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Germans to Pennsylvania
Part 1: A brief History of William Penn and Pennsylvania
| Part 1: A Brief History of William Penn and Pennsylvania |
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“At different periods, various causes and diverse motives induced them to abandon their Vaterland. Since 1606, millions have left their homes, the dearest spots on earth, whither the heart always turns. Religious persecution, political oppression drove thousands to Pennsylvania- to the asylum for the harassed and depressed sons and daughters of the relics of the Reformation, whither William Penn himself invited the persecuted of every creed and religious opinion.”
-I. Daniel Rupp, A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776…
In 1681, William Penn was given a vast piece of North American land by King Charles II to repay a debt owed to Penn’s father. This land included the present-day states of Pennsylvania and Delaware. By 1682, Penn and his followers had established the town of Philadelphia. Penn, a Quaker, had created a haven of religious tolerance,
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William Penn was born in 1644 in London to the admiral and politician Sir William Penn and Margaret Jasper. At age 22, Penn was sent by his father to Cork, Ireland to manage family lands. While there, he began attending Quaker meetings and eventually converted to the faith. Quakers were not tolerated at that time (Quaker Act of 1662) and Penn was eventually thrown in jail. His family’s prominence secured his release, but he was returned to his father in London. His father tried reason with him, but his persistence eventually ended in banishment from the family and the threat of disinheritance. Homeless, he went on to live with various Quaker families.
As intolerance of the Quakers and other religious sects in England continued to grow, William Penn took to writing pamphlets that criticized other faiths and in 1668 he was imprisoned in the tower of London. There, he continued to write his criticisms and arguments. Faced with possible life imprisonment, he shared a desire to see his dying father one last time. Even though he asked his father not to pay his fine, his father did so anyway, and Penn was released. His father also reinstated his inheritance and Penn came into a large sum of money upon his father's death.
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Between 1671 and 1677, William Penn traveled to Germany on church business. This established a relationship that would eventually open the door for Germans facing religious persecution in their homeland to join the migration to Pennsylvania.
In 1677, Penn and a group of other prominent Quakers purchased land in what is now the state of New Jersey for a Quaker settlement. As conditions continued to deteriorate, Penn appealed to the King to allow a mass emigration of Quakers to the North America. In a fit of generosity, the King relented and also granted Penn a charter for land west of New Jersey and north of Maryland. Penn became the world’s largest common private landowner. At first, Penn called the area “New Wales” then changed it to “Sylvania”. King Charles II renamed it “Pennsylvania” to honor Penn’s father. In 1682, Penn met with the Lenape Indian tribe to negotiate the first land purchase survey in Pennsylvania. He then drafted a charter of liberties, creating a haven for religious freedom and political fairness.
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The Birth of Pennsylvania, 1680, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. William Penn, holding paper, standing and facing King Charles II, in the King's breakfast chamber at Whitehall.
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To attract Quaker immigration, Penn wrote glowing treatises extolling the attractiveness of settling in the new land. He had them translated into several languages and distributed throughout Europe. In less than a year, he had given land to over 250 new settlers. He also began to attract other persecuted minorities, including Catholics, Lutherans, Mennonites, Amish, Huguenots, and Jews from England, Germany, France, Holland, and Scandinavia.
In 1683, a group of Dutch Quakers, Mennonites, and Pietists asked Franz Daniel Pastorius, a German preacher, educator and lawyer, to negotiate a land purchase from William Penn. Penn sold him 15,000 acres in the northwest section of Philadelphia, whereupon Pastorius laid out a new settlement called Germantown. Germantown was primarily a Dutch colony until 1709, when several of the Dutch families moved west and several groups of German immigrants began to arrive. This included a group led by Rev. Joshua Kocherthal (see article on German Palatines). Germantown would go on to play a significant role in American History as the birthplace of the American anti-slavery movement, site of a Revolutionary war battle, temporary residence of George Washington, and site of the first bank of the United States, among other things.
