WHATEVER
HAPPENED TO HASENCLEVER'S GERMANS?
By Susan Deeks
Note: This article is excerpted from
Whatever Happened to Peter Hasenclevers
Germans? The Highlander, vol. 34, no. 88 (1998). The
complete article can be purchased from the North Jersey Highlands
Historical Society by writing to the Highlander Editor, NJHHS,
P.O. Box 248, Ringwood, NJ 07456.
Who Were Hasenclevers
Germans?
Routes to Ringwood: How Did They
Come?
Americas Melting
Pot: Where Did They Go?
Conclusion
The Germans
Bibliography
One enduring mystery in the history of our
regions 18th-century ironworks centers on some of its
earliest workers, a group that has come to be known as
Hasenclevers Germans. Who were these laborers
brought to the New World by Peter Hasenclever between 1764 and
1767? How and why did they come? And perhaps most intriguing,
where have they gone?
Hasenclever himself left a comprehensive record of his own
achievements and challenges in the Colonies in "The
Remarkable Case of Peter Hasenclever, Merchant," carefully
cataloguing the structures, roads, and reservoirs that were
constructed at each of his enterprises--the ironworks at
Ringwood, Long Pond, and Charlottenburg, in New Jersey, and at
Cortland, New York, as well as the pearlash and potash
manufactory in his New Petersburg settlement in
upstate New Yorks Mohawk Valley. But Hasenclever is
disappointingly brief on the subject of the workers whose lives
he irrevocably changed.
"The Remarkable Case" contains no similar inventory
telling us who his workmen were, where they came from, how many
family members they brought with them, how they traveled, or how,
exactly, they were distributed once they reached the New World.
I ... transported 535 persons to America from Germany, as
Miners, Founders, Forgemen, Colliers, Carpenters, Masons and
Labourers, with their wives and children is one of the few
clues that Hasenclever left behind.
Who Were
Hasenclevers Germans?
A set of records does remain that provides invaluable clues to
the identities of many of the Hasenclever Germans: the ledgers of
Father Farmer, a German-born Jesuit priest who rode a missionary
circuit through the Highlands between 1765 and 1783 performing
baptisms, marriages, and other religious rites. These are, of
course, Catholic church records and cover only the northern New
Jersey ironworks (which excludes Hasenclevers Cortland and
New Petersburg settlements), so they cannot be assumed to give a
complete picture. But they do provide a solid base on which to
build further research.
Although many names in Father Farmers records are of
English or Irish origin (such as Kelly, Burns, and Patterson),
most of Hasenclevers workmen were undoubtedly German,
because he took care to employ German-speaking managers during
his brief tenure in New Jersey. In addition, Hasenclever spoke in
"The Remarkable Case" of his need to hire
inferior clerks simply because they spoke German:
I had absolutely a necessity [for them], since the people
did not speak English, to settle accounts with Labourers,
Wood-Cutters, Colliers, Carters, Carpenters, Miners, Founders and
Forgemen.
A number of researchers have taken Father Farmers records
as a starting point and found information about German workers
who can only have been recruited by Hasenclever in the early
1760s. Some of the most important work in this area has been done
in Germany by the genealogist Walter Petto. In an article titled,
Early Catholic Immigrants to New Jersey Iron Mills,
published in 1991 in the magazine "The Palatine
Immigrant," Petto says:
A first cursory glance at [the records] led to the discovery of a
considerable number of names that were familiar to me. A closer
comparison with my own genealogical collection of families ...
resulted in the certitude that several of these were among those
who set out for New Jersey. For all of them, records in Europe
end in 1765 at the latest and begin again from 1766 on in New
Jersey
Routes to Ringwood:
How Did They Come?
So how and why did the 535 Germans come to work for
Hasenclevers operations, and how did they and their
apparently large families, many with small children, make their
way to northern New Jersey? Part of the answer may lie in a
larger development of the 1700s that has come to be known as the
Palatine immigration. This movement began in the
first decade of the 18th century and continued until the outbreak
of the Revolutionary War. In that time, tens of thousands of
Swiss and Germans left the Rhine River region to escape religious
persecution or simply to find a better economic situation in the
American Colonies.
