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PAPERS READ
BEFOBE THE
I
FRIDAY, OCTOBER T, 1910.
** J^i'gtorg fiersflf, as seen in f)et oton tootfesfjop."
REPORT OF COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONDUCT
CELEBRATION OF 200th ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST
PERMANENT WHITE SETTLEMENT IN LANCAS-
TER COUNTY.
MINUTES OF OCTOBER MEETING.
BI-CENTENARY NUMBER.
VOL. XIV. NO. 8.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS PER COPY.
LANCASTER, PA.
1910.
PAPERS READ
BEFORE THE
KRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 101O.
** J^istorB fjerself, as seen I'n fjei oton toorfestop."
REPORT OF COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONDUCT
CELEBRATION OF 200th ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST
PERMANENT WHITE SETTLEMENT IN LANCAS-
TER COUNTY.
MINUTES OF OCTOBER MEETING.
BI-CENTENARY NUMBER.
VOL. XIV. NO. 8.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS PER COPY.
LANCASTER, PA.
1910.
Report of Bi-Centenary Committee - - - - 197
Minutes of October Meeting ------ 244
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
APPOINTED TO CONDUCT CELE-
BRATION OF 200TH ANNIVER-
SARY OF FIRST PERMANENT
WHITE SETTLEMENT WITHIN
BORDERS OF LANCASTER
COUNTY:
Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 7, 1910.
To the President and Members of the
Lancaster County Historical So-
ciety:
Your committee, appointed to con-
duct a celebration of the 200th anni-
versary of the first white settlement
within the borders of Lancaster coun-
ty, report as follows:
After meeting several times during
the summer, this committee succeed-
ed in securing a commemorative tab-
let, which they mounted on a nine-ton
limestone boulder, secured from Mr.
Cyrus Zittle's quarry, on the original
tract settled, and planted the same in
the front of the Mennonite Church-
yard near Willow Street, and carried
out a literary and. historical pro-
gramme during the morning,afternoon
and evening of Thursday, September
8, 1910. The proceedings and fea-
tures of the day follow:
He who, in the years that are to
come, traces the pages of Lancaster
county's historical lore will note with
more than passing interest the record
for the day September 8, 1910, an'i
he will be apprised of the fact that its
(197)
( 198 )
then Historical Society conducted a
celebration, notable and memorable,
commemorative of the 200th anniver-
sary of its first white settlement. The
record will be one of the most illus-
trious to adorn any of its pages, un-
usually rich though they be. The
reader will also be apprised of the
fact that the success of the under-
taking was unqualified, and tliat in
the effort put forth and attained to
mark the event with distinguishing
exercises, the people of this day were
eager to fitly manifest their venera-
tion for and appreciation of a notable
ancestry. For the celebration morn-
ing and afternoon at the Brick Meet-
ing House in West Lampeter, attend-
ant upon the dedication of the boulder
and its 'historic tablet, and con-
tinued at the Court House in the
evening, was worthy of enduring
preservation, beyond the period of
time that may be allotted on earth to
those who were privileged to partici-
pate in it. Men distinguished in the
world of letters and affairs, sons of
the native soil who have risen to
fame both at home and abroad, re-
turned to the hallowed spot to testify
their devotion and obligation to
those forefathers who bestowed upon
them many precious heritages, most
of which were of more priceless value
than their rich acres.
The Committee of Arrangements,
after weeks of constant preparation,
realized at the dawn of the genial dav
that the only doubtful element re-
maining to insure a complete success
of the anniversary, the weather, was
to be in their favor. Nothing els?
was lacking, and at an early hour the
meeting-house became the centre of
a lively scene. The wheel of every
vehicle in the neighborhood turned in
its direction that morning. Prom up
( 199)
and down the Big Spring and Beaver
Valley turnpike, from roads leading
to Lampeter, Strasburg, Quarrjrville,
Willow Street, M'artic, Pequea, Con-
estoga and this city, the human tide
poured in, while far the greatest num-
bers were conveyed to the scene by
trolley. To the early arrival, pos-
sessed of a contemplative turn of
mind, the place and the occasion fur-
nished food for pleasing reflection.
Standing on the elevation to the rear
of the meeting-house, and turning
his gaze to whatever direction he
chose, even "to where the amplest
reach of prospect lay," there was un-
folded before 'him a panorama of un-
dulating landscape as rich in beauty
as its soil is in wealth. It is a coun-
try thickly dotted with homes where-
in no modern comforts and conveni-
ences are lacking, and with commo-
dious barns, at this season fairly
bursting with their wealth of crops —
a placid scene of peace and prosper-
ity, nursed and developed by the gen-
tle art of husbandry. Close his eyes
to the vision, he required the exer-
cise of but a quick fancy of the im-
agination, and he was transported to
another period in the history of the
same locality and there came to his
memory a vivid picture of the wilder-
ness, in its primeval state, into which
two hundred years ago the ministe-
rial leader, Herr, piloted his little col-
ony. They consisted of Martin Kun-
dig (now Kendig), Martin Meili (now
Mylin), Christian Herr, Wendell Bow-
man, Jacob Mueller (now Miller), John.
Funk, John Rudolph Bundely and
Christopher Pranciscus. He saw them
"bow the woods beneath their sturdy
stroke," and there, far from the re-
ligious persecution from which they
fled, he felt their pious presence as
they knelt in peaceful worship, unmo-
lested by tyrannous oppressors. How
(200)
well they overcame the grim hard-
ships that they faced, how they laid
the foundation on the 6,400 acre
grant they received from Penn for
the development of the richest garden
spot in all the land and sowed the
seed of a religious faith that has radi-
ated from that centre in a ceaseless
stream of strength and purity through
all the succeeding generations to the
present, constitutes a page of local
history that makes it rich with "the
spoils of time."
Again reverting to objects near at
hand, the observer, if imbued in the
least with the spirit of the antiquary,
was held in fascinated interest by the
ancient Herr house. Its sturdy stone
walls, still defying the elements, seem
characteristic of the spirit of its own-
er and the unique staircase, hewn
from the solid log, and the fireplace,
around which the romancer loves to
linger, claimed both "the smile and
tear," Adjoining the meeting-house
ground is God's acre.
"Where heaves the turf in many a
mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell forever laid.
The rude forefathers of the hamlet
sleep."
It was certainly a spot for solemn
contemplation, and he who yielded
to such train of thought turned with
almost a reverential interest to the
stirring events about to transpire.
Excellent provision had been made
for the crowds that gathered, in the
seating accommodation and that for
teams. The residents of the commu-
nity, most of whom are direct, lineal
descendants of the original settlers,
and have clung, with remarkable
tenacity, to the ancestral acres, took
a deep pride in the event, and con-
tributed in every way possible to the
entertainment and comfort of the vis-
itors. The day's exercises, which were
continued the same evening at the
(201)
Court House, in this city, included
addresses by distinguished speakers,
to whom the Pennsylvania German
and the Mennonites were subjects of
intimate acquaintance, to which they
gave a full share of praise.
The Opening Exercises.
Mr. Frank R. Diffenderffer, chair-
man of the committee of arrange-
ments, started the programme by an-
nouncing Ex-Auditor General Amos
H. Mylin, a representative of a
straight line of descent from the pio-
neer progenitor of his family, as the
presiding officer.
Chairman Diffenderffer's address
was as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am ex-
tremely gratified by the sight of the
splendid audience before me. It
shows our people realize the signifi-
cance of the occasion that has
brought us together. We have fore-
gathered this day to do honor to a
most worthy and deserving ancestrj',
whose influence for good has made
this region what it is to-day and
which, I trust, will continue for
centuries still to come.
We are standing on historic ground.
The tale is told in part on yonder
stone, which, while mute as the
Sphinx, is nevertheless eloquent in
its very silence, and you will hear
the fuller story from those who shall
address you during the day.
Three minutes have been allotted to
me to make these introductory remarks
— I shall not exceed my time time-
limit — hoping that my example may
not be lost on those that come after
me.
As a member of the Lancaster
County Historical Society, and as the
Chairman of the Committee in charge
of this memorable bi-centennial cele-
bration of the first settlement made
in our county, it becomes my duty, as
(202)
we'll as my pleasure, to introduce to
you as the caalrman of this morn-
ing's session, a gentleman known to
most of you, one to the manner born,
and one who in the sixth generation
has plowed and planted, hoed and
harrowed, and who still resides on
the lands purchased by his ancestor
from William Penn; who has served
this county, the State Senate and the
people-at-large as the Auditor Gen-
eral of the Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania, the Honorable Amos H. My-
lin — Mr. Mylin:
Ex-Senator Mylin's Address.
Hon. Amos H. Mylin, a descendant
of the original Martin Mylin, upon
taking the chair, made a brief ad-
dress, as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: In behalf
of the Historical Society of Lancaster
county I greet you, bid you welcome,
and invite you to participate in the
ceremonies of the day.
At last the day and the hour have
arrived to erect a suitable marker to
commemorate the advent of the pion-
eer settlers of Lancaster county. To
look back two hundred years is a
long vista, suggestive of many
changes in the conditions, habits and
thoughts of these people and their de-
scendants.
A parallel between 1710 and 1910
could be drawn and made both inter-
esting and instructive, and I have no
doubt will be elaborated by the dis-
tinguished speakers who will take
part in these exercises.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries large parties of immi-
grants were led by Court favorites
and other adventurers, who, having
dissipated their means at home, de-
scended upon these shores to exploit
the country, to establish colonies and
thereby recoup their vanishing for-
(203)
tunes; in time, other expeditions fol-
lowed, bent on conquest, rapine and
murder; but there was still another
and more desirable class, who came
seeking a home of religious freedom
and peace of mind, such as the early
PuritanSv Huguenots, Quakers, and
last, but not least, the Mennonites.
These last named did not come to
found a State; but their labors add-
ed to the wealth of the State; and,
though they were not lacking in cour-
age, they did not seek the honors of
war, but devoted their lives to the
arts of peace and to found a home
where they could worship God ac-
cording to the dictates of their own
consciences.
They were not driven from their
old homes by reason of poverty, for
the most of them were well-to-do;
they sold their lands, goods and chat-
tels at a sacrifice to make the jour-
ney here. They deserted friends, rel-
atives, old attachments and scenes
to encounter strange realities, new
dangers and hardships little dreamed
of at the start.
After reaching Philadelphia, they
trudged along, some on foot, some on
horseback, with a few household
goods and implements, through a
trackless forest, until they reached
the territory now to be marked in a
public way, where they set up their
sanctuary of the Lord under the wide
spreading branches of an oak, and
worshipped in the open air, not unlike
the early Christians in the remote
past, believing in the promise that
"where two or more are gathered to-
gether in My name there also am I
present."
It may not be out of place by way
of comparison to recall another Men-
nonite immigration which took place
within the memory of most of us,
when the Russian Brethren were
( 204)
forced to leave that inhospitable
country to find an asylum either in
the United States or Canada.
They made the voyage across the
briny deep in steamships, and, after
their arrival in New York, traveled
in the cars without exposure and in
safety at the rate of forty miles per
hour until they reached their West-
ern destinations, where they found
the fertile prairie ready for the plow,
with household goods and farming
implements at hand to start business
at once. This picture helps to inten-
sify the hardships and sufferings of
our early settlers.
I must not neglect to add that
great praise is due to the Historical
Society of Lancaster county for the
public spirit, liberality and zeal dis-
played in having this marker erected
upon the very identical tract of land
taken up by the early settlers and
underneath the shadow of the church
which they brought to this country
like the ark of old, preserved and
handed down to their descendants.
There may be some people who
have misgivings or objections to the
location of the marker on the score
of pride or worldliness, without hav-
ing given due consideration to its dual
purpose. It represents not only a
worldly, but a spiritual history.
The inscription on its face is the
history in a nutsheil of what took
place when these early settlers ar-
rived in this county — a simple tran-
script of the record on file in the
Land Office of the State and in the
offices of the Recorders of the sev-
eral counties concerned — an account
which makes available to us this val-
uable information without the loss of
time and money to make a search
for the same, which few, I dare say,
would undertake to do.
This, it is to be hoped, will excite
(205 )
a renewed interest in the study of
our local history, and keep alive the
memory of the principal actors in the
movement.
But this is the worldly side of the
marker, as charged by our critics.
There is still another side of greater
importance, namely, the motive or
impelling cause of this migration.
But the answer is found in the his-
tory of the heroic men who
braved the chances of the prison
or the stake for maintaining their
principles, and who forsook comfort
to encounter privations, in order to
establish liberty of conscience and
the freedom of worship and religious
belief in the wilderness.
Instead of criticising this modest
recognition of their work, you should
feel proud of inheriting this grand
legacy.
Don't forget that the man who
does not respect himself is not re-
spected by any one; and the man
who does not respect his forefathers
is a pariah, to be shunned by the
good. The Chinese, the oldest nation
in the world, are noted for the rev-
erence and devotion shown their an-
cestors and the sacred regard for
their tombs, a feeling or inspiration
founded no doubt, in the same source
or fountain-head that has given us
that beautiful mandate from Mt.
Sinai, viz.: "Honor thy father and
thy mother that thy days may be
long in the land," etc. I would
broaden the application of the same
principle and say: Honor your an-
cestors, that you may be enthused to
higher ideals and nobler ends.
Devotional Exercises.
Bishop N. B. Grubb, of the First
Mennonite Church, of Germantown.of-
fered prayer.
This was followed by the old fa-
miliar hymn, "How Firm a Founda-
( 206 )
tion," joined in by all and led by D.
H. Gochenour, of East Petersburg,
wao generally leads the music at the
Lancaster county Union Sunday-
school conventions. It was very in-
spiring and full of noble fervor.
The Historical Address.
H. Frank Eshleman then delivered
an address on "The Meaning of Our
County's Two Hundred Years," dis-
cussing, in their order, (1) The Re-
ligious Meaning; (2) the Agricultu-
ral Meaning; (3) the Patriotic Mean-
ing; (4) the Political Meaning; (5)
the Industrial Meaning, and (6) the
Educational meaning, in the course
of the address interpreting what our
county has stood for during these two
centuries, and showing its force in
our State and National history and
what lines of influence and develop-
ment our own local pioneers started
and handed down to succeedeing gen-
erations, who, in turn, strengthened,
beautified and preserved many of
them as sterling virtues unto our day.
The address appears in full in the
aippendix to this report. (Sea Ap-
pendix.)
DEDICATION OF MONUMENT.
The dedication of the monument
and the historic tablet then followed,
proving an interesting ceremony.
Address of Mr. Coyle.
The presentation of the marker
was made by John A. Coyle, Esq., of
this city, who said:
Two centuries ago — twice a hun-
dred years — there came from Swit-
zerland and lived and prospered here
nine men, Menists, or Mennonites.
