The Odyssey of the Valentin(e) Himmelberger Family compiled by Judy Robbins
David Ella Kelly, wife of Wm. F. Fowler,
is a descendant of Valentin Himmelberger.
This is the story of her ancesters.
Since 1702 their country had been enduring a general European war between the Protestants and the Catholics and there was Little hope for the future. The war lay heavy on their minds, a period in which one out of every three Germans had perished. The Palatines were heavily taxed and endured religious persecution at the hands of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Patriarch Life in the Old Country Rhineland & The River Rhine Our Patriarch, Valentin(e) Himmelberger, was born December 9, 1709, in the neck of Baden-Wurttenburg in the South German Hills near the ruins of the Heidelberg Palace in some of the worst of times — the general European war between the Reformation Wars and the Napoleonic French Revolution.
“The (previous) winter of 1708-1709 had been very long and cold in the Rhineland. It was a very bleak period. The Palatines (German-speaking people from the Rhine River area) huddled around their fires as they considered quitting their homes and farms forever. By early April, the land was still frozen and most of the Palatine’s vines had been killed by The bitters weather.
As the people considered their future, the older ones remembered that in 1677 William Penn had visited the area, encouraging the people to go to Pennsylvania in America, a place where a man and his family could be free of the problems they were now encountering.
To go to America meant a long, dreadful ocean voyage and a future in an unknown land, away from their past and family. Everyone knew that the German Elector would stop any migration as soon as it was noticed. Only a mass exodus from the Palatinate could be successful. Many wondered how they could ever finance such a journey even if they wanted to attempt it. Small boats, known as scows, would have to be acquired for the long ride up the Rhine River and then there was the price for the ocean voyage. While some of the people had relatives that could assist them financially, many were very poor. Soon enough, their minds were made up for them as France’s King Louis XIV invaded their land, ravaging especially the towns in the Rhineland.
In masses, the Palatines boarded their small boats and headed up the Rhine for Rotterdam. It was April 1709 and the first parties were afloat on the Rhine, many with only their most basic goods and their faith in God as their only possessions. The river voyage took an average of 4-6 weeks through extremely cold, bitter weather. By June, 1709, the people streamed into Rotterdam at a rate of one thousand per week. The Elector, as expected, issued an edict forbidding the migration, but almost everyone ignored it. By October, 1709, more than 10,000 Palatines had completed the Rhine River journey.
Now, the Duke of Marlborough was assigned by Queen Anne to transport the emigrants to England. British troop ships were also used. The Queen assumed these Protestants would help fuel the anti-Roman feelings developing in England. The ships from Rotterdam landed, in part, at Deptford and the refugees were sent to one of three camps: Deptford, Camberwell, and Blackheath outside the city wall of London. Many Londoner’s welcomed the Palatines, but not the poor, as they felt their English food was being taken from them to feed the Germans. British newspapers published mixed accounts of the Palatines, some praising them while others cursed them."
Source: Palatine & Pennsylvania-Dutch Internet Genealogy After the refugees reached London, one of them wrote down these words to document the flight from the Rhineland:
“The State of the Poor Palatines As Humbly Represented By Themselves Upon Their First Arrival In This Kingdom, About June, 1709 (from London, England)
We the poor distressed Palatines, whose utter Ruin was occasioned by the merciless Cruelty of a Blood Enemy, the French, whose prevailing Power some years past, like a Torrent rushed into our Country, and overwhelmed us at once; and being not content with Money and Food necessary for their Occasions, not only dispossest us of all Support but inhumanely burnt our House to the ground, where being deprived of all Shelter, we were turned into open Fields, and there drove with our Families, to seek what Shelter we could find, being obliged to make the cold Earth our Lodgings, and the Clouds our Covering. In this deplorable condition we made our Humble Supplications and Cries to Almighty God, who has promised to relieve them that put their Trust in him, whose Goodness we have largely Experienced, in disposing the Hearts of Pious Princes to a Christian Compassion and Charity towards us in this miserable condition, who by their Royal Bounties and large Donations, and the exemplary Kindness of well-disposed Nobility, Gentry, and Others, We and our poor Children have been preserved from Perishing; specially since our Arrival into this happy Kingdom of GREAT BRITAIN. While not only like the Land of Canaan, abounds with all things necessary for human Life, but also with a Religious People, who as freely give to the Distressed for Christ’s sake, as it was given to them by the Almighty Donor of all they enjoy. Blessed Land and Happy People! Governed by the Nursing Mother of Europe, and the Best of Queens! Whose unbounded Mercy and Charity has received us despicable Strangers from afar off into Her own Dominions, where we have found a Supply of all things Necessary for our present Subsistence; for which we bless and praise Almighty God, the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty and all Her good subjects, from the Highest Degree to those of the meanest Capacity; and do sincerely and faithfully promise to all our utmost Powers, for the future, to render ourselves Thankful to God, and Serviceable to Her Majesty, and all her Good Subjects, in what way soever her goodness is pleased to dispose of Us: and in the mean time be constant in our Prayers, that God would return the Charity of well disposed People a thousand fold into their own Bosoms, which is all the Requittal that can present be made by us poor distressed Protestants.”
