CONRAD WEISER AND HIS MEMORIAL PARK A LI1TLE HISTORY IN THREE PARTS Part I. Conrad Weise.r-Who He W·as Part II. W?iser's Descendants-What They Did Part III. The Park-How It Can1e to Be ':By REV. P. C. CROLL, D. D. Chairman of the Historical Committee of the Conrad Weiser Memorial Park Association READING EAGLE PRESS Reading, Penna. 1926 OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Tributes · to Luther, 1884. Golden Wedding Ring, 1887. Historic Landmarks of the Lebanon Valley, 1895. Art Work of Lebanon C:>unty, Pa., 1895. Bible Q-uiz, 189~. Bible Gem.s,' 1908. The Penna.-German-A Magazine- l 900-i905. Gardening• and Out-of-Doors, 1917. Slumberland and ~lun1ber So_ngs, 1917. Annals of Womelsdorf, etc., 1923. Tulpehocken Bi-Centennial. 1923. \Vcstern Berks, in 3 \'ol. History, 1924. Translations fronz the German Jewish Artisan Life (Delitzsch), 1884. Jesus and I:lillel (Delitzsch)~ 1884. Alli, or Blessed are the Merciful (Hoffman), 1886. 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J COLONEL CONRAD WEISER IN HIS ADVANCED AGE Part I C·oNRAr> WEISER~WHo HE ·WAs /r.\N JUNE. 1:1, 1 ,10, there landed at Ne\v York \::.J harbor ten sailing Yesse1s \\'hich had carried · across the storn1Y Atlantic about three thou- · - . sand Palatinatc-Gennan. fugith·es, ,vho had first fled down the. Rhine valley to Rotterdam. and thence across to_ London to escape the ravages and p~rsecutions of that arn1y of ruthless blood-hounds ,vho1n ·Louis XI\,\ the Catholic, Jet loose ·upon this section of Protestant Gern1any after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. Savs a ,,·riter *v~~ho describes this atrocitv: ., - '''furenne,_ \\'ho had received definite orders_ front Ver­ sailles to devastate the Palatinate, did his ·,vork thor­ oughly. Once 1nore the 1nonotonous tale of n1isery n1ust be told : X ohlen1an. citizen. pea~ant_ plundered; fields laid ,vaste; cattle carrit'd off; e,·en the clothing . torn f ron1 the haL-ks of the wretche<l Yicti1ns. \Vhat could not be carried a ,,·ar \Vas destroyed; even the - bells and organs ,,·ere taken fro1n the churches. .A.t one ti1ne seven cities and nineteen villages ,vere burn­ ing; starvation unce 111ore threatened the ho111eless peasant." . 1\1 acaulay has gi\·en us the following picture of the horrors of this deYas!ation: "rfhe ~on11nander an­ nounced to near half a 111illion hu1na11 beings that he gra_nted the111 three days of grace, and that \Vithin that ti111e they n1ust shift for. thetnsel ves. Soon the roads and fields, ,vhich then lay deep in snow, were black­ ened by in11un1erable 111ul~itudes of n1en, ,votnen and ----* Prof. O,:;ca1· Kulm:,; iu hi:,; .. t:~rurn11 ;1111I Swi~~ Settll'nwnts ha l'l'rmsyl- vania,'' p. 11. :,- children flying f rr,m their hum es .... :\Iean,\·hile the _work of destruction ,vent_ on. ·The flan1es \\·ent up from ev~ry market place, e\·ery parish church, ev=ery country seat, within the de\·oted province. The fields where the corn had been so,Yed "·ere ploughed up. The orcliards "'ere he~,·n do,\·n. No ·.promi.se of a harvest ,vas left on the fertile plains near ,vhat had been Frankenthal. Not a yj ne, not an ahnond tree ,vas to be seen on the slopes of the sunny hills around ,vhat had .once been Heidelberg*." \Vith such a background of experience one may easily in,aginc th~ feelings of these thousands of f u­ gitives, whom .Protestant Queen A.nne of Great Britain had sent from London to her ?\" e,v York colony for safety and a livelihoocl. They . \Vere a11 honest and thrifty folk, but no,v i111poverished .to the utmost. But such classes could not be kept do,vn. Not a fe,v among them, ~ut have ,vritten their names l,Jigh upon the pages of i\.merican history. either by their 0\\711 deeds, or the brave· and noble . deeds of· their descendants, such as ye.neral~ I-Ierk<.