In the last
article, we met William Penn, the Quaker leader, whose influence and faith led
him to found a colony where religious freedom was instrumental in the
Mennonites and Amish coming to America. For the Amish in Europe, land ownership was most often not an option,
and there was the ever-present fear of persecution. Imagine the excitement that talk of land and
freedom would have brought to these families who had faced oppression and
poverty for their faith. Yet, talk of
this land in the new world also meant the uncertainty of an ocean voyage that
was in itself most dangerous.
America was the
place—these people had heard—where land and peace, and the freedom to grow
their community could be had. The
decision to emigrate must have been fraught with difficulty considering the
family and friends many left behind in Europe. Rarely was it possible for the entire extended family to leave, and so
many deep kinship connections were broken. To leave the familiar for the
foreign is difficult in itself, to do so when one has never seen or visited the
place that they are moving to is nearly beyond the comprehension of the modern
world. Most of the Amish families who
emigrated left behind brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, and in some
cases, even children in Europe as they moved to America. In most cases, these people understood that
they would never see their families again. Like much of life, the positive possibilities also carried pain as they
left behind a world that was comfortable and connected.
Mennonites had
emigrated as early as 1683 and settled in Germantown, near Philadelphia. Word
had filtered back to the Palatinate about the freedoms and possibilities that
existed in “Penn’s Woods,” especially the potential for land and space. Upon
reaching Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Government required the masters of the
ships to give “an exact list of all their passengers imported by them.” These lists are preserved to this day and are
very helpful in establishing immigration patterns. About five hundred Amish immigrated in the
eighteenth century, most arriving prior to 1754 when the Seven Year’s War
prohibited many Europeans from leaving. Most emigrated in small family groups with several extended families
traveling together.
On October 8,
1737, the Charming Nancy docked at the harbor in Philadelphia. It had among its passengers a group of Amish
families who had banded together in their journey to the New World. The Amish on the Charming Nancy followed the
route that most of the subsequent émigrés would follow. They rafted north on
the Rhine to one of the port cities, in this case, Rotterdam, a journey that
could take up to six weeks. From the
continent, they sailed to one of the northern or eastern coastal cities of England
and re-supplied. This first leg at sea
was an eight-to-ten-day journey, unless the winds were adverse, in which case
it could take up to a month. From there
they began their eight-to-twelve-week journey across the Atlantic. Dark,
cramped quarters, violent storms, and limited food and water made this a
treacherous and often deadly journey.
Most of the Amish
in our world today can trace at least a leg of their ancestors back to someone
who was on the Charming Nancy. Soon we will look more closely at their voyage and the fact that from these
eleven families, twenty-six people died while on the voyage to America. Twenty-four of which were children! From the period 1700-1750 it is estimated
that 50% of children under seven years old died on the immigration journey and
for those families with babies under one-year-old, the life expectancy was only
10%. This was not an easy, comfortable
trip to another world. Rather, it was
often a journey of loss that forever changed their lives. What a hard time this must have been, yet
these people did not abandon their faith. Would we today be willing to uproot our families and leave the
comfortable to settle a new place? How
would we handle the trauma and loss, not only of leaving but also of the journey
and the loss that went with this move? Would we keep our faith?
To learn more about this or any aspect of our history,
please call or visit the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center. We offer guided
tours of “Behalt.” a 10 ft. x
265 ft. cyclorama oil-on-canvas painting that illustrates the heritage of the
Amish and Mennonite people from their Anabaptist beginnings in Zurich,
Switzerland, to the present day. Behalt means “to keep” or “remember.” We are
open Mon-Sat 9:00-5:00 and are located near Berlin, you can find us at 5798
County Road 77, Millersburg, OH 44654. Please call (330) 893-3192 for more
information or to schedule a day or evening group tour.