36 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I, 



castle, Kent and Sussex ; that charter bears 

 date the 14th of August, 1682. After that, 

 William Penn sailed for his wooden country. 

 They had a tedious voyage ; too much crowd- 

 ed with passengers: and numbers died on the 

 way with the small pox. 



My grandmother, who died at my father's 

 the 14th of February, 1773, supposed to have 

 been upwards of 100. She retauied her mem- 

 ory and faculties to tlie last ; iiad no learning 

 or knowledge uf dates: could talk Indian be- 

 fore she could English, as she had been 

 brought up in a family of the Swedes that 

 first settled on the Delaware. 



She used often relate her being present and 

 seeing William Penn first land on Sweed 

 Hill, near the Navy Yard, where they had a 

 church, before ihere was a Piiiladelphia, (and 

 yet have one there;) that she was present 

 the next day at his treaty with the Indians, 

 under the noted Elm Tree, u here a monu- 

 ment is now erected. William Penn lived 

 in his house 25 miles above Piiiladelphia for 

 two years, then returned to England. He and 

 his council having fixed the site for Phila- 

 delphia, where it now stands, for the advan- 

 tage of both rivers. The Indian name of the 

 place was Cockaquanunk, signifying a Grove 

 of Pine Trees. My aged grandmother 

 used to relate the great sufferings of many 

 of the first settlers for provisions ; that had 

 they not been supplied by the kindness of the 

 Indians, many would have starved and died. 



The first settlers were from England. 

 Wales, and Ireland; most of them had 

 either been mechanics or day laborers; few 

 had the use of an axe, or any knowledge how 

 to clear or cultivate their land, only as taught 

 by the Indians. William Penn had great 

 trouble in England with the revolutions of 

 the government ; that he was absent from 

 Pennsylvania about twelve years, during 

 which time his country filled slowly with 

 various sects and professions of people. 

 When he came the second time, he built a 

 brick hou3(3 in Philadelphia, that is yet 

 standing, and since my memory occupied as 

 a tavern, or house for eating oysters. The 

 country did not settle or improve in agricul- 

 ture as fast as William Penn wished. He 

 only remained in Philadelphia about two 

 years, when he returned again to England. 

 He had heard of some religious sect of peo- 

 ple in Germany who had conscientious scru- 

 ples aiiainst bearing arms, and that they were 

 persecuted for their religion. He paid a visit 

 to several parts of Germany, and personally 

 invited them to come and settle in his new 

 country, making to them two special conces- 

 sions. 



1. They should have liberty of conscience 

 in religion. 



2. They should be exempt from military 

 requisitions: — which have not been observ- 

 ed. 



When they began to arrive, or in what 

 numbers, I have ro account before me. Per- 

 haps but few came during the life of Wil- 

 liam PENN,who intended and prepared to come 

 to this country a third time, but was struck 

 with the palsy, declined with weakness, and 

 died in the summer of 1618, aged 72. 



From the Moravian history it appears that 

 Nazareth and Bethlehem were begun in the 

 year 1740. And a large majority of the Ger- 

 man emigrants were of the Meiionisi Reli- 

 gion. Higtory says that 54 ships' loads of 

 German emigrants arrived in Philadelphia in 

 one summer. All classes of the inhabitants 

 considered them an acquisition to the country; 

 and to encourage the emigration, the benev- 

 olent people of all classes contributed large- 

 ly to render their landing and first accommo- 

 dations comfortable. The Society of Friends 

 appointed suitable agents to advise and assist 

 them to land and places of residence; the 

 wealthy merchants that had large quantities 

 of wild lands, were ambitious who should 

 best accommodate them, either for ready pay 

 or on credit ; amongst whom William Allen, 

 Chief Justice of the Province, was the most 

 conspicuous. The State Legislature tried to 

 put a word in. Amongst the rest I see that 

 the 26th of January, 1750, they passed a law 

 to prohibit importing too many Germans in 

 one vessel, and limit the space of each, as 

 follows: 



1. For every passenger of 14 years, or 

 older, a space of 6 feet long, and 18 inches 

 wide. 



2. For all under 14 years of age, two in 

 that space. 



The war between England and France put 

 a stop to that great flood of emigration ; but 

 the numbers that came before the war were 

 immense. In such a vast multitude, a vari- 

 ety of character may be expected. Some 

 were men of learning and science; some 

 could pay for their passage, and for their 

 land ; some paid for their passage, and bought 

 land on credit; such as could not pay tlieir 

 passage were called Redemtioners, and sold 

 for four years for their passage money. The 

 purchasers were generally the sons of the 

 first emigrants from England, that knew but 

 little of farming or gardening. The Re- 

 demptioners had been used to digging their 

 living out of small pieces of land. The 

 purchasers preferred taking a family, man, 

 wife and children ; and I have heard old men 

 say that their general character was strictly 

 honest, industrious, and inoffensive ; that 

 nine times out of ten they knew the business 

 better than their master. The women were 



