He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
THE WETZSTEIN FAMILY IN THE HOMELAND
Jorg & Anna Catharina Dillis Wetzstein
The history of the family Wetzstein/Wettstein can be traced back to the 1600's and early 1700's and beyond, when Wetzstein family members Joerg & Anna Catharina (Dilli/Dillus) were born in Baden, Germany. Joerg was born in 1674 in Sigmaringen, Wurremburg, Germany, the son of Heinrich Wetzstein born: 1650 in Germany and Barbara Shaffer/Shaver born:1655. Anna Catharina Wetzstein born 05 OCT 1692, was the daughter of Stephen Dilli, born: 1588 in Sontheim,Offenburg, Baden, Germany and Christine Rapp born 1592 in Mosbach, Baden, Germany.
The parents of Stephen Dillis were Hans Dillis and Eva Bork, who married in Kehl,Offenburg,Baden-Württemberg,Germany in 1577. The Dilles were Quakers who immigrated to Virginia, and their descendants lived throughout Virginia, in the early 1600's-1800's. They also lived in Maryland.
Anna Catharina was the daughter of Stephen Dilles/Dillus and Christina Rapp, daughter of Hans Rapp. The Rapps were related to the reformer Johannes Rapp. Jorg Wetzstein was born in 1674, the son of Heinrich Wetzstein, and Barbara Shaver, born 1655,in Germany. Anna Catharina was born in Mosbach, Baden, Germany.
The name Palatainate is derived from the ancient and medieval office of count palatine, a nobleman who held judical powers and had charge of the various imperial castles where Holy Roman emperors stayed while traveling; hence the term became associated with the districts where the counts palatine were sovereign representatives.
Stretching from the Main River in the northeast across the lower Neckar valley and along the right bank of the Rhine to Lake Constance (Bodensee), the former state of Baden bordered on France and the Rhenish Palatinate in the west, Switzerland in the south, Hesse in the north, and Bavaria and Württemberg in the east. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subsequently split into different lines, which were unified in 1771.
In the northern and western parts of the Palatinate, or PFALZ, the terrain is mostly gently rolling hills, and it is valuable farming land. To the east there is the Rhine valley (very fertile land), and to the south you have the large Palatine Forest, with only small agricultural spots around the villages. The Palatinate is now called Pfalz. The present state of Rheinland-Pfalz consists of the Palatinate, parts of the former Prussian Rhine province (Rhineland), plus some smaller territories including Hohenzollern.
The Black Forest, known as "Schwarzwald", and the main mountain range of the state, rises east of the Rhine valley. Just east of the Black Forest, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, lies the town of Sigmaringen, Germany where Peter Wetzstein was born. Located on the upper right bank of the Danube, it is situated in the Danube valley, surrounded by wooded hills in the south of the Swabian Alb, a plateau region in southern Baden-Württemberg. Limestone outcroppings appear on valley walls. The Thirty Years' War, 1618 through 1648, ended with the final separation of the Rhine headwaters and delta area from Germany. This territory would later become Holland.
In Germany the year the family fled had been a particularly difficult year, and history records that cows froze in their stalls, and in the valleys the grapevines were destroyed from the freeze. Either the family made it to the Netherlands prior to 1732 and lived and worked here to earn their passage, or they fled, with a good deal of hardship along the way, since money would have been hard to come by, unless providencially saved ahead of time, and with the economic situation, this would have been hard to do.
Europe during this era was experiencing a tremendously violent upheaval as the axis of power shifted the nation from the vice grip of religious control which for centuries held the nation within the iron fist of religious suppression. Zwingli and his disciples became the first to renounce allegiance to Rome in 1520, and within 50 years 40 percent of the inhabitants of Europe observed a "Reformed Theology." The Swiss Confederation embraced the new faith, and the cantons of Zurich, Berne, Basel and Shaffhausen were Protestant. But the Catholic church exercized resistance, with the 30 Years War a tumultuous and difficult era for the Palatinate region, and other areas vitally impacted by it. The war was primarily a religious war, which included the witch hunts from 1622-28. Witches were said to communicate with the devil and were blamed for many of the hardships and illnesses.