One hundred and ninety-five years ago,
impressed by the glowing accounts
of their new home, given by Martin
Kendig, who had returned to carry
these tidings to their families and
( 207)
friends, a dozen more men arrived.
With pride I recall in passing that
amongst them was John Rudolph
Kagy, of whom I am a direct and lin-
eal descendant through my maternal
grandmother, Catherine Shenk Rock-
afield. Vigorous, intrepid, courage-
ous, self-reliant and confident they
must have been. Other white men
joined with them, notably the Pat-
terson family, who had come from
Ireland, and had become the owners
of large tracts of land in nearby
townships, and not only on this, but
on the far side of the Susquehanna
river.
Into this family some of these set-
tlers married, and the mingling of
blood and nationality sent out
through these United States almost
a new race to usefulness, honor and
distinction in private, as well as civil,
military and political life. Marry-
ing, however, more largely amongst
themselves, they formed here a com-
munity of God-fearing, law-abid|ing,
conscientious, simple men and wom-
en, who have been and with their
descendants, carrying along their
convictions and rules of life, to this
day are the most important, the most
exemplary element in our rural citi-
zenship.
What brought them to this locality,
where looking out upon it in all its
beauty it would seem as if God had
here lingered in His work? We all
of us, in the persons of our ancestors,
have had our heritage more or less
distant of religious persecution. A
great wonder has been excited
in our minds in this lat-
ter day that the hand of a
Christian should ever have been
raised against another because of
his religious belief or practices. This
universal heritage and this wonder
have urged us on to a serious consid-
eration of the question and a most
(208)
scrupulous examination of the facts.
The result has been with the calm,
the exhaustive, the careful, the Chris-
tian historian, a finding that, deplor-
able as these persecutions are, they
■were the work of the civil govern-
ments, and seldom, if ever, incited,
encouraged or approved by the solely
eccles<liastical authorities. History,
fortunately for the Mennonite Church,
needs no searchlight to find an ab-
sence of responsibility upon it for re-
ligious persecution. It was ever the
victim; and the causes of its offend-
ing were the teaching that State and
Church must be independent of each
other, their refusal to bear arms, to
take the oath, and hold office. It was
the desire for fuller religious free-
dom and for exemption from heavy
burdens of taxation and civil obliga-
tions which they could not conscien-
tiously accept that caused them to
leave their native land. William
Penn molested no man on account of
his faith; men of all faiths trusted
William Penn. The land of Penn was
one of the two colonies where liberty
of religious faith and worship was
practically guaranteed. This brought
them to Pennsylvania.
Their plea and practice of toler-
ance, not only for themselves, but
for all men, elevated them high
above most of the others fleeing from
religious persecution.
With greater merit can be said of
our Mennonite settlers what Dr.
Eliot, former President of Harvard
College, declared at the recent dedi-
cation of the National Pilgrim Monu-
ment at Provincetown, Mass.: "They
were genuine pioneers of both civil
and religious liberty;" and the tablet
upon the monument we dedicate to-
day would more fittingly bear the
inscription placed upon that other
monument, to wit: "For the first time
in history they illustrated, with long-
(209)
suffering devotion, and sober reso-
lutions, the principles of civic and
religious liberty in practice of a gen-
uine democracy. Therefore the re-
membrance of them shall be perpet-
ual in the great Republic that has in-
herited their ideals." The descend-
ants of the Puritans boast that "their
ancestors fled from the face of their
persecutors, willing to encounter per-
ils in the wilderness and perils by
the heathen," rather than be depriv-
ed by the ruthless persecutor of the
free exercise of their religion. The
descendants of the Swiss Mennonites
who, amid hardships and trials, made
the first settlements among the In-
dians in the southeastern part of
Lancaster county can lay claim to
more. Their ancestors did not seek
for themselves and others only the
unmolested exercise of faith and the
practice of worship; but they in
turn did not persecute others who
differed from them in religious opin-
ion. They plead for universal tolera-
tion and their practice confirmed it.
"They left unstained what there they
found. Freedom to worship God!"
Who can limit the effect of this
toleration? May it, with the like
characteristic of the Quaker.not have
reached to the easier adoption of
what was then a political expedient,
the complete toleration guaranteed
by the Constitution of the United
States, and the rejection of an estab-
lished Church supported by taxation;
for there was then a hideous record
in all or nearly all the colonies, ex-
cepting Pennsylvania and Maryland,
of discriminating, invidious and intol-
erant legislation.
The Mennonites were a sober,quiet
and unassuming people, taking little
interest in Government and the
affairs of the outside world. Al-
though t hey insisted upon the
(210)
greatest simplicity in every detail of
daily living, yet everything they used
was of the very best material. The
term"Menist fine" finally came to be
used among the tradesmen of the
Netherlands as a synonym for the
best that could be secured. It has Its
local equivalent with us. Closeness of
the resemblance in almost every de-
tail between them and the Quaker is
certainly the result of a close connec-
tion between the two denominations.
They were and are almost invariably
a rural people — ^a life considered from
time immemorial the only real and
normal life. The Homeric Kings "re-
joice in their hearts, counting sheaves
with the sceptre." It is still the re-
liant life of the State, for Socialism
will be wrecked upon agriculture and
the soil. It considers them only as a
value.while they are also an affection.
It puts a price upon them,but they are
also loved.
By their non-participation in civil
government, they have been criticised
and misunderstood. In a single para-
graph their obedience to proper con-
stituted authority is made clear.
Menno Simon in his complete work
says :
"We now publicly confess that the
office of a Magistrate is ordained of
God, as we ever have confessed since
we serve, according to our small
talent, the Word of the LfOrd, and in
the meantime we have ever obeyed
them when not contrary to the Word
of God, and we intend to do so all our
lives, for we are not so stupid as not
to know what the Lord's Word com-
mands in this respect. We render
unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's as Christ teaches (Matt.
22:21); we pray for the Imperial
Majesty, Kings, Lords, Princes and
(211)
all in authority, honor and obey
them."
Their truthfulness in the civil gov-
ernment is remarkably shown by their
acquiring and paying for the lands
■which they took up upon their arrival.
The children of unnaturalized citizens
could not inherit land from their par-
ents, nor could the parents them-
selves convey land to others. From
1705 to 1742, naturalizations were by
private Act, and it took years of peti-
tioning and waiting before the Assem-
bly would grant the rights of citi-
zenship. It was not until 1729, nine-
teen years after the arrival of the
first party of settlers, and fourteen
years after the arrival of the next
contingent, that any of the Lancaster
Mennonites were naturalized. It took
two years to pass this bill, and only
after Governor Gordon, in his mes-
sage to the Assembly, recommending
the passage of the bill, stated that
they had "hitherto behaved them-
selves well, and have generally so
good a character for honesty and in-
dustry as to deserve the esteem of
the Government, and a mark of its
regard for them." They had taken
and paid for the lands with full
knowledge, because it was distinctly
called to their attention of their
inability until they could become
naturalized to transmit these lands
to their children, or convey them dur-
ing their lives to anybody else.
They are a people who carry con-
science into their daily lives, their
business and pursuits. Like our
Courts of Equity, the Council was and
is always in session, the doors al-
ways open. The scoffer of the Men-
nonite is either one who has felt by
himself or those in whom he was in-
terested the hand of the Council or is
vincibly ignorant.
(212)
Such, and of such, were your an-
cestors. It might be enough that
their virtues have lived after them;
that their names and blood have been
crried down for generations and
course in your veins; that the evi-
dence of their thrift and industry is
here in these broad acres. But, no,
their achievement has passed be-
yond the possession of their blood. It
is history. And the Lancaster County
Historical Society, whose work is to
mark history, has felt the necessity
and taken the liberty of erecting to
the memory of your ancestors and
their achievement, here, almost on the
spot which was the nucleus of the
settlement, a fitting monument. We
think we have succeeded. It is simple
and rugged, this huge boulder of
stone, quarried hereabouts; the
story it tells is modestly told; the
story it tells is plain. I now present
it to you.
Accepted by Hon. J. G. Homsher.
The speech of acceptance on be-
half of the descendants was made by
Hon. John G. Homsher, of Strasburg,
who said:
To me has been assigned the pleas-
ant duty to receive for and on behalf
of the people this impressive, appro-
priate and imperishable memorial,
and to bespeak their thanks to the
Historical Society.
I believe that I express the senti-
ments of the people when I say that
this day and this occasion by the
Historical Society will bring to us
all a greater and fuller realization
and appreciation than we have had
before of the momentous importance
and influence that the lives and
character and principles of these first
settlers have had upon our own lives
and characters, and upon our mater-
ial welfare. And that as time goes
(213)
on, and we realize yet more fully
what these characteristics have been
to us, we will appreciate yet more
kindly this happy courtesy of the
Historical Society, and will regard
this memorial with an ever-increas-
ing veneration.
In our happy prosperity, and in the
busy duties of our daily lives, we
were prone to tliink too little of how
much we owe to them. Our coun-
ty is pointed out the world over as
its garden spot and fairest domain.
There are many other places with
land as fertile and climate as fair, but
all did not inherit, like us, their pe-
culiar traits of character, their in-
dustry and their example.
These traits of character and these
principles have attracted the atten-
tion and admiration of learned and
able people far and wide, men and
women working together in tie com-
mon effort to discern from the an-
nals of the past and from example
true wisdom, as a means to perpetu-
ate our welfare and our institutions,
and to that end to mark merit where
they find it. They recognize in the
principles and in the lives and char-
acters of these pioneers the elements
of true greatness which lie at the
very foundation of our exalted pros-
perity and progress over all the rest
of the world.
Strange it seems to us that the Old
World, which has advanced with us
in many other respects, in erudition,
mechanical skill, science, music and
art, still lacks the simple wisdom to
promote anything like the happy
prosperity these settlers established
here two hundred years ago. There
are many places in the world to-day
where life among the people who
work is drudgery and a struggle to
get enough to eat.
At no other place in the world are
(214)
the comforts and the luxuries of life
so much within the reach of all the
people as here.
This is our heritage from them,
and we take it, that it is to recognize,
impress and perpetuate these prin-
ciples of the first settlers, from which
has emanated this happy condition
that has actuated the Historical So-
ciety to commemorate this day and
to erect this memorial.
May it stand to us, our children,
and our children's children, as a con-
stant reminder of their sturdy vir-
tues, ever beckoning us on to emu-
late their example.
We cannot follow in all their ways.
Two hundred years have wrought
many changes in customs, modes,
forms and manner of living, and the
coming years will bring other changes.
But principles never change. And so,
through all the changes in these
things that have come.or that the fu-
ture time may bring.let this memorial
be a sign to us to ever cling to those
principles of religion, industry,equal-
ity of man and the dignity of labor
as our greatest inheritance and hope
for the future.
Members of the Historical Society,
you have our thanks, our gratitude,
our affection and our friendship. We
shall know you better for this day
and this occasion. And it is our hope
and ardent prayer that we may be
wise and able, by adherence to those
principles which you recognize by
commemorating this day and pre-
senting to us this memorial, to ever
maintain this fair land still as the
garden spot,to hand down to our chil-
dren, and, in the words of the benev-
olent founder of Pennsylvania, Wil-
liam Penn, inscribed in letters of
stone, a yard long, as durable as this
boulder, around the massive dome of
the capitol of our great State, the
(215) •
most conspicuous thing in all the
splendors of that mighty edifice, as
these principles are the most import-
ant to our well-being, "THAT AN EX-
AMPLE MAY BE SET VP TO THE
NATIONS, THAT WE MAY DO
THE THING THAT IS TRVLY WISE
AND JVST."
Address of Acceptance for the Church.
Mr. C. R. Herr, one of the Trus-
tees of the Church, on whose prop-
erty the exercises were held, then
accepted the boulder and tablet for
the church in the following address:
Mr. President and Friends:
By a vote passed by the church
some time ago, this church left in
the hands of its trustees the ques-
tion of receiving on their property
the marker which you see before you,
and, in the capacity of trustees, we
now act.
We deem it fitting to receive this
stone and tablet to keep in the mem-
ory of the coming generations the
fact that 'here the first settlement in
our county was located.
They not only began the task of
opening up this section to civiliza-
tion, but, led by their venerable min-
ister, they were the first organized
body of men, or church, to begin the
worship of God in our county.
Here, then, in the shade of the for-
est, among the rocks and running
streams they first offered praise and
thanksgiving to God for his manifold
blessings, and it is doubly fitting that
this church, here at this place, hav-
ing in its care, land donated by one
of those pioneer settlers, and in and
under the care of those who have
tried to preserve and practice the
same faith which their ancestors
planted here 200 years, should re-
ceive upon its ground this marker.
(216)
It is not to glorify them that we
do this, but to place a mark here to
remind us, and all who shall look
upon this memorial, of their courage,
sacrifice and devotion, and that it
shall be an inspiration to us to live
as noble and worthy lives toward
God as they did, and to make us ever
grateful that, by their sacrifice and
through what they did before us, we
are enjoying the inheritance and
blessings which God in His loving
kindness is still extending unto us.
In this spirit, then, not with the
object of worshiping any man or body
of men, does this church, through its
trustees, accept this marker.
To God, and not to man, be all the
praise.
Mr. Chairman, president and mem-
bers of the Lancaster Historical So-
ciety, I now gratefully and formally
receive, for the church here repre-
sented, this marker.
THE MEMORIAL.
The address of Mr. Herr was fol-
lowed by singing "America" by the
entire audience standing, after which
Bishop N. B. Grubb pronounced the
benediction upon the forenoon ses-
sion.
The tablet and boulder were then
unveiled.
The securing and erecting of the
nine-ton boulder and commemorative
plate was delegated to a committee
consisting of H. Frank Eshleman and
J. Aldus Herr, who were ably assist-
ed by C. R. Herr, William Gontner
and others.
The plate was devised by Mr. Esh-
leman from historical Jlocuments,
etc., and cast by the Monumental
Bronze Company, of Bridgeport,
Conn. The boulder was quarried by
Mr. Aldus Zittle, who lives on the
original tract, near Strasburg, and
was handled by John H. Myers, his
(217)
foreman, Ard George, managing it.
It was hauled by the trolley company
and erected by W. Y. Haldy, as-
sisted by Messrs. Eshleman, J. Aldus
Herr, C. R. Herr and Mr. Gontner. It
has been numerously photographed.
It occupies a conspicuous position in
the center of the front fence of the
church yard, close to the public road.
The Recess.
It was then about noon, and the
next two hours were spent in taking
lunch and in social intercourse and
inspection of the historic points con-
nected with the ancient tract, prin-
cipally about the old Christian Herr
house, about 300 yards north of the
church, on the farm of David Huber.
