A Tree From Goshenhoppen

The title, A Tree from Goshenhoppen, was chosen because this is the place where my earliest relatives in the new world can be found. From these roots in eastern Pennsylvania, the families moved across the state, usually on the frontier and often out of touch with the church. They led the way into the new land and, when priests arrived to serve them, our ancestors held services in their homes or traveled many miles for baptisms and weddings. Often the missionary priests rode a circuit that covered hundreds of miles and their records attest to the scattered location of their parishioners. Later, as the people settled the land, they built churches and attracted missionaries to their area.

This book ties together the settlement of Pennsylvania, the growth of the Catholic missions in Pennsylvania, and the history of many families including Aarons, Bauers, Cypherts, Ditzs, Fasenmyers, Kunhs, McGranahans, McGarritys, Osborns, Ransels, Reinsels, Rensels, Ransils and many more. In particular, it provides an extensive genealogy of the Bauers of Lucinda Pennsylvania and of the families named Ransel, Ransil, Reinsel, and Rensel. To the extent that I could readily obtain information, it includes the people they married.

This research was started by my cousin Bill, whose interest was in the Reinsels of Pennsylvania. I have extended Bill's research beyond the descendants of the Reinsel brothers, John H. and Daniel to the descendents of Henry Reinsel who was born in 1760. Each line of my children's ancestors has been pushed back as far as I could find records and I have, to the extent possible, included the genealogy of their spouses. Because these records tie together so many families, the book will be of interest to other researchers.

To the best of my ability, this is a factual history. However, it also includes speculative commentary about events and motives of the people involved. This speculation is provided when this could help guide future historical exploration by others interested in our genealogy. A discussion of the historical events and culture has been introduced to place our ancestors in an appropriate historical perspective.

Bill's record focused on those who spell or spelled their name Reinsel. Yet there are many descendants of our first identified Reinsel ancestor, Henry Reinsel, who spell their name Ransel, Rensel, or Ransil. Other spellings have been found and these are mostly due to the hand writing of the priest, the census enumerator, or the register of county records. In any event, as one researcher told me, "It is better to forget about the vowels and stick to the consonants, only the consonants mean anything."

The history of the Reinsels in America may begin with Valentine Reintzel who arrived in Philadelphia, but his connection with our family is only conjectiveI have not been able to find any documentation linking our family to him. The first documented Reinsel is Henry, born in 1760. Also, no direct link has yet been established between the Reinsels and Aarons of Pennsylvania and their ancestors in Germany, but evidence of Reinsels, Ransels and Reintzels in Germany does exist. Genealogical files at the Mormon family record center show that Reinsels were present in the Rhineland area west of Heidelberg in the 1500's and 1600's. Exploration of this branch of the family begins around 1700, when William Penn was encouraging Germans from the Palatinate, now part of Germany west of Heidelberg, to immigrate to Pennsylvania.

Many of our ancestors were closely associated with the Catholic mission at Goshenhoppen in Berks County, Pennsylvania. These include Cypherts, Crates, Arents, Kuhns and others.

The Aarons first appear in the written record of the mission church in Westmoreland County and many of the families that appear at Crates came through Westmoreland County. Aaron may have been Aron or Aren or some other variation before they arrived in Westmoreland County.

The Bauer family has been traced to Schneppenbach, just east of Frankfurt, Germany; the Ditz family to Graz, Austria with a stop in Unter Reute just north of Freiburg, Germany; and the Fasenmyer family to Unter Reute.

The information I have on the McGranahans is sketchy. They come from the mists of Donegal in Ireland. My grandfather, Michael immigrated in 1892. Irish genealogists suggest that McGranahan or mac reannacain is a Donegal surname meaning sharp or spear-like.

