Some of the First Settlers of "The Forks of the Delaware" and Their

oc 974.802 Ea7k 1822012 REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTfON ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02224 4658 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center http://www.archive.org/details/someoffirstsettlOOinfirs SOME OF THE FIRST SETTLERS 'The Forks of the Delaware" AND THEIR DESCENDANTS Being a Translation i<-kom thk Gkkman OF iiiE Recoki) Books of The First Reformed Church of Easton, Penna. From 1760 to 1852 'J'RANSLATKD and PL'HI.ISIIKI) IIV ^'iiE Rev. henry MARTYN KIEFFER, D.D. Pastor of the Church, Author of ''The Recolleciiuiis of a Drummer Boy" ^'College Chapel Ser- mons" ^'The Old Sullivan Jitiad" etc. ToCiKTIIEK Wnil AN 1 I ISTOKK Al, 1 NTltOnUCTlON . In Commemoration of the One Hundred and Fifty-Seventh Anniversary OF THE Founding OK THE CoNriRECATioN, 1745-1902 EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA 1902 18;c2Q13 HENRY MARTYN KIEFFER, D. D. From a Portrait by Marie Constantln. Copyright, 1902, by HENRY MARTYN KIEFFER. -y^''-^ '^ y.-V7- ^^,,}t PREFATORY NOTE. The First Reformed Church of Easton was founded dur- ing the earliest period of the settlement at " The Forks of the Delaware," and has been identified with the borough and city of Easton throughout their entire history. The church building which the congregation at present occu- pies was erected in 1776. It is the oply public building in Easton remaining from the days of the Revolution, and for nearly half a century after its erection was the only church building in the town. Its record books, which possess the rare distinction of being continuous and unbroken for nearly a century and a half, are contemporaneous in their origin with the early beginnings of the settlement, and contain information of greatest value to the many thou- sands of the descendents of "The First Settlers of the Forks of the Delaware"; for the settlement having from the first been prevailingly German, nearly every family in the community, at some time or other in its history, left some trace of itself in the records of this old German Reformed Church. For genealogical purposes it is be- lieved tliat this publication will jMove of great value to many people. On a moderate estimate there are nearly, or quite, 20,000 names recorded in this book. The descendants of the people for whom these names stand, though scattered far and wide, will here find material for their family history which is simply invaluable. CONTENTS. The Forl<s of the Delaware i The First German Settlers 5 The Old Church Record-books , ii The Indian Treaty in the Church, January 30, 1777 20 The Organization of tlie Congregation, and the Building of the Church 34 Recent History 61 The Old Organ and its Successors 70 The Change in the Name of the Church 72 The Chime of Bells 75 Church Records 77 Title Page of Church Book .- 77 Baptisms Si Book Second 277 Title Page 277 Deaths and Burials 27S Easton 283 ' " Greenwich ( ' Grueni tz ) 2 84 Dryland 2S5 Mount Bethel 2S5 Easton 286 Dryland 2S9 riainflelil 291 Mount Bethel 293 Easton, Plaenfield, Mount Bethel and Dryland 294 Marriages 343 The Church at Dry land 400 The Congregation at Plainfieid 401 Conclusion 403 ILLUSTRATIONS. Henry Martyn Kieffer, D.D Frontispiece Watermarks in Church Books 12-14 The First Reformed Church, Easton, Pa i Interior of tlie First Reformed Church at tlie Centennial, 1 876 34 Interior of the First Reformed Churcli, 1902 73 Inscription in the Old Scldatter Bil)le ^o The Schlatter Bible, and the (Jld Communion Set, bearing date, 1746 48 Fac-simile of a Page of the Old Chinch Recortl So The Deed Granted by the Penns, 1802 90 Rev, Thomas Pomp 135 Bernard G. Wolff, D.D 160 J. H. A. liomberger, D.D 209 John Beck, D.D 273 Thomas Conrad Porter, D.D., LL.D 305 A Contirmation Service in the Oldtn Time 360 THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH, EASTON, PA. THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF EASTON, PENNA. THE FORKS OF THE DELAWARE. HAT is now known as " The City of Easton " was originally called "The Forks of the Delaware." By this name it was designated by the Indians themselves, long before the appearance of the white man at this most beautiful and romantic spot, and though the white' man gave it a new name, the Indian to the latest generation clung tenaciously to the title given by his fathers to the place where the Lehigh River empties its waters into the greater Delaware. To the Colonial and Continental authorities seeking a council with the original proprietors of the soil, Teedyuscung, the Great King of the Delawares, said — " I will treat with you nowhere else than at the Forks of the Delaware." If we are curious to know how this original name of the place was exchanged for that which the city now bears, we are told that when the tirst settlers established themselves here, about the year 1739, the territor}'^ of Northampton County was a part of Bucks, and that when the new county was surveyed and the town established by the authority of Thomas Penn, it was directed by him that the County should be called Northampton and the town Easton. The town was thus named in honor of the house of Lord Pomfret in England, Thomas Penn having mar- ried the daughter of Lord Pomfret. 