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From 1699 to 1701, William Penn live in an estate outside of Philadelphia called Pennsbury Manor, after which he returned to England. He was said to be a poor manager of money and a gambler and died penniless in 1718.
After Penn’s death, Pennsylvania moved slowly from a religious haven to a secular state, although many of Penn’s legal and political innovations remained. The Penn family continued to own the colony until the Revolutionary War.
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Wikipedia Articles
William Penn:
Quakers:
Pennsylvania:
Lenape:
Philadelphia:
Germantown:
Francis Daniel Pastorius:
Other
Pennsbury Manor
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William Penn, unknown author
*All images used in this article are from Wikipedia and are in the public domain:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Material_
in_the_public_domain
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| Part 2: The Great Palatine Migration |
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In 1709, a rumor spread across southwest Germany about a wonderful opportunity for a better life. Queen Anne of England had promised free land to all Germans who would like to settle in the New Colonies. This erupted into a mass migration which was both unexpected an ill-prepared for. During the spring and summer of 1709, over fifteen thousand came to England seeking refuge and passage to America.
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In the early 1700’s, war and bad weather had struck the region in Germany along the Rhine River. The 1701 War of Spanish Succession had caused French armies to invade southwest Germany. They destroyed fields and villages and demanded tribute money from the villagers and farms. On top of this, 1708 brought a fierce winter. Vines, trees, livestock, wildlife and people died from the bitter cold. Mills closed and the price of grain shot up, forcing many into starvation. Sheer poverty introduced the idea of migration to a better life in the hearts of many Germans. |
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Where did this rumor originate? In 1706, Joshua Kocherthal, a Lutheran pastor from Heidelberg, met with proprietors from the Carolinas in America looking for new settlers. They proposed Kocherthal write a promotional book extolling the virtues of the Carolinas for settlement and distribute it throughout Germany. Kocherthal’s little book, Ausführlich und Umständlicher Bericht, or the so-called Golden Book, was written in a simple, understandable, and straightforward manner, designed to be read aloud to the illiterate. The book also included a chapter on Pennsylvania which was familiar to many Germans due to the earlier circulation of other material by William Penn, Daniel Pastorius, and David Falckner, although it wasn’t meant to overshadow the Carolinas.
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Kocherthal’s Golden Book
Aussführlich und umständlicher Bericht von der berühmten Landschafft Carolina, in dem engelländischen America
gelegen
Online copy at:
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While the 1706 edition of the book was largely overlook, conditions in 1709 made the 1709 edition an instant success. This addition also included information about Kocherthal’s mission to take forty-one settlers to New York. He had managed to obtain support from England’s Queen Anne for his venture that included passage and provision. This began a rumor that Queen Anne might do that for other Germans, as well. This, of course, was never a stated fact, but the assumption of further support was enough for the book to spread like wildfire. Many people were soon willing to leave their homes, villages, and families and journey to London without any detailed instruction on how to do so or what to expect. England had no idea what was coming…
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The settlers first arrived in Rotterdam. Few had the money to pay for passage to England and ended up in refugee camps. Fortunately, Rotterdam officials felt obliged to provide the migrants some relief. Private groups also did fundraising to help with support and passage. By the spring of 1709, officials in London were scrambling to find lodging for the newly arrived migrants. A couple of pastors began taking census information such as name, age, occupation, religion, and family and discovered that over 6,500 Germans were living in London by June. By July, that number was over 11,000. A commission was formed to help them find jobs and settle into camps, The Queen provided some subsidy and private groups collected donations. Eventually, a commission was appointed to solve the problem of the “poor Palatines”. They concluded that the Germans were to be settled in three places- North Britain, Ireland, and the colonies.
The state of the Palatines for fifty years past to this present time
Source: British Library, London, printed for J. Baker, 1710
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In the fall of 1709, a Scottish officer named Robert Hunter proposed taking 3,000 Germans to the colonies as indentured workers. In return for passage and provision, they would labor to supply England with naval stores. After serving their time, they would receive freedom and a parcel of land. The proposal was accepted, and the group left in April 1710. Of the remaining Germans, about 3,000 were sent to Ireland, though many returned after they discovered they would be no better off than they were in Germany. Over 2,000 were returned to Rotterdam where they were expected to return to their native villages. A few hundred chose to stay in London. The rest eventually secured passage or returned home. The ruling party in England had changed by late 1710 and there was no more sympathy for the “poor Palatines”, ending further resettlement.