The family bible, oral history and the location of current McGarritys in Ireland suggest that the family moved from County Tyrone, Ireland at the time of the "potato famine" (1845-47) to Airdrie and Kirkintilloch, Scotland, until 1880 to 1882 when they moved to Reynoldsville and then New Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. The marriage of Thomas McGarrity and Susan Owen is recorded in the record of St Margaret's Church in Airdrie, 12 miles east of Glasgow. Susan's father was Robert Owens and her mother was Susan Clisham

McGarrity or mac orieactiy is the name of an ancient Connaught County family related to the O'Conners. They were Chiefs of Muinntear Rodubh in County Rosscommon until disposed by the English about the middle of the 16th Century. As late as 1585 they formed a distinct clan with a recognized chief who, however, was seated in UiMaige. The name is still common in Connaght and also in part of Leinster.

Why They Came

We can begin to understand what motivated our ancestors to come to the British Colonies and later to the United States by studying the history of the early German immigrants to Pennsylvania. By looking at conditions in the English colonies and in the early years of the United States and comparing that with conditions in Europe from 1600 to 1880 we see can capture some of the vision that the immigrants must have had.

The population of the colonies in 1700 totaled about 250,000. This rose to 1,170,000 by 1750. The growth of population was rapid in Pennsylvania which had about 15,000 people in 1700. This grew to about 120,000 by 1750 and 327,000 by 1780. The ports of Philadelphia, Chester, and New Castle were the points of entry into Pennsylvania. However, after 1720 all people of German descent were required to enter at the port of Philadelphia and take an oath allegiance to the King.

The migration to the colonies was caused by conditions in Europe. In the 1500s the area now known as Germany was making progress toward modernization, but it was divided among many princes and lords. A few of these held some loyalty to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Although the foundations of large scale trade were put in place, the burgers were independent, with little allegiance to any sovereign. Cities grew and agricultural production increased during the 1500s but the rewards did not go to the common people. The Thirty Years War between the Catholics and Protestants, in the seventeenth century (1618-1648), wiped out many of the gains that were made in agriculture and trade. Population declined sharply and some cities were almost destroyed. Farm production declined and, with less land cultivated, livestock production fell. By the end of the 1700s, the earlier agricultural conditions were beginning to be reestablished but life for the peasant was difficult.

Peasants in Europe lived at the margin of subsistence. The governments attempted to ensure stability, but this meant keeping the peasants in their place. Social mobility, movement to the upper class, was temporarily stopped and this lead to geographic mobility of the population as people sought better incomes.

The German peasant, in 1700, was subject to his lord in a relationship that demanded services and payments from the peasant and his family. The sentiment of the sixteenth century rhyme, "The peasant could take the ox's place, had he but horns above his face," showed how low the common man was regarded. This sentiment was repeated in an eighteenth century lawyer's statement that "The peasants stand between the unreasoning beast and man." In Wurttemberg, in the Palatinate, where many Pennsylvania Germans originated, it was said that many peasants lived "in a kind of slavery . . . Often they were not as well off as cattle elsewhere."

After the destruction of the Thirty Years War, the armies of Louis XIV pillaged the Palatinate. Louis' style of life be came prevalent in the Rhine Valley and minor princes copied the sumptuousness of Versailles in their own castles, and taxes soared. The peasants thus had ample reason to leave.

William Penn was familiar with the Rhine valley having traveled and preached there before he established his colony in Pennsylvania. After Penn wrote Some Account of the Provence of Pennsylvania (1681) it was translated into German at Amsterdam and Dutch at Rotterdam where Penn's Friend Benjamin Furley, a Quaker merchant, saw that word of Pennsylvania was broadcast into Germany (what was then the Holy Roman Empire) and several minor principalities. Penn's recruiting and the coincidence of a few events in southern Germany were enough to precipitate a flood of immigrants. In May and September of 1707 the French plundered southwestern Germany. The winter of 1708-09 was the worst in a century and many fruit trees and vines died In the spring of 1709 the first group of Palatines left for England and, later, New York. A much larger group followed the next year. After that, German immigration increased and declined but was always substantial during the colonial period and into the early years of statehood.

