NICOLAUS-Michal-Gorg-Jacob-John-Levi-John
Generation One
Nicolaus Kan (1692- 1784)
The Kann family has its roots in Southern Germany near the German Swiss border. The religion of the people in this area was the Reformed German Church. They had broken from The Catholic Church and declared separate beliefs from the Lutherans. During the late 1600's and early 1700's they were the objects of religious discrimination, torture, and even execution. As early as 1690, German Reformed people began to leave their homeland, first fleeing down the Rhine River to Rotterdam in Holland, and from there a few began coming to America in search of religious freedom.
Many of the first German Reformed people landed in New York and settled in central New York, north of Williamsport Pa. After their farms began to prosper, the Province of New York levied such heavy tax that they could no longer stay on their farms. Many moved south into Pennsylvania where they found the taxation less oppressive and greater religious freedom. These Reformed Peoples wrote their friends and relatives in the old country advising them not to settle in New York but to come directly to Pennsylvania. For this reason the colonial City of Philadelphia became a leading port through which the Reformed German people came.
In 1733, a ship registered in London under the name "SAMUEL" at the command of Hugh Percy prepared to leave from Holland for the New World. It was commissioned by the Palatines to transport Reformed People to America. The ship was registered in London, as were most ships that brought immigrants to America. Niclaus Kan, his wife Cathrina, and four children also prepared to start a new life in America. The children were Gorg Michal age 12, Hendrick age 8, Johannes age 3, and Dorothea age 1/2. They prepared for a more difficult voyage then most of us could imagine. A account of such a trip from Rotterdam to Philadelphia was detailed in this account by another traveler Gottlieb Mittelberger:On May 10 he set out from Enzwehingen for Heilbronn ......he sailed ... down the Necker and Rhine to Rotterdam with 400 persons, Wurtenbergs (Durlach) Palatines, and Swiss to Cowes in England. Finally he landed at Philadelphia October 10,... He then says the reason for publishing this book is the grevious conditions of those who traveled from Germany, and the outrageous proceedings of the "Dutch Man Dealers" and other man dealing emmissaries -- that the journey from Germany to Pennsylvania is 1700 french miles, and that you pass 36 custom houses going down the Rhine. He proceeds and says, that it takes 6 weeks to go down the Rhine alone -- that if a woman should die in child birth, that the dead mother and the living child are both thrown into the sea together .... that 32 children died on the ship that he was on -- That the sickness on board the vessels is horrible and terrible stench is present all the time -- that people vomit continually -- suffer from dysentary, headache, scurvey, cancer, mouth rot, the later coming from old sharply salted food and foul water -- that besides they are afflicted with damp, heat, hunger and want -- that the lice are so thick they can be scraped off -- that when a gale is at its height, people cry and pray most pitiously -- the healthy ones get cruel and curse and sometimes kill one another -- that a women in child birth (because no physician present, it was thought that she would die), was pushed right into the sea -- that children from 1 to 7 years nearly all died from hunger and thirst and itch.
As to the food he says it is dirty and that the passengers get warm food only three times a week -- that the water is black and full of worms -- the biscuits are full of red worms and spiders nests, and finally, that when the passengers land, they are barely able to walk and just creep from the deck, and when they reach the ground they weep for joy and pray and praise God. He goes on to say that when the cargo is landed at Philadelphia, only those who can pay their passage can leave the ship -- the others are -- sold -- they often stay two or three weeks before any one will buy them and during this time, a good many die. As to the cost of the journey from Rotterdam to Philadelphia he says it is 10 pounds or 60 florins -- children 5 to 10 years old go at one-half price -- cost from his home to Rotterdam, 40 florins.
He then tells about how the passengers are sold and tells that it begins in a market on board the ship. That every day the English, Dutch and the High Germans come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, 20, 30, or 40 hours away, (1 hour means 4 miles) and go on board the ship and select and bargain, the adults agreeing to serve three, four or five years for the amount that is due; but young children serve ten to 15 years until they are 21 as a rule. He says that many parents must sell and trade their children like cattle, for this will free them of their passage money. A woman must stand good for her husband's passage, if he should arrive sick. It the passenger dies when he is halfway over, or more than half, the other members of his family must pay for him; but if he dies less than half way, he goes free." (1)
We can assume that the Kann’s voyage was just as hideous. It began in Southern Germany with a trip down the Rhine to Rotterdam Holland. From Rotterdam they sailed on the ship "Samuel" stopping briefly along the way at Deal, England. The "Samuel" finally docked in Philadelphia on August 17, 1733.