Source: Palatine & Pennsylvania-Dutch Internet Genealogy According to the Pennsylvania-Dutch genealogists, more than 3,000 of these Palatines were sent to Ireland to reinforce the Protestant faith in that land; meanwhile, streams of Palatines went to America, with most going to Pennsylvania. The ocean voyage was harsh, with over-crowded, under-supplied, and unsanitary sailing ships. What provisions were supplied were generally the least expensive available to the ship’s master. Water frequently ran out, as did food.
Dreadful mortality occurred on many voyages. In addition to those woes, the Palatines faced robbery, deception, and worse from those transporting them. The Palentine immigrants not only came from Germany, but also Bohemia and Switzerland. Most were either Lutheran, Reformed, or Mennonite in religious belief.
Valentin(e) Himmelberger was not among them. His family stayed behind and would hold on until 1737 to join another wave of Germans emigrating to America.
First Generation: Life as a Pennsylvania Dutchman To begin with, Valentin(e) Himmelberger was a Protestant of the Reformed Church.
The word Reformed comes from the Protestant Reformation which swept across Europe in the 1500s under the leadership of such men as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Calvin’s reformation at Geneva spread to many countries, including, Scotland (where it became the Presbyterian Church) and the Netherlands (where it became the Dutch Reformed Church). The Dutch Reformed Church established its first congregation America at New Amsterdam in 1628.
He became a Pennsylvania pioneer — a refugee from the Mannheim-Heidelberg area of Southwestern Germany . Valentin(e) had lived in what was called the Palatinate, an old German Empire ruled from the castle of the Count Palatine, a title held by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. His people, as well as others from this region, were known for their farming genius, especially grasses and grain for making wine. The rulers were making life impossible for the local farmers. Taxation was relentless.
By that time in history, specifically after 1727, the volume of German immigrants to Pennsylvania had increased sharply. The Delaware Indian Removal in America had forced the Original Native Americans from the Eastern lands. And with the warfare in Germany, its countrymen were longing for a better place to live — a better song to sing. And so, they left the Rhineland — lands along the River Rhine in Eastern Europe, including Germany and Switzerland — and they became Pennsylvania Germans. The Palatines continued to settle most heavily in the interior counties of Northampton, Berks, Lancaster and Lehigh. Their skill and industry transformed the region into a rich farming country, contributing greatly to the expanding prosperity of the province.
Remember, the liberal and tolerant principles of William Penn’s government in colonial Pennsylvania had attracted the original flow of immigrants from the Rhine country of Germany. And still they came. In the beginning of these immigrations, the Mennonite Francis Daniel Pastorius came to Pennsylvania with some German Quakers in 1683 and founded Germantown, the pioneer German settlement. Then, the early German settlers who had come during the first wave during the Protestant Reformation in Europe were for the most part members of the smaller sects who came and settled as groups — Mennonites, Amish, Dunkers, or German Baptists, Schwenckfelders, and Moravians. Those after 1727 were mostly members of the larger Lutheran and Reformed churches.
Actually, Germany as a country has not existed very long. Prior to 1871, what is now Germany was a number of separate states, such as Wurttemberg, Prussia, Bavaria, etc., whose boundaries changed frequently as a result of war and other causes. The Palatinate was one of these states, and was located along the Rhine River, roughly where the modern German state of Rhineland-Pfalz is located. Anyway, on this — the second great flight from the miseries caused by the French enemies in the Rhineland — Valentin(e) joined those who left their mountain homes and vineyards to escape up the Rhine to Amsterdam. He found passage on the Ship “Bilander Townshead” and survived the tortuous ocean voyage on the high seas to arrive in Philadelphia on Oct. 5, 1737. The ship came by way of Cowes, England, on the Isle of Wight in the English Channel. So it came to pass that 5th Great Grandfather Himmelberger joined his fellow Dutch American settlers in Berks(hire) Co. Pennsylvania. All of his children were born in Bern Township. By the way, Daniel Boone was born Nov. 2, 1734, in Berks County, Penn.
