March 3, 2026: Germans in Colonial Pennsylvania

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Per the 1790 census, German immigrants made up about 8.6% of the overall population of the thirteen newly minted states. In Pennsylvania, however, that number rises dramatically – to 34%. So there is a lot of material to cover this month.

Unlike New York, where roughly 3000 Palatines arrived at once, immigration to Pennsylvania took place in a series of waves, beginning in 1683, peaking in the mid-1700s, and then slowing down between the end of the Seven Years’ War and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Also unlike New York, the immigration motive wasn’t a desire for free land to farm, but rather a place of refuge and religious freedom for people who had historically been persecuted for their beliefs in the old country.

Before looking at the various settlements and waves of immigration, it is helpful to understand – why Pennsylvania? William Penn, a Quaker himself, founded the colony on the basis of religious freedom for all. In addition to promoting an area that had a lot of fertile land available, he promised less intrusive government, and taxation only by consent. Of course this appealed to people who were burdened by taxes imposed by rulers who were indifferent to their plight. Penn actually traveled to Germany twice to advertise his colony, and preached to Mennonites and Quakers near Worms in 1677.

In A Brief account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America, Penn identified three types of people who would make good prospective colonists –

  • Those who will buy land – 5000 acres for £100 and 1 Shilling quit rent annually
  • Those who will pay rent – annual payment of 1 penny per acre, up to 200 acres
  • Servants – 50 acres would be allowed to the master for every head, and 50 acres to every servant when time is expired

He went on to describe the people he thought were most fitted for “plantations”:

  • Industrious husbandmen and day laborers
  • Laborious handicrafts, esp. carpenters, masons, smiths, weavers, tailors, tanners, shoemakers, shipwrights, etc.
  • Younger brothers with small inheritances
  • Men of “universal spirits, that have an eye to the good of posterity, and that both understand and delight to promote good discipline and just government”

The same document contains a description of the land and the constitution he has set in place for the new government there. Penn continued with a section outlining the journey to America, how to prepare for it, the associated costs, and the best time of year to travel.

The initial wave of settlers, from 1683 into the 1720s, were mostly family groups and religious groups; many were people of means. Immigration at this time was relatively sporadic, accounting for only about 5000 people in a 40-year time frame.

The very first group of immigrants were Mennonites and Quakers – a group of 13 families from Krefeld (near Düsseldorf), who founded Germantown. They were led by Franz Daniel Pastorius, who preceded them to America. The families arrived in Pennsylvania via Rotterdam in October on the ship Concord. The original land purchase of 5700 acres was to be divided equally among the families. By 1689, others had arrived from Mülheim and Krisheim, as well as from other places in Holland, the Alsace, Swabia, Saxony, and Switzerland.

The heads of the 13 original families were: Abraham Op den Graeff, Herman Op den Graeff, Dirck Op Den Graeff, Lenart Arents, Jan Seimaens, Willem Streypers, Thones Kunders, Reynier Tyson, Jan Lucken, Johannes Bleikers, Peter Keurlis, Abraham Tunes, and Jan Lensen.

These settlers were handworkers – carpenters, weavers, dyers, tailors, and shoemakers, but according to Pastorius, they were “all acquainted with agriculture and cattle breeding.” The town was set up near waterways for shipping. As the economy expanded, various mills were built in the area – say, paper, grain, and fulling. In 1716, they built the first iron forge in Pennsylvania.

Notable people in Germantown in this era include Franz Daniel Pastorius, William Rittenhouse, and Christoph Sauer. Pastorius came from a wealthy, aristocratic family in Franconia, where he studied and practiced law. He was originally Lutheran, but eventually became a Pietist. In his role as an agent for the Frankfurt Land Company, he recruited settlers for Pennsylvania, and preceded them to scout out the land and make it ready for the immigrants. He became the first mayor of the Germantown settlement. In 1688, he issued a protest against slavery in the colonies. In 1702, he started a school for girls and boys – the Germantown Academy is today the nation’s oldest, still-operating non-sectarian school. Pastorius was a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1687 and 1691. He owned a library of 250 books, the largest in the colonies at the time, and was a prolific writer as well. His Grund und Lager Buch documents land transfers, titles, and mortgages for the period 1689-1707 in Germantown.

