Pioneers in Service

Pioneers in Service

The German Society of Maryland

1783 - 1981

KLAUS G. WUST

Published by

THE GERMAN SOCIETY OF MARYLAND

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, U.S.A.

1981

DEDICATION

To the countless descendants of those immigrants from German lands who have come to Maryland during the last two centuries:

to inspire them with the spirit of responsibility towards their fellowmen so clearly expressed in the pages of this book; and further,

to inspire them to carry onward the traditions of The German Society of Maryland, "that in the future we may not do injustice to our record of the past."

FOREWORD

All records relating to the early phase of the German Society between 1783 and 1817 were lost prior to the reorganization. For may years the date of the reorganization of 1817 was considered the actual founding year. Even in 1888, Louis P. Hennighausen, when writing his article, "The Redemptioners and the German Society" (SHGM, II (1888), 31-54), was unaware of the earlier existence of the Society. Later, while searching for additional material on the redemptioner system, Hennighausen found mention of the German Society in the Maryland Journal of August 10, 1784. He also discovered an entry in Griffith's Annals of Baltimore (p. 703) saying that in 1783 "A Society for the Aid of the Germans" was founded. Upon this scanty but reliable evidence, the German Society founded its official recognition of the year 1783 as the time of its inception. Ever since 1909 this date appears in its publications.

These were the premises upon which the present author embarked on a systematic search through all contemporary sources in this country and in Germany in order to locate more precise information. Accounts of clergymen and travelers as well as numerous volumes of magazines and newspapers of the period were care fully scrutinized, A footnote in Dr. John David Schoepf's Travels in the Confederation, 1783-1794, finally gave the clue: the earliest account of the founding of the German Society including the Articles of Organization of 1783 as published in Baltimore at that time were found reprinted in full in the Berlinische Monatsschrift of November 1786. In the present book both are being published for the first time in an English translation. The German Society of Maryland and its objectives were also mentioned by the Rev. Just H. Helmuth in a letter of August 30, 1785, reprinted in the Hallesche Nachrichten in 1787. Several articles of Christian Mayer, member of the Society since 1785 and its first president after the reorganization, were found in German magazines and among his papers in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society. Thus it was possible for the first time to present a full account of the origins of The German Society of Maryland.

The late Louis P. Hennighausen published the first comprehensive history of the Society in 1909. The author is deeply indebted to the scholarly findings of this great president of the Society. The chapters covering the period from 1817 until 1908 rely heavily on Hennighausen's work, particularly the section on the oyster dredgers in whose defense Hennighausen took such a prominent part. Much information has been gleaned from other sources, some unpublished. The minutes of the Society from 1817 to 1861 were destroyed in the great fire of 1904. Only the minutes of the meetings of the officers are in existence for the entire time from 1817 to the present. Likewise the Society minutes from 1861 on are preserved. A complete file of all printed annual reports is in the archives of the Society.

The writing of the present history was made possible through a generous fellowship grant from The German Society of Maryland. During the eleven months of research and preparations the assistance of numerous individuals was sought and cheerfully given. The president of the German Society, Mr. O.H. Franke, was untiringly concerned with the project throughout all phases. My friend, Dr. Dieter Cunz, author of the brilliant work, The Maryland Germans, was ever ready to lend help and encouragement. Mrs. Hildegard Stein, agent of the Society, facilitated the research in the records and files. Special thanks are due to Dr. Heinz Kloss of the Institut fuer Auslandsbeziehungen in Stuttgart for furnishing microfilms and transcripts of records from German sources. Mr. Fred Shelly, Librarian of the Maryland Historical Society, Miss Elizabeth Litsinger of the Maryland Room of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Mr. Paul Sweigart of the Newspaper Room of the Library of Congress assisted the author in locating important material. My wife, Mrs. Monique Fong Wust, cheerfully shared the work from beginning to end and provided valuable suggestions.

Klaus G. Wust

Arlington, Va.

September 1957

In a sense it is also an expression of the continuity which characterizes the German Society of Maryland that the same author who wrote the history of 1957 was asked in 1980 to update it before reprinting. Thanks are due to my friends, Dr. Morgan H. Pritchett, Past President of the Society, and Dr. Carrie May Zintl, Chairperson of the Scholarship Fund for providing needed data. Mrs. Inga M. Roche, Office Secretary of the Society, furnished the present membership lists. Fortunately for all concerned, no revision of any of the historical content was required.

Klaus G. Wust

Edinburg, Va.

December 1980

Considering the many hardships...

