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A.B.FAUST
BULLETIN of the
The German and German-Swiss
Element in South CaroKna
1732-1752
GILBERT P. VOIGT
^ Professor of Modern Languages in Newberry College
ISSUED MONTHLY
BY THE UNIVERSITY
No. 113
September, 1922
COLUMBIA, S. C.
Second-Class Mail Matter
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CONTENTS
Introduction I
Prefach; II
Page
German and German-Swiss Immigration Into South Caro-
lina, 1732-1752 5
Side-Lights on Conditions in Certain German Settlements
in Souht Carolina, 1734-51 21
Swiss Notes on South Carolina 44
Some Saxe-Gothan Settlers 56
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INTRODUCTION,
Professor Gilbert P. Voigt, A. M., of the chair of Modern
Languages at Newberry College, was a special student at this
university in 1911-12. Among his subjects of research here
and in Europe in the summer of 1912, was the German element
in the peopling of South Carolina from 1732-52, based mainly
upon and with numerous citations from original documents.
Neither Bernheim, in his History of the Lutheran Church in the
Carolinas, nor Faust in his German Element in the U. S., has
laid due emphasis upon the social and economic life of these
early German emigrants, and McCrady has barely touched upon
the subject. Mr. A. S. Salley, in his valuable county history
has mainly restricted himself to a story of the Germans and
Swiss-Germans in Orangeburg, with some reference to Amelia
and Saxe-Gotha townships.
In these papers Professor Voigt has blazed the way for a
complete investigation of this largely neglected and important
phase of the history of South Carolina.
Yates Snowden.
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PREFACE.
A number of years ago I engaged in a study of the German-
speaking element in South Carolina under the direction of Dr.
Yates Snowden. While valuable work in this field has been
done by Bernheim, Salley, Faust, Judge Smith, and Miss Fries,
there is a great deal of additional material still available, some
of which is presented in this bulletin. It has been gathered
both in this State and, to a small extent, in Europe. In the
preparation and publication of it, I have enjoyed the valuable
co-operation and aid of Dr. Snowden, Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr.,
Prof. R. L. Meriwether, and my father, the Rev. A. G. Voigt,
D. D., to all of whom I am appreciatively grateful.
Gii^BURT P. Voigt.
June 13, 1922..
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German and German-Swiss Immigra-
tion Into South Carolina 1732-1752
ITS PROPORTIONS. CHARACTER, AND CAUSES.
Of the four leading elements in the colonial population of
South Carolina, i.e., the English, the Scotch-Irish, the Huguenot
and the German, including the German-Swiss, the last named has
hitherto been rather overlooked. There are certain facts that
probably account for this apparent neglect. In the first place,
the Germans and Switzers spoke a foreign tongue that was
little known in the Province. Again, they were, for the most
part, poor folk without the training or temperament to enable
them to aspire to social or political leadership. Furthermore,
they were frontiersmen, settling chiefly in accordance with the
desire of the Provincial government, on the outskirts of the
Province, as at Purrysburg, Orangeburg, Saxe-Gotha, and New
Windsor. In this paper an attempt will be made to appraise
the contribution made to the population from 1732 to 1752 by
these immigants from the German states and the German can-
tons of Switzerland, to in,dicate the causes of their coming, and
to determine what sort of people they were.
It was in the year 1732 that the first body of German-speak-
ing settlers set foot on South Carolina soil. In the company
of immigrants brought to the Province in that year for the
purpose of settling the new township of Purrysburg, there were
a number of Germans from "Switzerland and other places."
From the Journal of Council, Mar. 4, 1730-31, Jan. 28, 1731-32
and the Journal of Assembly, Jan. 29, 1731-32, we learn of an-
other similar project that was evidently abandoned in the end,
for we have no other record of it. In these entries references
are made to the memorials of a certain Captain David Crockatt,
"relating to His Transporting Palatines into this Province."
"A List of Necessaries for Strangers to be Imported by Capt,
Crockatt" was prepared by the Council, in which were set forth
the bounty and "provision" to be granted the new settlers thai
Crockatt was to bring in. His second memorial was read in
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Council and recommended to the lower house, where it was laid
on the table.
O'Neall, in his "Annals of Newberry", pp. 23-24, claims
that Saxe-Gotha Township was laid out as early as 1711 for
several members of De Graffenried's party from Newbern, who
had made their way to South Carolina, but there is no adequate
evidence to bear uot this assertion. A recent German writer,
Dr. Haeberle, of Heidelberg University, makes a more sur-
prising claim in his work entitled "Emigration of the Palatines"
(Kaiserslauten, 1909). On page 106 we read: "First, Caro-
lina can claim for herself the honor that it was on her soil that
the first unified group of Germans who came to America settled.
These were Alsatians and Hessian Protestants, who found a
second home in Port Royal in 1562." To an inquiry as to the
sources from which he drew this statement, Dr. Haeberle replied
that he found it in a work of some German-American historian
— just which he could not at the moment recall. There are,
however, no facts to warrant the statement.
From the time of the arrival of Purry's first party, there
was a fairly rapid influx of "Palatines" (as all settlers from
the German States were called) and German-Swiss, or Swit-
zers, almost until the Revolution. This movement was not a
steady stream, but rather intermittent, spasmodic, and wave-
like. The first wave brought the Purrysburgers in 1732-35 ;
the second, the settlers of Orangeburg and Amelia, 1735-37;
the third and fourth, those who settled at New Windsor and
Saxe-Gotha, 1737-sq; the fifth, a number of settlers in Fred-
ericksburg Township, 1744-sq. Besides these, there is said to
have been a movement of Germans from Pennsylvania into the
up])er Dutch Fork, around what is now Pomaria, probably
about 1745. In addition to these waves, there were scattered
arrivals.
The files of the "South Carolina Gazette" show that from
the year 1744 on there were frequent arrivals of immigrant
ships, whose passengers ser\'ed to swell the population of the
several German settlements, besides adding to the strength of
the German colony in Charlestown, of which we find a trace as
early as 1734. In addition to these companies of settlers who
came direct from Europe through Charlestown there were in-
(1-
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Aividuals and groups who moved southward from Pennsylvania
arid Cape Fear, and a few who migrated from Georgia to differ-
ent parts of the Province. By the year 1752 we find Germans
or German-Swiss in greater or less numbers not only in the
places already mentioned, but also in the lower Dutch Fork,
on the north side of Broad and Santee rivers, at Port Rojal,
Pallachoccolas, near Goose Creek, Pon Pon River, Monck's
Corner, and elsewhere. An estimate of their number, which
is necessarily rough but is based upon the sizes of the
parties whose arrival is mentioned in the "Gazette" and upon
the number of families given in petitions from the several set-
tlements, would indicate that in 1752 there were about 3,000 in
all.
In the year 1744 there were in Purrysburg sixty German-
Swiss and Germans, to whom grants had been made. In the
collections of the South Carolina Historical Society we find a
duplicate letter of Governor Glen to the Duke of New Castle,
dated Feb. 11, 1745, in which the former writes: "Set out to
visit Orangeburg, Amelia, Saxe-Gotha, and Fredericksburgh
(?), chiefly settled with German Protestants." As early as
1750 Saxe-Gotha contained 280 Lutherans besides many more
German-Swiss of the Reformed faith, (cf. Urlsperger Re-
ports, April 25, 1750.) In the preceding year Governor Glen
had stated in his "answers to the queries from the Right Hon.
The Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations:" "We
have betwixt two and three hundred Germans within these
three and four years and betwixt two and three hundred fami-
lys within this year or two from other Provinces.'' John Jacob
Riemensperger, the Saxe-Gothan promoter of immigration,
claims in his memorial of November 30, 1749, that he had se-
cured upward of 600 Germans (Palatines and Swiss) for the
Province. On October 3d of this year the governor had in-
formed the Council that he had "certain Accounts from Great
Britain" of the fact "that there were about 800 Persons coming
from Germany to settle in this Province upon the bounty and
Encouragement given to foreign Protestants by this Gov't."
Four years later the Salzburger pastor Bolzius states that on
a trip from Ebenezer, Georgia, to Charlestown he had found
people everywhere. To quote his exact words: "In Carolina
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I met everywhere many German people of the Lutheran ana
Reformed religions, to whom I proclaimed the counsel of God
concerning their salvation.''
The following list of immigrant ships and parties will also
serve to indicate the strength of the influx of German-speaking
settlers from 1732 to 1752:
1732 Purry's first party. 45 Germans, largely if not exclusi-
vely Swiss.
1732 (Dec. 2) 50 Palatines expected..
1733 (July) 25 Sakburgers for Purrysburg.
1734 (November) 260 Swiss for Purrysburg. Some of these
may have been German-Swiss.
1735 (July) 250 German Switzers.
1735 (July) 200 German Palatines.
1735 (July) 250 German-Swiss.
1736 (October) "A Great Number of German Swiss people."
One hundred and seventy ( ?) .
1737 (February) "Above 200 Switzers out of the canton of
Tockenburgh ( Toggenburg ) . "
1744 Captain Ham's ship, which brought over some Swiss from
Bern, Ulrich Stokes from Chafhausen (Schafifhausen),
and perhaps other settlers.
1744 Captain Abercrombie's ship with 260 or 300 Germans
was captured by the Spanish. The settlers seem to have
been released and allowed to proceed to Carolina.
1744 (December) Capt. Brown's ship with 100 Palatines.
1749 (October) Ship "Grififin" with a "number of "healthy
Palatines."
1750 (January) Ship "Greenwich" with German servants.
1751 (November) Ship "Anne" with 200 Germans.
1752 (September) Ship with German servants.
1752 (October) Nearly 300 German servants..
1752 (November) Nearly 200 German servants.
There were some German-speaking settlers who, after land-
ing in Philadelphia made their way to South Carolina. At
least three or four cases of this sort are mentioned in the Coun-
cil Journal. In 1742 Peter Negerli with his wife and four chil-
dren, Peter Huber with two children, Anna Negerlei with four
children, and Barbara Horger with one child "arrived from
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Holland by way of Philadelphia." In 1747, Christian Kotiler,
who had agreed with a certain Captain Wilkinson to transport
him from Rotterdam to South Carolina, but who had been taken
to Philadelphia instead, was granted land on the bounty. In the
following year grants were made to three men, Geo. Hind, John
Bokman, and Henry Crody, who had come to Pennsylvania in
Captain Steadman's ship. These seem to have been among
the number of Germans and German-Swiss referred to by John
Jacob Riemensperger in his petition to the Council on Nov. 30,
1749, which was in substance as follows: "That your Pet'r
on the Encouragement given him by this Gov't went to England,
from that to Holland, and thence up into Germany and Switzer-
land," in order to get settlers. He secured three thousand per-
sons, many of whom, however, were not able to defray the costs
of the trip. He therefore asked them to remain at home while
he went to London to solicit the king's bounty for them. While
he was engaged on this errand, they had a chance to secure trans-
portation down the Rhine ; and, fearing that they would not
have another that year, "the greatest number of them'' came as
far as Holland. There they hoped to find either Riemensperger
or some order for their transportation or support. Finding
neither of these, and in many cases being without the necessary
funds to support themselves in Holland, "the greater and richer
part" of them were induced by Mr. Steadman of Rotterdam to
take passage for Pennsylvania "in some vessels of his." The
remainder went over to England, where Riemensperger pro-
vided for their support while he was securing passage for them.
But, in the meantime, some were prevailed upon to go to Geor-
gia instead of Carolina. Nevertheless, after these losses, there
were still "upwards of Six Hundred" whom Riemensperger
claimed to have secured for South Carolina. He also cherish-
ed the hope that "many of those who have gone to other Pro-
vinces will upon further Enquiry and better Information, Still
come here to Settle." He further believed that if he could
make another voyage with vessels for transporting his "Coun-
trymen" without delay, he could secure a considerable number
of additional Germans and Switzers.
These German-speaking immigrants had come principally
from the German cantons of Switzerland, Wuerttemberg, and
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the Palatinate, though there were some from Prussia, Ham-
burg, Alsace-Lorraine, and elsewhere. Some of those who
came from the Palatinate, such as the Fricks (Friks), Kiese-
lers, and others, were of Swiss extraction, but had migrated to
the Palatinate at the end of the Thirty Years' war. So we
were told by a Mr. Frik (Frick) in the State Archives at Zur-
ich. Rotterdam and Hamburg were the two ports in which
the emigrants assembled and from which they were furnished
transportation by large merchant firms such as Steadmans
and Hopes.
As we have seen, many, if not most, of the Palatines and
Switzers were poor. Some of them, the so-called indentured
servants, were so indigent that they were unable to pay their
passage money and had to work it out as peons. This, how-
ever, was not an unmitigated evil, for, as some one has pointed
out, the new-comer in his ignorance of the English language
and of local conditions, found it to his advantage to work for
an older inhabitant until he could familiarize himself with the
language and geography of his new home. Bolzius, the Salz-
burger pastor, states that while many of the Germans whom he
had found in Carolina on his trip from Ebenezer to Charlestown
in January, 1753, were indentured servants, "the most" were
free. Still there were five ship-loads of "servants" to arrive
in Charlestown in the years 1750 to 1752.