The Palatine immigration to America is relatively well
documented: A great number of ships lists survive, and many
have been published, singly and in collections, in book form and
on the Internet. No one, however, has turned up one that can be
called the Hasenclever German list. Phyllis Smith
Oyer, author of the genealogy "Oyer and Allied
Families," expressed her frustration in the sentence:
If only the Hasenclever families were on ships
lists!
Oyer has done extensive research to try to document the arrival
in America of her husbands ancestor Frederick Oyer, whom
she believes stopped in Ringwood in 1764 before traveling to
Hasenclevers New Petersburg settlement. Oyer theorizes that
[a]t first, the workmen were not considered important
enough. This, though, was the best iron and steel producing area
in all Europe. Therefore, when the authorities finally realized
they were being stripped of their best tradesmen ...they objected
to their removal. After that they were transported stealthily--no
ships lists; no passengers lists.
Many of Hasenclevers workers--notably, Philipp Fichter and
Carl Weibl, both experienced forgemen--have not yet turned up in
passenger records and may well have been brought clandestinely to
the Colonies. But others almost certainly traveled openly.
According to passenger lists reprinted in Daniel I. Rupp's book
"Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants," a Niklas Staller
is listed as arriving in Philadelphia from Rotterdam on the
Brittania in September 1764. Could this be the Nicholas Stalter
who appears in Father Farmers records? A Johann Christian
Betz is also listed as arriving in Philadelphia on the Betsey on
September 19, 1765. Is this the Christian Butz cited as the
father of a child baptized by Father Farmer in November 1770?
Maybe, maybe not. But the case is strengthened when one notes the
names of three of Betzs fellow passengers on the ship
Betsey: Johann Jacob Bircki, Johann Friederich Clemens and
Lorentz Rinckle. The surnames of all three men--like that of
Frederick Oyer--are strongly associated with the New Petersburg
settlement.
But would Hasenclever have transported his workers to
Philadelphia, the port of arrival covered by the books
lists, rather than New York? If the Birckis, Clemonses, and
Rinckles were recruited by Hasenclever--and there are strong
reasons to believe they were--then he obviously would. But some
or all of the earliest workers seem to have arrived in New York.
The late Ernest Krauss of the North Jersey Highlands Historical
Society, for example, found that Hasenclevers manager
Johann Jacob Faesch arrived in New York in June 1764, traveling
via Rotterdam. He is believed to have arrived with the first
group of about 200 workers.
Americas
Melting Pot: Where Did They Go?
Upon arrival in northern New Jersey, some of Hasenclevers
workers ran away. The following names appear in advertisements
that Hasenclever placed in New York and Pennsylvania newspapers
in 1765 to 1767 for the return of runaway ironworkers:
Bartholomew Baum, miner; Carl Bruderlin, miner; George
Dannefelder butcher; Simon Denck, miner; John Durck, miner; Peter
Geyes, miner; Jacob Hahsmidt, miner; Anthony Hoever, miner; Peter
Hutschlar, miner; Joseph Langwieder, miner; Matthias Ortman or
Ortindn, miner; Henry Schaeffer, miner; and Philip Schneyder,
miner. Of these men, only Simon Denck is known to have returned
to New Jersey.
The surnames of these runaway workers do not appear in Father
Farmers records, suggesting that these were men with no
family ties to keep them long in the Highlands. Also, many of
those listed left at the end of the monthperhaps after
drawing their miners pay? Another group of workers may have
departed in late 1767, not as runaways, but due to dismissal.
On October 1, 1767, Jeston Humfray, the new ironmaster sent by
the London investors to replace Hasenclever, discharged the
most expert workmen and hired ignorant people (who burnt both
Coal and Iron) in their place, Hasenclever wrote. Who these
workmen were (and how much of the statement is exaggeration) we
do not know.
However, a large number of workers, especially those with big
families, settled in at Ringwood, Long Pond, and Charlottenburg,
at least through Hasenclevers time (176469), and many
into the latter part of the 1770s. Johann David Fichter (son of
Philipp Joseph Fichter, a highly experienced forgeman who came to
America to work for Hasenclever at Ringwood and Long Pond)
remained at Long Pond Ironworks until 1777 or early 1778. He then
moved, apparently with his wife and many of his siblings, to Mt.
