JOHANN MICHAEL AND ANNA MARGARETHA GRÄTER LIEB - Chapter Two

Introduction 

My fifth great-grandparents Johann Michael and Anna Margaretha Gräter Lieb represent the earliest documented ancestors of my great-grandmother, Catherine Ellen Lieb McWilliams. The Liebs emigrated from present-day Germany to America. Written records of the Gräter family and Anna Margaretha's second husband, Johann Mathias Staudt's family, date back into the 1600s in church books in the Sulzdorf, Württemberg and Wolfersweiler, Saarland states in the Holy Roman Empire. The Lieb's arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 11, 1750. The rest is history! 

 LAND HO!

The East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania 1761

The travelers’ prayers were answered when they finally reached the Port of Philadelphia after enduring their treacherous journey across the Atlantic Ocean. As the ship entered port, the joyous pealing of church bells in the city signaled their arrival to residents who were eager to greet relatives, receive news from their homeland, or select indentured servants from the passengers who were unable to pay their fare. Surely, the Liebs could hardly wait for their feet to touch dry land in the New World! Captain Hugh Steel had safely anchored their ship, the Patience, on the broad Delaware River and the 266 passengers aboard were anxious to leave their cramped quarters after months at sea. However, Michael and Conrad’s families were not allowed to leave until some business was settled. Captain Steel ordered the 124 adult men on the Patience to board a small boat. The men clambered onto the dinghy, rowed toward the city and disappeared from sight after the craft reached the shore.

On 11 August 1750, Michael and his father-in-law followed Captain Steel from the boat onto Front Street where they dodged through crowds doing business in the waterfront warehouses on either side of the street. They walked to Second Street where they approached the Court House, topped with a weathervane and cupola that held the town bell on High Street (now Market Street). They marched up the front steps, through the portico and onto the second floor to anxiously await their fate.

The Court House in Philadelphia Erected in 1707

The men eventually stood before an official wearing a judicial robe and white wig. He was Thomas Lawrence, Esquire, the Mayor of Philadelphia. The foreigners were instructed to repeat the unintelligible English words a clerk read to them, that they did not understand, because they only spoke the German language of their homeland. After repeating the oath as best they could, Michael and Conrad were required to sign two pieces of parchment paper. Unlike some of the men who “signed” with an “X” mark, they both carefully signed their names in German script. When the signatures had been recorded, the men were led back to the awaiting boat at the water’s edge.  

The Liebs and Gräters must have had funds to pay for their passage because they were not indentured upon their arrival in Philadelphia. Immigrants who were not able to secure payment were “hired” to colonial citizens who agreed to employ the destitute travelers for a stated time period to earn their fare and repay the ship captain for their ocean voyage. A typical term of indenture was seven years for a young adult or until age 21 for a child. Families also had to repay the cost of passage for any family member who died after the halfway point of the voyage. Even orphaned children could be placed in servitude if they arrived at port with no money and no one to support them.

THE OATHS

Large numbers of foreigners who did not embrace the English language, laws and customs were pouring into Pennsylvania by the late 1720s. The German-speaking immigrants stubbornly retained their beloved language and customs for decades after settling in America. This alarmed the British monarchy and the Pennsylvania Proprietors. Even Ben Franklin was concerned with the possibility that “Germans” might take over the province. As a result, two oaths were required of Palatine immigrants who arrived after 1727. The first was a Declaration of Allegiance and the second was a two-part Declaration of Fidelity and Oath of Abjuration. The oaths promised allegiance to the British Crown and Pennsylvania Proprietors and renounced allegiance to foreign governments. These were the documents Michael and Caspar were compelled to sign.

Declaration of Allegiance 

We Subscribers, Natives and Late Inhabitants of the Palatinate upon the Rhine and Places adjacent, having transported ourselves and Families into this Province of Pennsylvania, a Colony subject to the Crown of Great Britain, in hopes and Expectation of finding a Retreat & peaceable Settlement therein, Do Solemnly promise & Engage, that We will be faithful & bear true Allegiance to his present MAJESTY, KING GEORGE THE SECOND, and his Successors, Kings of Great Britain, and will be faithful to the Proprietor of this Province; And that we will demean ourselves peaceably to all His said Majesties Subjects, and strictly observe & conform to the Laws of England and of this Province, to the utmost of our Power and best of our understanding.

