More than one hundred years ago, Daniel Rupp compiled a list of names of foreign immigrants who came through Philadelphia in the years 1727 to 1776. The earlier date was determined by the time that Pennsylvania enforced the laws pertaining to registration of foreign immigrants. The later date was the start of the Rev. War, which halted immigration temporarily. His compilation included about 30,000 names, hence the title, "A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and other Immigrants to Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776." For short, the book is referred to as "Thirty Thousand Names."
Rupp assumed that the information in the different lists, such as the captain's lists, the loyalty oath lists, and the naturalization lists contained the same names and so he used only one set. As a consequence, his set of names is not as complete as it could be. He had to translate many of the German signatures, and, in the process, made errors. He also committed the crime of reordering the lists. In his time, it was not recognized that there was much information in the order of the names. He used a few sources of information other than the three lists above, and some of his suggestions have led to arguments. The book has been reprinted and is nearly always available.
The "Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series", in volume XVII, expanded upon Rupp's work by using the Captain's lists also. But, they used Rupp's translation of the names and so the errors of Rupp were perpetuated.
The Pennsylvania German Society was moved in the 1930's to issue a book, "Pennsylvania German Pioneers." This was in three volumes, including one volume of facsimile signatures. It was now possible to consult the signatures and determine for yourself whether the translated name was correct. Another significant advantage was the ability to compare the signature at immigration with the signature on later documents to see if they were the same. Thus, you might be able to answer the question of whether you had the right ancestor.
PGP was reprinted several times, but without the signature volume. Nettie Shreiner-Yantis made up for this deficit by publishing the signature volume. More recently, Picton Press has reprinted the entire three volume set, including all illustrations.
Annette K. Burgert, who has done so much on emigration and immigration records, says that the PGP is considered the most accurate version of the immigrant names, but even it contains errors, duplications, and omissions. Each captain used his own rules in making up the ship's list, so that the amount and type of information are uncertain. Since many ships arrived with very sick passengers, not all arrivals made it to the taking of the loyalty oaths. Though the PGP contains an index, it is not to be completely trusted.
If you have not heard Mrs. Burgert speak and you are looking for an ancestor in Europe, you should try to hear her. She has many good ideas.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.