Heinrich Surber, 6th Great-grandfather
During the 18thcentury, several of my ancestors came from the Palatinate, a dangerous region.
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| https://haruppsattningar2015.blogspot.com/2018/03/palatinate-germany-map-1700.html |
One of these ancestors was my 6th great-grandfather—Heinrich (Hendryk) Surber, age 50—who arrived in Philadephia on the ship Mercury on May 29, 1735, with his 15-year-old son Heinrich/Henry and 5-year-old daughter Verena. His wife Anna had apparently died on the voyage. Here is an account from a Surber message board on Ancestry that was credited to being on Immigrantship.com:
On 29 May 1735 the ship Mercury, William Wilson, master, last from Rotterdam, Holland arrived at Philadelphia, Penn., with 186 passengers. Most of these passengers were from Zürich and nearby Swiss towns. These people were members of the Reformed Church in Switzerland.... This colony is one of the few whose history can be traced from origin to destination with some detail. On 7 Oct. 1735, The Nachrichten von Zürich(a newspaper), published the account.... The journey of the colonists from Zürich to Basel is told by Ludwig Weber, one of the emigrants who later returned from Holland. His notes were published in Zürich. The following is taken from his notes.
"...The main body consisting of 194 persons, embarked in two ships [on the river to the ocean, in winter weather]. They suffered intensely thru rain and cold and were poorly protected with scanty clothes and provisions.... the nights were wet and cold. Moreover the ships were crowded so badly that there was hardly enough room to sit, much less lie down. There was no opportunity to cook on the ships; and as they were compelled to remain on the ships day and night, the cries of the children were pitiful and heartrending. ...Quarrels between men and women were frequent."
... [They transferred from the two river ships to the single, larger ship Mercuryin late February, so] after leaving Mainz their journey was a little more comfortable as they could at least cook on board the ships.
... When they reached Neuwied, Weaterwald Canton, in Bavaria, four couples were married by a reformed minister. They were as follows:
1. Hans Conrad Wirtz and Anna Goetschy
2. Conrad Naff, of Walliselen and Anna N.---
3. Jacob Rathgeb and Barbara Haller both of Walliselen
4. Conrad Geweiller, a gardener and ---
"...The main body consisting of 194 persons, embarked in two ships [on the river to the ocean, in winter weather]. They suffered intensely thru rain and cold and were poorly protected with scanty clothes and provisions.... the nights were wet and cold. Moreover the ships were crowded so badly that there was hardly enough room to sit, much less lie down. There was no opportunity to cook on the ships; and as they were compelled to remain on the ships day and night, the cries of the children were pitiful and heartrending. ...Quarrels between men and women were frequent."
... [They transferred from the two river ships to the single, larger ship Mercuryin late February, so] after leaving Mainz their journey was a little more comfortable as they could at least cook on board the ships.
... When they reached Neuwied, Weaterwald Canton, in Bavaria, four couples were married by a reformed minister. They were as follows:
1. Hans Conrad Wirtz and Anna Goetschy
2. Conrad Naff, of Walliselen and Anna N.---
3. Jacob Rathgeb and Barbara Haller both of Walliselen
4. Conrad Geweiller, a gardener and ---
...186 passengers in all on the ship Mercurythat reached Philadelphia 29 May l735....
In a letter from John Henry, the son of Rev Goetschy, to Zurich dated 21 July 1735 wrote in part the following: "After we had left Holland and surrendered ourselves to the wild and tempestuous ocean, its waves and its changeable winds, we reached through Gods great goodness toward us, England. After a lapse of two days we came to the Island of Wight, and there to a little town named Cowes, where our captain supplied himself with provisions for the great ocean trip. We secured medicines for the trip and then with a good East wind we sailed away from there. After a day and a night with the good wind we were buffeted with a terrible storm and the awful raging waves as we came into the Spanish and Portuguese oceans.
For 12 weeks we were subjected to these miseries and had to suffer all kinds of bad and dangerous storms and terrors of death. With these we were subjected to all kinds of bad diseases. The food was bad for we had to eat what they called "galley bread". We had to drink stinking muddy water, full of worms.
We had an evil tyrant and rascal for a captain and first mate, who regarded the sick as nothing more than dogs. If one said "I have to cook something for a sick man", He replied "get away from here or I'll throw you overboard". "What do I care about your sick devil?". In short, misfortune is everywhere upon the sea, we alone fared better. This has been the experience of all who have come to this land and even if a king were to travel the ocean it would behave no better.
After being in this misery sufficiently long God, The Lord, brought us out and showed us the land, which caused great joy among us. But three days passed, the wind being contrary, before we could enter into the right river. Finally a good south wind came and brought us in one day through the glorious and beautiful Delaware river which is a little larger than the Rhine, but not by far as wild as the Rhine." [They landed at Philadelphia, PA]
In a letter from John Henry, the son of Rev Goetschy, to Zurich dated 21 July 1735 wrote in part the following: "After we had left Holland and surrendered ourselves to the wild and tempestuous ocean, its waves and its changeable winds, we reached through Gods great goodness toward us, England. After a lapse of two days we came to the Island of Wight, and there to a little town named Cowes, where our captain supplied himself with provisions for the great ocean trip. We secured medicines for the trip and then with a good East wind we sailed away from there. After a day and a night with the good wind we were buffeted with a terrible storm and the awful raging waves as we came into the Spanish and Portuguese oceans.
For 12 weeks we were subjected to these miseries and had to suffer all kinds of bad and dangerous storms and terrors of death. With these we were subjected to all kinds of bad diseases. The food was bad for we had to eat what they called "galley bread". We had to drink stinking muddy water, full of worms.
We had an evil tyrant and rascal for a captain and first mate, who regarded the sick as nothing more than dogs. If one said "I have to cook something for a sick man", He replied "get away from here or I'll throw you overboard". "What do I care about your sick devil?". In short, misfortune is everywhere upon the sea, we alone fared better. This has been the experience of all who have come to this land and even if a king were to travel the ocean it would behave no better.
After being in this misery sufficiently long God, The Lord, brought us out and showed us the land, which caused great joy among us. But three days passed, the wind being contrary, before we could enter into the right river. Finally a good south wind came and brought us in one day through the glorious and beautiful Delaware river which is a little larger than the Rhine, but not by far as wild as the Rhine." [They landed at Philadelphia, PA]
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This account is probably typical of miseries our Palatinate ancestors endured during their escape. I have blogged about another of my Palatinate ancestors, Matthias Nehs, on my Naces of Lithia blog. He arrived in Philadelphia on September 21, 1731, on the Brittania. Among my other ancestors who escaped from the Palatinate were Nafzgers (Noffsingers) who arrived aboard the Phoenix on September 15, 1749. Several Naces married Noffsingers. Other Palatines among my ancestors were Fringers and Zirkles, but I'm not sure when they arrived.
I’m glad these ancestors made their arduous and dangerous trip to get to America, and that their descendants migrated from Philadelphia westward to the Great Wagon Road and came south to Botetourt County.
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Labels: genealogy, Nace, Nehs, Noffsinger, Surber
posted by Becky Mushko | 2:51 PM
1 Comments:
He was my 7th great grandpa 😊😊
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