Person:Frederick Leathers (5)

FREDERICK LEDER I (Ledder/Leeder) was born about 1691 in Switzerland or Germany. Frederick immigrated to the United States in 1728. He apparently came alone (there was no one else on the ship by the same name) so it's possible that he got separated from his family in fleeing. (There are stories of one young man in another family who was fleeing the conditions there, was caught and put in prison, then later was able to escape and make his way to America.) Frederick's brother, John, also came to America and also settled in York Co, Pa. Perhaps he came on a different ship. [Pictured is Rotterdam in 1729 as Frederick would have seen it.] The passenger list doesn't specify his place of origin. After a long voyage from the Dutch port of Rotterdam, Holland that included one stop at the port of Deal on the southeast coast of England near the entrance to the English Channel, arriving at Philadelphia on the Mortonhouse, Aug 24, 1728 (on the same ship as Ulrich Schurch, great-grandfather of Barbara Shirk, wife of Frederick III). It took 3-6 weeks to cross the Atlantic at that time. Frederick was probably a Mennonite (as were several others on that ship) who was deported from Switzerland, along with the Shurch family. As eary as 1707 the Mennonites in Switzerland had commissioned Lewis Michelle to explore the interior of Pennsylvania for a settlement for them. In 1710 the first group of Swiss Mennonites established a settlement near what is now Lancaster, PA. [Some of the later Mennonites immigrants had spent a generation in Germany before they left Europe for America.] ?On August 24th 1728 eighty Palatines with their families, about 200 persons, imported in the ship Mortenhouse, John Coultas, Master, last from Deal, whence the ship sailed June 15. The list totaled 205 persons, including 80 males above 16 years of age, 69 women, and 56 children. Among the 80 males were, Frederick Leeder, Groug Bechtell, Wi Shurch, Martin Schaub and Schurch (2 Ulrich & 1 Johann). This was the sixth ship to land European immigrants in Philadelphia during the period from 1727 to 1776.?[Source: A collection of upwards of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other immigrants in Pensylvania from 1727 to 1776 by Professor I. Daniel Rupp, first published in 1856, reprinted in 1971 by Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc of Baltimore.] Upon arrival in Philadelphia, the passengers had to sign an oath of allegiance to the King of England. In 1727 the Pennsylvania Governor had complained about the great numbers of German immigrants pouring into Philadelphia. Frederick married Agnes ? (named on early deed) and Anna Elizabeth ? (on estate settlement; she may have been a second wife). In 1728 Germans begin to settle in what is now York Co, Pa. (In 1729 Lancaster County was sectioned off out of Chester County, and then in 1749 York county was created out of Lancaster county.) Frederick is among the earliest settlers in Kreutz Valley. Then, he was among a group of settlers who were ?dispossessed? by Capt. Cresap on orders from the Maryland proprietors who claimed the land west of the Susquehanna. This is how it happened: Before 1736 all the land west of the Susquehanna River was the territory of the Iroquis (who had conquered the Susquehannocks in 1675). Settlers began in 1719 crossing the river and making settlements. Some of these "Maryland Intruders" were removed by the Pennsylvania government in 1728. Others settlers came the next year. In 1730 Thomas Cresap assumed right of land in an area under a Maryland warrant, and German families began moving into the area, with assurances from Maryland that they would be issued land grants. In 1733-34 the Pennsylvania authorities began issuing "licesnses to settle" (interim aggreements) to people who already were living west of the Susquehanna. (In essence, both states were claiming this land and the right to issue deeds.) In 1736 Frederick Leeder bought 250 acres on the west side of the Sesquehannah River receiving a Pennsylvania deed. (Some of those deeds & records show his wife as "Agnes") By 1736 the Maryland authorities were abducting German settlers and running them off their settlements, trying to replace them with Maryland settlers. Thomas Cresap was receiving arms from Annapolis to carry out these removals. This conflict between Maryland and Pennsylvania setters was known as "Cresap's War." In Oct. 1736 the Penns purchased the land west of the Susquehanna in a treaty with the Indians, and so it became part of Pennsylvania. In Dec. 1736, Cresap was arrested and the problems he caused ended. In 1739 Hellam Township was created, which included Kreutz Creek valley. In 1742 Thomas Penn ordered his land agent to not grant lots in York Roman Catholics because of their "destructive" beliefs. Frederick died in 1749 before June (age 55), Dover township, York Co, Pa. without a will. His children were in Orphan?s Court in Lancaster Co, Pa. June 6, 1749. York County became a separate county in Aug 1749.

Children:

1. FREDERICK LEATHERS II (3rd child), born 1732, Lancaster Co, Pa; lived with Martin Eichelberger after his father died in 1749 (he was 17); he also raised David Shirk (son of John); m 1st maybe ? Stribler?; m 2nd Jane Dill Lewis, 1794? (no children by her). Frederick died 1796, York Co, Pa. Children: . . . . 1a) Frederick Leathers III, b 1754, York Co, Pa; m 1775 Eve Barbara Shirk (daughter of John); d 1821, Ohio; ch: Frederick IV, Jacob L., Elizabeth, David, Samuel, Barbara, Mary, Christian, Daniel, Joseph . . . . 1b) Jacob Leathers, b 1756; m Mary W. Shirk (daug of John); d 1843, Pa.; ch: John, Jacob, Mary, Barbara, Elizabeth, Joseph, Daniel, Frederick . . . . 1c) John Leathers; m ? Bechtel . . . . 1d) Barbara Leathers; m Henry Bream . . . . 1e) Mary Leathers; b 1765; m 1st Richard Malone; m 2nd 1786 Joseph Shirk (son of John); Malone children: Frederick, Morgan; Shirk children: Elizabeth, Jacob, Joseph, John . . . . 1f) Susannah Leathers; b 1729, Lancaster co, Pa; m John Biegler . . . . 1g) Daniel Leathers, b abt 1774; m Fanny Fierchies . . . . 1h) Joseph Leathers