In 1688, King Louis XV of France sent troops into the Palatinate to secure it for France. The Palatinate or German Pfalz, was the land of the Count Palatine, a title held by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Again in 1702 the people of the Palatinate endured the hardship of war, with thoughts of abandoning homes and farms in the Palatinate looming largely as their major hope for the future, as the war dragged on. During winter of 1708-1709 people huddled around their fires to keep warm, with frequent discussions of immigration. Difficult questions were asked: What about the travel documents? Which family members would go? What month to leave in? How would they obtain the necessary finances? What possessions would they take with them? What ship would they travel on? As they faced the difficulties, and formulated travel plans, France's King Louis XIV invaded their land, ravaging especially the towns in the Lower Palatinate, forcing them to flee in their small boats, called scows on the Rhine River, to Rotterdam. The trip to Holland was not an easy journey, but took on an average between four to six weeks.
Embarking on their journey, Palatine refugees ran the risk of being discovered by the authorities, who demanded bribes to allow them to pass unhindered or threatened to force their return. If they encountered a sympathizer, they may be given food, clothing and money. Upon reaching Holland, the family encamped outside the city of Rotterdam in a reed covered shack.
The Wetzstein/Wettstein family fled the German Palatinates, due to severe religious persecution. Jorg Wetzstein was born in 1674, in Sigmaringen, Wurttemburg, Germany, the son of Heinrich Wetzstein, born: 1650 in Germany and Barbara Shaver, born:1655 in Germany. He died in Funkstown, Maryland. Jorg Wetzstein married Anna Catharine Dilli/Dilles on 5 Oct. 1692, in Mosbach, Baden, Germany. Anna Catharina was the daughter of Stephen Dilli and Christine Rapp, and she was born in Evangelisch Mosbach, Baden, Germany. The couple had 3 children:
Stephan Dilles the father was Jorg Dilles, born: Abt 1552 Married: Eva Bork, daughter of Hans Bork, in 1577 in Kehl, Baden, Germany. Jorg Dilles father was Jacob Dilles, born abt. 1526, Kehl, Baden, Germany, died: 12 Apr. 1625 in Kehl, Offenburg, Baden, Germany.
PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY IN ROTTERDAM
Most of the German immigrants sailed to Pennsylvania from Dutch ports, such as Rotterdam and Amsterdam in Holland, after coming down the Rhine River from Germany. Thus, English speaking people may have confused them as being Dutch because the ship lists reported they embarked for the new world from Dutch ports. Thus, some people may have incorrectly thought these Palatine Germans and other German speaking people were Dutch.
The port of Rotterdam began as a small village on the River Rotte. By 1250, the river mouth was closed off by dams; rising sea levels meant that too much salt water was able to penetrate inland. However, these dams hampered shipping traffic. This made it necessary to carry cargo over the dam, loading it from one ship to another. The dam therefore turned out to be an outstanding location for the trading of cargo. Thanks to the herring fishing industry, the village grew into a city. Around 1600, the port was able to accommodate as many as 100 herring ships. Rotterdam developed into a mercantile port. Merchant ships sailed from Rotterdam to South America and the Dutch East Indies and back. Ships would anchor right in the heart of the city to among other things discharge tobacco and spices. These products were stored in the warehouses on the quays.
German emigration was organized by the British merchants at Rotterdam, who saw a profitable opportunity to ship Germans to the colonies. From here in the bustling European seaport of Rotterdam, they set sail for the North American American Colony of Philadelphia aboard the ship "The Samuel," stopping for supplies in Cowes, England, enroute to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11 August 1732. That year, there was a flood of emigrants leaving the Palatinate by sailing down the Rhine on large boats. As published in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1732, they were reported to be fleeing "hard usage, intolerable servitude, and religious grievances."
CRYPTO JEWS, HUGUENOTS & ETC
Between the 1500s to 1750's, multitudes were converted to the Protestant faith. Europe's Jews however, frequently went "underground" concerning their faith, during severe perseuction. There is a term for this, called "Crypto-Judaism." It speaks of the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; people who practice crypto-Judaism are referred to as "crypto-Jews". The term crypto-Jew is also used to describe descendants of Jews who still (generally secretly) maintain some Jewish traditions, often while adhering to other faiths, most commonly Catholicism. This may have been due in part to Roman Catholics referring to their religion as "Christian," rather than Jews obtaining a genuine understanding of Messiah through the biblical foundation of salvation through faith in haMashiach which the apostles taught from the Day of Pentecost.
