| Our
Mennonites of Pennsylvania, Their Pennsylvania
Our Mennonite
forebears pertained to a group of cohesive emmigrants who worshipped together,
escaped together, built a new world together, and whose descendants continued
to intermarry in the new world, just as they had intermarried in Europe.
Ten Mennonite
men purchased 10,000 acres from William Penn in October of 17103,
[the survey occured Oct 23, 17103
] with some sources suggesting without firm evidence that the survey was
done while yet they were in Europe. [see link
for names of the men involved in the survey which include our direct ancestor
and the group's spiritual leader Bishop Hans Herr] . In the
Spring of 17113 [some accounts state
1709/10 [see calendar confusion
]
, seven of those men travelled to their frontier grant, with their
families3, to establish homes north of
Pequea Creek, among them Bishop Herr; Many accounts remark they set
off at once for Pequea and with no delay. At the time of their sojourn,
the region to which they removed was part of Chester County, one
of the original three shires of Pennsylvania, but since 1729 this
region is to be found in Lancaster County, formed that year from Chester.
Thus, these immigrants pertained to Chester for the first 18+ years of
their Pennsylvania residency, although they are inextricably linked with
Lancaster County history. The 10,000 acres surveyed for them in
Oct was divided among them on Aprl 21, 17113
and
lies " in what is now know as West Lampeter Township" 4
"
, "on both sides of Pequea Creek, and extended from the present borough
of Strasburg westward beyond Willow Street "3
To get to their land grant the families, including our direct Hans
Herr [in his 70s] and his
wife Barbel, [in her 60s] " followed an ancient Native
path called the 'Great Conestoga Road', which passed within yards of the
site on which, eight years later, the 1719 [Hans
Herr] House would be built..... The first Mennonites
who settled in what became Lancaster County passed through Germantown on
their way west and continued to associate with the Mennonites there throughout
the colonial period. The 'Conestogoe' Settlement of Mennonites (so called
because of its location near the Conestoga River), however, was remote
from most other settlements in Pennsylvania.The nearest neighbors of the
Conestogoe Mennonites were the Conestoga people, an indigenous group [remnant
tribes of the once powerful Susuehannocks]
who held legal title to a 'Manor' between the Little Conestoga Creek and
the Susquehanna River, about five miles to the west of the Mennonite settlement.
The closest European settlement was about twenty-five miles to the south-south
east. This was called the 'Nottingham Lots': lands granted by Pennsylvania,
but including a number of tracts in what is now Maryland."2
"In the spring
of 1717 some 300 Palatine Mennonites were in Rotterdam to embark for Pennsylvania
.... they received financial support from the Dutch Mennonites" 1"
On Nov. 22, 1717, Martin Kendig [nephew to Hans Herr's wife Barbel
KUNDIG] and Hans
Herr obtained warrant for 5000 acres of land along Mill Creek and Conestoga
for some of their Brethren who had lately arrived from Switzerland."3
These
brethren arrived 1717 , lately from Germany/Switzerland and arriving from
Rotterdam. Amongst them was our direct Melchior
Brenneman.
" In 1719,
Christian Herr , son of the Bishop Hans Herr, built the home
that has come to be known by his father's name, the Hans
Herr House, the oldest dwelling pertaining to the Conestoga Mennonites,
and, as it also served as a place of worship in the early days, it is the
oldest surviving Mennonite Church in America....The county seat of Lancaster
County was established at the newly-created town of Lancaster [1729].
By 1733 a 'Kingís Highway' from Philadelphia and Chester to Lancaster
was completed, replacing the Great Conestoga Road as the main route to
the west. The original Mennonite settlement, once centered on the 'main
drag', was now a backwater. But for ten years or more, virtually anyone
passing to the west of the Province would have walked under the shadow
of the 1719 House. " 2 |
Conestoga Township
Survey 1717
CLICK IMAGE FOR
LARGER PRESENTATION
Image from
Charles D. Breneman's
"A History of the Descendants of
Abraham Brenneman"
published Elida, Ohio by
The author, c1939. Page vi.
