Johann Christian Gutjahr, the ancestor of the author of this Biography, was born in
the Venenian section of Merseberg, Saxony [now in East Germany] at eight A.M.,
25 October 1714, and was baptized in St. Thomas Lutheran Church on the 28th. He
was the seventh child of Johann Gottfried Gutjahr, a mason, and his wife,
Magdalena Kuehn.
Exactly why or when Christian left Merseburg, we do not know. We do know that
he was born in a period of turmoil in Europe. A successof civil and religious wars
had reduced to poverty thousands who had been prosperous farmers and
tradesmen, and nowhere was the suffering more severe than in Germany.
Since no record of Christian's arrival appears in the existing passenger lists of the
Port of Philadelphia, perhaps he landed in New Castle, Delaware, and from there
went to Wilmington. He may have sailed from Hamburg, Germany, or possibly from
Rotterdam or Amsterdam in Holland, as many did. The sea voyage from any of
these ports to the New World lasted at least seven weeks, even with the best of
winds. Gottlieb Mittelberger in his journey to Pennsylvania graphically describes
the hardships he encounted on such a voyage.
The memoir [Lebenslauf] of Christian's life, compiled anonymously at his death, but
containing some of his own writings, states that he probably arrived in this country
about 1738 and may have served as an indentured servant in Philadelphia, PA.,
and/or Wilmington, Delaware. Many immigrants, because of the unforeseen costs
involved in the long crossing to the New World, were compelled upon arrival, to
indenture themselves to someone who would pay the expense of their passage.
An individual ths indentured was simply regarded as a worker bound by contract to
perform a specified amount of labor for a given length of time. The service carried
no disgrace with it and, at the end of the contract, the individual enjoyed all the
privileges and rights of a free citizen.
The first record we have of Christian is the entry of his marriage in Lancaster, Pa.,
March 1746 when he was thirty-two, to nineteen-year-old Margaretha Roesner.
Margaretha, born 3 May 1722, had emigrated from Hohenloischen [?], Germany,
with her parents, both of whom had died at sea. She was sixteen when she
arrived. She stayed for some tim e in Falkn er Schwanen (Falkner's Swamp), which
was the site of an early German Lutheran Congregation near Philadelphia, before
going to Lancaster. When the Gutjahrs were married, the town of Lancaster was
inhabited mostly by Germans and had about three hundred homes with the number
increasing every year. The town grew because of its central location and the
availability of provisions and accommodations, and because the land around it was
then, as it is now, "a paradise for farmers." It had good soil, a long growing
season, temperate weather, and adequate rain. Settlers living to the west came to
Lancaster to shop rather than make the longer journey to Philadelphia. Even
though it took many hours to travel the sixty-five miles between the towns,
wagons carrying food and supplies traveled to and from Philadelphia keeping the
Lancaster storekeepers provisioned. The Old Conestoga Road, a wagon path in
existence since 1714, provided the access between the two markets. By 1754,
Lancaster had grown to five hundred houses and two thousand inhabitants
Two-thirds of the population of Lancaster during the period 1730-1790 were
German-speaking people. The English settlers called them "Dutchmen," a
corruption of the word for German, "Deutsch." Most were farmers, although there
was a large number of highly skilled artisans and a smaller group of professional
men among them.
Christian was both a farmer and an artisan - he was a hatter. While he resided in
Lancaster, he must have rented a dwelling because in the years 1751-1757 he paid
Borough taxes on a lot only, with no house on it. Although the tax clerk recorded
his name as "Goodjare," and in 1757, the last year he was listed in Lancaster
Borough, as "Goodwar," the name eventually was Anglicized to "Goodyear."
The Moravian faith, which the couple espoused, appeared in Lancaster in the
1740's. Its official name was the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren). The first
bishop of the Moravians, Count Zinzandorf of Saxony, preached in the Lancaster
Courthouse as early as a742. The Moravians were met with slander, bigotry, and
violence, and were despised by members of the Lutheran and Reformed
congregations. However, the Rev. Laurence T. Nyberg, pastor of the Lutheran
Church in Lancaster, gradually became interested. By the Spring of 1746, some
eight to ten families from that church separated and built a new stne "free
church," [St. Andrews] with Nyberg as pastor, where all would be at Liberty to
preach. It actually became the nucleus of a Moravian Congregation, and in 1749,
Abraham Reincke was installed as pastor.
The names John Christian and Margaret F. Gutjahr on a 1749 list of Lancaster
Moravian Church members which was handwritten by Brother Abraham Reincke.
In 1750, the Lancaster Moravians built their own large stone meeting house.
Through all the persecution and hostility, our ancestors remained steadfast in
their new faith, and their third child, Marle Buetgar Gutjahr, born 21 August 1749
was baptized by the Moravian Brother Reincke. Their first child, a son, Johann
Christian [Jr.] seems to have been born on 26 March 1746, while their second
child, Catherina, had been born in Lancaster, 23 January 1747.
