List of German Immigrants in London, May 1709

Abram le Fevre

The list below is a census of Germans recently arrived in London, England, early May, 1709, compiled by Rev. John Tribbeko and Rev. George Andrew Ruperti. The list contains the name of Abram le Fevre, who is believed to be the same man as Abraham Lefever, who lived in New Bristol twp., Philadelphia County, Pennsylvannia and who signed his will March 10, 1729/30, probated July 2, 1733. The list is appended with a Destination column, the result of ongoing research, with the purpose of discovering the fate of these immigrants. It is my hope that by studying these people from Germany, more will be discovered about the life and migration of Abraham Lefever.

The list of first arrivals in London serves as a substitute for a departure list from Rotterdam, which has not survived. The first party of Germans to leave Rotterdam in 1709, financed by the British government, is estimated to have departed about April 30th and arrived in London about May 5th (EMP, p. 809). An estimated 925 passengers were transported on four ships, with 852 counted after arrival, or a loss of 73 souls on this short voyage. These immigrants were housed in temporary accommodations in St. Catharine's Parish, east of the Tower of London. Shortly after arrival, on May 6, these Germans were visited by Rev. John Tribbeko and Rev. George Andrew Ruperti, who were employed by the Board of Trade.

The list is organized by the occupation of the head of the household. Husbandmen are farmers and Vinedressers are farmers who grow grapes. Within each occupation, married men and widowers (those listed with none in wife column) are listed first and then the single men. The names are not listed in an alphabetical order. Thus, within each subgroup of occupation and marital status, I suspect that the names are listed in a sequence that matches the order in which these people were visited by Tribbeko and Ruperti. If that is the case, then we might expect related people and friends to be clustered. However, since the names are grouped by occupation and marital status, some relations would be obscured between subgroups.

Abram le Fevre's name is listed under Only Husbandmen and two lines above him we find John Michael Trumph, a widower, with an 18-year-old son. Surely, these two men are Abraham Lefever of New Bristol, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and his son-in-law Michael Trump, who lived in a nearby township, Upper Dublin, in the same county. Another man of interest, Peter Wentzen, is also listed under Only Husbandmen, a single man. Surely, he is also Abraham Lefever's son-in-law, Peter Wentz, who lived on an adjoining tract of land in New Bristol.

Now let us take a look at the two men listed just before and after Abram le Fevre. Andrew Schraeger was living in Skippack, adjacent to New Bristol, on June 2, 1713, when he signed a petition for a road, the same petition signed by Abraham Lefevre.  A man by the name of John [or Jean] LeDee was a member of the New Born sect and was an early settler of the Oley Valley in Pennsylvania, about 27 miles northwest of Abraham Lefever's home in New Bristol.

The signers of a 1713 petition for a road, who were living in Skippack, are helpful in making further connections to the London list. Two men on the London list, under Husbandmen & Vinedressers, Henry Kolb and Gerhard Clemens (also a linen cloth weaver), match the names of two men on the petition. Furthermore, Gerhard Clemens, who lived in Skippack, kept a diary which documents his sales of linen of his own manufacture. Michael Ziegler, listed under Cloth & Linen Weavers, was also a resident of Skippack.

Two other early members of the New Born sect in Oley, Pennsylvania, were Johannes Joder and Philip Kuhlwein. Joder married Jean LeDee's daughter, Anna Rosina. He is the same man listed as John Fodder on the London list, 3 lines below Abram le Fevre. Philip Kuhlwein married Jean LeDee's daughter Maria. Philip is the last single man listed under Only Husbandmen. Also note that John Fodder is the last married man listed under the same occupation. Their family relationships and terminal positions in the subgroups of the list suggest that they were together in London and may have traveled together down the Rhine to Rotterdam. Also note that Abram le Fevre is near the end of the married men list for Only Husbandmen.

Considered as a composite, the circumstantial evidence provided above leaves little room to doubt that Abram le Fevre on the London list was the same man as Abraham Lefever of New Bristol twp., Philadelphia Co., PA. Clearly several men on the London list of first arrivals settled in Pennsylvania, not New York. Exactly how they made their way to the New World is unknown to me. They may have been with Governor Hunter's convoy to New York in 1710. Many of those Germans went to live in the Hunter Camps along the Hudson River, including George Buff and John George Thomas, who are near Abram le Fevre on the London list.

Others on the London list were sent back to Rotterdam, especially Catholics like John George Hartman. A group of 650 went to North Carolina and experienced a very difficult voyage, with many perishing on the sea. John Schuetz, on the list, may have been one of those lost. Those who did survive included Jacob Wismar and Andrew Hubscher found on the London list of first arrivals.

LISTS OF GERMANS FROM THE PALATINATE WHO CAME TO ENGLAND IN 1709

The following lists are copied from the original documents preserved in the British Museum Library, London, England. It should be noted that figures in the "Sons" and "Daughters" columns denote that the heads of the family had as many sons or daughters, as there are figures, and that these sons and daughters were of the respective ages denoted by the figures. The word "wife" indicates that the head of the family was married and that the wife was living. The abbreviations "Ref.," "Luth.," "Bap.," and "Cath.," mean that the family belonged to the Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist or Catholic Churches.

Board of Trade Miscellaneous, Vol. 2 D. 57.

A list of all the poor Germans lately come over from the Palatinate into this kingdom taken in St. Catharine's [Parish] the sixth May, 1709

John Tribbeko,
Chaplain to his late Royal
Highness Prince George
of Denmark.

References

EMP Even More Palatine Families: 18th Century Immigrants to the American Colonies and their German, Swiss and Austrian Origins, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. and Lewis Bunker Rohrback. 2002. Picton Press, Rockport, Maine.

OVH Oley Valley Heritage: The Colonial Years: 1700-1775, by Philip E. Pendleton. 1994. Kutztown Publishing Company, Kutztown, Pennsylvania

PFNY The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. 1985. Picton Press, Rockport, Maine.

Jeffrey La Favre - jlafavre@gmail.com

last update July 31, 2010