673 to 1679, the electorate was devastated by French troops, and, even after the Treaty of Nizmnegen, it suffered from the aggressive policy of Louis. Charles Louis, Count Palatinate, died in 1680, and his son and successor, five years after, and Philip William, of another branch, became Elector Palatine, 1685. The French King's brother, Philip, Duke of Orleans, had married Charlotte Elizabeth, sister of the late Elector Charles, whereupon the King, in 1680, had claimed, in right of his brother's marriage, a part of Charles' land. His troops took Heidelberg while Philip William took refuge in Vienna, where he died, 1690. By the Treaty of Rhyswick, King Louis abandoned his claim to the Palatinate for a sum of money. Just before this the Palatinate began to be troubled by religious con- tentions. The great mass of the inhabitants were Protestant, while the family which succeeded in 1685 belonged to the Catholic Church. Philip William, however, gave equal rights to all his subjects, but under his son and suc- cessor, the Elector John William, the Protestants were deprived of various civil rights until the intervention of Prussia and Brunswick in 1705, which gave them some redress. The next elector was Charles Philip, who moved the capital from Heidelberg to Manheim, 1720. He died, 1742, and was succeeded byu his kinsman, Charles Theodore, a prince of refined and educated tastes, and under his long rule his country enjoyed prosperity. He died, 1799, with- out sons, and his successor was Maximilian Joseph, who later became King of Bavaria as Maximilian I. Since 1818, the Palatinate has formed a part of Bavaria. II. THE PALATINES Those Americans of German ancestry who wish to learn something of the Euro- pean history of their ancestors who came to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century and the cause of their emigration, must go back to the period of the Reformation and the results following that great movement. The German emigrants who came to Pennsylvania between the years 1683 and 1776 were almost entirely from South Germany, especially the Palatinate, Wurtemberg, and from Switzerland. The Palatinate has a history that is not only interesting but most impor- tant. Its inhabitants are descendants of the group of German tribes called the Rhein Franken, with an admixture of the Alemanni, the latter of whom had occupied the land until 496 A.D., when Choldowig, King of the Franks, defeated them in a battle fought somewhere on the Upper Rhine. Situated along the great water highway of Europe, they are said "to combine the best qualities of the North and South, being distinguished for indomitable industry, keen wit, independence and to possess a high degree of intelligence." During the Middle Ages the Palatinate had been among the most powerful and influential of the German states, having benefited and advanced under such progressive rulers as Conrad von Hohenstauffen, Frederick the Wise, who recognized the Reformation, and the tolerant and broad-minded Karl Ludwig, the protector of the Swiss Mennonites. The country along the Rhine and Neckar was known as the garden of Germany, and the University of Heidelberg was one of the oldest and most influential seats of learning in Europe. The yeomanry were in a state of great prosperity. "Their houses were comfortable, their barns capacious, their stables well stocked with horses and cattle, their crops were plenteous, and many had considerable sums of money safely stored away against a rainy day, and some even boasted of silver plate." The terrible disorders of the religious wars dealt a deadly blow at this prosperity. The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) was one of the most destructive in history. It was the Elector Palatine, Frederick V, himself who, by accepting the crown of Bohemia, precipitated this was and attracted to his country the full fury of combat. Cities, towns, and villages were devastated in turn by the armies of friends as well as of foes, and poverty, hardships, murder and rapine followed in the wake of the strange invaders, till the whole intellectual, moral and religious character of the people received a shock that almost threatened the country with annihilation. The sufferings of the country folk, during these long years of warfare, were pitiable indeed. "Not only were horses and cattle carried away by the various armies which shifted back and forth over the length and breadth of the land, not only were houses, barns, and even crops burned, but the master of the house was frequently sub- jected to fiendish torture in order that he might thus be forced to discover the hiding place of his gold; or, as often as happened, as a punishment for having nothing to give. At the approach of a hostile army the whole village would take to flight, and would live for weeks in the midst of forests and marshes, or in caves. The enemy having departed, the wretched survivors would return to their ruined homes and carry on a painful existence with the few remains of their former property, until they were forced to fly again by new invasions. Many were slain, many of the young were lured away to swell the ranks of the armies, many fled to cities for safety and never returned to their native villages. The country which had shortly before been so pros- perous was now a wilderness of uncultivated land, marked here and there by the blackened ruins which designated the site of former farms and villages." The Thirty Years' War came to an end in 1648, and a period of comparative peace followed, but it was of short duration. It was in 1685, while Philip William was Elector Count Palatine, that Louis XIV made the utterly unjust and unrighteous claim to a portion of the Palatinate in the name of the daugh- ter of the late Elector, Elizabeth, who had married the Duke of Orleans, the dissolute brother of the French King, and this despite the fact that Elizabeth had no legal right to the land and did not herself claim it. This move on the part of the French King was opposed by all the princes of Northern Europe, who leagued themselves against him, England, Holland and Germany standing as a solid mass against this intrigue of France. Louis, finding himself unable to cope single-handed against this mighty combination, determined that "if the soil of the Palatinate was not to furnish supplies to the French, it should be so wasted that it would at least furnish no supplies to the Germans," and he therefore approved the famous order of his War Minister Louvois to "Brüler le Palatinat." The scenes that followed far surpassed the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. Macaulay, describing the sufferings and trials of these people, writes: "The commander announced to near half a million human beings that he granted them three days of grace, and that within that time they must shift for themselves. Soon the roads and fields, which then lay deep in snow, were blackened by innumerable multitudes of