Fish were abundant in the Conestoga and in the other streams of Lan- caster county. The Indians caught them with nets made of bark, or speared them with a gig made of ash wood. On one occasion when Kreider was visited by his Indian neighbors he looked at his almanac, for the purpose of regulating his clock by its indication of the rising and setting of the sun. They had often observed eclipses, but couldn't understand how their white neighbor should know this before it occurred. At the appointed evening fifty or sixty Indians met at the house, and were utterly amazed to see the moon's face lessen as soon as the clock had struck.
One of them then said: In 1 some English and Welsh settlers came and located around Smoketown. In 17 16 Richard Carter, an Englishman, took up a tract of land between the Conestoga and Pequea creeks, near the Sus- quehanna river, and therefore in the present Con- estoga township. In 7 Joseph Cloud secured acres near the Pequea. Between and settlements were made down the Conestoga creek towards the Susque- hanna river. Edmund Cart- lidge resided in Darby township, Chester county, as early as , and in Philadelphia county in John Cartlidge was an Indian trader for many years.
He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 17 The public records at West Ches- ter state that he sold liquor "by the small" among his neighbors on the banks of the Conestoga before Before Christian and Joseph Stehman and Sigismund Landart — all Germans — took up land on and near the banks of the Conestoga creek.
Martin Chartiere had a trading-post on the site of Washington borough before , and in 7 he was granted acres. This was transmitted to his son, Peter Chartiere. Peter Bizaillon had a license to trade with the Indians before , and in 1 7 14 he was granted a tract on the Susquehanna at Paxtanof or wherever he wished to locate.
The most notable among these new settlers were Matthias Schleiermacher afterward Anglicized as Slaymaker and the Zimmermans. Matthias Schliermacher emigrated from Strasburg, in Ger- many, to Lancaster county about 17 He was born and reared in Hesse Cassel. The place he settled in America was known as the London Lands, a tract of 1, acres, in what is now Para- dise township, the name Strasburg having been conferred by Schleiermacher. One of the broth- ers of the latter was Secretary of Legation from the German Empire to Great Britain, and another was major in the King of Prussia's full regiment.
His son, Eman- uel Zimmerman, born in Switzerland in , was a citizen of great influence in Lancaster county. His descendants are numerous. Some are called Zimmerman, while others have their name Anglicized as Carpenter. There are also Carpenters of English descent. From 1 7 14 to surveys of land were made in different parts of the present county of Lancaster. In the southern part a survey was made for Alex- ander Ross, an Englishman, on Little Conowingo creek. In 7 a survey of acres was made to Edward Sleadwell, an Englishman, on the Octo- raro creek, in the present township of Little Brit- ain.
A Maryland grant was made in the same township to Mary Graham in 17 Large tracts were also granted by Maryland to Emanuel Grubb in and ; and one to Thomas Jacobs in the last-named year, in the same township. In 1 the Conestoga Manor — afterward Manor township — was surveyed for the use of the proprie- tary of the province of Pennsylvania, William Penn and his heirs and assigns forever, by order of the Commissioners of Property, by Jacob Taylor, Surveyor General of the province.
The Conestoga Manor embraced all the land between the Susque- hanna river and Conestoga creek as far up the river as the land already granted to Peter Char- tiere, on the site of Washington borough, and thence by a line running east from that river to Conestoga creek. The latter was subsequently divided and sold to purchasers, among whom were many whose descendants still occupy the lands on which the original Swiss Mennonites located. The principal English landowners in the Manor were the Wrights, who had 1, acres, and John Cart- lidge, who had a large tract between one and two miles north-east of the present Safe Harbor.
This is now in the possession of Jacob B. The Shumans settled near the site of Washing- ton borough in The Manns located a little east of this place about the same time. Hans Graaf was a very prominent man in the early history of the county. He was born in Switzerland, and was among those who fled from persecution in that country to Alsace. In or he emigrated to Amer- ica. After remaining a short time at Germantown, he came to the Swiss settlement in the Pequea valley. He at once resolved to settle there.
