Emigrants From Hesse, Germany Who Left One After Another For Pennsylvania, 1748-1766

Emigrants From Hesse, Germany Who Left One After Another For Pennsylvania, 1748-1766 Jane Adams Clarke A T THE END OF A LUTHERAN PARISH REGISTER of Kempfenbrunn, (Landkries Gelnhausen), Hesse, Germany, the pastor noted In Pensylvanien sired nach and nach abgegangen. [The people whose names are listed below left one after another for Pennsylvania)] Kempfenbrunn and its neighboring town Floersbach (Postal Zip Code 6487) are located about 60 kilometers northeast of Wuerzburg in West Germany. from Floersbach, 1748 Hans Kunckel wife and 6 children George Steigerwald wife and 3 children Friedrich Reiz wife and one child Eberhard Kunckel Catharina Kayser, one child from Kempfenbrunn, 1748 Johann Adam Dietrich Peter Koehler Margaretha Uhl from Floersbach, 1749 Peter Steigerwald son of Johannes Johannes Steigerwald son of Melchior from Floersbach, 1750 Georg Kunckel wife, 3 children Johannes Huth wife, 4 children 329 330 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Elisabetha Kleinfeller, one child Andreas Schuster son of Georg Melchior Kleinfeller son of Hans Peter Eberhard Steigerwald stepson of Melchior from Kempfenbrunn, 1750 Peter Hartman wife, 4 children Anna Maria Fischer daughter of Henrich Fischer Friedrich Steinberger son of Caspar from Floersbach, 1751 Lorenz Kunckel wife, one child Hans Peter Kleinfeller wife, 5 children Magdalena Keyser, one child Regina Kayser, one child Hans Adam Koch and wife, 5 children Anna Maria Dieterich daughter of Peter from Kempfenbrunn, 1751 Michel Fischer, Jr., and wife, 3 children Peter Herr and wife, 2 children Phillip Dill from Kempfenbrunn, 1752 Johannes Hartmann and wife from Floersbach, 1754 Johannes Schuster from Kempfenbrunn, 1754 Nicolaus Keppler and wife, 2 children Philip Lindenbergers, two sons, Adam and Michel Magdalena, daughter of Caspar Steinberger from Kempfenbrunn, 1766 Lipps Leinberger and wife, one son Michel Koehler and wife, 2 children Emigrants From Hesse, Germany 331 Johannes Steinberger and wife, 4 children Henrich Heusser and wife, one child Margaretha Koehler, Johannes Kohler, children of Michel Peter Koehler and wife, one daughter Catharina Heusser, single, one son Margaretha Uhl daughter of Johannes the miller from Floersbach, 1766 Henrich Kunckel and wife, 2 children Melchior Kunckel and wife Caspar Dietrich and wife, 4 children Johannes Hens and wife, 2 children Melchior Schuster and wife, 3 sons Johannes Bauer and wife, 7 children Friedrich Steigerwald and wife, 4 children Magdalena nee Herr deserted by Ulrich Daarner Schoolmaster Bach and wife, 4 children Johannes Kleinfeller and wife, 1 son Johannes Steigerwald and wife, 3 children Johannes Kunckel and wife, 1 child Catharina Huth single Adam Steigerwald and wife Hans Michel Kunckel son of blacksmith Melchior Margaretha Dietrich daughter of Mayor Dietrich This list was discovered in the churchbook at the Kempfenbrunn parish church by Trudy Schenk, a professional genealogist who works out of the Family History Library of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter—day Saints in Salt Lake City. The translation was made by Ms. Schenk. In this transcription and in this article an "e" appears following the letter that contained the umlaut in the original record. In 1727 the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania ordered all those who were not British subjects to take an oath of allegiance to the British crown. The Council also ordered captains of ships arriving in Pennsylvania to list all on board who were not British citizens.5 Not all of the captains complied with this regulation. The lists that survive are preserved in the Pennsylvania Archives. These lists were published by The Pennsylvania German Society.4 Many, but not all of the persons in the Kempfenbrunn churchbook appear in these ship lists. Although the captains were to list the 332 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine women and children as well as the men, some did not. The additional names combined with the number of people in the family as shown in this churchbook list is helpful in organizing these emigrants into proper family groups. One of the last ships carrying these settlers to Philadelphia was the Brittania from Rotterdam whose passengers qualified (took the oath) at the Court House on 26 October 1767.5 There were 39 men on this list and they were consigned to Samuel Shoemaker, Esquire, who paid for their passage 23 November 1767. Those who appear on this ship list, as well as the church list, are the following: Caspar Dieterich; johanes Kleinfelter; Friedrich Steigerwalt; Johanes Kunckel; Henrich Kunkel; Adam Ditterich (possibly a son of Caspar); Johannes Kunckel (note there are two listings under this name); Lorentz and Peter Schuster (possibly sons of