The first quarter millenium of our history in America has come to an end. It seems to be our duty, then, to devote our attention a little more closely to the early settlers, with special emphasis on the first founder and his experiences. He belongs to that small group of men, not widely known, who did great work in the colonies to promote the welfare of the early pioneers.

Among the first settlers of our country were capable leaders who could easily hold their own with the intelligentsia of England at that time. Among them were men like William Brewster, son of a country squire and graduate of the University of Cambridge; William Bradford, governor of the Plymouth Colony for twenty years and author of a forceful and well-written history of the Colony. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony there was Francis Higginson of St. John's College, of whom the historian John Fiske says that 2he was one of the noblest personalities of American history. In addition to these men, we can cite the names of a number of others who have done honor to their new country. They receive honorable mention in every American history book. But when we come to the settlement founded by the Quaker, William Penn, we do not hear a word about Pastorius, the leader of the very first group to settle in Philadelphia. In his two-volume history of Pennsylvania, Fiske says: "Their leader (Pastorius) was an enthusiastic scientist who studied natural science, philosophy, jurisprudence, or anything else that came to his attention; he spoke eight or ten languages".

Another reason why we Germans are treated so unkindly is that the sources from which the historians obtain their information are not easily accessible. The one and only biography of Pastorius was published twenty-five years ago, and since the publisher anticipated a limited interest in the work, only one thousand copies were printed. Today, of course, no more copies can be obtained.

Pastorius, like Follen, was a linquist and a theologian; like Lieber he 3was a philosopher; like Heinzen, he was an author and an advocate of freedom for all, including the Negro slaves; like Carl Schurz and Gustav Koerner, he was an attorney--and he was all this a century before these men.

Pastorius' Youth in Germany

The family from which he stems once had the name Schaefer. This name was given a Latin version by some learned forebear and now we have the name Pastor or Pastorius. [Translator's note: Latin: pastor; English: shepherd; German: Schafhirt, Schaefer.] Franz Daniel was born September 28, 1651 in Sommershausen in Franconia, (Germany), where his father was an attorney. We have to mention his godfathers as an illustration of the high repute in which the family was held. They were Franziskus Baron von Limpurg, and Daniel Gering, doctor of law and jurisprudence in Segnitz. When Franz came of school age, his father moved to Windsheim, a larger city, at that time a Reichsstadt. [Translator's note: a Reichsstadt (until 1806) in Germany was a city (Stadt) under direct sovereignty of the Emperor, in contradistinction 4to the Landstaedte, which were under the jurisdiction of a liege lord.] Windsheim is located in central Franconia on the river Aisch; today it has a population of only thirty-six hundred. There, for ten years, the young Pastorius attended the Lateinschule which was then under the direction of the pedagogue Tobias Schumburg, who was a Hungarian and who did not even know German. The language used during instruction was Latin, which Pastorius naturally learned to master. After his preparatory studies were finished, he went to the university at Altdorf to study jurisprudence.

In accordance with the custom of the times he went to Strassburg in the second year. Here, in addition to his juristical studies he attended lectures on political science, philosophy, and ethics. The professor of ethics, Dr. Horb, exerted a permanent influence on the young scholar. In Strassburg he also learned the French language. The third year he spent at the University of Basle, where he became so proficient in the Italian language that in the following year, while continuing his studies in Jena, he conducted a debate in that language on the subject of law ("Delle Leggi").

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He then interrupted his academic studies for a year and went to Regensburg where a Reichstag happened to be in session for eight months. This opportunity was always welcomed by young law students who wanted to become familiar with court proceedings or to make observations regarding diplomacy and politics--all of which would later serve them in good stead in their practice. The last year of Pastorius' studies was again spent in Altdorf, and in 1667 he left this university with the title of doctor of jurisprudence. Afterwards he established himself in his home town as an attorney.

Dissatisfied with his Profession

One would think that a man so well prepared would find life pretty much worthwhile; but such was not the case. He wrote (in the meantime, he had also learned English): "Here in Windsheim I have practiced law for about two years and a half, keeping my own house, marching from one nobleman's house in the province to another, and, in short, making nothing but work for repentance."

