The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the Port of
Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the Port of Philadelphia:
1700-1775
Chapter VII.
It was this action on the part of the Governor Morris that called out
Christopher Saur's second letter, which is also given.
Two months later this staunch and steady friend of
his countrymen, whose wrongs were daily brought under his notice, again wrote
to Governor Morris on this subject, as follows:
"Germantown, Pa., May 12, 1755.
"Honored and Beloved Sir:
"Although I do believe with sincerity, that you have at this time serious
and troublesome business enough, nevertheless, my
confidence in your wisdom makes me to write the following defective lines,
whereby I desire not so much as a farthing of profit for myself.
"When I heard last that the Assembly adjourned, I was desirous to know
what was done concerning the Dutch bill and was told
that your Honor have consented to all points, except that the German
passengers need not have their chests along with them; and
because you was busy with more needful business, it was not ended. I was sorry
for it, and thought, either your Honor has not good
counsellers or you cant think of the consequences, otherwise you could not
insist on this point. Therefore I hope you will not take it amiss to be
informed of the case, and of some of the
consequences, viz.:-The crown of England found it profitable to peopling the
American colonies; and for the encouragement thereof,
the coming and transportation of German Protestants
was indulged, and orders were given to the officers
at the customhouses in the parts of England, not to be sharp with the vessels
of German passengers-knowing that the populating of the British colonies will,
in time become, profit more than the trifles of duty at the customhouses would
import in the present time. This the merchants and
importers experienced.
"They filled the vessels with passengers and as
much of the merchant's goods as they thought fit, and
left the passengers' chests &c behind, and
sometimes they loaded vessels wholly with Palatines' chests. But the poor
people depended upon their chests, wherein was some provision, such as they
were used to, as dried-apples, pears, plums, mustard, medicines, vinegar,
brandy, gammons, butter, clothing, shirts and other
necessary linens, money and whatever they brought
with them; and when their chests were left behind, or
were shipped in some other vessel they had lack of nourishment. When not
sufficient provision was shipped for the passengers, and
they had nothing themselves, they famished and died.
When they arrived
Caption: Clock of the Provincial, Period. alive, they had no money to
buy bread, nor anything to sell. If they would spare clothes, they had no
clothes nor shirt to strip themselves, nor were they able to cleanse
themselves of lice and nastiness. If they were taken
into houses, trusting on their effects and money,
when it comes, it was either left behind, or robbed and
plundered by the sailors behind or in the vessels. If such a vessel arrived
before them, it was searched by the merchants' boys, &c., and
their best effects all taken out, and no remedy for
it, and this last mentioned practice, that people's
chests are opened and their best effects taken out,
is not only a practice this twenty five, twenty, ten or five years, or
sometime only; but it is the common custom and daily
complaints to the week last past; when a pious man, living with me, had his
chest broken open and three fine shirts and
a flute taken out. The lock was broken to pieces and
the lid of the chest split with iron and chisels.
Such, my dear Sir, is the case, and if your honor
will countenance the mentioned practices, the consequences will be, that the
vessels with passengers will be filled with merchant's goods, wine, &c.,
as much as possible, and at the King's custom they
will call it passengers' drink, and necessaries for
the people, then household goods, &c., which will be called free of duty. And
if they please to load the vessels only with chests of passengers and
what lies under them, that will be called also free of duty at the
customhouses; and as there are no owners of the
chests with them, and no bill of loading is ever
given, nor will be given, the chests will be freely opened and
plundered by the sailors and others, and
what is left will be searched in the stores by the merchants' boys and
their friends and acquaintances. Thus, by the
consequence, the King will be cheated, and the
smugglers and store boys will be glad of your
upholding and encouraging this, their profitable
business; but the poor sufferers will sigh or carry a revenge in their bosoms,
according as they are godly or ungodly, that such thievery and
robbery is maintained.
"If such a merchant should lose thirty, forty, fifty or ten thousand
pounds, he may have some yet to spend and to spare, and
has friends, but if a poor man's chest is left behind, or plundered either at
sea or in the stores he has lost all he has. If a rich man's store, or house,
or chest is broken open and robbed or plundered there
is abundance of noise about it; but if 1,000 poor men's property is taken from
them, in the manner mentioned, there is not a word to be said.