William Rittenhouse was originally from Broich in the Ruhr region of Germany. As a youth, he was apprenticed to papermakers in Holland. After moving to Pennsylvania in 1688, he established the first paper mill in the colonies, from which he supplied paper to printers and newspapers. The original mill was destroyed by flooding, so a second mill was built. This soon became to small for the volume of business that Rittenhouse generated, so a third, even larger mill was built. The business was subsequently carried on by his descendants into the 1800s. Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia is named for David Rittenhouse, his great-grandson.

Johann Christoph Sauer was born near Marburg in 1695. He studied medicine at the University of Halle, and was a pharmacist for some time. After emigrating to Germantown, he worked first as a tailor, then moved to Lancaster to try farming, but soon returned to Germantown to become a printer. Up to that time, all German-language printing in the colony was handled by Ben Franklin, but he used an English typeface rather than the Fraktur typeface that Germans were used to reading. Sauer sent to Germany for a Fraktur set, and thus was able to take away that business from Franklin. in 1743, he printed the first German-language Bible in America. He also began publishing a German almanac in 1738, and began publishing a newspaper called Pennsylvanische Berichte, which had 4000 subscribers by 1751. In 1741 he wrote an article condemning the slave trade in the colonies. He also lobbied to improve ship conditions for immigrants.

Shortly after his arrival in Germantown, Sauer wrote a letter to friends and family back in Germany, describing his experience of the overseas journey and his arrival in Philadelphia. He also describes the country in the surrounding area, relations with the Indians, and gives comparative pricing for trade goods that future immigrants might want to being along to help finance their own voyage. A partial translation of the letter can be found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (A complete translation is in my possession but not online.)

There is so much written about Germantown as the original settlement in Pennsylvania that it is not possible to include a complete list. Here is a representative sampling, however:

Next, let’s turn to Tulpehocken, which was settled by Palatines from New York in 1723. (See February 2026 post for more details about the Palatines in New York.) Governor Keith told these immigrants, “In Pennsylvania we treat Germans like citizens, not servants.” So 15 families made the arduous trek south and settled in an area that was then the farthest inhabited part of the province northwest of Philadelphia. Surnames of this initial group include: Anspach, Feg, Fischer, Hohn, Holsteiner, Kapp, Kattermann, Lantz, Lauer, Löwengut, Noecker, Rieth, Scharf, Schmidt, and Schneider. They were later joined by others from Philadelphia and New York. Ironically, the title to the land they settled in Pennsylvania also came under dispute, and was not resolved until 1732.

The Palatine farmers applied themselves to the land, focusing on wheat and livestock. They employed innovative (for the time) farming techniques, such as the two-level bank barn; used lime, gypsum, and manure to ensure healthy soil and improve crop yields; heavier plows for clay soil and long-handled scythes that allowed for faster harvesting. As a result, German farms were consistently more productive than their English neighbors’ farms.

Another German innovation was the Conestoga wagon. This was a heavy-duty vehicle designed for travel on muddy, rugged terrain in the back country. It has a curved floor to prevent cargo from sliding out when going up- or downhill, and the watertight base allowed it to float across shallow waters.

Considering that Pennsylvania was a melting pot for numerous sects that had been persecuted in Europe, as well as people of traditional religions, it is not surprising that eventually conflict arose among them. In the 1740s, Reformed, Lutheran, and Mennonite congregations were all living in the same area, but there were very few ordained ministers. Count Zinzendorf, a Moravian, had a vision to unite all these sects into a single congregation, but encountered a great deal of resistance to his ideas. Instead, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg was sent to Pennsylvania in 1742 to bring order to the Lutheran churches. (More about these two men below.)

