The German Emigration to America 1709-1740

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uNivERsmy PENNSYIX^WIA.

UBRARIE5

Ip)enn6^l\>ania: THE GERMAN INFLUENCE IN

ITS

SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT.

H

IRarrative an& Critical fbistov^.

PREPARED BY AUTHORITY OF

THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.

PART TII£

III.

GERMAN EMIGRATION

TO AMERICA,

i7og-i740.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 1898.

THE

GERMAN EMIGRATION TO AMERICA 1709-1740.

PART III. OF A NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY, PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF

Ube pennsi?lvania*(Berman

BY REV.

HENRY EYSTER JACOBS,

Society.

D.D., LL.D.,

NORTON PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA; TRANSLATOR AND EDITOR OF THE " BOOK OF CONCORD," SCHMID'S « DOCTRINAL THEOLOGY OF THE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH," " ELEMENTS OF RELIGION," ETC., ETC.

LANCASTER, PA.

PREFATORY NOTE. The

great

movement

in the

spring and

accomEngland

of thousands of Palatines,

panied by some Swabians and other Germans

summer

of 1709,

manner

to

was traced

in a

most

They had

exhaustive and been preceded, it will be remembered, by a small band under the Rev. Joshua Kocherthal, who, after some delay in England, had reached New York on the last day of 1709. It is our aim to take up the narrative at this point, and, after following the course of the immigrants to Pennsylvania, to give some account of succeeding emigrations, satisfactory

until the

year 1740.

last year.

EFFORT TO TURN GERMAN EMIGRATION TO SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAPTER

I.—THE

1k New

OCHERTHAL, tombstone

York, may

inscription that he

had been pastor flourishing

at

town

West Camp,

at still

be read the

was "the Joshua

High Germans

to the

upon whose

America,"

in

Landau, the now in

Bavaria, that

had suffered exceedingly from peated invasions by the French.

The

America.

England

to inquire

an emigration of his people

the expediency of

re-

In the year 1704, after

the invasion of 1703, he had visited into

^

to

information which he gathered he em-

bodied in a brochure, the

first

edition of

which was pub-

" Wisse Wandersman Unter diesem Steine ruht nebst seiner Sibylla Ein rechter Wandersmann Der Hoch-Teutschen in America ihr Josua Und derselben an Der ost und west seite Der Hudson Rivier rein lutherischer Prediger Seine erste ankunft war mit L'd Lovelace 1707/ 8 den i. Januar Seine sweite mit Col. Hunter 1710 d. Seine Englandischereise unterbrach Seine Seelen Himmlische 14 Juny So unter raise an St. Johannis Tage 1719 Begherstu mehr zu wissen Suche in Welanchthons vaterland Wer war dex de Kocherthal War Harschias War Winchenbach B. Berkenmayer S. Heurtein L Brevort 1

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"

The Pennsylvania- German Society.

32

tinb

UmfratiDlictrt 55tt((6f

CAROLINA, 3n Dem

S)on

O

grartcffurf

Anno

r."

am ?Q?di)H/ I

7 o ^i

Pamphlet circulated by Kocherthal advising emigrants lina.

V^

to

go

to

Caro-

;

Inducements lished in

Main

the

to

Settlers.

1706, and the second edition at Frankfort on

The

in 1709.

title

to advocate the claims of

of this

little

volume, intended

South Carolina

in preference to

German Emigration

those of Pennsylvania as the goal of is

33

" Full and Circumstantial Report concerning the Re-

:

nowned District of Carolina in English America." Under what influence he had reached his conclusions he does not

But the comparatively weak stream of

state.

immigrants that flowed

to Penns3''lvania in the first

of the Eighteenth Century, in response to the peals,

indicates a dissatisfaction

gested inquiries into the

America

for

German

and

distrust,

of

availability

colonists.

decade

many

ap-

that sug-

other

parts of

His argument in favor

was preceded by

of choosing Carolina for the settlement,

ten chapters, concerning the land in general, the govern-

ment, the

voyage, fifty

fertility of

etc.

the

soil,

the climate, the security, the

While the ordinary assignment of land was

acres to every head of a family, Mr. Kocherthal states

that he has

been promised one hundred and

two hundred acres

be free for the

first

number

to each, in case the

The

grants be large.

fifty,

or even

of

immi-

terms provide that the land shall

three years, and that, afterwards, the

With

nominal rent shall be a penny per acre annually. its

glowing description of the

rye, oats, barley

of the soil in wheat,

fertility

and Indian corn, and

cultivation of the vine

its

and tobacco, of

adaptation to the

olives

and cotton

with the opportunities portrayed for the manufacture of silk

by

its facilities

an account of

for the raising of

forests,

full

mulberry trees

of valuable timber,

;

with

and the

The Pennsylvania- German

34

vision of mines, rich in iron

and lead

Society.

;

with a remarkable

statement concerning the salubrity of the climate, where the temperature of the winter

was no more rigorous than

April or October in the Palatinate, and the summer, while

warmer, was tempered by almost constant cool breezes,

where the days were two hours shorter in winter than in

two hours longer

in

summer, and

Germany

;

and with

assurances of the friendship of the Indians, and the free-

dom

offered

stand

by the Government, we can readily under-

how the book spread among oppressed and impover-

ished people dissatisfaction with their homes, and enkindled the desire to cross the ocean to the

Pennsylvania,

German

it

new land

was conceded, had

of promise.

certain advantages.

settlements had already been founded, and the

fruits of the soil

accustomed.

were

chiefly those to

But these,

it

which Germans were

was maintained, were overbal-

anced by the eternal summer, and never failing pasturage,

and

less

expensive homes and clothing for colonists, and

The voyage

shelter for the wintering of cattle.

sylvania required an immediate outlay, while

pense of the

trip to

to

all

Penn-

the ex-

Carolina could be defrayed by subse-

quent service in the colony.

To

the credit of Kocherthal, be

it

said that he did not

hide any of the dangers and difficulties in the

moval the

to

many

America.

The

peril of the

way

of re-

long sea voyage and

hardships to be faced after landing were faith-

fully narrated.

His readers were warned against being

influenced

by the

by the love

of adventure,

desire for riches, or for an easy

and mere

curiosity.

The

life,

or

oppor-

O