Strasbourg -- Seizure of the City by the French -- Surrender of the Provinces -- Persecution and Flight of the Inhabitants -- Emigration to Pennsylvania -- Alsace -- Manatawny -- Men of Mark -- Governors Ritner and Beaver
"What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought at faith's pure shrine.
Aye! call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod,
They've left unstained what there they found--
Freedom to worship God."
In the northeastern part of France was situated the beautiful Province of Alsace, with its magnificent city of Strasbourg, founded by the Romans near the beginning of the Christian Era. This city during the early Reformation period had a semi-independent character, being what is known as an Imperial city. With the great theologian, Dr. Sturm, at its head, it was for many years one of the great bulwarks of religious liberty in Germany, and multitudes of exiled Protestants found a refuge under its protecting walls.
In 1681 the city was treacherously seized by the French King, Louis XIV, the despot who, in 1685, revoked the Edict of Nantes and drenched his dominion with the blood of the Huguenots. The entire Valley of the Rhine, as elsewhere noted, was utterly devastated by the French. Through a lack of unity of the German nation the Sovereigns of the Rhine Provinces were unable to resist the overwhelming foe and they were ceded to France in 1697 by the Peace of Ryswick. The German people, however, could never be reconciled to their loss, and never rested until they were regained as the result of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871.
After gaining possession of Alsace and Lorraine the Protestant religion, while tolerated by the terms of the treaty, was practically interdicted, which led many thousands to emigrate to Switzerland, Holland and America.
Although the great victory of the Allies under the Duke of Marlboro at Blenheim in the Palatinate in 1704 was a crushing blow to the Papists, nevertheless the subsequent withdrawal of the Duke and his forces rendered the outlook of the Protestants anything but promising. We have therefore, in addition to religious intolerance, the horrors of war as a ground for the Huguenot, Mennonite and Palatine emigration to Pennsylvania.
Thousands of Alsatians and Lorraines came to Pennsylvania, but having so much in common with their Palatine neighbors their identity was almost lost in the general exodus. The Lorraines were mostly French in name and fewer in numbers than the Alsatians. The latter, nevertheless, possessed distinct traits of character which distinguished them from the mass of German emigrants, a distinction so marked as to be traceable at the present day. In common with the Huguenots their advocacy of liberty, and justice has led an unusual proportion of their descendants into positions of prominence. A very considerable number of them located in Eastern Pennsylvania, especially in the Valley of the Schuylkill.
So numerous were the Alsatians in the present limits of Berks that when the County was erected in 1752 a township immediately north of Reading was named in their honor. "Tradition has it that the Huguenots and German Reformers held religious meetings within a mile or two of Reading, and in conformity with the old custom of their fathers in Europe, conducted their worship in the evening as well as in the day time. They cultivated a spirit of genuine piety and often met after night in each others houses for social prayers. For the purpose of public worship they erected a church of logs. Later the Germans and Swedes worshiped in it until 1751 when the Lutherans erected a church in Reading."1
The foregoing, from an author who is recognized as an authority on the Pennsylvania immigrants, makes it probable that the Huguenots made use of their own language and religious forms in their worship. This is not improbable when we consider their numbers in the vicinity of Reading. The slight difference between their worship and that of the Reformed, together with the predominance of the German language, naturally tended to obliterate their identity in the course of a few decades.
The following of undoubted Huguenot antecedents were of the early settlers of this locality and taxables in 1756: Dubree, Jacob, Bolieu, Jacob (now Boiler), Le Mar, John (now Lemmer), Gehret, George and Peter, Gannett, Adam, Noel, William, Le Van, Isaac, Perlett, John, Le Beau, John, Ritner, John Abraham, Lanciscus, George (died 1755), Hoyer, Carl.
In the Maxatawny Valley, northeast of Reading, a considerable number of French people, chiefly Alsatians and Lorraines, located. The name Horry2 and Pickett3 occurs here prior to 1730. These families probably removed south as they disappeared in a short time.
A notable arrival was the Kieffer brothers in 1748. The family name in France was Tonnellier. At the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the family fled to Deux Ponts (Zweibrucken) for safety, and like many others changed their name for a German equivalent which, in their case, was Kieffer (Cooper). Owing to the devastation of the country by the French armies the sons determined to emigrate. Abraham and Casper came to Pennsylvania and settled near the present town of Kutztown, while Martin and Michael, two younger brothers, came to Baltimore in 1765.4 The Kieffer posterity is both numerous and honorable and has given many names of highest worth to both church and state. One especially, whose name is worthy of honor, is that of Daniel Kieffer, of Oley, Berks county, a plain and unassuming farmer who bequeathed the sum of ten thousand dollars for the endownent of a theological school for the Reformed Church and which was the first gift of that character received by that denomination.