This did not end German immigration to America by any means! Starting in 1723, immigration boomed. Germans began moving to various colonies throughout America. They founded settlements in New England, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Arkansas and more. Today, German Americans comprise the largest self-reported ancestry group in the United States.
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German Palatines- Wikipedia
Aussführlich und umständlicher Bericht von der berühmten Landschafft Carolina, in dem engelländischen America gelegen by Kocherthal, 1669-1719
A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names… of Immigrants to Pennsylvania from 1727-1776… by I. Daniel Rupp
The Palatines- United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada
List of Ships to Philadelphia 1727-1808- OliveTree Genealogy
Josua Harrsch (Joshua Kocherthal)-Wikipedia
Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration
A British Government Redemptioner Project to Manufacture Naval Stores
by Walter Allen Knittle, Ph.D.
Department of History
College of the City of New York
Published Philadelphia, 1937
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Good Books:
Becoming German, the 1709 Palatine Migration to New York by Philip Otterness , 2004 Cornell University Press
The Story of the Palatines: An Episode in Colonial History by Sanford H. Cobb, 1897, The Knickerbocker Press, NY
The state of the Palatines for fifty years past to this present time
The story of the Palatines : an episode in colonial history by Sanford H. Cobb, 1897
The German exodus to England in 1709 (Massenauswanderung der Pfälzer)
Prepared at the request of the Pennsylvania-German society
By Frank Ried Diffenderffer, 1897
The Palatine families of New York : a Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710
by Henry Z. Jones
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| Part 3: New York |
| In Mid April 1710, nearly three thousand Germans set sail for America. After a two to three month voyage that encountered delay, sickness and death. Nine ships landed in New York. This was overwhelming for the New Yorkers who numbered less than six thousand. They feared they might bring diseases and affect local trade. They ended up being quarantined until the situation could be sorted out. The colonists in charge of the Germans were basically only interested in the men who could carry out hard labor. Orphaned children and widows were deemed useless. At least seventy children were apprenticed to people living in New York and surrounding areas. Widows were encouraged to remarry under threat of being left behind when the group eventually moved to an area along the Hudson River. |
A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names... by I. Daniel Rupp lists the members of the 1710 Palatines immigrants that came to Pennsylvania with Rev. Kocherthal.
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This book is available online:
Names may be searched in
Ancestry if you are signed i
n to an account:
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| The Germans lived on Nutten (Governors) Island in New York’s Upper Bay until September. The New York governor, Robert Hunter, and the colonial council took care of their needs. They were also free to travel and work in the surrounding area. They were divided into groups based on which ship they arrived. Their pastors held church services- Joshua Kocherthal for the Lutherans and Johann Friedrich Haeger for the Reformists. Both pastors assured the officials they were following the tenets of the Church of England but did not share the content of their sermons… |
Biography of Reverend Joshua
von Kocherthal
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Luther's Rose
By I, Daniel Csörföly
(from Budapest, Hungary),
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Schoharie, New York, Page 190 of the
History of Schoharie County
by Jeptha R. Simms 1845
Permission to use given by Schoharie County, NY GenWeb
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They began the move to the Hudson in September,1710 to an area that was to become Livingston Manor, and by November there were 1500 Germans living in five rough villages. Governor Hunter sent provisions and men to supervise the work. They were not able to begin the harvest of pine trees for tar production until spring, giving the Germans time to think about their situation. They had come for farmland but now held barely two thousand square feet of poor land. Suspicions took root that these English colonists were no different than the lords and princes they left behind in Germany. Talk began about moving to the Schoharie Valley, a place of rich farmland further west that had been discussed earlier as a place for the naval stores operation. Its lack of trees, however, had made it unsuitable for the project. As they were dependent of the governor for their survival, they eventually settled down, started vegetable gardens and began the work of felling trees even though there wasn’t complete buy in. The Schoharie became an Eden than invaded their thoughts. |
| By August, 1712, money started to run out for the project. This meant fewer provisions. The German’s gardens and livestock were not enough to sustain them, either. With no money, the supply of provisions also ended. Governor Hunter began allowing the Germans to leave their work for employment of other nearby farms. Some stayed away permanently. The remaining Germans continued to cut trees at the behest of Hunter, who was convinced the project would eventually become successful. The project, however, was doomed. It turned out that the German men were never to produce a single barrel of tar, although tree knots gathered by the children manage to yield a few barrels. The project was ended by September. |
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With the end of the project, the Germans were finally free to persue their dreams of owning farms. By late 1712, the Germans began a migration over the next twenty years that would spread them throughout the middle colonies. The first step was the arduous task of moving to the Schoharie Valley.