Hope. By 1800, Johann David Fichter was living in Fayette County,
Pennsylvania, and is listed in the census under the Americanized
name David Victor. In 1818, Davids son Joseph
Victor purchased the Mary Ann iron furnace in Fayette County,
which operated until 1840.
According to the U.S. Federal Census, Conrad Waibl (the son of
Charles and Susanna Weibl, who appear as parents and sponsors in
Father Farmers records) moved his family moved to Orange
County, New York, sometime between 1783 and 1790. Conrads
son Charles later returned to live in Ringwood. In the 1850
Federal Census, Charles and his wife, Mary, are listed as living
in Passaic County near the Ryersons.
An Anthony (Jr.), Charles, and Jacob May appear in the 1812
Ramapo (NY) Census as landowners, the former two listed as owning
lots and the latter as owning a house and
farm. They are most likely sons of James and Margaret
(Waibl) May, who were married at Long Pond in 1773 and had seven
children who were baptized at Long Pond and Ringwood. And the
genealogist Walter Petto notes that the Butz family of Father
Farmers records moved from Ringwood and Charlottenburg to
Mt. Hope, then to Goshenhoppen (now Bally), Pennsylvania,
where they established an iron operation [in 1776] that was shut
down due to the economic depression following the War of
Independence and was sold in 1785. Members of the
Cobole/Goble family and John Eltz also worked for the
Butzes ironworks.
Finally, branches of many of the early families have remained in
the northern New Jersey Highlands: Marion/Merrions, Rhinesmiths,
Seeholtzer/Sayholsters, Stroble/Strubles, and Waibl/Wybles, among
others, can all be found in Passaic County telephone directories
today.
Conclusion
One other key piece of information that Hasenclever provided
about his workers can be found in the following passage from
"The Remarkable Case":
The refractory disposition of the people was also a troublesome
affair; they had been engaged in Germany to be found in
provisions; they were not to be satisfied; the Country People put
many chimeras in their heads, and made them believe that they
were not obliged to stand to the contract and agreements, made
with them in Germany; they pretended to have their wages raised,
which I refused. They made bad work; I complained and reprimanded
them; they told me, they could not make better work at such low
wages; and if they did not please me, I might dismiss them. I
was, therefore, obliged to submit, for it had cost a prodigious
expense to transport them from Germany; and, had I dismissed
them, I must have lost these disbursements, and could get no good
workmen in their stead.
The workers demands for higher wages, to which Hasenclever
realistically had little choice but to submit, undoubtedly upset
his carefully wrought profit-and-loss calculations at a time that
he was already under scrutiny by his investors. This may in part
explain why he painted such an unflattering portrait of the
workmen.
In doing so, however, he also unintentionally provided important
clues to the character of the people who made the journey to work
for his enterprises. That they were tough and equal to the
challenge is indisputable. Philipp Fichter was 45 years old when
he took his family from Germany to the relative wilderness of the
northern New Jersey Highlands. Far from homeland and relatives,
he and Hasenclevers other workers built furnaces, forges,
roads, dams, and homes in a very short time. They went about the
business of living and dying, worshiping, marrying, and bearing
(and burying) babies and other family members stricken with
disease. And when conditions did not please them, they reminded
Hasenclever of their worth as skilled employees without whom he
had little chance of succeeding.
It is possible that a list will one day turn up revealing the
names of Hasenclevers early workers and their families.
Only then will it be possible to re-create this early workforce.
So far, genealogists have made as much progress as--if not
progress more than--the historians in identifying
Hasenclevers early workers. The search continues for
historical documents that can shed light on this early work
force. In the end, though, the catalogue of Hasenclevers
Germans may be compiled by family researchers seeking their
remarkable ancestors of the North Jersey Highlands region.
Susan Deeks is a member of the boards of directors of the
Friends of Long Pond Ironworks, Hewitt, NJ, and the North Jersey
Highlands Historical Society, Ringwood, NJ. She is currently
conducting a research project to identify and catalogue workers
at the Long Pond and Ringwood Ironworks from 1764 to 1882.
Top
The Germans
Bibliography
Contact Sue Deeks
Copyright © 2000 Susan Maier. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
FOLPI Information Line (973) 657-1688 or email us.
Calendar | News | History | Museum | Photo Gallery | Home | Panoramas | Get Involved | Contact | Links