Americans of German descent today comprise the second largest ethnic
group in the nation, second only to descendants of people from the
British Isles. Large-scale immigration from Germany to the United States
began in the Colonial era, when over 30,000 Palatines braved the
dangerous ocean-voyage for religious and economic freedom, and ended in
the l950s when German’s displaced by the disruptions of World War II
found new homes here.
There was little immigration from what would later become Germany in the
early years of the Republic. Until 1828, less than one thousand arrived
each year. But by 1832, there were more than 10,000 annually, and by
1836, more than 20,000. This was merely a foretaste of the deluge to
follow: In 1846, 50,000 arrived, in 1854, more than 200,000. In the
decade of the 1850s alone, more than a million Germans moved to the
United States, and the torrent continued until World War I broke out.
Many of America’s newly-arrived Germanys traveled west to the new states
beyond the Appalachians. Others founded thriving communities in New
York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
German immigrants to New Jersey settled largely in Newark and Hudson
County. Newark was the capital city of Germania in New Jersey – in 1830,
there were about a half dozen German families in the city, by 1835, some
300, and by the end of the Civil War, Newark’s German population was in
the tens of thousands.
Warren Township also experienced the influx of Germans, although on a
scale proportionate to its small population and remote, mountainous
location. The 1840 Federal census of the township contains only three
German-sounding names: George Freiday, John Snider and John Stine (the
latter two, probably of older German stock). By 1850, there were 397
families in the township, of which 55 or 14% were headed by a German
native. [Others were: 24 families or 6%, English, 12 or 3%, Irish, 6 or
1.5% Scottish, five family heads from France, four from Holland, three
from Switzerland and one from Italy].
Many (although not all) of the newly-arrived Germans settled in or near
Coontown. These included the families of Henry Wells (Wels), John
Moelter, Martin Mueller (Muller), Herman Smith (Schmidt), John Overlin (Oberland),
George Kline (Klein), Gottleb Bievrer (?), William Moeller, Conrad
Detzal, Joseph Krainig, Jacob Finger, Jacob Cedar (Sieder), John Bower
(Bauer), Adam Bender, John Fisher, John Seakel, Jacob Pross, Francis
Lenhardt, George Friday (Freitag), Jacob Elbert (Albert), Nicholas
Sunday (Sontag), Andrew Mantz, Thedore Brooklyn (Broglie/Brogly), Jacob
Gunter, John Ortland, Jacob Hen (Henn) and John Bonard.
Many of these German immigrants had limited resources when they arrived
in Warren. Initially, they were tenant farmers, only gradually buying
their own farms. George Friday was the first to buy in Warren. On
September 10, 1839, Friday, then of New York City, acquired 42 acres
from the Estate of Isaac Coddington for $297.71. He was followed nearly
two years later by Andrew Mantz, then of Newark, who bought 15 acres
near lands owned by William and Benjamin Coddington from Abraham and
Nancy Pier on August 14, 1841, for $150. On December 19, 1842, George
Klein bought 36.5 acres from Nathan Auten, trustee of Nathan Coon, for
$400. On May 1, 1844, Joseph Kreinig of New York bought 8 acres from
Lewis Kramms of Coontown for $750. Others – all of them already Warren
residents – followed: On December 20, 1845, Michael and Mary Paul sold
89 acres to John Bower for $2400; On January 19, 1846, Jacob Finger paid
out $124 for six acres, “bring the 7th of the 3rd part of the Captain
Coon farm, lately divided” by the heirs of Benjamin Coddington. Wilhelm
and Martin Muller acquired 74 acres on April 19, 1849, for $1637, and
Nicholas Sunday bought 8 acres for $400 on March 21, 1850.
What drew these German immigrants to Warren? Small German settlements in
nearby Plainfield and Meyersville may have pointed the way. Land was
also relatively cheap in Warren, and it was readily available as many
established families looked to move to more fertile lands in Ohio and
points west. Johann Georg Freitag, born in Gniessen, Germany, in 1811,
was probably the first to arrive in Warren and his initial success here
may have been the catalyst that drew others to Coontown village.
Together with Johann Bauer and Georg Klein, Freitag was the community’s
central figure in those early days.
The influx of Germans did not go without notice. In a letter written in
1853, Preston Cory, Freeholder Cory’s son, wrote: “The germans are
settling all around the neighborhood.” In 1870, the Somerset Unionist
observed that “a new race of people” began settling in Warren in the
1840s. “Within ten years, while the stone walls of the original
Scotch-Irish settlers were crumbling and falling down on the north side
of [Washington] valley, the rough cabins of sturdy frugal Germans began
to dot the northern slope of the first mountain. This slope, that 40
years ago was covered with a dense forest, is now dotted with 50 houses
owned and occupied by these German settlers. They commenced by buying a
little plot of ground at $5 per acre and have gradually added to it,
till some have farms of 15 to 20 acres. The men chop wood, work among
the neighboring farmers, are stone masons, shoemakers &c., turning their
industrious hands to whatever there is to do. The women work their
gardens, pick berries, raise poultry and tend a little dairy and sew for
the shops. They take German newspapers, for which they look anxiously on
the appointed day, save their money, and are bringing up a race of
children to go to school as other children….”
Another member of the Coontown church whose family has made a lasting
mark on Warren was Moritz Dealaman (probably Dielmann in Germany), b.
1826, d. 1898, a native of Willsdorf, Germany, and a shoemaker by trade.
He settled first in New York, then moved to Warrenville, marrying
Katharine Eckel.
John and Catherine Kirch originally settled in Meyersville in 1845, then
moved to Warren in 1857. A carpenter and farmer, Kirch was born in Hesse
Darmstadt. His wife was from Bavaria.
Barthomew Wormser, probably from Alsace, moved from New Providence to
Warren in 1847 (See Warren History, Vol. II, No. 7). Adam and Catherine
Herlich acquired the old Jobs place in 1853 (See Warren History, Vol.
III, No. 5). Johannes Becker (Baker) bought the Seaman farm, later owned
by the Duderstadt family, in 1842. (See Warren History, Vol. III, No. 2)
Not all Germans affiliated with the Coontown Lutheran Church. John
Koechlein, Philip Nischwitz and Daniel Bornmann among others joined the
Springdale Methodist Church in the valley.
[Ref: Thomas Sowell, Ethnic America: A History, Basic Books, 1981;
Somerset Unionist 10/13/1870; 1840, 1850 Federal Census; Biographical &
Portrait Encyclopedia of the 3rd Cong. Dist, S. T. Wiley, Ed., 1896]