THE AFTERNOON SESSION.
The afternoon session began at 2
o'clock. The presiding officer was
Hon. John H. Landis, formerly State
Senator, and now Superintendent of
the United States Mint, Philadelphia.
His address was as follows:
My Friends:
Two hundred years ago our fath-
ers founded a home here on the fer-
tile acres which their descendants
have cultivated these many years.
The fires of religious persecution
drove them from their homes in the
Old World. Some of the associates
of practically every fami^iy of these
Swiss Mennonites were •either be-
headed or burned at the stake. Under
the guidance of Almighty God they
came to America and made their
abode here in the land of Penn, and,
remaining true to their faith, they
helped found this grond structure of
a free Republic. Its material they
quarried from the mountain of truth,
and its foundation stones they laid
broad and deep upon the eternal prin-
ciples of right, and as it grew and ex-
tended its powers, the result of their
(218)
(219)
courage and their labors inspired and
encouraged the hearts and hopes of
mankind. They were not only among
the first to come to these shores to
found an asylum for the oppressed,
where all nations could come to wor-
ship God and breathe the pure air of
religious freedom, but, after estab-
lishing their homes, they were the
first to protest against the practice
of human bondage, and their influ-
ence was exerted quietly and unos-
tentatiously, until finally their pro-
test shook a continent and hastened
the dawning of that happy day when
human slavery was abolished. Thus
they were the pioneers in the cause
of human freedom in this country.
We, their children, take pleasure
to-day in gathering around the graves
of these early settlers, to whom we
owe a heavy debt of gratitude, to pay
tribute to their memory and to point
to the sturdy qualities for which they
were noted, as worthy examples for
us and our children to emulate.
Ex-Gov. Pennypacker Speaks.
The presiding officer than intro-
duced ex-Gov. Pennypacker, who had
as his subject, "The Mennonite Influ-
ence upon Mankind." As no one, per-
haps, is better versed upon this sub-
ject than the learned historian,whose
contributions to the literature on the
Germans are especially rich, his ad-
dress was most entertaining.
In opening, he paid a compliment
to Mr. Hensel, who secured him
for the programme, for his la-
bors in getting due recognition for
Lancaster county's achievements both
at home and abroad. He had been
informed, he said, that that remark-
able old Herr house is in a decaying
condition. It should be preserved
as long as Lancaster county lasts, and,
if your committee undertakes it, the
speaker said he would be glad to
(220)
make a contribution for tliat purpose.
He also referred to what he char-
acterized as "the admirable address '
delivered at the morning exercises
by H. Frank Eshleman, Esq.,
and, adverting to an incident
recited by the latter to the effect that
at an election held many years ago
in charge of a certain Christian Herr
the accusation was made that more
ballots were found in the box than
there were cast, the ex-Governor de-
clared it as his belief that if Chris-
tian Herr had charge of the election
no ballots were found in the box ex-
cept those cast by parties who had
the right to do so. Human nature
then was very much the same as it is
to-day,and those who fought contests
at the polls and were defeated were
apt to see in the crowds that attend-
ed the elections a smaller number
than that represented by the ballots
in the box. It is always a pleasure
to meet with the Mennonites, the ex-
Governor continued. They represent
that which is solid, substantial and
conservative. A great railroad pres-
ident, who has amassed a vast for-
tune, in a recent speech advised the
youth of the cities to go back to the
farms. The descendants of the
Herrs, and the Mylins and the Ken-
digs never left the farms. In these
days of hysterical manifestations,
when charlatans and irresponsible
men go over the country, wandering
here and there, assailing their neigh-
bors and endeavoring to disrupt our
institutions, it is relieving to note
this conservative people. And when
you listen to the commotion of the
other class it is well to observe that
all the great forces of nature are si-
lent. The oak grows to immense pro-
portions, the moon rolls around the
earth and the earth around the sun,
(221)
y«t neither makes enough noise to
vaken a sleeping child.
In many respects the Mennonites
are the most interesting of all the
emigrants who came to America. Cer-
tainly their history was the most
tragic. Their fathers traced their an-
cestry back to some forefather who
was either beheaded or burned at the
stake. There is presiding over this
assembly my distinguished friend, Mr.
Landis. Outside, I shook hands with
my other friend, the Judge, and in
the book which I hold in my hand I
find the story of how one, John Lan-
dis, was beheaded in 1614. In the
"Ausbund," the old German hymn-
book, we find an interesting descrip-
tion of these old-world Mennonites,
as they came down the Rhine to take
the boat at Rotterdam for America.
They wore heavy wooden shoes, fas-
tened with iron and nails. They had
long beards and few possessions, but
were fond of prayer, and were given
to the ways of the Lord. Menno Si-
mon was a Dutch Frieslander, but the
movement he started did not origin-
ate in Holland. It is marvellous how
often we note in the history of the
world's manifestations great move-
ments do not come from the centres
of the strong and cultured, but from
obscure places and by the uneducat-
ed. Caesar was not born in Rome.
Napoleon came from an island in the
Mediterranean. It is the same in lit-
erature. The great books did not all
originate in the colleges. Bunyan
never saw the inside of a college;
Shakespeare was born in a log cabin,
and Dickens came out of the slums of
ijondon. And so it was that far up
the Rhine, among the Swiss peas-
ants, about the year 1520, came the
great movement teaching the separa-
tion of Church and State. The first
promulgation of that thought was
(222)
novel. It brought the Mernionites
into conflict with both Church and
State, yet it is regarded now as the
corner-stone of our governmental sys-
tem. Some English people joined the
Mennonite colony, then returned to
England and started the Baptist
movement there, and the organization
of the Society of Friends. So it
came about that when our country
was settled two of the original thir-
teen States, Rhode Island and Penn-
sylvania, owed their origin to the
teaching of the Mennonites on the
Rhine. But there is a still broader
significance,for the Constitution, both
of Pennsylvania and the United
States, provides that there shall be
no interference with freedom of con-
science, and thus the Church and
State were severed. That idea was
not found in Virginia, where the sys-
tem was to unite Church and State
with the dominancy of the Church of
England. Nor did it come from Mas-
sachusetts, much as has been said
and written about her. Their idea
was to found a theocracy. They hang-
ed the Quakers and drove Roger Wil-
liams beyond the borders. The fun-
damental thought at the basis of the
United States Government comes
from the teaching of the Mennonite
peasants on the Upper Rhine.
All then heartily joined in singing
"Onward, Christian Soldiers," led by
Mr. Gochenour, and participated in
by the greatly augmented audience
of the afternoon.
Dr. John H. Musser's Address.
Dr. John H. Musser.of Philadelphia,
scion of a family of noted Lancaster
county physicians, himself the most
distinguished of them all, occupied
the next period on the programme.
Dr. Musser was born and raised at
Strasburg, and his theme was fitting
(223)
for the occasion, "The Old Home."
But a few hours before his arrival
upon the scene he landed from an
European trip, and, as he expressed
it, "had scarcely as yet shaken his
sea legs." He arrived, he added, in
happy spirit to visit the scenes oi
his childhood, and when he reached
Strasburg he felt the full impulse
conveyed by the lines of "The Ola
Oaken Bucket." It would ill become
him were he not perfectly willing to
testify to the great virtues of his an-
cestors. That measure of success
which has come to us we owe to
them. It may sometimes seem rather
mortifying to confess it, but there is
no more positive truth than that suc-
cess belongs to those who are strong
physically, and strong physique can
only come from such soil as this on
which we stand. To our ancestors
we also owe the acquisition of the
habit of industry. Personally, the
speaker said that the quality of
thrift, so characteristic of his people,
he did not inherit, and, although he
retains in his possession a number
of old and rare deeds of Lancaster
county land, he does not own a foot
of it, and he took occasion while on
the platform to produce the deeds
and present them publicly to the His-
torical Society. One was dated 1711,
and was a grant from the Penn Com-
missioners. It was in the tenth year
of the reign of Queen Anne. From
one of the old documents he discov-
ered that his grandfather bore the
title of "Doctor," and that he prac-
ticed medicine in this region.
Address by General John E. Roller.
The concluding address of the af-
ternoon was by General John E. Rol-
ler, of Harrisonburg, Va., whose
subject was: "The Pennsylvania-
Germans in Virginia." General
(224)
Roller bore a gallant and con-
spicuous part in the Civil War
in upholding the cause of the
Confederacy. He is a fine type of
the old school of Southern gentle-
man, and, despite his eighty years,
still bears a handsome soldierly fig-
ure and robust physique. He Is, per-
haps, better versed in the absorbing-
ly interesting history of the famous
Shenandoah Valley than any man
living, and, while he adheres with loy-
alty and love to his Southern home
land, he boasts with pride of his
Pennsylvania-German ancestry, and
accords to them a fine tribute of
praise. He is the President of the
Pennsylvania-German Society.
He pictured with eloquent tongue
the migration of the Pennsyl-
vania host beyond the banks of
the Susquehanna, and the Rappahan-
nock, through Maryland and Virginia,
and to-day in tnose Southern States
are encountered again and again fam-
ilies bearing the same names as those
of the old settlers of Pennsylvania.
This stream of population moving to
the South intermingled with the
cross-currents of the Scotch-Irish, the
Huguenots and the Cavaliers,and this
intermingling produced a people
whose strength will only be fully re-
vealed by the hand of time. A Ger-
man, John Lederer, was the first
white man to behold the enchanting
beauty of the Shenandoah Valley. The
rare beauty it possesses, and its in-
teresting romances and historical fig-
ures were then briefly touched upon
by the speaker, who then took up a
discussion of the prominent part the
Pennsylvania-Germans bore in the
Civil War. Many names familiar to
Lancaster county, notably Eshleman
and Shenk, are found in the records
of the Confederacy, where the story
of their valor is recited. General
(225 )
RolleT paid a glowing tribute to these
brave spirits. But, despite the cir-
cumstances of the past, his love for
his country's flag is no less than the
most passionate patriot who fought
on the side of the North to save it,
and he declared that he never makes
an address before a body of Confed-
erate soldiers that he does not em-
brace its folds and call upon them to
be unfailing in upholding it.
This ended the afternoon session,
and the large audience dispersed.
The day was fine and cool, and the
frequent rains of the preceding weeks
allayed all the dust.
THE EVENING SESSION.
The third session of the day was
held in the Court room, the audience
entirely filling the same.
W. U. Hensel presided at this meet-
ing, which was opened with prayer
by Rev. Dr. H. H. Apple. After the
prayer Mr. Hensel delivered the fol-
lowing address:
Address of Mr. Hensel.
"A geological map of Lancaster
county is something more than a
parti-colored diagram. Our soil pre-
sents as great a variety of elements
as our racial history presents differ-
ences of blood and our religion ex-
hibits diversity of sects. Under the
sheltering roof of the Conewago, the
Cornwall and the Brecknock hills
there abide a composite citizenship
and social life that hold within their
settlement and their development a
story of rare interest and a picture
of many tones.
"Without a severance or breach the
great central body of limestone
spreads and stretches from Schoe-
neck to Safe Harbor, from Bainbridge
to the Gap. All along our northern
border, from Churchtown to Fal-
( 226 )
mouth, the old red sandstone proudly
raises its defiant head; from Chris-
tiana to Conestoga, and from Camar-
go to Kirk's Bridge the single strip
of limestone that lays itself across
the shale and chestnut-covered lands
is the slender tongue that extends
through the Chester valley. An out-
cropping of slate on Turkey Hill and
at Peach Bottom; a dash of Potsdam
at Chickies winking across the coun-
ty to another in Salisbury and East
Earl; streaks of serpentine in Little
Britain and the red trails of trap from
Caernarvon to Fulton and through
the boulder fields that lie -west of
Elizabethtown, attest a fragmentary
element that nowhere else appears.
"So, too, it happens that in our so-
cial settlement two dominant types
stand forth — the German-Swiss Men-
nonite on the limestone, and the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians on the
thinner lands. The one knew that
where the heavy timber grew it took
sturdy soil to clear the land, the fer-
tile soil would yield rich crops; and
the other soon learned that where the
clearing of the light timber was easy
the soil was thin and its natural
yield was correspondingly scant.
"Thus it happened that the great cen-
tral limestone belt of Lancaster coun-
ty became the heritage of the Penn-
sylvania German, and that tenacity
and fondness for the soil which Taci-
tus praised as the characteristic of
the Teuton have kept it for the chil-
dren of the settlers to this day.
"We have met to commemorate es-
pecially the continuing virtues of this
chief and basic element of our coun-
ty's composite citizenship. It has
not been self-assertive. It has walk-
ed in the furrows the fathers plowed
two centuries ago, and it has worn
the yoke of honest toil for six gen-
erations. But, all the while it has
sent its sons and colonies through
(227)
all the limestone valleys of Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland and Virginia; the
trail of its red barn has blazed a path-
way across the continent, and its har-
vests have woven a golden girdle
from the Alleghenies to the Sierras.
"It has been well said that a people
who have no praise for their ances-
try shall find little pride in their pos-
terity.
"It is, therefore, a fitting close to
this day's celebration, and it is the
crown of this day's commemoration,
that a descendant of those who came
here two hundred years a«o — »'ii
grims of Peace and Pioneers of Pros-
perity — should tell you the part the
Pennsylvania German 'has played in
the story of nations, and how he — the
best examplar and the purest blood
of the Allemanian race — has contrib-
uted to the history of the world. To
tell that story, and to establish that
claim, I present to you a native of
Lancaster county, a scholar and a pa-
triot, proud of his county, loyal to his
Commonwealth, true to his country,
and mindful of all that conserves
their rig^ht relations — ^the professor
of romance languages in Wesleyan
University, Middletown, Conn., Os-
car Kuhns."
Prof. Kuhns' Address.
It was a scholarly address that Prof.
Kuhns delivered upon the "Ethnical
Origin of the Pennsylvania Ger-
mans." He began by congratulating
the committee upon the shining suc-
cess of the day's celebration,and,after
allusion to the fact that he was born
in Columbia and descended from pure
Pennsylvania German stock, he
launched into a discourse upon the
ancient history and derivation of the
race.
Prof Kuhns' address in full was as
follows :
( 228 )
It is strange how little the Penn-
sylvania Germans know about their
own origin. They know, in general,
that for about two hundred years
they and their ancestors have lived
in America, that they have taken
their share in the development of
the country, have shed their blood
during the Revolution and the Civil
War, and that in every respect they
are true born Americans, in blood, in
spirit and in truth. Yet the only
thing they know about their ances-
tors is that they came from Germany
and Switzerland. This is not so with
the other ethnical elements of the
American people. The English have
practically monopolized the whole
field, and we hear Americans called
on general terms Anglo-Saxons. This
term designates exactly the racial
antecedents of the English people,
and refers to those two branches of
the great Teutonic race that, fifteen
hundred years ago, overran and con-
quered Great Britain, the Angles and
the Saxons. So, too, the expression
"Dutch of New York" suggests at
once the Holland people, who are the
descendants of another Low German
race, or, rather, mixture, for the Hol-
landers are racially a mingling of
Low Prankish with Saxon and Fris-
ian elements.