"If I were ordered to print advertisements of people who lost their
chests, by leaving them behind against their will, or whose chests were opened
and plundered at sea, when they were sent after them
in other vessels, or whose were opened and plundered
in the stores of Philadelphia-should come and receive
their value for it, (not four fold) but only single or half; your honor would
be wondering of a swarm from more than two or three thousand people. But as
such is not to be expected, it must be referred to the decision of the great,
great, long, long day, where certainly an impartial judgment will be seen, and
the last farthing must be paid, whereas in this present time, such poor
sufferers has, and will have no better answer than is
commonly given: `Can you prove who has opened and
stolen out of your chest?' or `Have you a bill of loading?' this has been the
practice by some of the merchants of Philadelphia, and
if it must continue longer, the Lord our God must compare that city to her
sister Sodom, as he said: `Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom: pride,
fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in
her. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy (Ezekiel, 16:40) but rather weakened the hand of the poor and
needy' (18:2)."
* * * * * * * * *
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the Port of Philadelphia:
1700-1775
Chapter VII.
In a postscript, as if he could not write too often or too forcibly of the
wrongs of these poor people, he adds, conveying a threat:
"The Lord bless our good King and all his
faithful ministers, and your Honor, and
protect the city of Philadelphia and country from all
incursions and attempts of enemies. But if you should
insist against a remedy for the poor Germans' grievances-although no remedy is
to be had for that which is past-and an attempt of
enemies should ensue before the city of Philadelphia, you will certainly find
the Germans faithful to the English nation; as you might have seen how
industrious they are to serve the King and
government, for the protection of their substance, life and
liberties. But, as there are many and many thousands
who have suffered injustice of their merchants at Philadelphia, it would not
be prudent to call on them all for assistance, as there are certainly many
wicked among the Germans; which, if they should find themselves overpowered by
the French, I would not be bound for their behaviour, that they would not make
reprisals on them that picked their chests and forced
them to pay what they owed not! and hindered yet the
remedy for others. No! if they were all Englishmen who suffered so much, I
would much less be bound for their good behaviour.
"Pray sir do not look upon this as a trifle; for there are many Germans,
who have been wealthy people are many Germans, who have lost sixty, eighty,
one, two, three, four hundred to a thousand pounds' worth, by leaving their
chests behind, or were deprived and robbed in the
stores, of their substance, and are obliged now to
live poor, with grief. If you do scruple the truth of this assertion, let them
be called in the newspaper, with hopes for remedies, and
your Honor will believe me; but if the Dutch (German) nation should hear that
no regard is for them, and no justice to be obtained,
it will be utterly in vain to offer them free schools-especially as they are
to be regulated and inspected by one who is not
respected in all this Province.
"I hope your Honor will pardon my scribbling; as it has no other aim than
a needful redressing of the multitude of grievances of the poor people, and
for the preserving of their lives and property, and
that the Germans may be adhered to the friendship of the English nation, and
for securing the honor of your Excellency, and not
for a farthing for your humble servant.
"Christopher Saur,
"Printer of Germantown."
It will be noted that both the Assembly and Saur
averred that some of the members of the Governor's Council were engaged in
this most disreputable business, and it may be that
the influence of these interested persons was at the bottom of his rejection
of the measures proposed to remedy these evils. On the day following the
delivery of the message of the House to the Governor, the latter replied with
equal acerbity. He briefly gives his reasons for his action in the matter, but
they are lame and unsatisfactory, strengthening the
belief that he was trying to take care of his friends.
It is said of the elder Christopher Saur that "on learning from time to
time that a vessel containing passengers had arrived in Philadelphia from
Germany, he and his neighbors gathered vehicles and
hastened to the landing place, whence those of the newcomers who were ill,
were taken to his house, which for the time being was turned into a hospital, and
there they were treated medically, nursed and
supported by him until they became convalescent and
able to earn their own living."
148
Caption: An Old Germantown Landmark.
Caption: Old Robert's Mill, Near Germantown.
Chapter VIII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the Port of
Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VIII.
The Mortality that Sometimes came upon the Immigrants on
Ship-board.-Organization of the German Society of Pennsylvania, and
its excellent Work.- Lands assigned to Redemptioners at the End of their
Terms of Service, on easy Terms. "Er ward in engen Koje Kalt, Kam nie
zurck zum Port. Man hat ihn auf ein Brett geschnallt, Und warf ihn ber
Bord." "Dem bieten grane Eltern noch Zum letztenmal die Hand; Den
Koser Bruder, Schwester, Freund: Und alles schweigt, und alles weint,
Todtbloss von uns gewandt."