The list bearing Michael and Caspar’s signatures on the first oath have not survived, but their signatures on the second oath were preserved and are now housed in the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg. Their names are quite legible, even though they are written in German Kurrentschrift [cursive script].

Declaration of Fidelity and Oath of Abjuration 

I [A B] do solemnly & sincerely promise & declare that I will be true & faithful to King George the Second and do solemnly sincerely and truly Profess Testifie & Declare that I do from my Heart abhor, detest & renounce as impious & heretical that wicked Doctrine & Position that Princes Excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Power Jurisdiction Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within the Realm of Great Britain or the Dominions thereunto belonging.

I [A B] do Solemnly sincerely and truly acknowledge profess testify & declare that King George the Second is lawful & rightful King of the Realm of Great Britain & of all others his Dominions & Countries thereunto belonging, And I do solemnly & sincerely declare that I do believe the Person pretending to be Prince of Wales during the Life of the late King James, And since his Decease pretending to be & taking upon himself the Stile & title of King of England by the Name of James the third, or of Scotland by the Name of James the Eighth or the Stile & Title of King of Great Britain hath not any Right or Title whatsoever to the Crown of the Realm of Great Britain, nor any other the Dominions thereunto belonging. And I do renounce & refuse any Allegiance or obedience to him & do solemnly promise that I will be true and faithful, & bear true allegiance to King George the Second & to him will be faithful against all traiterous Conspiracies & attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his Person Crown & Dignity & I will do my best Endeavours  to disclose & make known to King George the Second & his Successors all Treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which I shall Know to be made against him or any of them. And I will be true & faithful to the Succession of the Crown against him the said James & all other Persons whatsoever as the same is & stand settled by An Act Entituled An Act declaring the Rights & Liberties of the Subject & settling the Succession of the Crown to the late Queen Anne & the Heirs of her Body being Protestants, and as the same by one other Act Entituled An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown & better securing the Rights & Liberties of the subject is & stands settled & entailed after the Decease of the said late Queen, & for the Default of Issue of the said late Queen, to the late Princess Sophia Electoress & Dutchess Dowager of Hanover & the Heirs of her Body being Protestants; and all these things I do plainly & sincerely acknowledge promise & declare according to the express Words by me spoken & according to the plain & common Sense and understanding of the same Words, without any Equivocation mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever. And I do make this Recognition Acknowledgement Renunciation & Promise heartily willingly & truly.

Johann Michael Lieb and Caspar Gräter’s Signatures on the Oath of Abjuration from the Pope 

NEXT - THE LIEB PLANTATION AND GRIST MILL

Sources:

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver and Hinke, John William, Pennsylvania German Pioneers Volume II, Norristown, Pennsylvania, 1934, Pennsylvania German Society, p. 106; accessed https://archive,org

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver and Hinke, John William, Pennsylvania German Pioneers Volume I, Norristown, Pennsylvania, 1934, Pennsylvania German Society, p. 114; accessed https://archive,org 

Woodward, Virginia, The Beginning of a New Life, Lynn-Heidelberg Historical Society; accessed lynnheidelberg.org

 

JOHANN MICHAEL AND ANNA MARGARETHA GRÄTER LIEB - Chapter One

ROOTS IN WÜRTTEMBERG

Introduction 

My fifth great-grandparents Johann Michael and Anna Margaretha Gräter Lieb represent the earliest documented ancestors of my great-grandmother, Catherine Ellen Lieb McWilliams. The Liebs emigrated from present-day Germany to America. Written records of the Gräter family and Anna Margaretha's second husband, Johann Mathias Staudt's family, date back into the 1600s in church books in the Sulzdorf, Württemberg and Wolfersweiler, Saarland states in the Holy Roman Empire. The Lieb's arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 11, 1750. The rest is history! 

