HISTORICAL 50CIETY MONTGOMERY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA Jsroj^R/STOWN

BULLETIN HISTORICAL 50CIETY MONTGOMERY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA JSrOJ^R/STOWN PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY AT IT5 BUILDING IdS't DEKALB STREET NORRISTOWN.PA. SPRING, 1965 VOLUME XIV NUMBER 4 PRICE $1.50 The Historical Society of Montgomery County OFFICERS Hon. David E. Groshens, President Hon. Alfred L. Taxis, Vice President Robert B. Brunner, Esq., Vice President J. A. Peter Strassburger, Vice President Eva G. Davis, Recording Secretary Mrs. Earl W. Johnson, Corresponding Seo'etary Mrs. LeRoy Burris, Financial Secretary and Librarian TRUSTEES Kirke Bryan, Esq. Robert C. Bucher Harry L. Christman Mrs. H. H. Francine Donald A. Gallager, Esq. Hon. David E. Groshens Howard W. Gross Kenneth H. Hallman Arthur H. Jenkins Robert L. Kratz Robert D. May, M.D. William S. Pettit John F. Reed Robert R. Titus Mrs. F. B. Wildman THE BULLETIN of the HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY Published Semi-Annually — Spring and Fall Volume XIV Spring, 1965 Number 4 CONTENTS The Papers of Henry Juncken, Tory John F. Reed 315 The United States Census of 1850, Montgomery County Edited by William T. Parsons 331 Perkiomen Township 331 Montgomery Township 352 Frederick Township 366 Reports 385 Dr. William T. Parsons, Editor PUBLICATION COMMITTEE The Editor, Chairman Mrs. LeRoy Burris John F. Reed Mrs. Earl W. Johnson Copyright, 1965, by the Historical Society of Montgomery County 313 The Papers of Henry Juncken, Tory, and His Wife, of Springfield Township^ John F. Reed The papers of the local Tory, Henry Juncken, and his wife — fifty- two in number, and now in the possession of the author — constitute an interesting record of Toryism in America during and after the American Revolution. The Tories in eastern Pennsylvania were numerous during the early part of the war, although the number was greatly reduced in 1778 when the British army evacuated the city of Philadelphia, taking with the army whole families of Tories who feared for their safety imder a returned patriot rule. The experiences of Henry Juncken were typical of those of these Pennsylvania Tories, and are vividly described first hand from the papers he and his wife left to posterity. War has many madnesses stemming from feelings of insensate hatred. During the American Revolution one of the notable madnesses was the all-too-liberal use of the accusation of "traitor." In the cases of the Benedict Arnolds the accu sation was just; but in perhaps several hundred thousand lesser cases it was not. Nevertheless, in the latter cases the accusation stuck, and subsequently written history has too often remembered it so. To the patriot Whig, the Tory was a traitor to the cause of human liberty and the Whig lumped the humane neutral with the Tory. To the Tory, the Whig was the traitor, having, in the Tory's opinion, betrayed an age-old concept of legal and moral ties to royal prerogative and parliamentary government. Neither the Whig nor the Tory, however, was a *Read before the Society, February 22, 1965. Mr. Reed was educated at Duke University and Temple University. He recently retired from a sucessful business career to do research and to write. He is a collector of historical manuscripts and is Director of the Manuscript Society. He is on the Publication Committee of our Society. His book, Campaign to Valley Forge, has just been published by University of Pennsylvania Press. 315 316 BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY traitor, for man can only betray his own conscience and his consciousness of right. Neither Whig nor Tory did that, except for the weak and comparative few to whom self-pres ervation exceeded conscience. On the contrary, most of the Whigs and Tories, whether violent or semi-pacific, kept faith with conscience — kept faith equally as much as did the religious neutral, specifically the Quaker, whose conscience forbade his taking sides. Many a mild-mannered man, as well as the violent, was strong in his convictions either way, and refused to surrender his conscience to exiiedient. Such a man was the Tory, Henry Juncken, who, while wishing ill to no man, received much ill, since his conscience could not alter even in the face of adversity. The story of Henry Juncken's life prior to the bitter years that followed the outbreak of the American Revolution is obscure. Even if obscurity were lifted, however, there would be little, if anything, of note to recount. Henry Juncken had no pretensions of greatness or fame, although he could at least claim "Popularity and Influence" in his small sector of .