It is not our place here to speak
of the other elements of the American
nation, the Scotch-Irish and the
French Huguenots. It is of interest,
however, to inquire into the question,
just what racial elements the Penn-
sylvania German belongs to. To dis-
cuss this fully we must go back to the
beginning of things.
The Pennsylvania Germans belong
to the great Aryan or Indo-European
race. This race was once supposed
to have its original seat in India, and
to have gradually spread east and
west; although it is not certain now
( 229 )
where the original seat was. The
race included, however, the Persians
and Hindus in the east, and in the
west, or Europe, the various branches
of Greeks and Romans, Celts, Slavs
and Germans. The Germans were di-
vided originally into the following
groups: The East German group (in-
cluding Goths, Burgundians and Van-
dals); the North German group (in-
cluding Danes, Swedes and Norwegi-
ans) ; the West German group (in-
cluding the Belgians, Frisians and
Franks). In addition to these there
were two other groups, one having
its seat about the mouth of the Elbe,
and consisting largely of Saxons, An-
gles and Cimbri. The last group,
and the one of the most importance
for us, is the Central or Swabian
group. In this are included the Sem-
nones, the Alemanni and the Suevi,
and their various subdivisions. One
of these subdivisions is that of the
Marcomanni, who having settled in
the territory once occupied by the
Boii, a Slavic race, have since been
called Bavarian. Another subdivi-
sion is that of the Lombards, who set-
tled south of the Alps, and from
whom have come the inhabitants of
Italian Switzerland and Northern
Italy (Lombardy).
Everybody knows how the modern
nations have come into existence;
how the Roman Empire gradually
fell before the repeated assaults of
the Northern Barbarians, as the old
Germans were called by the Romans;
how early in the fifth century after
Christ the frontiers of the empire
were broken down; how the Visigoths
and Suevi conquered Spain and form-
ed the basis of the Spanish and Por-
tuguese of to-day; how the Franks
overran the (Roman province of Gaul,
and formed the French nation of to-
day; how the Angles and Saxons con-
quered Great Britain and formed the
( 230 )
English nation; how the Scandina-
vians laid the foundation of Sweden,
Denmark and Norway; how the Sax-
ons grew to a great people, now the
kingdom of Saxony. Thus the great
territory of Germany, as we have
seen, was composed of a number of
these ethnical elements, the Saxons,
the Swabians, the Bavarians, the
Prussians (a later term), the Hes-
sians, and to the west the Frisians
and Holland Dutch.
It is time now for us to investi-
gate the question, which of these ele-
ments have formed the origin of the
Pennsylvania Germans?
If we read the story of the early
German immigration to Pennsylvania,
we shall see at once that almost en-
tirely they came from South Ger-
many, especially from the banks of
the Rhine and from Switzerland.
Hardly any of the north German peo-
ple came over then. This is due to
historical causes which we have not
time to discuss here. Enough to say
that the Pennsylvania Germans came
almost entirely from South Germany
and Switzerland. The largest num-
ber came from the so-called Palatin-
ate, lying on the banks of the Rhine;
so that, indeed,the generic name of the
German immigrants in the early eight-
eenth century was "Palatines." Hence,
if we are to trace the ethnical origin
of the Pennsylvania Germans back
to the sources we must find out what
races founded the Palatinate in Swit-
zerland. This a very simple matter,
for it is a well-known fact that the
German-Swiss are of the purest Ale-
mannic blood,' while the Palatines are
a mixture of Alemannic and Frank-
ish blood. Whence, then, were the Ale-
manni, and who were the Franks?
*The natives of French Switzerland
are of Burg-undian origin; tliose of
Italian Switzerland are of Lombard
origin.
(231 )
We have already seen that tie Ale-
manni belonged to the group of the
Suevi. The name Alemannr is given
to a number of lesser tribes which
gathered around the Semnones, and
thus formed a new and Important na-
tion. Their earliest seat was near
the middle region of the river Elbe.
Fi'om here they spread south and
west, broke through the Roman
limes (wall), and took possession of
the fine lands between the Upper
Rhine and the Danube. As early as
the third century after Christ, we
hear of their wars with the Romans
In 357 A. D., the Emperor Julian
fought a terrible battle against
them, near Strasbourg. From 260
to 369 A. D., the Emperor Valen-
tinian I. carried on war against them.
The result of these wars, as we have
seen, was the final victory of the Ale-
manni and their possession of the
lands across the Rhine. This brings
us to the fifth century, and to the
epoch-making contest between the
Franks and the Aiemanni.
As we have seen, the Franks be-
longed to the West German group.
The name is of later origin, and indi-
cates that they were "free-men."
They spread over France, and form
the basic element of the French peo-
ple of to-day. But they were not con-
tent to remain on the banks of the
Lower Rhine and in France, but
sought for universal conquest.
Spreading along the banks of the
Upper Rhine, they came in conflict
with the Aiemanni, and a world-shak-
ing contest for supremacy arose be-
tween these two mighty peoples. At
that time Clovis was king of the
Franks. His wife was a Christian,
but he was not. He made an oath
that if the God of his wife would give
him the victory over the Aiemanni,
^Some say "Aiemanni" means men ot
holiness.
( 232 )
he would become a Christian. A ter-
rible battle took place at Tolbiac,
near Cologne, in 496, in whic:i Clovis
came off victor. He was baptized on
Christmas Day at Rheims, and from
that time on the Franks were Chris-
tions.
The result was the swallowing up
of the Alemanni by the Franks. Those
who would not yield retired beyond
the Alps and formed the modern
Swiss nation. Those who remained
on the Rhine were under Frankish
rule, and gradually the two people
mingled together, the places left by
the Alemanni who fled to Switzer-
land being taken by Frankish colo-
nists.
Thus we see that the two elements
that make up the Pennsylvania Ger-
mans belong to the most famous
branches of the Teutonic race; and
we have as much reason to be proud
of our Frankish-Alemannic blood as
the English of their much-boasted
Anglo-Saxon blood. We are told
that the ancient Alemanni were inde-
pendent, and insisted on being no
man's underling; and the motto of
the whole race might have been that
of the Swiss /iJhysician Paracelsus
(whom Browning made the subject of
one of his noblest poems) :
Eines andern Knecht soil niemand sein,
Der fiir slch selbst kann bleiben alleln.
We are told that the Alemanni
held their women and the family life
far higher than their neighbors; that
they loved their homes, and yet at the
same time were wanderlustig; that
they had a deep inner life, and were
intensely religious — a fact that ex-
plains the number of sects, not only
in Switzerland, but in Pennsylvania
itself, and has brought it about that
it was among the modern Alemanni
that Pietism had its root, whence
came the recently-formed denomina-
( 233)
tions of the Methodists and the
United Brethren.
And yet, at the same time, the Ale-
manni have always had a tendency
to cheerful company, and were mark-
ed by native wit and a tendency to
gentle humor. The Franks added to
this an element of quickness, readi-
ness, skill in art, and all those quali-
ties which mark the French to-day.
Both Franks and Alemanni were
industrious and hard-working. The
task before them fifteen hundred
years ago was not unlike that of our
ancestors two hundred years ago. They
entered into a wild, unbroken wilder-
ness. They had to root out great
forests, make the ground fruitful,
and to this day place or family names
ending in Ruti, Brand and Schwand
(1. e., land cleared by fire) show the
work they had to do. It was the
Franks, however, that possessed the
greatest skill and talent in agricul-
ture, as can be seen when we com-
pare Switzerland with the Palatinate
(or, indeed, France) in this respect.
They have made the Palatinate the
Garden of Germany. As Riehl says:
"The Franks have made the ground
on the banks of the Middle and Lower
Rhine and in the Palatinate more
fruitful than any other German soil."
There is a strange resemblance in
this respect between the farmers of
Lancaster county and the Palatinate.
Both have made their farms the finest
in their respective countries; both
are rich and flourishing; both grow
even the same crops, for tobacco is
to-day the chief element of wealth
in the Palatinate as well as in Lan-
caster county. Nay, both are alike in
that the richest farms belong to the
Mennonites; as Riehl says of the Pal-
atinate, so we can say of Pennsyl-
vania, "Wo der Pflug durch Goldene
Auen geht, da schlagt auch der Men-
nonite sein Bethaus auf." So much
(234)
for the ethnical elements of the Penn-
sylvania Germans in general. And
now a closing word concerning that
branch of them who first came to
Lancaster county.
We have met to-day to celebrate
the coming of our ancestors from
Switzerland to this country, two hun-
dred years ago. Let every man who
is descended from these ancient Swiss
be proud of his ancestral fatherland.
What more beautiful country can you
find in the world than this land of
freedom and of beauty, with its snow-
covered Alps piercing the blue sky;
with its rivers of ice and its vast
fields of snow?
Where the white mists forever
Are spread and upfurled,
In the stir of the forces
Whence issued the world.
What lover of freedom is there
whose heart does not thrill at the
name of Arnold Winkelried and
William Tell? They are long since
dead, but their memory remains a
treasure and an inspiration in. the
hearts of their countrymen to-day. As
the poet sings:
The patriot Three that met of yore
Beneath the midnight sky.
And leagued their hearts on the Griitli
shore.
In the name of liberty!
How silently they sleep
Amidst the hills they freed.
But their rest is only deep.
Till their country's hour of need,
For the Kiihreihen's notes must never
sound
In a land that wears the chain,
And the vines on Freedom's holy
ground
Untrampled must remain!
And the yellow harvests wave
For no stranger's hand to reap.
While within their silent cave
The men of Griitli sleep.
And shall we not keep in like grate-
ful remembrance those lovers of re-
ligious liberty, who rather than give
up their freedom of conscience left
the hills and valleys of their native
Switzerland, and, crossing the ocean,
(235)
settled in this place two hundred
years ago? What sternness of con-
science, what courage and strength
it required to do this, is hard for us
to understand. To leave the lovely
valley of the ESminenthal, with its
green fields and flourishing hamlets,
or the shores of Lake Zurich, stretch-
ing like a continuous garden on ooth
sides of the lake, to go to an unknown
land, a wilderness unbroken, whose
only inhabitants were the savage red
men; what can you and I know of
such courage as this? Many a time
as I have walked through the Emmen-
thal, or sailed along the shores of
Lake Zurich, I have thought to my-
self, "how could these ancestors of
mine leave these wonderful scenes
for the dangers and uncertainties of
the new world!"
Yes, let us glory in our ancestral
fatherland; let us glory in such men
as Tell and Winkelried; but let us
still more glory in our ancestors, the
Herrs, the Kendigs, the Groffs and
all the rest, who gave up all for free-
dom to serve G-od in their own way,
and according to their own con-
science.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of stirring- drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come.
In silence, and in fear;
They shook the depth of the desert
gloom
With hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang;
Till the stars heard, and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim
woods rang
To the anthem of the free.
There were men with hoary hair
Amidst that pilgrim band;
Why had they come to wither there.
Away from childhood's land?
There was woman's fearless eye,
Lit by her deep love's truth;
There was manhood's brow serenely
high.
And the fiery heart of youth.
(236)
"What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas? The spoils of war?
No — 'twas a faith's pure shrine.
Yes, call that holy ground,
Which first their brave feet trod!
They left unstained what here they
found, —
Freedom to worship God.
At the conclusion of Prof. Kuhns'
address Dr. Apple pronounced the
benediction and the audience dis-
persed.
After adjournment of the meeting
in the Court House many of the vis-
itors and the committee on the cele-
bration and other invited guests were
entertained at the Hamilton Club by
Mr. Hensel.
MEMORIAL VERSES.
Among the most interesting of the
exercises of the day were the poems
of LlojTi Mifllin and Mrs. Mary N.
Robinson. They are as follows:
THE PIONEER OF PEACE.
THE MENNONITE FARMER, LAN-
CASTER COUNTY, PA., 1710-1910.
Like some grave Patriarch of old he
stands
Among the sheaves — far from the
town's embroil —
Bearded and gray, true sovereign of
the soil;
A later Boaz, at whose wise commands
The harvest turns to gold. Lord of
wide lands —
Mellowed by cycles of unending
moil —
He typifies the dignity of toil,
As earth attests the power of his
hands.
Driven by persecution to our shore,*
A man of peace and Christian toler-
*"Thev were in good spirits, even In
their sorrow, although ail their posses-
sions had been taken fiom them. There
were among them one preacher and
two teachers. They were a very sturdy
people by nature, who could endure
hardships, with long, untrimmed
beards, with plain clothes and heavy
shoes shod with heavy iron and large
nails. They were very zealous in
serving God with prayer, reading and
in other ways. They were very simple
in their bearing, like lambs and doves."
— Mueller's description of the early Palatinate
Exiles, citing the Dutch Mennonite Minister,
llcndrick Laurens, in 1710.
(237)
ance rare,
With tranquil faith he thro' life's
tumult goes,
Nor ever turns the needy from his
door;
"While thro' the years of patient work
and prayer
He makes the valleys blossom as
the rose.
— Lloyd Mifflin.
Norwood August, 1910.
THE PEQUEA PILGRIMS.
"They have hitherto behaved them-
selves well and have generally so good
a character for Honesty and Industry
as to deserve the esteem of this Gov-
ernment and a mark of its regard for
them." — Gov. Gordon's l\lessage to the As-
sembly, i;-9.
Pursued, despised r nd rejected,
Tormented, harassed by men.
To every trial subjected
They hed to this land of Penn!
Some "had died in the scorching fire —
The sword and the ax had known;
For the mercy they showed to others
W,,as never unto them shown.
Afar from their homes and their
kindred
They came from their native soil.
For the sake of religious freedom
These sturdy sons of toil!
They risked their lives on the ocean;
They feared neither storm nor wave;
For they knew that the God of their
fathers
Was mighty and strong to save.
Where the waters of Pequea murmur
'Neath shade of the wild grape vine
Safe from all persecution
They came here, each Palatine!
They built each an humble dwelling,
They planted these fertile fields,
And the land to them, responding.
Its noVjlest harvest yields.
Not only the freedom of worship
They found 'neath our Western skies;
Not only the homes of their people
They saw through their labors rise!
But "the garden spot" of our country
Through them on this tract had
birth!
And our County sprang into being
The fairest land on the earth!
They "builded better than they
knew" —
These pioneers of yore,
Who brought with their stern father's
thrift
The simple garb they wore.
