Our Heritage

by Bernard W. Cruse, Sr.

from THE ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF JOHANN NICHOLAUS HEINRICH KRESS compiled and edited by Bernard W. Cruse, Jr. August 1999

The Journey from Europe to America

The trip from Germany to our shores was filled with all kinds of dangers and hardships. Rev. Gottlieb Mittelberger, who came to Pennsylvania on the ship Osgood and arrived September 29, 1750, and returned to Germany in 1754 tells the story about his trip. The report of Mittleberger was translated from German by Theo Eben of Philadelphia and published by the Pennsylvania German Pioneers in 1934. It reads in part as follows:

"This journey lasts from the beginning of May to the end of October, fully half a year, amid such hardships as no one is able to describe adequately their misery. The Rhine River boats from Hailbonn to Holland have to pass 26 custom houses, at all of which the ships are examined, which is done at the convenience of the customhouse officials. In the meantime, the ships loaded with the people are detained long, so that the passengers have to spend much money. The trip down the Rhine River lasts four, five, and even six weeks. When the ships come to Holland, they are detained likewise five or six weeks. Because things are very dear, the poor people have to spend nearly all they have during that time."

After the ships left Holland, they had to go to one of the English ports to get permission to take these Germans, who were foreigners, to the American continent. They went mostly to Cowes, but some went to Dover.

The Long Voyage Across the Atlantic

Mittelberger further writes: "the real misery begins with the long voyage over the Atlantic. The ships, unless they have good wind, most often sail eight, nine, ten, to twelve weeks before they reach Philadelphia. But even with the best wind the voyage last seven weeks. This ocean voyage was an ordeal marked with much misery, suffering, and hardships. The boats were loaded with people and baggage, so there was no place left for another. They were packed like cattle with little or no room to move about." Mittleberger writes on, "without proper food and water, they were soon subject to all sorts of diseases such as dysentery, scurvy, typhoid, and smallpox. Children were the first to be to be attacked and died in large numbers."  Mittleberger also says that thirty-two children died in the ship that he came over on and that such heartless cruelty was practiced. "One day, just as we had a heavy gale, a woman on our ship was about to give birth to a child and could not under the circumstances of the storm, and was pushed through a porthole and dropped into the sea. She was far in the rear of the ship and could not be brought forward.

"The bad conditions, sickness, and diseases on the ships were much aggravated during the many storms through which the ships had to travel." In describing these conditions, Mittleberger says, "the misery reached a climax when a gale rages for two or three days and nights, so that everyone believes that the ship will go down to the bottom of the sea with all human beings on board. In such a visitation, the people cry and pray most piteously. When in such a storm, the sea rages and surges so that the waves rise often like mountains, one over the other and often tumble over the ship so that one fears to go down with the ship. When the ship is constantly tossed from side to side by the storm and waves so that no one can either sit or lie, and the closely packed people in the berths are thereby tumbled over each other, both the sick and the well. It can be readily understood that many of them died, none of whom had be prepared for such hardships, suffer so terribly that some do not survive." 

Immigration

Then, after weeks and weeks of all these terrors at seas, the Delaware River is reached and the city of Philadelphia; the city of Brotherly Love, can be seen in the distance. The people think that all their hardships and miseries are over, but lo! A health officer visits the ship. When these people are found to be suffering with smallpox, typhoid, and other infectious diseases, the Captain of the ship is ordered to remove all these people one mile from the city until such time as they are free of all infectious diseases.

Bringing sick and infectious immigrants to Philadelphia caused so much trouble that the Governer of the province urged that a hospital be erected to take care of these sick and diseased people, but the Assembly refused to act until an epidemic broke out in Philadelphia. This brought the matter to a head and the Assembly voted to purchase Fisher Island in 1743. This island is in the river at the Junction of the Schuylkill and the Delaware. The name of the island was changed to "Province Island," and it appears on most of the maps of the City of Philadelphia to this day. The erection of the hospital was delayed until 1750.

The conditions that existed on the ships crossing the great Atlantic is reflected in a report of an undertaker by the name of Jacob Shoemaker which he filed with the Council of Philadelphia November 14, 1754 showing that he buried 253 persons that year, all of which from Province Island.