After finding his horses he returned to the Pequea settlement, merely to inform his friends of his "find" and of his determination to locate near the spring. To the latter place he then removed with his family, and built a cabin under a large white oak tree, half a mile distant. In the spring of he took up a large tract of land, and built a house near the cabin. The spot where the origi- nal house stood is shown to-day. Here he was often visited by the Indians, who brought baskets and hickory brooms to sell. He had six sons. As some of them grew up he formed a partnership with them, and opened trade with the Indians liv- ing at Harris's Ferry, now Harrisburg.
The trade consisted of an exchange of blankets and other articles, which he purchased in Philadelphia, for skins, furs, etc. It is said that he spoke the Indian language fluently. The descendants of Hans Graaf are very numerous throughout the county. The name has undergone various changes — Groif, Grove and Graeff being among these. Wenger, a Swiss, became one of Hans Graaf s neighbors. After 1 settlements became very general in the county. In 17 19 or some Germans located along Cocalico creek and in other places.
Like the Quakers and Mennonites, the Dunkers were simple in their dress and habits, and averse to oaths, to military service and the use of law. Like the Mennonites, they were severely perse- cuted in Germany, in consequence of which they fled to Holland and to other parts of the continent. The original society, however, removed to Serus- tervin, in Friesland, and from there emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania. Some of these settled at Germantown; others at Oley and Skippack, near the Schuylkill; and others along the Conestoga and Cocalico creeks, in the present Lancaster county.
This was done by James Hamil- ton, Esq. Tradition says that an Indian village occupied the site of Lancaster; that a hickory tree stood in the centre of the village, near a spring; that the Indian councils were held under this tree, and that it was from one of these councils that a deputation was sent to confer with William Penn at Shackamaxon in This Indian nation was called Hickory, and the village was called Hickory Town before Lancaster was laid out.
Another Indian town was situated near the Conestoga, and a poplar tree which stood on its bank was the emblem of that tribe. In the meantime some persons, without any legal right, settled on the west side of the Susque- hanna river. John Grist, one of these, abused the Indians to such an extent that they complained to the Governor of the province. Cartlidge, however, simply requested Grist and his party to move from the land. This they refused to do. The Indians then destroyed some of their]cattle. Grist went to Philadelphia to make complaint against them, but was lodged in jail.
He returned home in August, , and, after gathering in his corn, left the place. Late in April, 17 19, the Cones toga Indians, by a letter to Secretary James Logan, informed Gover- nor Patrick Gordon that several of their tribe, while hunting near the Potomac, had been at- tacked and killed by a party of Virginia Indians, who were on the war path against the Five Na- tions.
Governor Gordon endeavored to quiet their fears, without avail. They addressed a letter to him early in June. He then sent Colonel French to meet them in council at Conestoga. This meet- ing took place June 28, Canatowa, the queen of the Conestogas, and Captain Civility, their chief, together with sachems of the Conewagas, the Shawanese and the Delawares, were present; and a treaty was made which re-established peace and friendship with them.
At this council the chiefs of the Conestogas, the Shawanese, the Gaw- anese and the Delawares were present. Assurances of continued peace and friendship were given on both sides. Promises of belts of wampum were made, and these were sent to Philadelphia without delay, and from there to the Indians of Virginia, as pledges of good faith. Governor Gordon and his council sent Samuel Robins to Virginia to deliver these wampum belts to the Indians there.
On his return he brought with him two belts from the Virginia Indians, which were sent to the Conestoga Indians. He was authorized to assure the latter that the Virginia In- dians would not in the future pass over the Poto- mac river to the eastward or northward, or over the Blue Ridge. This was on condition that the Con- estogas and the other Indians north of the Poto- mac would not cross the Potomac into Virginia to the southward or eastward of the Blue Ridge. John Cartlidge delivered the wampum belts and interpreted the message from the Virgina Indians.