Cites A H Gerberich |
It is through
the marriage of Melchior Brenneman's [arrived 1717] grandson Christian
Brenneman to Bishop Herr's [arrived 1710] great Grandaughter Anna
HERR that both the Herr and Brennemn Mennonite immigrants are
direct to this writer and I have not yet found documentation to prove or
disprove that it is this generation that marks abandonment of Mennonite
tradition in our direct lines. However, Mennonite practise
was certainly abandoned by the next, as Christian and Anna Herr Brenneman's
daughter Elizabeth BRENNEMAN
lies buried with her husband John
QUICKEL in a Lutheran/Reformed cemetery bearing the name of the
father in law who had donated land for, and so founded Quickelís
Church, a Lutheran And Reformed congretional building also called Zion
Church. Quickel's was the first Church in the Conewago Settlement,
excluding the Mennonite meeting house which also served as home to
the immigrant Herrs. Reformed and Lutheran, still at odds in Germany,
intermarried in the colonies without prejudice in general...but marriage
outside the Mennonite faith with either could lead to shunning and the
removal of a child from the will of a Mennonite parent.
John and Elizabeth
[Brenneman] QUICKEL's dtr
Annie
QUICKEL married
Michael
BENTZ of York, York Co, Penna at Christ Lutheran in York, and their
daughter Maria Elizabeth
'Mary' BENTZ was mother in law to Judge Samuel
McCurdy Swope , a Presbyterian Elder, and pictures of Mary with
her Swope son in law and daughter are in Swope family possesion. Judge
Swope's wife Annie STAIR is well remembered
by the older members of the Swope family of Gettysburg, now in their
9th decades of life. [E R S Frazee and M B Frazee, her husband]
On to An
Account of the Land's Appearance on Arrival of our Mennonites:
To Top
of Page
An
Account of the Land's Appearance on Arrival of our Mennonites:
1. Account
of Arrival of Madam Ferree [Marie Warembourg] and what she viewed
2. Description
of the region on Hans Herr's arrival
The
following is relevant to our direct Mennonite Herr & Brenneman ancestors,
though the subject is Huguenot Marie Ferree [nee Marie WAREMBOURG though
she sometimes appears as Mary WARENBUER/WARRIMBERE] She is of interest
as a collaterol in the data base, her children marrying into other of our
direct line families. She probably arrived in the Peguea Valley around
1712, although some accounts give a less likely date of 1709. Despite
the inability to firmly affix a date to her arrival there, it occured
nearly contemporaneously to the arrival of our Mennonite Herr
ancestor Bishop Hans [1710] , and about 5 years prior to our mennonite
Brenneman
forebear Melchior [1717]. Rupp, in his ìHistory of Dauphin and
Cumberland Countiesî etc, describes the arrival of Madam Le Fiere [Ferree]
and her party to the Pequea valley-Marie's land was located along
the Pequea creek about 55 miles west of Philly, and was part of the 10,000
acres granted by William Penn to Martin Kindig [nephew to Hans Herr's wife]
and other agents of the Mennonite colony, with which was associated
Hans
Herr and among which families are included that of Melchior
Brenneman both above mentioned. This excerpt regarding
her arrival offers a glimpse at the Pennsylvania of our first direct German
arrivals, themselves bound for the unsettled frontier of their Pennsylvania,
first immigrants to what is now Lancaster County, and now just an hours
drive from Philadelphia. Of diametric interest is our
Howard ascendancy in which appears our direct ancestor James
Logan -James was surveyor general and secretary to William Penn,
a man whose influence can not be underestimated in the period of
Pennsylvania's history during which arrived our Swope allied Mennonite
forebears; James Logan's precense in, and influence upon others found
in the Within the Vines database creates interesting interface
in this period of Pennsylvania history. He was the most powerful Pennsylvanians
and Logan's interactions with the native Americans greatly affected
the ability of a westward and northward expansion in Pennsylvania;
Without his involvement, our Mennonite's history could well have been interrupted
and exceedingly different.
