Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-11-26
EARLY GERMAN sGITLgRs.
Different Religious seess, What They he.
Iieyed and where They Dwelt

An interesting lecture on tic early
German religious eects IN America
was delivered in the Baltimore Acad-
envy of Music, Concert hall, by
Mr.. Louis +. Hennigliauscn. lilo
said: SIN the histories Of the United
States OF America heretofore published
we find comparatively scant and
meager information Of the largo Ger
man immigration which came TO this
country before our war Of independ-
ence. While the English settlements
are infinitely described and their
growth given in full detail, most inn
portant German settlements are not
even mentioned. This seeming par
TALLY OF our historians rests, however,
not so much on prejudice or bias as on
their ignorance of the historical infor-
nation, which is mostly found in
old German manuscripts pamphlets,
newspapers and publications not easily
accessible to the English schcMG One
historian, Bancroft deplores lis want
of fun information as to the history of
these German-Amoricans. and points
to it as field Of historic search prom
ising rich fruit. I have, therefore,
felt justified in collecting and com
piling such material as could find in
different manuscripts and German
publications relating to the early Ger
man religious sects who came to this
country before the Declaration of indie
pendence into short historical
sketch.
"In speaking Of these sects l shall
not consider those denominations
which were recognized or established
by the state in Germany, namely:
The Roman, the Lutheran and Re
formed churches, but coniino myself
10 the sects which were prohibited
and prosecuted, and therefore fed
from their fatherland TO seek refuge
in our country, where they could wol-
ship God unmolcsted in their own pc
culiar tenets.
'All these German scots had certain
characteristics in common. Their spir-
itual life was intense, yerging into mys-
ticism. Most all were non-combatants.
They would not take oaths nor enter
into law suits, resisted not evil, dress
ed very plain, and lived frugally, edu-
Gated their children in the elementary
schools, but confined their reading to
the Bible, hymn books and their pc
culiar religious publications. They
all abhorred slavery. They were in
dustrious, peaceful, law abiding citi-
zens.
"The first sect which emigrated from
Germany to this country weSe> tho
Labadists. in 1879 the Iab1dist con-
gregation Of the town of Wieward, in
H'risia sent Jasper bankers and Peter
Schluter to America to seek a place
where they could settle and exercise
their religion. These emissaries Sc
lected place in Cecil county, in the
colony Of Maryland, where religious
federation had been proclaimed. In
their report over 100 persons cmigrat-
ed and purchased, in August, 1854,
from Aueustin Hermann 3,750 acres
of land on the Bohemia river, in Cecil
county. Here they erected a monas-
terry, a brother and sister house,
where, by hard work and frugal life,
they in few years built rich plan
tation, raising large crops of corn, to-
bacco, hemp and flax, with a good
stock of cattle Their colony was
strictly communistic, under a most
rigid discipline. The sexes were sep
arated. Men and women ate separ-
ately in large rooms They would say
their prayers only when moved there
to by the Spirit and then in silence,
without uttcring words. The holy
Scripture they oXpounded among
themselves. Their superior was Peter
Schluter, a formcrmcrchant of Vessel.
lie made his wife the superior of the
women, and he made them work hard
ON meager fare, without distinction of
rank. The learned doctor and scholar
had to follow the pillow, stand at the
washtub and sit TT the weaving
loom. The mere spiritual ecstasies
under such severe life were not sutti-
cient in the length of time for the
poor human souls, and they left one
after the other TO partako again Of the
sweets of common life among their
fellow men. Schluter sold part of the
land to Isaac and Matthias Van Bib
ber who had immigrated from Gre
field to Germantown in 1854. Schluter
died about 1922, and with him the col
ony, as we'll as the sect of the Labadists,
went out of existence.
I'm 1888, the Quaker congregation
of Crefeld left for Pennsylvania to
settle in that province which lately
had become the property of the found
or of their sect. They founded Ger
mantown, which soon became pop
ulous and prosperous German settle
ment. The Quakers of Kriesheim
soon Joined them. In 1858 they pub
lished their protest against slavery.
Among these Quakcrs were the Van
Bibbers, the CasselIs, Hendricks,
Franz Daniel Pastorins, Hyden Crafts,
Rittenhauscns and other families, the
descendants whereof are now widely
scattered over all the states of the
Union.
"In 1885 camo the strange sect to
Germantown which was called tho
Women in the Desert, about forty
men and women, among them a num-
Der of doctors OF theology and learned
men. Their leader was the learned
Dr. Kelpins, They believed that the
end of the world WAS near, and desTed
to settle in the wilderness of Iehn-
sylvania to prepare themselves and
await the coming of Christ. They
did not marry, nor want to be mar
ried. A few miles from Germantown,
on the Wissahicon, they erected their
monastery, secluded and apart from
the rest of mankind. They waited IN
vain for the coming of Christ, and
when DR. Kelpins died. in 1709, the
sect soon thereafter separated. -Balti-
more American.
After she Festivities.