Dr. Muhlenberg, the great Lutheran preacher in one of his reports to Halle in Germany dated in 1769 says, "One ship after another arrives in the harbor in Philadelphia, when the rough and severe winter is before the door. One or more of the merchants receive the lists of the freights and the agreements which the immigrants have signed with their own hand in Holland, together with the bills for their travel down the Rhine and the advances to the 'newlanders' for provisions which they received in the ships on account. Formerly the freight for a single person was six to ten Louis d'ors. (A Louis d'or in the United States exchange is about $4.50.) Before the ship is allowed to cast anchor at the harbor front, the passengers are all examined, according to the law in force by a physician to see whether any contagious disease exists among them. Then the new arrivals are led in a procession to the city Hall and there they must render the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain. After that they are brought back to the ship. Then announcements are printed in the newspapers stating how many of the new arrivals are to be sold. Those who have money are released. Whoever has well-to-do friends seeks a loan to pay for their passage, but there are only a few who succeed. The ship then becomes a marketplace. The buyers make their choice among the new arrivals and bargain with them for a certain number or years and days. After the expenses of their passage and other debts are paid, the government authorities issue a written document which makes the newcomer the property of the merchant or other person for a definite period."

Settling in America

By about 1750 most of the lands in Pennsylvania had been taken and settled. On the far frontier of the state, lands were available, but only in small parcels. In the eastern part of the state the land was so high that the poor immigrants could not pay the price. The Palatines were hearing about the large areas of fertile land southward in Piedmont, North Carolina that could be obtained and settled without much money. This brought on a large migration to the south.

Charles II had been restored to the throne of England. This was a turning point in the early history of North Carolina. The king was happy to back on the throne. He owed a debt of gratitude to the men who assisted him to get back. He was poor and without money. To hold his power he needed funds and political support, so he granted a large tract of land south of Virginia to eight Lords Proprietors who were prominent and distinguished businessmen in England. These eight Lords Proprietors, and later their heirs, held the province of Carolina in fee and simple until 1729 with full authority and power to sell, convey, or rent any or all of their holdings, and they were vested with the government of the area. It seems that the business venture on the part of the Proprietors was not very profitable, as they obtained little or no profit, income, or gain from their holdings here. On July 25, 1729, seven of the Proprietors, for 17,500 pounds of English money, conveyed their holdings back to the Crown, but the Earl of Granville, who owned the eighth share, refused to sell or convey his share. Since no survey or division of the lands had ever been made, it was impossible to find and locate Granville's holdings. Neither the Granville heirs nor their agents could give good and sufficient patents, deeds, or other conveyances to settlers as they were not certain which lands they owned or where their lands lay. Then to complicate the situation further, the Granville heirs made a deal with a London land syndicate headed by Henry McCulloh, Arthur Dobbs, and others to locate all the settlers they could get on the Granville lands to carry on the potash trade, raise hemp and naval stores. The firm of McCulloh and Dobbs advertised their lands in England, Germany, Pennsylvania, and around the world, causing a great many people to move into this area.

In 1744 the Granville heirs obtained a deed for their one-eighth part of the lands, but it was not until 1746 that the survey line was run as far west as Cold Water Creek in Mecklenburg County which is near where the city of Concord now stands. It was thus established that the Granville lands lay south of the Virginia line and north of a line running from the town of Bath and with the southern border of the counties of Rudolph, Chatham, Davidson, Rowan, and westwardly, containing about 26,000 square miles of land.

After the survey of 1746, the way soon began to appear as to how the new settlers would get good titles to the lands they were moving on, but even then, many of them found themselves in more land complications and troubles.

To obtain lands in the Granville area, the settler would hunt until he found a parcel or tract of land that was not settled or claimed by someone else, then he would move on the land and file an application for a land patent. This would take much time. A surveyor would be ordered to survey the lands and he would do so at his convenience. The settler would ultimately get a title to his land. It was always years before the matter was settled. Some people have argued that the date in the land patents or deeds is the date the settler came here. Such an argument is without any truth or foundation because of the land situation at the time.

After the settler obtained his land patent or deed, he often had more troubles because of the vague description which was written in this conveyance. The surveyors at that time were not competent to do such a survey. In many of these old instruments we find such foolish and indefinite language as, "Beginning at the top of a hill and running to the creek, thence running with the creek to a rock in the curve; then over the hill to a pine knot in the side of the ditch; thence a line to the beginning, containing 640 acres, more or less." There is nothing in this land survey to show what hill, which creek, which rock in what curve, or what hill. This caused much confusion and disorder. Many of the settlers claimed that others were intruders on their lands and this brought on ill feelings. In making an examination of court records, we find many actions brought because of boundary disputes.