Google Map Marking the Approximate Location of Sulzdorf in Germany Today

Johann Michael Lieb and his wife, Anna Margaretha Gräter, were among nearly 65,000 Germans who immigrated to colonial America before the Revolutionary War.[i] They probably were not among those who sought religious freedom in the colonies but were more likely seeking land ownership and relief from high taxes in their native land. In fact, emigrants often had to petition for permission to leave their homeland and were required to pay a tax equal to ten per cent of the value of all their property before a passport would be issued to them.

The Lieb and Gräter family homes were within the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg, which was then the Duchy (area ruled by a duke) of Württemberg in the Holy Roman Empire. They probably rented their dwelling from a wealthy landowner near the village of Sulzdorf, located about 40 miles northeast of the capital of Stuttgart. The duke in control of the region lived an extravagant lifestyle in a luxurious palace supported by heavy taxation on his subjects. Church records documenting the families indicated they were Protestants, the official religion of the dutchy after the Reformation, even though it was part of a Roman Catholic empire.

Michael, who worked as a miller, was married twice before coming to America. His first wife’s surname was not determined but her given name was Eva Catharina. They were probably married around 1739 and had two children together.

Their daughter, Anna Catharina Lieb, was baptized on 15 July 1740 in the Protestant Church in Sulzdorf. Two years later the Lieb’s welcomed Johann Simon Lieb, who was baptized in the same church on 24 December 1742

15 July 1740 Baptism Record of Anna Catharina Lieb[ii]

Translation: Anna Catharina legitimate daughter of Johann Michael Lieb müller in Sulzdorf and wife Evä was baptized on the 15^th of July in Sulzdorf in which the baptismal sponsors were; Anna Catharina, Simon Bauer’s [wife] and Anna Maria, Peter Rau[en]’s wife of Sulzdorf. 

24 December 1742 Baptism Record of Johann Simon Lieb[iii] 

Translation: Johann Simon Lieb, baptized 24 December [1742] Parents Johann Michael Lieb, miller in Sulzdorf, and Evä Cathrinä. Godparents Simon Bauer and Johann Michael Rau, both Halle subjects from Sulzdorf. 

Michael’s first marriage ended when Eva Catharina died in 1747. Church records indicated she was buried on November 7. No other details of Michael and Eva Catharina’s life together were found, except that Michael’s occupation was listed as “Mahlmüller” or flour miller. This information aligns with other documents stating Michael’s occupation and his future purchase of a gristmill in Bern Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

7 November 1747 Eva Catharina Lieb Burial Record[iv]

Translation: Wife, the married wife of Johann Michael Lieb, Mahl müller in Sulzdorf was buried on November 7^th in Sulzdorf.                    Sulzdorf, the 7^th of November [1747]

Michael and his second wife, Anna Margaretha Gräter, were married in the Evangelical Church in Sulzdorf, Hall, Württemberg, on 20 February 1748. Anna Margaretha was nineteen years old, and Michael was probably in his late twenties, but his exact year of birth was not discovered.

20 February 1748 Marriage Record for Johann Michael Lieb and Anna Margaretha Gräter[v] 

Translation: 1748. 8 Sulzdorf on 20^th Feb.  Johann Michael Lieb, miller in Sulzdorf, widower, was married with Anna Margaretha, legitimate unmarried daughter of Caspar Bräter [Gräter], … in Veinau on 20 February 

Anna Margaretha was the daughter of Hanss Caspar Gräter and Maria Margaretha Bonhen. Hanss was from the town of Häll and captain of Wolpertsdorf. Maria Margaretha [maiden name unknown] was the widow of Hanss Bonhen from the village of Veinau. The paternal grandfather was Hanss Gräter, according to Hanss Caspar and Maria Margaretha’s 1725 marriage record. 