In a general way, the mortality among the immigrants resulting from the
crowded condition of the ships, the bad character of the provisions and
water and frequently from the scant supply of the
same, the length of the voyage and other causes,
has already
Caption: Arms of the Palatinate.
149 been alluded to. But it is
only when we come down to an actual presentation of the records that have
reached our day, that we get a correct idea of the appalling character of
the death rate upon which the German settlements in Pennsylvania were built.
Doubtless something beyond the ordinary was seen in the migration from
Europe to other portions of the American continent, but as that migration
was more circumscribed in its numbers and the
rapidity of its inflow, so also was the death rate attending it on a minor
scale. It is surprising that the reality, as it became known in the
Fatherland, did not hold back the multitudes anxious to come over. Perhaps
the ebb and flow, as we now know it, greater in
some years, and then again greatly diminished in
others, may be accounted for by the fears that came upon the intending
immigrants as letters from friends gradually drifted back to the old home.
Some of them must have been of a character to daunt the courage of even the
stout-hearted dwellers along the Rhine. We only know that these people
continued to pour into the province for more than a century in spite of all
the drawbacks that were presenting themselves during all that time.
Although the first large colony of German immigrants to cross the ocean, and
that suffered excessive losses on the voyage, did not come to Pennsylvania,
it nevertheless deserves special mention here, because it was the largest
single body of colonists that ever reached America, and
because many of its members eventually found their way into the valleys of
the Swatara and Tulpeh ocken. It was the colony
sent to the State of New York at the request of Governor Hunter, who
happened to be in England when the great German Exodus to London occurred,
in 1709. Even the members of this early colony were redemptioners, in fact
if not in name. They contracted to repay the British government the expenses
incurred in sending them over. They were called "Servants to the
Crown." After they had discharged their obligations, they were to
receive five pounds each and every family forty
acres of land.
Three thousand and more of these people were
embarked in midwinter for New York. The exact date is unknown. It was
probably some time during the month of January, 1710. The diarist Luttrell
says, under date of December 28, 1709, "Colonel Hunter designs, next
week to embark for his government at New York, and
most of the Palatines remaining here goe with him to people that
colony." Conrad Weiser, who was among them, wrote at a late period of
his life that "About Christmas-day (1709) we embarked, and
ten ship loads with about 4,000 souls were sent to America." Weiser was
a lad of thirteen years at the time, and wrote from
recollection many years after. As he was wrong in the number who set sail,
so he no doubt was as to the time of embarcation. These 3,000 persons of
both sexes and all ages were crowded into ten
ships. No official register of them is known. The vessels were small and
as about 300 persons were crowded into each one, the voyage was a dreary
one. By the middle of June seven of the ships had made land; the latest did
not arrive until near the close of July-a five months' voyage, and
one, the Herbert, did not come at all, having been cast ashore on Long
Island and lost. The deaths during the voyage were
"above 470," writes Governor Hunter, but other authorities place
them at a far higher
Caption: Seal of Germantown. number. Conrad Weiser, in his old age and
without actual data for his estimate, places the loss at 1,700, which is
much too high. The best authorities place the number at 859, showing a
mortality of more than 25 per cent. Boehme states that "Of some
families neither parents nor children survive." Eighty are said to have
died on a single ship, with most of the living ill. It deserves also to be
stated that the children of these maltreated immigrants were by order of
Governor Hunter apprenticed among the colonists, which act was bitterly
resented by the parents. It was one of the first of the long series of
wrongs that befell them. It was no doubt the sorrowful experience of these
ten ship-loads of Germans that thereafter turned all the immigrants towards
Pennsylvania. But one more ship with Palatines went to New York, and
that was in 1772. It is even possible this ship was carried out of its
course and made port at New York instead of
Philadelphia.
Christopher Saur in his first letter to Governor Morris asserts that in a
single year two thousand German immigrants found ocean burial while on their
way to Pennsylvania.
Caspar Wistar wrote in 1732: "Last year a ship was twenty-four weeks at
sea, and of the 150 passengers on board thereof,
more than 100 died of hunger and privation, and
the survivors were imprisoned and compelled to pay
the entire passage-money for themselves and the
deceased. In this year 10 ships arrived in Philadelphia with 5,000
passengers. One ship was seventeen weeks at sea and
about 60 passengers thereof died."