Rupp
[ left unchanged from the original] in his ìHistory of Dauphin
& Cumberland Countiesî:
ìIt
was on the evening of a summerís day when the Hugenots reached the verge
of a hill commanding a view of the valley of Pequea; it was a woodland
scene, a forest inhabited by wild beasts, for no indication of civilized
man was near; scattered along the Pequea, amidst the dark-green hazel,
could be discovered the Indian wigwams, the smoke issuing therefrom in
its spiral form; no sound was heard but the songs of the birds; in silence
they contemplated the beautiful prospect which nature presented to their
view. Suddenly a number of Indians dared from the woods; the females shrieked,
when an Indian advanced, and in broken English said to Madam Ferre:'Indian
no harm white;white good to Indian;go to Beaver-our chief-come to Beaver'.
Few were the words of the Indian. They went with him to Beaverís cabin,
and Beaver, with the humanity that distinguished the Indian of that period,
gave up to the immigrants his wigwam. Next day he introduced them to Tawana,
who lived on the great flats of Pequeaî
At the time
of the Ferree settlement in his dominions Mary Le Fiere took a present
from Pennís agent to Tawana, and thus secured his friendship, according
to Edward Spangler in his History of the Spangler Family.
Top of Page
Physical
Description of the The Mennonites and Hans Herr Among them
[also describes
the land on their arrival] :
Bishop Hans Herr is described as
"of medium height, with long grey hair curled under at the ends and parted
in the middle, Heavy brows, dark hazel eyes, aquiline nose, mouth rather
small with heavy lips,complexion florid,with full beard covering the face,
the whole lighted by a countenance in which sweetness and austerity were
gracefully blended. Clad in the coarsest homespun, his feet shod with wood,
he at last arrived in the far-off land in which some strange prophecy told
him he and his People would be prosperous and happy, however poor when
arriving. ( C.H. Martin, paper read before the Lancaster county historical
society, 1925)....A very quaint account of them says the sect came
from a German Palatinate, at the invitation of William Penn.
"The men wore long red caps on their heads. The
women had neither bonnets, hats, nor caps, but merely a string passing
around the head to keep the hair from the face. The dress both of female
and male was domestic, quite plain, made of coarse material, after an old
fashion of their own. Soon after their arrival at Philadelphia they took
a westerly course, in pursuit of a location where they could all live in
one vicinity.
"They selected a rich limestone country, beautifully
adorned with sugar-maple, hickory, and black and white walnut, on the border
of a delightful stream abounding in the finest trout. Here they raised
their humble cabins. The water of the Pequea was clear, cold, transparent,
and the grape-vines and clematis inter-twining among the lofty branches
of the majestic buttonwood formed a pleasant retreat from the noon-beams
of a summer sun....Rupp, who wrote in 1844, though commonplace and sometimes
tiresome, alone, of all the earlier chroniclers of this people, has put
us under obligations for the scanty details he has preserved in an historical
form of the early colony. "On the 23d of October the land was surveyed
and divided among the Meylins, Herr, Kendig, and others of the company.
Having erected temporary shelters, some set about it and put up dwellings
of more durableness. Martin Kendig erected one of hewed walnut logs on
his tract, which withstood the storms and rain, the gnawings of the tooth
of time, for more than one hundred and ten years, and might, had it not
been removed in 1841, and its place taken up by one of more durable materials,
have withstood the corroding elements for generations to come. They now
began to build houses and add new acquisitions of lands to their first
possessions. To depend upon their Indian neighbors for provisions was useless.
The Indians depended mainly upon game and fish. Of course, the supplies
of provisions were scanty, and what they had they were under the necessity
to transport from a distant settlement for some time, till the seeds sown
in a fertile soil yielded some thirty, others fortyfold. Fish and fowl
were plenty in the wilds. The season of their arrival was favorable around
them, they saw crowned the tall hazel with rich festoons of luscious grapes.