The quarrels between the Indians of Pennsyl- vania and those ot Virginia about their hunting- grounds disturbed the peace of Pennsylvania. On the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th of July, , Governor Keith held a council with the Indians at Conestoga. The chiefs or deputies of the Five Nations of Indians were also present to treat with the Governor. Smith, the Gawanese Indian interpreter of the Coaestoga language to the Dela wares, was also present.
He also complained that the Indian trade in skins and furs was injured. Governor Keith replied, expressing his desire to live in peace and friendship with the Indians, and advised them not to molest the Virginia Indians. The object of the conference on the Governor's part was to prevent the Pennsylvania Indians from attacking the Indians of Virginia. Ghesa- ont expressed himself well pleased with Governor Keith's treatment of the Five Nations. Soon after the council with the Indians at Con estoga, Governor Keith was informed that persons from Philadelphia and Maryland, in search of a copper mine, were about to survey and take up Indian lands on the west side of the Susquehanna.
The Governor went to the scene of the threatened trouble, and prevented the intrusion. On April 4th and 5th, , he caused a survey of acres on the west side of the river to be made. He then returned to Conestoga, where he again met the Indians, but the particulars of that meeting were never recorded. Soon afterward the Indians were greatly alarmed at the threatened encroachments of the Maryland- ers. The Indians agreed to the survey, so that the Governor would have a better title to resist the Marylanders.
Proceeding to the house of John Cartlidge, they arrested the brothers. A council was held with the Indians at Conestoga, March 14, Civility and sev- eral of the older men of the tribe, together with Savannah, chief of the Shawanese, Winjack, chief of the Gawanese, Tekaachroo, a Cayuga, and Oweeyekanowa and Xoshtarghkamen, Delawares, were present on this occasion. The Indians were satisfied with the action of the council. The Cart- lidges were taken to Philadelphia and lodged in jail. Satcheecho, an Indian messenger, was de- spatched to the Five Nations.
Governor Keith and two of his council went to Albany, New York, and there met representatives of the Five Nations and gave them pledges that justice would be done to the Indians. These representatives expressed a wish that the Cartlidges should not be punished with death. The Indian sachem said: In a number of German settlers who had been living in Schoharie county, New York, emi- grated to Pennsylvania and located on the Swatara and Tulpehocken creeks.
Among these were the Weisers, from whom the Muhlenbergs are descended. The territory between the Big Chickies creek and the Susquehanna river was first settled by Scotch-Irish.
A Brief History of Lancaster County
James Hendricks and James Mitchell held successively the office of Justice of the Peace in the settlement. Some of the descendants of these Scotch-Irish settlers still own the first possessions of their ancestors. His son John was the founder of Harrisburg, as before noticed. This was the beginning of the present town of Columbia. Barber took 1, acres south of Chickies Hill. Blunston took acres adjoining that hill. Wright took acres south of Blunston' s. His descendants have since resided in Columbia. These three men were active, enterprising and useful citizens ; and their names were intimately associated with the earlier history of Lancaster county.
When they first settled there their flour was brought on pack- horses from the Darby mills, near Philadelphia, through the woods along an Indian path to the Susquehanna. Their only neighbors, the Indians, often supplied them with meat, and received bread and milk in return. The descendants of these pioneers have since resided in Lancaster county.
Swiss and Scotch-Irish soon settled in that locality. The land back from the river was settled chiefly by Swiss — the Forrys, the Garbers, the Stricklers and others. Hempfield township was so called because of the great quantities of hemp raised there. Patton's hill and Patton's current derive their names from those families. Tradition states that a party of cruel white men, led by a man named Bell, once massacred many Indians there.
Maay Indian graves were said to be in the neighborhood, and it was believed that a piece of cannon lay sunk in the current. In or Everhard Ream, a German, com- menced a settlement by taking up acres of land. His descendants have since resided in the village named after the first settler and proprietor — Reamstoivn, When he settled there, the place was occupied by Indians.