Our ability to locate records of the family trip can be attributed to the political situation of the time. The English were in control of America and at war with the European countries in which Catholicism was the religion. When foreigners arrived in America, King George of England required that the ship captain present a Ship Registry. This registry was to include names of all heads of household and males over 16. The registry form presented by Hugh Percy of the Samuel was our first record of the Kann family in America. These records have been preserved in the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg and reprinted in several other texts available at the York Historical Society. Appendix 1 is a transcript of the original ship list for the Samuel and Appendix 2 is a duplicate of the original ship list showing the mark made by Nicholas Kan's own hand. Nicholas Kan was registered by a clerk, he probably could not write, but his mark of "N" appears on the original document written on August 17, 1733.
Our second record of Nicholas Kan and his family results from another requirement levied on immigrants by King George of England. Immediately after arriving, the foreigners were required to pledge allegiance to King George and the Crown, to disclaim Catholicism, and promise not to take up arms in support of any other foreign power. From the "Oath of Allegiance" document we can determine the members of the Kan family, their ages and birthdays:
Name Age Born
Nicolaus 41 1692
Cathrina 40 1693
Michal 12 1721
Hendrick 8 1725
Johannes 3 1730
Dorothea 6 months 1733
Appendix 3 contains the complete oath of allegiance for the ship Samuel on August 17, 1733. Appendix 4 shows Nicholas Kan's mark on the document next to his name.
Nicholas was an early settler west of the Susquehanna. Nicolaus and his family settled in Hellam Township between 1733 and 1736. From an indenture between Nicholas and his son Henry we learn much of the life of Nicholas and his wife Cathrina, later known as Soffina Kann. His land numbered 200 acres, granted in Hellam Township by Thomas Penn on October 30, 1736. The fact that Nicolaus could acquire land within such a short time leads us to believe that he must have had savings, otherwise the family would have had to serve a period of servitude to repay the debt of their trip to America. These debts frequently lasted five years for adult males and until the age of eighteen or twenty-one for children.The location of Hellam is somewhat misleading since Hellam was the western part of Lancaster County at the time and represented all the land west of the Susquehanna River. In fact, Hellam was not opened by the Penns for settlement before 1736. We do know that Nicolaus's neighbors were Peter Byer, Ullrich Strickler, Phillip Stank, Isaac Leyfever, and Henry Bawne who was the executor of Henry Kann's will.
At that time there were border disputes and raids by Maryland settlers in an attempt to take over the Pennsylvania settlers claims. Here is an account from Gibson's History of York County: "The incidents of the border troubles at the time of the first settlement west of the Susquehanna, Most of the thrilling incidents there narrated occurred in the present territory of Hellam and Lower Windsor Townships. The following document concerning the "Chester County Plot" (see page 64) was obtained from the court records at West Chester and contains the names of many of the German settlers west of the river in 1736:
Christian Crawl, Henry Libert, Jacob Hunthecker, Methusalem Griffith. Michael Tanner,Henry Stands, Martin Shultz, Jacob Welshover,Paul Springier, Andreas Felixer, Ulrick Whistler,Nicholas Booker. Hans Steinman, Conrad Strickler,Caspar Springier, Michael Walt, Peter Kersher,RevnardKummer, George Hans Pancker. Frederick Leader, Michael Miller, Martin Weigle, Hans Henry Place, Tobias Fry, Martin Fry, Peter Steinman, Henry Pann, Henry Smith, Jacob Landis, Henry Kendrick, Tobias Rudisilly. Jacob Ki-ebell, Michael Springle, Jacob Singler, Philip Ziegler, CasparCreve'r, Derick Pleager, George Swope, Michael Krenel, Thomas May, Nicholas Brin, Kilian Smith, Martin Bower, George Lauman, Martin Brunt, Michael Allen, Christian Enfers and Nicholas Cone."
A HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY FROM ITS ERECTION TO THE PRESENT T!ME. by W. C. Carter and A. J. Glossbrenner, York, Pennsylvania, 1834, at the Ross library, Lock Haven, PA 17745. Chapter ii, pp. 15-22, is about Springettsbury Manor. It tells the story of how this land originally belonged to the Indians of tile Five Nations. In 1696, an agent of Wil!iam Penn negotiated with the indians for the land lying on both sides of the river Susquehanna, and the Iakes adjacent, in o rnear the Province of Pennsylvania. This deed was again confirmed in 1700. The Conestoga indians disputed this sale by the Five Nations. In 1736 the dispute was finally resolved, and that is when Nicholas Kan received a grant of 200 acres
.
The following paragrapth is copied from Chapter I. p. 15: "When Springettsbury Manor was laid out in 1722, this part of Pennsylvania was (with the exception of the Maryland intruders) inhabited by none but Indians. in the year 1736, when the lands west of the Susquehannah were purchased of the Indians, the only white settlements in the county, were firstly, under Pennsylvania rights, within the limits of Springettsbury Manor, and secondly under Maryland rights. in the southern part of this county, and of what is now Adams county, including the region round about Hanover. The rest of the lands was in the undisturbed possession of the Indians. Even in the white settlements the Indians still had huts.In the HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA, 1845, by. Daniel Rupp, Publ: Gilbert Hills, Prop., Lancaster, PA., Chapter II, pages 547-563, Nicolaus Kan (Kens) was an early German settler of land west of tne Susquehanna. He and others were seduced by a "desparado" Thomas Cressap to declare loyalty to Maryland. He was involved in an abduction of two men and later fined 20 Ibs . Nicholas later, among 47 others, appealed to the Provincial Council at Phiiadelpllia that they were deceived, through tlleir ignorance to settle under Maryland. Cressap. later, tried to entice Irish people to settle on the Germans' lands.
We next find records naming the Kanns in 1744. Here the names Nicklass Kan and Gorg Michal Kan surface in reference to several Reformed Church documents. From 1744 until 1767, Jacob Lischy was the Reformed German Preacher in the York County area. From Lischy's personal records, we learn much about the York area, the Reformed Church, and about the Kan family. Rev. Lischy carefully prepared his personal theological philosophy and rules for the proper organization and administration of the church. These thoughts were carefully written out and signed in Philadelphia on the 19th of May, 1743. Later he came to York and entered these writings in a small leather bound volume which he maintained throughout his ministry. Many local citizens who expressed their support and desire to participate accepted his proposals and and formed his local congregation. On the 30th of October 1744 those who concurred, indicated so by signing his book. Among those signing was Nicklass Kan. The German version of the document is presented in Appendix 5, the translated version is listed in Appendix 6.
From the 17th of March in 1745 a second church document appears in Lischy's personal records. This document proclaims the decision to build a church on the banks of the Catores (Codorus Creek). Niclaus Kan and his son Gorg Michel Kan signed this document sign it to. A copy in German of this document appears as Appendix 7, a translation as Appendix 8, and a microfilm copy of the original signatures as Appendix 9.
The family was involved in the perpetuation of the Reformed German Faith; careful inspection of Lischy's personal records show that the name of Niclaus Kan was listed as one of eight names in a small collection of names at the head of the list. This would indicate that he was an elder or trustee or held a responsible position in the Church. Around 1750, the Kreutz Creek Reformed Congregation was formed near Hellam. Nicholas was probably a member of this congregation of Lischy's Reformed Church. Several of Nicholas's grandchildren, those of Henry, were baptised in this church by Rev. Lischy.
From another record, "Taxables of York County in 1762", we find that Nicholas Kan paid a tax of 16 shillings in that year. The Indenture between Nicholas and son Henry clearly state that both Nicholas and Soffina were alive and signers of that document as late as 1764 when their farm was sold to Henry for six-hundred and thirty-nine pounds. The dates of death and gravesites of Niclaus and Cathrina Kan are as yet unknown. Recently I have found their date of death to be in 1764 as documented by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Later Day Saints batch number F849184, sheet 047, Source Call No. 1395943, and type film.
Four children; Michal, Hendrick, Johannes, and Dorothea; were firmly implanted in the York area and the long line of Kanns in America was begun.