Part 14

=Germantown Settlement.=--On March 4, 1681, a royal charter was issued to William Penn for the province of Pennsylvania, and on March 10, 1682, Penn conveyed to Jacob Telner, of Crefeld, Germany, doing business as a merchant in Amsterdam; Jan Streypers, a merchant of Kaldkirchen, a village in the vicinity of Holland, and Dirck Sipmann, of Crefeld, each 5,000 acres of land, to be laid out in Pennsylvania. On June 11, 1683, Penn conveyed to Gavert Remke, Lenard Arets and Jacob Isaac Van Bebber, a baker, all of Crefeld, 1,000 acres of land each, and they, together with Telner, Streypers and Sipmann, constituted the original Crefeld purchasers.

The present generation is indebted to former Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D., of Pennsylvania, at one time presiding judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and senior vice president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for important information on the settlement of Germantown, and directly to his book, “The Settlement of Germantown, Pa., and the Beginning of German Emigration to North America,” a valuable historical compilation, now out of print. “The settlement of Germantown, in 1683,” he writes, “was the initial step in the great movement of people from the regions bordering on the historic and beautiful Rhine, extending from its source in the mountains of Switzerland to its mouth in the lowlands of Holland, which has done so much to give Pennsylvania her rapid growth as a colony, her almost unexampled prosperity, and her foremost rank in the development of the institutions of the country.”

From the pages of his book we learn that the “Concord,” which bore the Germantown settlers to our shores, was a vessel of 500 tons, William Jeffries, master. She sailed July 24, 1683, from Gravesend, with the following passengers and their families:

Lenard Arets, Abraham Op den Graeff, Dirck Op den Graeff, Hermann Op den Graeff, William Streypers, Thonas Kunders, Reynier Tyson, Jan Seimens, Jan Lensen, Peter Keurlis, Johannes Bleikers, Jan Lucken and Abraham Tunes, all Low Germans. The date of her arrival was October 6, 1683.

The three Op den Graeffs were brothers. Herman was a son-in-law of Van Bebber; they were accompanied by their sister Margaretha, and their mother, and they were cousins of Jan and William Streypers, who were also brothers. The wives of Thonas Kunders and Lenard Arets were sisters of the Streypers, and the wife of Jan was the sister of Reynier Tyson (Theissen). Peter Keurlis was also a relative, and the location of the signatures of Jan Lucken and Abraham Tunes on the certificate of the marriage of the son of Thonas Kunders with a daughter of William Streypers in 1700 indicates that they, too, were connected with the group by family ties. “It is now ascertained definitely,” writes Governor Pennypacker, “that eleven of these thirteen emigrants were from Crefeld, and the presumption that their two companions, Jan Lucken and Abraham Tunes, came from the same city is consequently strong. This presumption is increased by the indication of relationship and the fact that the wife of Jan Seimens was Mercken Williamsen Lucken.”

Pastorius had sailed six weeks earlier and had arrived in Philadelphia August 20, 1683. Governor Pennypacker has traced with remarkable minuteness the movements of the first concrete German settlement, and his invaluable work should not be allowed to slumber in a few surviving copies, now selling as high as $50 as literary curiosities, on the shelves of a few large libraries, but should be reprinted and made accessible to a larger reading public. The influence of this settlement in later generations is discussed elsewhere. (See under “Pastorius.”) The history of the “Concord” is given in Seidensticker’s “Bilder aus der Deutsch-Pennsylvanischen Geschichte” and valuable information is contained in “The German Element in the United States,” by Albert B. Faust, (Houghton Mifflin Company), who has done more than any other American author to gather the scattered records of German immigration, culture and influence and to present them within the convenient compass of two volumes.

Illustration: THONAS KUNDERS’ HOUSE, 5109 Main Street, Germantown, Pa.