men, women, and children flying from their homes....Meanwhile the work of destruction went on. The flames went up from every market place, every parish church, every country-seat, within the devoted province. The fields where the corn had been sowed were ploughed up. The orchards were hewn down. No promise of a harvest was left on the fertile plains near what had been Frankenthal. Not a vine, nor an almond tree was to be seen on the slopes of the sunny hills round what had once been Heidelberg." It was the desire of Louis not only to seize the country, but to crush out heresy there; and he entered upon a system of oppression and intolerance that almost caused the death of Protestantism in the Palatinate. The war ended, the Treaty of Rhyswick was signed in 1697, and John William, son of Elector Philip William, came back to his dominion, but his coming only brought new trouble to his already crushed and helpless people. Before the invasion of their land by the Catholic King Louis, the Province had enjoyed religious freedom. After the Lutheran, Otto Heinrich, the land had had a succession of Calvinist rulers until the accession of Philip William, 1685, who died two years later; his son, John William, who succeeded, had been educated by the Jesuits, and under his rule Protestantism in the Pala- tinate almost received its death blow. This Elector, with a show of toler- ance, issued a decree that all churches should be open to all three faiths: Reformed, Lutheran and Catholic. But while the Protestants were obliged to give up a great number of their church buildings, the Catholics remained in undisturbed possession of their own. The Protestants were required to bend the knee at the passing of the Host and to furnish flowers for the church festivals, while the work of proselytizing was carried on publicly by the Jesuits. The Swiss Mennonites, the Walloons, and the Huguenots, who for many years had found a refuge in the Palatinate, were now driven from the land, and many found refuge in Holland and elsewhere. Not only did these intolerable religious conditions prevail, but the corruption and tyranny, extravagance and heartlessness of the rulers of the Palatinate were an additional affront to an already overburdened and sorely tried people. While the country was exhausted and on the verge of ruin, costly palaces were built, enormous retinues maintained; and while pastors and teachers were starving, hundreds of Court officers lived in luxury and idleness. The chasm between the upper classes and the peasant became more and more widened, one hardship after another was placed upon the latter, and he was totally without means of redress. This state of affairs existed not only in the Palatinate, but in Wurtemberg and other petty principalities nearby. But the night of oppression and wrong was nearing its zenith, the light of a new and better day was breaking. Columbus, by his fateful voyage, had changed the fate and fortunes of two continents. The era of great maritime adventure followed. Western Europe, from the Iberian to the Scandinavian peninsula, embarking upon a career of colonial enterprise, England, Spain, Sweden and France at once entered upon the work of seizure and division. Colonists were needed to found colonies. Every available agency was employed to make the new lands profitable to their new owners. The most attractive inducements were brought into play to set the spirit of emigration in motion, and "wonder tales" were held up before the harassed, war-torn millions of the old world by land companies and schemers, whose interest lay only in the numbers they could induce to cross the Atlantic. Scores of small pamphlets were written, printed and scattered throughout almost every country in Europe. To William Penn, and especially to his trusted agent, Benjamin Furley, must be given the credit of diverting by far the largest part of the German emigration to America to his own Province. To a people ready to sacrifice and suffer all for conscience sake, the persecution by creed was as intolera- ble as that which despoiled them of their homes and substance. There came to these people in 1671, and again in 1677, a young man of humble yet stately mien, who preached the doctrine of good-will to men. It was William Penn, the Quaker, whose religious tenets, they found, differed so little from those held by the followers of Menno Simon. He cared little to what nationality his people belonged, provided they were otherwise desirable. The news that he had offered them a home in his Province, where they could live without wars and persecutions, and under laws which they should share in making, brought cheer and hope to many a peasant household. As early as March 10, 1682, Penn had sold, through his agent, several 5000-acre tracts to merchants of Crefeld, Germany. In 1683, Francis Daniel Pastorius, as agent for a number of German friends, bought 25,000 acres, and upon these the town of Germantown was soon after located. This was the beginning of that mighty Teutonic wave of immigration which, commencing with Pastorius and his little colony of Crefelders of less than two score members, continued to come in an ever-increasing volume until it outgrew and, in a measure, displaced some of the other nationalities which preceded it. The principal port of embarkation was Rotterdam, hence to Cowes, in the Isle of Wight. There were about seventy different kinds of ships which sailed back and forth from continent to continent. Some of these craft were called vessels, others ranked as ships, while there were still others known as snows, brigantines, pinks, brigs, etc., names, apparently applied to small craft, no longer current among shipbuilders and seafaring men. The late winter and autumn months were generally chosen for the departure from Europe. We accordingly find the ship arrivals were most numerous during the months of April, May, September, October and November. While many of the early German emigrants had, at one time, been well-to- do, the devastations of the Thirty Years' War and the wanton destruction ordered by Louis XIV had reduced to poverty thousands who had been prosperous farmers and tradesmen. Whatever property they had been able to gather to- gether was used up in their expenses of descending the Rhine and crossing the ocean, or was stolen on the way. The vessels, as a rule, were so over- crowded with passengers and merchant goods that frequently the captain made it a point to leave behind the chests and personal goods of the emigrant, or else have them loaded on vessels bound for another port. This was one of the greatest hardships these migrating people had to endure, as they depended upon their chests into which they had put such provisions as they were used to and had been able to gather together for the journey, such as "dried apples, pears, plums, mustard, medicines, vinegar, brandy, butter, clothing, shirts and other necessary linens, money, and whatever they brought