Christopher Saur in 1758 estimated that 2,000 of the passengers on the
fifteen ships that arrived that year, died during the voyage.
Johann Heinrich Keppele, who afterwards became the first president of the
German Society of Pennsylvania, says in his diary that of the 312«
passengers on board the ship in which he came over, 250 died during the
voyage.
But it must not be supposed that all ships carrying immigrants encountered
the appalling losses we have mentioned. In 1748 I find this in Saur's paper:
"Seven ships loaded with German immigrants left Rotterdam; of these
three have arrived in Philadelphia, making the passage from port to port in
31 days, all fresh and well so far as we know. They
were also humanely treated on the voyage."
A ship that left Europe in December, 1738, with 400 Palatines, was wrecked
on the coast of Block Island. All save 105 had previously died and
fifteen of those who landed also died after landing, making a loss of
seventy-seven per cent.
A vessel that reached the port of Philadelphia in 1745, landed only 50
survivors out of a total of 400 souls that had sailed away from Europe. In
this case starvation was the principal cause of the appalling mortality.
In 1754, the sexton of the Stranger's Burying Ground in Philadelphia,
testified under oath that he had buried 253 Palatines up to November 14th,
to which "six or eight more
Caption: An Old Tar Bucket, Such as was Always Carried by the
Conestoga Wagons. should be added." It seems the diseases contracted
on ship-board followed them long after they reached Philadelphia.
150
In February, 1745, Saur said in his newspaper: "Another ship arrived
in Philadelphia with Germans. It is said she left port with 400 souls and
that there are now not many more than 50 left alive."
"On the 26th of December, 1738, a ship of three hundred tons was
wrecked on Block Island, near the coast of the State of Rhode Island. This
ship sailed from Rotterdam in August, 1738, last from Cowes, England. John
Wanton, the Governor of Rhode Island, sent Mr. Peter Bouse, and
others, from Newport, to Block Island, to see how matters were. On the
19th of January, 1739, they returned to Newport, R. I., reporting that the
ship was commanded by Capt. Geo. Long, that he died on the inward passage,
and that the mate then took charge of the ship
which had sailed from Rotterdam with 400 Palatines, destined for
Philadelphia, that an exceedingly malignant fever and
flux had prevailed among them, only 105 landing at Block Island, and
that by death the number had been further reduced to 90. The chief reason
alleged for this great mortality was the bad condition of the water taken
in at Rotterdam. It was filled in casks that before had contained white and
red wine. The greater part of the goods of the Palatines was lost."
151
It may be stated in this connection that the ship Welcome, on which Penn
came over in the fall of 1683, was of 300 tons. The small-pox broke out on
board and proved fatal to nearly one-third of
those on board.
152
Chapter VIII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the
Port of Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VIII.
Formation of the German Society.
Despite all the efforts made by private individuals, and
the various enactments of the Provincial Assembly, effectual and
permanent relief was not destined to come in that way. It was not until a
united, influential and determined body of men
formed themselves into a corporation and set to
work at the task before them with a will, that the dawn at last began to
break. It was on Christmas day in 1764 that a number of the most
influential German residents in Philadelphia met in the Lutheran School
House, on Cherry street and organized the
"German Society of Pennsylvania." It was legally incorporated on
September 20, 1787, but it did not wait for that legal recognition to
begin its work. Its first president was Johann Heinrich Keppele, an
opulent and influential merchant of Philadelphia.
His efficiency in conducting the affairs of the Society was so clearly
recognized that he was annually re‰lected to the Presidency for a period
of seventeen years.
Caption: German Immigration Into Pennsylvania. Henry Reffele
No time was lost in beginning the work mapped out, to do away with the
manifold abuses that attended the immigration of Germans, to succor the
sick and to lend substantial aid to the needy and
deserving. The Assembly was at once taken in hand and
certain reforms demanded. The matter came up before that body on January
11, 1765, and an act in nine sections, prepared
by the Society, was laid before it, in which the rights of immigrants were
provided for while on the sea, and safeguarded
after their
Caption: Seal of the German Society of Pennsylvania. landing.
Objections were at once made by prominent merchants who had previously
driven a very profitable trade in Redemptioners, and
who saw in the passage of the proposed act an end to their iniquitous but
profitable traffic; but it was enacted into a law despite their protests.