These settlers were chiefly farmers and mechanics, though
some of them became slave overseers. Bolzius states that those
Germans he found in 1753 "worked either at their trade or cul-
tivated their farms." The fact that, as he states, most of them
were located on the "extreme borders" of the Province, indic-
cates that very many must have been small farmers, or farm
laborers. Bolzius charges them with neglecting agriculture,
claiming that most of them were "given to idleness and mer-
chandising." It is a question as to what extent this charge is
true. Mills, in his "Statistics," page 661, tells us that the Ger-
mans in Orangeburg obtained "crops from poor pine lands,
equal in quantity, according to acres and hands, with most farm-
ers on oak lands." On the Congaree and Santee, too, German
farmers were to be found, and "their plantations exhibit more
the appearance of farms than otherwise."
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The life of these frontiersmen was naturally simple and rude.
Church and school facilities were inadequate. The pietistic
Salzburger pastors complain of their worldliness and indiffer-
ence to religion and education. Xet there was an old school
master who died in Purrysburg in 1735 ; also one in New Wind-
sor — for a time, at least. A petition presented to the Council
by John Tobler, John Jacob Sturzengher, Daniel Browner,
Lienhard Hortbund, and "several other" residents of New
Windsor in behalf of an immigration project contains this in-
teresting statement: "That there is a great want of people in
this Township as also of a School and pastor to be settled
among them, for want of which many, they say, go into Pennsyl-
vania." (January 21, 1745.) Again, there came to one of the
Salzburg pastors within a year or less time, two requests from
the Lutherans at Saxe-Gohta that he visit them for the purpose
of serving them with the Word of God and the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, In the second letter they asked that he "help
them to get a church and a preacher." A like desire for "an
upright pastor" was expressed by the Purrysburgers. In Saxe-
Gotha the Reformed (Swiss) element had received five hun-
dred pounds of "Carolina money" for the erection of a church.
It was these Switzers who, in 1740, sent a request to the au-
thorities and citizens of Zurich for "a complete order of divine
service with a psalter arranged for four voices" along with
Testaments, Bibles, and other literature. In his petition of
March 3, 1747, Riemensperger makes the interesting assertion
that it was "chiefly from the Interruption they have had in the
Exercise of their Religion" that the Switzers in Saxe-Gotha
had been led to leave their native land.
An unexpected bit of evidence as to the literacy of the Pala-
tines and Switzers is an advertisement in German which ap-
peared in six issues of the "Gazette" near the end of the year
1749. Peter Timothy advertises an almanac published in Phil-
adelphia.
The South Carolina Germans and Switzers form a small
contingent of the great host of German-speaking immigrants
that invaded the shores of the Thirteen Colonies during the
eighteenth century. As Prof. Faust, in his "German Element in
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the United States", Vol. I, p. Si, well puts it: "In the first
decades of the eighteenth century there rose a great tide of
German immigration. Its volume presents a strange contrast
to the sparseness of German settlements in the 17th century, . .
The change was produced by historical causes, operating as
mighty forces. Destructive wars, religious persecution, relent-
less oppression by petty tyrants, rendered existence unendurable
at home, while favorable reports from earlier settlers beyond
the Atlantic, more plentiful means of transportation, and an
innate desire for adventure (the German Wanderlust), made
irresistible the attraction of the foreign shore." In the case
of the South Carolina settlers, economic pressure and religious
persecution on the one side of the Atlantic together with the
activity of immigrant agents, the influence of previous settlers,
and the inducements offered Ijy the provincial government on
the other seem to account for the migration to America. We
shall consider each of these causes somewhat in detail.
In his diary, June 1, 1741, Pastor Bolzius remarks: "I
recalled what Mr included in his letter to Mr : "The
people (in South Carolina and Georgia), especially our Germans
— Wuertembergers, Palatines, and others — leave their countries
because of the poverty and distress there.' " Prof. Julius
Goebel, in an article dealing with certain letters of German emi-
grants in the years 1709, states that it was "bitter distress,
which compelled the poor people to leave their beloved home",
as is shown by the "touching, yes sometimes heart-rending
tones" in these letters. "Failure of crops, over-population, and
in the back-ground the political wretchedness of Germany"
were responsible for this desire to emigrate. The people were
oppressed with burdens in the form of taxes for the mainten-
ance of the princely houses, universities, etc. It is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that many Germans forsook their native land,
"in whose welfare they had lost all interest", and turned their
faces westward towards America, "the land of unlimited pos-
sibilities", with the express purpose of "bettering themselves"
as one of them, Antony Ransrnan, puts it in a petition to His
Majesty's Council in May, 1740. So bad were conditions at
home and so keen the suffering of the masses that certain min-
isters likened the emigration to America to "the exodus of the
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people of God from the house of bondage and praised the
world beyond the seas as the Promised Land."
In the Palatinate, Switzerland, and, to a certain extent, also
in Wuertemberg religious oppression and persecution were a
powerful motive for emigration. This persecution was of two
kinds: in the Palatinate it was the Protestants who were op-
pressed by the more powerful and numerous Catholic party,
while in Switzerland and Wuerttemberg it was intolerance on the
part of the Protestant state-church party towards the Separa-
tists. As has already l)een noted, John Jacob Riemensperger
claimed that it was "the Interruption they have had in the Exer-
cise of their Religion" that caused the Swiss at Saxe-Gotha to
come to America. A pious Swiss wrote to Pastor Bolzius from
Charlestown that he had arrived in South Carolina some time
before, his motive in emigrating having been solely the desire
to further the glory of God and his soul's salvation. This was
in 1737.
To the causes just mentioned must be added the innate and
characteristic Wanderlust of the Germans. As a Swiss sol-
dier of fortune puts it, he "had a desire to see Carolina." But
it was not onl}' the occasional adventurer who was seized with
this desire to migrate or travel. In his "Emigration of the
Wuerttembergers", 1796, Bunz speaks of the "national desire of
the Germans for emigration" and he proceeds to show how in
the 18th century this desire was more perceptible among the
Southwestern Germans than among those in the Northeast.
His reasons are three in number: 1, in a wine-country like
Wuerttemberg and the Palatinate food and drink were costlier
and wages were not so high or steady as in a beer-land ; 2, there
was less peonage in Southwestern Germany than in the north-
eastern provinces. The South German "servants" could emi-
grate with greater ease than their brothers in the North ; 3, the
indentured servants, or peons, of the North were less "culti-
vated" than those in the South, and among the less cultivated
people there is more "climatic" patriotism. It is a noteworthy
fact that almost all of the Germans who settled in South Caro-
lina in the 18th century were from Southern Germany.
Concerning the circumstances of the Swiss emigrants Prqf.
Faiist in his preface to the "Lists of Swiss Emigrants in the
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Eighteenth Centur>- to the American Colonies. Zurich to
Carolina and Pennsylvania, 1734-1744," writes as follows:
"A very large number of the young people have lost their
fathers, thereby missing either the parental protection at
home, or the authority to curb their youthful spirit of ad-
venture or 'Wanderlust'. Divorced persons and widowers
are frequent, and widows with numerous children, who are
allowed to go because of the fear that they might fall a
burden to the community. Young couples leave their homes
because of objections to their marriaige, they are frequently
united on the way or on ship-board. But economic distress
exerts the strongest pressure. From Richtenschweil we
hear of a group of emigrants who frankly declare that they
had to work day and night at home, and even then they could
not earn their daily bread, hence they were forced to leave.
The hope of escaping unbearable conditions is the greatest driv-
ing power." The Swiss cantons, or certain of them, became al-
armed at the extent of the outflow of settlers for Carolina and
Pennsylvania, and consequently "decrees against emigration
were issued every few years."
In their despair and reslessness the Swiss, Wuerttemberg and
Palatine peasants — and even others — fell an easy prey to the
bold, clever, and unscruplous immigration agents from America,
who were quick to avail themselves of this opportunity to ply
their trade to advantage. The epithets applied to these agents
by writers of the time may be too strong, but are probably not
altogether undeserved. They are termed "deceivers", "godless
agents", and "barterers of souls". In a letter written from the
Hague under date of Sept. 6, 1752, a certain Blaufelder, from
Stuttgart, who had gone to Holland with a band of emigrants
at the instigation of one of these agents, reports to the Duke of
Wuerttemberg their nefarious worknigs, stating that from selfish
and mercenary motives they seduce guileless people and lead
them to Rotterdam in order to sell them into the hands of the
merchants and ship-owners there by whom they are employed.
They are accused of receiving three gulden "a head" for the
emigrants they thus deliver at Rotterdam. One of their devices
to induce people to emigrate is to forge letters praising Ameri-
ca. These letters are purported to have been written by certain
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settlers in the New World whose original letters to their friends
and relatives in Europe were burned in Rotterdam. A circular
published in Frankfort, 1753, attempts to "stem the torrent of
seduction and total ruin of our poor fellow-countrymen," and
to give a "succinct but just idea of those, who, guided by the
most revolting self-interest, have carried on for a great number
of years such an unworthy commerce." Bunz likewise scores
these agents along with their victims: "Are there not", he
writes, "everywhere creduluous, giddy, convivial, restless, and
debt-burdened people? For all such, these promises [of boun-
ty] were the most splendid bait, especially since they [the
gullible Europeans] have been the victims of many untruths,
partly oral and partly written, perpetrated by deceivers." It
must be said, however, that Bunz is an apologist for the govern-
ment of Wuerttemberg.
Among those immigration agents, there were three who fig-
ured largely in the emigration to South Carolina. First, and
probably foremost, of these was Jean Pierre Purry, the found-
er of Purrysburg. It is true that many, if not the majority of
his settlers, were from the French cantons of Switzerland, but
there were also a considerable number of German Swiss, be-
sides Salzburgers and scattered Germans from Wuerttemberg
and elsewhere. "Das 21ste Neujahrsblatt der Zuericher Huely.
sgesellschaft", 1821, contains an article based on original re-
cords, which mentions Purry's enterprise at some length. We
are told that he set out from Neuenburg with a party of his fel-
low-men, whom several Germans followed. "Towards the end
of 1733 he undertook a journey to Switzerland and brought
with him several letters from different emigrants, who testified
of their absolute contentment in their new home. He himself,
too, published some reports concerning Carolina, which to-
gether with the aforesaid letters in German translations he
published under the title: 'The Contented and Homesickless
Swiss Settler in the New World.' Bern, 1734. This pamph-
let was spread broadcast over the land. Allured by these
descriptions, the number of emigrants soon increased." A
letter written by a citizen of Bern who had settled in London
contains a reference to Purry's work: "Three hundred Swit-
zers have arrived here with no money left to pay their passage
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to Carolina and in the direst misery on account of Mr. Purry s
booklet wherein Carolina is represented as being much better
than it really is, and the hardships, cost, and manner of under-
taking the journey are not mentioned." Any one wishing to
attest for himself Purry's ability as a press-agent will be in-
terested in the glowing picture he paints of the Carolina Eldora-
do, as it is found in Carroll's Collections, Part II.
Scarcely less resourceful and enterprising than Purry was
John Jacob Riemensperger, of Saxe-Gotha Township. In 1740,
he and Christian Galliser set out for Europe to obtain settlers
for the Province. They were armed with pass-ports from
Lieutenant-Governor Bull and George II.; a letter from the
King requesting for them the privilege of passing and repassing
through Germany and Holland on their way to Toggenburg,
Switzerland; a description of Saxe-Gotha, written by a Magis-
trate, Christian Motte, and attested by all the German inhabi-
tants of that township ; and a testimonial from Motte. As to
the success of this mission, we know that Riemenspei-ger and
a party of German Swiss arrived in Charlestown late in 1741
and were taken to Saxe-Gotha. Later, in 1748, with the
"Encouragement" of the Government he returned to Switz-
erland and Germany and "procured upwards of 3,000 persons"',
only 600 of whom really came to Carolina, many others having
been deflected to Georgia or Pennsylvania by a rival immigra-
tion "promoter" in Rotterdam. The Journal of Council 1749
records the fact that Riemensperger was granted 350 pounds
sterling for past services.
It seems that Riemensperger like Purry was lavish with his
promises and his praise of Carolina, for one Peter Herr
made petition to the Council in behalf of himself and "all"
his countrymen, alleging that Riemensperger had deceived
them with "many untruths" to get them to South Carolina. He
had assured them that the King would pay their passage from
London to Carolina and that a contribution would be made for
the purpose of 'tlefraying the cost of their transportation from
the continent to England (the proceeds of this contribution had
been pocketed by Riemensperger) ; further that they should
have everything necessary for a beginning of life in Carolina.
The Council upon investigation decided that these complaints
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were "frivolous and that Riemensperger had not acted anyways
unfairly by them." Yet we have strong evidence in favor of
Herr's claim in the form of a letter from the Georgia Office in
London to the editor of the Salzburger Reports, Jan. 5, 1749;
which states that seventy persons from Salzburg and Wuerttem-
berg had been brought to London by Riemensperger, and that
he had intended to send them to Carolina. They had been
deceived in their hopes and in the promises made them; hence
they had become confused and miserable. The Georgia trus-
tees decided to send them to Ebenezer.
