The Bretz Register

The gloomy picture of the ocean voyage is not replaced by brighter lighting after the landing in Philadelphia. Mittelberger’s message covered two great evils, the second of which he referred to as “man-handling”. It was the institution of selling oneself into bondage for a specified time, a well known feature of the early colonial days of Pennsylvania. Many German immigrants to America took passage without the necessary 60 florins (about $50) to pay for the trip, doing so in response to the opportunity offered by the ship masters to pay for their passage by becoming bonded or indentured servants after arriving in America.

This proposition was presented to the Germans along the Rhine by the “Newlanders,” or as Mittelberger expressed it, the “traffickers in men’s souls.” The Newlanders were agents of the ship owners and others financially interested in securing large number of immigrants. They dressed extravagantly, pretending to be men of great wealth, and told fabulous tales of the richness of the new country, and the highly favorable conditions under which the immigrant would live. They were also named “Soulsellers” since by false pretenses they persuaded the poor to leave the Fatherland and sell themselves into service to pay for their passage.

In the terms above, the suffering caused by this system does not appear. Apparently a man simply mortgaged his future to the extent of about 100 florins worth if working time. But the outcome was not that simple. The long delays in the journey down the Rhine and in England, and those caused by contrary winds, ran up the expenses greatly, and rarely allowed on to escape for less than 200 florins.  Further, sickness weakened many of the immigrants, and they consequently made poorer bargains on landing in Philadelphia. This involved a signing of a contract for a longer period of service to discharge the debt to the ship master.

Still further, the Newlanders commonly deceived the German peasants as to the term of service which would be required to pay for passage, and many in their ignorance also signed for service often twice the customary period. Yet further, families were broken up by this institution, and many children were parted from their parents forever by the separation which took place at Philadelphia.  If a member of the family died en route, the cost of passage for the deceased, if not paid in advance, had to be paid by the rest of the family. This might double the period of service of the bereaved.

Mittelberger writes as follows on this “traffic in men’s souls.” “English men, Dutch men and High German people come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, . . . go on board the newly arrived ship and select among the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their businesses, and bargain with them how long they will serve for their passage money, which most of them were still in debt for.”  “...adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve three, four, five or six years for the amount due them.  Very young people, from ten to fifteen years of age, must serve till they are twenty-one. Many parents must sell and trade away their children like so many head of cattle, for if the children take on the debt themselves, the parents can leave the ship free and unrestrained . . . “

The merchants selling these unfortunates into service received 60 to 80 florins a person from the purchasers. Advertisements in the early newspapers of Philadelphia throw some light on this institution.  From the American Weekly Mercury, May 22, 1729: “Just arrived from Scotland, a parcel of choice Scotch servants; Tailors, weavers, Shoemakers and Ploughmen, some for five years, some for seven years; imported by James Coults, they are on board a sloop lying opposite to the market street wharf, where there is a boat constantly attending to carry any one on board that wants to see them”. From the Pennsylvania Gazette, June 1742: To be sold. A likely servant woman, having three years and a half to serve. She is a good specimen.

How large a percentage of the German immigrants began in America as “redemptionists” or bond servants is not known. It was sufficiently large, however, to have been a great evil of the times. In the early tax lists, the indentured men, who apparently paid a poll tax, constitute perhaps a fifth of the total taxed male population. None of the Bretz men in these lists were indicated as indentured, although this is no affirmation that they had not been indentured earlier.

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