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That he was not happy in his profession is shown even more clearly in a letter to his brother. His brother had asked his advice regarding the study of law. He wrote (seventeenth-century German): "F. D. Pastorius does not advise his brother August Adam to undertake the study of jurisprudence, since he has found that such study is indeed nothing but a game to cheat others, or, as the Scriptures say, 'An art to cause strife between brothers, which is an abomination before the Lord'. Familiar with all the tricks and turning like a weather vane...." Whether the brother ever studied jurisprudence we do not know.

Through Dr. Horb, his ethics teacher in Strassburg, he became acquainted with the latter's brother-in-law, J. Ph. Spener, the father of the Pietist movement. He attended the special meetings of these people, the "Collegia Pietatis," and within a short time he became strongly attracted to the Pietist doctrines. As a result, he became disliked in Windsheim's church circles, and he moved to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where Spener was a clergyman at that ime. Here he continued to practice his profession for a while, as is evidenced from an entry in his diary: "On September 5, 1679, also on 7March 12 and April 28, 1680, [I] was at the Court of the Elector at Mannsheim in behalf of the Jew Samuel, and received good pay". Soon afterwards, he gave up his profession for good.

A Trip Abroad

Johann Bonaventura von Bodeck, the son of a nobleman, planned to complete his studies by taking a long trip abroad, and through Spener's influence Pastorius was selected as his travelling companion. The journey lasted a year and took both of them through Switzerland, France, Northern Germany, the Netherlands, and England. This trip broadened the mental horizon of the young attorney to a great extent. What interested him particularly were the orphanages and poorhouses, the clerical and university life, and,above all, the laws of the various countries and their enforcement. He found many things he disliked: "We saw frivolous life--waste of time and money on the vanities of life, and little serious thinking; however, I found a few devoted men at the universities of Cambridge and Ghent, who were living in secret spiritual seclusion from the world and wholly resigned to God, 8and who, in answer to my earnest inquires, gave me many good instructions and strengthened me greatly in my purpose."

Agent for an Emigration Company

In 1682 he returned to Frankfort, a man of thirty-one, with wide experience and a strong religious inclination. In the meantime, William Penn had been in Germany propagandizing for his colony. A company had been established for the purpose of assisting German emigrants. This company was looking for an agent. Pastorius was selected. He accepted the position tentatively, asking for time to think the matter over. "I reasoned thus with myself--whether it were not better to teach the learning which I had by grace from the Highest Giver of light to the newly-founded American peoples of Pennsylvania, thus to enable them to partake of the true knowledge of the Holy Trinity and of Christianity".

Arrival in America 250 Years Ago

On June 10, 1683, he embarked as the agent of the Frankfurt Company, and on 9August 30 he arrived in Philadelphia. How exacting he was in his private affairs is reflected from the entries in his diary. Among other things, he took along eighty-one pounds of English money, nine dozen plain buttons, three pair of shirt buttons, a tobacco case, two snuff-tobacco cases, a container for his pipe, three penknives and two toothbrushes. The trip itself he describes as a tedious one (eighty-one days), the food as of poor quality, and he notes especially the lack of comfort. During the weeks prior to the arrival of the thirteen families, he was kept quite busy arranging for their temporary lodgings. Finally, on October 6, those forty-five Germans arrived on the sailing vessel Concord, a name which should be as familiar to us as that of the Mayflower.

The difficult cultivation of the soil around Philadelphia had begun. The first settlement was called Germantown. This community remained for the next hundred years the center for Germans who settled in Pennsylvania. During the course of two hundred and fifty years, so many of our German people have come over that today, according to the calculations of Dr. A. B. Faust, twenty-seven million American people have German blood in their veins.

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His Activity in Germantown

It was Pastorius' job to take care of the interests of the Company and the German settlers. For thirty-one years he worked on behalf of his German compatriots. During that time, he was mayor of Germantown, bailiff, attorney for the colony, tax official, city and court clerk, member of the Assembly of Pennsylvania for Germantown, justice of the peace, and teacher, first at the Quaker School, later at the school established by the Germans, and finally at the German evening school for adults who had to work during the daytime. He was always busy in the interests of the colony--everything for others, nothing for himself.

