Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/544

 GERMANS

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GERMANS

upon by the other settlers with serious misgivings; Logan, Penn's secretary, suggested the danger of the province becoming a German colony, as the Germans "settled together, and formed a distinct people from His Majesty's subjects". As early as 1739, a German newspaper was published at Germantown, and an- other appeared at Philadelphia in 1743. The Ger- mans became an important factor in the political life of Pennsylvania, usually uniting with the Quakers, and forming with them a conservative peace party. In 1734, the Schwenkfelders, followers of C'asper Scho- field, came to Pennsjivania and settled along the Perkiomen, in Montgomery Coimty. About the same time a number of Germans established themselves near Frederick, Maryland, and between South Moun- tain and the t'onococheague.

The first German settlement in South Carolina was in 1731, at Purysburg on the Savannah. In 1734 Lutherans from Salzburg founded Ebenezer, the first settlement in Georgia. Seven years later, there were about 1200 Gei'mans in Georgia. By the middle of the eighteenth century the mountain coun- ties of North Carolina had niunerous German settle- ments. Jleantime, the Moravians, who in 1736 had settled in Georgia, had left that colonv and secured a tract of land in Pennsylvania, to which they gave the name of Bethlehem. Zinzendorf came thither in 1741. More than twenty years earlier, German settlers had established themselves on the lower Mississippi. The "German Creoles" of Louisiana are descendants of these early colonists.

During the war of the Revolution, thirty thousand German soldiers fought under the British flag. They had been sold to England by the petty princes of Germany, those "Ijrokers of men and sellers of souls", as one of these soldiers rightly styled them. As Hesse furnished more than any other German State (twelve thousand) all these soldiers were called Hessians. Over one third of the thirty thousand never returned to Europe; some had died; many had de.serted to Wa.shington's army, "coming over in shoals", as Gates wrote in 1777; many thousands settled in the newly created States.

On the eve of the Revolution there were full}^ a himflred thousand Germans in Pennsylvania. Their number was little increased during the next sixty years, since the great immigration period did not begin until about the year 1S40. Among those who came to the United States before 1830 was Franz Lieber, accompanied by his two friends. Professors Carl Beck and Carl Follen. For nearly half a century Lieber stood in the front rank as an authority on public questions. The year 1S4S brought to our shores those thousands of political fugitives who be- longed to the most educated of the German nation. To mention several, merely as typical of the rest, among these " Forty-Eighters" were Carl Schurz, Friedrich Hecker, Franz Sigel, Oswald Ottendorfer, Friedrich Kapp, Wilhelm Rapp, Gustav von Struve, and Lorenzo Brentano. Soon the number of German immigrants grew enormously, averaging over 800,000 for each of the si.\ succeeding decades. They did not, however, settle in the Eastern States only, but the niajoritj' proceeded to the Middle \\est, whither many of the Germans, who had already been very numerous on the frontiers, had removed as soon as the new coimtry was opened to colonizing. Owing to pros- perity in the Fatherland, German immigration began to decline in the early nineties. During the period subsequent to 1848 the Germans .settled chiefly in the following states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania (especially the western parts), Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ne- braska, Missouri, Minnesota, California, Louisiana, Texas, North Dakota. They were never attracted to the NVw England States until about the middle of the nineteenth century. Even now Now Hampshire,

Vermont, and Maine have practically no German population ; in Massachusetts there are ver)' few except around Boston. According to the twelfth census, taken in 1900, there was in that year, a German-born population of 2,663,418 in the United States (about three miUions from Germany and German Austria). Since 1900 about 2.50,000 more have come over. Add to these the descendants of the immigrants from the earliest periods down to our time, and the large num- ber of people of German descent who can now hardly be recognized as Ciermans, owing to the fact that they have assumed English names, it is safe to sa.v that there are at present (1909) full}' twelve million persons of German birth or descent in the United States.

The early German settlers were mostly farmers in their old country, and it was but natural that, after their arrival in the Ignited States, the}' should have chosen the same occupation. There is no need of pointing out the merits of the German farmers, since those merits have been generally admitted in Pennsyl- vania, the Mohawk Valley, and, later, the Middle AVest. In trade, industry, and commerce the Ger- mans in the United States are second to none. Men like Spreckels, Havemeyer, A. Busch, Fred. Pabst, Henry Miller, and Henry C. Frick, stand among the pillars of American industry. Rockefeller is proud of his German descent. The Belmonts came from Alzey, the Astors from Walldorf near Heidelberg, the Iselins from Switzerland. The largest lumber-yard in the world, is owned by Fritz Weyershauser, a native of Hesse. The Roeblings are still prominent in their line of industry. Prominent as bankers are those bear- ing German names.

But more important, though less known, is the army of skilled mechanics in all different branches, designers, lithographers, etc., who, in their spheres, have made the German name honoured and respected. The Germans are known to be a hardworking, thrifty people, and, as a result, they are generally prosperous, and pauperism is hardly known among them. Amer- icans have learned that wherever the Germans settle, prosperity and culture are pretty sure to follow. — "What the Germans do, they do well", has become a common sa}'ing among their neighbours. Puritanism never gained a foothold among the Germans. Though they cannot be charged with extravagance, they arc fond of the cjuiet joys and amusements of social life, witness their many societies, which combine beneficial objects with recreation and amusement. Their fond- ness for children and family life is well known; as a rule they have large families. The industry and carefulness of the German housewife are proverbial.

While there have not been an}' great political leaders among the Germans, with the exception, perhaps, of Carl Schurz, it cannot be denied that their influence on the political development of the coimtry has been on the whole a very wholesome one. As adherents of a healthy and vigorous conservatism in politics, they are universally resjiected. Though anxious to pre- serve their language and cvistoms, the}' have given ample proof of their loyalty to the land of their choice. The share taken by the (iermans in the wars of the United States, was by no means limited to the War of the Revolution and the Civil War of 1861-6,5. From the very beginning of their settlement in this country, they always stood read}- to take up arms in its defence. The early (iermans of Pemisylvania and New York, respondei! freely to the summons to de- fend their new coimtry against the French and their allies, the Indians. They gave freely of their men and means to the cause of liberty, in the War of the Revolution. The names of Generals de Kalb, F. W. A. Steuben, F. W. de Woedke, J. P. G. Muehlenberg, and George \\'eedon will ahva}'s be mentioned with honour, among those who established the liberties of the country. Undoulitedly the ablest of them was General Steuben, the impetuous wjirrior who "took 3