The Charlotte Democrat., 1892-10-07
Charlotte Democrat.
TFoR THE CHARLOTTE DEMOCRAT
Gen. Barringer on the "Dntch Side"
CHARLOTTE. N. &.


frat German Settlers-A body of Hessians-
The story of their life-A Womsn's Book
The State of North Carolina is singular
in the diversity of its first settlers. The
English occupied the Northeast; the
Huguenots came in numbers from South
Carolina and the West Indies and settled
the lower Cape Fear; the Scotch (High'
la nders) the upper Cape Fear; the Scotch
Irish struck mainly for the Middle and
Western sections, while Quakers and
Germans squatted in clusters nearly all
over the State and gradually intermingled
with the others. But, from various causes,
the Germans of the "Dutch Side" long
remained distinct community. Before
the division of the old county of Meek
len burg by cutting off the present county
of Cabarrus,n 1892, all spoke German
and the large majority of the settlers of
the ''EastEnd" always used that language.
Their preaching was almost exclusively
German, and for long time they seemed
averse to much intercourse with other
nationalities. Except, in going to the
market towns, they rarely saw the out
side world, and remained for nearly
hundred years an isolated community
with it's own peculiar habits and customs,
"a law unto themselves" So marked was
this isolation, that when on some public
occasion the Dutch side sent its proud
militia company to the county seat atChar-
lotte, the commands we're all in German,
and the story is told, too, that so en-
phatic were those commands, given In
quaint "Pennsy lvania Dutch" that they
provoked no little mirth, and that the
laughter of the Scotch Irish on this occa.
sion had something to do with the ulti-
mate division of the county. Certain it
is that the "Dutch Side" did not, in the
earlier days, figure much in the public
life of Charlotte. My grandfather, John
Paul Barringer, was one of the several
sets of commissioners to fix the site OF
the court house for Mecklenburg. But
that commission indicated site further
east, near Sugar Creek church, and moth.
ing ever came of it Afterwards young
of John Paul Barringer, became one OF
the signers of the Mecklenburg Declara
ton Of Independence. The Phifers were
German-Swiss, and first settled on Big
Cold Water. After this marriage, the
home of John Phifer, at the Red Hill,
three miles west of the present site of
Concord, became the headquarters for
all the public meetings, musters, etc, for
the East End of Mecklenburg. This
brought the "Dutch Side," in some closer
intercourse with the English and Irish
of the other sections. But up to the war
of the revolution, there was little or no
trade or business between the "Dutch
Side" and Charlotte, On tho contrary,
most of their business and social life was
at Salisbury-only twenty miles off, aad
where the Germans were strong and where
the Lutherans early founded church.
Most of the public roads through the
"Dutch Side led to and from Salisbury.
This long and marked isolation of the
early German settlers in the East End OF
Mecklenburg had striking and lasting
effect in perpetuating the peculiar Ger.
man characteristics referred to in this and
former letters, and led to another histori.
cal incident not generally known.
The first settlers of the "Dutch Side
were mostly pure Germans from Europe.
The three whose names we're best known
were John Bheringer, Daniel Derr DRY
and William Schmit. They were from
Wurtemberg, and landed at Philadelphia
about 1743, and finally made their way to
North Carolina and settled in what is
known as Eastern Cabarrus-about 1850
Many other Germans soon followed, and
by the time of the revolution, in 1776, the
country was pretty we'll occupied and
furnished large contingent for the war
both continental and special service
troops On the pension rolls ofCabarrus
in 1885, the names of twenty-one old
soldiers still appeared, and of those twelve
were Germans. At Gates defeat at Cam.
den, in August, 1880, many of these Ger
mans were made prisoners. Some of them
were held, on special grounds, for long
periods, and in this way they came ir
contact, sometimes, with King Georges
Hessian mercenaries. In this way hun
dreds of these "Hated Hessians" got 6
first insight into the character of the wal
they were engaged in and of the country
and people they we're sold to fight and
conquer. And so, naturally enough, after
the defeat of the British at Eutaw Springs
in September, 1881, and especially after
nah, under the treaty of peace in 1923
many of them sought to remain in this
country. They naturally, too, sough
the German settlements, and thus fifty Oh
more of them found a refuge on th'
waters of Dutch Buffalo and it's far of
tributaries. '-
TO BE CONTINUED.
eB@ The machine business as we practice
it is peculiarly an American trade. Brigh
natives generally make the better work
men, and. Europeans have to be made
over to get our practice. 1t may be said
that the safest place for boy of tho
proper stamp to be placed to acquire ,
business for life is in a machine shop
Everything in one direction depends OF
the kind of boy, and much in the Other
direction depends on the kind of shop anc
class of work. Don't send a boy to b.
made a machnist of who has to lear
against post or a wall when he stand
up, because that kind of fellow is failure
as boy. He cannot keep his hands ou
of his pockets long enough to be of any
service. Any boy able to work and will
ing, capable of thought and obliging, car
go as high in that trade as in any othe
profession on earth.-Manufacturer'
Record