Wilhelm Hoffman mentions a few names which are intriguing. We wish that he had said more than he did. Remember that he started writing his account book in 1733.
In 1739 and 1740 he mentions Pastor Heltsklaw from Wilmetogff. This man must surely be a Holtzclaw. In 1738, Wilhelm writes of his brother-in-law, Heide of Siegen. Just how this came about is unknown, as his wife was Catharina Pithan. According to B. C. Holtzclaw, none of Wilhelm’s sisters married a Heide. He also refers to a brother-in-law, Henrich Schute, at Fücknhette (?), whose actual relationship is not explained.
He records that on 16 May 1741, he, Johannes Wilhelm Hoffman and his wife Anna Cadrina, with their sons Johannes and Johan Heinrich, left the village of Eysern in the Catholic part of the principality of Nassau-Siegen in his fatherland in Europe. He arrived in Philadelphia on 1 Oct 1741, and within the year had moved to York County and across the “Sequahanna” to a place beyond Yorktown.
He left an incomplete statement, “After I left Europe and the servitude in Siegen, in the form of handwork and money, as the book shows again and again -----.” In another place, he gives as motivation for coming to America, “the hope of being able to live without the burden of war.”
In America, he continued to record some of the same kinds of observations as had in Germany, namely, taxes, road building, road maintenance, and war. He was caught up in the French and Indian War which was so hard on the frontier counties. With his fatalistic spirit, he believed that God was punishing America by using war as the means. He records the end of the war on a very happy note with a wish for a peaceful life under our King George the Second of Great Britain.
(I said previously that the diary was in The Library of Congress. More correctly, I believe a copy is there on microfilm. The translation by Charles T. Zahn is in the LDS library on film 193014(?).
Was it so unusual that a man in the position of Wilhelm could read and write? No. A high percentage of the German immigrants in the eighteenth century could read and write. A quick look at the 70 male passengers on the ship Molley in 1727 arriving at Philadelphia shows only about 15% had someone else write their names. In this group were several Mennonites (Anabaptists). Another ship in 1729 shows about a 75% literacy rate among the passengers.
(20 Jan 03)
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.