So — on this spot where once they stood
We place this stone, to show.
Where dwelt the men who settled here
Two centuries ago!
— Mary N. Robinson.
( 238)
The Souvenir Programme.
Very elaborate and interesting sou-
venir programmes were printed for
the occasion. They contain the let-
ter of the emigrant Mennonites to
their brethren in Europe, memorial
verses on "The Pequea Pilgrims," by
Mrs. Mary N. Robinson; "The Pio-
neer of Peace," an ode written for tha
day by Lloyd Mifflin; a map of the
original tract; the Declaration of the
Mennonites against slavery; the chro-
nology of the first settlement and
cuts of the ancient houses. The pro-
gramme is printed in yellow and
white, the Pennsylvania-German
colors, and the very attractive cover
was designed and drawn by Miss
Martha M. Bowman, of this city.
LETTERS OF REGRET.
To the hundreds of invitations sent
by the Bi-Centennary Committee to
distinguished citizens in other places
and to sons of Lancaster who have
risen tO' fame since leaving their na-
tive heath came many replies, ex-
pressing the deepest regret and ex-
tending congratulations to the His-
torical Society and to Lancaster
county on its notable celebration. Be-
low are reproduced several letters in
full and brief abstracts from others:
From W. D. Howells, Dean of Ameri-
can Letters.
"Grosvenor Hotel,
"London, S. W., Aug. 9, 1910.
"Dear Sir: I thank you for your
letter and its interesting enclosures
My mother's mother was of
pure Pennsylvania German stock —
the Docks, of Harrisburg, well-known
through the Biglers, and through Miss
Maria Dock, the forestress, and Dr.
George Dock, lately of Ann Arbor
I wish I could come to your celebra-
(239)
tion, but I can only thank you for your
proffered hospitality.
"Yours sincerely,
"W. D. HOWELLS.
"W. U. Hensel, Esq."
Hon. James M. Beck, the distin-
guished lawyer of New York, and a
grandson of the venerable John Beck,
the famous schoolmaster of Lltitz,
wrote to the committee expressing
his regrets that professional engage-
ments prevented him from attending
the celebration.
Professor John L. Shroy, a native
of Strasburg, who has written consid-
erable verse associated with the fa-
mous "tract," and who is now a pro-
fessor in the public schools of Phila-
delphia, expressed his great regret at
being unable to attend. His great-
great-grandmother was a daughter of
Kuendig, one of the original settlers.
Rev. Dr. Henry C. McCook, of the
famous "lighting McCook" family, a
noted Presbyterian divine and Presi-
dent of the Presbyterian Historical
Society, wTote that only advanced
years and uncertain health prevented
him from attending in person. He
extended the congratulations of his
society and its wide constituency, and
in his letteT said: "Lancaster county
has been a fertile seed, and of some
of the most worthy influences and in-
dividuals that have helped to benefit
and ennoble our State and country.
I met these and learned to value and
love them in my boyhood home in
Eastern Ohio. The Mennonites es-
pecially have been a savory and
wholesome element in our communi-
ties, wherever they have gone. All
good citizens, of whatever faith or
creed, have reason to join in congrat-
ulations that such a strong and mor-
ally healthful influence has survived
the stress and changes of two hun-
(240 )
dred years in this strenuous age and
land."
On behalf of the American Jewish
Historical Society, from its offices in
New York, Secretary Albert M.
Friedenberg writes: "We send you
greetings on the auspicious event.
None of our officers may be present;
but it is our earnest hope that your
commemoration will be all that you
have planned in this direction."
James D. Law, the Scotch poet,
writes from Clovernook, Roxboro:
"Fortunate, indeed, are the native-
born to an earthly Paradise like
Pennsylvania's County Palatine — ^the
capstone of the Keystone State — and
good sense do the strangers show
that tarry within your gates."
Hon. Alton B. Parker, Democratic
nominee for President in 1904, ex-
pressed great reget that an engage-
ment to make some speeches in
Maine this week prevented him from
coming.
Hon. George F. Baer, President of
the Philadelphia and Reading Rail-
way Company, and of the Board of
Trustees of Franklin and Marshall
College, sent his friendly greetings.
Professor C. Henry Smith, histo-
rian of the Mennonites in America,
and professor in Goshen College, In-
diana, wrote: "I am very glad to
hear of the celebration. The Histor-
ical Society deserves great credit for
the movement."
Hon. George F. Parker, ex-United
States Consul to Birmingham, Eng-
land, wrote that thirty years' asso-
ciation with the people and endear-
ment for the scenes of Lancaster
county impel him to break serious
business engagements to participate.
Harry S. McCartney, a prominent
lawyer of Chicago, formerly a resi-
(241)
dent of Strasburg, wrote to the com-
mittee as follows:
"I am exceedingly sorry that I can-
not be present. These occasions of
home-coming and celebrations of old
settlements, etc., are especially at-
tractive to me. I often played in the
oldest edifice in the county when a
boy, and my uncle David Ruber's
farm partly surrounds the church-
yard in which the old grave of Hans
Herr is located."
The newly-organized Susquehanna
County Historical Society sent greet-
ings from Dimock, Pa., through its
President, Francis R. Cope.
Dr. S. B. Hartman, the milaonaire
farmer, and maker of "Peruna," sent
his regrets and good wishes from Co-
lumbus, Ohio.
E. K. Martin, now of Yonkers, N.
Y.. formerly of Lancaster, and who, it
will be remembered, was one of the
earliest of the later-day writers and
orators to exploit the virtues of the
Mennonite population, wrote to the
Chairman of the Committee on Invi-
tation as follows:
"Your kind letter inviting me to
take part in perpetuating the work
of the founders of Lancaster county,
and the makers of its early history,
has appealed to me as nothing else
has in the years that I have been out
of its borders. For when we were
young men together, as you we'll
know, these were some of the many
thoughts that waked our patriotic en-
thusiasm. But I am here on serious
business, my own health, and a good
physician has passed a severe sen-
tence. Will you give all my friends
in old Lancaster my kind greeting
and tell them how sorry I am not to
be with you."
Hon. G. A. Endlich, President
Judge of the Berks County Court.
wrote that only the obligation to
(242)
hear an argument list of over seventy
cases prevented him from attending;
"how much to my eternal regret I
need not tell you."
FINANCIAL REPORT.
A sub-committee of your commit-
tee, appointed to finance the celebra-
tion, assumed the responsibility of
preparing and printing souvenir pro-
grammes without expense to the So-
ciety, and succeeded in disposing of
sufficient numbers of it to pay the
costs of an edition of fifteen hundred,
so that that item is balanced in the
report of the committee. Their re-
ceipts and expenditures were as fol-
lows:
EXPENDITURES :
Miss Clark, postage $ 8.41
The New Era Printing Company,
printing circular letters, etc.. 13.00
L. B. Herr, postal cards .75
Huber and Lollar, police 6.00
Aldus Zittle, stone 12.00
D. F. Magee, postage 4.68
John H. Myers, lifting, trans-
porting, placing stone, etc... 90.97
Conestoga Paper Company, en-
velopes 8.25
Traveling expenses of invited
■guests 30.00
Freight on plate 1.32
Hood for stone 2.00
Postage stamps 9.50
W. Y. Haldy, work on stone... 98.76
The New Era Printing Company,
printing plates of tablet 3.25
Conestoga Traction Company,
hauling stone 10.00
Memorial Bronze Company,
memorial tablet 40.00
Printing of souvenir pro-
grammes, plates, etc 75.00
Total $413.89
RECEIPTS.
From sale of programmes $ 75.00
Voluntary contributions 338 14
Total $413.14
CONTRIBUTORS.
The following persons contributed
to the expenses of the celebration:
George Steinman, H. Frank Eshle-
(243)
man, W. U. Hensel, R. M. Reilly, F. R.
Diffenderffer, A. B. Hassler, S. D.
Bausman, E T. Fraim, A. K. Hostet-
ter, George Hoffman, J. Hay Brown,
W. W. Griest, Charles I. Land'is, J. G.
Homsher, E. G. Smith, William Rid-
dle, L. B. Herr, S. Clay Miller, J. W.
B. Bausman, B. C. Atlee, J. P. Brene-
man, Paul Heine, I. H. Weaver,
George Crane, C. R. Herr, John A.
C'oyle, J. Aldus Herr, A. F. Hostetter,
W. Y. Haldy, John E. Snyder, D. H.
Landis, J. W. Meminger.
The committee is indebted to Mr.
E. T. Fraim, W. U. Hensel, A. F.
Hostetter, A. C. Bruner, and others
for their entertainment of invited
guests and speakers of the occasion.
All of the above is respectfully re-
ported by your committee as their
execution of the task delegated to
them by this society.
Reported October 7, 1910.
F. R. DIFFENDERFFER,
Chairman ;
H. FRANK ESHLEMAN,
Secretary;
W. U. HENSEL,
C. I. LANDIS,
MISS M. B. CLARK,
W. RIDDLE,
MRS. M. N. ROBINSON,
A. K. HOSTETTER,
J. A. COYLB,
A. P. HOSTETTER,
L. B. HERR,
B. C. ATLEE,
MISS A. NEVIN,
H. L. RAUB,
D. P. MAGEE,
GEO. STEINMAN, ex off.
Members of Committee.
Minutes of October Meeting.
Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 7, 1910.
The Lancaster County Historical
Society held its regnilar monthly meet-
ing this vening in the Smith Free
Library Building. There was a very
encouraging attendance of the mem-
bers. President Steinman was in the
chair.
Librarian Steigerwalt announced
the following donations and publica-
tions received since the previous
meeting: A Book of Poems, "The Poor
But Honest Soldier," 1813, from Miss
Ida V. Lipp; Proceedings of the Penn-
sylvania Pederation of Historical So-
cieties, January, 1910; American
Catholic Historical Society, Decem-
ber, 1909; publication of Lebanon
County Historical Society, April,
1910; Constitution and Register of
Members of General Society of War
of 1812; Anmals of Iowa, April, 1910;
pamphlet of North Carolina His-
torical Society, 1910; Bulletin New
York Public Library, September, 1910;
Fourteenth Annual Report Carnegie
Public Library, Pittsburg, 1910; An-
nual Report Grand Rapids Public
Library, from Samuel H. Ranck; Geo'-
logical Survey of Canada, 1896-1900;
Report of New York State Museum,
1900; Papers Read Before Historical
Society of Frankford, 1910; Proceed-
ings American Philosophical Society,
1910; old map of Lancaster county,
from B. S. Schindle; Annual Report
American Historical Associations,
from the Smithsonian Institution ; post
cards, tobacco raised by Eliza Goch-
nauer (aged 92), of Bamford, and
dismantled zinc furnaces, Bamford,
from D. B. Landis; programme of Jap-
( 244 ^
(245)
anese operetta, "Princess Chrysanthie-
mum," given by the Stevens Girls'
High School, June 4, 1909; Child's
Prayer Book, 1832; Twenty-third An-
nual Report Inter-State Commerce
Commission; a Penn deed, handsome-
ly framed, from W. U. Hensel.
There has been a very large in<
crease in membership in the society.
Seven applications were received this
evening, as follows: Mrs. H. L.
Raub, city; Mrs. D. H. Landis, Win-
dom; George R. Oberholtzer, Erie,
Pa.; Horace Engle, Roanoke, Va. ; H.
L. Simon, city; Mrs. John Witmer
Hopper, city; George N. Reynolds,
city,
j-he following persons proposed at
a previous meeting were elected
members: Luther Willig,Dr. D. Sher-
man Smith, Mrs. D. Sherman Smith,
Dr. F. A. Achey, A. B. Hess, this city;
Hon. J. G. Homsher, Strasburg, and
Hon. D. W. Graybill, East Petersburg.
The report of the Executive Com-
mittee, read by Secretary Hollinger,
was as follows:
At a meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee of the Lancaster County His-
torical Society the offer of a number
of old Lancaster parchments, owned
by Judge Shippen, was accepted from
Miss Anna M. Weaver. A motion was
adopted to publish in the society's
pamphlet the article on "Michael Wit-
man, Loyalist." As Mr. Steigerwalt,
the librarian, is unable to look after
the affairs of his office, Miss Lottie
M. Bausman was elected as his assist-
ant. A motion was adopted authoriz-
ing the secretary to negotiate with
The New Era for the purchase of the
cut of the Bi-Centenary Memorial
boulder.
On motion, the report was accepted.
Secretary Hollinger read a letter
from Mr. Heilman. Secretary of the
Federation of State Historical Socie-
ties, in which he extended congratu-
(246)
lations to the local society for the
most excellent work it has been doing
along true historical lines. The Lan-
caster society's report in the proceed-
ings of the State Federation sur-
passes nearly all her sister societies.
The report of the committee which
had charge of the recent Bi-Centen-
ary exercises at the Brick Church
presented a report through the sec-
retary, Mr. H. Prank Eshleman. It
covered the full proceedings of the
notable event.
The committee and Mr. Eshleman
were extended a vote of thanks for
their work ,and thanks were als'o ex-
tended to those who contributed to
the expenses of the event.
A vote of thanks was also extended
to Miss Mary Bowman, of this city,
who designed the cover of the sou-
venir of the Bi-Centenary. It was a
most creditable piece of work, which
has been most favorably commented
upon.
On motion, it was ordered that the
treasurer pay Mrs. Mott, the house-
keeper of the Smith building, $5 for
her services.
President Steinman was ordered to
secure a drop light for the society, to
be used on the presiding officer's
table.
A brief paper on the Holland Land
Company's effort to make maple su-
gar in this country in the eighteenth
century was read by Mr. Hollinger. It
was ordered to be published.
Adjourned.
APPENDIX
ADDRESS iDELIVERED SEPT. 8,
1910, AT THE BI-CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION OF LANCASTER.
COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLE-
IVIENT BY H. FRANK
ESHLEMAN.
Lancaster county was conceived in
Godliness and honest toil. Her foun-
dation was laid upon the two great
bedrocks of religion and agriculture.
Uppermost in the minds of her earl-
iest pioneers were these two noble
activities. To practice these, they
came to the virgin forests of the
Pequea and of the Conestoga 200
years ago. And these virtues are
our best possessions to-day. Expon-
ent of free religion and fertile farms
then, this county has remained their
most vigorous nursery in America,
ever since — their most thriving cen-
ter through two centuries.
1. — The Religious Meaning.
What has been the religious mean-
ing of our 200 years? Religious fer-
vor, transplanted here, flowered out
into religious freedom — religious love,
ripened into religious liberty. Bruis-
ed by the barbarous iron heel of an
an'ogant state church — filled with the
horrors of religious bigotry — satiate
with, and stung by the memory of
the traditions and trials and tur-
moils and torments and the tortures,
suffered by themselves and their
ancestors for centuries, for con-
science sake, these pious pioneers
would not deny to any other soul,
an equal freedom with their own,
to worship God. And thus all creeds
took root, at once, and flourished
here. An English visitor to our coun-
ty in its very infancy in 1744 wrote.