THE TRUMPET THAT SHALL NEVER SOUND DEFEAT
There is one truth. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is one church of Yeshua haMashiach/the Lord Jesus Christ. History records that our ancestors came into truth in which they rejoiced. Sadly, it was often mixed with error. They baptized their infants, although even in Reformations times, many were of the understanding that this was unscriptural. They immerses them three times in some sects. But groups such as the Quakers and French Camisards, came into an understanding of water baptism in Yeshua haMashiach's/Jesus Christ's name.
a.Speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gives utterance is the manifestation God has given as the definite, indisputable, supernatural witness or sign of the baptism of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6).
God's word states: If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? During Old Testament times, the trumpet was a warning of upcoming war. Messiah who has a sharp sword in His mouth will always war against error. The church was founded on certain doctrinal principles set forth in Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5, and taught by many of the leaders of the Reformation, which include salvation, waterbaptism in Jesus name, and receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
The Bible says there is only one way to Heaven Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6)
Your good works cannot save you. But through faith in Christ and His power working in you following your decision to make Him Lord of your life, will show the fruit of your conversion in biblically centered Christian works.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Trust Jesus Christ today! Here's what you must do: Admit you are a sinner. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12)
"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10)
Be willing to turn from sin (repent). Jesus said: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:5)
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" (Acts 17:30)
The baptism in the Holy Spirit was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah as the rest and the refreshing (Isaiah 28:11-12), foretold by Jesus as a sign that would follow believers of the gospel (Mark 16:17), and experienced by Jews and Gentiles alike. Water baptism is to be administered only by immersion. Paul said, "We are buried with him [Jesus Christ] by baptism (Romans 6:4; see Colossians 2:12), Jesus came up "out of the water" (Mark 1:10), and Philip and the eunuch went down "into the water" and came up "out of the water" (Acts 8:38-39) symbolizing dying to ones old life and rising to walk in newness of life. Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection are applied to our lives when we experience New Testament salvation: "Repent [death to sin], and be baptized [burial] every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [resurrection]."
b.The gift of "divers kinds of tongues," mentioned by Paul in I Corinthians 12:1-12 and concerning which he gave regulations in I Corinthians 14:1-40, is given by both for self-edification (I Corinthians 14:4) and for the edification of the church (I Corinthians 14:27-28).
In church meetings the gift of tongues is used to give a public message, and it is to be interpreted. Since this gift can be misused in public, it needs proper regulation (I Corinthians 14:23-28). Not all believers exercise the gift of tongues, which is different in function from tongues given by God as the initial witness of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Apostle Paul said, "Forbid not to speak with tongues" (I Corinthians 14:39) and "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all" (I Corinthians 14:8). Who dares to teach or preach to the contrary?
It is worthy of note that many of the Reformation leaders themselves had teaching that contained doctrinal abberations. Many of those men who have been called reformers or church fathers cannot stand up to the biblical test of orthodoxy, if you line up what they taught with scripture. The immigrants were spiritually hungry. They did what people do today. They searched the scriptures to find out what God's word says is truth. Or they were laxidazical, didn't dare to question, but preferred to blindly accept tradition, whether it lined up with scripture or not, and became as the Lord said: "Blind leaders of the blind." And some whose names we may never know, were the true reformers! The scriptures must be studied so as to "prove all things, and to hold fast to that which is good." Jewish followers of Yeshua haMashiach/Messiah consider themselveChrist's suffering and death purchased healing for us-physically, mentally, and spiritually. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows...With his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5). This promise definitely includes physical healing, for the Gospel of Matthew says this passage was fulfilled by Christ's healing of people who were sick: "He cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaiah the prophet, saying, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:16-17). (See also 1 Peter 2:24). The healing ministry of Christ did not end with His earthly life; it is part of His work in the church today. He promised, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18). Listed among the gifts of the Spirit for the present-day church are "the gifts of healing" (I Corinthians 12:9). James 5:14-15 presents God's plan for divine healing: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." Laying on of hands and anointing with oil usually accompany prayer for healing, in accordance with God's Word and to focus faith. Faith in the Lord is the key to receiving healing. The Gospels record that Jesus healed people according to their faith. (See Matthew 9:29;13:58; Mark 2:5; 5:34, 36; 9:23-24;10:52.) By the power of God the Apostle Paul was able to raise up a lame man at Lystra because he perceived that the man had faith to be healed (Acts 14:8-10). s to be Jewish people who have found Messiah.