He took his horse and wagon into the woods, and unloaded his furniture under a large oak tree, under which he took shel- ter until he had built a rude log cabin. His nearest mill was on the Brandy wine, and the Miil- bachers on Cocalico creek were his nearest neigh- bors. Upon this they made a settlement. Their number increased so rapidly that in less than ten years — or before — they had settled six townships.
Like the Swiss and Palatines, the Welsh sent persons to take up the land and make the needed preparations for the reception of their families. Among these pioneers was Thomas Owen, who was sent over by Row- land Ellis. In Ellis and other Welsh emigrants came. They bought 10, acres of land of Robert Turner, in Guinedd township, in Chester county. In or another Welsh settlement was made in the Welsh Mountain region. This extended in the direi: Here the principal settlers were E. The Welsh also settled along Alle- gheny creek, a small branch of the Tulpehocken. In or some Swiss and Germans set- tled in the region south of the eastern part of the Conestoga creek, in the present East Earl town- ship.
Hans Good settled in what is now Brecknock town- ship, Lancaster county, where many of his decend- ants have since resided. Before they settled here, the Webers and Goods had lived for twelve or fif- teen years near the site of Lancaster city. Their descendants have since became wealthy and num- erous. Some have emigrated to the West, and others to Canada. In about 1, Swiss and Palatine Menno- nites came to what is now Lancaster county. These people soon after coming subscribed to a writing declaring their allegiance to the King of Great Britain and fidelity to the proprietary of the province of Pennsylvania.
Alexander Dif- fenderfer settled in Oley, now in Berks county. Other German families soon settled there. Governor Keith was suspicious of the Swiss and German settlers, and treated their application for naturalization with indifference. They applied for naturalization as early as , but the Gover- nor delayed granting their request until A bill was then brought before the Assembly of the province, which granted them naturalization on condition that they obtain from a Justice of the Peace a certificate of the value of their property and of the nature of their religious faith.
In Governor Patrick Gordon, Keith's suc- cessor, was informed "that a large number of Ger- mans, peculiar in their dress, religion, and notions of political governments, had settled on the Pequea, and were determined not to obey the lawful au- thority of government ; that they had resolved to speak their own language, and to acknowledge no sovereign but the Great Creator of the Universe. To keep alive the jealousies and to excite sus- picion against the Germans, it was reported that some thousands were expected to arrive in Penn- sylvania in In all Palatine families, numbering 1, persons, did come, at the invita- tion of the Penn family, to settle and improve the country.
John Carter were appointed a committee to investi- gate the charges against these people, and report the facts to the next Assembly. This committee did so, and in made a report favorable to the Ger- mans and Swiss, who had been invited by William Penn to settle in his province.
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As settlement spread, and the whites came in con- tact with the Indians, acts of violence and blood- shed sometimes occurred between the two races. The quarrel was caused by Burt's selling the Indians too much rum and then insulting them. The colonists of Penn- sylvania suffered from outrages and robberies on the part of non-resident Indians. In the spring of the whites feared that war would break out between several Indian tribes, because the Shawanese had killed two Conestoga Indians.
In the back settlements whole families fled from their homes. Captain Civility and the other chiefs of the Conestogas were present at this council. So were the chiefs of the Shawanese, the Qawanese and the Delawares. The Gov- ernor's object was to preserve peace between the whites and the Indians and between the various Indian tribes themselves. Assurances of peace and good will and desires for continued peace were expressed both by the Governor and by the Indian chiefs present.
Short History of Lancaster County
After the council the Governor returned to Philadelphia. Hazard's Register states the following: The Grubbs were distinguished for their industry and enterprise. They commenced opera- tions in In or Ephrata was settled by the Sieben Taeger Seventh Day People ; so called because they kept the seventh day of the week Saturday , instead of the first Sunday , as the Sabbath. The foun- der of the religious society at Bphrata was Conrad Beissel, who seceded from the Dunkers, or German Baptists, the religious sect founded in Germany in by Alexander Mack of Shreisheim, in the Palatinate.