Thonas Kunders’ house, 5109 Main street, Germantown, is the only house of the original settlers that can be accurately located. Thonas Kunders was a dyer by trade. His death occurred in the fall of 1729. He was the ancestor of the Conard and Conrad families. Among his descendants is included Sir Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard line of steamships. Here the first meeting of the Society of Friends in Germantown was held, and it was from the members of this little meeting that a public protest against slavery was issued early in 1688. Following is a summary of Germantown events:

1683--August 16--Pastorius reaches Philadelphia. 1683--October 6--Thirteen families from Crefeld reach Philadelphia and settle Germantown. 1688--First protest against slavery issued here. 1690--First paper mill in America established here. 1705--First portrait in oil painted in America, made in Germantown by Dr. Christopher Witt. 1708--First Mennonite meeting house in America built in Germantown. 1719--February 17--Death of Pastorius. 1732--April 8--David Rittenhouse born at Germantown. 1743--First Bible in America in a foreign tongue printed in Germantown by Christopher Sauer. 1760--Germantown Academy founded. 1764--Sauer begins publication of first religious magazine in America. 1770--First American book on pedagogy published. 1772-73--First type ever cast in America made in Germantown.

--(“Guidebook to Historic Germantown.”)

=Why Germany Strengthened Her Army, Told by Asquith.=--(From a London dispatch by Marconi wireless to the New York “Times” under date of January 1, 1914): “The ‘Daily Chronicle’ this morning publishes the conversation with the Chancellor’s consent.... Another reason which the Chancellor (Asquith) gave was that the continental nations were directing their energies more and more to strengthening their land forces. =‘The German army,’ he said, ‘was vital to the very life and independence of the nation itself, surrounded as Germany was by nations each of which possessed armies almost as powerful as her own.... Hence Germany was spending huge sums of money on the expansion of her military resources.’=”

=Hagner, Peter.=--First to hold the position of Third Auditor of the U. S. Treasury upon the creation of that office in 1817 under President Monroe. Served the government 57 years and died at Washington, July 16, 1849, aged seventy-seven. Born in Philadelphia, October 1, 1772.

=Hartford Convention, The.=--In no section of the country was there louder acclaim of President Wilson’s public insinuations of disloyalty against German Americans than in New England. The Boston papers particularly distinguished themselves in applauding this unwarranted sentiment. And it came with particularly bad grace from this section, which long antedated the South in measures designed to embarrass and disrupt the Union. During the War of 1812 the New England banks sought to cripple the federal government in securing the necessary money to prosecute the war against England, and late in 1814 the legislature of Massachusetts called a convention of the New England states to meet at Hartford in December of that year. The sessions were secret and while the discussion was never published they were commonly held to be treasonable and intended to destroy the Union. The Convention recognized the principle of secession by proclaiming that “a severence of the Union by one or more states, against the will of the rest and especially in the time of war, can be justified only by absolute necessity.” The Convention made demands, the apparent intention of which was “to force these demands upon an unwilling administration while it was hampered by a foreign war, or in case of refusal to make such refusal a pretext for dismembering the Union.... An additional object of the Convention was to hamper and cripple the administration to the last degree, and at a moment when the country was overrun by a foreign foe, to overthrow the party in power, or to break up the Union. The men of this Convention were among the leading Federalists of the country, and with all their good qualities it is evident that their patriotism was shallow.” (“History of the United States” by Henry William Elson, Ph. D., Litt. D., The MacMillan Company, p. 446-447.) The work of the Convention came to naught. Peace put a stop to its intended mischief.

=Hempel.=--German American inventor of the much patented iron “quoin,” used to lock type in the form, and in common use by printers.

=New York Herald Urges Hanging of German Americans.=--The New York “Herald,” owned and directed by James Gordon Bennett, since deceased; who for thirty-five years was a resident of Paris, in its issue of July 12, 1915, advocated the lynching of German Americans by referring to them as “Hessians” and adding: “A rope attached to the nearest lamp post would soon bring to an end their career of crime.”