with them; and when their chests were left behind, or shipped in some other vessel, they had lack of nourishment." Traveling two hundred years ago, whether on land or sea, was no easy matter; it was, in fact, one continual series of discomfort, suffering, disease and death. The food, even in the best of cases, would give out or spoil, especially if the journey was unusually long. Sometimes the trip would be made in a few weeks, while at other times months would pass. From letters, diaries, narratives, etc., which have been preserved, we find many valuable details of the journey from the Old to the New World. In the first place, the prospective emigrant must transport himself, his family and his goods to the nearest river, which, in the majority of cases, was the Rhine, then the great water highway. There were then shipped in boats, floating or sailing down stream until they reached Holland, where the final arrangements for the journey must be made. One-half of the passage money must be paid and additional provisions secured, as, for instance: "24 pounds of dried beef, 15 pounds of cheese, 8 1/4 pounds of butter, garden-seeds, agricultural implements, linen, bedding, table-goods, powder and lead, furniture, earthen- ware, stoves, and especially money to buy seeds, salt, horses, swine, and fowls." This represents what might be considered a full outfit for the intending settler at that time. However, the majority were far from being so well provided; often they had to depend upon the charity of others. In Holland, the exiles were put upon ocean-going vessels, either with or without their goods, and the long sea trip began. What must have been their thoughts as their familiar homeland faded in thh distance! "Sitting on boxes and bundles, which were piled high in the middle of the boat, could be seen gray-haired men and women, old and feeble; yonder stood the young gazing in wonder at the shores as they slipped by. At times they were hopeful, and at others sad, and their glances would alternate, now to the north, now to the south toward their abandoned home, which had driven them out so unfeelingly, and yet those green hills and snow-capped mountains they cannot forget. Des- pite the comforts of religion, their sadness could not be overcome, and from time to tome some one would begin to sing." For the first forty-five years no record of the arrival of foreigners was kept, and we cannot, in many instances, tell from whence, nor when, they came into the Province. They came from every portion of the German Empire, many from Switzerland, others of French extraction, who for a generation or more had been settled in the cantons of Switzerland or the Netherlands, where, after acquiring the language of these countries, they finally made their way to the shores of the Delaware. There were three general streams of German immigration to Pennsylvania between the years 1683 and 1775. The first, in 1683, led to the founding of Germantown and up to the coming of the Swiss Mennonites in 1710; the second from 1710 to 1727, when official statistics began to be published; the third period extended to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, when all immigration ceased for the time being. The emigration of the real Palatines belongs particularly to the third period. By 1727, the influx of these foreigners into Pennsylvania assumed such proportions that the authorities became alarmed and the Provincial Council adopted a resolution requiring that all masters of vessels importing Germans and other foreigners should, before sailing from the European port, make a list of the names of all passengers, particularly the males over sixteen; though often the names and ages of all passengers, includ- ing women and children were set down. Then, upon reaching Pennsylvania, the foreigners were obliged to sign a declaration of allegiance and subjection to the King of Great Britain and of fidelity to the Proprietary of Pennsylvania. This oath was first taken in the courthouse at Philadelphia, September 21, 1727, by 109 Palatines. If the emigrant could write, he himself signed his name to the declaration; in the event that he could not write, a clerk signed for him. Of the many thousands who found their way across the broad Atlantic, only a small portion brought written records with them or took measures to prepare and preserve them after their arrival. Some brought with them that most precious of all their household treasures, the heavy old oak lidded German Bible, wherein had been recorded the brief life and death record of the family. But an infinitely greater number brought no record whatever by which their descendants of today can bind them to their unknown kindred in the Fatherland. It was not long after the arrival of these emigrants in their new home before the poverty and distress was changed into prosperity and plenty. This was especially true of the Mennonites who came when land was cheap and they were thus enabled to buy in large quantities. Later, property in the imme- diate neighborhood of Philadelphia and adjacent counties became more and more difficult to acquire and finally could not be obtained at all. Those who came later were thus compelled to move further out upon the frontiers, beyond the Blue Mountain to the north, or across the Susquehanna to the west, many finding their way south into the valley of Virginia. While many of them were handicraftsmen, by far the greater number were "bauern" (farmers). In fact, there was nothing else to do for many years. Even most of those who had mechanical trades were compelled to take to tilling the fields because there was not much demand for bakers, printers, engravers, etc. When Roman civilization first came into contact with the German tribes, the latter were given to war and the chase than to agriculture; but they even then grew corn and lived largely upon the products of the field. In time they became agriculturists, and for hundreds of years parts of Germany had been among the best cultivated portions of the Old World. In the seventeenth cen- tury the Palatine and Rhine Provinces, generally, were the gardens of Europe. The first thing these people did upon their arrival was to find out the nearest route to the unsettled lands of the Proprietary, and thither they betook themselves at the earliest moment. Plunging into an unbroken wilder- ness, often fifty or sixty miles from the nearest habitation, with a skill inherited from thirty generations of land cultivators, these German settlers with the indomitable industry, the earnestness, and the frugality which characterized them, soon changed the unbroken forest into beautiful, thriving, well-kept farms. The back woods had no terrors for them. As a race of tillers of the soil, they were well aware that the character of the timber was an indication of the value of the ground on which it stood. They were not afraid to work. The felling of the trees and the clearing of the land neither