First German Immigrants Settle Germantown October 6, 1683

The Germans have played a most important part in the history of Pennsylvania, much more conspicuous than has been accorded them. They are the progressive farmers, and leaders in politics, literature and science.

The first great teacher was Pastorius; the first paper mill was established in 1690, on a branch of Wissahickon Creek, by William Rittinghuysen; the Bible was first printed in German, by Christopher Saur, thirty-nine years before it appeared in English; the same enterprising Germans, in 1735, established the first type foundry in America in Germantown and so on, but it is of the establishment of German Town or Germantown which this story is to relate.

The first German emigration was from Crefeld, a city of the lower Rhine. William Penn conveyed 5000 acres in Pennsylvania to each of three merchants of that city, March 10, 1682, one of whom, Jacob Telner, had made a trip to America in 1678–81.

Francis Daniel Pastorius first heard of the Pennsylvania plan in 1682, and became a purchaser of land while in London between the 8th of May and 6th of June, 1683.

Eight original purchasers, November 12, 1686, formed themselves into a company which was called the Frankford Company. Up to June 8, 1683, these persons had purchased 15,000 acres, and they mostly lived in Frankfort, but Pastorius was the only one of the original company who ever came to Pennsylvania.

Thirteen families, comprising thirty-three persons, set out for London, from which city, after many delays, they embarked, July 24, 1683, aboard the Concord.

Of the original purchasers three were Mennonites, and many of the remainder of the party belonged to that sect, so it must be stated that this emigration was also the beginning of that great church in America.

The pioneers had a pleasant voyage and reached Philadelphia October 6. On the 10th of the same month a warrant was issued to Pastorius for 6000 acres “on behalf of the German and Dutch purchasers.” 696On the 24th, Thomas Fairman measured off fourteen divisions of land, and the next day, meeting together in the cave of Pastorius they drew lots for choice of location.

Under a warrant, 5350 acres were laid out, May 2, 1684, for Pastorius, as trustee for them and future purchasers; in addition 200 acres were laid out for Pastorius in his own right, and 150 acres to Jurian Hartsfelder, a stray Dutchman, who had been a deputy sheriff under Andros in 1676 and who now cast in his lot with the settlers at Germantown.

Immediately after the division in the cave of Pastorius they began to dig cellars and build the huts in which, not without much hardship, they spent the following winter. Thus commenced the settlement of Germantown.

Other emigrants began to appear in the little town, and soon we catch a glimpse of the home life of the early dwellers of Germantown.

Pastorius had no glass, so he made windows of oiled paper.

Bom wrote to Rotterdam October 12, 1684: “I have here a shop of many kinds of goods and edibles. Sometimes I ride out with merchandise, and sometimes, bring something back, mostly from Indians, and deal with them in many things. I have no regular servants except one Negro, whom I bought. I have no rent or tax or excise to pay. I have a cow which gives plenty of milk, a horse to ride around, my pigs increase rapidly, so that in the summer I had seventeen when at first I had only two. I have many chickens and geese, and a garden, and shall next year have an orchard if I remain well, so that my wife and I are in good spirits.”

Bom died before 1689, and his daughter, Agnes, married Anthony Morris, the ancestor of the distinguished family of that name.

The first person to die in the new settlement was Jan Seimens. The first time that fire caused a loss in the village was in 1686. A small church was built that year. It is strange but true, that this was a Quaker meeting house, and also that before 1692 all the original thirteen, except Jan Lensen, had in one way or another been associated with the Quakers.

An event of importance was the arrival of William Rittinghuysen, a Mennonite minister, who with his two sons, Gerhard and Claus, and a daughter, came from Holland. In 1690 he built the first paper mill in America on a branch of the Wissahickon Creek.

On April 18, 1688, Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck Opden Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius and Abraham Opden Graeff sent to the Friends’ Meeting the first public protest ever made on this continent against the holding of slaves. There was then started something which became the greatest question of all time in America.

On January 14, 1690, 2950 acres, north of Germantown, were divided into three districts, called Krishelm, Sommerhausen and Crefeld.

697The village had now become populous enough to warrant a separate existence, and on May 31, 1691, a charter of incorporation was issued to Francis Daniel Pastorius, bailiff, and four burgesses and six committeemen, with power to hold a court and a market, to admit citizens, to impose fines, and to make ordinances.

It was ordered that “on the 19th of one month in each year the people shall be called together and the laws and ordinances read aloud to them.”

The seal was devised by Pastorius and he honored the weavers by selecting a clover, on one of the leaves being a vine, on another a stalk of flax, and on the third a weaver’s spool.

The corporation continued until January 11, 1707. Newcomers were required to pay £1 for the right of citizenship.

On June 28, 1701, a tax was laid for the building of a prison, erection of a market, and other objects for the public good. The prison preceded the school house, but the interval was not long.

December 30, following, “it was found good to start a school here in Germantown.”Germantown.” Pastorius was the first pedagogue.

As early as January 25, 1694, stocks were erected for the punishment of evildoers.

February 10, 1702, three square perches of land were given to the Mennonites for a church, which edifice was built 1708.

Little did the industrious German of that day think, as he tilled the soil, or worked at his trade, that in after years the countrymen of Penn would be fighting the Quakers and others in that very town, that the streets of Germantown would be reddened by English blood, as it was on that eventful day, October 4, 1777.

The government of Germantown lasted fifteen years. Today this old town is one of the most delightful sections of the old city of Philadelphia.