Penn, in England, wrote a naturalization bill for the colonies in 1708. He argued that it was in the interest of England to populate her colonies with people who were not her own. The Naturalization Bill became law in March 1709. But following Penn's recruiting, Penn and the British government were not prepared for the more than 11,000 Palatines from the war-torn Rhine Valley who gathered in London. They arrived in England expecting transport to the colonies and became almost totally dependant on the English government. These people were in England largely because of Penn. However he was not financially able to send them to the Quaker Province in the new world. This did not help the immigrants. A few of the Palatines, from those in England, were sent by the government to Ireland and Carolina, but most went to New York to manufacture naval stores for the British government, in return for their passage. This created a government redemptioner system. The immigrants had to work 5 to 7 years to pay for their passage to the new world.

In 1723, fifteen of the families from New York pushed onto the frontier in the Tulpehocken region of Pennsylvania which lies midway between Reading and Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Until 1710, the settlement at Germantown, in Philadelphia, had been the boundary of non British immigration in Pennsylvania, when a group of Swiss Mennonites settled at Pequea Creek, south of Tulpehocken. In 1743, this became part of Lancaster County.

The Mennonites, persecuted by Reformed Protestants in their home country, had sought refuge in the Palatinate but their pacifism and other peculiarities were not viewed with favor. They began to immigrate and some Mennonites were already settled in Germantown by 1710. In 1710, hundreds settled further west. They were followed later by Dunkards in 1719, Schwenkfelders in 1733, and Moravians in 1741. Most important, in numbers, were the Lutherans and Reformed Germans.

By 1717, the migration of Germans to Philadelphia had created concern. Governor Keith believed that German immigration could prove to be dangerous. In 1727, when the number of Germans grew sharply, the Council of Pennsylvania adopted a resolution requiring that all Germans entering Pennsylvania should be listed by name, occupation, and place of origin, and a pledge of loyalty to the crown must be taken. At that time, in 1727, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Germans lived in the colony. Close to 70,000 more Germans arrived before the Revolution and among these were our ancestors. The number of Germans in the colony increased to 110,000 by 1776.

Few Catholics were part of the early immigration. The first Catholic Chapel was established in Philadelphia in 1733 by Father Greaton. A count of Catholics in the colony, made in 1757 during the French and Indian War, shows only 1575 Catholics under the care of four priests. We might note here that our ancestors were among the earliest Catholics to arrive. John Kuhn arrived in 1742 and Philip Cyphert came in 1747. Also, Henry Reinsel was born about 1760. In 1757, the total population of the Colony was about 120,000 so the colony was just 1 percent Catholic.

Anti-Catholic sentiments were the normal thing in the colonies. Repressive religious laws were passed in all colonies except Pennsylvania and Maryland. During the French and Indian War, which ended in 1763, the Catholics were under suspicion for siding with the French because of their common religious bond. After that war, a relaxation of the official English anti-Catholic position occurred, but it was not until after the American Revolution that Catholics were really free to practice their faith without official disapproval.

It was not until 1790 that John Carroll was consecrated as the first Bishop of the United States with the entire country as his Diocese and with it's Cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1808, the Diocese of Philadelphia was formed with Michael Eagan as Bishop.

Recruitment

Once immigration began, it was strengthened by those who saw an opportunity for profit. Immigrant agents, often referred to as Nuelanders (new landers), were employed by ship companies in England or Holland to recruit passengers to America. The new landers traveled from house to house proselytizing, often dressing to affect wealth supposedly obtained in the New World, carrying advertisements and forged letters from supposedly successful immigrants who were known to the prospective immigrants.

In 1751, a German newspaper in Pennsylvania reported that the Elector Palatine (the local Prince who served as one of 5 electors of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) had threatened these agents with prison. However, their activities continued.

About 1750, reports about the difficulties encountered by settlers in the new world began to appear in the Rhine valley. The most famous was published in 1756 by Gottlieb Mittelberger. Mittelberger was a native of Wurttemberg who came, on invitation, to Philadelphia in 1750 to serve as organist and schoolmaster in New Providence Township. He returned to Wurttemberg in 1754. He wrote that, ". . . numerous Wurttenbergers, Durlachers, and Palatines (a great many of whom live in New Providence Township and spent their days moaning about ever having left their native country) begged him ". . . with tears and uplifted hands, and even in the name of God, to publish their misery and sorrow in Germany." Mittelberger was inclined to print the bad aspects of immigration, asserting that for most immigrants, the journey would involve "the loss of all they possessed, of freedom and peace, and for some, the loss of their lives and even their souls."

