Refugees All

Among my forebears are the Schwenkfelders, reformation-era sectarians who emigrated from Silesia (now part of southwestern Poland) to Pennsylvania in 1700s, with stops in several German states and the Netherlands. These were followers of Caspar Schwenkfeld, who in the early 1500s had earned the enmity of Martin Luther because of doctrinal disputes.  They were despised by both Catholics and Lutherans.  The main issues in contention were whether infants should be baptized ("no" said my folks) and whether bread and wine were really Jesus's flesh and blood in communion ("no" said  my folks).  They thought that individuals' direct and unmediated pursuit of salvation through faith in Jesus and God was the way.  

 

As minor states in the region became increasingly sectarian and rulers came and went, the pacifist Schwenkfelders, who also believed in strict separation of church and state, became targets. Their books were burned. Those who hid the books were subject to fines of 500 florins ($50,000). The Schwenkfelders were: 

dragged in chains into churches; leading men were expelled from the country; frequently when the people met at private houses for worship, as was their custom, they were arrested and imprisoned, often in dungeons, where many died from starvation, cold, and violent treatment, and others contracted diseases of which they died soon after their release; and finally large numbers were sent to Vienna, and there condemned without trial to serve in the wars with the Turks, or as oarsmen on Mediterranean galleys. 

Changes in regional politics and leaders at the end of the Thirty Years War (1648) averted the annihilation of the Schwenkfelders.  However, several generations later (1725) the small community of several hundred Schwenkfelder farmers, weavers, laborers and craftsmen were caught in renewed political and religious contentions in Central Europe. Their refusal to bend to the “true Christian beliefs” of those in power resulted in a new round of persecutions.  

When parents refused to present their children for instruction, they were imprisoned; women were placed in the stocks and compelled to lie in cold rooms in the winter without so much as straw under them; and when imprisonment failed to bring the people with their children to the missionary services, fines and extortions were added. Marriages were forbidden unless the parties would promise to rear their offspring in the Catholic faith, and when young people went into other countries to be married, they were imprisoned for that on their return. The dead were not allowed Christian burial in the churchyards where their ancestors of the same faith for many generations slept, but were required to be interred in cattle-ways, and sorrowing friends were forbidden to follow the remains of loved ones to these ignominious resting-places....  

 

The Jesuit missionaries claimed guardianship of all orphan children of Schwenkfelders, and thus the last hours of the dying were embittered by the thought that their children must be educated in a faith that they themselves abhorred. And to prevent escape from the horrible situation in which they were placed, the people were forbidden to sell their property or, under any pretext, to leave the country, and severe penalties were denounced against any person who should assist a Schwenkfelder to escape by purchasing his property, or otherwise. 

When persecutions continued despite a 5-year long embassy by Schwenkfelder representatives to the court of Emperor Charles VI seeking relief from oppression, many of families decided to flee: 

The exodus commenced in the month of February 1726. During that month and the months of March, April, and May following, upwards of one hundred and seventy families escaped by night ... and fled on foot.... In consequence of the prohibition of sales of property by Schwenkfelders, and the police regulations to prevent emigration, they were obliged to leave all their property behind except what they could carry upon their backs or upon wheelbarrows. … They were, however, hospitably received, and treated with much consideration by the Senate of Gorlitz, and by Count Zinzendorf… and soon after their arrival assistance came to them unexpectedly from theretofore unknown friends in Holland. They lived here in a state of uncertainty as to the future for eight years. 

Then, facing forced repatriation to Silesia, the Schwenkfelders heard recommendations from the "theretofore unknown friends" that they should travel further west, to Pennsylvania. Hence, in 1734: 

they embarked on three small vessels for Haarlem, (Netherlands) arriving at the latter placed on the 6th of June. Here they were received with open arms, and overwhelmed with kindness by their benefactors of former years. The disinterested kindness of a mercantile house in Haarlem, composed of three brothers, Abraham, Isaac, and John Von Byuschanse, deserves more than a passing notice here. Their attentions to the strangers were not limited to seeing that there were no actual wants unsupplied; they strove by personal attentions to make the stay of the party in Haarlem enjoyable. The little ones especially came in for a full share of their kindly offices. Part of the contribution sent to Gorlitz in 1726 for the relief of the destitute remained unexpended, and those having it in charge offered to return it to the donors, there being no further need of such assistance. The Messrs. Von Byuschanse would not listen to the offer, but directed the fund to be expended for the benefit of the poorer people when they should arrive in Pennsylvania. And not content with all that they had done, they insisted upon providing at their own expense a vessel for the transportation of the whole company to Philadelphia, and defraying the entire expense of the voyage. 

I have looked for information on the Von Byuschanse family, including in Haarlem, and found almost none. How did they learn of the Schwenkfelders? Why were they so generous? According to one source, they were Mennonites. We know that Haarlem and other Dutch cities at the time were known as places of safety for refugees of religious prosecution. Among the refugees in the preceding centuries were Jews from Spain fleeing the Inquisition. Perhaps Abraham, Isaac, and John were were repaying to others the generosity their forebears had found their own time of need? 

  

The Schwenkfelders came to Philadelphia in two or three voyages and upon landing there, immediately signed an oath of allegiance to the English king and shortly settled in the countryside outside of the city. 

 

I do not claim that their losses were in any way equal to what too many others have and still suffer. The Schwenkfelders' arrival no doubt helped force the indigenous nations who had settled there countless generations in the past to themselves become refugees.  We cannot change what is past, but we may nudge the future. 

 

Today we find destitution and persecution around the world. Some now say to bar non-Christians (a label many would have put on Schwenkfelders) from the U.S. We don't know why the Von Byuschanse family took on our ancestors' cause. But that they did, is part of the reason that I’ll take on the battle against such evil prejudice.  After all, some day, maybe now or in the future - our families may again seek refuge.

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Italicized passages from: A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of the Schwenkfelders Who Arrived in Pennsylvania in 1733, 1734, 1736, 1737 was compiled by Rev. Reuben Kriebel in 1879 from the German records of Rev. Balthasar Heebner. At a later date it was determined that the records should be updated to reflect the growth of the descendants of the original Schwenkfelder immigrants. Dr. Samuel K. Brecht undertook the challenge to gather, organize and publish the information.  My great-grandfather, Jacob K. Schultz, helped pay for this.