·i1ner and 1I.uh1enberg of the 1 Re,·ol. utionary- \Var. · 1"'here ,ve·re t,,·o orphan boys in this company- they 111ay have been passt>ngers on the sa1ne vessel and beco1ne acquainted on their long journey fainiliarly enough to have played toge:-ther-,\'ho ,vere destined to n1ake for then1selves careers, for ,vhich the ,vhole country_. of A111erica \\·ould become indebted. They ,vere John Peter Zenger and Conrad \Veiser. They ·"vere of ~bout the sa1nc age, being about fourteen years of age at the titne of their· i1n1nigra-tion. Zenger re-­ mained in N e,v \" ork Citv. .and in the . course of time ,vas apprenticed to \,\'illiatn Bra~ford, N e,v York's first printer, to learn . the _printer's trade~ He later (173a) established the second X e,v· York ne,vspaper •History of Enghmd, Vol. Jll. IJ, 112 . (j of that publishing center of today-the New York Weekly Journal-and because of his courageous de­ fense of Jib-erty and the cause_ of the people, over against the tyrannical, aristocratic measures. and_ man­ _ners of _the Colonial Governor, Cosby, he was sued for .libel and cast into prison. J-Iis trial is one of the most fa111ous cases ever tried in America, because it involved his life and the liberty· of the p_ress. Andre,v IIamilton of Philadelphia, his defending lawyer, saiq. FIRST CHURCH OF PALATINES AT PRESENT NEWBURGH, N. Y. in- his address to the ju.r-y·: "'T"he loss of libe-rty to a generous 111ind is \\·orse than deat11. ·... 'T'he question before the Court and you, gcntle1nen of the jury. is not of s1na1l nor private concern; it is not the cause of a poor printer, ·nor.of Ne,v \:-ork alone, ,vhich yon are no\v trying. No! It 111ay in its consequences af­ fect e"'/ery free n1an that lives under a ll_ritish Govern­ ment on the n1ain of An1erica. It is the best cause- 7 it is the ca~se of liberty." Zenger ,vas acquitted amid great demonstrations of joy. Of this trial, Governor. l\'lorris said: "The trial of.Zenger in 1735 wasthe·germ of A1nerican freedo111, the morning star of tha_t liberty ,\·hich subsequently revolutionized ..\merica." John Peter Zenger becan1e the morning star of America's liberty of the p~ess. Conrad Weiser fotlowed the 111ajority of these· im­ n1igrants up the -l-J udson, later a. portion of them to Schoharie on the l\tlohawk, where he entered the school of hard knocks and, by his knowledge thus . gained, became the \\'ise diplon1at that served at least four colonies in their relation \\'ith the Indians. He li\·ed the ripest period of his life ti1ne in Pennsyl_vania in the 'l'ulpehocken Valley~ and here became a di-·· plo1natic tool in the building of our nation. \Ve -shall here confine ourselves ·to the barest outline of his I if e and deeds. \Ve ,vill let hi111 tell his O\vn· bri'ef personal ~nd do1nestic life sketch. Methodic.al in his habits he "·rote out to,vards the close of his life. the follo,ving. saJit•nt sunuuary of c\"ents that help to portray to his f a1nil ..v and descendants. the checkered career of his strenuous life. \Ve have copied this brief autobio- graphy,. in a· si111ilar vest-pocket sized blank-book and f ron1 tl~is original the follo\\'ing transJatio.n has been 111ade: AUTOBIOGRAPHY i6On No,·. 2. ltH)G,. 1, Conrad .\Yeiser, ,vas born in Europe, in the land of ·wurtten1herg, in the county (amt) of Herrenberg; _the village is called Astaet, and. \\'as christened at l(upingen, nearby. as 1ny father has infonned 111e. I say, I ,vas born on Nov. 2, 1696. ~[y father's na111e· "·as John Conrad \ \-eiser; 111y 1nothe~'s nan1e ,vas _..\nna l\Iagdalena; her fa1nily nan1e was LTe- 8 · bele. My grandfather was Jacob. W ~iser; 1ny great- . / · ~andfather also Jacob Weiser. He ,vas tnagistrate · (Schultheiss) in the villag_e of Great Aspach, in the_ county (amt) of Backnang, also in the land of Wurt­ te1nbe_rg. In this latter village 1ny ancestors from time immemorial were born and are buried there as ,vell on• my father's as n1y 1nother's side. In 1709 my . n1other passed ·into eternity on the last day of May, in the 43d year· of her age, leaving children, .Catrin~, !Iargaretta 1\-Iagdalena, Sabin, Conrad, George Fred­ erick; Christopher, Barbara, John Frederick, and \vas buried there by the side of 111y ancestors. She ,vas a God-fearing wo1nan and n1uch beloved by ~1er neigh­ bors. Her 1notto \Vas: 'Jesus Christ, I Ii,·e for th_ec. I die for thee, thine am I in life .and-death.' "In the year above 111entioncd, ~atnely· in 1709, n1y father 1noved a\\'ay froth Great Aspach on June 24, and took eight children ,vith hhn. l\Iy eldest ~ister, Catrina, remained there ,vith her- h11sband, Conrad Boss, ,vith ,vhotn. she had t,vo children. l\Iy father sold the1n his house, fields, 1nt."ado\\·s. Yineyard and garden, but they could only pay hin1 ~ :i guldt.~n, the re111aindcr, 60() gulden. ,vas to be paid to 111y father at· a sub­ sequent period, which· ,vas never done, so it ,vas n1ade a present to then1. In about two n1onths ,ve reached London, England, along ,vith several thousand r;er- 111ans, ,vhom Queen Anne, of glorious n1e111ory, had t~ken in charge, and ,Yas furnishing ,vith food.