The date of arrival of our German families into what is now known as Rowan County, North Carolina, is uncertain. There is but little documentary evidence to tell us when they came. On February 16, 1738 a group of petitions to the Provincial Council for land grants or patents is found. Petitions by Jacob Sheib (Shive) and be the Aronhart (Earnhardt) family are on record in Bladen County. At that time Rowan was a part of Bladen County. Governor Hobbs filed a report with the Board of Trade in London in 1747 in which he says that there are twenty-two families of German and seventy-five families of Scotch-Irish living on his lands at that time. Governor Johnston reported to the Board of Trades in London in 1751 that "inhabitants are flocking in daily, and that many thousands had settled in the west as far as the mountains."

Mathew Rowan wrote a letter to the Board of Trades in London, dated June 28, 1753, and he says, in part, "In the year 1746 I was up in the counties that are now known as Anson, Orange, and Rowan, and there was not then above 100 fighting men; there are now at least 3000, for the most part German and Irish Protestants and daily increasing."

These Germans usually left Pennsylvania in the fall of the year after they had harvested their crops and arrived here in Piedmont, North Carolina just before winter set in. They were experienced in frontier life. They could live through the winter without much trouble.

Our forefathers came southward from Pennsylvania over one of two roads.

The Great Philadelphia Road

"The Great Philadelphia Road" sometimes called the "Bad Road," took them to Lancaster and over the Susquehanna at Harris' Ferry, passing near York and over the Potomac at William's Ferry and they then entered the Shenandoah Valley into Virginia through what is now known as Winchester, Strasburg, Staunton, and crossing the James River at Buchanan and to Roanoke; thence through the Staunton Gap of the Blue Ridge Mountains, southward, crossing the Blackwater, Irvine, and Dan Rivers; thence passing Old Salem, now known as Winston-Salem to Salisbury, crossing the Yadkin River at Trading Ford, a distance of about 500 miles. Over much of this journey there were very few roads. Indian trails were followed part of the way. These were not suitable for wagons. In many places during rain and wet weather, long delays were suffered until the waters of the creeks lowered. Many times trees had to be cut, rocks moved, and bridges built. The men and boys walked, carrying their rifles for fear of Indians. They drove their cows, hogs, sheep, and other livestock. The women drove the horses and pulled the wagons. The children rode in the wagons. These sturdy wagons were piled high with all kinds of household and kitchen furniture, farm tools, seed for planting new crops, food, and all their earthly possessions. Their dogs followed or ran ahead where they were most useful to giving alarms, day or night, when Indians were nearby.

The Great Wagon Road

Another route that was followed from Pennsylvania to Old Rowan was called the "Great Wagon Road" which took them from Philadelphia to Lancaster, thence to Frederick, Maryland and to Warrenton, Virginia, thence to Amelie Court House and southwestward into North Carolina passing Granville Court Rouse and Hillsboro to Old Trading Path and to the Trading Ford on the Yadkin River at Salisbury. John Ramsuer, a German, left a written record saying that he traveled this road and that it was over 500 miles from Pennsylvania to Salisbury.

A few of our forefathers came into this country by way of Charleston and Savannah, thence up the Pee Dee River to Rowan. Not many, and possibly none, came in at New Bern or Wilmington, since there were no roads and practically no communication from coastal North Carolina to the "Back Country" at that time.

Settling Rowan County, NC

It appears form the little evidence we have that the settlement of the Rowan area took place faster and earlier than many historians were willing to concede. Bladen County was cut off from New Hanover and formed in 1734; Anson County was taken from Bladen and organized in 1750; on March 31, 1753 a petition was signed by 348 people living in the Rowan area and presented to the North Carolina legislature, "to erect a county and parish on the land of Anson County." The bill passed and became law on April 12, 1753, thus Rowan County came into existence. It would seem to appear from this record that a sizable population lived in Rowan at the time and that the migration of people from other parts of the world during the 1740s was exstensive.