In 1755, after Braddock’s defeat in western Pennsylvania, Germans were massacred at Penn’s Creek on October 16. Shattering the 70-year peace between the Indians and colonists, Lenapes and Shawnees began raiding towns, burning homes, and killing inhabitants. Pennsylvania’s response was to build a series of forts along the frontier for protection. The settlers, fearing this might not be enough, joined forces and armed themselves against further threats to their safety.

Notable men during this period include the aforementioned Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, as well as Conrad Weiser and Johann Conrad Beissel. Muhlenberg (1711-1787) studied theology in Göttingen, and was ordained in 1739. After emigrating in 1742, he organized the Lutheran parishes in Pennsylvania, and in 1748 formed the first permanent Lutheran synod in America. He traveled widely and wrote extensively to other congregations from New York to Georgia. Because of his many contributions, Muhlenberg is known as “the patriarch of American Lutheranism.”

Conrad Weiser (the younger) was part of the Palatine emigration to New York in 1710. His father had been a soldier in Württemberg, and became one of the leaders of the New York Palatines. He sent his son to live with the Mohawks for over a year; here the younger Weiser learned not only the language, but also the customs and culture of the Indians. When he led a group of Schoharie settlers to Tulpehocken in 1723, he was instrumental in creating peaceful relations with the local Indians. The Pennsylvania government called on him to solidify an alliance between the British and Iroquois against encroaching French influences. Weiser served as a colonel in the Pennsylvania militia during the Seven Years’ War.

Johann Conrad Beissel (1691-1768) was a Pietist who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1720. In 1732 he established Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County. Community members were celibate, but family members lived in the surrounding area. Some of the community members arrived from Gimbsheim in 1749 and 1751. The Ephrata Cloister was a self-sustaining community, with farming, paper-making, printing, carpentry, milling, and textile production. Beissel is responsible for translating and publishing the Mennonite Martyrs Mirror, which at 1500 pages was the largest book published in colonial America. The Cloister served as a hospital for a time during the Revolutionary War.

For more information about Germans in the Tulpehocken area, see the following:

The Moravian Church has a long history, having been founded by followers of John Hus in Bohemia in 1457. They were plagues by persecutions and wars, and exiles eventually found their way to England, Holland, and Saxony, where Count Zinzendorf gave them refuge. Efforts to establish a settlement in Georgia in 1735 failed. Another group of emigrants settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1741, and this group thrived. In 1752, the Moravians established the Wachovia settlement in North Carolina, with the towns of Salem, Bethania, and Bethabara. Moravians also established numerous missions in Indian territory.

The Moravian community operated very much with a top-down structure. Members had to ask for permission to join the community and to emigrate to a specific location. Permission was granted only when there was a need for a particular skill or labor within a community. The Moravians owned four ships that they used to transport people to America, and made 14 voyages between 1734 and 1774. Of 830 people transported, only one died en route. (This death rate was 38 times less than the death rate of all German immigrants of this period.

Efforts of the Moravians, both within their own communities and their mission work, are well-documented and can be found in the Moravian Archives in Pennsylvania and North Carolina:

  • Bethlehem Diary (1742-1940) – comprehensive record of PA Moravian congregation
  • David Zeisberger Diaries (1772-1781) – Rev War impact on Indians in OH
  • Shamokin Mission Diaries (1742-1755) – documents missionary work among Indians
  • Moravians in NC
  • Cherokee Mission Records – 18th and 19th century customs and culture

Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) founded the Herrnhüter Brüdergemeinde in Saxony in 1727. There he offered asylum to persecuted people from Bohemia and Moravia. In 1732, he sent missionaries to the West Indies and to Greenland. In 1736 he was exiled from Saxony because of his religious beliefs, but was later allowed to return. In 1741, he visited Bethlehem in Pennsylvania to organize the Moravian settlement there.

See the following for more information about the Moravians:

Other sects that settled in Pennsylvania include the Mennonites and Amish (who have a common origin but split in 1693), the Dunkers or Tunkers (also known as Schwarzenau Brethren, and whose membership once included Christoph Sauer and Johann Conrad Beissel), and the Schwenkfelders (with three areas of settlement between Philadelphia and Allentown).