The third prominent immigrant agent from South Carolina
who operated among the Germans and German-Swiss was
Sebastian Zouberbuehler, who entered into a contract with the
Provincial Government June 27, 1735-36, to bring over 300
families of German Swiss to settle on the frontier of the Prov-
ince near Savannah Town in a new township to be called New
Windsor. In a petition to the London Board of Trade he
asks for land and compensation for the proposed settlement of
100 Swiss families in the new township. He promises to bring
over these families in one year's time with the understanding
that they are to receive grants and bounty on the same terms as
Purry's settlers. After the settlement of this first hundred, he
agrees to bring over 200 more without charge. Permission is
asked td select a township- (site) on Santee River to which his
settlers should be transported at the cost of the Province. It
seems that only fifty families were brought over. Associated
with Sebastian Zouberbuehler were his father, the Rev. Bartho-
lomew Zouberbuehler, of St. Gall, and Governor General
Tobler who had been deposed from his position as a result
of disorders in Appenzell. These two conducted the party
of Switzers from eastern Switzerland — chiefly Appenzell — to
Carolina. Shortly after their arrival, the Rev. Bartholomew
sent back reports of their prosperous voyage, friendly recep-
tion, fertile soil,, and high hopes. He added that his son
would soon return to St. Gall to bring over fifty to sixty addi-
tional families. The Swiss government which objected strenu-
ously to the operations of the emigration agents, prevented
him from carrying out this plan. In 1743 he proposed to His
Majesty's Council to briiig over a number of foreign Protest-
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ants on the same terms that had been offered Purry, viz.,
400 pound sterHng. In the letter containing this proposal
he outlines the work of an emigration agent as follows:
. . . "to conduct the whole affair (of bringing over a party) by
answering letters, going about to rendezvous and bringing them
down to Holland, to provide vessels and provoisions for their
Imbarcation." The Journal of Council contains no indication
of the acceptance of this proposition.
Another agent who attempted to organize parties of Switzers
for emigration was Peter Huber, who in 1742 tried to lead a
colony from Haslei and Interlaken to Carolina, but was arrested
in Basel. He was tried and condemned to everlasting banish-
ment from the city and country, with a threat of severe punish-
ment should he return. Peter Inabnit, who had returned to
receive a legacy, was arrested as an agent and killed in an at-
tempted flight.
The emigration agents received invaluable aid in their work
from the pamphlets written by themselves or others, in which
the new Promised Land is described in laudatory terms. Prob-
ably the most notorious of these pamphlets is that of Purry,
which we have already mentioned. But, even before the appear-
ance of this booklet there seems to have been a glowing account
of South Carolina and Georgia, written by a Switzer Ochs from
Basel. In the "21stes Neujahrsblatt der Zuericher Huel^F
Sjgesellschaft, 1821" we read: "Already in the year 1711 had
appeared a most favorable description of those regions (South
Carolina and Georgia) and the advantages of the settlements
there, together with an appended chart, from the pen of a Basler
by the name of Ochs then living there, and a considerable num-
ber of copies had been quickly sold." The South Carolina
records, however, contain no references to such a person as
Ochs, thovigh it is possible that he had found his way to the
Province along with other stray adventurers. Furthermore,
this was a number of years before the settlement of Georgia.
From the Swiss pamphlet mentioned above we learn that John
Tobler, who possessed some knowledge of astronomy and sur-
veying, prepared a calendar for circulation in his native land
(Switzerland) which contained a description of Carolina. The
Salz])urger Reports were circulated more or less in Europe and
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brought both Georgia and Carolina to the attention of people.
A certain little group of Switzers were led to emigrate to Caro-
lina through the reading of these reports.
In addition to this literature, there were letters from settlers
to their relatives and friends in Europe, in which the nature of
the country and the condition of the colonists were set forth.
This "direct personal influence" was a powerful instrument for
stimulating emigration to America. We have already indicated
how Purry and Riemensperger employed it to further their
selfish schemes. The latter petitions the Governor's Council
in 1748 for the copying of more than forty letters from the
settlers of Saxe-Gotha to their relatives and friends in heir
native land. He is about to leave for England for the purpose
of securing a "number of poor Protestants" for the Province,
and wishes to take these letters with him as "campaign ma-
terial". So valuable were favorable letters that (as we have
seen) unscrupulous agents in Rotterdam forged such.
The several immigration agents, Purry, Riemensperger, et al,
worked hand in hand with the Provincial and Royal govern-
ments in their colonization schemes. In fact, without the
endorsement of the Provincial authorities and the Encourage-
ment ofifered by it to new settlers, their efforts would have been
almost, if not entirely fruitless. The Governors and their ad-
visers were awake to the opportunity afforded them by the
unfavorable conditions in various parts of Europe — more es-
pecially in Switzerland, the Palatinate, and Wuerttemberg — to
obtain settlers for the frontiers of the Province, who might
serve as a cordon sanitaire against the hostile Creeks and other
Indian tribes.
The several parties of Swiss brought into the Province
from 1732 to 1736 were given tools and provisions for one year,
but when Zouberbuehler's and Tobler's party arrived in 1737
they found that this practice had been discontinued. On Feb.
3, 1737-38 the Lower House of the Assembly sent a message to
the Council complaining of the discontinuance of the "Pro-
vision" and calling attention to the large number of begging
immigrants in Charlestown. The Council presented the excuse
of a shortage of funds and stated that the Lieutenant-Governor
had inserted in the "Gazette" an advertisement giving notice of
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the suspension of the practice of providing the new settlers
with tools and provisions. The House in reply accused the
Governor of misapplying the Sinking Fund and thus bringing
about the shortage in the New Settlers' Fund. The upshot of
this controversy between the two Houses was the passage of a
bill in 1741 "for further securing his Majesty's Province of
South Carolina by encouraging poor Protestants to become
settlers therein". On April 2, 1743, it was decided to issue "a
declaration and certificate" to be published "in Holland and
elsewhere," giving notice of the resumption of the practice of
assisting the poor Protestant settlers.
In 1745, Riemensperger presented to the Council another of
his numerous petitions (which finally exhausted its patience and
called down upon him a rebuke for "much speaking") in which
he requests that, in view of his contemplated trip to Europe as
the commissioner of the Switzers at New Windsor, for the
purpose of getting settlers, "the Act for Encouragement of
Foreign Protestants be translated into the German language
and be given to him with the great seal of the province append-
ed thereto, that so the said Foreigners may see that they are
not imposed on and w'ch your Petit'r proposes to print in
Germany and distribute among them wherever he should go — "
The numerous shiploads of German-speaking immigrants
who arrived in the years that immediately followed this period
of renewed activity in securing settlers would seem to indicate
that the efforts in this direction were highly successful.
A final and relatively insignificant factor in the emigration
to Carolina was the frequent escape of criminals from their
native lands to America. Bunz refers to this class of emi-
grants in his work on the emigration of the Wuerttembergers.
While we have no definite mention of any such settlers in South
Carolina, still it is natural to infer that among the many inden-
tured servants there was occasionally one "who had left his
country for his country's good."
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Side -Light on Conditions in Certain
German Settlements in South
CaroHna 1734-1751.
The pastors of the Salzburgers who settled at Ebenezer,
Georgia, in the year 1734 have left us a well kept diary (in
German), which is bound together with some letters and other
material in seven volumes known as the Sahburger Reports.
These were edited by a German-Lutheran minister, Samuel
Urlsperger, and were published in Halle and Augsburg, 1741-
54. These volumes contain some interesting items concerning
conditions and happenings in the sister colony of Carolina,
gleaned from personal observation or else through other per-
sons. Certain of these references I have translated and grouped.
It should be said at the outset that allowance must be made
for the narrow pietism of these pastors, when we read their
descriptions of moral and religious conditions in the South
Carolina settlements.
It is only natural that, in view of their proximity to Purrys-
burg, the Salzburger pastors should have kept in rather close
touch with events and conditions there. Not only did they
visit this settlement at times, but they also learned from Purrys-
burgers who came to Ebenezer how the latter were faring in their
Carolina home. A letter of Pastor Bolzius to a friend in Ber-
lin, .dated June 30, 1737, gives a brief general description of
Purry's settlement.
"Besides Savannah . . . there is another very scattered
town . . . Purrysburg. Its appearance, however, is not at
all that of a town. Its population consists exclusively of
French-Swiss of the Reformed faith, together with many Ger-
mans from Switzerland and other places, whose condition is for
the most part wretched." Almost all of these Germans spoke
Swiss German — so we are told in an entry during the year 1751.
One is not surprised that the Salzburger pastors were deeply
interested in the spiritual condition of their neighbors in Purrys-
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burg, especially the Germans, as is indicated by a number of
references to it. Very soon after the arrival of the Salzbur-
gers in Ebenezer ( 1734), one of the two pastors visited Purrys-
burg. An interestinng account of this visit is given in the
diary under date of March 19.
"Already in Dover we had learned from Mr. Purry that there
were many Germans in Purr) sburg, who longed for an Evan-
gelical (Lutheran) preacher. Inasmuch as an opportunity now
presented itself, me of us went to that settlement and found
there three fai.iiiit!, of our Evangelical Lutheran persuasion.
On Sunday the judge (Linder) who is from Berlin, reads aloud
to them a passage from a collection of sermons. At the in-
stance of Mr. Ogelthorpe, who was present on this occasion, a
Gospel message based on Gal. H, v. 20, was proclaimed to these
dear people to their great joy, and they proposed to visit our
settlement, which is situated only a few miles from Purrysburg,
diligently, in order to hear the Word of God and to avail them-
selves of the holy sacraments. They esteemed the Salzburgers
very fortunate in that they have their own preachrs. A short
while ago they, along with the Reformed Protestants at this
point, had for their preacher a French student. But they ac-
cuse him of having led a shameful life and of having meddled
with evil things, in consequence of which they chased him
away and are, therefore, now without a minister."
On June 8th of this year Bolzius was invited to Purrysburg
to baptise a child and to administer the Holy Communion "to
those who had now been longing for it a long while." On his
return he related among other things (1) that before he had
allowed the people to come to the communion he had held pre-
paratory services twice a day for the purpose of instructing and
waking them. These services they had attended very
faithfully. (2) That they had partaken of the Holy Supper
with great reverence and eagerness and had praised God hearti-
ly for having bestowed upon them such a great benefit, contrary
to their thought and expectation. For they would not be fiven
a preacher until there were 100 families of our [Lutheran]
confession in Purrysburg. . . (4) That the people had
shown him all possible kindness and had shared their hearts
with him, although they for the most part did not have much
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wealth as yet; (5) that some of them wanted to send their
children with him to Ebenezer, in order that they might be in-
structed in Christian doctrine, reading, and writing, and that
those who were grown might be prepared for the Holy Supper.
But since there was no chance of giving these shelter by day
and by night, he had not l^een able to grant their request at
that time."
On Sunday, August 10th, one of the Salzljurger pastors stop-
ped in Purrysburg en- route to Ebenezer. Because he did not
like to travel on Sunday and furthermore because "the good
folks in Purrysburg exhibited a great desire for the Word of
God," he remained there and preached to them in both the fore-
noon and afternoon. "The dear souls gathered in large num-
bers in the home of the sick herdsman" (Kieffer).
In a letter to Prof. Francke, of Halle, dated March 28, 1735,
Pastor Gronau states that one of the Purrysburgers "had no
greater desire than that the Germans in Purrysburg also might
have some one who would take charge of them as a good shep-
herd . There is, indeed, a preacher in Purrysburg, but he
preaches in French, and as a result of this the Germans are in a
sad plight."
Pastor Gronau (?) states that at this time (1736) many peo-
ple were dying in Punysburg on account of their wretched ex-
ternal and spiritual circumstances, etc. Some families still talked
of their desire to get permission from Gen'l Ogelthorpe to join
the Salzburgers at Ebenezer. In February two Evangelical Lu-
theran families from Purrysburg did seek permission and the
Salzburger pastor thought their request would be granted.
On April 24th of this year eight Purrysburgers came to
Ebenezer "to attend the festival service (Easter?) and to go
to the Holy Communion."
In the course of time the Lutherans of Purrysburg became
scattered throughout the surrounding country, as is shown by
the following item (Nov.l2, 1737) : "The Evangelical inhabi-
tants there [Purrysburg] .are no longer as close to one another
as they formally were, but are scattered here and there on their
plantations or in other lines of business. Therefore we are
able to proclaim the Word of God and have the Lord's Supper
there less often than we used to."
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On November 17, 1737, one of the pastors writes: "Last
Saturday I was taken to Purrysburg in order that I might
preach the Gospel there . Hence on Sunday I held divine
service twice at the place where at other times service is held
for (both) the German and French Swiss. One Sunday the
local preacher delivers a regular sermon to the latter; on the
next he conducts a prayer meeting for the former, using the
English Book of Common Prayer which has been translated
into German; and so he alternates Sunday after Sunday. He
never preaches in German, though, as was stated, on the high
festival days he does read a sermon. This is because he has not
learned German aright, so it is said. The place where diviine
service is held is the preacher's house; which was completed
only a short time ago. He does not live in it now, for it has
been adapted to use as a church, and the intention is to use it as
such until the regular church building, already in process of con-
struction, shall be ready for use. The Germans there would
be highly pleased if they could hear a sermon every' Sunday,
and such an arrangement, I can see, would not be without
value, sincQ they are pleased when they learn that one of us is
coming to their town to deliver a sermon or to conduct a prayer
meeting. The Evangelical Lutherans are, to be sure, the fewer
in number, but yet equally as many, if not more, of the other
inhabitants come, when they know of it (a service), unless
they live too far out on the plantations."