Hard Working and Religious German Settlers

The noted Lutehran historian, Dr. G. D. Berhheim writes: "These German settlers were all industrius, economical, and thrifty farmers, not afraid nor ashamed of hard labor, and were soon blessed with an abundance of everything which the fertile soil and temperate climate could furnish them. As they were all agriculturists, they generally avoided settling themselves in towns. Uninformed in the ways of the world, ignorant of the English language, unacquainted with the shrewdness for merchandising, yet well informed in their own language, and well read in their own Bibles and their own devotional German books, they remained at their own country homes and enriched themselves with the production of the soil. Hence, we witness the fact that very few Lutheran and German Reformed churches were in the towns of North Carolina at that early date. And when, in the progress of time, it became necessary to build churches in the villages and towns, it was found exceedingly difficult to get the people from the country to become accustomed to the new arrangement."

Most of the families carried with them from Europe, among their prized possessions, their German Bibles. On the blank pages we find the story of their colonization written in their own handwriting, stating where they were born, the time of their coming to Pennsylvania, and on to North Carolina. A few of these old Bibles can still be found in this area after more than 200 years. From these old Bibles, we must conclude that most of the first settlers in the Rowan area were born, not in Germany as some historians say, but in Pennsylvania. It was their parents and grandparents who were born in Germany.

The Many Spelling Changes to German Surnames

In most instances, the spelling of the name was changed. This change in spelling has given much trouble to some people in trying to trace the genealogy of their families. There were reasons for this change in spelling. When a German comes into an English-speaking land, he drops the umlaut (the two dots overs a vowel; i.e. "ü") in the spelling of his name because there is no adequate pronunciation of the umlaut in the English language. It seems, too, that Germans in early times gave but little attention to correct spelling of family names in state documents, deeds, wills, and marriage records of the time.

In going over the early records at Organ Lutheran Church in Rowan County and Dutch Buffalo Creek in Cabarrus County, we find these interesting spellings of our own family names, viz. Area (Arey), Balch (Black), Bast (Bost), Bengel (Bangle), Behringer (Barringer), Biber (Beaver), Bless (Pless), Buehler (Peeler), Croul (Crowell), Diehl (Deal), Durr (Dry), Ehrenhardt or Aaronhardt (Earnhardt), Eisenhauer (Isenhour), Feget or Faget (Faggert), Fries (Freeze), Guttman or Guthman (Goodman), Gruss (Cruse), Hershe (Harkey), Hafner (Hoffner), Holzhauser (Holshouser), Kaubel (Cauble), Kercher (Karriker), Klein (Cline), Knupp (Canup), Kress (Cress), Layrle (Lyerly), Leib (Lipe), Lenz (Lentz), Lippert (Lippard), Loeffler (Lefler), Mueller (Miller), Meinnenheimer (Misenheimer), Oberkirsch (Overcash), Paulus (Powlas), Rentlemann (Randleman), Riche (Ritchie), Sefried or Siffert or Syfert (Seaford or Sifford or Safrit), Schwartzwelder (Blackwelder), Schluppe (Sloop), Schiebe (Shive), Shub (Shoe), Schupping (Shuping), Schwenk (Swink), Seitz (Sides), Trautman or Trautwein (Troutman), Walcher (Walker), Weber (Weaver), Weinkauff (Winecoff).

Waiting for Land Titles

The old settlers coming to Old Rowan and Dutch Buffalo were mostly "Squatters." They did not have any legal title to their lands and could not get legal title for a long time. They moved in lands they liked and settled there, hoping that in the future, the way would eventually be worked out for them to secure a deed or patent or other good title. This is the reason many old deeds or patents are dated long after settlers moved in.

About 1743 Organ Lutheran Church (and Lowerstone German Reformed Church, as a union congregation), known at the time as "Old Hickery Church" first located in lands where St. Peter's Lutheran Church now stands in Rowan County. Some 30 years later the church(es) moved to the location(s) of the present Organ Lutheran Church (and Lowerstone Church). They did get a good deed to the present location since many years had passed in the meantime, but they never got a deed to the first location at any time.