The Gobin family, originally Cobean, comes from an Alsatian refugee, the date of whose arrival is unknown. A son Charles was a captain in the Revolution from Berks county. After the war he located at Sunbury. He was the great grandfather of General J.P.S. Gobin,5 of Lebanon, Pa.
Markle.--One of the earliest Alsatian emigrants to Pennsylvania was John Christman Merklen6 Markley). At the Revocation period his parents retired to Amsterdam, in Holland, from whence John Christman came to the Maxatawny Valley and located at Moslem Springs. Gaspard Markley, a son of the emigrant, in 1771 became a trans-Allegheny pioneer and settled at West Newton, in Westmoreland county, where he erected the first mill west of the mountains. He also erected a stockade fort for the protection of the frontier settlers.7 Some of the descendents of Gaspard Markley became prominent men, notably his son, General Joseph Markley (b. 1777, d. 1868), who was for many years prominent in the business and political affairs of Western Pennsylvania. In 1844 he was the Whig candidate for Governor, but was defeated by his opponent, Francis R. Shunk, by a small plurality.
De Long.--The progenitor of the De Long family was Peter De Long,8 originally De Lang, who came to Maxatawny at an early day from New York, where the family had located. The family name will ever be distinguished by the heroic achievements of Lieut. George W. De Long, of the American navy and leader of the ill-fated Jeanette Polar expedition, in which he perished.9
Girardin.--The Girardin family (name variously written "Sheradin," "Cheretin," etc.), was established in the Maxatawny Valley, the emigrant ancestor being Jacob, who arrived in 1748. Other emigrants of this name and who came to Berks county were doubtless connections.
Ritner.--There is no name that shines with greater lustre on the page of Pennsylvania history than that of Joseph Ritner (1780-1869). In 1750 his grandfather, John Abraham Ritner, bade adieu to his war-scourged home in Alsace and came to Pennsylvania and settled in Berks county. The family was originally seated in Silesia and was of noble origin. One of the sons of the emigrant was Michael, who was a soldier in the Revolution and the father of our subject. When still quite young he settled in the Cumberland Valley and at Newville he married Susan Alter, a farmer's daughter. He soon rose to a high degree of public favor and was called to fill many important public offices. He was elected Governor of the Commonwealth in 1835. The acts establishing the public school system had been passed under the administration of his predecessor, Governor Shultz, but did not meet with popular approval and was in imminent danger of repeal when Ritner was inducted into the office.
In his message in 1836 Governor Ritner took such advanced grounds, not only on the subject of popular education but on other great moral and humanitarian questions, especially slavery, as to attract the attention of the entire nation. By his conservation and development of the free school system Governor Ritner conferred a lasting benefit on the Commonwealth while his strong anti-slavery utterances had great weight in shaping national sentiment for its subsequent abolition.
In his advocacy of popular education and other beneficent measures Governor Ritner was fortunate in having the support of Pennsylvania's great Commoner, the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, who in a great speech in advocacy of the Governor's measures, made the famous expression. "I shall place myself unhesitatingly in the ranks of him whose banner streams in light."
The brave and advanced sentiments of Governor Ritner's message of 1836 was made the subject of a lengthy and, stirring lyric by the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier. We herewith give the opening stanza:
"Thank God for the token! one lip is still free!
One Spirit untrammeled, unbending one knee,
Like the oak in the mountain, deep rooted and firm,
Erect when the multitude bends to the storm;
When traitors to freedom, and honor, and God,
Are bound to an idol, polluted with blood.
When the recreant North has forgotten her trust,
And the lip of her honor is low in the dust;
Thank God that one arm from the shackle has broken!
Thank God that one man as a free man has spoken!"
He was born in 1780 and died in 1869, and was buried at Mount Rock, about eight miles west of Carlisle, Pa., in an obscure graveyard where his grave was neglected. The Pennsylvania Legislature in 1901 made an appropriation to place a suitable monument at his grave which has not yet been done.
Oley Hills.--In the hill country contiguous to the Maxatawny and Oley Valleys were seated a large inumber of Alsatians and Lorraines at an early day. Among them were the Reidenours,10 Mosers,11 Gerbers,12 De la Camps,13 Beavers, John Ruhlin, Matthieu, Morrett, Nicholas Querin, John George Riehl, Henry Linville, John Mich. Grauel. The latter arrived in 1733 with a large family and died in 1753.
