Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-01

resort, held 1T years after the date of the
| protest at Appomattox, a final and "posi-
tive judgment" was rendered in the case.
This protest was lost and no manuscript
OF it existed, although the fact that such
| paper had been presented and considered at
their meetings was long tradition of the
Friends, when in 1874 the original was dis
covered by Nathan Kite among the papers
OF the society. A few artotype COPIES OF
the original were made and are much yaIued
| by those who have them. The four signers
and their brethren have long since been
gathered to their final reward The graves
OF many of them are unmarked and un-
known, but we need not seek for their last
| resting places where their very personality
is embalmed in Whittier's poem of ''The
Pennsylvania Pilgrims" and other verses
The German born pilgrims who first dared
The scorn of the proud in the cause of the
slave.
or such an ancestry and such a race our
citizens OF German birth and descent NAV
well be proud. They need shrink from no
comparison with the Pilgrim Fathers in
true Christian spirit and practice, or with
the courtly cavaliers Of the South, in
courage.
HOW THE FAMILIES SCATTERED.
Some of the descendants of Pastorious
still live, or did until recently, in German
town. The Op-den-graffs, modernized into
Upaegraf, and the Hendricks were related,
aud the intimacy between some members of
the families was maintained up to the death
in 1871 of Hon. John Covode, of Westmore-
land county, whose mother was Anne Up
degratf; and of the late Uri Updegraff. son
grandsons of Abraham Op-den-graff, the
fourth signer of the protest. and who died
on the Skippack creek in 1871, migrated to
York county and located on the Cadyrous
creek. Of their descendants, some went to
the Upper Susquehanna, others, with the
descendants of Gerhard Hendricks, came to
Westmoreland county and located in Lig-
onier Valley, where branch of the Upde-
gratis still own and cultivate the ancestral
acres. Some located in Wheeling and in
Ohio.
The name of Hendricks is perpetuated in
the valley of Hendricks creek, contiguous
to the lands of the Covodes and Updegraffs.
The Hendricks removed to the 'Terri-
tory of Indiana" and the late Hon.
Thomas A. Hendricks, foremost among its
honored sons and Vice President of
the United States was lineal descendant of
Gerhard Hendricks, the first signer of the
protest of 1888 The late Abraham Upde-
graf, of Williamsport, mentions his visit to
his cousin, Abner Updegraff, in Pittsburg
in 1929. As matter of perhaps some local
and personal interest his account of it may
be given.
ABNER UPDEGRAFF IN PITTSBURG.
II found him located on what 1 took to
be dug road on the hillside. Opposite his
house there was considerable of hill left
and had to descend a flight of stairs to
reach his front door and the back of his lot
presented the appearance of ravine. He
was full of genuine hospitality, making in
guiries about his friends on the west branch
of the Susquehanna and overhowing with
ideas and perhaps some eccentricities He
was most determined foe of the credit
system and would owe no man anything
nor suffer anyone to owe him. Upon
my remarking Cousin Abner, am sur
prised that you who came here at such an
early day and could certainly have had your
pick and choice of location, should have Sc
1ected this one, he quietly replied. Iassure
thee that this square is to become in time
tie most valuable one in town. His pre-
diction, which appeared rather qui1otio at
the time, has been fully verified"
The lot" described as his home fronts
240 feet on Smithfeld street from Fifth
avenue to Diamond street, and was pur-
chased by him in 1903 from James O'Hara
fer the consideration of $500, and is assessed
now for taxable purposes at over $500, 900.
His request that so long as it remained in
the possession of the family no intoxicating
or spirituous liquors should be sold upon it
has been scrupulously respected, and it is
still in possession of his grandchildren.
Abner Updegraf himself, very few of the
older residents of Pittsburg may remember,
ov,I lauA hox al
deemed his "eccentricities. He insisted
upon the right to entertain and express
heretical opinions upon matters of Biblical
history which his reason and conscience ap-
proved, even when to differ from established
creeds about him was an indictable offense.
He was fearless in denunciations of negro
slavery, and fed and sheltered hunted slaves.
IMPRESS OF GERMAN CHARACTER
The student of heredity might readily
recognize in him, being the fifth in line of
descent from Abrahaham Op-den-graf, the
fourth signer of the Protest in 1888, the |
possession of race characteristics, trans- |
nitted from an ancestry willing to endure
my trials and sacrifices for what their con-
cience approved. In like manner may be
raced into and among our own people, who
If all nations are the most composite in
blood the race characteristics, derived from
! German ancestry. As a people the Ger
mans are migratory, and have colonized
wherever labor, thrift and good citizenship
an win a home, competency and rec
,gnized position. Newness of scene, climate,
ocial and physical surroundings may work
hese changes upon the native born German;
heir descendants may forget or never know
he nativity or language of their ancestors,
'ut the German traits will surely follow
hem to greater or less degree.
OF our early German emigrants and of
heir descendants much could be writ
en-. and Judge Pennypacker. of Philadel-
'hia, in recent work has made q group of
ONE of the more prominent well worth
reproduction here.
The speaker of the first Federal House OF
was a German. With Simon
nyder in 1908, began the regime of the eight
epresent her military renown during the
war, Pennsylvania has put
be statue of Muhlenburg in the Capitol at
The Murat of the Rebellion, |
Ieneral Custer, he who SO sadly lost his lie
mong the savages of the West, had traced
is lineage to the Mennonite" Paul Kuster,
t Germantown. Another Of the descend
nts OF the early emigrants, the Youngest
eneral of the war, planted his victorious
ag upon the ramparts of Fort Fisher.
.mong those who did the m st effective
-oIA in the war, were Albright, Beaver,
'ahlgren, Heintzleman. Hoffman, Rose
rams, Steinwher, Shurz, Sigel, Weitzett and
Tistar.
IN THE PEACEFUL ARTS.
The liberties of the press in America were
established in the trial of John Peter
enger. Man never knew the distance OF
le sun and stars until David Rittenhausen I
lade his observations in 1863. The Oldest | ,
house now existing on the con-
nent was started by Sauer. OF German 9
,wn, and is still conducted by one of his
escendants of the same name. The Ger
an Bible antidates the English Bible in
by NEARLY yeIrs !