After they had been scarce fairly seated they thought of their old homes,
their country, and friends. They sighed for those whom they left for a
season. They remembered them that were in bonds as bound with them, and
which suffered adversity, and ere the earth began to yield a return in
kindly fruits to their labors, consultations were held and measures devised
to send some over to their Vaterland to bring the residue of some of their
families--also their kindred and brothers in a land of trouble and oppression
to their new home--into a land where peace reigned and abundance of the
comforts of life could not fail. They had strong faith in the fruitfulness
and natural advantages of their choice of lands; they knew these would
prove to them and their children the home of plenty. Their anticipations
have never failed.î5
To The Hans Herr House [Describing the Life
and Home of the Mennonites]
To Top of Page
The "Hans Herr" House [Describing
the Life and Home of the Mennonites]
This is edited somewhat, and is taken from
the original found at ìDescriptive
Narrative provided by the Tour Center of the Hans Herr House presented
in the Comprehensive pages of ìPioneers and Patriarchs, Pennsylvania
Dutch History, Genealogy and Culture, ~ Swiss Mennonite and German Palatine
Immigrants~ . The reader is encouraged to follow the link given to the
original presentation and additional information at those pages. It reads
in part [with far more information at the original site]:
"Their first homes were built of
the logs left when they cleared the forest for their fields. .. [in 1719]
Christian Herr built the first stone house in the community. It reflected
his Germanic background, having a stube, kuche, eck bank, kachelofen, and
other features typical of homes in the Palatinate and Switzerland. Christian,
his wife, seven children, his eighty-year old father Hans (after whom the
museum is named), and his mother Elizabeth all lived in the house. Since
both Christian and Hans were ministers, the house also served as, a place
for worship services. ....The datestone over the door is original to the
house and bears Christian's initials and the date. .... The Herr house
has been restored and furnished to show the period of 1719 to 1750. The
kuche has a very large fireplace which is located in the center of the
house. The fireplace itself was not used for heat but provided access to
the kachelofen, which warmed the stube. Unlike the English settlers, who
used a large fire in the fireplace for heating and cooking, the German
settlers used the oven for heating and used only small fires for cooking.
a hearth raised around two feet above the floor level. The fires were built
on this kind of hearth was much more convenient and safer than the English
colonials' floor level hearths. The wooden fire crane in the fireplace
is original and was used to hold pots over the fires. There is a local
story that one night the Herrs had a hunting party of Indians take refuge
in their kitchen in front of the fireplace. Lancaster County was settled
peaceably and the Mennonites got along well with the local Conestoga Indians.
The house has a root cellar, where they stored turnips, cabbages, apples,
onions, smoked meats, and apple cider. Cider was the main drink of the
early settlers. Apples were so important that many farms had as many as
150 apple trees. They did not eat potatoes in the early 18th century because
they thought potatoes were poisonous The small room next to the kitchen
was used for storage of food items and tools. Nearly every room of the
house provided storage space, since the house was the only building on
the farm. One Pennsylvania German farmer near here kept a horse collar
and harness, a crosscut saw, and old lumber in his bedroom.
The stube is located behind the kitchen fireplace.
Because of the kachelofen it was the warmest room in the house and the
center of family Elderly members of the family sometimes slept in the stube;
we think- this is where Hans and his wife Elizabeth slept. In this house
the stube also acted as the place of worship. Here the members of the Mennonite
community gathered every second or third Sunday. Today all Mennonite groups
meet in church buildings but the Amish continue to meet in homes for worship.
The minister did not preach from a pulpit but used a simple table. On the
table are Christian Herr's family Bible, two Ausbunds, and a Martyrs' Mirror.