intimidated nor deterred them. The mightiest forests fell at the resounding blows of the woodsman's axe. In the fertile valleys, on the green hillsides, and in the depths of the forest, wherever a cool spring burst from the earth, their modest homes appeared. Sometimes their first shelter was a dugout in a hollow tree, or a hastily constructed hut, or a rude tent beneath great trees. The first house was usually constructed out of logs and it was often a matter of years before a permanent dwelling was built, and frequently the second, and even third generation, assisted in erecting the family homestead. "These houses were generally built of stone (some of them with dressed corners), two stories high, with pitched roof and with cornices run across the gables and around the first story. A large chimney in the middle, if modeled after the German pattern, or with a chimney at either gable-end, if built after the English or Scotch idea. Many of these imposing structures had arched cellars underneath, spacious hallways with easy stairs, open fireplaces in most of the rooms, oak- panelled partitions, and windows hung in weights." Many of these old stone houses have inscriptions set high up on the gable wall. Sometimes this inscription may be the initials of the man and wife, or perhaps only the date of the building. The farmer's first care, after getting his field well cleared, was to build an immense barn. This was invariably done before any steps were taken to erect a permanent home for himself. These great "Swisser barns" were "two stories high, with pitched roof, sufficiently large and strong to enable heavy farm teams to drive into the upper story, to load or unload grain. During the first period they were built mostly of stone, frame, or brick, from 80 to 120 feet long, and from 50 to 60 feet wide, the lower story containing the sta- bles, with feeding-passages opening on the front. The upper story was made to project 8 or 10 feet over the lower in front, or with a forebay attached, to shelter the entries to the stables and passageways. It contained the threshing-floors, mows, and lofts for the storing of hay and grain. Farming was a profession. The whole life of the farmer, his labor, his thoughts, his hopes and fears, revolved about this one thing. Industry was the highest virtue; idleness and sin went hand in hand. "When a young man," says Benjamin Rush in writing of these early Germans, "asks the consent of his father to marry a girl of his choice, the latter does not so much inquire whether she be rich or poor, but whether she is industrious and acquainted with the duties of a good housewife." In general, their life was uneventful: "one common round of daily task." The three great events--birth, marriage, and death--were the occasion of more or less celebration, wedding and funeral being attended by friends and neighbors from far and near. These German emigrants did not confine themselves to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. They moved to the west and the south in all directions, until they are to be found in every state in the Union; and wherever they settled the story of the Pennsylvania German piety, honesty, industry, and success in life has been repeated. It is interesting to follow these people after reaching Pennsylvania. The little colony of thirty-three persons, who settled in Germantown under the leadership of Francis Daniel Pastorius, in 1683, was slowly augmented during the succeeding years, and they began to penetrate into the regions beyond. The acquisition of land seems to have been their most prominent character- istic, and it may be said to continue so to be to the present day. From the beginning the spirit of speculation was rife among them. The earlier cleared farms became valuable, and there were always those who, having money, pre- ferred to buy farms from which heavy timber had been cleared and on which good buildings were erected. The price for wild lands was so reasonable that men would sell their early holdings and, with the aid of their sturdy sons and daughters, enter upon and conquer new lands in the interior. Then, too, the inflowing tide of newcomers became so strong that there were no longer lands near the older settlements to be taken up, and they were thus compelled to move far into the back woods of what are now the counties of Lancaster, Berks, Lebanon, York, Dauphin, Northampton, Lehigh, and Schuylkill. Turning to the south, they followed the Indian trails into western Maryland, and down the Shenandoah Valley into Virginia and the Carolinas, into Kentucky and Tennes- see. Thus "they went to the north, to the south and to the west. Soon they reached the Appalachian chain of mountains, climbed its wooded sides and debouched into the wild regions beyond until the Ohio was in sight. But on, still on, went the resistless army of commonwealth builders. Today they are spread over the most fertile lands of the grat West--Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and other states--the entire continent, in fact, count among the best of their citizens the men who went out of Pennsylvania with Luther's Bible in their hands and the language of Schiller and Goethe on their lips. Wherever they went their fervent but unobtrusive piety went with them and in their quiet way brought credit on their country and on their lineage wherever they located themselves." III. THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS It is only just to say that to all that has gone to build up Pennsylvania, to enlarge her wealth, to increase her property, to educate her people, to give her good government from the first, the German element of the people has contributed its full share. It is the religious spirit, the love of industry, the peaceful disposition of its people, which has placed our great State of Pennsylvania in the foremost ranks of the great American nation. The story of the privations, the fortitude, and the patriotism of these early German emigrants is blended with that of the other elements of the composite people which formed the base of the grand structure of American nationality. They did not leave the Fatherland to seek power and glory in the wilderness to which they emigrated. They forsook their native country and braved the perils of the deep in search of a land where they might enjoy liberty of conscience. Nor did they come empty-handed, being for the most part the well-to-do, not the paupers of the Old World. They came with the fear of God in their hearts; with energy and industry in their make-up; with high hopes and expectations that here was freedom to worship as their con- science dictated. They left us a real inheritance. In 1738, Governor George Thomas, when urging the establishment of a hospital for sick arrivals, wrote: "This Province has been for some years the Asylum of the distressed Protestants of the Palatinate and other parts of Germany, and I believe it may with truth be said that the