The Beaver Family.--We learn from the "Hill Church" records that the family of John George Beaver came to Pennsylvania in 1732 from Rosenthal, in Alsace. An examination of the archives shows that the ship "Pink" arrived in this year with a very large number of Alsatians, among whom were Christena, Dorothy and Jacob Beaver, the latter a minor. From a family record we learn that among these was Anna Sabina Beaver, b. 1719 and married in 1740 to John Hess, of Oley. It is probable that the father died on the passage to America.
In 1741 arrived from Alsace "Dieble" (Dewalt) Beaver, aged 43 years, and sons John George, aged 21, John Jacob, aged 19, and "Dieble" Jr. (Dewalt), aged 16 years. They located in the Alsatian Colony in the Oley Hills, a few miles south of Kutztown. It is probable that Dewalt Beaver was a brother of John George, already noticed. This family became very extensive and in Colonial times many of them located on the frontiers. Their early family records may be seen in the archives of the "Mertz" Lutheran Church of that vicinity.
Of the foregoing John George Beaver had a son, John George, Jr., who served with distinction in the Revolution. The latter had a son, Peter Beaver (1782-1849), who became a pioneer minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and was one of the first ministers of that denomination in America to preach in the German language. He was one of the first ministers of this church in the interior of Pennsylvania and died at New Berlin in (now) Union county, where a granite monument marks his resting place and recounts his labors for humanity.
Rev. Peter Beaver was the grandfather of General James A. Beaver, of Bellefonte, Pa., a gallant soldier of the Civil War, elected Governor of Pennsylvania 1887, made a Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania 1895, of which office he is still an incumbent.
Another eminent descendant of Dewalt Beaver is Prof. George G. Groff, M.A., M.D., professor of organic sciences in Bucknell University, and late U.S. medical inspector of Porto Rico, whose reputation is world-wide as an authority on sanitary and economic science.
In 1768 arrived from Deux Ponts the brothers Michael, Valentine and Jacob Biever (now Beeber), a branch of the same family already noted. They located in the West Branch Valley. From this latter stock comes Judge Dimmer Beeber, of Philadelphia.
In 1817 two brothers, Melchoir and Rudolph Hoch (High), arrived from Alsace and located in the Schuylkill Valley. In 1725 Rudolph Hoch located in Oley near the De Turks. The Hoch posterity is both numerous and honorable.
The head of the Herbein family fled from France at the Revocation and found asylum in the Palatinate where the name was Germanized. About 1717 a son, Jonathan Herbein, arrived and located in Oley. His name appears on the list of petitioners for the erection of the township in 1720. In 1732 Peter Herbein arrived. In 1733 we find Jonathan, Peter and Abrahanm Herbein possessed of extensive plantations in Oley. The supposition is that they were brothers.
In 1730 arrived from Alsace the brothers John Valentine and Casper Griesamer, both of whom established families. The former located in Goshahoppen in Montgomery, and the latter in Oley, Berks county, where the village of Griesamersville perpetuates the name.
In 1737 John Jacob Kauffman arrived from Alsace and also located in Oley, but later removed to Chester county. He received a good education in the city of Strasbourg, his native place, but was compelled to emigrate because of religious persecution. He was for many years a bishop in the Amish branch of the Mennonite Church.
About 1729 Conrad Reif arrived from Alsace and located in Oley. His connection with Jacob Reif, a prominent citizen of Skippack who came some years earlier, is not known.
In Exeter township, Berks county, bordering along the Schuylkill, a number of Alsatians and Lorraines located. Among others were the Hugetts, of whom George was a taxable in 1734, and Peter, who arrived in 1737. These were heads of families upon arrival. The Aurands, from Alsace, were also early arrivals, Peter prior to 1737, and John prior to 1744. John Aurand, who arrived in 1753, is elsewhere noted. John Willer, who died in 1761, was also an early resident. A Marquett family was early seated in Amity. The Berks county branch derive their ancestry from Peter (1763-181O), a son of the immigrant. There was evidently some connection between this family and John Henry Marquett, who located in Lebanon county prior to 1743.
Source: Memorials of the Huguenots in America With Special Reference to Their Emigration to Pennsylvania, by Rev. A. Stapleton, Carlisle, PA: Huguenot Publishing Company, 1901, pp. 71-78.
Submitted by: Nancy.
Last Modified