[3]
[4]
"The religious that prevail here are
hardly to Lt numbered" (An. Susq.,
p. 344).
The Mennonites planted their reli-
gion here in 1710 — the Presbyterians,
Quakers and Episcopalians theirs in
1719 — the Reformed theirs in 1722
at Heller's — the Ephrata Bankers,
theirs in 1726 — the Amish, theirs be-
fore 1730 — the Lutherans, theirs in
1733— the Catholics, theirs in 1740— (9
L., 213 et. seq.) — the Jews, theirs
in 1742, (3 L., 165) — the Moravians,
theirs the same year (9 L., 226) —
Dunkards and Baptists, theirs equal-
ly early as most these — the Metho-
dists, theirs some time afterwards
— the United Brethren, the Reformed
■Mennonites, the Evangelical, United
Evangelical, the Church of God, the
Swedenborgen, and a score of oth-
ers, theirs in quick succession, until
in modern times three dozen differ-
ent creeds flourish here. And all,
from the beginning, prospered and
now prosper in peace and harmony
together.
From first to last, ours have been
a reverential, religious people. And
thus to-dav within this county's con-
fines there is a higher percentage
of communicants than in any other
section of America and a, far greater
number of active religious creeds
and sects than in any other equal
area on the face of the earth.
While in our country as a whole,
about one-third of the population are
churchmen — in this county the ipro-
portion is nearly half. While in all
America there are 1S6 religious de-
nominations, Lancaster county alone
has 35 of them (U. S. Bulletin of
Religions, 1906). Those whose views
did not and do not now coincide
with the creeds of established church-
es quickly and freely invented and
now invent creeds of their own —
deeply religious, their religious crav-
ing must be satisfied. Thus practic-
ally all here, "belong to church."
From their earliest days the re-
ligious forces of this county have
made themselves a center of Gospel
[5]
radiation to other fields — a mother-
land of church power and influence
throughout wide regions. The Men-
nonites quiclily spread their faith
and creed across the Susquehanna in-
to the Cumberland and down the
Shenandoah; and before the Revolu-
tion established the Virginia church.
In the early days of the nineteenth
century, from this county they went
and planted their standard in Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois and over wide
fields in Canada; and after the Civil
War, established their phase of the
doctrine of peace in Kansas and the
West.
The Presbj^terians of Donegal early
carried the Gospel beyond the AHe-
ghenies — the Presbyterians of Octo-
raro planted their banners in Cath-
olic Maryland — the Presbyterians of
Pequea flanked out to Leacock and
Little Britain and became the field
where Rev. Robert Smith in his
42 years of preaching and teaching
became the theological giant and the
first great peer of Presbyterianism in
this region of America. Through Rob-
ert Smith. "Old Pequea" sent forth
a score of Presbyterian preachers,
east and west, among them Waddell,
McMillan and the junior Smiths, who
also preached and taught and devel-
oped religious schools and laid the
foundations of Jefferson, Sydney, Un-
ion and Princeton Colleges, (9 L.,
252).
The Reformed and Lutherans, long
before the Revolution founded differ-
ent German religious schools, made
scores of ministers and by that
means laid the foundation on wliich
to erect, at the close of that war,
Franklin, and later Marshall College,
the busy breeder of a yearly score
or two of powerful preachers through-
out more than a century, bringing
the bread of life to thousands
throughout Eastern America.
The Moravians missionized whites
and Indians alike from the earliest
days. Other churches also flung out
their powers far and wide beyond
the county. Thus through all her
history Lancaster countj^ has stood
[6]
in conspicuous pre-eminence for re-
ligious activity and earnestness — re-
ligious radiation and energy.
Of religious Lancaster county as
a whole we may observe that, the
great body of its Christians were
and are today believers in the liter-
al meaning of the Bible; accept in
simplicity its humble, homely teach-
ings and give no ear to the "new
thought," the higher criticism or the
higher cults and culture. They have
never tried to explain away the Gos-
pel or make a pleasant or only
probable Hell.
Again observe that practically the
whole of our people are still wed-
ded to the belief not only that re-
ligion is part of the common law of
the land, but that God ought to be
in all our 'political constitutions and
that belief in the Savior ought to be
one of the gualifications in all who
hold public office and discharge pub-
lic trusts as in the ancient times of
Penn. It is not the law to-day. But
Lancaster county would vote that it
should be the law, seeing the on-
slaught made against the Gospel in
the schools and the lowering by the
law of the religious qualifications, in
those to whom the people delegate
high trusts.
And again observe, in all
our numerous religious sects that
while Lutherans, Reformed, Cath-
olics, Mennonites were enemies of
one another in Switzerland and Ger-
many and some of them delighted in
the blood and torture of others there,
the moment they landed here they all
dwelt in peace and ever since have
so dwelt. Toleration rules on every
hand; and its brightening dawn,
apace is growing toward the coming
rising sun-burst of a universal
church.
Then, too, a great tenet
of our early pioneers was
that religion should be free
from any sort of government-
al interference — that church must be
separate from state. So determined
were they in this that they even
held for a time that a true church-
man may not take part in affairs of
[7]
state. They had seen and felt the
horrors of the state favoring one
church and punishing another and
they would have none of it. They
would not agree that any but God
should be obeyed in religious af-
fairs. This belief they have held
through nearly 400 years, from the
time their remote ancestors in
Switzerland in 1532 asserted it
against the government, 250 years
before the doctrine appeared in our
Federal and State Constitutions.
(Ernst MuUer's Bernischen Taufer,
p. 34).
Finally meditate upon the marvel
that the despised doctrine of non-
resistance, a corner stone of the be-
lief of four great rural Lancaster
county churches, for centuries
thought to be a doctrine 100 years
behind the times, is now recognized
as an ideal 50 years ahead of the
times and the glorious goal toward
which all the giant nations of. our
world are bending their most con-
scientious and anxious energies to-
day.
Such is the religious meaning of
Lancaster county's historj'.
2. — The Agricultural Meaning.
Our country has held on to agricul-
ture. The first settlers did not take
up little lots or gardens and cultivate
them; they took up great tracts and
made them huge gardens — a commun-
ity of them took up whole vallej's —
they made the horizon their boundary
line. The Swiss and Germans quicklj-
took up the good land of Lancaster
county — the Irish-Scotch were too
busy holding the frontier and holding
office. In the first four years 60,000
acres or nearly 100 square miles of
land were surveyed for applicants on
the Pequea and the Conestoga (Taj'-
lor Papers, 3,32.3); and in 1719 before
the end of ten years the proprietary
surveyors reported that there was
very little land left on Conestoga
and Pequea (Do. 2,920 and 2,932).
Swiss and Germans came to the Lan-
caster regions thick and fast. By
1724 there were over 1,200 in the
Conestoga section alone, (9 L.,
[8]
151). So many of these
transforming farmers came here
that by 1718 the Quaker
authorities at Philadelphia were jeal-
ous and fearful of them overwhelm-
ing all others and carrying the pro-
vince away from England and putting
it under the dominion of the Ger-
man empire (2 V., 217 and 220).
Our county for about 150 years has
been known as the garden spot of
America. Eighty odd years ago a
careful writer declared that this
county was even then "proverbial in
Pennsylvania for fertility of soil and
excellence of tillage," (4 H., p. 50).
All thanks to the careful early Ger-
man farmer.
Agricultural development by 1781
had brought the assessed value of
Lancaster county about $700,000 (2 H.,
78), to $6,700,000 in 1814, (2 H., 12),
and to $28,700,000 (Gord. Gaz.) in
1830, or double that of Bucks coun-
ty, more than double that of Chester,
three times that of Montgomery or
four times that of York at the same
time (Do.). It was valued that j^ear at
one-sixth of all Pennsylvania exclu-
sive of Philadelphia, at over one-half
of all the state west of the Susque-
hanna and was equal to all of the
state west of that river, excepting
York, Adams, Huntingdon, Fayette,
Westmoreland and Washington coun-
ties (Do.). And finally in 1830 Lan-
caster county having one-fiftieth of
the area of Pennsylvania, and one-
sixteenth of the population (exclud-
ing Philadelphia) had one-sixth of
the wealth of the entire state omit-
ting Philadelphia (Do.). This wealth
was largely cultivated land and this
is largely true to-day. Therefore, our
imperial county, through all this time
has been supreme mistress of agricul-
ture in America, excelling all other
counties to-day in that particular.
In her agricultural crops and
dairy products in our modern day
this county holds the banner, stand-
ing first in amount and variety in
all America with an annual value of
over $17,000,000, of which her tobacco
is worth over three million dollars,
[9]
her corn four millions and her wheat
nearly half as much. And this monu-
mental jjear of 1910 her crop is near-
ly $20,000,000 on her $73,250,000 ru-
ral land and live stock valuation; a
gross income of 27 per cent. (As-
sessment for 1910). Her produce
market is the most famous in any ru-
ral section of our nation and has
been so since the days of Witham
Marshe in 1744. Her cattle market
ranks next only to those of Balti-
more, Philadelphia, Buffalo and New
York in all Eastern United States.
Our county stands for ownership
of farms as against the tenant sys-
tem. This alone will maintain the
dignity of farming. Yet that love of
the native acres of our childhood,
that patriotism for the homestead,
has lately suffered here in common
with the general trend of agrarian
tenancy, so general in the South, and
so growing in the West. We are far
behind New England farmers in their
tenacious hold and their happy hom-
ing upon, and their loving hope for
the land upon which they were born
and upon whose bosom they expect
to die. But nowhere, in the New
England or any other section have
we stronger love of and fidelity to
the ancestral home than here on this
remarkable ten square miles of land
making up the original settlement,
which we celebrate to-day. And this
ancient patrimony of the pioneers
belting five miles across two town-
ships, sending from one side of its
civilization a blazing beam of ad-
vice and example to-day like a
mighty search light to us on the oth-
er side across 200 years of experi-
ence, of toil and of progress,
should renew in us our love and de-
termination to hold, possess and
pass on to our line and kin, the
acres that come to us from goodly
Godly ancestors.
Three-fifths of our farms in Lan-
caster county are yet farmed by the
owners who live on them. This still
ranks higher than in the central
states where more than half of the
farms are in tenants' hands, or in
[10]
the South where less than one-
third of them are farmed by ownere.
When the West and South shall be
as old as Lancaster county, at the
rate tenants are now taking hold in
those states, thej' will not be able
to show a record of nearly two-thirds
of their farms operated by the own-
ers as we do now. But while our
county has a large percentage of her
farms in tenants' hands, it wisely
has only 12 per cent, rented out to
tenants for money rent, who pay the
rent and then frequently ruin the
farm by robbing it; while the coun-
ties of Berks and Bucks and Chester
and Montgomery and Delaware have
respectively 16, 18, 22, 28 and 36 per
cent, of their farms let out on money
rent — the system that gives the ten-
ant no incentive to stay very long
on a farm and care for it and keep
it up; but rather to rob it and go
— "to skin it and skip." (Census of
.1900).
As to tenant farming, our county
stands for that more provident sys-
tem of tenacies (or in many cases
only employment of a manager) on
shares, thvis giving the owner voice
in the control and care of the farm
and the tenant an incentive to re-
main upon it for a term of years and
keep or build it up.
For this our county has stood
in agriculture. And from the
early days of the last cen-
tury until a decade or two ago
the ideal of the patriarch farmer was
to secure a farm for each of his
boys to live and work and spend
their lives upon; and mari-y his
daughters to sons of other farmers
who had the same purposes for their
boys.
3. The Patriotic Meaning.
Lancaster county's patriotism,
through 200 years can only be under-
stood, its meaning can only be
known after thorough study — its
quality can only be appreciated when
the deeper springs of human action
are explored.
In the earliest days family was its
unit — the large family its charm, and
[11]
glory — the liome community its ulti-
mate object. Family love was its cen-
ter — community love its circum-
ference. Tlie pious pioneer Teutons
loved tlie family, the community —
they loved the land whereon the fam-
ily, the community dwelt. They would
not be tenants on that beloved land
— they would own the land. And
they did. Their patriotism was devo-
tion to their families, faith and hon-
esty among- neighbors — duty towards
rulers — to Caesar what was Caesar's
and to God What was God's. They
believed that these ideals sincerely
lived were better patriotism than
wild, extravagant and often empty
public eulogies on the flag, by those
who froth and foam and shout, but
Wiho are not fit for a political trust,
who would take advantage of a
neighbor or cheat the public. And
they were right.
National glory did not appeal to
our pioneers. "Our Country" to
them was:
"The little world of sights and
sounds,
Whose girdle was the parish bounds."
But they were not disloyal. Not
that they loved IMother Britain or
even Pennsylvania less, but Pequea
and Conestoga more. That was the
keynote character of their patriotism.
They did not fight in war; but they
never shirked a tax. They never
builded forts nor entered armies;
but they furnished the strongest
sinews a state can use in war —
great graneries of food; and they
provided the guarantees of a people's
prosperity in peace — bounteous ma-
terial wealth and strength and re-
source. And while the Swiss and Ger-
man and Quaker farmers plowed, the
gallant Scotchman stood armored on
the frontier and protected the
homes and herds of the valleys. That
was his patriotism.
But neither the German, Swiss,
Scotch nor English sons of Lancas-
ter county were wanting in national
spirit and patriotism when the
needs of the English empire, their
nation, demanded it, even though it
was only the adopted and not the
[12]
native nation of tlie Swiss and Ger-
mans. When Spain and France be-
gan to war on Mother England, the
valley of the Conestoga was the first
spot in the province to rouse herself;
and in 1744 raise and officer a com-
pany of soldiers to defend against
the French. In Earltown, in the
heart of a German settlement, Thom-
as Edwards this year was captain
to raise the first company of asso-
ciators (5th A-1-3). Of the 400 men
demanded by the king from Pennsyl-
vania in 1746 to join in reducing
the French in Canada, Lancaster
county led all other sections in
numbers (Do. 6 to 16). In the asso-
ciators of 1748 when our county
had less than 4,000 men (5 H., 115)
two regiments with a total of 33
companies organized themselves for
the defense of home and of Britain
(5th A-1-22 & 25), a mass of per-
haps 2,000 associators. In the French
and Indian wars, beginning in 1754
when there were perhaps 4,500 men
in the county (5 H., 115), she fur-
nished thirteen companies and their
company and regimental offi-
cers (5th A-1-57) ; and also
scores of teams and hundreds of
wagon loads of provisions. During
the Revolutionary war when there
were about 5,500 men in the county
(4 H., 12), there were 30 companies
of soldiers, large numbers of whom
saw service and most of whom vol-
unteered in the beginning of the war
—about 2,500 men (E & E, 33-69);
and the first life given in battle for
independence by Pennsylvania was
that of William Smith, of Lancaster
county (Do., 40). And in the Civil
war this county furnished about 12,-
000 soldiers to help to teach the
wtorld that a republic cannot be dis-
membered and that a slave was not
a chattel, but that God also "breath-
ed into his nostrils the breath of life
and he became a living soul."