Governor John Penn, however, refused to sign the act because it was
presented to him on the last day of the session. It has been suspected
that his principal reason was that he was unwilling to give offense to his
many influential English friends whose revenues it was certain would be
interfered with.
But the German Society meant business and was
not to be turned down by a single rebuff, from whatever source. During
the following summer another bill was brought forward, modifying the
former one in some particulars. This one was also passed and
this time the Governor's signature was added, May 18, 1765. All
immigrants who had complaints to make were invited to present them to
the Society, which in turn became the champion of these oppressed
people. In 1785 it succeeded in procuring legislation providing for the
establishment of a Bureau of Registration, and
the appointment of an official who could speak both the German and
English languages. Previously the newcomers had been haled before the
Mayors of the city, to take the necessary oaths; yet Seidensticker tells
us that from 1700 to 1800 there were only two Mayors of Philadelphia who
could speak the German. language. For a time, this active and
unceasing energy put an end to the most serious complaints, but later
they again came to the front, and in 1818 still
another act, and a more strict and
exacting one, was passed, after which these long-continued wrongs
finally disappeared.
The Society was of much assistance in a financial way to the needy
immigrants, aiding thousands to better their condition, and
on the whole did an untold amount of good. It solicited outside
contributions but most of the money expended was contributed by the
members themselves. It supplied bread, meat and
other good and fresh food to the needy ones,
but sometimes the need was even greater than the Society's means would
allow. It sent the sick to special houses and
appealed to the authorities whenever an injustice was brought to its
notice. But the Society frequently had its own troubles with those whom
it tried to succor. Its generous deeds sometimes failed to satisfy the
wishes and expectations of the newcomers. They
looked for more. They expected that the Society would also clear the
rough land for them and hand it over to them
according to the terms of their contracts with the Newlanders, which was
of course an impossibility. Some also insisted that the Society should
buy their time, clothe and keep all the old,
poor, infirm and sick, and
give them a decent burial when dead.
153
Caption: An Old Map of the Palatinate. Map of the Palatinate in
1690.
Able men presided over the destinies of the Society. The elder
Muhlenberg took a warm interest in it and had
advised its organization in the Hallische Nachrichten. Two of his sons
were among its presidents; General Peter Muhlenberg in 1788 and
also from 1801 to 1807 and his brother
Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg from 1789 to 1797, at the same time that
he was serving as Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. The
Society has continued its good work down to our own time. It has not
only a fine Society Hall, but an excellent library and
a very considerable endowment.
Friedrich Kapp gives a single example out of the hundreds of cases in
which the German Society interfered in the interests of persons and
families and saw justice done them. It is the
case of one George Martin, who, for himself, his wife and
five children, two of whom were under five years of age and
who under the regular custom should be counted as one full freight,
contracted with the captain of the ship Minerva to be carried to
Pennsylvania for the sum of £9 per head, or £54 for all charges. He
advanced forty guilders in Rotterdam, or about $16.66. Martin died on
the passage across the ocean. When the rest of the family reached
Philadelphia, the three eldest sons were each sold by the captain to
five years' service for £30, or £90 in all; the remaining two children
under five years of age were disposed of for £10 for the two, in all £100
to pay the £58 agreed upon in the contract. But that was not all; the
forty-six-year-old widow was also sold to five years of servitude for £22.
The Society secured the widow's release, but she made no objection to
the children paying the passage money in the manner indicated.
154
At the present hour steamship companies are doing just what the
individual ship owners did one hundred and
fifty years ago. They have their regular agents in Italy, Austria,
Germany and Poland, who are painting the old
pictures over again, holding up the old attractions and,
often in ways far from reputable, securing emigrants to fill their
coffers. In this way we can easily account for the 500,000 persons who
have come to this country during the present year. Before the Chinese
exclusion law was passed, thousands of those people were brought here by
syndicates and their services sold to those who
would have them. The Padrone system which prevails among the Italian
immigrants of the poorer classes is also little else than a revival of
the old-time methods that prevailed in the goodly Province of
Pennsylvania during the period under consideration. As practiced now it
is shorn of its worst features by the humanity of the times, but the
underlying principles are not widely different.
Chapter VIII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the
Port of Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VIII.
Land Provided for Redemptioners.