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A Brief Sketch of the First Settlement of the County of Schoharie, by the Germans : Being an Answer to a Circular Letter Addressed to the Author by "The Historical and Philosophical Society of the State of New York" by John Mathias Brown, 1745-1838
Names of Male Palatines above twenty-one years old in Livingston Manor, N. Y.
Livingston, Robert "Debts due by Palatins Living in the 4 Villages in the Manor of Livingston
Ancestry Family moves to Schoharie Area 1712-1722
Ancestry Family moves to Schoharie Area 1712-1722
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| Part 4: Schoharie to Tulpehocken |
| The Schoharie Valley had belonged to the Mohawk Indian tribe. By the time the Germans began to arrive, Colonial incursion and disease had decimated their numbers and control of the region. The Germans knew, however, knew that they were still a force to be reckoned with. Their success would depend on establishing a good relationship. In 1712, they sent a delegation to the Mohawks to explain their miserable condition and desire to settle in the Schoharie. With Mohawk blessing, fifty families came and began the arduous process of clearing the land and building homes. |
“The Migration of the Schoharie Germans to Pennsylvania and the History of Tulpehocken Township”
Berks County, Pennsylvania Genealogy- Jane Unger, County Coordinator.
Pennsylvania German Pioneers Research Guide 1727-1808
-compiled by Joe Beine, German Roots Webmaster
Tulpehocken Historic District
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Johann Conrad Weiser
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Johann Conrad Weiser had become one of the leaders for the Germans. In November of 1712, he made an unusual decision to send his son Conrad to live in a Mohawk village in order to strengthen ties and learn their language and culture. This surprised the Mohawks and suggested that the Germans were different that the other Colonists. The Germans would need Mohawk support if they were to survive the winter, to which the Mohawks obliged, thinking they would be better neighbors that the English or Dutch. |
| The Germans would eventually establish seven villages along Schoharie Creek. Slowly, they began buying more land from the Mohawks to allow more German families to come and to keep other colonists out. Agreements with Indian tribes weren’t recognized by British law, however… The Germans tried unsuccessfully by different means to establish Colonial title to the land. Meanwhile, there were several unsuccessful attempts to bring the Germans under British control. With long term prospects for securing title diminishing, there came a decision in that it was time to push on to new territory. Those that did remain eventually had to purchase or rent their land from new Colonial owners. |
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The Palatine Migration — 1723
From Schoharie to Tulpehocken
By John W. and Martha B. Harper
This article originally appeared in the Summer 1960 issue of the Historical Review of Berks County.
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| In the early 1720’s, five Germans traveled to Pennsylvania. They shared their plight with Pennsylvania governor William Keith and were given permission to settle on land near Tulpehocken Creek. In 1723, thirty-three families, led by Conrad Weiser arrived to begin a new settlement. Weiser and others would continue to bring groups, establishing the Tulpehocken Township in 1729, and its offshoot, the Heidelberg Township in 1734. |
1756 Map of Pennsylvania: Printed for R. Baldwin, London
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