Going back again to the Revolu-
tionary war, no more numerous or
enthusiastic meetings were held any-
where than in our county, against
British barbarity, which stirred Lan-
caster county patriotism to its bot-
[13]
torn. All shades of feeling were rep-
resented here; the meaning of the
Revolution was studied by all and in
all its aspects.
All must admit that in its charac-
ter and essence the war for Inde-
pendence was insurrection, rebellion,
secession; but it was justified by
the abuse and tyranny of the Brit-
ish government. Thus it was not
treason, because Britain declared us
outlaws and public enemies, and her-
self thereby broke the compact which
bound us to her as part of the na-
tion. This view the leaders for inde-
pendence held. But there were other
views. Independence thus, was early,
the hope of some, the dream of many
and the fear and regret of others.
Allegiance to government also wore
a different hue to different elements
of our county in the time of the
Revolutionary war. Each was attract-
ed by his own paticular favorite
part of the spectrum. In that spec-
trum the important tint to one class
was the purple of royalty and empire
— to another class, the blue of truth
and loyalty to the established gov-
ernment; while to others the warm
enthusiastic red of freedom and in-
dependence appealed.
The German's sense of duty long
prevented many of his ' race from
rising in rebellion against the es-
tablished government. Though he
was not native born, but only an
adopted son of the British empire,
he felt that she had accepted him
on the honor of his promised allegi-
ance; and he stood by her while her
own native Scotch and English sons
— scions of a race for hundreds of
years, bred and taught under her
laws, protected by her majestic arm.,
bone of her bone and flesh of her
flesh — were waging a war of rebel-
lion and secession against her
throne. The German believed that
'■the powers that be, are ordained of
God" (Rom., 13-1). He knew that in
the French and Indian war he was
fighting his government's enemies;
but in the Revolutionary war he
must fight against his own adopted
government.
[14]
But we are considering Lancaster
county's patriotism as a whole. Thus
considered she did notable and noble
services in the cause of indepen-
dence. We have stated the number
of soldiers she lent to the cause.
One of the first pledges which
thousands of our county's citizens
approved and subscribed to, right
after Lexington was the pledge, "We
do most solemnly agree and asso-
ciate under the deepest sense of
our duty to God and country, our-
selves and our posterity — to defend
and protect the religious and civil
rights of this and our sister colonies,
with our lives and our fortunes
against any power to deprive us of
them."
Lancaster county companies were
among the first in the field. They
look part in the Long Island cam-
paig-n — in New York and in New
Jersey and in the battles of Brandy-
wine, Germantown and ]\Ionmouth.
July 11, 1775, our county furnished
two companies of expert riflemen
out of nine in the entire province
(E. & E., 39) and they joined Wash-
ington at Cambridge. She sent a
com'pany up the Kennebec to Can-
ada (Do., 40 & 41) — a company in
the Pennsylvania line with Wayne to
Georgia (Do.) — She sent the
Lancaster Rifle company under
Captain Ross to Cambridge — in addi-
tion to Smith and Ross' companies
she had Hamilton and Henry Mil-
ler's companies at Battle of Long
Island (Do., 47) — she bad five com-
panies in Colonel De Haas' Battal-
ion (Do., 48) — she had one company,
that of Captain Brisbon of Leacock
In the second battalion under Col-
onel Arthur St. Clair, who saw ser-
vice at Three Rivers, Crown Point
and Ticonderoga (Do., 49) — she had
Captain Hubley's company In the
Third regiment under Col. Shee,
who fought in the Battle of Long Is-
land and were largely taken prison-
ers at Fort Washington.
When the "Flying Camp" of 10,000
men was ordered raised and 13,800
militia from New York, Pennsylvania
and Maryland — in a meeting at Lan-
[15]
caster, eleven battalions of associa-
tors were raised in our county. Our
county also furnished two companies
amounting to 200 men in Samuel At-
lee's Musketry battalion (Do., 54).
It furnished Grubb's Lancaster coun-
ty company of about 100 men in
Miles' regiment (Do., 54) and many
men in two more companies of the
regiment, a fair number of whom
were Germans. These were in the
battles of Marcus Hook and Long
Island. It furnished one company of
the German regiment made up of
four Pennsylvania companies and
four Maryland com'panies. It furnish-
ed the Lancaster county Independent
company to guard prisoners, (Do.,
56). In the 10th regiment we had
Captain Weaver's company, (Do.,
56). In the 12th regiment we had
two com'panies under Captains Cham-
bers and Herbert, (Do., 57). And
in the New 11th regiment Lancaster
county had one company (Do., 58).
This, as we have said before, aggre-
gates 30 companies, making 2,000 to
2,500 men, or over one-third of the
men of the county at that time.
In the Civil war not less than 12,-
000 Lancaster county men enlisted,
in the cause of preserving the Un-
ion and destroying slavery — and Ger-
man, English, Irish, Scotch and all
won equal glory.
But the patriotism of peace is
more beautiful than the patriotism of
war, and in this patriotism our coun-
ty has no superior on earth. It is
shown in its love of the land itself
whereon we were reared and how we
care for and cultivate it — liow we
stick to it and refuse to roam to
other spheres. It is shown in the
sense of duty to the home town-
ship and the home county; and the
willingness to discharge that duty
faithfully. It is a patriotism bred of
justice and not of jingoism — animat-
ed by justice, and fed and nurtur-
ed by justice.
4. — The Political iVleaning.
In its infant years this county al-
ways stood politically with the coun-
try party of the province and against
[16]
the proprietary or city party. Our
earliest county politics, too, largely
followed the cleavage of nationality,
the alignment being Germans and
Quakers against Scotch Irish and
English. This remained true a hun-
dred years. Scotch and English sign-
ed the petition for the erection of
the county and the two petitions op-
posing it were, likely, almost entire-
ly signed by Germans.
In the beginning the Germans took
very little political interest in the
county affairs. They were not natural-
ized and at first did not care to be
naturalized. But a little later they
became very active. In 1732 a body of
them were charged with disloyalty to .
the county and with a friendliness
toward an invasion by Maryland.
A few years later no party could
have been more politically patriotic
to our county than they. They were
a 'power in politics then.
In 1737 by their help the highest
successful candidate for the Assem-
bly here received 755 votes. (A. W.
M., October 6, 1737). and in 1738
he received 1,016 votes. (Do.,
October 5, 1739). Our Germans
joined forces with the Quak-
ers about this time (4 St. L., 471)
and stood firmly with them for years
against the Scotch Irish and Eng-
lish. With the Quakers they formed
the anti-war party against Governor
Thomas and they polled a majority
vote here in 1739 (A. W. M., October
4, 1739). In 1742 they threw all their
strength into the field and helped the
Quakers to defeat Governor Thomas'
new war party in this county by a
vote of 1,480 to 362 (Penna. Gaz.,
October 7, 1742). And in 1749 the Ger-
mans of this county, under the lead-
ership of Christian Herr, assisted by
the Quakers, entirely controlled the
election that fall, (4 V., 122); and
they were so zealous in exercising
the franchise as to succeed in get-
ting 2,300 tickets in the ballot box,
though during the day there were
not over 1.000 different voters at the
'polls, according to witnesse?. This
"repeating," however, many witness-
es also denied. But while they took
this interest in politics they could
[17]
not or did not desire to hold office
themselves during some years to
come, except certain township offi-
ces.
Then came on the French and In-
dian wars and party politics was
forgotten. When peace was restored
political feeling against the proprie-
tary grew stronger in Lancaster
county. Then came on the Stamp act,
the Boston Port bill and the prelimi-
naries of the Revolutionary war and
this again made iXJiitical partisan
matters unimportant.
When party lines re-appeared in
Lancaster county at the close of
the Revolutionary war, those lately
most zealous in the war, having ex-
travagant notions of and hopes for
unrestrained liberty, and detesting
federal interference with local or
state affairs as a tyranny like that
of England, whose galling bonds
they had just broken, gradually gath-
ered into one political party; and
those who were conservative, who
feared that the new liberty might
insidiously lead to license and dis-
integration, unless restrained by
strong central federal power, gravitat-
ed into an opposite party. And these
iwo 'political views were held in our
county throughout the years of the
Confederation during the period of
adopting the National Constitution
and during a decade afterwards.
These reasons have made it a
political paradox in our county that
the element in it, which to-day large-
ly take no part in politics, one hun-
dred and twentj'-five years ago, by
taking an active pai't, made the coun-
tj% first a Federal, then and Anti-
Masonic, then a Whig, and ever since
a Republican stronghold. The same
German race in Berks county, ad-
hering to opposite principles and to
a different church, made that coun-
ty Democratic during more than a
century. Early Berks countj'- Germans
being largely Lutherans and Reform-
ed, took active part in the Revolu-
tionary war and opposed the Federal
Constitution of 1787 because they felt
it did not give enough of the free-
[18]
dom they fought for and would be
oppressive as British rule had been;
while the Mennonites of Lancaster
county favored a conservative posi-
tion, did not see nor fear any dan-
ger of tyranny in the new constitu-
tion and voted numerously with the
Federalists to support it.
Thus Lancaster county remained a
"Federal" county down to ISOO in-
clusive, electing a Federalist con-
gressman by 400 majority that au-
tumn, while the state electors voted
strongly for Jefferson for president
at the same time, and while the
state was strongly Democratic from
the beginning. Only from 1801 to
1804, inclusive, when the state was
from three-fourths to nine-tenths
Democratic or "Jefferson," did Lan-
caster county yield from 200 to 600
Democratic majority (Intelligencer).
In 1805 the county went back to the
Federal, now called locally the Fed-
eral Constitution party by nearly 1,-
700 majority and remained there
with twc >.isignificant exceptions in
1810 and 1811 until the suspension of
Che Federalist party in the times of
anti-Masonry in 1829, varying in its
Federalist strength from a small ma-
ority to two-thirds at times, while
the state was from 60 to 75 per
cent. Democratic; and in 1811, 1824
and 1826 respectively, 93, 90 and 98
per cent. Democratic (SmuU). From
1828 to 1835 our county was anti-
Masonic by large majorities (Inte.li-
gencer and Smull) while the state-
except in 1828, remained Demo-
cratic. The commonwealth remained
in the Democratic column, with the
exception of the small Whig majori-
ties of 400 and 1,400 respectively in
40 and 48, and the large "Know Noth-
ing" majority of 12,000 in '55 until
the slavery agitation in 1858 brought
it permanently (with exceptions) in-
to the Republican ranks. But the
county in all this time (without ex-
ception) remained the firm oppon-
ent of Democracy, generally by large
majorities, either under the political
party name of Federalist, anti-Mas-
onic, Whig or Know-Nothing party,
[19]
where it has remained bj'' great ma-
jorities invariably ever since., reach-
ing its high-water mark of Republican-
ism in the majorities of 17,000 for Mc-
Kinley in 1896 and of 19,000 for
Roosevelt in 1904, the state also be-
ing strong Republican, except in the
few modern well-known instances of
1862-67-74-77-82-90 and 1906.
As to popular interest in politics
here at home two observations are
pertinent. First, from the beginning
until now one-fourth of our people
never have and do not now, exercise
the right to vote nor take any oth-
er interest in political concerns. In
the early days of 1737 and 8, when
there were about 2,600 men entitled
to vote in our county (5 H., 115),
the successful candidate in the first
year received 755 votes and in the
second 1,016 votes (A. M. W., Octob-
er 6, 1736 and October 5, 1738) and
the opposition did not poll
400 votes either year, so that
only about half of the voters
voted. In 1742 when there were fully
3,000 voters in Lancaster county, the
successful candidate received 1,480
votes and his opponent 362, a total
of about 1,800 votes or three-fifths,
leaving two-fifths not voting, even
though that fight was one of the hot-
test known in years (Pa. Gaz., Oc-
tober 7, 1742), In 1749, while about
2,300 ballots were cast, witnesses af-
firmed that only 1,000 persons vot-
ed out of a list of 4,600 voters in the
county, (4 v., 122 and 126). Even if
2,000 were present at the polls and
voted that was less than half. In
1795 under the date of September
9th, our "Lancaster Journal" laments
that the people show a very little
interest in suffrage and political af-
fairs generally. And in our modern
days in only the most strenuous
elections do three-fourths of our now
46,000 voters go out and vote.
Second, from earliest days to the
present time our people as a whole
have been and are inclined to be
politically very contented and to place
great faith and confidence in poli-
tical leaders. This is the condition
[20]
in all nationalities represented in
our county. It seems also to exist
alike in the rank and file of both
dominant and minority political par-
ties locally. There is not now and
seldom has been much questioning
and revolting from the choice of can-
didates which such leaders make,
nearly all classes of our people hav-
ing been and being now willing to
trust the political fortunes of the
county to political specialists — a coun-
ty leader and various local states-
men. We are and have been thus a
people easily managed politically and
in this are in strong contrast with
many counties where the plebiscite is
suspicious, not inclined to accept that
in which they took no part; and
where the people are more generally
given to the same independent poli-
tical thought that a sagacious man
exercises in business.
This is not a truly healthy poli-
tical attitude, and our county has
been surprisingly fortunate in es-
caping as many of the political evils
as we have escaped which this leth-
argy freely breeds. The local press
over one hundred years ago complain-
ed that, 'For several years an inex-
cusable neglect to vote has been
shown and the result has been that
a few have hitherto directed elec-
tions and the voice of the people is
not generally heard" (Lancaster Jour-
nal, September 9, 1795).
The truth of historj^ compels us to
state that the non-resistant church-
men, made up of four distinct sects
in our county (or some of them)
took part in politics and in voting in
earlier times to an extent that sur-
prises us to-day. While from the
first the Germans took part in poli-
tics to the extent of voting they did
not hold important offices until about
1750, when Emanuel Zimmerman led
off in this departure. But sin.e the
Germans entered upon office holding
in earnest, after the close of the
Revolution, they have held on to
all of them ever since. About 1755
the proprietor ordered that the
Scotch-Irish shall henceforth go to
[21]
the Cumberland and the Germans
hold forth here (15 H., 81).