=Hereshoffs and Cramps.=--Who in the great yachting world of America has not heard of the Hereshoffs, the famous builders of racing yachts whose achievements won international fame for the United States? The original Hereshoff, Karl Friedrich, was born in Minden, Germany, and came to this country an accomplished engineer in 1800, establishing himself at Providence, R. I., where he married the daughter of John Brown, a shipbuilder. Their son and their grandsons took up naval architecture, and their remarkable achievements culminated in the fast racing yachts designed by John B., famous as the blind yacht builder, whose vessels successfully defended the American Cup against English contestants in several great international trials. The Cramps, great American ship builders, are also of German descent. Johann Georg Krampf, the founder, was a native of Baden, who came to the U. S. in the middle of the 17th century, and members of the family established what is now one of the greatest shipbuilding firms in the world.

=Herkimer, General Nicholas.=--Won the battle of Oriskany, which many regard as the decisive battle of the Revolution. Was the eldest son of Johann Jost Herkimer (or Herchheimer), a native of the German Palatinate, and one of the original patentees of what is now part of Herkimer County, N. Y. Was commissioned a lieutenant in the Schenectady militia, January 5, 1758, and commanded Fort Herkimer that year when the French and Indians attacked the German Flats. Appointed colonel of the first battalion of militia in Tryon County in 1775, and represented his district in the County Committee of Safety, of which he was chairman. Was commissioned brigadier general Sept. 5, 1776, by the Convention of the State of New York, and August 6, 1777, commanded the American forces at the battle of Oriskany, where he received a mortal wound but directed the battle from under a tree until its successful conclusion, dying ten days later at his home, the present town of Danube, N. Y.

Congress testified its appreciation of his service by twice passing resolutions requesting New York to erect a monument at the expense of the United States. A statue of the famous German American has finally been erected at Herkimer, N. Y., through the liberality of former U. S. Senator Warner Miller. The battle of Oriskany was fought by the Mohawk Valley Germans without assistance, other reports notwithstanding. A part of the American troops under Herkimer refused to co-operate and left the Germans to the number of only 800 to engage the enemy alone.

Quoting an American writer: “The battle of Oriskany was one of the most important battles of the Revolution, and General Washington said it was ‘the first ray of sunshine.’ The British forces, under Col. St. Leger, had landed at Oswego, coming from Canada, under orders to march through the Mohawk Valley to Albany, there to join Burgoyne, who was coming down from Canada with a large army, by way of Lake Champlain. These two forces were to meet at Albany and then go down the Hudson River, thus dividing the forces of the Americans. If this plan had succeeded doubtless the Revolution would have failed. However, the defeat of St. Leger at Oriskany sent his army back to Canada, and the defeat of Burgoyne later at Saratoga ended the entire movement and led to the final victory at Yorktown.”

H. W. Elson, in his “History of the United States of America,” says, “Oriskany was without exception the bloodiest single conflict in the war of the Revolution.... Nothing more horrible than the carnage of that battle has ever occurred in the history of warfare.”

Illustration: GENERAL HERKIMER

In the Magazine of American History for August, 1884, was printed an exhaustive article, “The Story of a Monument,” dealing largely with General Herkimer, the Battle of Oriskany, the character of its hero and the details of his personality and his surroundings. The author, S. W. D. North, quotes ex-Governor Dorsheimer as declaring at the Centennial Celebration: “Oriskany was a German fight. The words of warning and encouragement, the exclamations of praise and of pain, the shouts of battle and of victory, and the command which the wounded Herkimer spoke and the prayers of the dying, were in the German language.” The author holds, however, that even then the admixture of races had played pranks with the German names, until today the descendants of many of the participants in that “German fight” would not know the names of their ancestors if spelled on the roster as they were spelled correctly at the time Oriskany was fought. The problem was further complicated by the fact, says North, that the original Palatinates and their descendants who comprised the bulk of the yeomanry of the Mohawk Valley in the Revolution, were not an educated people. General Herkimer would be called an ignorant man these days. One of the most curious of the few existing specimens of his manuscript is preserved by the Oneida Historical Society, and throws a strange light on the mixed jargon in which even the hero of Oriskany issued his military orders and incidentally proves that the present spelling of his name was not his own way:

“Ser you will order your bodellyen do merchs immeedeetleh do fordedward weid for das brofiesen and amonieschen fied for on betell. Dis yu will dis ben your berrell--from frind.