Melchior); Johannes Hem; Johannes Bauer; Michael Jacob Bach; Johannes Steigerwald; Michael Koehler; Johannes Kohler; Matteus Koehler. Johann Peter Uhl is not on the church list; however, Margaretha Uhl is listed as the daughter of Johannes, the miller. Almost half of those appearing are from Kempfenbrunn or Floersbach. in Emigrants From the Principality of Hessen-Hanau, Germany, 1741- 1767,6 Clifford Neal Smith has supplied additional information on some of these same emigrants. He compiled his information from the register of the Geheimer Rat (Privy Council) of the former principality of Hessen-Hanau. This record of regulations and administrative decrees of the Privy Council concerning emigration matters is housed at the Staatsarchiv Marburg. Notations such as "Several subjects from Hoersbach and Kempfenbrunn seek permission to emigrate to Pennsylvania and were thereby investigated as to who had encouraged them to do so, 1748," add a bit of intrigue to the story. Hessische Auswancierer Index mach Familiennamen, Bd. I Auswanderer aus Hanau im 18. jahrhundert, by Inge Auerbach, recently Published by the Archivschule Marburg, Postfach 540, D3550 Marburg, includes additional information on these immigrants. These pioneers from Kempfenbrunn and Floersbach settled in southeastern Pennsylvania. Some evidence of their lives in Pennsylvania show that indeed they did become assimilated into the new culture. Anna Margaretha Steigerwald, the daughter of George Steigerwald, married Daniel Schumacher, a pastor who ministered to Lutherans in several churches in Bergs County and elsewhere. His records have survived and have been published. Emigrants From Hesse, Germany 333 On 6 November 1748, Maria Steigerwald, Juerg Steigerwald's daughter, age 12, was confirmed at New Hanover Lutheran Church.' A tombstone at Zion Church, West Penn Township, Schuylkill County, has been erected indicating that "Johan Friedrick Steigerwait born April 27, 1730 and his wife, Catharina Heserin born May 15, 1734 emigrated to Pennsylvania on the ship Brittania in 1767 from Furbach [sic], Hanau, Germany." Other family members are also listed on the tombstone.9 Captain Jacob Orndt from Fort Allen on 16 December 1757 submitted a list of people killed by Indians from the Lehigh River eastwards. Among the names on the list was that of Lorance Konckel who was killed on 1. 7 January 1756.10 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, jr., in his Journal refers to some of these people. On 17 April 1762 when he confirmed some young people at two o'clock in the afternoon, he wrote: "Margaretha, 18, daughter of Johannes Koehler in service with people who have little or no regard for matters of religion and the church. Her father went to a great deal of trouble to have her instructed and confirmed; she was also eager for this and manifested diligence.' Others on the Kempfenbrunn list appear in the records of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Philadelphia, St. Michaels and Zion Church; Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster; Faulkner Swamp Reformed Church, Montgomery County; First Reformed Church, Lancaster; as well as other area churches. Notes 1. Evangelical church book, parish church of Kempfenbrunn. 2. Trudy Schenk, 1230 Kensington Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105. She is one of the compilers of The Wuerttemberg Emigration Index. Ancestry Publishing Co. S. Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vol. III, pp 282-3. 4. Ralph Beaver Strassburger William John Hincke: Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 17274808, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1934); 2 vols. (Baltimore, 1966). The unpublished volume contains copies of the signatures of the immigrants. 5. Ibid. List #266C. The spelling is that used in this list. 6. Clifford Neal Smith: Emigrants From the Principality of Hessen-Hanau, Germany, 1741-1767. German-American Genealogical Research Monograph *6. (McNeal, Arizona, 1979). 7. "Daniel Schumacher's Baptismal Register," translated by Federick S. Weiser. Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society., vol. I (Allentown, 1968). 334 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 8. Reverend J. J. Kline: A His/my of the Lutheran Church in New Hanover, Montgomery County. (New Hanover, Pa., 1910). 9. Zion Lutheran & Reformed Church, West Penn Township, Schuylkill County, Church Records, 1857-1912. Collection of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. S/6L I O. "List of Pennsylvania Settlers, Murdered, Scalped and Taken Prisoner by the Indians, 1755-60." Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography, =CI I, No. 3 (1908). 11. Theodore G. Tappert John W. Do mein: The journals of Remy Melchior Muhlenberg. 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1942). 3 vols.