present flourishing condition of it is in a great measure owing to the industry of these People; and should any discouragement divert them from coming hither, it may well be apprehended that the value of their Lands will fall, and your advances to wealth be much slower, for it is not always the goodness of the soil but the number and industry of the people that make a flourishing colony." The name America is of German origin. Little credit has been given to the German people for the part they took in making possible the voyage to the unknown lands which resulted in the discovery of America. Columbus had a teacher, Martin Behaim, the great geographer, then living on an island west of Spain, from whom the great discoverer learned the science which led to the discovery of the New World. There were many features about the settlement of Germantown which made it an event of truly national importance. It is believed that no other settle- ment on this side of the Atlantic had so large a proportion of men who had won distinction abroad in literature and polemics. The intellectual thought of that age, it must be remembered, was mainly absorbed in religious controversy. Francis Daniel Pastorius was one of the founders of Germantown and its first schoolmaster. His learning was probably not equaled in any colony at any time. He read and wrote in the German, Spanish, English, French, Italian, Greek and Latin languages; was deeply versed in science and philosophy; and devoted much of his life to the pursuit of literature. He produced a number of books, many of which were at the time printed. And the great Muhlenberg stands out before us as one of the grandest characters that ever landed upon the shores of the New World. The Germans who came to this country, from the first, stood for the spirit of universal toleration. Holding opinions banned in Europe, which only the fullness of time could justify, standing on what was then the outer picket of civilization, they were in the front ranks of those who best represented the meaning of the colony of Pennsylvania and the principles lying at the founda- tion of her institutions and of those of hte great nation of which she formed a part. On April 18, 1688, Francis Daniel Pastorius, Gerhard Hendricks and three Op den Graeff brothers sent to the Friends' Quarterly Meeting at Philadelphia the first public protest ever made on this continent against the holding of slaves; a little rill here started which in time became the mighty torrent and led to Gettysburg and Appomattox. The doctrine of the Anabaptists (followers of Menno Simon) carried through Holland into England, resulted in the forming of the sect called Quakers; and it was the Anabaptists, as Mennonites, who came to Germantown. The early emigrants were intensely religious and their descendants, as a people, have ever remained so. In a literal sense, the Pennsylvania Germans are in the Church. They came here with their German Bibles, Liturgy, Prayer Books, Hymn Books, and Catechisms and used them well. Their sole dependence was prayer and supplication to the Deity and an unbounded faith and trust in Providence. They had been members of the Christian Church in the Fatherland; all identi- fied with the Reformed, Lutheran, the Moravian, the Mennonites or some of the Reformation branches. Simultaneously with their log houses there arose the log church and the log schoolhouse. The plain log church, with its pulpit erected on the stump of a tree, with a stone floor, rude pews, and often no stove, was dear to them. The erection of a church building of stone, or brick, was a great event; and today, the many beautiful church buildings, not only in towns and cities, but also in rural districts, and the large congre- gations at public services, testify to their interest in the Christian reli- gion. The great majority of these Germans who came to Pennsylvania in the early days belonged to the Reformed or Lutheran faith, the former being chiefly from Switzerland and the Palatinate, the latter from Wurtemberg and other parts of Germany. while jealousies and petty quarrels had existed and divided them in the Fatherland, the common suffering and persecutions had tended to smooth over their difficulties and bring them close together. The members of both congregations being poor and dwelling in thinly settled communities, were unable to build separate churches; so, in a majority of cases, they erected a building in common in which they held services on alternate Sundays, and thus they founded the Union Churches, so many of which exist today throughout the state. The old Trappe Church in Montgomery County was erected in 1745. In the graveyard attached lies buried the Patriarch Muhlenberg, who labored most faithfully for the spiritual welfare of his flock. And here, too, is the last resting place of his equally great son, General Peter Muhlenberg, the soldier preacher, friend of Washington, and successful commander in the Revo- lutionary War. As early as 1750, there were already forty well-established German Reformed and thirty Lutheran congregations in Pennsylvania. While, in some cases, economy led to the union of Reformed and Lutheran, after all, it testi- fies to the determination of these pioneers to have churchly privileges, no matter what unique and peculiar arrangements had to be made in order to get them. This characteristic--determination and tenacity in things churchly, religious and spiritual--made the Pennsylvania Germans a most valuable factor in the upbuilding of the body politic. The Lutheran and Reformed clergy labored and itinerated throughout the Province ministering to the sick, baptizing children, comforting the dying, catechizing the youth, correcting the erring, and establishing congregations and building churches wherever encouragement was given. These clergymen were not subsidized by a wealthy corporation; no tithes, government aid, or perqui- sites fell to their lot. Often having to work during the week to support their families, yet Sunday found them preaching to congregations at far dis- tant points. The history of a few of these humble heroes has been written; the greater number, however, like their flock, rest in unmarked graves, while their labors and teachings still live in the influence engendered by their ministrations. In the shadow of the church stood the schoolhouse. The Lutheran and Re- formed pastors often served as teachers during the week, and, when relieved of this duty, nevertheless in connection with the church council, exercised supervision over the schools. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the founder of the Lutheran, and Michael Schlatter, the founder of the Reformed, churches in Pennsylvania, were both teachers. The latter came from Switzerland in 1746, and organized a public school for the promotion of education among the German settlers. Among the various classes of self-sacrificing heroes of the early Prov- ince, none deserve more credit than the German schoolmaster, the pastor's helper. Upon these men devolved not alone the education of the youth, but in the absence of a regular clergyman, or, in outlying districts, the spirit- ual care of the settlers as well. His was clearly a labor of love, as no salary was attached to his mission, his only stipend being his board, obtained from the parents of his scholars. There were frequent cases where a school- master taught in two different places at the same time, serving three days a week in each. Francis Daniel Pastorius taught for a while in a Quaker school in Philadelphia, and then opened a school in Germantown, which developed into the famous Germantown Academy. Christopher Dock, the good "Schulmeister of the Skibach," taught school in the vicinity of Skippack and Germantown for half a century. During this time this quiet, unassuming man not only taught his scholars the elementary branches, but molded their morals and character as well. He never forgot to look after the spiritual welfare of any scholar who had once been under his charge and was wont to remain for a short time after he had dismissed the school, to kneel in prayer and ask a blessing upon his departing pupils. Although the Germans had not established colleges before the Revolutionary War, they had founded splendid academies and schools. Of all the Palatine colonists in Pennsylvania, the Moravians of Bethlehem distinguished themselves most for education in its best sense. Their institutions of learning at Lititz, Nazareth, and especially at Bethlehem, were so renowned as to attract students from all parts of the country, and their educational efforts among the Indians have never been excelled. Their labors extended to the distant wilds of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. In this self-denying work were en- gaged such missionaries as Rauch, Beuttnerr, Senseman, Martin Mack, Christian Frederick Post, Hackenwelder, David Zeisberger, Bishops Martin Nitschman, Cammerhof, and Joseph Spangenberg. In 1749, a distinct boarding school for girls was opened at Bethlehem, probably the first of its kind on the continent; and, in 1809, a normal department was established in Nazareth Hall. It was the first institution of this kind exclusively devoted to the preparation of teachers, the oldest existing normal school in America. The influence of these seminaries and schools is written large in the history of education in the country. No other American educational institution, excepting a college, can boast of such a long and honorable career as does that of the Seminary at Nazareth, founded in 1749, and still flourishing. At the close of the Revolutionary War colleges were established: Franklin, in 1786, and later on Marshall, Muhlenberg, and others. It has been charged that the opposition to the public school system came from the German element in the State. The system of parochial, or congre- gational, education was in vogue, and those opposed to the new scheme held that, over and above all, Christianity ought to enter into all plans for educating the young. But this antagonism was of short duration, and these opponents came to be the heartiest supporters of the free schools. The earliest advocates and promoters of that system which has shed so much lustre upon the State, were Governors George Wolf and Joseph Ritner; while another man, who more than any one else was the originator, was William Audenried, all three of Pennsylvania German descent. After all, the most conclusive evidence of their love of learning, the early settlers gave when they sent their children to Europe in order that they might enjoy the superior advantages offered by the universities in the Fatherland. The eminent Muhlenberg educated three of his sons in this way, of whom one became the famous Major General of the Revolutionary War, one a Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one the eminent botanist and author of the first catalogue of plants in North America. A grandson of the last named, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, was the first President of Muhlenberg College, at Allentown, and afterwards Professor of Greek at the University of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Germans have the honor of having the first printing press and of the printing of the first Bible in Pennsylvania, as well as many other literary and educational honors. Heinrich Funk and Dielman Kolb, in what is now Montgomery County, undertook to supervise the translation of "The Bloedigh Tooniel" of Jan Van Braght, the great historical and biographical work of the Mennonites, which had been written in Dutch. It was published at Ephrata, Lancaster County, in 1749, a folio of 1500 pages. It took thirteen men three years to do the printing. The paper was made at Ephrata, the binding done there, and there was nothing anywhere else in the colonies to compare with it as an illustration of literary and theological zeal. It was the most exten- sive outcome of the literature of the American colonists. The literature of the Schwenkfelders, who came in 1734, was both extensive and interesting. It is reproduced for the most part in manuscript, in huge folios written on paper made at the Rittenhouse paper mill on the Wissahickon, the earliest in America. They prepared a written description of all writings of the Schwenkfelders and their authors, and is perhaps the first attempt at a bibliography in this country. With the establishment of the Printing Press by Christopher Sauer, in Germantown, in 1738, there began an immense flood of German literature. Peter Cornelius Plockhoy, Pastorius, Telner, Koster, Kelpius, Daniel Falckner, and Justus Falckner all wrote books, some of them of magnitude and importance. In fifty years there must have been produced, from that press alone, two hundred and fifty books. In Indian lore and language, none equaled Zeisberger and Hackenwelder; or, in diplomacy with the wily red men of the forest, none could compare with the first Conrad Weiser and Christian Frederick Post. These men all came with the vanguard of civilization. John Conrad Weiser stood for ten years between the German and English settlers in all matters of dispute. He was officially recognized as Interpreter of Pennsylvania and head of its Indian Bureau, and so remained until his death. Many important treaties were arranged and rati- fied by him and, through his wise and philanthropic policy, many bloody out- breaks were prevented. His entire record was ever above taint and suspicion. Had he, or the splendid others who followed, failed in their duty and allowed the savages to pass their boundary, the progress of civilization and develop- ment in Pennsylvania would have been delayed half a century. Conrad Weiser was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Lancaster County in 1741, and upon the erection of Berks County, 1752, was made its first Judge of the Court, and later, President Judge, which