^nerica that was Philadelphia and its vicinity. A naturalized citizen of GMinan descent, having arrived in Pennsylvania in 1753, Juncken, by dint of willing effort, built his livelihood upon the combined trades of farmer and shopkeeper. As his little wealth began to wax, he acquired land in Springfield Township, in that old part of Philadelphia County that is now Montgomery County, though maintaining the shop in the city that had been the basis of his new well-being. He acquired, too, a wife — the Widow Neff, whose Christian names were Anna Barbara, although no offspring was to bless the lady's second marital venture, as it had the first. When war come in fateful 1775, Henry Juncken, faithful to the history of the past, could scarcely envision the changes that portended. The past, to him, was something to which to cling — something safe, and to be understood. Not for him was the clamor of new ideasof human liberty. Under the old order of things Henry Juncken felt free enough. Under it he had THE PAPERS OF HENRY JUNCKEN, TORY, AND HIS WIFE 3^7 waxed well-to-do. Neighbors, even his fellow Germans, might throw off the old allegiance and assume the new; but he, as many another, remained true to the old. By the spring of 1776 Juncken, despite his apparently docile temperament, had become suspect to the liberal-thinking Whigs. As he later admitted, he had spoken his views to his neighbors, and his views had influenced their thinking in many cases; but his views were borne further than he perhaps wished. Considered a dangerous foe to America, he was arrested and sent to jail at Reading, where his influence was cut off from friend and neighbor. Time, and probably his own assurances, evidently proved him a less dangerous foe than the Whigs had conceived, and Juncken was released on parole. On July 13 he received from Henry Haller, Chairman of the Reading Committee of Public Safety, a pass which permitted "Henry Yunken, to pass unmolested to Philadelphia or to his present abode in Chester County, he behaving as he ought." Juncken had evidently found Chester County a safer haven than his home in Springfield Township. Juncken did not escape scot-free from gaol, however; as was the custom in early days, he was assessed the cost of his board during his recent incar ceration. Upon payment, he received the receipt, "Received July the 17th 1776 of Henry Younkin By the hands of John Keime twenty Shillings and three Pence it being for Prison Charges &c." The receipt was signed "Paul Kerber Gaoler." Despite this semi-acceptance back into free society, Juncken found no respite from what he called his "persecu tion." As he would later record, he received "horrid treat ment," and there was "firing at me in the Commons at Phila[delphia], abuse going along the Street," and "Threaden- ings [threatenings] from the Country." He was assessed £29.17.6 for "not mustering" with the Pennsylvania Militia. It was not until late September, 1777, that Henry Juncken could hope for relief from his persecution. On the 26th of that month the British army, under Sir William Howe, occu pied Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Juncken, however, the 31g BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY country around the city remained free from British control. Outside the British lines Juncken's persecution threatened to be redoubled by the close presence of the American army. Juneken, viewing but one course remaining to him, fled with his wife to the city and placed himself under British pro tection. In spite of the winter's gaiety enjoyed by the British troops, the season was a dismal one for most of the civilian Tories. For many, including Juneken, their livelihoods were gone, or almost gone. Rising prices reduced their little savings. In the country, their properties had been seized by the Rebels. The hope that was aroused by the expectation of a British spring offensive against the American army was soon dashed by the appalling rumor— which soon became certainty — that the British army, under orders from London, intended retreating, not attacking. "In consequence," Juneken would later write, he was under "the Necessity of going with the Brittish to New York." With the defeat of Cornwallis in Virginia in October, 1781, Juneken, with more premonition than many, evidently saw "the handwriting on the wall," and in December of that year, together with his wife, sailed for England, settling in London in straightened circumstances. Juneken did not lose direct communication with America, however; from Anna Barbara's nephew, John Rees, and from friends who hopefully remained in New York, frequent letters arrived depicting Tory hopes and fears, that were Henry's and Anna Barbara's own. By 1782 rumors of a peaceful settle ment of the war in favor of America were omnipresent. Negotiation between the contending powers of America, France, Spain and Holland on the one side, and Great Britain on the other, were already afoot. Tory hopes remained indefatigable, however, for, as John Rees wrote to Juneken and Anna Barbara, "by a Person arived from Philadelphia last night, we hear a frigate arived there from Europe which brings the news that the Unreasonable demands from the Court of France has broke up the negotiation for the Present, THE PAPERS OF HENRY JUNCKEN, TORY, AND HIS WIFE 3^9 a Report Prevails Likewise that the Brave Sir Samuel Hood is at the Hook [Sandy Hook] with a Superior Squadron to that of the french [;] the Loyalists this day are in better Spirits again.

Load more