At some time, and somewhere, either by written
page or verbal declaration, it was decreed that bond servants should
receive at the expiration of their term of service, fifty acres of land
from the Proprietary Government at the exceedingly low annual quit rent
of two shillings, or about one cent per acre. Nothing in the various
regulations and laws prescribed for the
government of the Province was more generous and
wise than that. It was designed to give the newly freed man an
opportunity with every other immigrant to get a good start in life. It
cast behind what the man had previously been and
recognized him as a free man, entitled to all the rights and
privileges of full citizenship. His quit rent was to be only one-half
that which his former master was required to pay. In short, the fullest
opportunity was given him to repair his fortunes if his industry and
thrift so inclined him.
But all my researches to trace the origin of this practice of bestowing
these fifty acres of land upon bond servants, have been unavailing.
There are many allusions to it scattered throughout the laws regulating
the affairs of the Province, as well as among more recent writers, but
it is always alluded to as an already existing law. The original decree
or place of record is nowhere revealed. For instance,
Caption: Gourd for Seine Float. in Penn's "Conditions and
Concessions" the seventh section reads as follows: "That for
every Fifty Acres that shall be allotted to a Servant at the End of his
Service, his Quitrent shall be Two Shillings per Annum, and
the Master or Owner of the Servant, when he shall take up the other
Fifty Acres, his Quitrent shall be Four Shillings by the Year, or if the
Master of the Servant (by reason in the Indentures he is so obliged to
do) allot out to the Servant Fifty Acres in his own Division, the said
Master shall have on Demand allotted to him from the Governor, the One
Hundred Acres at the chief Rent of Six Shillings per Annum."
155 Grahame makes an
emphatic declaration about such a law in a paragraph discussing this
very article in the "Conditions and
Concessions."
156
Benjamin Furley, the English Quaker and a
life-long friend of Penn, whose principal agent he was for the sale of
lands in the newly acquired Province, in a letter to a friend sets
forth under date of March 6, 1684, certain explanations concerning the
conditions granted to settlers. Among other things he has a paragraph
relative to
Chapter VIII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the
Port of Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VIII.
Renters.
"To those who have enough money to pay the expense of their
passage as well for themselves as for their wives, children, and
servants, but upon their arrival have no more money with which to buy
lands, the Governor gives full liberty for themselves, their wives,
children and servants who are not under the
age of sixteen years, whether male or female, each to take fifty acres
at an annual rent in perpetuity of an English dernier for each acre,
which is less than a Dutch sol. It will be rented to them and
to their children in perpetuity the same as if they had bought the
said land. For the children and servants
after the term of their service will have expired, in order to
encourage them to serve faithfully their fathers and
masters, the Governor gives them full liberty for themselves and
their heirs in perpetuity, to take for each 50 acres, paying only a
little annual rent of two English shillings (Escalins) for 50 acres,
which is less than a farthing for each acre. And
they and their fathers and
masters will be regarded as true citizens. They will have the right of
suffrage not only for the election of Magistrates of the place where
they live but also for that of the members of the Council of the
Province and the General Assembly, which two
bodies joined with the Governor are the Sovereignty, and
what is much more they may be chosen to exercise some office, if the
community of the place where they live considers them capable of it,
no matter what their nationality or religion."
157
It will be seen from the foregoing that these 50 acres of land which
were allotted to Redemptioners at the conclusion of their term of
service, were not an absolute gift or donation by the Proprietors, as
so many writers seem to think, but were rented to them on more
reasonable terms than to their masters. I have nowhere found whether
other equally favorable concessions were made when the Redemptioner
purchased his 50 acres outright or when he after a while preferred
exclusive ownership in preference to the payment of quit-rent.
Doubtless, in the latter case, he came in on the same footing as any
other original purchaser. A recent history ventures upon the following
explanation: "The land secured by settlers and
servants who had worked out their term of years, was granted in fee
under favor which came directly or indirectly from the crown."
158 To the average reader
that must appear like an explanation that does not explain, and
is incorrect in addition. The regulation did not convey an absolute
title to land. It was granted under a reservation and
not in fee simple. Every student knows that all the laws passed in the
Province were subject to revision by the crown, and
therefore whatever law or custom, to be legal, must have received the
royal assent. What is much more to the point is when and
where that concession to indentured servants was first proclaimed and
put upon record. It seems unreasonable that there was no legal
authorization of the practice.
Chapter VIII.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though the
Port of Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter VIII.
Addend a.