office he held until his death, 1760. In 1753, he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was placed in com- mand of the frontier between the Susquehanna and the Delaware Rivers, his troops being known as the First Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment. Among the officers of this regiment were Captains John Morgan, Peter Trexler, John Nicholas Wetterhold, John Jacob Wetterhold, John Arndt (later Major), Conrad Weiser (Jr.), Samuel Weiser, Wendel Ury, Martin Everhardt, Andrew Engle, and Nicholas Kern. The Pennsylvania German, in early Colonial days, was not a great political factor in the life of the Commonwealth. Coming from where there was no chance for political activity, from a government that was despotic, and where the country folk had no voice in the affairs of state, it is not surprising that they did not seek public office, but, on the other hand, preferred the quiet and peace of these early days in their new homes. Living in communities of their own, they clung to their native tongue, some of the older ones never acquiring a knowledge of English, which in a way rendered them ineligible for holding a high public office in an English colony. Hence, up to the Revolu- tionary War, the political activity of these people was confined largely to local affairs. They loved freedom more than they hated war, these scions of that sturdy race who, as Germans, overthrew the Roman Empire, and as Dutch, broke the power of Spain. But the loyalty of these people to the American cause was unquestioned. The Mennonites, while opposed to war from religious principles, in numerous cases furnished supplies and money to the Continental Army, though they, like the Quakers, refrained steadfastly from taking up arms. However, the sturdy Protestant of the Reformed and Lutheran faiths were not slow nor reluctant to take up arms against a foe when their homes and new-found liber- ties were endangered. As the dark days of war approached and the various conventions met in Philadelphia, 1775-1776, a large proportion of the delegates sent from Berks, Lancaster, Northampton, and other counties were of German blood. They entered heartily into the conflict, though, owing to their lack of knowledge of the English language, few rose to high office, either civil or military; still no braver body of men went forth from hillside and valley to defend their homes in the name of God and freedom. From Boston to Quebec, in the Canada Campaign, and in the battles of that long struggle for independence, the Pennsylvania Germans took such a part as makes for them an indisputable place in history. Their blood stained the soil of every battlefield during the conflict. The gallant and patriotic services of the Hutleys, the Hiesters, the Muhlenbergs, Weitzels, Hausegger, Klotz, Nagel, Wiedman, Ziegler, Kechlein, Wolper, and others upon the well-fought battlefields at Trenton, Princeton, Long Island, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown is well established. And since the days of indepen- dence, their descendants, generation after generation, have been distinguished upon every well-fought battlefield of the Republic. From Lundy's Lane, in the swamps of Florida, through the cactus-crowned plains of Mexico, and from Manassas to Appomattox, on the poppy-strewn fields of France, they were there, officers and men, reflecting honor and renown upon their state and their na- tion. When the nation was being formed, it was Barons Steuben and De Kalb and others who did so much to organize the army and aid Washington in disciplining his troops. It was Michael Hillegas, John Steinmetz, Abraham Bickley, Joseph Bliever, Heinrich Keppel, Frederick Hassenklever, Isaac Melchior, John Schaef- fer, and Andro Doz, nine Pennsylvania Germans, who gave their personal bond to buy provisions for Washington's half-starved army; and when the subject was under debate, it was another, Christopher Ludwig, a poor gingerbread baker, who settled the controversy by having his name put down for £200. The influence of the Pennsylvania German has been felt in every constitu- tional convention from July, 1775, to the last body which gave us our present fundamental law. The Provincial Convention of 1775, held at Philadelphia, which approved the conduct and proceedings of the Continental Congress, ap- peared as delegates from Pennsylvania such representatives of the German settlers as Hessenklever, Melcher, Ludwig, Schlosser, Kuhn, Graaf, Schultz, Hay, Levan, Gehr, Kechlein, Arndt, and Weitzel. After the constitution had been framed there was a great doubt whether it would be accepted by the states. It is generally conceded that the adoption of the work of the con- vention was due to the early action taken by Pennsylvania. She was the first of the colonies to declare in favor of it. A heated debate followed, and, at that eventful crisis, the very earliest effort in behalf of the new government came from the Pennsylvania Germans. The Constitution was finally signed on September 17, 1787. On September 24th, there was presented to the Pennsyl- vania Assembly, this petition from two hundred and fifty inhabitants of the town of Germantown: To the Honorable the Representatives of the freemen of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, the petition and declaration of the inhabitants of Germantown respectfully showeth, that your petitioners have seen with great pleasure the proposed Constitution of the United States, and as they conceive it to be wisely calculated to form a perfect union of the States, as well as to secure to themselves and to posterity the blessings of peace, liberty and safety, they have taken this method of expressing their earnest desires that the said Constitution may be adopted as speedily as possible by the State of Pennsylvania in the manner recommended by the resolution of the late honorable convention. The Assembly at that time was composed of sixty-two members. When the adoption of the Constitution came to be determined, there were forty-three votes in favor of it and nineteen against it. Among the sixty-two members there were twelve Pennsylvania Germans. To their everlasting honor be it said every man voted in favor of the resolution. They were Jacob Hiltzheimer, Gerardus Wynkoop, Michael Schmyser, Gabriel Heister, Philip Kraemer, Joseph Heister, Peter Trexler Jr, Peter Burkhalter, Frederick Antes, Jacob Pfeiff, Valentine Opp, and Emanuel Carpenter. By far the greater majority of the German emigrants who came to these shores were of a peaceful disposition. They came to escape from feudal oppression and a state of religious intolerance then existing in parts of Germany. The charge is often made that during the Revolutionary struggle the majority of the Pennsylvania Germans were non-combatant. Many of them were non-combatant from religious conviction and refused to bear arms; but this fact did not make them antagonistic to the patriot cause. The commissary stores, during