The Martyrs' Mirror is a book containing many stories about the Anabaptist
martyrs during the time of the Reformation. .... The Ausbund is a hymn
book. The first Ausbund was printed in 1564 Keith songs which were sung
by the Anabaptists while in prison. The Ausbund is still in print and is
used by the Amish in their services. It is the oldest Protestant hymn book
that has been in continuous use until today, Christian Herr's Bible was
printed in 1738 in Basle. He must purchased it on one of his trips back
to Philadelphia to sell flour. The journey to Philadelphia took around
two days in good weather. When Christian died in 1750, the Bible was part
of an inventory done of his possessions. At that time it was worth the
same amount of money as two cows.
The strange object standing on the table near
the books is a rush light. These used the stem of a bullrush or cattail
which had been soaked in fat or grease. When lit they provided a flame
free while Candles were quite expensive. Although smoky and smelly, they
were [text trails here]
The kammer was the master bedroom for Christian
and his wife Anna. They slept on a rope bed, with a straw mattress, and
a feather bed on top for warmth. The Germans used feather beds and the
English used wool blankets. In that room is a chest which was used by a
German family that emigrated to Lancaster County in 1737. In order to identify
their trunk once they got to Philadelphia, they put a label inside the
lid with their four names and the date of 1737. The label has remained
inside the lid for over 250 years immigration by a family of four, It proves
the trunk was used for In the early years after arrival, the Mennonite
settlers had very little furniture.
Often the chest they used for immigration was
the largest item of furniture in their house. But they prospered and by
1750 many had schranks for their clothing. However the schrank itself was
not so valuable as the clothing that was kept in it. 1750. ...the insulation
used [in the home] : pieces of wood wrapped with rye straw. This
was a tradition brought from Germany and does a good job of insulating
the house. The rye straw was used because it was bitter to rats and mice
and they would not chew on it.
The children slept in the first attic, which also
served as a storage area. The second attic above it was just for storage.
......
The second attic was heated by an iron five-plate
stove, fed by a small fireplace. Hot coals from the fire were put in the
stove, which radiated heat into the attic. The children would have slept
on beds similar to that of their parents, probably as many as three or
four shared a bed. Despite the stove it still got quite cold in the attic
during the winter because there was no insulation..... ì
Annotated
From Descriptive
Narrative provided by the Tour Center of the Hans Herr House presented
in the Comprehensive pages of ìPioneers and Patriarchs, Pennsylvania
Dutch History, Genealogy and Culture, ~ Swiss Mennonite and German Palatine
Immigrants~
The reader
is encouraged to access the link for additional information and full
text.
[permission
for use requested 031503]
Top of Page
Footnote
1
The time frame
may relate to the confusion of dating involved in the pre 1752 universal
calendar change. The arrival of Hans Herr is often given as 1709/10 with
the march to the frontier occuring shortly after. It is assumed the
Mennonite
history Page has accomodated for the necessary readjustment to date
necessitated by the 1752 universal calendar change, and seems to align
well with the general history of the Mennonites and the forebears among
them provided at other sources as provided in the ancestor pages Within
The Vines and the footnotes therein, but noone seems to remark in the literature
IF they have accomodated dates to the change, or if they have not.
[ The
Ebys of Switzerland prepared by Alice Neff and linked from within
the Neff
Family History reports: ìAs early as 1709, large numbers
of Mennonites from Germany had moved to Holland where they received aid
from their wealthy Dutch counterparts. Most of the early emigrants sailed
from the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam then on to an area near London,
England, where they remained until their number was sufficient to fill
a boat. An interesting letter dated June 27, 1710, in
London from emigrants under such a circumstance was signed by Martin Kendig,
Jacob Muller, Martin Oberholtzer, Martin Maile (Mylin), Christian Herr
and Hans Herr. These men had gone to America upon the encouragement of
William Penn his agents. Their ship the Maria Hope, arrived on September
23, 1710, in the port city of Philadelphiaî
footnote
2
"As a result
of Penn's visit to the Mennonite brethren in the Palatinate, Jacob Telmer,
a wealthy Mennonite merchant of Crefeld, became interested in the welfare
of the Swiss brethren who had come down the Rhine, and came to America
in 1678 with a view of establishing a colony on the Delaware. This resulted
in the landing of 13 Mennonite families, consisting of 33 persons, on Oct.