Religious Marriages

It is interesting to note that very few records of marriages are found in the Court Houses for the period prior to the Revolutionary War. Some people argue that since no marriage records are found that these people were not married. Such a contention is without foundation. At that time there was an old English law which provided that no one, or no minister could perform a marriage ceremony except the ministers of the Hight Church of England. The old German preachers took the position that it was none of the King's business who married who, so when a young couple wanted to get married, they visited their minister, and he stood them up before the alter of the Church and the wedding was completed. The preacher would give the couple a marriage certificate. No marriage license was obtained, but a record of the marriage was usually made on the church record book. Rev. Carl Augustus Gottleib Storch, who came from Germany and was the preacher at Organ Lutheran Church for about 35 years, kept a minute diary of his doings. The original diary is in the Lutheran Archives at Salisbury and there are many marriages recorded there, while there is no record of many of these marriages in the Court House.

Farming the Land

Farming was the principal vocation of the early Germans who migrated to Rowan County. At first they experimented with the same crops that they and their parents raised in Germany, such as olives, grapes, silk, and other things, but failed. They did not know what the soil would grow. They soon found that a variety of things would grow. Cotton became the "money crop." To the north and east tabacco became the "money crop," and on the coast it was rice. Soon corn, wheat, peas, and beans were exported to Europe from Rowan County by hauling them to Charleston by wagon.

No commercial fertilizers were available to these early German settlers. One writer says, "The mode of common husbandry was to clear a piece of woodland, a work very easily done, ... this they sow with Indian corn for several years successively, till it will yield crops no longer when the land is pretty well exhausted, they sow with peas and beans once a year and afterwards they sow it with wheat for two or three years. In this system of crops, they change the land as it wears out, clearing fresh pieces of woodland, exhausting them in succession."

Log Rollings

Hired help was an unknown thing to these early Germans. They did their own work. However, they did help each other without pay. If a German desired to clear a piece of land, he would call in his neighbors and friends to help him. They came in large numbers and would cut and fell the trees and clear the land. These events were called "log rollings" and it was always an occasion of work, fun, and recreation. After completing the work there was always a feast of the "fatted" calf or barbecued pork or chicken. They built their houses and barns, thrashed their wheat, shucked their corn, and did many other chores for each other where large numbers of people were needed in the same way. The great feast they had after the work was heard about for many years.

Quilting Bees

The women, not to be outdone, had their gatherings to do their work, too. They often had a party called a "quilting bee." All the women for miles around gathered in one home to quilt their quilts. They, too, had a big feed.

Bartering and Trading

These early pioneers had very little money. They used the barter or trade system. Corn, wheat, beans, peas, meat, and other produce, instead of cash money. Later, the farmer used the "due bill" to secure the supplies from the merchant that he needed. This practice continued until about fifty years ago in some parts of the county.

Log Cabins

When the German immigrants arrived in the Rowan area, they found a vast forest of fine timber. They did not delay the building of their homes until they got good title to their land but immediately built a house to live in. These first homes were built of hand-hewn logs, notched on both ends so the logs could be more closely joined together and held in place by wooden pegs. The structure was usually one large room with a loft above. At one end a huge chimney was built of stone. This chimney was used for heating and cooking. The space between the logs was covered with shingles made by splitting blocks of wood. Openings were left for doors and windows. Logs were split into rough plank for making doors and windows. The remains of a few of the old German log cabins may still be found in Rowan County.

The Spring House

The houses were usually located on a hill overlooking the countryside. A spring was always nearby so that they could have drinking and cooking water. A little log cabin was usually built over the spring which was called a "spring house." In the ditch leading from the spring, they built a box which they called the "milk box" and there they preserved their milk, butter, and other perishable foods.

The Livestock Creek

At the botton of the hill was a creek. This was very important as a source of water for the horses, mules, cows, and other livestock.

The Barn

Nearby a barn was built of logs where the livestock was kept. This barn was built with a drive through, or hall, with stall on either side for the horses and cows. Overhead the hay and other food for the livestock was stored.

On either side of the barn were the corn crib for storing corn and the granary for storying wheat, rye, oats, barley, and other things raised on the farm.

The Smokehouse

Another very important building was the smokehouse. There the meats were smoked or cured and stored and many of the dried fruits and vegetables also. This building had no floor so a fire could be built of hickory wood and allowed to slowly burn for weeks to smoke and cure their hams and other meats.

All this give you, the reader, a picture of why our ancestors came here; what they faced when they arrived, and how they began a new life in Old Rowan and Mecklenburg.