While the earliest wave of immigration to Pennsylvania was mostly sporadic, with only about 5000 settlers, later waves increased dramatically:

  • Mid (1727-1748) – the number of ships and passengers increased rapidly; about 19,000 Germans came to Pennsylvania during this period.
  • Highest point (1749-1754) – immigrants in this period were mostly poorer and younger, and there were fewer family groups traveling; about 39,000 people came during this 5-year period.
  • Late (after the Seven Years’ War-1775) – there was a brief pause in emigration during the Seven Year’s War, and the number of immigrants from then to the beginning of the Revolutionary War was significantly lower. This group of mostly young, unattached men numbered about 9,500.

Networks of merchants in London, Rotterdam, and Philadelphia took advantage of existing trade routes to expand their businesses with the transport of immigrants. While ships brought goods like rum, sugar and rice on the east-bound voyages, the immigrant passengers served as ballast on otherwise underutilized ships on the westward journey.

Rotterdam merchants served as middlemen in the emigration trade. They hired “newlanders” and agents to recruit emigrants. Their role was to facilitate travel, helping to secure required documents (such as manumission or permission to emigrate), negotiate fares and credit terms, and ensure proper timing of arrival in Rotterdam. Of course this system was rife with abuse, most especially the overcrowding on ships. Unsuspecting emigrants were often cheated on fares because of vague contract terms (or even no contract), and their baggage was often lost or stolen. Poor provisions, both in terms of quantity and quality, were a frequent complaint, as was bad sanitation. The shippers calculated provision quantities with a low margin of error in terms of the length of the voyage in order to maximize their profits. If a voyage ran more than the expected time, the results could be tragic.

Once in Philadelphia, passengers who bought their fares on credit had to pay the amount owed to the shipper. Many emigrants brought trade goods with them, thinking to sell them on arrival to finance their trip. If their baggage had been lost or stolen, they were forced to sell their labor to pay the fare. This was called the redemption system, which continued until 1819. Healthy adults would bind themselves anywhere from three to six years, depending on the amount they owed, according to their strength and age. Children under the age of 15 had to serve until age 21. (Infants for whom the fare was zero were often allowed to stay with their parents.) If a husband or wife died during the voyage, the surviving spouse had to serve for both. Upon completion of service, a person was entitled to a new suit of clothing (referred to as a “freedom suit” in some documents). If stipulated, children might also be taught to read and write. People who were ill from the voyage were sent to a hospital or boarding house to recover, and then their services were sold later, probably at a lower rate than a healthy person.

The German Society of Pennsylvania was founded in 1764 by Heinrich Keppele and 65 other prominent Germans. Their goal was to provide relief to arriving immigrants, as well as financial assistance and legal aid; they also provided educational assistance. This group lobbied for legislation to protect immigrants from abusive employers and exploitative contracts. (Today, their library holds the largest non-university collection of German materials in the US; 20% of their books cannot be found in any other American library.)

Further reading about the redemptioner system and immigration during this period includes the following:

Pennsylvania German participation in the Revolutionary War falls into two categories – fighters and pacifists; there were very few Loyalists among them. In 1776, the German Battalion was created from volunteers in Pennsylvania and Maryland, with four companies from each; a ninth company was added later. These units found in many of the major battles in the northeast part of America.

Since many of the sects that settled in Pennsylvania were pacifists, they served the cause in other ways. For example, Moravians cared for the sick and wounded, and buried hundreds of dead soldiers; they provided medicines and other supplies for this purpose. The productive German farmers supplied troops with bread, grain, and vegetables for food, hay for forage, and straw for bedding. They supplied barrels, wagons and horses, and boats for moving supplies. They housed and guarded Hessian prisoners of war, and persuaded many to desert.

Further details, including lists of names for the various military units, can be found in The Pennsylvania German in the Revolutionary Way 1775-1783, by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards (Great-grandson of the Lutheran minister), © 1908.

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