So How Did They Survive?

So How Did They Survive?

Today let us get to know the inhabitants of Pennsylvania Colony. We will travel back in time and hear from the settlers themselves. They will tell you a little about their life and where in the colony they live.

Hello, my name is Gita Schmidt.

My Father says that we live in the year 1686 in German town, In the colony of Pennsylvania. My family and I have a small farm, we have a cabin made of logs but it was not always so.

I was born in Krefeld in the country of Germany. In 1682,when I was ten years old my father told me and my brothers and sisters that we were to have a great adventure. It was a bad time in Germany, just the year before the Armies had come and ruined our farm, trampled the crops and burned our barn. We were all hungry, but Father and Mother had a little money for passage to the new world. Oh, It was a long time on board ship, nearly two months, my baby brother did not survive. It was a hard passage but we Prayed that God would give us strength. We are Quakers and their were other Quakers families on board the ship as well.

I remember the shipyard in Philadelphia where our ship finally docked. There were so many people there from so many different places. Father and other Men bought pack-horses to take us and the provisions we had brought to a settlement in the north.

Our first house was a cave that Papa fashioned from the earth. He and my big brothers dug a hole in the earth at least 4 feet deep on the high banks of the Delaware river, They then built up the walls using sod and earth. They used brush and bark for the roof. The chimney was built of cobblestone mortared with clay and grass. It was a hard way to live but it was warm in our home and we were together. We stayed there while Father and other Quaker men built houses. The People in our little German community, learned from the Swedish Settlers how to build log homes by placing the great logs horizontally. The German men found this to be an excellent way to make sturdy homes. It took many months to finish the homes but now we have a fine cabin and a small, pretty farm. At first my parents insisted that we all continue to speak German but as time went by I and my younger brothers and sisters began to speak English. This vexed my Parents very much. But I am sure we will always keep our German language at home.

Hello, my name is Ian Montgomery, I live in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania colony. I'm a frontiersman and a settler here. In 1690 my family left the lowlands of Scotland and immigrated to Ireland but their were many droughts in Ireland that created famine in the land. Also the rent imposed by our English landlord became so high we couldn't live. So we came with other Scots-Irish immigrants. Many call us squatters but I don't like that word. We use the “Tomahawk Right” to claim Land. What we do is to deaden a few trees by a spring and carve the initials of the settler into one. Then everyone in the community will help the settler build a cabin. The settler will raise a crop of grain. This will give the family a legal right to 400 acres of land.

We frequently have problems with the Indians. They can be very hostile just as we can be. They have murdered many of our settlers. So we keep our rifle and axes close by at all times and warn each other when it is time to head for the fort for safety and defense. However, I and other Scots-Irish men have learned their language and act as middle men in trade negotiations. We hunt and trap for pelts but we also trade with the Indians. When we have many pelts we put them on pack horses and take them to Baltimore in the Maryland Colony to trade for salt and iron. I feel sure we will be able to live happily in this new land.

Hello, my name is Sarah Jenkins. I am 13 years old and I am an indentured servant. I live in Philadelphia in the colony of Pennsylvania. The year is 1740.

Philadelphia is a great and rich city. I have heard people say there may be 10,000 people living in this city. We have a market and people trade all manner of goods there. Many goods come on ships from all over the world.  Here in Philadelphia you will find many skilled workers. Silversmiths and Iron-smiths, carpenters and coopers. There is a free school that even I may attend if my work is done. There is even a paper mill here in Philadelphia and a newspaper called the American weekly.

However, I am not free to enjoy many of these wonderful things. My parents signed me into servitude to prepare me for life as a wife and mother. They are very poor and didn't have money to raise me properly.

My masters are good people and they treat me fairly though of course, not as well as their own children. I have learned from other servants that I am very fortunate. Many masters abuse their servants, beating and misusing them. It makes me very frightened to learn of these things.

I have many duties, I rise before the sun to start breakfast for the family, then I tend the children, work in the garden. I also sew clothes and make cloth. I manufacture candles, and soap for the family and for trade. In seven years my service will end and I will be given a new dress and I will be ready to marry.

Sources:

Earle, Alice M. 1974; 1898. Home life in colonial days. Stockbridge, Mass.: Berkshire Traveler Press.

Langdon, William C. 1937. Everyday things in american life.. New York; London: C. Scribner's sons; C. Scribner's sons, ltd.

Miller, Randall M., and William Pencak. 2002. Pennsylvania: A history of the commonwealth. University Park; Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press; Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.