Long after the foregoing remarks and
speculations concerning the time and place
where the custom of allowing indentured servitors to take up 50 acres
of land at a nominal quit-rent had been written, and
after the chapter in which they appear had been printed, I had the
good fortune to find the authorization that had so long eluded my
search.
On March 4, 1681, King Charles signed the document which gave to
William Penn the Province of Pennsylvania. Very soon thereafter Penn
wrote an account of his new possessions from the best information he
then had. It was printed in a folio pamphlet of ten pages, entitled:
"Some ACCOUNT of the Province of Pennsilvania in AMERICA;
Lately Granted under the Great Seal of ENGLAND to William Penn, Etc.
Together with Priviledges and Powers
necessary to the well-governing thereof. Made publick for the
Information of such as are or may be disposed to Transport
themselves or Servants into those Parts. London: Printed, and
Sold by Benjamin Clark Bookseller in George-Yard Lombard-Street,
1681." The title of the tract in fac-simile will be found on
page 272.
In this scarce and valuable little tract
Penn sets forth the "Conditions" under which he was
disposed to colonize his new Province. Condition No. III. reads as
follows:
Caption: LONDON: Printed, and Sold
by Benjamin Clark Bookfeller in George-Yard Lombard-flrect, 1681,
Penn's First Pamphlet on His American Possessions.
"My conditions will relate to three sorts of people: 1st. Those
that will buy: 2dly. Those that take up land upon rent: 3dly.
Servants. To the first, the shares I sell shall be certain as to
number of acres; that is to say, every one shall contain five
thousand acres, free from any Indian incumbrance, the price a
hundred pounds and for the quit-rent but
one English shilling or the value of it yearly for a hundred acres; and
the said quit-rent not to begin to be paid till 1684. To the second
sort, that take up land upon rent, they shall have liberty so to do
paying yearly one penny per acre, not exceeding two hundred
acres.-To the third sort, to wit, servants that are carried over,
fifty acres shall be allowed to the master for every head, And
Fifty Acres To Every Servant When Their Time is Expired. And
because some engaged with me that may not be disposed to go, it were
very advisable for every three adventurers to send an overseer with
their servants, which would well pay the cost."
Caption: Coat-of-Arms of George Ross, Signer of the
Declaration of Independence, from Lancaster, Pa.
Caption: The old Market Square at Germantown.
Chapter IX.
The German Immigration into Pennsylvania though
the Port of Philadelphia: 1700-1775
Chapter IX.
The Traffic in Redemptioners as Carried on in the Neighboring
Colonies-Men Kidnapped in the Streets of London and
Deported-Prisoners of War sent to America and
sold into Bondage in Cromwell's Time. "God's blessing on the
Fatherland, And all beneath her dome; And
also on the newer land We now have made our home." "Ein
dichter Kreis von Lieben steht, Ihr Brder, um uns her; Uns Knpft
so manches theuere Band An unser deutsches Vaterland, Drum f„llt
der Abschied schwer."
Caption: Old-Time Wooden Lantern.
While my discussion of this question has special reference to the
Province of Pennsylvania, the trade had so ramified into the
neighboring regions to the south of us, that a brief glance at what
prevailed there will assist us in understanding the situation at our
own doors. In fact we may be said to have taken it from them,
because it prevailed there many years before it developed in
Pennsylvania. It prevailed in Virginia from an early period, and
when Lord Baltimore established his government in his new Province
of Maryland, he was prompt to recognize the same system in order to
more rapidly secure colonists. In the beginning the term of service
there was fixed at five years. In 1638 the Maryland Assembly passed
an act reducing it to four years, which remained in force until
1715, when it was amended by fixing the period of service for
servants above the age of twenty-five years, at five years; those
between the age of eighteen and twenty-five
years, at six years; those between fifteen and
eighteen at seven years, while all below fifteen years were
compelled to remain with their masters until they reached the age of
twenty-two years.
159
Servants in Maryland were from the first placed under the protection
of the law, which no doubt threw many safeguards around them,
preventing impositions in many cases, and
securing them justice from hard and inhuman
masters. Either by law or by custom the practice grew up of
rewarding these servants at the expiration of their time of service,
as we find in 1637 one of these servants entitled to "one cap
or hat, one new cloth or frieze suit, one shirt, one pair of shoes and
stockings, one axe, one broad and one
narrow hoe, fifty acres of land and three
barrels of corn" out of the estate of his deceased master.