It seems that the Reformed element (in Purrysburg) had for
a time as its ministers the Zouberbuhlers — Rev. Bartholomew
and Sebastian — who were father and son. The diary informs
us, Nov. 3, 1739: "He (Mr. Oglethorpe) has promised the
student Zoberbuller, who since his father's death preaches to the
Reformed folks in Purrysburg on Sundays, something . . .".
But, although the Lutherans in Purrysburg had to forego
the satisfaction of having regular preaching services in German,
they had the use of some volumes of sermons. For on May 8,
1739, the pastors write: "The little Sunday sermons of the
late Prof. Francke we loaned the people of Purrysburg a few
years ago, and we don't feel that we can well ask for their
return, because some of the people derive edification from
them." Later, in 1751, we learn that the pastors at Ebenezer
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provided the Germans in Georgia and South Carolina with edi-
fying books, Bibles, Testaments, Catechisms, Arndt ("True
Christianity"), etc.
On Jan. 4, 1741, one of the pietistic pastors paints religious
conditions in Purrysburg in dark colors : "I hear that in Pur-
rysburg they have no holy-days, (festivals) except that the
name of Sunday is outwardly known among them . . . They
have no scruples, therefore, about calling the people from the
plantations together on New Year or on other festival days for
a muster, as has happened in the past. The people there, for
the most part, have no regard for divine service; therefore
God allows such burdens and services to be laid upon them as
have been altogether spared us."
Materialism was rather prevalent in the little settlement, ac-
cording to the Ebenezer pastors. On April 21, 1741, we are
told that one of the pastors preached to a small gathering of
Germans there and that the "anxiety about nourishment and
the lust for wealth destroy body and soul ; nevertheless there
are some people there who have spiritual hunger''. On the fol-
lowing (?) day the pastor had had opportunity to reconcile
some young married people on Kieffer's plantation. Confirma-
tion of the dark report of the pastor is furnished by one Peter
Reiter, who on Dec. 16, 1741, is reported as thanking God "that
He has brought him again to Ebenezer," adding that he would
"rather be sick here than to be well among the rough people in
Purrysburg." Six years later,- July 11, 1747, a similar charac-
terization of the Carolina Germans is given: "The Germans,
who scatter themselves here and there in Carolina for the sake
of their stomachs, are to be greatly pitied both for their own
and for their children's sakes. For they generally become
libertines, or else fall into the hands of seductive people. The
Salzburger, Ruprecht Zittrauer, of whose great lapse I made
mention some time ago (he was lazy and drunken) is now an
overseer of negroes or black slaves on a plantation in Carolina.
His two children are growing up in ignorance and wickedness."
One of the pastors warned those parents who had been accus-
tomed to arrange banquets on occasions of infant baptisms "not
to sin against God by such a nuisance and dishonor the baptism
which their children receive . . . ." Purrysburg and South
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Carolina were not alone in their shortcomings according to the
Salzburger pastors. At one place in the diary we are told that
"in Carolina, Capefare (Cape Fear?) Viginia and Nova Scotia
there is a total lack of Evangelical (Lutheran) teachers and
Christian discipline."
The diary contains a number of references— ten or more—
to educational matters, one of which has already been given.
At the beginning of September, 1735, there was no school in
Purrysburg — at least none for the Germans — inasmuch as one
of the pastors reports that "the need of the youth was again
pictured to me touchingly. For want of a school they become
wilder and wilder from day to day." But this want seems to
have been supplied immediately thereafter, for on Sept. 14 we
are told. "Yesterday towards evening there came to us three
of the Evangelical people in Purrysburg, among whom was the
newly engaged schoolmaster, who asked for some books for
the poor children and also for some advice as to how to handle
the children aright. We tried to give him aid partly by word
of mouth and partly in writing. He liked our method and has,
therefore, promised to adhere to it closely. And inasmuch as
we received from Germany some time ago some ABC charts
along with a good supply of A B C books and catechisms, we
also gave him some of them, in order that he might have in his
school one sort of books, which arrangement is very helpful to
the children in learning. The books have to remain in his keep-
ing at all times and may not be taken home by the children."
This schoolmaster, whose name was Schoenman Gruber, or
Schmansgruber, proved a worthy man, for on Nov. 12, 1735,
one of the pastors states that his "dear colleague," who "return-
ed home this evening," "Ijrought word that the schoolmaster at
Purrysburg was exhibiting great diligence and faithfulness and
that the children were deriving much profit from his instruction.
The school term was very short, for on Dec. 10, 1735, we find
the following statement in the diary : "The quarter during
which this man (the schoolmaster, Gruber) has kept school, is
at an end, and at this time the money promised him for his
work is sent him. The school, however, will not be continued.
This Gruber is an honest and at the same time capable man,
whom one could use to good advantage with children, were
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there an occasion for employing him. For the sake of enjoy-
ing the Word of God he would like to move to Ebenezer, if
this were feasible."
As a probable consequence of the closing of this school, in
January two women from Purrysburg came to the Salzburger
pastors simultaneously for the purpose of putting two children
in the Ebenezer school. In the following )'ear we find two
similar instances; again in 1741 one case. After a time these
children were taken out of school by their parents, for we are
told on Sept. 13, 1742: "A few people from Purrysburg have
had their children here. They have been boarded in the or-
phanage. The little expense attached to this arrangement
they may, however, have soon found to be too great for them;
hence they have taken the children home and now allow them
to go astray and grow up wild rather than expend some money
for their board. Most of the people care only for their own
and their children's stomachs ; little or nothing being spent upon
• church, school, and the education of their children. Even
though some who are poor could for the asking send their chil-
dren to school, they prefer to use them in tending cattle, in
agriculture, for fishing, hunting, and oversight of negroes; and
it indeed appears that by and by a wild, dissolute Indian life
will be found among most of them."
After the closing of his school, Gruber tried to support him-
self by weaving, but without success, as we learn from the en-
try for April 26, 1736: "Schmansgruber, who formerly con-
ducted the school in Purrysburg, is leaving Purrysburg, and is
moving further northward again, whether to Pennsylvania or
to- New York he himself does not yet know. In Purrysburg
he is unable to earn his bread by means of his weavers' trade,
and he has not learned how to farm ; therefore he has to suffer
care and want after he has spent his small supply of money on
the erection of his home. He is an upright man and gives
earnest attention to the welfare of his soul. At first he thought
of coming to our new settlement, but he does not like certain
conditions which the local colonists have to agree to."
It seems that shortly before Gruber opened his school, an-
other German schoolmaster, Uselt by name, had come to Pur-
rysburg, but had died there not long afterwards. On Jan. 3,
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1739, mention is made of the fact that a Mr. Falk, who came
from Pennsylvania and claimed to be ordained, had been asked
by the Purrysburgers to undertake the instruction of their chil-
dren, but had not consented to do so.
The lot of the Purrysburg settlers was evidently not a very
happy one, for there seems to have been much sickness and
want among them. In 1734 there was "almost no home in
Purrysburg" in which there were not one or rhore sick per-
sons. The poor people lack the necessary means of subsistence
and nursing in which respects the Salzburgers ... are far
ahead of them." Again in August, 1736, there was an out-
break of sickness, for the Ebenezer pastors report: "We have
word from Haberkorn that almost every one there is down
with fever. Similar tidings have reached us from Purrys-
burg."." Early in 1737 we are told that "almost everyone is
leaving Purrysburg, because the poor people there can find no
nourishment for soul and body." In September of that year a
poor man from Purrysburg inquired of the Salzburger pastors
whether they could take his son, who was about twelve years
old, "into their school and bring him under their care. He could
not earn enough in Purrysburg to maintain himself and his
family ; therefore his wife had been obliged to hire herself out
as a maid, while he worked in Old Ebenezer. His little daugh-
ter he had also given away [in service?] for a few years . ."
In one instance the authorities in Purrysburg, especially "the
late Purry," are blamed for the settlers' wretchedness. Kieflfer,
the herdsman, had drawn up at Ebenezer a petition to the
Governor in Charlestown, in which he set forth the "misery
that he had had to endure" on this account and begged for
"good land, besides some incomplete provisions and the remit-
tance of his passage money." "The gentleman in Charlestown are
very favorably disposed towards the poor people and he looks
forward to a happy issue in his case, and so an improvement
in his circumstances."
But not all of the Germans in Purrysburg were poor. ^In
1740 there was a rich German widow "there, jvho put her two
children in school at Ebenezer, where they boarded in the
orphanage. She was charged 5 sh. sterl. a month board for
each boy. After a few months she took the boys home again.
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She failed to pay her bill for some time, but in September 1742
we are told that "now, however, that her second husband, who
was French, has died, she writes to me and offers to pay her
debt soon."
In 1741 "the Kieffers, along with their neighbors," suffered
"great damage on their plantations, for the pumpkins, beans,
turnips, rjce, etc., are ruined by the high water (the result of
continued rain), which has flooded the whole plantation; and
because the bears have beaten down much grain, it will be ruined
in the water." On account of this inundation Kieffer and his
family had to flee from their home.
Prices in Purrysburg and Savannah were high compared with
those in Charlestown. In fact, they were just twice as high.
At one time a German shoemaker in Purrysburg charged 5 sh.
8 p. sterl. for a pair of men's shoes.
As for industries, the Purrysburgers seem to have manu-
factured a little silk — at least, this was the case in 1751. The
South Carolina government had encouraged the manufacture
of silk for a time, but later withdrew this encouragement. A
result was that "an Italian" offered "only a low price for silk
balls." The Purrysburgers once asked one of the Salzburger
pastors to recommend a skilled, experienced woman who under-
stood the spinning of silk. In 1741 they had their meal ground
at the Ebenezer mill, but in 1750 there was a horse mill in Pur-
rysburg that did not operate very successfully and did not bring
its owners much income.
The roads in the vicinity of Purrysburg were "very bad"
and there was a "dearth of bridges" so that the members of the
Kieffer family who lived near Purrysburg, had to "drag their
things hither and thither either on their backs or else on
horses." (1742.)
In 1739 we find that Purrysburg was not a thickly settled
community, but that because of the size of their farms, "espec-
ially those of the so-called lords," the inhabitants lived far
apart, "every one as it were in his own forest." This state of
affairs resulted in much physical and spiritual harm to thd
inhabitants, according to Captain and Judge Linder of Purrys-
burg.
The Purrysburgers owned slaves, but a "Mr. Zuebli, of Pur-
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rysburg" wrote to one of the pastors (1743) "that he would
keep the most of his negroes only a few da)S longer, then get
rid of this burden and change his manner of life to conform
to God's manifest guidance." On April 11, 1742, young
Kieffer brought one of his two negroes to church, where the
service was held in German, and asked for permission to bring
both of them "to church and to the prayer meetings" in order
that they might "gradually learn German and hear something
of the teaching of Christ." Most of the Germans, however,
were not so considerate of the welfare of their negro slaves as
were these two men. Pastor Bolzius writes (1746) : "Yes, our
German people, when they become owners of some slaves, or
overseers of them, are masters in the art of treating the poor
black heathen right cruelly; and in so doing they themselves
become almost heathen, living in the most shameful disorders,
and remaining after all poor, miserable people, who finally are
snatched away by the judgments of God."
Purrysburg possessed a fort, for we learn that at the begin-
ning of March, 1737, they were building a fortification there,
because they feared the Indians, though the fear of the Spani-
ards was no longer so great as it had been.
There was a German surgeon in Purrysburg, a prominent
man, who, however, did not practice his profession there. On
May 7, 1737, we are told: "A German captain from Pur-
rysburg, named Holzendorf, who understnads surgery very
well, had offered several times to visit us and bleed our people.
Yesterday evening, therfore, we had him come and he bled our
people free of charge. He oflfers to visit us again for this
purpose as soon as we find it necessary and desire his services.
He is quite skilled in his art, though as a matter of fact he
does not practice it in Purrysburg and we consider his willing-
ness to serve us a really great physical benefit." This Holzen-
dorf was "a brother of the eminent men of" that "name in the
Royal Prussian service" and had been a royal valet de chambre.
In addition to him there was for a time a French doctor there,
who was drowned together with his family and others when a
boat capsized. The Purrysburg tailor, Metzcher, lost three
children in this accident. In 1741 we learn of a French Swiss
surgeon there, who is said to be "highly conversant with all
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sorts of external injuries." The Purrysburgers are reported
in 1741 to have resorted to "violent negro-cures," before "ex-
treme need" demanded it.
In February, 1736, General Oglethorpe and Mr. von Reck,
the commissioner, went from Ebenezer to Purrysburg, where
they were received by "Mr. Purry and the chief men of the
town amid the booming of a few cannon." "As soon as the
Germans at that point learned of Mr. Oglethorpe's arrival, they
gathered in a crowd, and each one presented his petition to Mr.
Oglethorpe."