 

15 November 1728 Baptism Record for Anna Margaretha Gräter[vi]

Translation: Anna Margaretha legitimate daughter of Hanß Caspar Gräter at Veinau and Maria Margaretha his wife was born on the 15^th of November [1728] Monday night at 9 o’clock, on the following day baptized, and then [or there?] was promised by Anna Margaretha, wife [ink spot] Rochendörfer at Veinau, and Maria Eva, Johann Georg Gräter’s legitimate wife at Veinau and Anna Catharina, Caspar Schreyer’s legitimate wife. [Tüngental Church book 2]

13 November 1725 Marriage Record for Hanss Caspar Gräter and Maria Margaretha Bonhen[vii]

Translation: Hanß Caspar Gräter; legitimate son of Hanß Gräter, Hall inhabitant and captain at Wolpersdorf, and Maria Margaretha, surviving widow of the late Hanß Bohnen, former Hall subject at Veinau were married in the local church [Tüngental] on Tuesday 13 November [1725].

 

Anna Catharina and Michael had a son, Johann Jacob Lieb, who was baptized on 22 November 1748. No further mention of Jacob was found. He may have perished before their emigration or during the perilous journey to America.

 

 

22 November 1748 Baptism Record of Johann Jacob Lieb[viii]

Translation: Johann Jacob, born in Sulzdorf, 22 November [1748], baptized in Anhausen. Parents Johann Michael Lieb, miller in Sulzdorf and Anna Margaretha Godparents; Johann Michael Rau and Simon Sauer, both Halle subjects from Sulzdorf, and Jacob Bohn, Halle subject from Veinau. 

 

Map of Villages Mentioned in Lieb and Gräter Church Records

 

 ODESSEY TO AMERICA

 

River Routes to Rotterdam 

Two years after their marriage, the Liebs began their journey to the New World with Anna Margaretha’s father, Hanss Caspar Gräter. Other unnamed family members probably traveled with them, but only the adult men aged sixteen and above were identified on the ship’s passenger list. They might have traveled overland to Stuttgart where they could float down the Necker River, and from there, down the Rhine River to Rotterdam, Netherlands, before boarding the sailing ship, Patience. Their vessel traversed the English Channel and began its Atlantic crossing from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England. 

The Leib and Gräter families may have known they were embarking on a hazardous journey, or they may have been unaware of the enormous risks they faced as passengers in a tiny wooden ship on the storm-tossed north Atlantic. Every journey was unique, but their trip was may have been somewhat like the one described by Gottlieb Mittelberger, who followed the same path only two months later than Michael and Anna Margaretha. He arrived in Philadelphia on 10 October, after the Lieb’s arrival on 11 August. His diary, written in 1756, later translated from German and published in 1898, survives as a first-hand account of his journey.

 Mittelberger’s somber words detail some of the perils the Liebs may have experienced on their journey to America. His narrative should be read with some warnings, however. He was paid by German nobility to write this account of his transatlantic crossing. They wanted to discourage their populations from emigrating to America so they could retain taxpayer support of their extravagant lifestyles. However, there is likely a grain of truth in Mittelberger’s words and few primary sources exist to confirm or refute his experiences. In addition, the comfort of an emigrant’s voyage was dependent upon the preparation and scruples of their ship’s captain. The amount and quality of the food and beverages onboard ship had a huge impact on the comfort and survival of the passengers.

 

… I hope, therefore, that my beloved countrymen and all Germany will care no less to obtain accurate information as to how far it is to Pennsylvania, how long it takes to get there; what the journey costs, and besides, what hardships and dangers one has to pass through… I relate both what is good and what is evil, and I hope, therefore, to be considered impartial and truthful by an honor loving world…

…A person over 10 years pays for the passage from Rotterdam to Philadelphia 10 pounds, or 60 florins. Children from 5 to 10 years pay half price, 5 pounds or 30 florins. All children under 5 years are free. For these prices the passengers are conveyed to Philadelphia, and, as long as they are at sea, provided with food, though with very poor, as has been shown above.

But this is only the sea-passage; the other costs on land, from home to Rotterdam, including the passage on the Rhine, are at least 40 florins, no matter how economically one may live. No account is here taken of extraordinary contingencies. I may safely assert that, with the greatest economy, many passengers have spent 200 florins from home to Philadelphia…

…This journey lasts from the beginning of May to the end of October, fully half a year, amid such hardships as no one is able to describe adequately with their misery.

