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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

selves into a company,” the last named four had withdrawn, and their interests had been taken by Francis Daniel Pastorius, the celebrated Johanna Eleanora Von Merlau, wife of Dr. Johann Wilhelm Peterson, Dr. Gerhard Von Mastricht, Dr. Thomas Von Wylich, Johannes Lebrun, Balthasar Jawert, and Dr. Johannes Kemler. That this was the date of the organization of the Company is also recited in the power of attorney which they executed in 1700.[1] Up to the 8th of June, 1683, they seem to have bought 15,000 acres of land, which were afterwards increased to 25,000 acres. Of the eleven members nearly all were followers of the pietist Spener, and five of them lived at Frankfort, two in Wesel, two in Lubeck, and one in Duisberg. Though to this company has generally been ascribed the settlement of Germantown, and with it the credit of being the originators of German emigration, no one of its members except Pastorius ever came to Pennsylvania, and of still more significance is the fact that, so far as known, no one of the early emigrants to Pennsylvania came from Frankfort.

On the 11th of June, 1683, Penn conveyed to Govert Remke, Lenart Arets, and Jacob Isaacs Van Bebber, a baker, all of Crefeld, one thousand acres of land each, and they, together with Telner, Streypers, and Sipman, constituted the original Crefeld purchasers. It is evident that their purpose was colonization, and not speculation. The arrangement between Penn and Sipman provided that a certain number of families should go to Pennsylvania within a specified time, and probably the

  1. The power of attorney says, “und desswegen in Kraffts dess den 12 Novembris, 1686, beliebten brieffes eine Societat geschlossen.” Both the original agreement and the letter of attorney, with their autographs and seals, are in my possession.