Many of the Dunkers emigrated from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania in and ; and, as we have seen, some settled on the Pequea and at Muelbach, or Mill Creek, on the Cocalico creek. Among these was Conrad Beissel, who located at Muelbach in In Alexander Mack, the founder of the sect, himself settled at Muelbach. Conrad Beissel separated from the Dunkers because he believed the seventh day of the weeK: In he retired from the Muelbach settlement, and lived for some time like a hermit in a cell on the banks of the Cocalico.
When his abode became known, others who had adopted his views settled around him. Thus arose the religious society of the Seventh Day Baptists. In their solitary life was changed to a monastic one, and the members lived like the monks and nuns of the Roman Catholic Church. The brethren adopted the dress of the Capuchins, or White Friars, consisting of a shirt, trousers and vest, with a long white gown or cowl, of woolen stuff in winter, and linen in summer. The sisters wore petticoats instead of trousers. The brethren and sisters adopted monkish names.
In there were thirty- six single brethren and thirty-five sisters in the cloister; and at one time the society, with the members living in the neighborhood, numbered three hundred. A brothers' house called Bethania was also built, and had a large meeting- room for public worship. Near by was a printing-house, a bake-house, a school-house and other buildings, on one of which was the town-clock.
The build- ings were of singular architecture. The rooms of the sisters were hung with large sheets of elegant penmanship or ink paintings, many being texts from Scripture, in ornamented Gothic letters, called in German Fracticr-Schriften. Many specimens of original poetry were in the Fractur-Schriften.
Peter Miller was Beissel' s suc- cessor as Father. In Ludwig Hacker came to Ephrata from Germany, and was appointed teacher of the common school. He soon afterward opened a Sabbath school. Their habits of industry, their frugality, their simple mode of living and their devoted piety doubtless exerted an imperishable influence upon the neighborhood in which they lived. The Swiss and Germans, in looking about for land, were attracted by the heavy-timbered por- tion.
The Scotch-Irish class, being accustomed to a country with a rugged surface, chose the hill country for their homes. There the forests were lighter and more easily cleared. The Swiss Mennonites — often called Palatinates, because they lived in the Palatinate of the Rhine for some years after they were driven from Switzer- land by persecution — were very intelligent farmers.
Their contact with the French and Germans in the land of their exile had given them an opportunity to see some of the best managed and cultivated farms in that beautiful agricultural region. Then in their journey down the Rhine into Holland they saw and learned much that was useful in both farming and housekeeping. Therefore they came here well prepared for the work before them; and the great farms of lyancaster county, unrivalled in fertility and high cultivation, are the evidences we have to-day of their intelligence and success.
These people brought with them little but the seeds they wished to plant. Their implements and supplies they obtained in Philadelphia and Germantown, where they stopped on landing in Pennsylvania. While in Philadelphia they thought it best to send out some persons of prudence and judgment to select sites for homes. On their return with reports of favorable places, immediate application was made to the proprietary govern- ment of the province of Pennsylvania to have the selected tracts surveyed for them. But as the sur- veys could not always be made at once, and as they were impatient of delay, they often proceeded immediately to the places chosen, taking their families with them.
Several families usually made the journey to- gether. The most important household goods were brought with them from beyond the sea, and con- sisted of stuffs which they had spun and woven themselves. These were packed in large iron-bound chests. These chests, together with household uten- sils and provisions, were loaded in covered wagons, which were drawn by teams of horses. The latter were sometimes the joint property of the parties, and sometimes they were hired for the occasion. The adults generally went on foot, the strongest keeping in advance and with axes removing trees and hanging vines that might obstruct the passage of the wagons.
Notwithstanding, the journey was slow and tedious, and taxed severely the patience and strength of both men and horses. The first work of the men and boys was to erect a temporary shelter for themselves, the women and children dwelling in the wagons until the log cabin was ready. The work of building this was begun at once. The lofty forest trees yielded to the steady and repeated blows of the axe and fell crashing to the earth.