His Protest Against Slavery

In the meantime he had also done quite a bit of writing. He was the author of seven school text books, which were among the first to be published in the Pennsylvania Colony. He also wrote six other books; and he is the author of eight manuscripts as well as of a detailed history of the Colony.

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His most important piece of writing is undoubtedly his protest against slavery. The handwriting, style, and language reveal that Pastorius was the author. The fate of these manuscript pages was strange indeed. The protest was addressed to the monthly meeting of the Quakers. From the protocol we learn that it was not accepted there. The protocol reads as follows: "After considering the above-mentioned topic at our monthly meeting, we find the same of such import that we do not think it advisable to discuss it." This protocol also says: "The above mentioned was read at our quarterly meeting and then referred to the annual meeting." And in the protocol of this [the annual] meeting, we read: "1688. A communication regarding the legality and illegality of the buying and keeping of Negroes has been submitted by some German friends. It is deemed improper that this meeting render a definite opinion, since the subject in question hears a close relation to many other matters. For the time being, therefore, we cannot consider it." For the time being! In 1715 the Quakers, too, were opposed to slavery.

Some Verdicts of Justice of the Peace Pastorius

Some of the verdicts recorded at the time when Pastorius was justice of the 12peace are of interest today. Peter Keurlis, the innkeeper, had been selling beer without a license and was punished by Pastorius. A man named Mueller had made a wager that he could smoke one hundred pipes of tobacco in one day. He, too, was punished, since gambling was not allowed. Another Germantowner who had called a policeman a "rogue" was also punished. But during the six years when Pastorius was justice of the peace, not a single case of drunkeness was brought before him. The Germantowners had an ordinance to the effect that a saloonkeeper could not sell an individual more than a half pint of rum and one quart of beer within a half day. A pint of rum and two quarts of beer a day was a generous amount. The old-time Germantowners could stand quite a lot.

His Marriage

Pastorius married in 1688. His wife was born Ennecke (Aennchen) Klostermann. Since he was so exacting in his personal matters, we learn what his Ennecke's dowry was. He speaks of the cash sum of ten pounds and of fifty-nine acres of land; and he also records how many handkerchiefs, stockings, and skirts 13she brought along.

This marriage was blessed with two children. Descendants of the gallant couple are still living today in Pennsylvania and in Denver, Colorado.

Pastorius was a great man--a man of sterling character. He was extremely well educated for his time, and he was far ahead of any American then living in his knowledge of languages. Certainly, no American had a more profound knowledge of foreign customs and habits. He was pious in the best and truest sense of the word, and he was unselfish as few people are. He is worthy of being remembered two hundred and fifty years after his arrival in this country.

When he died in 1719, he did not leave much behind. From his list of his earthly possessions, we learn that he had 304 volumes of books in his library, thirteen pounds and seven shillings in cash, and some real estate.

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An Anglo-American Testimony

The finest praise given him and the first German pioneers in Pennsylvania was spoken by an Anglo-American, Dr. Rush: "He (Pastorius) was the founder of the first permanent settlement established by Americans of German origin. There was a time when this element was highly valued. Legislators of Pennsylvania have learned from the history of your German fellow citizens that their customs and their arts and crafts constitute an inexhaustible treasure within your state! Do not oppose the preservation of their native language. It will become the medium by which the inventions, discoveries, and knowledge of the most efficient nation in Europe may come to your country. Invite them to take part in your government and administration! This participation will become a bond between them and you who stem from different nationalities. Above all else, cultivate those sects among the Germans who consider war a crime and an injustice! Liberate them from the pressure of those absurd and unnecessary military laws! Protect them as the 15guardians of that gospel truth which has endured throughout the ages! That truth must be spread all over the world. Perhaps these sects, the Mennonites, the Moravian Brethren, and the Dunkers will be preserved through Divine Grace, since they refuse to bear arms to shed human blood. Let them be the nucleus around which some day all peoples will gather to live in eternal peace and permanent friendship." Truly, this is high praise for the first Germans in Pennsylvania.