Up the Savannah river near Savannah Town was the Swiss
settlement called New Windsor. With the settlers there too the
Salzburgers came in touch, especially while the former were
still on their way to their new home. Even before they arrived
the Salzburger pastors had dealings with Sebastian Zouberbueh-
ler„ the promoter of the settlement, who was then a student of
theology. They had learned that he was intending to return
to Germany and they had given him a section of their diary
and some letters to take with him as a favor to them. This was
"some time prior" to Feb. 19, 1736, for on that date we are
told : "But now, since his departure has been postponed and
he has become engaged in new business affairs with Mr. Ogle-
thorpe concerning some Swiss who are to be brought hefe from
St. Gall and other places, we are sending the package of letters
in question to a merchant in Charlestown." On April 29th of
the following year one of the pastors reports: "I have re-
ceived word from P. (urrysburg) through Mr. Z. that the
newly arrived Swiss intend to have none other than their
own fellow countrymen from their home canton in their new
town that is to be laid out. This place is situated far up the
Savannah river near a village called Savannah Town, which
is inhabited by Indians and by merchants. Before they com-
plete the water trip to that point their provisions will almost
have been consumed. With a loaded boat the journey requires
at least four weeks, during which time they must work unusu-
ally hard against the current. The soil there is said to be good,
but it is a dangerous place on account of the Indians ; and, be-
cause of the lack of communication, Hfe there is hard."
A few days later, M^z^fe^ ;^/BroSMJ>shman who was to lay
32
out the new town for these newly-arrived Swiss up the Savan-
nah river in Carolina, called on the Ebenezer pastor (s). "He
is on his way down from up there and is going to Purrysburg
for the purpose of learning why they are delaying so long. He
told me that there [at New Windsor?] good and poor land
were intermingled. The present settlers would indeed be sup-
plied with good land, but those coming after them would have
to put up with poor land. There was no danger there from the
Indians, but in the matter of provisions life would be hard, for
it was too far from the present Carolina plantations."
On the evening of May 7 "a large boatload of Swiss from the
canton of Appenzell" arrived at Ebenezer and spent the night
there. "There is a man among them whom they call governor,
who is said to be %ery capable and to be highly respected by
them. The later spoke to some of the Salzburgers in high
terms of the land to which they are journeying and which
he himself has already seen and related the fact that one of
our Salzburgers wrote a very favorable letter to Lindau con-
cerning our local conditions." A few days later four "ungodly"
Salzburgers, who were dissatisfied in Ebenezer, went to New
Windsor.
Another boatload of Swiss headed for New Windsor arrived
at Ebenezer on the evening of June 4th.
In a letter of Pastor Bolzius, dated June 30, 1737, the fol-
lowing mention is made of the New Windsor settlement:
"Some months ago, another transport containing Swiss people
came to Carolina. These went to establish a town of their own
up on the Savannah river almost at its source, but partly on
account of the unusually disorderly life of the Christians and
the heathen there and partly because of great, unanticipated
hardships, they are in a bad state." On Sept. 6, 1737, "an Eng-
lishman, who trades with the Indians in Savannah Town," call-
ed on one of the pastors and told, anmong other things, that the
Swiss, who. lately have begun to build a town in that vicinity,
are almost all sick and that some are dying. "Their preacher
is not yet with them and they are indeed wretched in both
spiritual and temporal affairs."
In January, 1739, we are told that Mr. Falk, the gentleman
whom the Purrysburgers had asked to instruct their children
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but who had declined, had wanted to go to Savannah Town to
deliver a sermon to the "rough people" there. This man, claim-
ing to be ordained, had offered himself to the Reformed ele-
ment in Savannah as a preacher, but his offer had not been
accepted. He could not speak German very well, but spoke
Dutch with a fair degree of fluency.
In October, 1737, the Salzburger pastors heard that every-
thing was very dear in New Windsor "because foodstuffs and
other necessaries of life must be brought up from Charlestown
and Savannah by boat, which is a very hard trip." One month
later a Switzer, who, along with some others, was traveling
from New Windsor to Purrysburg, called on one of the pastors
at Ebenezer. "He was sick and wretched, and all the others
are in the same condition. Horribly many (such was his ex-
pression) have . . . died in the new town. They are people
without the necessaries of life, sheep without a shepherd, and
therefore are at present in wretched circumstances."
Some of these Switzers moved from New Windsor to Palla-
choccolas where ' General Oglethorpe had a barony which he
wished to settle with some families from among their number.
Oglethorpe tried to induce the younger Zouberbuehler, then a
student of theology who was preaching to the Reformed ele-
ment in Purrysburg, to take an interest in these Switzers on his
barony. The latter had asked that Zauberbuehler be secured as
their "reader and preacher." It would seem that this arrange-
ment was made. In 1741 there was a schoolmaster "in the
wilderness near Savannah Town" who inquired of the Salz-
burger pastors whether they needed a teacher. He "longed"
to come to Ebenezer and to bring his wife and children with
him.
It seeems that some whetit was grown in the New Windsor
community, for in November, 1741, "the first boat which came
from Savannah Town "brought some wheat to be used by the
Salzburgers for seed.
The Salzburger pastors give us some facts, obtained second-
hand or by hearsay, concerning the settlement at Saxe-Gotha, or
Congaree. In December, 1741, one of them writes: "We have
never heard anything of Saxe-Gotha in America before; now
we hear that it is a town situated in South Carolina 100 English
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miles, or 25 German miles, from Charlestown on the way to
Orangeburg, and settled Ijv German people. Most of these
are are probably Reformed, because a Reformed man, of whose
c-haracter we know nothing as }et, is the preacher there". But
there were Lutherans there also, as is shown by the testimony
of John George Ebner. from Strassburg — himself a Lutheran,
—who came to Ebenezer in February, 1752, and asked
for the private administration of the Holy Communion
He was seeking land in Georgia for himself and certain other
Lutherans who wanted to be near a church and school. "Religi-
ous affairs are in great confusion there (in Saxe-Gotha), one
of the pastors reports, "and especially the children are in great
danger." An effort was made to settle Saxe-Gotha thickly,
for on April 10, 1751, we are told: "In Carolina the new
colonists receive some money at the outset, but they have to go
to Congrees [Congaree] and settle there, because this district
is to be peopled with many inhabitants as a defense against the
Indians, etc."
Among the immigrant agents in South Carolina, such as
Purry and Sebastian Zouberbuhler, was John Jacob Riemensp-
erger. Seventy people from Salzburg and Wuerttemberg, who
had been brought to London by Riemensperger for the purpose
of emigration to South Carolina, were deceived in their hopes
and in the promises made them. They, therefore, became con-
fused and miserable. Then the Georgia trustees decided to
send them to Ebenezer. This information we find in a letter
from the Georgia office in London to Samuel Urlsperger, the
the editor of the Salzburger Reports, under date of June 5,
1749.
Pastor Bolzius gives the settlers at Saxe-Gotha a bad name.
On July 23, 1749, he writes: "This afternoon I received a
letter from Pastor Zuebli in which he gives an unfavorable re-
port of Congaree, or Saxe-Gotha in South Carolina, where all
sorts of Germans who can't get along in other provinces or who
do not wish to do well, have settled and are still settling. These
are the people who not long ago wrote me a long letter, in which
they expressed the earnest desire that I might visit them some
time and supply them with good books. The latter request I
granted. The pastor writes me that they live in a very filthy,
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nasty, disorderly fashion, and that they treat their Reformed
preacher (who, too, is said to be a very bad man) with less
respect than they do the humblest member of the congregation.
They themselves wrote me that there was great discord among
them."
Bplzius did not grant the requset of the Saxe-Gothans for a
visit for the following reasons: (1) On account of the long
and expensive journey; (2) on account of his health; (3)
because of the bad name of the settlement. "Congris ist eine
colluvies pravorum" (Congaree ist a vile mixture of bad men).
Similar testimony concerning Saxe-Gotha is given in 1749:
"Such a place where all sorts of people congregate is Congaree
in Carolina. This place the Governor desires to settle thickly
with Germans as a bulwark against the Indians. Therefore,
great licenses are allowed them, and as a result of the excessive
indulgence of this lord towards this new settlment, it is hard
to recover fugitive indentured servants." A Charlestown friend
of the Salzburgers who had tried to recover for them two in-
dentured servants (?) and three boys who had escaped to Con-
garee, " was apparently hindered by the government itself, which
affords protection and safety to all sorts of people who have
" congregated in this newly established place, as the result of
which many people lose their property."
A brief account of economic conditions in Saxe-Gotha was
given by a young Switzer who had come to Ebenezer from
Congaree (April, 1750). He stated that there "was, to be
sure, work enough" in the latter settlement, but no money.
Hence the laborers had to accept as their pay merchandise, meat,
cattle or products of the soil. The land was very good, but it
was not situated on a convenient stream and the distance to
Charlestown, the capital, was 150 miles. And inasmuch as they
had no other way of bringing their products to market- in
Charlestown except overland by wagon, the great cost of trans-
portation made their profit very small. The people in that com-
munity were scattered about, living very far from one another.
Almost every one lived in his own wilderness. In spiritual
matters there was much misery, but it seemed that most of the
inhabitants cared more for good land and physical freedom than
for the one thing that is needful.
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On the 25th of April Saxe-Gotha is again mentioned in the
diary of the pastors and at somewhat great length: "The
German Evangelical Lutheran people at Congrees in South
Carolina . some months ago requested me to visit them
and serve them with the Word and the Holy Communion. I
sent them some books both for adults and for children, and at
the same time wrote them that my circumstances did not permit
such a long journey. Now again I receive a letter in which the
former request is repeated, with the added statement that I am
to, help them to get a church and a preacher. They constitute
a congregation of 280 souls and all of them could go to church
if one were built in the midst of their surrounding plantations.
The Reformed had obtained from the government 500 pounds
Carolina money (somewhat more than 500 gulden) for the
erection of a church, but there was no one willing to assist
them [the Lutherans] if I did not do so. They live in great
discord with the Reformed, at which I expressed my displeasure
in my former letter. A few families from here, who, indeed,
could have supported themselves among us, removed to that
place; three grown boys who were afterwards enticed from
their service here, and two indentured servants who had run
away have found refuge in Congrees. The people there (as a
preacher from Carolina [Zuebli] once wrote me are said to
live filthlily among themselves and have very little respect for
their Reformed preacher. 1 have no love for these people.
Their stomach is their God ; which one has to admit is the case
with most of the Germans in these districts. In this very letter
I find that they have built and continue to build grist mills and
saw mills there. Why should they not be able to build a meet-
ing house, if they were in earnest about it?"
Very little is said about the Orangeburg settlement, so far
as I have noticed, and the statements made have to do with
some money and books that had been sent "old Mr. Giessen-
danner." One of the pastors wrote a letter to young Giessen-
danner, "the present preacher in Orangeburg or (as they also
write it) Oranienburg." He informed Giessendanner that the
equivalent of nine gulden had been collected for him in Switz-
erland, which, according to the written statement of a promi-
nent merchant in Zurich, was to be given to the son or grandson
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of the elder Giessendanner, who had died. Bolzius (?) 'stated
that certain books, which were being sent him, (/. e. Giessen-
danner) from Switzerland in chests for the Salzburgers that
had not yet arrived, would be forwarded to him as soon as
possible. He requests young Giessendanner to write to him
now and then, as the late Giessendanner had done, thinking
that this might perhaps be of some advantage. This letter is
mentioned in the entry for May 21, 1741. By May 29 a
good opportunity had presented itself for sending the nine gul-
den to Orangeburg via Charlestown. The books and letters
contained in the Salzburger's chests were to be sent Giesen-
danner as soon as he should acknowledge the receipt of the
money.
Our pastors were in a position to obtain first hand informa-
tion about Charlestown, for not only did they see the town on
their way to Ebenezer, but they visited it again on at least two
other occasions. On March 7, 1734, while the ship that had
brought them from Europe still lay at anchor waiting for a
pilot, they obtained permission to go to the town in onq of the
ship's boats with the captain. They wanted to have some offi-
cial clothes made (probably clerical robes) but there was no
tailor in the town who knew how to make them. They give
the following description of the town : "This Charlestown
not only makes a good appearance from far out at sea, but is
also regularly, though not expensively, constructed and has no
walls. The following are the observations we have made here :
(1) That everything, excepting some foodstiiflfs, is very ex-
pensive here.
(2) That paper money is found here, on which the value is
printed in letters. Even though one give the people gold or
silver coins, they give in return nothing but paper. This money
is legal-tender in all Carolina.
(3) That all, who will only work, can earn their bread,
although it is dear.
(4) That there are many more negroes than whites here,
all of whom are kept at work, but are by no means Christian-
ized. Only a very few, if any at all, are baptized. The rest
live like cattle, so far as the sixth commandment [adultery]
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and other matters are concerned. Whole shiploads of them are
brought here from Africa for sale.
(5) That it is already extremely hot, although spring has
just come. Even at this season the trees are in bloom and the
gardens are filled with cabbage, turnips, radishes, lettuce, and
other garden products.
(6) That here too we have found some Germans, who were
delighted over our arrival and who will make the trip to our
settlement in order to partake of the Holy Communion. The
printer, Timotheus by name, is also a German.* He is the
publisher of th^ local newspapers.
(7) That three weeks ago, right in front of the city, a
richly laden ship was totally destroyed by fire as the result of
a cabin-boy's oversight.
(8) That it is, to be sure, a great convenience to have many
slaves to attend to the work, but such convenience is coupled
with much danger, in that the blacks, of whom there are said
to be 30,000 in Carolina alone, are not true to the Christians,
but are very malicious (sneaking).
(9) That we have been received very aflfectionately by Mr.
Oglethorpe, and dined with him at the home of the Governor,
a very friendly and good man. Mr. Oglethorpe told us much
that is praiseworthy about the heathen who are to be our neigh-
bors . .