The trunks of the fallen trees were then cut into the necessary lengths, split into the required thickness, and dragged to the place where the humble cabin was to be erected. They were then notched and built into a solid log- house, this afterward to be chinked and daubed and covered with oaken shingles. Meantime the women, in their homespun dresses and plain white caps, prepared the family meals in the open air. Their hearth consisted of a wall of hastily-collected stones.
Pots and kettles were hung by chains and hooks to cross poles. Sometimes a temporary roof of poles and branches of trees was put up to prevent the rain from putting out the fire. The men generally ate first, and the women and children afterward. There was little of mirth or levity at the gatherings of families or friends in those early days, and neither coarseness nor pro- fanity, the historians tell us. The children scoured the woods for what was new and attractive, and carried the water from the spring. The boys occasionally shot squinels and wild foul or caught fish in the near stream, and thus furnished the table with game.
The women had started a vegetable garden in the meanwhile, preparing the beds with spade and hoe. The seeds and bulbs brought from their far- away homes were then planted. The laying out of the farm into fields and build- ing fences next occupied the men after the log cabin was finished. The old-fashioned wooden plow, and a harrow made of a bundle of brush, were used to prepare the fields for planting.
Strong roots and immovable stumps added to the difficulty of culti- vating the new-made fields. Patient, constant and hard work was the lot of this pioneer farmer. The love of family and devotion to his religious faith amply sustained him, however, in his toil and trials. While the crops were growing, temporary stables were built for the horses. The barn was considered the most important building on the farm, but its erection had to be postponed for some years. The houses being made at first without cellars, a turf- covered vault was made in the hillside.
Pigs were imported from the Eastern settlements. Cows and oxen were brouo: Ditches were due for irrigating the land, and thus the growth of grasses was vastly increased. The rich meadows were considered a valuable part of the farm. When the original tracts were divided, the rights to the meadows were carefully specified in the title-deeds, the use and control of the stream being given to the owners of the several tracts a certain number of days in each week.
The summer was given to raising crops of wheat, corn, oats, spelt, barley, buckwheat, etc. There was no lack of work in the autumn. Then a second crop of hay was made, more ditches were dug, stones were quarried, firewood for winter was cut, the fall seeding was done, trees were felled, rails were split, acorns were gathered, and logs were hewed for the barn that was to be built.
Trips were made to the stores farther east for supplies, and to the mills for flour or to have grists ground. These trips usually lasted several days, as the nearest mills were on the Schuylkill and the Brandy wine. Several men went together on horseback, carrying bags of grain, and bringing flour and meal in return. The occupation of farming was regarded by these people as offering few temptations to worldliness, and thus it became a sort of hereditary vocation. From the allurements of office and worldly honors they turned aside.
The pleasures of life, and the beauties and attractions of art and nature, they thought were closely connected with the lusts of the eye and sinful pride. They therefore altogether rejected them. Many of the older people were well educated, but their religion taught them that education engendered vanity, and thus there grew up among the people a sentiment in opposition to liberal education.
There were, however, always schools, or arrangements made at home, for giving instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. Music and dancing were among the recreations prohibited, and plainness of dress and simplicity in their houses were insisted upon. The winter season was an uneventful one. Its monotony was occasionally disturbed by vague rumors of coming danger from the Indians, or by the sudden appearance of a few wild deer in the newly fenced grain fields. Hunting and trapping were very attractive to the young people, but their elders discouraged indulgence in the sports of the chase.
Coon and muskrat skins nailed against the stable doors indicated, however, that the wishes of the latter in this matter were not always respected. Flax and hemp were largely cultivated by the early farmers of the county. From these were manufactured linen for wearing apparel and for household use. Strength and durability were the merits of the material. Cows and sheep were added to the live stock a few years after settlement.