Christian's family continued to expand, and their second son, Johann Georg, was
born on 30 Septembner 1751 (O.S.). It was the custom among German families to
give all children baptismal names such as Johann, Hans, or Anna. The second
name, the Christian name, was used with or without the baptismal name. In this
family all the boys were given the baptismal name of Johann.
Although Christian and Margaretha were happy with their new baby son, he was
little more than a month old when they were saddened by the death of his sister,
Maria, who died on 5 November 1751.
The year 1753 saw the arrival of Johann (Gottfried [Frederick] born 19 May, and
baptized 20 May by Brother Anton Wagner. The sponsors were Georg and
Catharine Graft, who had stood for all the previous children. Gottfried [Frederick]
is one of the two malr offspring of Christian and Margaretha from whom we shall
trace descendants to the present day.
The year 1753 also saw some two thousand Frenchmen land n the south shore of
Lake Erie, build forts, and establish an advance post on the Allegheny River at
Venango [Franklin], Pa. Thks brought home to the Province of Pennsylvania a
further awareness of the ongoing rivalry between England and France for the
possession of the Ohio Valley. The capture of an English fort at the Forks of the
Ohio by the French marked the beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754.
"Urged on by the French, the Indians wrought havoc among the scattered
settlements of frontiersmen." Panic-stricken, they fled to the eastern counties. in
1755, there were reports of Indian raids less than thirty miles from Lancaster, so a
watch of sixty men was set up each night. During this time, Lancaster, because of
its strategic location, was important to the defense of the back country, and it
became a western military center. British regulars and Provincial militiamen were
quartered there, and the residents were required to house them.
During 1757-1758, five hundred or more British soldiers were billeted in Lancaster,
which provided a certain amount of security to those residing there. War materials
were stored there, and it "also served as a communication center for conveying
intelligence to the back country."
Although the war between the French and English was ended in 1763, there
continued to be trouble with the Indians, and Lancaster still received refugees
from the frontier settlements which were attacked. Even after 1769, Lancaster
continued to serve as a western military depot.
We recount these brief details of the foment among which our progen itors lived
to evok the tenor of the times and to enable us to appreciate their lives during
this period when they were living not on the act;ual frontier, but certainly in the
hub of military and political action.
Christian must have been torn by ambivalent feelings as he heard the tales of
Indian massacres and burnings which led the frontier settlers to demand the
extermination of the Indians. He certainly knew of the infamous Massacre of
friendly Conestoga Indian men, women, and children by the Paxton Boys in his own
county of Lancaster during the Christmas season of 1763. As a Moravian, he knew
that his was the only religious body which made a serious and persistent effort to
educate and convert the Indians while still allowing them to retain their ethnic
pride. Unfortunately, the unremitting colonization by white people mitigated
against the sccess of this worthy Moravian missionary project.
In the midst of all these stirring events, the little family continued to grow with the
addition of Johanna on 23 July 1755. She was baptized by Brother Bader and had a
number of sponsors including Graf and Jacob Till. Johanna appears in later
records as Anna and sometimes as Anna Johanna.
Two years later, on 20 October 1757, Johann Ludwick appeared. Brother Bundt
baptized him, and the sponsors were again the Grafs. Ludwick is the second of
the two brothers whose descendants will be traced down to today. Soon after this,
in 1759, the Gutjahr family moved to a farm in Warwick Township, near Lititz, still in
Lancaster County, and transferred their church membership to the Lititz
Congregation.
In 1758, there were 185 farm units in Warwick Township, 154.2 average acres per
farm, 41.9 averaged cleared acres per farm, 2.6 average horses per farm, 6.6
average cattle per farm, 5.7 average sheep per farm, 10.7 average acres per farm
in grains. Christian;s farm of 20 cultivated and 20 uncultivated acres was not a
large one. By 1782, in addition to his 2 horses and 1 cow, he had acquired 3
sheep. Sheep were usually raised only to cloth the family, supplying wool and
linsey-woolsey for clothing. By 1772, there were 211 farm units inwarwick
Township, 125.1 average acres per farm, 35.3 average acres cleared, 2.4 average
horses per farm, 3.1 average cattle and 3.8 average sheep. Christian wasz close
to the average for livestock, but not in acreage. This may have been because he
was a hatter as well as a farmer, and perhaps his work as an artisan took
precedence over farming.
As the wife of a farmer, Margaretha would have looked after the house, spun the
wool, tendedthe flower and vegetable gardens and the poultry, milked the cows,
and helped in the fields when necessary.
Although the Township was growing, the town of Lititz still, in 1774, had unlighted
muddy streets with cows wandering freely down them. The houses were lighted
by candles and heated by fireplaces or occasionally small wood stoves. Cooking,
however, was still done in the fireplace.
Please go to "Molly Pitcher III" for the continuation of "The Life and Times of
Johann Christian Gutjahr".....
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