1883 Samuel W. Pennypacker

Historical and biographical sketches/01 Settlement of Germantown

 

Oct. 12th, 1685, In the "Francis and Dorothy" arrived Hans Peter Umstat from Crefeld, with his wife Barbara, his son John, and his daughters Anna Margaretta, and Eve; Peter Schumacher [with his family]; Gerhard Hendricks [with his family] ... Peter Schumacher, an early Quaker convert from the Mennonites, is the first person definitely ascertained to have come from Kri(eg)sheim, the little village in the Palatinate, to which so much prominence has been given. Gerhard Henricks also ... came from Kri(eg)sheim.

In 1702 began the settlement on the Skippack. Among these settlers were Heinrich Pannebacker ... Johannes Umstat ...

Van Bebber gave 100 acres for a Mennonite church, which was built about 1725 ... the trustees being ... (the list does not include Johannes Umstat).

A foot note adds that Hans Peter Umstat brought over with thim the family Bible of his father, Nicholas Umstat.

 

COMMENTS

Hans Peter and family were not from Crefeld. It continues to surprise me that, having written this and other pieces showing Hans Peter arriving on the same ship as Peter Schumacher and Gerhard Hendricks, both of Kriegsheim, that Pennypacker didn't at least consider that Hans Peter may also have come from Kriegsheim. Its proximity to Flomborn might have been another clue.

Hans Peter's absence from the Mennonite Church trustees doesn't absolutely mean he wasn't a Mennonite, but with his Lutheran roots in Germany and nothing else found to document his becoming a Mennonite, he doesn't seem to have been. Some of his descendants were, however, possibly due to their having married Mennonites.

 

Back to Hans Peter Bibliography

See also Why S. W. Pennypacker Thought Hans Peter Umstat Came from Krefeld.

To Hans Peter Main

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Last updated 9 May 2017