the most critical period of the struggle, were almost all supplied by the Pennsylvania Germans. The men and farms supplied the sub- stance, while the women furnished the clothing, quilts, and stockings for the soldiers, and even some of them, too old to sew or knit, picked lint and made bandages for the wounded. And further, when after disastrous battles, the buildings and institutes of these people were seized by the military authori- ties and turned into hospitals and the peaceful occupants forced to seek shelter where best they could, as was the case at Ephrata, Bethlehem, Lititz, and elsewhere, both men and women nursed the sick and dying, no matter how loathsome or pestilential the disease; in many cases sacrificing their own health and lives for humanity's sake. And yet it was not in the times of war--"those times that tried men's souls"--so much as in the peaceful times, when the real work of upbuilding the national character had to be done, that the influence of these people was strongest in the country. In their steadfastness of purpose, it was the plodding of patience, the characteristic that they possess of settling down on a farm somewhere and staying there instead of roaming about indefinitely, cultivating it and making it give up its wealth--it is this characteristic which has done so much in times of peace for the prosperity of the country and for the establishment of the nation. Pennsylvania is a great agricultural state, and the German settlers have been the leaders in that great industry in the Commonwealth. It is their industry and thrift that has made the Pennsylvania farms the pride of the nation, and in no section of the country can be found better cultivated farms, better fences, better houses, better barns, a larger variety of crops. It was this people who brought with them to this country their inborn love for the masterpieces of musical creation, and they have been largely instru- mental in introducing to the American churches the uplifting anthems of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Handel, Mendelssohn, Bach, and others. They also brought with them that lofty style of congregational music called chorales. The Pennsylvania German has been the leader in the "art preservation of all arts." In Germantown began the weaving of linen and of cloth and the manufacture of paper. Christopher Sauer, the Germantown printer, manufac- tured the first type, printed the first Bible in a European language, and issued the first work on the philosophy of teaching, in America. The Ephrata press was a remarkable one, and more books were issued by that community and by Sauer, prior to the Revolution, than from all New England and New York printing presses together. They were the first piano makers in America, the first chemists, tanners, glass blowers, and makers of furniture. The father of the liberty of the press, in this country, was a German. The first genealogical work published in America was issued by the Ephrata Society. To Gustavus Peters, we are indebted for stereotyping and as the inventor of printing in oil. In a century of Governors of the Commonwealth, one-half were of Pennsyl- vania German ancestry, wholly or in part, men equal in ability and statesman- ship to any who have filled the executive chair: Simon Snyder, Heister, Wolf, Shultz, Ritner, Shunk, Hartranft, all of whom contributed toward the founding and fostering of the Common Free School; James Addams Beaver, the gifted, talented statesman, the brave and valorous soldier, and Christian gentleman; Samuel W. Pennypacker, the scholar and historian. The annals of Pennsylvania are made luminous with the splendor of the services of those heroes of the Gospel of Christ: Muhlenberg, the saintly, beloved, and grandest patriarch of the early church; Schlatter, the disciple of the Swiss Reformation, God-fearing and faithful; Cammerhoff, the zealous and devoted missionary; Spangenbert, the devout enthusiast; and the host that followed them. In theological literature, we find the names of Rauch, Krauth, and Schumaker, and the religious leaders: Otterbein, who established the United Brethren; Winebrenner, the Church of God; Albright, the Evangelical Church. David Rittenhouse, the patriot astronomer, whose name is a common heritage of America. In scientific literature, there is a Haldeman in archeology, Muhlenberg and Schaeffer in botany, and Rathorn in entomology, and Leidy, the scientist; Ibach and Engelman, the noted almanac makers. And it was a Pennsylvania German who gave to the world the greatest astronomical gift, the Lick Observatory, in California. In law, as jurist, few equaled Pennypacker, Heydrick, Albright, Bittenger, Bucher, and a score of others, brilliant in the legal profession. The field of medicine in Pennsylvania is largely occupied by that class, many of whom have risen to high positions in medical and surgical practice: Goss, and the brothers Leidy, Wistar, Kuhn, and Seidensticker, of the University of Pennsylvania, De Schweinitz, and scores of others. Among the historians: Rupp and Hutley, Harbaugh and Reichel, Egle, Pennypacker, Biedelman and Sachse, represent Pennsylvania Germans creditably. To Governor Alter belongs the honor of first putting in actual practice the electric telegraph. And so we could enumerate indefi- nitely. But back of all that has been achieved by these worthy scions of a worthy race stands the German mother, ever patient, self-denying, devout, industrious, thrifty, her sole aim to raise her family in the fear of the Lord. "Their monuments are their farms and farmhouses, schools and schoolhouses, and their great Swiss barns which adorn the hills and fertile vales which make the land of Pennsylvania an earthly paradise. Colleges and Churches, Temples of Justice, Almshouse and Orphans' Homes, Farmers' Institute, Agricultural and Horticultural Societies and their annual agricultural and industrial exhibi- tions; manufacturing enterprises; their princely mercantile and banking houses, palatial markets, hotels and residences and battlefields near and far and the valor of Pennsylvania regiments there recorded. These are the most fitting and ever-enduring monuments to the industry, virtue, munificence, patriotism, and intelligence of this great brave and free people." When Germantown was laid out, Francis Daniel Pastorius opened what was called the Germantown Grund und Lager Buch, containing the records of convey- ance of land, and he wrote the following prefatory invocation in Latin, which was happily rendered into English verse by John Greenleaf Whittier: Emigration of German Quakers and Mennonites to Pennsylvania Hail to posterity! Hail, future men of Germanopolis! Let the young generations yet to be Look kindly upon thee. 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 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 are human, even as you, Pity us and forgive. Farewell, Posterity; Farewell, dear Germany; Forever more farewell!