Commissioner von Reck inserts in his diary the following
description of Charlestown and the province Carolina :
"Charlestown is a pretty city and seaport with a flourishing
commerce. It is built on a level spot, has broad streets and
good houses, some of which are built of brick, the most, how-
ever, of wood. White bread is very expensive here, because no
white meal is to be had, except that which the prominent peo-
*This statement does not accord with what i^ known of Louis Timo-
thee from other sources It is possible that his acquaintance with the
German language, which is indicated by the fact that he had printed for
Benj. Franklin the first German newspaper in America, the Philadel-
phische Zeitung, which failed for lack of subscriptions, caused the Salz-
burger pastors to take him for a German. Or, on the other hand, may
his connection with this German newspaper support the statement of
the Salzburger pastors? In the "Gazette" for Dec. 4-11, 1749, there is
an advertisement in the German characters and language of an almanac
for the year 17S0 that was printed in Philadelphia and for sale at
Timothy's establishment on King Street.
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pie make for their own use on their plantations — and that is
very good, — or what is imported from the northern colonies, or
even from England. Rice is excellent and cheap here. One
sees more than five negroes to one white man, and furthermore
almost 3,000 new ones are brought in annually, so that one
estimates the number of negroes in this province at 30,000; who,
along with their children, children's children and all their de-
scendants, are for ever slaves. Because at ' the same time
they are badly treated, they cherish a secret hatred of their
masters and only seek a favorable opportunity to revolt, as they
have recently done on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Jonas,
which belong to the Danes and the Swedes."
On May 24, 1734, Pastor Bolzius wrote a letter from Charles-
town, whither he had come for two reasons : First, because the
Salzburger "commissioner," Mr. von Reck and his servants
wanted to partake of the Lord's Supper there once more along
with sorne Lutheran inhabitants of the town ; second, because
the state of his own affairs and those of his congregation "made
it necessary." "God has awakened various people here," he
writes, "who have been kind to our Salzburgers and who have
promised to do still more. To these we must render due
thanks ..."
In 1741 Pastor Gronau made a trip to Charlestown. While
there he held services. "Morning and afternoon" (of a certain
Sunday), he states, "a little crowd of Germans gathered them-
selves together."
In October, 1742, Bolzius accompanied to Charlestown Henry
Melchoir Muehlenberg, the "patriarch" of the American Lu-
theran Church, who had been on a visit to Ebenezer. He in-
tended to go to Pennsylvania with Muehlenberg, but found no
opportunity of doing so at once. Realizing that if he waited
in Charlestown his board bill would soon mount up, he abandon-
ed the project and returned to Ebenezer. He kept a diary on
this trip and from this diary I take certain passages: "Here
(in Charlestown) we lodged with a French baker who married
a German wife and has her sister living with them. We did
not wish to lodge in a public inn with our people because of the
expense and of the noise. In this house my dear colleague
delivered ten months ago an address on the text . . . , which
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was heard, our host related, by some English and French people
in addition to the Germans. The former had come because
they liked our hymns and melodies . . The necessaries of
life are very expensive here at present. A pound of fresh
butter or English cheese costs more than one shilling sterling;
100 pounds of meal, fourteen shillings ; a gallon of wine, five
shillings ; etc. ; and the worst of it is that they have little regard
for the sola bills, or the money of the Trustees. He who wants
to buy something with it, suffers a great loss (in value?). Bills
of exchange the merchants accept, of course, yet they do not
honor them with cash but with their goods. It is a good thing
that we brought some guineas along, for these we can use with-
out any special loss."
Under date of October 21st we read: "There are at present
some Germans from Purrysburg here, who have some very
troublesome business with the local authorities. They go in
and out of our quarters and attend both morning and evening
the prayer-meetings we hold with our people, at which they
are very attentive. This morning I was busy buying all
sorts of things for our parishioners. These are to be sent
back with our boat. Merchandise, especially when one buys
it wholesale, is still rather cheap. Even when one figures
in the cost of transportation, it is somewhat cheaper than in
Savannah, and in this way we can render our people an agree-
able service.
"Auction sales take place here almost daily. At these all
sorts of merchandise is sold very cheap. Very many mer-
chants go bankrupt, whereupon their creditors convert their
stocks into money as well as they can. I accidentally got into
the home of an English schoolmaster. He and his wife teach
a hundred boys and girls. He told me inter alia what great
advantagees Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, where he had been
a schoolmaster for about eight years, had over this section and
this town, and how one very seldom heard of any one going
into bankruptcy and of his goods being ' auctioned off after his
death, as often happens here. For, he said, the people work
harder, do not live in luxury as they do here in the matter of
clothes and other things; hence they contract no debts. He
would not have come here, had not certain schoolmasters oflfer-
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ed their services at too low a figure and thus drawn the children
away from him. There are several English and French schools
here but no German ones. Conditions among the few Germans
here are very lamentable. When they accumulate a little money,
they openly imitate local society. Unless one sees for oneself
the luxury and sensuality that are indulged in here, one cannot
form an adequately coarse conception of it. The part of the
city that was devastated by fire has been almost completely re-
built, and building operations are still being carried on vigor-
ously. On the water front of the town double piles are being
driven, and a thick wall being built from one corner to the
other, partly so that the tide can no longer wash away the
banks and partly in order that an adequate number of cannon
may be mounted on it."
On October 22d we are told that the Salzburgers were hast-
ening home because in Charlestown the necessaries of life were
very dear and everything cost a great deal of money. "For
although we lodge in a private home and have made our calcula-
tions most carefully, it costs one pound of local paper money
a day,i. c, 2 sh. 10>^ p. sterl., which would amount to a great
deal in two or four weeks, especially since with good inten-
tions and for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we have brought
honest Kalcher along."
Theus, the painter, who had "previously given lodging" to
Gronau, agreed to take Muehlenberg into his home, since the
latter would be alone and had his own bed. Muehlenberg
would be under very little expense there, we are told.
Bolzius had to buy "a cheap horse" for the return trip to
Ebenezer. A planter, who had formerly been rich but was
then in prison there, had a few mares to sell. Bolzius had his
choice and bought "a young, very easy-going mare" fof 3pounds
10 shillings sterling. He had to buy a new saddle and bridle,
which he secured for 17 sh. 2 p. sterling. He "longed to get
out" of Charlestown, which he called a sinful town. He who
has been in London," he continues, "may indeed have seen and
heard something of abominations, but here they have almost
reached their zenith. The Europeans indulge in abominably
wanton conduct toward the negro girls; therefore, one sees
very many mulatto children running around. I was told that
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many prominent men do not marry, but carry on shameful inter-
course with such heathen, and that this is regarded as but a
sHght disgrace, if any at all. At twilight and in the evening,
not only is there much mixed promenading of the two sexes
on the streets, but whites and negroes of both sexes behave most
shamefully and make much noise even into the night. Although
it is now nearly winter, and the heat of the sun is not excessive,
the women, all of whom think themselves fine in their magnifi-
cent costumes, go about on the streets with black masks (veils)
before their faces, which look very ugly and reveal their
character quite plainly. These they wear also on Sunday in
church. Some of the Germans are still upright and exercise
moderation, but young girls openly imitate the world (society),
and everywhere are blindness, prejudices, malice, indifiference,
Epicureanism, and atheism. As many as have chosen to come
to us, have heard important truths from God's Word — from the
Psalms of David and other Bible texts. Besides, we have
talked with them privately about one thing and another. God
pity this misery!"
Pastor Muehlenberg wrote to the Salzburger pastors that Mr.
Theus would not take anything for the entertainment he had
given him. The former had wanted to insist on the latter's
taking something, for Theus was a poor man and had no means
except what he earned at his painting. Yet he would take no-
thing from his guest. "A German painter in Charlestown,"
probably Theus, is reported in 1743 as preparing for the Salz-
burger churches two copies of the Scripture verses: "Thou
daughter of Zion, rejoice greatly, etc." Theus seems to have
been a pious man, for there was a German congregation in
Charlestown which met in "a painter's home," evidently his,
"for mutual edification." At the request of the "lay reader",
one of the Salzburger pastors had presented them with a copy
of a collection of sermons on the Epistle lessons for the year.
This is stated in the entry for January 14, 1748.
Another prominent Charlestonian, John Paul Grinke, "a
German jeweler ( ?)", as he is called, requested of Bolzius a
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certificate to the efifect that he had received the Lord's Supper
m Charlestown at the hands of Gronau. He wished to use this
certificate as proof that he was a Protestant, and therefore en-
titled to naturalization papers.
Note. — I have no record of any references in the Salzburger Reports
to the Moravian missionaries to the negroes, Bohler and Schulius, who
settled at Purrysburg in February. 1739, though they had come to that
settlement in October, 1738. The outlook for the negro school that they
were to establish there was "far from encouraging" at that time. They
"then made their way from one plantation to another until they reached
Charlestown." They now wished to locate their school in Charlestown,
but General Oglethorpe insisted that it be located in Purrysburg, and
they acquiesced. "The German and Swiss settlers" at Purrysburg,
writes Miss Adelaide L. Fries, from whose booke, "Moravians in Geor-
gia," I have drawn this information regarding Bohler and Schulius,
"were unaffectedly glad to have the Moravians in their midst, and begged
for religious services and instruction for their children, so Bohler and
Schulius agreed on a divison of labor, the latter to devote himself to
the white residents and their little ones, while Zohler spent most of his
time visiting adjoning plantations", and there working among the ne-
groes. The explanation of this apparent failure of the Salzburger
pastors to mention these Moravians is probably the fact that Bolzius
was not friendly towards the latter, though Gronau was. Henry Mel-
chior MuehJenberg accused the Moravians of "sheep-stealing".
Digitized by Microsoft®
Swiss Notes on South Carolina. *
"On Tuesday last [February 1st] arrived (Charles-
town) Capt. Dunbarr from Rotterdam with above 200 Switzers
out of the Canton of TOCKENBURGH [Toggenburg] ,i who
are come to settle a Township on Savanna River called
New Windsor, which was reserved for them upon a Petition to
the Honorable the Governor and Council, granted some time
since to one of their Commissioners, Sebastian Zouberbuhler,
who was sent here by them to look out for and pitch upon
Land which he should think most convenient for planting of
hemp and Flax, and which 't is hoped in time will be of no
small Advantage to this Province."
So reads an item in theGazctfc for January 29-February 5,
1737. This party of German-Swiss settlers had left their
mountainous fatherland "in the beginning of August last"
[1736] and had journeyed to Rotterdam, where they arrived
"in September following" and "where they met with great
hardships and a long detention from the Magistrates" of that
city, the latter "pretending to oblige them to embark in a Dutch
vessell when the said familys had already contracted for their
passage to Carolina in an English Vessel, which occasioned a
demurage of vSix weeks and an expence of several hundreds^ of ,
pounds".^ This delay had entitled a "Great Loss and Detri-
ment" to these "familys" as well as to Sebastian Zouberbuhler
and "his Friends".-^ The British "Minister at the Hague" had
interceded for them with the result that they had "obtained
leave to embark in the said English vessel." This they had
♦Reprinted from The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine for July, 1920. •
IThe Toggenburg is a portion of the present Canton of St. Gall. In
the Salsburger Nachrichten (vol. 3, p. 1040), Halle, 1740, these settlers
are called "Switzers from the Canton of Appenzell." Cf. the "Petition"
of Sebastian Zouberbuhler quoted below.
2"The Humble Petition of Sebastian Zouberbuhler of the Canton of
Appensel in Swiserland." (Transcripts in the Office of the Historical
Commission, vol. 18, p. 176 flf.)
^See page 95.
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done in November 1736 and had "sailed directly for Carolina."
In Sebastian Zouberbuhler's account of the migration of these
Switzers, no mention is made of his having been sent to South
Carolina by them for the purpose of selecting and securing a
tract, or tracts, of land, as is stated in the Gazette.'' It was the
Encouragements given to Colonel Purry for the settling a
Township upon the River Savanna" that led him to come to
the Province in the year 1734 "at his own cost and charge — in
hopes of meeting with the same encouragements in proposing
to People another Township." He further states that "during
his stay in South Carolina he travell'd all over the Country to
take a view of the Lands," on which His Majesty had "Order-
ed the Townships to be laid out, and after several conferences
held with the Council at Charles Town he ... . con-
cluded a Contract with them, signed the 17th July 1736, for set-
tling a Township up the River Savanna on a Place formerly
an Indian Village, then called Savanna Town (at present New
Windsor) and for bringing over one hundred Protestant Fami-
lys in the space of one Year w'th a farther promise to bring
over two hundred Familys more after the first fiundred be well
settled and able to subsist themselves."^ — "In pursuance of the
said Contract he writ to his friends at Appenzel to come away
with as many familys as could be got ready, accordingly they
set out with about fifty Familys consisting of one hundred and
ninety two Persons (most able body'd young people and not
above twenty children among them) .... Upon their
arrival in Charles Town, the party encountered another hin-
drance and delay, so that it was not until that April they began
the journey to New Windsor. "After a great deal of Trouble,"
writse the Rev. Bartholomew Zouberbuhler from "Charlestown
in South Carolina" April 9th, 1737, "to his Son Sebastian
■tHe first proposed in 1735 to bring over 100 Protestant Swiss fami-
lies and asked for Provisions, Cattle, Tools and free Warrants, Plots and
Grants. After having "spent some time in viewing several Places in
consequence of this Petition and having been taken ill, he found, it im-
possible for him to transpirt to Carolina the said 100 Familys in the
time he at first Proposed." (Transcripts, vol. XVIII, p. 267 ff.)