"In 1783 a very benevolent German Society was established at Baltimore in Maryland for the succor to poor strangers, sick people, in short all those in need among the Germans arriving there (not unlike the German House in Jerusalem which was founded six centuries ago by the merchants of two Hanseatic cities, Luebeck and Bremen, at first only for the care and support of the sick and wounded but later nevertheless growing into a knight's order capable of conquering kingdoms)." With this statement begins the earliest account of The German Society of Maryland. For more than four decades Germans from the Old Country and from neighboring Pennsylvania in increasing numbers had come to the new town at the mouth of the Patapsco which was readily developing into an important port. They had braved all adversities of pioneer life. They had founded their own churches where they worshipped and prayed in the language of their fathers. When the Revolutionary War broke out, they had placed their abilities and their skills as well as their lives at the disposal of the new homeland where most of their children had been born. By virtue of their thrift and hard work many among the Germans in Maryland had achieved a moderate prosperity and their daily lives began to become adjusted to the growing city of which they were a part.

It is to the credit of these early German inhabitants of Baltimore and other Maryland communities that they did not content themselves with having achieved a secure and prosperous home for themselves and their families, but envisaged a broad program of aiding those who would follow them into the new country after the war and of protecting them from exploitation and abuse. They still remembered the vicissitudes of immigrant life. Those who were fortunate enough to have at their disposal sufficient means to pay for their ocean passage and to buy a homestead and maybe even to keep a little reserve for the first lean months in the unknown land, knew only the struggle of readjustment among strangers. But even for them the memory of the first years spelled hardship and insecurity. Some of the Germans, however, like many of their fellow immigrants from the British Isles, had come to America completely penniless. The owners and captains of vessels were willing to take such persons across the Atlantic, if the emigrants (or in the case of minors, the parents or guardians for them) would sign a contract stipulating that upon their arrival they would pay for the passage by letting the captain hire them out as servants for a term of years to masters willing to advance the amount of the passage money. Emigrants who entered into such a contract were called "redemptioners" because by binding themselves for service for a certain number of years they "redeemed" themselves of their debt for the passage. They also became known as "indentured servants," a term stemming from the fact that the contract forms were indentures.

For several years the redemptioners had come mainly from the British Isles. The growing abuses of this system having become known in Britain,

rigorous laws and measures were adopted and enforced for their better protection. Letters and articles abounded in English newspapers warning poor people from entering into such contracts. Public opinion was successfully aroused against the "emigrant runners." Now the latter turned toward the continent in search of a continuation of their lucrative trade. In the decades before the Revolutionary War they induced many Germans and Swiss desiring to go to America to bind themselves for the passage. Little did the emigrants know or suspect what was in store for them after they went aboard. The contracts which the redemptioners had to sign in the Dutch or Northern German ports, and which few of them fully understood, contained the proviso, that if any passenger died during the voyage, the surviving members of the family, or the other redemptioner passengers would make good his loss. Thus, a wife who had lost her husband at sea, or her children, on her arrival would be sold for five years for her own passage and for an additional five years for the fare of each of her dead relatives, although they may have died in the very beginning of the voyage. If there was no member of the family surviving, it was common practice to add the time of the deceased to the term of service of the surviving fellow passengers. The captain usually confiscated and kept for himself the effects of the dead. This meant that the shipping merchant and the captain would gain by the death of a part of their cargo. Records of the emigrant trade in the 18th century seem to substantiate the assumption that many a captain kept this additional source of profit well in mind.

Once in an American port, the redemptioners were not allowed to choose their masters nor the kind of service most suitable to them. Some were fortunate in being acquired by humane masters or finding interested parties who would use them in the trade they had learned at home. But frequently the penniless newcomers were brutally taken advantage of. They were often separated from their families, the wife from the husband, and children from their parents, and were disposed of for the term of years, often at public sale to masters living far apart, and always to the greatest advantage of the shipper. Contemporary sources cite many examples of inhuman treatment, how they were literally worked to death, receiving insufficient food, castaway clothing and pitiful lodging. Cruel punishments were inflicted on them for the slightest offense by merciless and brutal masters. While a certain number of German redemptioners arrived at Annapolis and Baltimore prior to the Revolution, this practice had not reached alarming proportions in Maryland ports. Most of the German redemptioners were landed at Philadelphia where such a large number of brutal offenses became known that prominent German citizens banded together in 1764 to found the first German Society in North America for the protection of the newcomers. Already during the first year of its existence, the Society procured laws for the protection and aid of German immigrants from the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1766 the German Friendly Society of Charleston, South Carolina, was founded for the same purpose. While the war years had brought the Atlantic migration to a standstill, a new wave of immigrants was to be expected, particularly from Germany and Switzerland, once the peace on the seas was restored. Being the only large port near Philadelphia and being without any protective society for the redemptioners, Baltimore would invariable be the next gateway for this abuse. With wise foresight the leaders of the German community in Baltimore anticipated such a development.