To sum up the political meaning
of our county in its 200 years we
may say: our earliest generations of
the county believed in plain simple
agragrian government, of few offices
and of economical fees and salaries
— they stood against proprietaryship
— they stood against military exploit-
ation — they believed in the principal
of laissez faire, and tenaciously
hold to it to-day — in the days of the
Revolution a certain portion of our
people believed in political preserva-
tion as far as consistent with the
gospel of peace — but the masses were
very zealous for independence — they
have believed and voted that liberty
should be exercised conservatively
under a strong federal government.
Which individuals and states should
gladly recognize as supreme as the
the necessary strong protector of all
— later generations stood consistent-
ly for stimulation of home industry
against cheaper foreign labor by a
tariff — and in this present day she
is still firmly anchored to that po-
litical principle by which she aims
to keep her agricultural wealth the
great basis on which to develop her
industries, by the protective tariff.
5, Industrial and Financial IVIeaning.
Four words sum up our county's
industrial history — variety, excel-
lence, energy and honesty. And four
words also sum up the quality of our
financial history — conservative, safe,
sane and sound. Of the industries,
we have discussed agriculture, and
We now tui-n our thoughts to other
branches.
The earliest manufacture was that
of meal and flour, Christopher
Schlegel having a mill on Little Con-
estoga in 1714 (12 L., 20). And
Atkinson's, Graeff's, Stehman's and
Taylor's mills quickly followed. Min-
ing also began early. Minerals were
reported about Conestoga in 1707 (2
C, 403 & 5) and John Cartlidge, of
that place, found iron ore near there
also in 1721 (12 L., 20). In 1722 a
deposit of copper also was said to be
found in Lancaster county (3 C, 160)
[22]
the nickel mines of the Mine Ridge
and the silver mines of the Pequea
and the iron mines in many parts
Were opened before the Revolution-
ary war. The Elizabeth furnace was
started in 1730 by John Huber, a
German, the firat one in Lancaster
county (Swank, "Iron & Steel" for
1883, p 23). Martic Forge began in
1755 and Windsor about the same
time. Flax and hemp stock and even
cordage were manufactured here
as early as 1732 and shipped to
Philadelphia (A. W. M). Glass was
manufactured by Stiegel and also by
the American Flint Glass Manufac-
tory, of Manheim, in this county, in
1772 and some time before, (Pa. Gaz.,
March 17, 1773). Saddles, pack sad-
dles and guns were made before 1754
in Lancaster, which was described
by a traveler at that time as a town
of 500 houses, 2,000 people, who
Were making money (6 H., 29). The
Octoraro was early lined with mills,
trip hammers, etc.
In 1770 and before, an elaborate
textile manufacture was carried on
here by our industrious German
mothers, God bless them. In the
year. May 1st, 1769, to May 1, 1770,
cotton, woolen and linen goods, con-
sisting of clothing, bed clothing, cur-
tains, etc., of thirteen varieties,
made by the women of Lancaster,
reached 28,000 yards reported,
with materials in the looms for 8,-
000 yards more and many yards
more not reported at all, as the
Germans feared it was sought for
taxation. One good mother alone,
while at the same time she was
proprietor of one of the principal
hotels in the town wove 600 yards
herself (Pa. Gaz., June 14, 1770).
Raw Silk Production.
And in silk production in 1772 in
Pennsylvania for the greatest number
of cocoons and best reeled silk,
Lancaster county led the entire
state, (Philadelphia city included)
in quantities and quality, Widow
Stoner herself having raised 72,800
cocoons, Caspar Falkney 22,845 co-
coons and Catharine Steiner 21,800
[23]
cocoons, all of them Germans living
in this county. Chester and Phila-
delphia county and city fell far be-
hind (Pa. Gaz., March 17, 1773).
In 1780 according to the assess-
ment list there were in Lancaster,
then a town of 3,000 people, 35 dif-
ferent kinds of manufactures, includ-
ing woolen, silk, cotton and flax
weaving. In the Revolutionary war
we manufactured the most famous
and fartherest-carrying rifles in
the world. In 1830, there were hun-
dreds of manufactures in the county,
among which 7 furnaces, 14 forges,
183 distilleries, 45 tan yards, 32
fulling mills, 164 grist mills, 8 hemp
mills, 87 saw mills, nine
breweries, five oil mills, five
clover mills, 3 cotton factories, 3
potteries, 6 carding engines, 3 paper
mills, 1 snuff mill, 7 tilt hammers,
6 rolling mills and one or more nail
factories (Gord. Gaz., p 230). And
thus it has gone on increasing until
a few years ago, on the ideal of
small factories, and many of them
in which many men of small capital
gave employment each to a score of
his neighbors.
Small factories until lately were
humming bj^ the thousands in our
county and large ones by the score.
But sad to relate, as to the small in-
dustries, the relentless hand of giant
monopolies has crushed and broken
most of the small concerns to pieces,
and in their stead has established
branches of great corporations. This
has exchanged an independent for a
dependent industrialism in our
county. Through all its ages and
stages of manufacture until this last
decade, the county stood for and
splendidly exemplified the small in-
dustrial business man employing his
happy contented neighbors, turning
out honest home-made goods, in
which it took an honest delight and
pride.
Her industries have always been
steady and stable; and in prosperity
and panic she has marched onward
not flinching before the shock of fi-
nancial disaster, throughout the land
that in many other towns and coun-
[24]
ties, have laid proud industries in
the dust. Her watches are found
throughout all the lands — there is
not a people who do not smoke her
cigars and hardly a spot on the
earth where her umbrellas do not
protect from storm. Her confection-
ery runs annually upwards of a mil-
lion dollars in value — her watches
over a million — her cigars and
smoking and chewing tobacco two
millions and a half and her umbrel-
las nearly four million dollars a
year. Her silk, cotton and iron man-
ufactures are vast important indus-
tries. Oi<r little city of 41,000 peo-
ple ten years ago increased her in-
dustrial strength from 1S90 to 1900.
from 599 manufacturing plants to 738
— with capital increased from $8,000,-
000 to $10,000,000, wage earners
from 7,300 to 9,300 — wages paid
from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 and pro-
duct value from $11,500,000 to $16,-
500,000. And in these last ten years
there has been a corresponding in-
crease.
A Ship From Lancaster?
In commerce as early as 1731
there is mention of a ship from Lan-
caster arriving at New York with
goods likely laboriously taken down
Conestoga and Susquehanna then
loaded on ships. (Pa. Gaz., Jan-
uary 5, 1731). Our county did
her part in 1792 to 1794 in
building the first turnpike to Phila-
delphia at a cost of $465,000 (Gor-
don, p 229), the first turnpike in
America; and from 1775 to 1860 she
built her share of the system of
canals and turnpikes that in that
day were the best in the world. And
now she is well in the van again
with the greatest rural trolley sys-
tem in the state. These were her
efforts in commerce and transporta-
tion.
In finances the progress of her
Germans and their growing compet-
ence attracted the jealous English
eyes of the government at Philadel-
phia before their valleys felt the
the spell of German agriculture a
score of years, (C. R. & V). By
1830 when they had brought the
[25]
county's land to be worth $24,000,000
this county's citizens had $4,000,000
of money at interest, while Chester
and Bucks counties each fifty years
older had respectively only $400,000
and $250,000 of money at interest.
And our county stood as a fair sec-
ond to Philadelphia itself. She had
more money at interest, even at that
early date than all the rest of Penn-
sylvania, excepting Philadelphia.
And best of all every cent of our
savings was honest; gotten by bon-
est toil and honest methods in agri-
culture and manufacture and not
by speculation in false inflated val-
ues, spurious stocks, representing a
plant only on paper and in the
imagination of oily swindlers.
And in our present day the finan-
cial strength of this county has
grown so that there .are returned to
the assessors $27,000,000 of money
at interest, which omits fully $10,-
000,000 more. There are many mil-
lions in our manufacturing plants.
There are 46 banks and trust com-
panies in operation in our county,
with assets of over $40,000,000 or
perhaps an average of $1,000,000
each. These institutions have in-
creased from $29,000,000 to $40,000,-
000 in seven years, about 33 per cent,
and the stock of several of them
sells from 300 to 500 per cent, of
par.
6. — The Educational Meaning.
The educational history of our
county needs explanation more than
defense. Early English writers were
accustomed to criticize our county's
education. They forget that in 1734
ihere was a German school in Lan-
caster (5 H., 22). From 1745 to
1780 there were parochial and pri-
vate schools (Riddle, 10). In 1746 the
Moravian school was flourishing (Do..
9). In 1748 there was a large school
D* English, Irish and German pu-
pils here, which continued till 1788,
(Do., 10). In 1752 the county had the
famous Rock Hall school and also
others of importance (Lane. Gaz.,
June 29, 1752). Robert Smith Tiad his
Presbyterian school in operation
[26]
then at Pequea and there were sim-
ilar ones in Southern and Western
Lancaster county. The Germans had
their church schools very early, too,
and these prepared the way for
Franklin college, In 1787 and after-
wards Marshall. Then too, there was
and is, Yeates school, also started
in 1780. About the beginning of the
i9th century came on the famous
Lancastrian schools, the public
school system a decade later and a
very progressive system since. There
was compulsory public payment for
the schooling of poor children as
early as 1819 (4 H., 295), and under
it (before the days of the regular
common school system), Lancaster
county paid annually $6,500 as a con-
tribution (3 H., 165).
One thing is evident: Lancaster
county from the beginning was con-
cerned about two qualities in the
education it gave to its sons and
daughters — that it should be practi-
cal and that it should be moral and
indeed religious. They were wiser
than we, in that the moral culture
which true education should give,
we make inferior to the purely intel-
lectual; and the religious we are ab-
solutely afraid of.
Their education was practical. The
primary popular end of education as
we see it to-day everywhere is to
enable the children to succeed well
in life, to gain a competence, a
standing, an estate, a large estate,
a million, if possible. We may boast
that modern education has aims
higher than these sordid ones; but
it is not true as a practical condi-
tion. So too, 150 or 200 years ago
our pioneers gave themselves that
kind of education which conditions
demanded — an education that enab-
led them to succeed. And they did
succeed. They cleared their farms
and by 1830 had $4,000,000 at inter-
est. None of the older and alleged
more intellectual counties could
show more than one-tenth of that
result. Their education in the coun-
try was necessarily, a study of the
[27]
soil and how to make it crop well
—a study of how to turn, crops into
the best market— the cultivation of
strong reliable judgment and how to
meet duty as it comes to them. In
this they had the best kind of edu-
cation. In the town the education
must be that of trade and manufac-
ture and the early town of Lancas-
ter showed marvelous results in
that line.
The education of our county's pio-
neer ancestors was deeply moral and
religious. They did not try to make
brilliant scoundrels, but noble men.
They would have a man that you
could trust, one who had moral
backbone, to stand against the tem-
tation of dishonesty and cupidity.
They preferred to make a man rath-
er than a scholar. We make the mis-
take in modern days of giving the
pupil storage capacity at the sacri-
fice of strength; we make the chil-
dren bins instead of bulwarks. Our
remote ancestors never made that
mistake. They saw that children
should be taught moral back-bone as
well as mathematics — goodness as
well as geography — honor and hon-
esty, as well as history and Godli-
ness as well as grammar.
The tM^o great text books of our
grandfathers and our great-grandfa-
thers' times were the Bible and the
newspaper. There is no better source
in all the universe of an education
than these.
Our county has had about 275
newspapers in her time, 175 in the
town and later city and about 100 in
the country. This record exceeds any
similar community of 160,000 peo-
ple, anywhere in the world. These
papers began as early as 1743, and
they became numerous at once, and
even before the year 1800 there
were over a score of them printed.
Who can say in the face of this
that our county was not an early
educated county? All read the papers
and the papers contained the most
practical knowledge to be had. It
was the education suited to their
needs and it made our county early
[28]
a great prosperous people. Every
modern student of the early news-
papers of Colonial time knows they
contained much home and foreign
geography, history, finance, philoso-
phy and other learning.
Our forefathers feared not a
stern morality and rigid rectitude in
their courses of study. In the
schools of those days, the
Bible was taught as one of the text
books. And they taught it Gospels
and all too. It is only lately that we
have found out that teaching boys
and girls to love the Savior of the
world is opposed to American lib-
erty. God bless the brave old fore-
fathers. They remembered that it
was their Christian forefathers who
colonized America, fought for it and
handed it down to them. TJiey
remembered that Christianity did
more for America than the Con-
stitution and the law ever did. And
what men the rod and the Bible
made in our grandfather's time! To
steal a cent was as wicked to them
as to steal a hundred thousand dol-
lars. You could have put anyone of
them into a bank as president or
cashier and he would never have
thought of robbing it and going to
Canada. He would never have taken
it to gamble in stocks. You never
would have found one of them form
monopolies and crush out weaker
men. Nay, thus strong they stood
as proof against evil as old Gibral-
tar is strong against the waves of
tie hammering sea.
Men gravitated to them with all
their troubles and had them settled
by the simple rule of right, from
which they never appealed. Why
was this so? Because in their
schools the chief branch of their
curriculum was character-building,
and the products of their commence-
ments were men rather than schol-
ars weak in moral manhood and
bravery.
The genius and spirit of a free
government may be against the Bible
or religious training in schools; but
our forefathers did not think so.
They studied the Bible and in doing
[29]
so the government gained vastly
more in good, noble patriotic men
than it ever could have gained by
any other means.
Let us reflect, when we incline
to ridicule our coimty's lack of po-
lite education in 'primitive days,
that, taking it all in all their educa-
tion may have been better and tru-
er and of more real service to God
and man than our own. I for one,
unalterably stand for moral and re-
ligious culture in the common
schcois, e\ en at the sacritice of
some of the purely intellectual, be-
cause it is that kind of education
that will make better heads of fami-
lies, better neighbors, better citi-
zens. And that, in the last analysis,
is the supreme object of every
state.
Explanation.
An. Susq. means Annals of the
Susquehannocks, etc.
9 L., etc., means Vol. 9. Lancaster
County Historical society Proceed-
ings, etc.
2 v., means Vol. 2 Votes of As-
sembly, etc.
4 H., etc., means Vol. 4. Hazard's
Register, etc.
Gord. Gaz., means Gordon's Gazette
of Pennsylvania.
5th-A-l etc., means 5th series
Penna. Archives, Vol. 1, etc.
E. & E. etc., means Evans &
Ellis History of Lancaster county.
A. W. M., means American Week-
ly Mercury.
4 St. L., etc., means Vol. 4, Stat-
utes at Large.
Smull means Smull's Handbook.
Pa. Gaz., means Pennsylvania Ga-
zette.
2 C, etc., means 2 Colonial Re-
cords, etc.
Lane. Gaz., means Lancaster Ga-
zette.
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