5He does state that "they are chiefly qualified for cultivating hamp and
Flax, and the Lands of the said Township" are "very fitt for that pur-
pose."
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Zouberbuhler at London,"^ "The Government of South Caro-
Resolved on the 2d of April to assist the People with three Pet-
tiagos for Transporting them and their Baggage hence to New
Windsor. But that in case they wanted more The People
should provide them at their own Charges. Whereupon the
People who absolutely refused to be at the Charge of a Suffici-
ent Number, of Pettiagoes and Boats, came to me and told me
that as I had promised them that they should be carried to the
Place free of all Charges, so they desired that I might provide
them with a sufficient Number of Pettiagoes and Boats. Thus
I found myself obliged to hire One Pettiagoe, over and above
those provided by the Government, for which I am to pay One
Pistole per diem ; as also Two Trading Boats to carry them and
their baggage from Purrysburgh up the River to New Windsor,
for the Pettiagoes cannot go higher than Purrysburgh. All
which Expences fall upon my Account. And therefore you
must see to find Ways nad Means for discharging the said
Expences." The journey from Charles Town to Purrysburg
lasted "four full Weeks," while the remaining distance from
the latter point to New Windsor required "Seventeen days
more."' On the evening of the seventh of May, some of the
party^ arrived at Ebenezer, Ga., where they spent the night
with the Salzburgers, while almost a month later, June 4th,
another boatload touched at this place.'
The emigration of these settlers of New Windsor is men-
tioned at some length in the "2lstes Neujahrsblatt der Zuerch-
er Huelfsgellschaft," 1821.
SThis is a "translation of Part of a letter . . . written in
High German by the Rev'd Mr. Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, etc." Tran-
scripts, vol. 18, pp. 232-33.
^"Translation of Part of a Letter written by the same hand, at
Charlestown ye 4 December 1737." Ibid.
8"Yesterday evening (i.e. May 7th) a large boatful of Switzers from
the Canton of Appenzel arrived at our settlement and spent the night
here." Sahburgcr Nachrichten. Part 1, p. 1044.
'"Yesterday evening i.e. June 4th) during our prayer-meeting, there
arrived here from Purrysburg a boatful of Switzers, who likewise are
journeymg to their place near Savanna Town." Ibid., p. 1060.
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"Enticed by these descriptions,'^ the number of emigrants
soon increased. The town of Savannah (Savanna Town?) was
populated chiefly by Switzers, and later (sic!) Newbern, North
Carolina, was likewise settled by our fellow-countrymen. It
was observed that at that time several hundred families passed
through the pass near Wallenburg into the Canton of Basel
alone. One of the largest crowds, consisting of inhabitants of
eastern Switzerland, set out under the leadership of Governor
Tobler,'! who had been dismissed from his position during the
disturbances that took place in Appenzell at that time, and of a
St. Gall preacher by the name of Zouberbuhler. According to
reports of the latter, they had landed happily in Charlestown
after a voyage of seven weeks. During the journey they had
. lost only two children out of two hundred and fifty persons.
They had found enough fertile land and had been accorded a
friendly reception everywhere. They had every reason to be
sure of their future prosperity, provided that they should be
industrious and orderly. He added that, in view of these
facts, his son would return to St. Gall shortly and would bring
fift\' to sixty families more. The ordinances of the government
prevented this; nevertheless Tobler and Zouberbuhler kept in
touch with their fatherland for yet a long while, and the former,
who was not unlearned in surveying and astronomy, dedicated
to the states of Glarus, Appenzell and the three confederacies
an almanac'^ for the year 1754, which contained a description
10"An exceedingly favorable description of those districts and of the
advantages of the settlements there (i.e. "South Carolina and Georgia"),
with an appended map, by a native of Basel who was living there." "A
considerable edition" of this work, which "appeared" in 1711, "had been
quickly sold." 2) A publication prepared by Col. John Pierre Purry,
which is mentioned as follows : "When toward the end of the year 1733,
Purry made a journey to Switzerland, he brought with him several let-
ters by different emigrants, who all testified as to their great satisfaction
with their new fatherland. He himself, too, published some reports •
about Carolina. These, along with the afore-mentioned letters, were
translated into German, under the title . . . . , printed, and scat-
tered everywhere."
il"There is a man among them (i.e. the settlers of New Windsor, who
spent the night of May 7th at Ebenezer), whom they call Governor. He
is said by them to be very clever and of high repute. To some of the
Salzburgers he spoke in very high terms of the district, to which they
are journeying and which he himself has already seen "
{Salsburger Nachrichten, Part 1, p. 1044.)
i2Bibligraphies of Tobler's almanacs prepared by Miss Webber and
and Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., have appeared in previous numbers of this
magazine.
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of South Carolina and on whose title page he designated him-
self Justice of the Peace of Granville County. Meanwhile, not
all of his former fellow-travelers (i.e. emigrants) had been in
like measure satisfied with their lot. Several returned to
Europe in a wretched state, and one of these, Wernhard Trach-
sler of Elgg published a short account of his journey, in which
he complained bitterly of hardships of the journey, the un-
friendliness of the climate and of the inhabitants, poor food
and dwellings, diseases, wild people and wild animals, and dis-
suaded everyone from journeying thither. There also appear-
ed with this report a lament of those who had remained be-
hinnd in Carolina, which contained among other stanzas the
following one: [Note. A prose translation is given.]
"I journeyed from a free land, in which I lived honestly and .
honorably. I did not know of Carolina, where I am now a
slave. I have no freedom at all. Great God, grant me Thy
grace !"
Hans Wernhard Trachsler's "short account of his journey,"
which has been mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, bore the
following title : "Brief Description of a Journey to the Prov-
ince of Carolina, situated in the West Indies, together with a
Report of the Character, Nature, and Features of this Land by
s Citizen who Recently Returned to his own Country." It was
published in 1738 at Zurich and was "printed in Burckli's
Printery." A translation which follows is complete save for a
few words that are unintelligible in the written copy from which
it was made.
"Hans Wernhard Trachsler of Elgg, district of Zurich, for-
merly soldier in Imperial and Royal French service, had the
desire to see Carolina and undertook to do it. Accordingly on
.the ninth of September, 1736, he took leave of his wife and
children at Elgg and with eighty five gulden'^ cash journeyed to
Holland alone. From Basel to Rotterdam it costs a person
over twelve years of age eight gulden; from four to twelve
years four gulden, boat passage alone, without food and drink,
besides baggage six gulden per hundred weight. In Rotterdam
he met many persons who also intended to travel thither, from
13"Till 1876 a gulden of Is 8d was the unit in the South German
States."
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various places, especially Switzers from Appenzell, Pundten?
(Graubuenden?) and Rheintal ; among whom were Mr. Zuebli^''
of St. Gall, Pastor Zuberbuehler of Troguen, Governor Tobler
of Herisau, and others. These men and all the rest present,
making a company of 250 persons, entered into, an agreement
with the captain of a vessel before the voyage to the afore-
mentioned province of Carolina. He undertook to carry them
and made them pay him for freight, care, and food, for a grown
person five louisd'ors ; for a person from three to twelve years
old, two and a half louisd'ors; and for children under three,
nothing. During this time there was apportioned to them, in
messes of five persons, every twenty-four hours on Sundays
and Tuesdays, dried beef ; on Saturdays, pork ; on Fridays,
codfish; on other days, boiled rice, peas, and barley together
with a quart of water and beer and a piece of zwieback per
head. Children under three, as they paid no passage, were
counted to their parents. But this supply of food was not suf-
ifln a letter of the Salzburger pastors, Bolzius and Gronau, dated
July 29, 1737, mention is made of Mr. Zueblin, who had "recently
brought" them "the letters and the gift," and who had been sick in
Purrysburg "almost as long as he" had been "in the land." From the
diary of these pastors we learn that Mr. Zueblin of Purrysburg had
two brothers who had desired to be taken in at Ebenezer. The date of
this item is Dec. 19, 1737. The entry for Feb. 2S, 1736, contains the
information that two brothers named "Ziebely" had been supplied with
provisons "from the store-house in Savannah" at the request of the
pastors, when ".some time ago" they had been "in very great want of"
these and had been "forsaken by everybody." Their parents in St. Gall
were said to be "wealthy people," and they wished to "pay back every-
thing with joy in due time." "Both brothers fear God," we are told,
"and make use of our (the Salzburger pastors') ministry, as often as we
come to Purrysburg." From the entry of November 8, 1742, we learn
that Mr. David Zuebli had a son in Switzerland, who was studying the-
ology. . . . "The father should have liked to have had him
become the German preacher in Purrysburg; but because the number of
the German people is becoming continually smaller and he himself no
longer has a great desire to remain there, therefore he desires that the
German people in Savannah might call him to be their preacher." We
are further informed (February 8, 1743) that "Mr. Zuebli from Purrys-
burg" had written to one of the pastors "that he wished to keep the most
of his negroes only a few days longer and to release himself from this
burden (or charge) and to change his manner of life according to God's
apparent direction." Again (February 8, 1743) we are told that "Mr.
Zuebli" had "bought, on his arrival in the land, a plantation of two
hundred acres on the Savannah River, but" that he had "long ago been
forced by the frequent flooding, which now for two years had continued
longer than formerly, to abandon it and" had "rented another in the
interior that" was "very remote (isolated)." [These items are taken
from the Sahburger Nachrichten.'\
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ficient for them, they being people not accustomed to voyages,
so that ever}- one had to try at times to buy something from the
ship-steward out of his own pocket. Moreover, they had to He
on the hard floor without any beds, and the sea caused them
many sick days and fever. After twelve weeks and three days
they finally arrived in Carolina, and they disembarked in the
chief city, Charlestown, situated in South Carolina, and were
lodged in two shacks. There they caused a petition to be pre-
sented to the English Council and the Governor that they, like
those who had arrived before them, might receive the provision
and support for the first year, as was promised to the afore-
named Pastor Zuberbuehler's son in Carolina and even in Lon-
don ; but they were refused and silenced, inasmuch as His Royal
Majesty of England has issued an order not to advance or give
anything more to anybody. '^ Hereupon they found themselves
in the most extreme poverty ; they had to eat themselves, as it
were ; home and hope they had none ; work they did not find.
They scattered here and there. Some remained in Charles-
town ; others went to Purrysburg and Orangeburg, Congaree,
Savannah (Savanna Town, i. e. New Windsor?) and other
places, where they were assigned to woodland and raw fields ;
others, and especially the women who had lost their husbands
on the voyage, begged. ^'^ Trachsler, for his part, found some
credit and began to butcher, and rented in Charlestown a shed
or shanty made of boards for 20 Batzen of our money per week.
I5'rhe Minutes of Council for February 4, 1737-8 contain the reply of
the Council to a message from the House, in which reply we find the
following words : " , the late Lieu't Governor by the advice
of His Majesty's Council, with proper prudence and Caution near a
Year Agoe Caused an Advertizement to be Published and Continued in
the Weekly Gazette giving Notice of the Expiration of that Law (i.e.
the Appropriation Law) and of the Insufficiency of the Fund to provide
for the poor Protestants then Arrived" .
I60n February 3, 1737-8 a message was sent by the House to the
Council in which we find the following reference to the plight of some
newly arrived immigrants : " . . Especially as we have Such
frequent Complaints that for want of some Provision being made for
these people (Irish Protestants) and the Other Poor Protestants lately
arrived in this Province, this Town is filled with people begging froiii
Door to Door in So much that Unless they are Some way forthwith
provided for they will become a perfect Nusance to the Present Inhabi-
tants of the Town." Relief and action were urged. The Council replied
on the following day (cf. note on preceding page) and recommended
that the "poor Protestants" "Enter into Service without more loss of
time."
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Some time afterwards, when Spain made some moves looking
to an invasion of the country and on this account the fortresses
were occupied, he received from the said Council in Charles-
town the favor to be placed in the fortress of Port Royal, which
lies in the direction of Georgia, as sergeant with fifty men from
the best people under the command of a lieutenant from
Prussia. Here they had enough to eat, but after four months
were paid off and discharged. Then he went to Orangeburg
and tried to support himself again with butchering and soap-
boiling, which he had learned years before in France. He also
entered into an agreement with a captain, to whom he offered
to teach soap-boiling, for four years for half of the profits.
But he was unable from the very beginning to come to any ac-
counting with the gentleman. Therefore he applied to the
magistrate and there had himself released from the contract.
As he now had some money on hand, he again hired passage
with it on a ship and sailed back to Holland, taking with him the
wife of a smith in Troguen. Only a few days ago he returned
to his children in Elgg.
