The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-02-26
MAN SETTLERS.

country before our war. of indepcnd-
ence. While the English settlements
are minutely described and their
growth given IN full detail. most inn
Portait German settlements are not
even mentioned. This seeming par
! liiiilty OF our historians rests. however.
mol SO much on prejudice bias as ON
their ignorance of the his;oric..I inf,,r.
nation, which is mostly found i'm
old German mailuscrirts. pamphlets
newspapers and publications NOT casil !.
accessible TO the English scholar. ON.
historian, Bancroft, deplorcs his want
OF Iull Information as To the history of
these German Americans. and points
10 II as u field of historic search prom
lslng rich fruit. | have. therefore
telt Justified in collecting and com,
pIllng such material as could find n,
dferent manuscripts and German
publications relating To the early Ger.
man religious sects who came 10 This
country before the Declaration of hide
pendeice into short historical
sketch. 80
In speaking of these sccis / shall
not consider those determinations
which were recognized or established
by the state in Germany. namely
The Roman, tlIe Lutheran and lie
formed churches, but coi.line myself
10 the sects which were prohibited
and prosecuted, and therefore goti
from their fatherland to seek refuge
III our country. where they could w-or
ship God umnolested IN their own ne,
culiar tcnets.
All thcSe German scots had certain
CHARACTERISTICS in common. Thcirspir-
ltual HE was intense, verging into mys
nclsin. Most all We're non-con;Lata,,s
Ihey would not take oatlis,I.or outel
into law suits, resisted not evil, dress
ed very plain, anu lived frugally, cdu-
Gated their children in the elementary
schools, but confined their reading to
the Bible, hymn books and their pc
culiar religious publications. Tic,
all abhorcd slavery. They were in
dustrious, peaceful. law abiSing citi
ZenS.
The first sect which emiglsitctH from
Germany to this country were Nhc
Labadists. In 1879 the Labadist cor
greg2tion of the town CT Wiewartl, iif
Frisia, sent Jasper bankers and Peter
Schluter TO America to- seek Il place
where they could settle and exercise
their religion. These emissarivs Sc
lected place in Cecil county, i,Nthe
colony of Maryland, whore religious
federation had been proclaimed. In
their report over 100 persons einisrat-
ed and purchased, in August, 1854,
from Augustin Hermann 8, $50 acres
OF land OH the Bohemia river, i'll Cecil
county. Here they erected nionas.
terry, brother and sister house.
where. by hard work and frugal life,
they III n few years built rich plan-
tation, raising large crops of corn. 10,
bacco, hemp and flax, with Il good
stock of cattle. Their colony was
strictly communistic, under :: most
rigid discipline. The sexes were sep
arated. Mcn and women ate scp;lis,
atel Y III large rooms. They would say
their prayers only when moved there
To by the Spirit, and then i'll silence.
without tutoring words. The holy
Scripture they eXpounded among
themselves. Their superior was Peter
Schluter, former merchant OF Wcscl.
He made his wife the superior OF the
women, and he matle them work hard
on nieager fare, without distinctions OF
rank. The learned doctor and scholar
had to follow the pillow, stand at the
washtub and sit at the weaving
loom. The mere spiritual ecsiasi ::
under such severe life were not sulli
Gent in the length of time for the
poor human souls, and they left one
eNASSA 1aiS CbhSI " kJslTlslkC tltstSlll Oh Inc
sweets OF common life among THEN
fellow mon. Schluter sold part of the
land TO Isaac and Matthias Van Bib,
Der, who had inmigratcd from Gre.
field to Germantown in 1854 Schluler
died about 1922, and with him the col
ony, as well as the sect of the Labadists,
went out of existence.
In 1858, the Quaker congregation
Crcfeld left for PennSVlvani;l tn
settle III that province, which lately
mad become the property of the found
err of their sect. They founded Ger
mantown, which soon became a pom
ulous and prosperous German settle
ment. The QuakciS of Kric. licil.
soon joined them. In 1858 they PUB
lislled their protest against slavery.
Among these QuakcIs were tile Van
Bibbers, the Cassells, Hendricks,
Franz Daniel Pastorins, Hyden Gralis.
Rlttenhauscns and other families. the
descendants whereof are now widely
scattered over all the states of the
Union.
lin 1855 came the strange sec, tc
Germantown which was called the
Women i'll the Desert, about forty
men and women, among them a ntun
Der of doctors of theology aud learned
men. Their leader was the learned
DIR; Kelpins. They believed that the
end of the world was near, and desired
to settle in the wilderness of Penn
sylvania TO prepare themselves and
await the coming Of Christ. They
dld not marry, nor want To be mar
ried; A few miles from Germantown,
on the Wissahicon. they erected their
monastery, secluded and apart Il ON
the rest of mankind They waited in
vain for the coming of Christ, and
when DIR. kelpins died, in I7OS. tho
sect soon thereafter separated = Balti
more American.