NICOLAS HERCHHEIMER.

“To Cornell pieder bellinger “ad de flets “Ochdober 18, 1776”

Rendered into English, the order reads as follows:

“Sir: You will order your battalion to march immediately to Fort Edward with four days’ provisions and ammunition fit for one battle. This you will disobey (at) your peril.

From (your) Friend, NICOLAS HERCHHEIMER.

“To Colonel Peter Bellinger, at the Flats. “October 18, 1776.”

The Herkimer homestead is still preserved, and has now become an institution under the care of the State of New York. Agitation to bring this about was initiated by the German American Alliance, which raised the money to make the homestead a national memorial. The legislature granted a charter placing it under the care of the German American Alliance and the Daughters of the American Revolution, who for years co-operated peacefully in the loving task entrusted to them. Late in December, 1919, the last German American connected with the committee was forced out as a result of the desire to obliterate every reminder of the share of the German element in the memorial. (See “Palatine Declaration of Independence” elsewhere.)

=The Hessians.=--The bitter partisan feeling during the war has led to a widespread misrepresentation of the share which the Germans took in the Revolutionary War. The employment by England of some thousands of mercenaries recruited in Anspach and Hessia against the American colonies has been extended to include all Germany, regardless of the fact that there was no more ardent supporter of the cause of the colonists in Europe than the King of Prussia. The Hessians were sold to Great Britain at so much per head by their ruler. Their traffic was scathingly denounced by Frederick and the infamous transaction severely condemned by Schiller in his play, “Cabal and Love.”

Hessia represented to the rest of Germany, at that time composed of Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and other States, about what Delaware represents to the whole of the United States. To blame all Germany for the misconduct of an unconscionable princeling is the extreme of injustice. Counting the German regiments under Rochambeau, nominally designated as Frenchmen, and the large number of German settlers in the ranks of Washington’s army under Herkimer, Muhlenberg, Steuben, Woedtke, Pulaski, etc., the Hessian-Anspach contingent was more than offset by the Germans fighting for the cause of American independence.

Thousands of Hessians were induced by their German countrymen to come over and enlist under the banner of the colonists. Pulaski’s flying squadron was recruited from these deserters. Some of the best troops in Washington’s immediate surrounding were former Hessians, and a Hessian deserter became one of Washington’s most trusted messengers in matters of war.

At the end of the war the country was full of Hessians. Many settled in Lebanon, Lancaster and Reading, Pa., and about 1,600 settled four miles from Winchester, Va., in 1781. Some of the sterling troops which made up Jackson’s Stonewall brigade in the Civil War were made up of the descendants of the Germans, many of them Hessians, who settled in the Shenandoah Valley.

If the Hessians, fighting reluctantly for a cause in which they had no heart, must be condemned by public sentiment, what shall be said of the native Americans, the Tory element, 26,000 of whom fled to Canada, while thousands of others fought in the English ranks against their own kin? Among the troops surrendered at Yorktown under Lord Cornwallis and General O’Hara, we find enumerated a body of South Carolina militiamen called “Volunteers,” “the Royal American Rangers,” etc., not counting the American deserters who had joined Cornwallis during the siege. (See “Frederick the Great and the American Colonies.”)

=Hillegas, Michael.=--First Treasurer of the United States, appointed July 29, 1776; son of German parents; born in Philadelphia, where his father was a well-to-do merchant. Served till Sept. 2, 1789. Hillegas with several other patriotic citizens came to the aid of the government in the Spring of 1780 with his private means to relieve the distress of Washington’s soldiers, and in 1781 became one of the founders of the Bank of North America, which afforded liberal support to the government during its financial difficulties. When a man named Philip Ginter submitted to him a piece of coal which he had found on Mauch-Chunk Hill, Hillegas pronounced it genuine coal, and with several others founded the Lehigh Coal Mining Co. and acquired 10,000 acres of coal land from the State of Pennsylvania. Died in Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1804.