All persons who get to Rotterdam will be transported to this
province. Such as are provided with money can engage passage
themselves on ships, which sail at intervals. But such as are
over not in a condition to do this will be taken charge of and sent
over by Messrs. Hoppen,!'' prominent merchants there, (a few
unintelligible words) in the manner described above, except
that those who live only by grace fare even somewhat worse
in the treatment over the sea and in this province. To those
who pay the ship-passage out of their own money, immediately
a portion of land, thirty acres'** to the head, is apportioned, but
without house, barn, victuals nor implements for the cultiva-
tion of this land: but they are simply assigned to the appor-
tioned piece of land thus bare of all things. It is true that in
I71n a pamphlet entitled "Umstaendliche Nachricht vor diejenigen,
welche auf eine sichere Weise nach S. C. America, Ziehen wollen,
welcne ^"^ /^'"^ . ^f ^ contract drawn up between some
Speyer, 1741, there is a copy ^^ "Archibald Isaac Zachariah
''^Z'u::JZt.n"^^:rLr.r The date of this contract is April
5, 1741. ^ , .
iSThis should be fifty instead of thirty acres.
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the beginning the provision in victuals and other things was
advanced to the Europeans who arrived in this land, for the
first year; but in the year 1736 His Majesty of England issued
a manifest that no advance should any more be given to any
stranger. But the others, who are taken charge of by the afore-
named Messrs. Hoppen in Rotterdam, are sold to the farmers
settled there for four years. They serve for food and clothing,
but must do such work as is too severe for them in this hot
country and uses the most of them up. This South Carolina is
a very hot country. Already in March the heat is as great as
in the middle of the summer in Switzerland. In December
there is sometimes wet and cold weather, but not enough to
freeze at this time. But especially in the approaching spring,
often so sharp a wind blows that one needs the best clothing if
one wishes to work outdoors. Around the towns and along
the two rivers the land is very fertile, so that anything can be
planted in the gardens ; but there are no grape-vines. Every
acre around there is worth 200 gulden.
But the land which is distant from the rivers and which is
distributed to the new-comers, is hot beyond all measure, and if
one wishes to plant anything at all on it, especially in the begin-
ning when it must be cleared, it requires strong hand-work.
This land is full of wild men who live in the woods stark naked,
but who do no harm to other people. They do nothing but
shoot wild animals, bears, wolves, and deer and bring their skins
and pelts to the towns to sell them and exchange them for vict-
uals. Besides there are very many negroes who have been
sold thither as slaves. These people are worth a high price,
because they are much more able to do the work and much
cheaper to keep in food and drink than the Europeans. As to
divine service, there are neither ministers nor churches any-
where except in the chief city Charlestown, where there is a
French Church.'' Neither does one find Bibles or other books
for sale. In Orangeburg, a goldsmith, Gietzendanner of Liech-
151 am indebted to Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., for the information that at
this time there were six churches in Charlestown alone.
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tenstaeg.^" has lately set up as a pastor and preached every Sun-
day in an open place near to> his own cottage. Children as old
as nine years were brought to him for the administration of
baptism, and people came a distance of forty English miles
(one ot which makes half an hour) to his preaching. On ac-
count of the vehement heat and the bad food and drink, every-
body who comes to this country must endure severe diseases,
especially fevers, from which the most die. One sees no money
consisting of silver and gold, but only paper, on which the Eng-
lish coat of arms and the value are printed. There are notes of
four, two and one louisd'ors, an English pound containing ten
batzen of our money, and so on down to a half crown, which is
equal to ten kreutzer. If anyone is fortunate enough to obtain
a loan, he must pay ten per cent interest per year to Englishmen
for it, and fifteen per cent to the Jews, who have also in-
vaded this country. In the government as in all other mat-
ters there is not the least order. Everybody can trade,
work and undertake whatever he wishes to. But crimes, espec-
ially theft, are severely punished. Everything produced by handi-
work brings a high price ; clothing and agricultural implements
can scarcely be had. Tools necessary for work and cultivating
the ground are worth very much : a saw is sold for nine English
pounds, a shovel or a hoe for thirty batzen, an axe for twenty
batzen, a hand-mill for nine pennies, and so forth. This coun-
try, like other countries, is subject to blessed as well as unfruit-
ful years ; but all provisions are always dear. A hundred
weight of rice is worth four to five Carolina pounds, a loaf of
bread half a pound, a pound of lean beef a batzen (altogther
the cattle in this country is small, and the largest ox will weigh
not more than four and a half hundred weight ; it is not stall-
fed, but roams wild in the woods), a pound of tallow ten kreut-
zer, one pound of sea-fish, ten kreutzer, and so forth. On ac-
count of the great heat, there is no fruit, figs, and the like.
20In the Gazette for March S-12 and 19-26, 1737, appeared the follow-
ing advertisement: . , • ,., ^. ^u ^ i_ i
"Jno Ulrich Giessendaner Silversmith gives Notice, that he makes
& mends all sorts of small work, designs and engraves Seals, Coats of
Arms &c in Gold, Silver, Copper or Pewter. He lives on the Green
bv the Church in the House of Mrs. Hammerton. He likewise sells a
Balsamus Aromaticus good for the head and tooth-ache and other In-
firmities, also an excellent and comfortable Balsam of Mace.
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The drink consists of bad water or in a mixture of brandy,
sugar, lemon and water, wihch is called punch there and is
is dear. A quart is sold for twenty kreutzer. But it is quite
unhealthful and unadapted to the nature of Europeans. Wine
from Spain is also brought into the country, luit on account of
the high price only the rich can afford it. Onl}- in and around
the towns are houses to lie found, but in the country only
shacks or shanties made of boai"cls and covered with brush,
in which the people stay. All these are able to plant on
the land given them, and that too with the most laborious
work, consists of Indian corn, of which they make cakes, bake
them at the fire and so nourish themselves. But the poor get
nothing all the year round for their sustenance iDUt potatoes,
which they dig out of the ground themselves. With these
alone the\- have to keep themselves alive, and they see neither
bread, meat, nor anything else.
This province of South Carolina, here described, is four
hundred miles distant from Pennsylvania. But there, accord-
ing to reports, life is much more miserable and toilsome. This
deponent, Hans \^'ernhard Trachsler, met some of the people
who disembarked there, who were in extreme povertv and could
not sufficiently lament their misery, so that one even broke out
into this lamentation: 'It is better to die upon the ocean than
to come into ^^'est India and perish there, for not a few die
from misery and sorrow upon the almost endless open sea and
find a grave in the wild waves of the desolate ocean. There-
fore one cannot sufificienth- thank God when he gets back
healthy into his dear fatherland and into his old home, especialK'
as it is very difficult to get free and away again ; for it must be
known that if one wishes to leaA'e the country again, he must
first give notice at the state chancellory in Carolina and have
his name called out for three weeks and three davs in order that
if an>l5ody has any claims against him, he ma>- report and make
everything right before his departure. But the principal thing
is that they are not willing to let people out, because the more
populous the country is. the safer they feel ; among other things
also on account of the pests, like snakes and crocodiles, of which
there is a multitude. Finally, one of the chief hindrances to
getting away is the overwhelming costs which are demanded of
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those who return. For instance, the deponent and Anna Maria
Hugendobler, with three children, had to give 162 gulden for
passage as far as London, Gabrief Schaeffer, however, had to
pay 125 gulden for himself alone, because they had to give him
more serviceable food; although the journey is also long and
one reckons from Carolina to Rotterdam alone 2200 hours on
the water, in which there is many a bitterly sad moment, to
which the person mentioned at the outset will testify from his
own experience to the end of his days."
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Some Saxe-Gothan Settlers.
The following list of German and German Swiss settlers at
Saxe-Gotha, or Congaree, is only a partial one. In some in-
stances the origin of the settler is given. There were two dis-
tinct elements, the German-Swiss (Reformed) and the Ger-
man (Lutheran).
Date of Grant Name Origin
June 3, 1742. Jno. Theyler (Switzer)
Jac. Theiler (Switzer)
Jac. Remensperger(Riemensperger) (Switzer)
" " "Ulrich Shillig
Jno. Liver (Lever)
Chas. Kansler (or Kanster)
Hans Buss
Henry Weiber
Abram Giger (Geiger)
" Herman Gyger (Geiger)
Hans Jac. Gyger (Geiger)
Jno. Landriker (?)
Henry Boume
Casper Frey (Fry) (Switzer)
Julius Credy
John Gallasper
" Martin Fridig (Friday)
Gasper Hanstear
Sept. 7, 1742. John Frasher
March 2, 1743. Jac. Spenler
June 8, 1743. Jacob Young ( Jung)
April 14, 1744. Jno. Wessingher
Oct.- 5, 1744. Philip Pool
Nov. 29, 1744. John Mathys (Mathias?) (near Saxe-Gotha).
Nov. 30, 1744. Rudolph Buchter
Dec. 8, 1744. Hanna Maria Stolea
Dec. 8, 1744. Jno. Shillig
Dec. 8, 1744. Michael Long (Berne)
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Jan. 18, 1745. Andrew Buck
Jan. 18, 1745. Melchior Sower (Sauer)
Jan. 31, 1745. Ulrick Bachman (Additional Grant)
Mar. 14, 1745. J. J. Fridig (opposite SaxeGotha. Additional
grant. )
Mar. 16, 1745. Jacob Drafts. . . ;
Mar. 18, 1745. Mich'l Craft (Croft) (Wuerttemberg)
Mar. 19, 1745. John Rester (Wuerttemberg)
Apr. 22, 1745. Jno. Christian Hauser
June 6, 1747. Godfrey Trayor (Dreher?)
Aug. 14, 1747. Solomon Ade (Addy) (from Georgia)
Nov. 6, 1747. Christian Kotiler (via Philadelphia)
Nov. 6, 1747. Lawrence Wetzel
Nov. 6, 1745. Jac. Stackley (opposite Saxe-Go'tha)
Nov. 6, 1747. Antony Cottier (Kotiler ?) '.
Nov. 6, 1747. Jno. Blewer (via Havana)
Nov. 10, 1747. Jno. Abraham Schwerdafeger (Prussia)
Nov. 12, 1747. Hans Eric Scheifer (German Protestant) . . .
Nov. 18, 1747. Jno. Teller (Switzer ?)
Nov. 20, 1747. Henry Ton (had arrived about 1737)
Jan. 13, 1748. Conrad Scheis -
Jan. 13, 1748. David Amstutz (Berne. Had previous grant
in Orangeburg)
Jan. 22, 1748. Casper Fry (had arrived in 1737)
Jan. 28, 1748. Catherine Croft (Kraft)
Jan. 28, 1748. Abraham Eichler
Mar. 4, 1748. Geo. Ackerman
Mar. 9, 1748. Jacob Weaver. Arrived some time before. . . .
Mar. 9, 1748. Jno. Geger (near Saxe-Gotha. Arrived some
years before).
Apr. 30, 1748. Henry Fiesler
" " " Conrad Scheis
" " " John Friday
" " " Anna Baumgart
Mayl9, 1748. Mich'l Reais (From Georgia)
July 19, 1748. Barbary Appeal (?)
" " " Martin Hassemager
" " " Christian Kohla(Kotiler?) (Near Saxe-Gotha)
" " Magdalen Appeal
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July 19, 1748. Jacob Burchland
" " " Barbary Husar
" " " Henry Metz (Near Saxe-Gotha)
Dec. 20, 1748. Conrade Myer (Meyer) (Switzer)
" " " Jacob Warle
" " " Mary Magdalen Millner
Jan. 6, 1749. Christian Bendeker (Congrees or Waterees.
Captured en route.
Jan. 12,1749. Valentine Door
Jan. 19, 1749. Geo. Hind
" " " Maria Reyn
" " " Jno. Bokman
" " " Henry Crody
" " " Jno. Hendrich Hillman
Jan. 24, 1749. Margaret Swart (From Pennsylvania)
Feb. 2. 1749. Gilbert Guilder
" " John Gable
Feb. "3, 1749. Marv Ann Seaman (?)
" " " Jno. Walder
Aug. 2, 1749. Hans Bother (or Bothen )
" " " John Struck
" " " John Struck, Jr
" '■ " Christian Rottlesperger ( Roddsperger )
Sept. 6, 1749. Baletis Affray
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Oct. 17, 1749.
Joh. Kuller
Mich'l Calfiel
Geo. Ludovick Finch
Geo. Hipp
Hans Mich'l Swagert
Joh. Rich
Joh. Circus
Joh. Jac Leitzeit
Chris'r Saltzer
Joh. Freyer
Fred'k Mack
Andreas Emmesk
Andreas Cranmer
Jno. Geo. Watchter
Jno. Geo. Buckheart
Andreas Schwachlerback
Conrad Beck
Jno. Titerly
Conrad Burkmeier
Joh. Curner
A'erner Ulmer
Jno. Geo. Lapp
Mich'l Looser
Geo. Gottlieb
Jno. Adam Epting
Nich. Prester
Xich. Dirr
Chris'r Ramenstein
Marg't Burkmayer
Jos. Vorsner
Chris'r Henry Hoppold
Andreas Rift
Clemens Fromm
Evea Knoll
Arived 1749.
Palatines.
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Nov. 24, 1749. Jno. David MercIe(German. Arrived "lately")
" " Jos. Meyer
" " Joh. Herman
Jac. Hoffner
" " Peter Herr
" " Peter Hummel
Conrad Shirer
Michael Bucks
" Jacob Bollmann
Dec. 17, 1749. Frederick Schmebile.
Dec. 15, 1749. Abraham Pflining
Hans Geo. Franz "
Hans Jacob Hogheim "
" " " Phil. Jac. Schuller
" " " Anna Maria Ruffin (Ruflf)
(Above Saxe-Gotha)
' (Switzer)
' (German)
- .-^r
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