They found the Appalachian ridges of Berkshire County to be of mountainous terrain — maybe a little like their Palatine mountains, minus the castles — except for the southern corner, which consists of rolling piedmont where Valentin(e) farmed. The principal rivers were the Schuylkill and Conestoga. Now, Reading, once called Salem, is the county seat, laid out in 1748 on land owned by the sons of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Once inhabited by Delaware Indians, the region became populated with the German settlers and the actual county was created in 1751 and named for Berkshire, England.
Pennsylvania records show that Valentin(e) married a woman named Mary Elizabeth (last name unknown) on October 3rd, 1737. If this is correct, he must have been married on board the ship while emigrating to America, because the ship arrived two days later on October 3rd, 1737, in the port of Philadelphia. He would have been 30, and she, 24. Protestants, their children were baptized in the Bern Reformed Church, his son Ulrich Himmelberger (Oliver Heavenhill) of our direct line, among them.
Valentin(e) was 38 when he immigrated and lived in Berks County until his death 40 years later. Besides Ulrich were: Clara Himmelberger, Eva Himmelberger, Susanne Himmelberger, Philip Himmelberger, Maria Elizabeth Himmelberger, Catharina Himmelberger, George Himmelberger, Jacob Himmelberger. We don’t know many specifics of his daily life; however, he left this will* which sheds light on his accomplishments: Will of Valentin(e) Himmelberger
In the Name of Amen, I Valentin(e) Himmelberger of Bern Township Berks County and in the State of Pennsylvania, find myself weakly in Body but thank God by my (forms) and full understanding Considering the Mortality of my Body, make and ordain this my last Will and Testament as follows.
I recommend my Soul in the Hands of the Lord, of whom I have received it, accordingly (xxxx) upon my Demise on the Earth to be Christianly Buried by my Executors. (Trusting) my worldly Estate wherewith the Lord Blessed me in this life, I give and Bequeath to my Lawful Heirs as follows.
Firstly I give and Bequeath to my beloved Wife Maria Elizabeth all my movable Estate and that shall all be appraised piece for piece, but remain in her hand till (five) weeks after her Death, when all the movable goods shall be sold at Public Auction and of the money arising therefrom, Ten Pounds shall be paid to my Eldest Son Philip beforehand for his first Birth Right and the remaining Money shall be distributed among my Eight Children in eight equal shares, therein my Son Jacob Himmelberger shall be excluded, my Son Philip the first Born I have already paid in hand two hundred pounds in Specie, I have already paid in hand to my Daughter Elizabeth in Specie money and the worth of money one hundred Pounds, I have paid in hand to my Daughter Catherina Ninety Pounds Specie, and Seventy Pounds shall yet be paid to her Children Harry Fisher, Michael and John with Lawful Interest from the fifteenth day of March one Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Five, and Shall be Paid to each as he arrives his Age twenty three Pounds five Shillings and eight Pence Principal except the Interest from the Time aforesaid, I have paid in hand to my Daughter Clara one hundred pounds Specie, I have paid in hand to my Son George one hundred and fifty pounds Specie, I have deducted my Son Jacob’s Inheritance in full of the Consideration Money for the Land, I have paid in hand to my Son Ulrich two hundred Pounds in Specie, I have paid in hand to my Daughter Susanna one hundred Pounds Specie in Money and Money’s Worth, and I have also paid in hand in Money to my Daughter Eva one hundred pounds Specie, this bequest and now paying beforehand shall be each of my Children’s full Share, two Bonds one of thirty three Pounds Five Shillings and eight Pence are yet remaining back by my Son Jacob, one Bond of Philip (Refer) for twenty five Pounds, and one other of Mathias Weaver for Thirteen Pounds, these said Bonds and the Money arising from the movable effects shall after my beloved Wife’s death be distributed in eight equal Shares, therein my Son Jacob excluded A Bank Note whereby my Son Jacob has one thousand and seven hundred Dollars, which is now alone in my name to Fifty Pounds Nineteen Shillings and five pence, my eight Children Shall have twenty one pounds part thereof.
I make and Proclaim my Son Philip and my Son in Law Abraham (Birsof) to my only executors of this my last Will and Testament, I make Void and Recall all former Wills and Testament, ratify and confirm this my last Will and Testament and not other.
Published and Declared and Subscribed the Twenty eight Day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven in the presence of us:
/s/ Jost Stouss
/s/ Ulrich Bagenstoss
Valentin(e) (Mark of X) Himmelberger*Source: http://www.gironet.nl/home/hommelbg/hom-himmelberger-e.htm
Second Generation: The Heavenhills of Kentucky