=House, Col. E. M.=--It is claimed that the part played by Col. E. M. House in the diplomatic history of the war has been correctly gauged by but few persons, and these attribute to him the exercise of a greater influence in shaping the program of the Wilson administration than any one else, not excepting the President. Some have sought to trace an intimate connection between the policies that invested the Chief Executive with more power than any president before him with an anonymous novel, “Philip Dru, Administrator,” generally attributed to Colonel House, in which a comprehensive program is laid down for the government of the United States by Dru after finishing a successful war.

It is undeniable that a more than casual analogy may be found between the lines of policy defined in the novel and those seemingly followed by the administration down to the Versailles conference.

“Philip Dru” is the story of an American Cromwell, who prevented an alliance between England and Germany and made one between England and the United States. In the novel Dru wages a successful civil war and sets himself up as the administrator of the country, establishing a dictatorship, remodels our system of government, conquers and incorporates Mexico, remodels our relations with Canada, establishes a close bond with England, wipes out all memories of the Civil War by having Grant and Lee clasp hands on the same pediment, elects his own president and assigns to each of the powers its allotted space in the universe, after which he disappears like the good fairy of the books.

A passage from the novel affords fair insight into its philosophy. On page 156 the author makes Dru say: “For a long time I have known that this hour would come, and there would be those of you who stand affrighted at the momentous change from constitutional government to despotism, no matter how pure and exalted you might believe my intentions to be. But in the long watches of the night I conceived a plan of government which, =by the grace of God=, I hope to be able to give to the American people. My life is consecrated to our cause and, hateful as the thought of assuming supreme power, I can see no other way clearly, and I would be recreant to my trust if I faltered in my duty.”

The book thus takes on a strange prophetic character, considering that it was published in 1912, two years before the outbreak of the war, as though the writer had laid down a great plan of action which he was in the process of carrying out when the elections of 1918 raised an unexpected obstacle to its further execution.

The close friendship between President Wilson and Colonel House, according to the latter’s biographer, dates from the time when, after having considered Mayor Gaynor of New York and found himself disappointed in his expectations, Colonel House decided to make Wilson President in 1912. In the selection for the Cabinet two prominent Texans, Attorney General Gregory and Postmaster General Burleson, were named, and many others were by him designated for responsible positions. It has been pointed out in certain quarters that many of the most important measures leading up to and including the war bear a more or less striking resemblance to those outlined in “Philip Dru,” even to the investment of the President with almost absolute powers. Colonel House’s residence in New York became the calling place of foreign ambassadors, where vital questions of State and our international relations were dealt with before they reached the President. Count Bernstorff, former German ambassador to the United States, testified before the Reichstag Commission investigating the war that he handed Colonel House an important note on peace which was never heard of afterward.

Colonel House has been called “the mysterious;” he seeks distinction in doing his work in secrecy, rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies in ways not readily apparent, laying out his policies without revealing his hand and executing well-devised plans without the noise and trumpery of cheap publicity. In this manner he is credited with shaping the policies of the administration at the peace conference, where he was, next to the President, the principal representative of the United States, working congenially with Clemenceau and Lloyd George and acting as moderator on the President in the latter’s earlier demands for a stricter observance on the part of the Allies of his Fourteen Points. As related in a Paris correspondence in the New York “Tribune,” dated April 16, 1919, “President Wilson, realizing that he had not sufficient ground for further refusing to meet the demands of the three European allies, accepted the formula which Clemenceau and Lloyd George had worked out for reparations and accepted the plan which Colonel House had previously approved for the surrender of the Saar Valley by Germany for a long period of years, after which a plebiscite shall be held.”