Friday, November 2, 2012



“Having been several times kindly invited, I dined with P.W., a respectable paper-maker in the neighborhood of Merion, where I spent the afternoon pleasantly. The situation is beautifully romantic, being in a deep narrow valley, the steep hills on each side of which are covered with wood.  The mill, which would be considered as an extensive one even in England, is almost wholly employed in making writing and printing paper, with large quantities of which he supplies the printers and stationers in Philadelphia. 
During the visit he gave me a little history of his life. About twenty years (before), being then twelve years of age, he left Mentz, his native place in Germany, accompanied by his father who died on the passage to this country. Being that class of emigrants called redemptionists[1] . . . P.W. on the arrival of the ship in the Delaware, was hired by Henry Drinker, and was employed about the house as a waiting boy and assistant to the girls in the kitchen. After spending nearly four months in this family, and having acquired the English language, he had the good sense to discern, that it would be more to his interest to be taught some manufacture and requested liberty of his master to be put apprentice to a paper-maker, which was readily granted, although his first indenture was not yet expired.
After having obtained a knowledge of the manufacture of paper, he by industry and care, acquired sufficient property and credit to enable him to begin business which he has, now, for several years, carried on to advantage.  I never was in a paper mill where the business was managed with more neatness and order. As I sat in the house it was pleasant to reflect on such an instance of successful industry.”




[1] Proceedings and addresses, Volume 28, By Pennsylvania-German Society. p. 60:

“When the Germans arrived in America … if they were poor or had no well-to-do friends, they were compelled to sell themselves for a number of years to people who in return paid their passage money. This system of redemptioning, as it was called, was in itself not particularly unjust, but so many abuses arose that it became a public scandal. In the first place, many Germans, as mentioned before, came to America in the belief that they would be met by the representatives of the newlanders, who would furnish them opportunities for work, so that they could earn the expenses of the voyage in a short time. When they arrived they were obliged to sell themselves to people who were utter strangers to them. This sudden transition from independence to servitude undoubtedly created unspeakable hardship. The time of servitude was often considerably lengthened because the survivors had to pay the passage money of those who died at sea. They were at times required to pay even for the food which the dead would have bought.” Outlines other problems, such as children being sold by “unscrupulous captains” without the knowledge of their parents, who is some cases were sick on board the ship.” Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=7tSwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA19&dq#v=onepage&q=webb&f=false
p. 65: “The system of redemptioning was still in vogue after the War for Independence.”
p. 67 talks about the plight of PA Germans during the French and Indian war

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