The favorite cows were a large-sized, clean-limbed breed, with smooth, thin, but rather long, horns hooked backward. They were generally of a brindled color, and were noted for being good milkers and excel- lent foragers. Short-horned cows were introduced about or Devons were brought later, the Jerseys about i, and the Holsteins in very recent years. Sheep were kept largely for their wool. Those first introduced were the long-wooled variety. Merino rams were imported from Spain in The fine-wooled sheep never came into favor, for the reason that their short fleece was harder to work and not so serviceable.
After having erected a good barn, the farmer usually began to think that a fine house should take the place of the log cabin. Sometimes several years were occupied in preparing for this. Stones had to be quarried and lumber sawed. The earliest houses were almost all built of stone, and usually two stories in height. According to the German style there was a large chimney in the middle of the house, and according to the English or Scotch style there was a chimney at the gable ends. Some of these old houses are still stand ing, their walls as solid as they were when first erected.
Modern alterations in some cases, how- ever, have greatly disfigured them. The busy times of the year were the hay-making, harvesting and fruit-gathering seasons.
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The meadows were mowed earlier than the uplands. The hay was dried by spreading and turning it in the field during fair weather, or putting it in weather cocks if rain was likely to occur. Boys and girls did a large part of the lighter work in the hay- gathering. Many times, the young women, if they could be spared from the work in the house, helped in the harvesting. Often they worked with a strong, skillful young har- vester, who would gallantly take a little more than his own half of the work.
After William Penn's death, his generosity to both European immigrants and American Indians proved a headache to the Quaker Assembly left to mediate between the two. The tide of settlement was not to be stopped, however. As early as , a Scot had established himself in present-day Salisbury Township, and an English Quaker family was living in Little Britain Township.
It was not until , however, that the first community within the present borders of the county was established. In that year, a group of Swiss Mennonites--the families of Herr, Mylin and Kendig--built a settlement a few miles south-east of present-day Lancaster city. Two more years passed before the Scot Presbyterians arrived in two waves, one settling in the Donegal area of northwestern Lancaster County an d the other occupying land in the south.
These Scots, often called the "Scotch-Irish," came from Ulster in Ireland after being "planted" there by the English in an attempt to subdue the Irish. On the heels of the Scots came a small but influential group of English and Welsh families. The English tended to settle along a band running horizontally across the county between Salisbury Township and Wright's Ferry Columbia , including Lancaster village. Occupying lands in what later became Caernarvon, Brecknock and Lampeter townships, the Welsh often were found working in iron. By , the entire central portion of Lancaster County was rapidly filling with immigrants from the Rhineland as well, usually employed as farmers or skilled artisans.
When Lancaster County became a reality, it was already the most pluralistic and cosmopolitan place in the New World. Swiss and German Mennonites carried to the county the Anabaptist tradition, so named because the group did not practice infant baptism. Although the Mennonites have experienced numerous schisms "rotted wood never splits" is the laconic explanation , the majority of local members are affiliated with the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.
The more liberal midwestern Mennonites also have representation in the county, as do the fundamentalist Evangelical Mennonites.
Today, much to their chagrin, the Amish Mennonites are the single greatest tourist attraction in Lancaster County. Philip Otterbein, a Reformed minister, and Martin Boehm, a Mennonite preacher, were caught up in the fervor of the spiritual awakening sweeping Lancaster County in the s, and around they established the United Brethren in Christ Church. Numerous United Brethren groups flourished and came to be known by the locality in which they met. Chrome on their automobiles is painted black and their garb is very plain.
As with the Anabaptists, they do not baptize infants. Another branch of the Anabaptist movement included the German Baptist Brethren, also known as "Dunkers. The regular German Baptist Brethren, after suffering the inevitable schisms, flourished in Lancaster County and is called today the Church of the Brethren. This denomination represents the most liberal position in the so-called "Plain Churches. The remaining inhabitants of the county were members of a variety of religious denominations. Jacob Albright, a county farmer-tiler, founded the Evangelical Church in He espoused an evangelism more personal and emotional than the liturgical Lutheran and Reformed churches offered.