The Crossing

The trip from the Middle Rhine, Wurttenberg area, was long, lasting from the beginning of May until the end of October with five to six weeks on the Rhine, another month and a half in Holland, a voyage of a week to a month reaching England, and two to three months from England to landing in Philadelphia. The cost of getting to Rotterdam, was at least forty florins, and the passage to Pennsylvania, including board, was sixty florins for anyone older than ten. But, Mittelberger assured his readers that many travelers spent 200 florins (about 34 pounds sterling) from home to Philadelphia. He suggested that the cost was not the worst part!

The "pitiful signs of distress" on the journey should have given any traveler pause

"Smells, fumes, horrors, vomiting, various kinds of sea sickness, fever, dysentery, headaches, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth rot . . . caused by the age and the highly salted state of the food, especially of the meat, and by the very bad and filthy water . . . hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, fear, misery, vexation, and lamentation . . . so many lice, especially on the sick people, that they have to be scraped off the body." And, said Mittelberger, many never saw land again. Children less than seven years seldom survived; "parents must often watch their offspring suffer miserably, die, and be thrown into the ocean." "But," said Middleberger, "reaching Philadelphia was not inevitable good fortune."

Johannas Naas remembered the crossing with horror"I do not think that with all the unclean spirits of Hell there could be worse going on with cursing, swearing, and drinking, quarreling day and night . . . Husband, wife and children fought bitterly."

Johann Carl Buettner recalled the humiliation, after a storm had torn away the private chambers on the deck, of passengers having to relieve themselves publicly while holding onto the ship's rope for dear life.

Indenture

Most of the people who settled in the American colonies south of New England came as servants. Next to slavery, indenture was the easiest way to deal with labor as a commodityit was profitable to recruiting agents, ship captains, and employers. Although indentures were cruel to the servants, this was not really a consideration. Those who lacked funds or security for the sea freight had to be purchased; adults bound themselves from three to six years, while children had to serve until twenty one. "Many parents, in order to pay their fares to get off the ship, had to barter and sell their children as if they were cattle." Families were separated under the redemptioner system, that required work for passage to the new world. Work in America was as strenuous as in Germany, with no chance of running away from a harsh master.

However, although Mittelberger detailed the bad part of the experience, he also described Pennsylvania in terms as glowing as any used by Penn. And, although he said that constant hard work was the lot of the immigrants, he also pointed out that

"All trades and professions bring in good money. No beggars are to be seen; every township takes care of its poor. The servant woman in Pennsylvania dresses as well as the aristocratic lady in Germany!"

A servant was considered the chattel of the master, but in Pennsylvania and New York his indenture could not be bought and sold freely; court consent was necessary in these two colonies in order to assign a servant for over a year. The servant could not marry without his master's consent, or vote, or engage in trade. Although he could hold property, money earned in his spare time could be taken by his master. The indentured servant, because of his color and his religion, was given protection not available to the slave. The terms of his indenture were generally honored in court, where he could sue and expect to find justice. And, when he was freed, he got his "dues." At first, Penn had promised 50 acres; later, the dues amounted to two suits of clothes (one new), an axe, and two hoes.

The conditions under which the white servant and the black slave worked were otherwise identical. Food and clothing were the same. Both were used in agriculture but also trained in the various trades. Neither was entirely welcome.

Settlement

No national group was better than any other in locating farms that had good soil, level land, accessible water, and proximity to markets and courts. Choices were dictated, in part, by the availability of unoccupied land. Germans had to come into the province through Philadelphia after 1725, where they took the required loyalty oath. The Scotch Irish could debark at New Castle, which was then part of Pennsylvania and thus were prone to settle further south. To this extent, and because earlier settlement exerted some pull on later arrivals, national background did influence settlement.

Governor Keith, in 1717, invited Palatines from New York to travel south and settle on Tulpehocken Creek, forcing out the Lenape Indians. The losers were the Indians, who between 1723 and 1729 were forced out of both the Brandywine and Tulpehocken areas.