2 The First Reformed Church of Easton^ Pa. Who was the first adventurous white man to set foot on this most beautiful and romantic spot, or who first drew up his canoe on the pebble-covered tongue of land that originally extended far out between the Delaware and Lehigh rivers at their intersection, no one can tell ; but as one stands on what remains of " The Point," as it was once called, and looks about him at the high hills and bold bluffs, on all sides shutting him in, he may imagine the wild and romantic scene that must have presented itself to the eye of the first white discoverer of " The Forks of the Delaware." High hills on all sides round frowned down, covered with dark and primeval forests ; no house or human habitation was an3'where to be seen ; no sign of civilized man anywhere appeared. Here the dusky children of the forest were the only inhabitants—and com- paratively few they were in numbers who dwelt perma- nently in this wild and rugged region ; for " The Forks of the Delaware " was rather a mere meeting place for the Indians than aught else — a place in which " to light the council fire " rather than a place of permanent dwelling. Better lands for the building of towns and the cultivation of the soil could be found elsewhere than amongst these high hills. The more powerful Iroquois had their habitation in the Genesee valley in western New York ; the Lenni-Lenape dwelt eastward along the Delaware, the Delawares northward in the Minnisink region — but nowhere could a council fire be so well lighted as where the two great rivers joined their waters with the might)'^ hills as witnesses of their union. And to these council fires, long before the advent of the white man, the Indians came down the Lehigh from the west in their light birch-bark canoes, or down the Delaware from the north, holding here their conferences of peace or war, trade or barter. The Forks of the Delaware. 3 at the well-known and far-famed "Forks of the Dela- ware." For centuries they had held undisputed possession of this charming spot, when the first white man, crossing the sands of New Jersey or descending the hills of the Lehigh, pen- etrated to this favorite Indian rendezvous. What his name or what his experience we know not, but we are told that one David Martin in 1739 built the first house at "The Point," as the intersection of the two rivers was then called —a log cabin, rude enough no doubt, but comfortable, and long celebrated as the scene of very important transactions between civilized and savage man. Here David Martin established his ferry, carrying the adventurous trader or the occasional traveller across either the Lehigh or the Delaware in his rowboat, for a reasonable consideration. The inquiry may naturally arise concerning the' necessity for a ferry at a time when the white population was so sparse. Its existence at a date so early may perhaps be explained by the fact that when the town of Easton was duly laid out in 1750 by William Parsons a considerable population had already gathered on the New Jersey side of the river opposite, Thomas Penn in 1752 expressing some fear that what is now Phillipsburg might prove a dangerous rival to Easton, and suggesting that it might be prudent to secure all the land possible on the Jersey side of the river. At all events, Martin's ferry seems to have proved a profitable investment both to its original founder and his successors. For it did not always remain a mere Ferry House, but was at an early date enlarged into a hotel, kept at first by one Nathaniel Vernon, and in his day it became the celebrated scene of many important Indian treaties, all of which were held here until the erection of the church on Third 4 The First Reformed CJuirch of Easton, Pa. Street, which afforded larger and better accommodations. These treaties were attended by certain very celebrated persons on the white man's side—by the Governor of New Jersey and his staff, by the Governor of Pennsylvania and his staff, by William Parsons and Conrad Weiser and other eminent people ; and on the part of the Indians, powerful chieftains representing at times as many as eighteen or nineteen distinct tribes here assembled—amongst whom the representatives of the powerful Six Nations held first place, though Teedyuscung, King of the Delawares, in his cocked- hat covered with lace, and arrayed in his broadcloth coat cut in the height of the French fashion, must always have been a commanding figure.

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