5, 1683. This was the beginning of Germantown. The names of these settlers
would indicate that they were from Holland or the lower Palatinate. For
a more detailed account of these settlers see Pennypacker's "Settlement
of Germantown....We now come to the first Mennonite settlement within
the present limits of Lancaster County by Hans Herr and his little band
of followers. They left London June 29, 1710 on the ship "Mary Hope" and
arrived in Philadelphia in September. They set out at once for Pequea where
land was surveyed for them on Oct. 23, 1710, and divided among
them on April 21, 1711. This land lay on both sides of Pequea Creek, and
extended from the present borough of Strasburg westward beyond Willow Street
and contained 10,000 acres which were divided as follows: beginning on
the west side, Martin Kendig 530 A.; Martin Mylin 265 A.; Christian Herr
530 A.; Martin Kendig 264 A.; John Herr 530 A.; John Bundely 500 A.;
Christian Franciscus 530 A.; Jacob Miller 1008 A.; John Funk 530 A.; Martin
Kendig 1060 A. The balance of this tract was divided later from 1710 to
1717, and the settlement increased rapidly. For a more detailed account
of these settlements and other data relative to the Swiss and Palatinate
settlers in Lancaster County see "Eshleman's Annals.""3
footnote
4
The 10,000
acres settled by Hans Herr and others "were divided as follows:
beginning on the west side, Martin Kendig 530 A.; Martin Mylin 265 A.;
Christian Herr 530 A.; Martin Kendig 264 A.; John Herr 530 A.; John Bundely
500 A.; Christian Franciscus 530 A.; Jacob Miller 1008 A.; John Funk
530 A.; Martin Kendig 1060 A. The balance of this tract was divided later
from 1710 to 1717, and the settlement increased rapidly. For a more detailed
account of these settlements and other data relative to the Swiss
and Palatinate settlers in Lancaster County see "Eshleman's Annals." "3
SURVEY CONESTOGA TOWNSHIP SURVEY 1716-1717
Image from Charles D. Breneman's "A History of the Descendants
of Abraham Brenneman" published Elida, Ohio by The author, c1939. Page
vi.
Cites A H Gerberich
Notations in red from this author and represent
Christian Herr Tract, site of Hans Herr House
Abraham Herr's tract [brother to Christian, like Christian, son of
Hans Herr. Son Rudolph lived in Manor Twp as adult asnd raised Anna, his
dtr there]
Melchior Brenneman [his grandson Christian, son of Christian, married
Anna Herr, dtr of Rudolph, grandaughter of Abraham, ggdtr of the
Bishop]
Top of Page
Sources
for This Page:
1.
Mennonite Encyclopedia, Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale, PA, 1957,
transcription
2.
Webpage of The 1719 Hans Herr House & Museum . Mennonite
history and the Conestoga settlement of Lancaster
3
Hoover, Harry M. The Huber-Hoover Family History. Mennonite Publishing
House. Scottdale, PA.1928.
4 History
of Neff's Grist Mill .Written by Albert R. Spencer Great Grandson of
John Neff II, Builder of the Mill . From Neff Times webpages
5."History of Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent
Men". Originally published in Philadelphia by Everts and Peck in 1883.
Chapter XXVI. The Mennonites. From Online Database Library [ancestry.com]
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania History.
6. Descriptive
Narrative provided by the Tour Center of the Hans Herr House presented
in the Comprehensive pages of ìPioneers and Patriarchs, Pennsylvania
Dutch History, Genealogy and Culture, ~ Swiss Mennonite and German Palatine
Immigrants~
7. Pal
Project Pennsylvania page from The
Palatine Project. [Gary T. Horlacher webmaster]
|