Many of the later arriving German Catholic immigrants moved on through the more settled Philadelphia County to the frontiers, (Tulpehocken and Lebanon) where land was more readily available. (Page 53 Bally book).

The Irish

Conditions in Ireland, for the Irish Catholic, in the 16th and 17th centuries were abominable as they were forced off their land and into the hills of western Ireland. Not only were they forced off their land, they were forbidden to practice their religion. And they were excluded from the better opportunities for employment. The 18th and 19th centuries proved no better. And, in 1845, the food supply for the masses of Irish disappeared.

As the Irish crofters were driven off the best land by the English in the 16th and 17th centuries they were driven up onto the hills in western Ireland. Over time the potato, introduced from South America became the staple food of the Irish peasant. About half of the people lived on small hill farms and fed their families mainly on potatoes. Others worked as tenants for the English. They sold or traded their grain and cattle to pay rents and lived on their potato crop. When the potato blight destroyed the crop in 1845, 1846 and 1847 more than a million persons died of starvation and millions left Ireland. Some moved directly to the United States or Canada. Others like the McGarritys and Owens moved to Scotland to work in the coal mines. By 1880, they and their descendants had accumulated enough capital to move from Scotland to the United States were they were again employed in the mines of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.

The earliest records of my ancestors in this country are found in The Goshenhoppen Registers 1741-1819. The registers are the sacramental records of the mission church at Goshenhoppen, now Bally, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Goshenhoppen Registers of baptisms, marriages and deaths, from the Chapel of St. Paul, provide the oldest record of the Catholic church in Pennsylvania and perhaps in the thirteen original colonies. The registers hold a special place in the records of the Catholic Church in America. In these registers appear the names Reintzel, Arents, Schmidts, Kuhns, Ecks, Riffels, Seifert (Sauvert) (Cypherts), and Grett (Crate) who are my direct ancestors.

The second set of records are the Sacramental Registers of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church (St. Mary's) at Lebanon Pa. and also the microfilm in the Lebanon County Historical Society files at 940 Center St., Lebanon, Pa. These contain the records of John H. Reinsel's (my great, great-grandfather) birth, baptism and marriage. John Reinsel's parents are identified in the church records as Henry Reinsel and his wife Elizabeth. The marriage record at St. Mary's shows

Father G.F.X. O'BRIEN recorded entries at Latrobe until Dec. 17, 1817. Father Charles Bonaventure Maguire, of Dungannon, Ireland, Order of St. Francis, arrived in Latrobe Dec. 29, 1817. He was at St. Patrick's in 1820 and his mission included all of Northwestern Pa. Father Terrance McGirr followed Father Maguire at Latrobe in 1820 through 1826 and it is known that he visited Red Bank during this time. He visited the Volkerbacher settlement (Lucinda) in 1826.
 
   

Father Patrick O'Neill was the pastor of St Patrick's at Sugar creek in 1826, succeeding Father Charles Ferry. His mission territory extended as far north as Erie. The first mass at Fryburg was said in the Eisenman home by Father O'Neill in 1826. The First Bishop of Pittsburgh, Michael O'Connor reported in his first Census, taken in 1843, that the mission at Donegal had 1300 soulsMurrinsville, 500 and, St. Patrick's 1000. In 1843, there were only 47 Churches in the Pittsburgh Diocese which covered all of western Pennsylvania. A map of the Pittsburgh Diocese, for 1843, shows that there were 47 Churches in Western Pennsylvania in that year, the year the Diocese was founded. Included among these were Huntington, Loretta(1799), Ebensburg, Summit, St. Patrick's at Sugar Creek (Buffalo Creek), Red Bank (Crates)(1828), Eisemanns (Fryburg) (St Michael's), Marysville (St. Mary's) and St. Vincent's at Latrobe (1799).

From the Fryburg Register we find that Fr. Skopez's Missions in 1851 embraced Clarion,Lucinda, Fryburg, Crown, Crates, Brookville and other stations in Venango County.