160 There, as in
Pennsylvania, the way to preferment was open to man and
master alike. There as here many of these Redemptioners became in
time prosperous, prominent people. No stigma was attached to this
temporary servitude, and intermarriages
between masters and their female servants
were not infrequent, nor between servants and
members of the master's household. But these people could not select
their masters. They were compelled to serve those who paid the sums
due the ship captain or ship owner. Indeed their lot was often
during its duration actually harder than that of the negro slaves,
for it was to the owner's interests to take care of his slaves, who
were his all their lives, while the indentured servants remained
with him for a few years only. There were consequently as many
complaints there as in Pennsylvania.
We must not lose sight of the fact, however, that for many years
these Redemptioners were almost exclusively of English and
Irish birth. It was not so easy to deal with them as with
foreigners. They sent their complaints to England, and
measures were taken there to prevent the abuses complained of. The
press even took up the refrain and the
letters sent home appeared in the newspapers, accompanied by
warnings against entering into these contracts. It was not until the
institution was in full career in Penn's province that it began
there. The first Germans who reached Maryland in considerable
numbers were such as migrated out of Pennsylvania. Lancaster county
lay on the Maryland border, and the
migrating instinct soon took them to Baltimore, Harford, Frederick and
the western counties. As these people made themselves homes and
became prosperous, they needed labor for their fields and
naturally enough preferred their own countrymen. The
Caption: German Immigration Into Pennsylvania. John Cr??
Newlanders, however, were just as willing to send their ship-loads
of human freight to Baltimore as to Philadelphia, and
it was not long before ships began to arrive in the former port even
as they were doing at the latter.
While Pennsylvania, in 1765, at the instigation of the German
Society newly formed in the State, passed laws for the protection of
these immigrants, nothing of the kind was done in Maryland until a
long time afterwards. The Maryland newspapers of the period teem
with notices of the arrivals of immigrant ships and
offerings for sale of the passengers, just as did those of
Philadelphia. Here are a few examples:
From the Baltimore American, February 8, 1817-
"GERMAN Redemptioners.
"The Dutch ship Jungfrau Johanna, Capt. H. H. Bleeker, has
arrived off Annapolis, from Amsterdam with a number of passengers,
principally farmers and mechanics of all
sorts, and several fine young boys and
girls, whose time will be disposed of. Mr. Bolte, ship broker of
Baltimore, will attend on board at Annapolis, to whom those who
wish to supply themselves with good servants, will please apply;
also to Capt. Bleeker on board."
Two weeks later this appeared in the same paper:
"That a few entire families are still on board the Johanna to
be hired."
Here is another:
"For Sale or Hire.
"A German Redemptioner, for the term of two years. He is a
stout, healthy man, and well acquainted
with farming, wagon driving and the
management of horses. For further particulars apply to
"C. R. Green, Auctioneer."
Caption: Shipmaster's Advertisement of Redemptioners.
On April 11th we have this:
"GERMAN REDEMPTIONER-$30 REWARD.
"Absconded from the Subscriber on Sunday, the 5th inst., a
German Redemptioner, who arrived here in November last, by name
Maurice Schumacher, about 30 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches, well
proportioned, good countenance, but rather pale in complexion,
short hair, has a very genteel suit of clothes, by trade a
cabinet maker, but has been employed by me in the making of
brushes. He is a good German scholar, understands French and
Latin, an excellent workman, speaks English imperfectly. $30
Reward if lodged in jail.
"Jos. M. Stapleton,
"Brush Maker,
"139 Baltimore Street."
On March 3d a reward is offered for the capture of a German
Redemptioner, a tailor who took French leave from Washington.
On March 11th a reward of $30 is offered for the capture of a
German Redemptioner, a bricklayer.
As late as April 7th of the same year, 1817, I find our old
friend, the Johanna, which, arriving on February 8th, had not
yet disposed of her living cargo, as the following advertisement
shows:
"German Redemptioners.
"The Dutch ship Johanna, Captain H. H. Bleeker, has arrived
before this City, and lies now in the
cove of Wiegman's Wharf; there are on board, desirous of
Caption: The Price of a "Dutch Boye." binding
themselves, for their passage, the following single men: Two
capital blacksmiths, a rope maker, a carrier, a smart
apothecary, a tailor, a good man to cook, several young men as
waiters, etc. Among those with families are gardeners, weavers,
a stonemason, a miller, a baker, a sugar baker, farmers and
other professions, etc."