THE BLACK FOREST & THE BLACK DUTCH
Those people living in America who describe themselves as Black Dutch or Black German, are of a particular ethnicity, that is not always readily understood. Schwarze Deutsche or Black Germans, found along the Danube River in Austria and Germany, in the Black Forest and, to a lesser extent, along the Rhine River, have dark hair and eyes, unlike the fairer people both north and south of them. Their descendants in America may be called either Black Dutch or Black German.
The Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, is a section of Southwestern Germany that borders on Switzerland on the south, on the Neckar River to the East and on France to the West. The Northern gate to the Black Forest is Pforzheim.
The Black Forest is named for the beautiful mountain landscape with its dense population of pine trees. It is a region of incomparably unspoiled nature with its forests, mountains and meadows.
The Black Forest is known for its half-timber houses many of them 300 years old. The craftsmen of the area are well known around the world for their cuckoo clocks and the Christmas season is never complete without a nutcracker from this region. Castles, vineyards and orchards dot the hillsides.
Dutch is the English form of Deutsch in German or Duits in Dutch (Nederlands). It has come to mean the people of the Netherlands only in English recently, but it originally meant all speakers of German in the broadest sense. This includes the entire German sub-branch of the Germanic Branch of the Indo-European Language Family.
The other sub-branches are the Anglo-Friesian (English, Scots and Friesian) and the Nordic (Swedish, Dano-Norwegian [Danish, Riksmal {Boksmal} and Landsmal {Nynorsk}], Icelandic, and Faeroese [Faroese]). There are many dialects and languages in the German sub-branch, divided into High German and Low German. The forms of High German are German [High Saxon, Alemanni, High Frankish (Franconian), Swabian, Bavarian, Austrian, Luxembourgese, Alsatian, Styrian], Swiss German, and Yiddish. Low German includes Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans [South African Dutch], Hanoverian [Low Frankish {Franconian}], Hessian, Low Saxon [Brandenburgian], Holsteiner, Pomeranian and Prussian. The Frankish area includes Rheinland-Pfalz and Hanover, with the area south of Aachen [Charlemagne's capital], centered on Frankfurt, speaking a High German dialect, and the area from Aachen north, centered on Essen, speaking a Low German dialect. The Pennsylvania Dutch are Low Germans from Germany, not Dutch from Netherlands.
The Pennsylvania German language resembles most closely the dialects of the German Palatinate. However, Pennsylvania German speakers came from various parts of the southwest German speaking corner including Swabia, Württemberg, Alsace, and Switzerland. In the first generations after the settlers came over there is believed to have been a merging of the dialects. The language which resulted resembled most the Palatinate German.
THE PETER WETZSTEIN FAMILY Peter Wetzstein was born on 1 February 1706 in Sigmaringen, Wurttemburg, Germany. Peter and Anna Elizabeth Kurtz (born 1709) married in 1723 in Grotzingen, near Heidelberg, Germany. It was here that an infant daughter born to them, whom they named after Elizabeth in 1729, but the baby died that year.
The Wetzstein children born while in Germany:
Peter's wife Anna died in Funkstown, Maryland in 1735, just three short years after their arrival in Philadelphia, PA. Pennsylvania, Peter married Anna Ursula Heilig, (born: 1714) the daughter of Georg and Margaretha Heilig. They were married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1735. At some point, the family moved to Red Hill, Pa., a borough in Montgomery County. Red Hill was originally a part of Upper Hamover Township. Today, Red Hill is located in the Philadelphia-Camden metro area.