Presbyterian churches were established in northwestern and southern Lancaster County to minister to the needs of the Scots. Their educated ministers usually conducted schools along with their pastoral duties. Meanwhile, the English and Welsh settlers generally attended the Anglican churches or meetings of the Religious Society of Friends Quakers. As early as the s, Roman Catholics were worshipping in Lancaster County and Jewish settlers were worshiping in Joseph Simon's home in the s.
While religious orthodoxy reigns in Lancaster County, progressive views have been tolerated for several centuries. Universalist circuit riders made their way across the County during the nineteenth century, preaching universal salvation, and even establishing a church in Reamstown. The Church of New Jerusalem, known familiarly as the Swedenborgians, attracted many of Lancaster's educated and scientifically-trained citizens to its weekly services.
In a Unitarian church was founded in Lancaster, with its plus members numbered among the area's activists for religious freedom and social justice. The increasing population and economic growth of Lancaster County in the decades prior to the Revolution attracted numerous professionals and businessmen. Already, Lancaster Borough, was the largest inland town in the colonies and a small but influential aristocracy flourished throughout the county.
Stiegel were leaders out in the county. Other prominent ironmasters included the Grubbs and Robert Coleman. With the commercial mentality resenting restrictions on trade and the rural folk, largely pacifistic, favoring the status quo, feelings began to mount regarding the colony's future relationship with Britain.
The Scots, for certain, were ready to fight England at a moment's notice. At the outbreak of the Revolution, Lancaster rapidly took on an increased importance. George Ross signed the Declaration of Independence, taking time away from his lucrative law practice and risking a fine for missing a meeting of the Union Fire Co. Meanwhile, Lancastrians were joining rifle companies and drilling for eventual service against England. Local mechanics and workers began producing tons of rifles, shoes, boots, uniforms, blankets, hardware and food. During the French and Indian War, Lancaster's gunsmiths and other artisans were hard at work turning out the materials of war.
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- Spider #62 November 1938 (The Spider)!
- Full text of "A brief history of Lancaster County";
Still earlier, the Pennsylvania rifle, later known as the "Kentucky rifle" when carried into the Ohio Valley, was developed in Lancaster County. This "apprenticeship" prepared Lancaster County for the role it was to play during the Revolution. County mills ground out barrels of flour and wagonmakers built Conestoga wagons and other vehicles.
Local furnaces and forges were kept busy smelting, casting and hammering iron for the tools of war. Again, Lancaster County became the arsenal, work shop and granary of the continental armies. Lancaster supplied men as well. Edward Hand, for one, left his medical practice to serve his intimate friend, General Washington, on the battlefield. By the end of the war, he was Washington's adjutant general. On September 27, , the Continental Congress, fleeing from the British invaders of Philadelphia, arrived in Lancaster and held a regular session there, making Lancaster the temporary capital.
The Pennsylvania government also took up residence in Lancaster and remained there for the duration of the British occupation of Philadelphia. With little room available in the busy borough for the Continental Congress and its retinue on a more permanent basis, the Congress moved across the river to York.
After the Revolution, Lancaster County resumed its place among the ever-growing communities gradually spreading westward, although settlements in western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley lessened the economic significance of the county. Before long, the local economy began to stagnate. With the end of the War of , however, countians turned their attention to land speculation, town-building and the establishment of industry. On March 12, , Lancaster County officially was born when the seven judicial districts were divided into counties.
Camden District was divided into seven counties: The 13 blue stars at the base of the shield symbolize that Lancaster County was part of the original 13 American Colonies. Geologically, Lancaster County lies over a great slab of granite. The field or shape of the County is shown raised by shading on the right side to impart a third dimension or thickness. The color of the shading symbolizes that the field was cut from a slab of native granite. The shape of the shield is a modified lozenge, with a white background. The border of gold symbolizes that Lancaster County was an important producer of gold from At one time, it was the largest gold mine east of the Mississippi River.
Over the gold border, black letters, Lancaster County, South Carolina are shown in the colonial style to implement the historical theme of the design. The blue outer border is used to frame the seal.