The cause is because the Rhine-boats from Heilbronn [a town about thirty miles from Stuttgart] to Holland have to pass by 36 custom-houses, at all of which the ships are examined, which is done when it suits the convenience of the custom-house officials. In the meantime the ships with the people are detained long, so that the passengers have to spend much money. The trip down the Rhine alone lasts therefore 4, 5 and even 6 weeks.

…Both in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam the people are packed densely, like herrings so to say, in the large sea-vessels. One person receives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6 feet length in the bedstead, while many a ship carries four to six hundred souls; not to mention the innumerable implements, tools, provisions, water barrels and other things which likewise occupy much space.

On account of contrary winds it takes the ships sometimes 2, 3 and 4 weeks to make the trip from Holland to Kaupp [Cowes] in England. But when the wind is good, they get there in 8 days or even sooner. Everything is examined there and the custom-duties paid, whence it comes that the ships ride there 8, 10 to 14 days and even longer at anchor, till they have taken in their full cargoes…

When the ships have for the last time weighed their anchors near the city of Kaupp [Cowes] in Old England, the real misery begins with the long voyage. For from there the ships, unless they have good wind, must often sail 8, 9, 10 to 12 weeks before they reach Philadelphia. But even with the best wind the voyage lasts 7 weeks.

But during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.

Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as c. v. the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously.

When in such a gale the sea rages and surges, so that the waves rise often like high mountains one above the other, and often tumble over the ship, so that one fears to go down with the ship; when the ship is constantly tossed from side to side by the storm and waves, so that no one can either walk, or sit, or lie, and the closely packed people in the berths are thereby tumbled over each other, both the sick the well—it will be readily understood that many of these people, none of whom had been prepared for hardships, suffer so terribly from them that they do not survive it.

I myself had to pass through a severe illness at sea, and I best know how I felt at the time. These poor people often long for consolation, and I often entertained and comforted them with singing, praying and exhorting; and whenever it was possible and the winds and waves permitted it, I kept daily prayer-meetings with them on deck. Besides, I baptized five children in distress, because we had no ordained minister on board. I also held divine service every Sunday by reading sermons to the people; and when the dead were sunk in the water, I commended them and our souls to the mercy of God.

…At length, when, after a long and tedious voyage, the ships come in sight of land, so that the promontories can be seen, which the people were so eager and anxious to see, all creep from below on deck to see the land from afar, and they weep for joy, and pray and sing, thanking and praising God. The sight of the land makes the people on board the ship, especially the sick and the half dead, alive again, so that their hearts leap within them; they shout and rejoice, and are content to bear their misery in patience, in the hope that they may soon reach the land in safety. But alas!

When the ships have landed at Philadelphia after their long voyage, no one is permitted to leave them except those who pay for their passage or can give good security; the others, who cannot pay, must remain on board the ships till they are purchased, and are released from the ships by their purchasers…

…As soon as the ships that bring passengers from Europe have cast their anchors in the port of Philadelphia, all male persons of 15 years and upward are placed on the following morning into a boat and led two by two to the court-house or town-hall of the city. There they must take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. This being done, they are taken in the same manner back to the ships.[ix]

PATIENCE

 

Advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette for Freight or Passage from Philadelphia to Charleston, South Carolina, on the Patience[x]

Before the Revolutionary War, only British sailing vessels were allowed to legally land at American ports. Michael, Anna Margaretha and her father crossed the Atlantic on an English ship named Patience. The vessel had a fitting moniker, as the voyage lasted anywhere from eight to twelve weeks. Lists of arrivals of foreign immigrants to Philadelphia, customs documents and Ben Franklin’s newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, provided fascinating details about the Patience.