THE DIFFICULT SEA VOYAGE
Aboard ship, the immigrants were crowded together, with many of them sleeping in beds on the deck or on the deck floor itself. When a storm came up, they "reefed" the sails, fastened the rudder, and closed the portholes which left everyone sitting in darkness. Infants, children and elderly often died, sometimes without notice. If the trip took longer than expected, the food rations were often depleted because they ate too much in the beginning of the voyage. After a month and half at sea, when they should have been near land, soundings would be made to judge their distance to land. When they were close, those who survived were overjoyed. The gloom and despair onboard the ship was substituted by anticipation and prayer. A dairy entry by an unknown immigrant mentions that brethren and sisters came in small boats to meet the ship, with bread and fruit, for which the immigrants gave praise to the Highest, publicly onboard with singing and shouts of joy. The immigrants cried and thanked the Lord for having preserved them.
The ship's passenger list for the Samuel, lists Grötzingen, Baden as the place of origin for the Wetzstein family, stating that Peter Wettstein was a grenadier in the Baden-Durlach Circle Infantry; and laborer in a brick factory. The passenger list records Peter's wife Elizabeth and his daughter Magratha, who was, at that tome, age 6.
ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA: THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
The Philadelphia area was the location of the Lenape (Delaware) Indian village Shackamaxon. Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 1600s, with the first settlements founded by the Dutch, British, and Swedish. One of the three original counties created by William Penn in November 1682, and its name to him signified “brotherly love,” although the original Philadelphia in Asia Minor was actually “the city of Philadelphus.” Philadelphia was laid out in 1682 as the county seat and the capital of the Province; it was chartered as a city on October 25, 1701. Benjamin Franklin arrived in the city in 1723. Between 1727-1775, 36,000 German speaking foreigners arrived in Pennsylvania alone.
Thomas Holme designed the plan for the city of Philadelphia, and the Northern Liberties were designated to give urban lots to all who purchased 5,000 rural acres in Pennsylvania. The average Pennsylvania farm of 125 acres was six times larger than a typical peasant holding in southwestern Germany.
About three-quarters of the Germans landed in Philadelphia, making it a staging point for colonial migration. About three ships bearing a total of 600 Germans arrived in Philadelphia annually during the late 1720s. By the early 1750s some 20 ships and 5,600 Germans landed every year. Most emigrants filtered into rural Pennsylvania seeking farms. From there, some families headed south to settle on the frontiers of Maryland and Virginia. The City had eighty families in 1683, 4,500 inhabitants in 1699, 10,000 in 1720, 23,700 by 1774. By 1766, there were 100,000, said Ben Franklin.15
Peter Wetzstein married wife #1 Elizabeth Kurtz in 1723, the daughter of Christian Kurtz. She sailed with him to America in 1732 with their 6 year old daughter Magratha. Elizabeth died in 1735. He married wife #2 Anna Ursula Heilig, the daughter of George and Margaretha Heilig. The following children were born to the Wetzstein family.
People referred to as "Pennsylvania Dutch" were ethnic Germans that immigrated to Pennsylvania, with most coming to America between between 1730 and 1760. They weren't Dutch in the modern sense of Holland Dutch; but Germans who fled the Rhineland Palatinate in times of persecution and finding refuge in Switzerland, or Alsace which is now in France, they traveled to America via Holland or the Netherlands. If their economic situation as refugees necessitated them living and working in Holland, their names on immigration documents may reflect this Dutch heritage, such as my own Wetzstein family that resided for a time in Netherlands being called Van der Woestyne.
The term "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a result of English-speaking people mispronouncing the German word "Deutsch." Yet another theory is that most of them, came here on ships which embarked from the port of Rotterdam, at the mouth of the Rhine, which is in Holland.
Passengers lists submitted by the ship's captains to the Philadelphia immigration authorities, used the word "Pfaltzers", which means from the Pfalz, the Palatinate, in what is now the modern German state of Rhineland-Pfalz.
German Dutch Recipes Recipes From Holland German Dutch Name Origins Fortney/Fortineau Family History Swiss Roots Recipes
