The teacher's sonIn 1703, Henrich and Barbara moved one more time, to Oberdorfelden, where Barbara had been born. That same year, Johannes and Anna Elizabeth's first son, Johann Frederick, was born. Two years later, Johann Henrich was born, and in 1708 Johanna Elisabeth was born.
Nature's crueltyThe young Leimbachs' childhood was marked by one of the worst European winters on record. By November 1, 1708, it was so cold that firewood would not burn in the open air, wine froze solid, dead birds fell from the sky. Along the coasts, the sea froze so solidly that heavy carts could travel across it. The cold lasted through April. Fruit trees died and grapevines were destroyed. Thousands of people died.[7]
The Leimbachs stay putThe Leimbach families did not join this exodus, but the seed was likely planted for their eventual departure. For the time being, they stayed put. Johannes and Anna Elisabeth's 3-year-old daughter, Johanna Elizabeth, died in 1712. Their sorrow was offset by the birth of Johannes Jr. the same year. Another daughter was born in 1714, but she died in 1716. We don't even know her name.Also in 1716, Henrich, the well-respected and much-loved schoolmaster, died in Oberdorfelden. He was 67. He was buried at the Evangelical Church there. We don't know where or when Barbara died.
Leaving the homelandEmigration to America gained momentum as glowing reports came back from friends and relatives. In 1723, Johannes decided to take his family -- now with two more girls, Johanna Maria (b. 1718) and Maria Barbara (b. 1722) -- to America. Records indicate, in fact, that the Leimbachs were one of the earliest families to leave their homeland in this wave of emigration.[9] We'll never know what the deciding factor was for Johannes' decision to go to America. He was 49, had five children, including an infant. They were relatively well-off. He lived rent-free in the schoolhouse in Höchstadt, but perhaps his Pietist beliefs were in conflict with church leaders. Perhaps with his father dead, and having lost four children, the Leimbachs sought to literally distance themselves from their sorrow. But, we can only speculate.If the Leimbachs followed the usual routes, the trek from Höchstadt to the New World would have started with a river voyage down the Main. They would have sailed west to the Rhine and then north to Rotterdam, Holland. The journey was about 400 miles and passed through as many as 23 jurisdictions. At each border, travelers had to stop at customs houses to pay fees and to have their bags inspected. If the customs house was closed when they arrived, they waited until an official showed up to deal with them. This leg of the journey could take up to six weeks. When at last they made it to Rotterdam, they may have been delayed for several more weeks before a ship was ready.
We don't know what ship brought the Leimbachs to America. Ship records from before 1727 are incomplete. [In 1727, British officials became alarmed when a total of 50,000 German immigrants arrived in Philadelphia. After that, captains were required to keep accurate lists of passengers -- a great help for genealogists.] We do know, however, that it was not an easy journey. Detailed accounts of such voyages tell of crowded, filthy conditions. Food was scarce. Quarters were cramped. Many of the emigrants died. The passage took six weeks. The Leimbachs arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 11, 1723, and "at once took up residence in Oley,"[12] a scenic valley in present-day Berks County, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
7. Walter Allen Knittle, Ph.D. "Early Palatine Emigration." (Philadelphia, 1937). www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/history/european/knittle.htm. 8. The Palatinate was a territory just west of the area where the Leimbachs lived. It saw a great deal of devastation during the Thirty Years' War. The original German immigrants to America were from the Palatinate. Since then, historically, all early German immigrants have been lumped together as "Palatines." 9. Burgert. 10. Richard A. Newhouse. "German Immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1683-1808." The Richard Newhouse Newsletter. www.greenepa.net/~newhouse/PDF_Files/GermanImmigrantsToPA.pdf. 11. Johann Michael Schmitt. "The Diary of Johann Michael Schmitt," translated by Dr. Winthrop Bell, 1956. www.flora.org/nancy/lunenburg/schmitt.html 12. Rev. P.C. Croll. Annals of the Oley Valley in Berks County, Pa. (Reading Eagle Press, Reading, Pa., 1926). 13. H. Frank Eshleman. Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Their Remote Ancestors, From the Middle of the Dark Ages, Down to the Time of the Revolutionary War, (Lancaster, Pa.: by the author, 1917. reprinted: Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991) 14. Burgert.
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