“The Patience was consistently called a ‘ship’ in the customs records, a term that referred to a specific type of rig in the 18^th century – originally a three-master with a course [square sail], a topsail and topgallant sail on the fore [front of the ship], and mainmasts [mast at the middle of the ship] and a lateen [triangular] sail and square topsail on the mizzenmast [mast at the back of the ship]. The Patience was a relatively small ship of 200 tons…but with a capacity of 260 to 270 passengers with a crew of 15 or 16 in what must have been severely cramped quarters. One source says it also sported eight guns.”[xi]

The Patience, captained by either Hugh Steel or John Brown, made annual voyages from Rotterdam to Philadelphia between 1748 and 1753. It typically made a brief stop at Cowes in southern England on the Isle of Wight to take on provisions before beginning an Atlantic crossing. Depending on the weather, the ocean voyage lasted between eight and twelve weeks. After delivering his cargo to Philadelphia, the captain booked passengers and cargo bound for Charleston, South Carolina, where he loaded rice and other products to sell upon his return trip to London.

1750 Philadelphia Custom House Ship Lists Mentioning the Lieb’s Vessel, Patience[xii]

1750 Philadelphia Custom House Ship Lists Mentioning the Lieb’s Vessel, Patience

 

The Pennsylvania Gazette published by Benjamin Franklin 

 

Benjamin Franklin published Custom House lists of incoming, outgoing, and cleared sea vessels in his Philadelphia newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. The Patience was among the ships listed in the August 16^th “Entered Inwards” list and in the October 11^th “Cleared” list.

NEXT - LAND HO!

 

 SOURCES

[i] Grubb, Farley, “German Immigration to Pennsylvania, 1709 to 1820,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 20, No. 3, Winter, 1990, p. 420, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990; accessed www.jstor.org 

[ii] Evangelische Kirche, Sulzdorf, OA. Hall, Württemberg, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, v. 2, p. 59, Baptism, Anna Catharina Lieb, 1740; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Sulzdorf, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, image 500 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343808)

iii] Evangelische Kirche, Sulzdorf, OA. Hall, Württemberg, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, v. 2, p. 69, Baptism, Johann Simon Lieb, 1742; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Sulzdorf, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, image 509 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343808)

[iv] Evangelische Kirche, Sulzdorf, OA. Hall, Württemberg, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, v. 2, p. 22, Burials, Eva Catharina Lieb, 1747; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Sulzdorf, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, image 598 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343808) 

[v] Evangelische Kirche, Sulzdorf, OA. Hall, Württemberg, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, v. 2, p. 14, Marriages, Johann Michael Lieb and Anna Margaretha Gräter, 1748; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Sulzdorf, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, image 670 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343808)

[vi] Evangelische Kirche, Tüngental, Württemberg, v. 2, p. 177, Baptisms, Anna Margaretha Gräter, 1728; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Hessental u Sulzdorf, Familienbücher, Taufen, Tote u Heiraten 1559-1808, image 845 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343811) 

[vii] Evangelische Kirche, Tüngental, Württemberg, v. 2, p. 171, Marriages, Hanss Caspar Gräter and Maria Margaretha Bonhen, 1725; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Hessental u Sulzdorf, Familienbücher, Taufen, Tote u Heiraten 1559-1808, image 839 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343811)

[viii] Evangelische Kirche, Sulzdorf, OA. Hall, Württemberg, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, v. 2, p. 104, Baptism, Johann Jacob Lieb, 1748; accessed www.ancestry.com, Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985, Sulzdorf, Taufen, Tote, Heiraten u Konfirmationen 1612-1817, image 547 (www.familysearch.org filmstrip 1343808) 

[ix] Mittelberger, Gottlieb, Eben, Carl Theo., translator, Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754…, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, J.J. McVey, 1898, pp. 17-26, 44-45; accessed https://archive.org, (in the public domain) 

[x] The Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, Sunday, August 16, 1750, p. 2 and Sunday, October 11, 1750, pp. 2 & 4

[xi] Baird, Robert W., History of the Ship Patience, Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet, article written in 2010 or later, quoting Darrel, Paul A., “Immigrant Ships,” The Palatine Immigrant, Volume VII No. 1 (Summer 1981), pp 31-32; accessed https://genfiles.com 

[xii] The Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, Sunday, August 16, 1750, p. 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TULPEHOCKEN 300th ANNIVERSARY TRIP - Chapter Eight - July 31 - August 2, 2023

HOMEWARD BOUND

Welcome Sign to Ephrata Cloister

Monday, July 31

Ephrata Cloister, 632 West Main Street, Ephrata PA

On Monday morning, we packed our belongings and consolidated everything into bags we could carry without too much difficulty in anticipation of our rail journey home. After a leisurely breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and headed southwest from Reading on Highway 222 towards Ephrata. We planned to look around the Ephrata Cloister before making our way to Lancaster to catch our train home in the early afternoon. 

Ephrata Cloister Historic Marker

Former Shady Nook Farm Barn Which Houses the Museum Store

Ephrata Cloister was founded by Conrad Beissel in 1732 as a religious community devoted to work, prayer, music, and self-discipline. My ancestor, Johann Gottfried Fidler, temporarily joined the Ephrata community in 1735 when he became dissatisfied with the Lutheran faith and was influenced by Beissel’s unconventional teachings. Gottfried and fellow Lutherans, Conrad Weiser and Rev. Peter Miller, were involved in a contentious dispute between the Lutheran and Moravian congregations to gain control of Reed’s Church in the Tulpehocken Valley. Beissel’s teachings appealed to the disillusioned men, and ten families of Gottfried’s church defected and were re-baptized into the Ephrata “Dunker” or German Seventh Day Adventist sect.

God's Acre Cemetery and the Weaver's House 

Grave of Peter Miller and Crypt of Conrad Beissel in God's Acre

Conrad Beissel's Gravestone Inscription

Peter Miller's Gravestone Inscription 

A day or two after their baptism, the converts gathered all the German devotional books associated with their former faith and burned them in front of the Fiddler home. However, the members of the Cloister followed rather extreme religious practices and Gottfried and his fellow converts left the congregation after a few years. By 1743, Gottfried was one of the founders of Christ Little Tulpehocken Church. Weiser also eventually left the Cloister, but Rev. Miller remained with Beissel and both are buried in the Ephrata graveyard. 

The members of the Ephrata Cloister lived, worked, and worshipped in the buildings preserved in the complex. Their food was grown and prepared onsite and residents did weaving, sewing carpentry, printing, and other work to support a self-sustaining community. Music was an important aspect of life in the Cloister and both Beissel and several women in the group were prolific composers of sacred music. A volunteer chorus still rehearses and performs music by the Cloister composers for concerts and events in the Ephrata area. Recordings of the chorus are available from the Cloister gift shop. 

Historic Marker Honoring Women Composers of Ephrata

The weather was lovely as we wandered around the perfectly maintained grounds of the Cloister. The vintage buildings were not open on Monday, but we were able to walk among some of them and read the signs explaining the age and significance of each one.

 

1743 Sister's Home or Saron 

1837 Academy Building 

Keeping an eye on the time, we decided to look for a place to pick up lunch to go and keep it until we arrived at the train station in Lancaster. As we drove down Main Street, we were impressed by the surroundings in the neat, clean, and charming little town. We soon found the Scratch Bakes Café and decided to order a takeout sandwich and cupcakes for the road from the quaint eatery.

We were due to return my rental car at noon, so we hopped back on 222 towards Lancaster and arrived at Enterprise Rent a Car in about twenty minutes. I finished our paperwork quickly and a pleasant young man gave us a ride to the rail station just down the street.

We savored our tasty lunch and then walked down to the outdoor platform to watch the Pennsylvanian pull into the station at 1:30. She arrived right on schedule and our trip home was uneventful. We had new books and documents to read during our pleasant time on the train and in the stations at Pittsburgh and Chicago. The Southwest Chief even arrived in Topeka right on time just after midnight on Wednesday morning! 

 

Crossing the Susquehanna River North of Harrisburg

Along the Susquehanna River Near Harrisburg

An Interesting Mosque on the Way to Pittsburgh

A Beautiful Bridge Near Pittsburgh

Strangest Encounter

Meeting a Train Carrying 15 Turbine Blades on Flatcars!