After recounting the story of the colonial immigration, the first chronicler of The German Society of Maryland describes the reasons why the Germans in Baltimore expected a renewed influx of their countrymen and what measures they took to protect them from injustice: "Since the Revolution which was ended by the Paris peace treaty of the 20th of January 1783 recognizing the independence of the thirteen United Provinces, many more will migrate over here. For the causes of emigration are still present in our great Fatherland: limitation of religious freedom, restraint of conscience in manifold ways in order to prevent the exercise of the natural rights of man, i.e., freedom of thought and freedom of expression, injustice in courts, oppression by little and big despots and impediment of gainful activity.

"In the same year during which the independence of the United Provinces was recognized, the German Society was established to help needy countrymen. In Philadelphia such a Society has been in existence for some years. Baltimore-which thirty years ago consisted of but fifty houses, has now some 1800 beautifully built houses and next year will count 2000 of them-is vying with its sister city in wealth as well as in all good works. Therefor also the above mentioned Society was founded here. The inceptor of the same in Baltimore is from Berlin: a gentleman by the name of Wiesenthal who for more than thirty years has been considered the most skilled and philanthropic physician in this place. The secretary of the Society is a Mr. John Conrad Zollikoffer of St. Gallen, a cousin of the well-known clergyman by the same name in Leipzig. The membership consists of merchants, teachers, artists, and other citizens of German origin, all of the City or its vicinity. Several of them have been elected overseers. Their principal duty is to assist arriving countrymen financially and in any other respect."

Immediately after its founding in 1783, the Society published the following statement to acquaint the public with its purpose and with the duties of the overseers: Reasons which have led to the founding of a German Society at this place for the benefit of certain poor, newly-arrived or otherwise distressed Germans.

Considering the many hardships human life is subjected to and embittered by, and observing how many of them could be-though not wholly remedied-at least alleviated so much as to make them bearable, it is regrettable that love of humanity has cooled down and the Samaritans who stand duly by their fellow men are few. Not the least, however, among all the circumstances which require the assistance to fellow men and the exercise of philanthropy is the case of people who abide in strange lands and being ignorant of the national language and custom, without means to support themselves, yea, often sick and weak, would be exposed to greatest hardship if there were no philanthropist to look after them and assist them. Such misfortune has so often befallen those who emigrated from Germany to this occidental continent that it caused the inhabitants of German birth and descent in the neighboring Pennsylvanian City to establish a Society with the purpose of helping such newly-arriving countrymen with advice and assistance. The success of this laudable enterprise soon became evident and it assumed such importance that many hundred poor Germans were assisted upon their arrival and enabled to settle as useful members in this so richly blessed land.

Inasmuch as it seems likely that within a short time from now many of our countrymen might leave their Fatherland to seek improvement of their lot in this country, the German Inhabitants of this City and its vicinity after due consideration have resolved to follow the example of their brethren in Pennsylvania by founding a similar Society in this City with the purpose of assisting not only newcomers but all those who are in need. To this end they have resolved and undersigned the following articles:

ARTICLE I

Should vessels carrying German emigrants arrive at this City or its vicinity and should any passengers be in want through sickness or otherwise destitute, the overseers therefor elected will examine all cases in order to help such needy people. They must particularly well investigate the cases of those who have not yet paid their passage to protect them from injustice. They shall bring to reliable people those who have to indenture themselves for payment of their passage. They shall provide the sick with necessities and medicaments until their health is restored. They shall provide burial at the expense of the Society for those who die without leaving any means. Should such destitutes leave any children, the overseers will endeavor to entrust the latter to the care of good and reliable people and assure that they will attend school in order to receive a Christian education.

ARTICLE 2

As it may happen that newcomers who have paid for their passage but for lack of any acquaintances be unable to carry out their trade and be therefor exposed to want, as much assistance as possible should be accorded in order to enable them to work in their trade or otherwise make an honest living so that they may repay the amount spent for them. But only under the following condition: that such needy applicants are otherwise honest people neither given to drinking nor other vices in which case they would have nothing more to expect.

J.K. Zollikoffer, Secretary

Baltimore.

The new Society did not have to wait long before it was called into action. During the year of its founding the Minerva, Bels, Harmony and other vessels brought a great many German and Irish redemptioners to Baltimore. By the summer of the following year the expected influx of immigrants reached considerable proportions. Baltimore newspapers carried frequent advertisements like the following one:

GERMAN REDEMPTIONERS

Just arrived in the Brig Lavater, Captain Kulkens from Bremen. A number of healthy German Redemptioners, Men and Women; among whom are a Number of valuable Tradesmen, viz. Ropemakers, Gardeners, Weavers, Shoemakers, Blacksmiths, Bricklayers, Carpenters, Butchers, Hostlers, Tailors, Papermakers, Tilers etc. etc. For Terms apply to the Subscribers or Purviance Wharf.

Valck, Burger and Schouten

Baltimore, August 7, 1784

Every time a ship was reported to have entered the port, the Society sent its overseers to the wharf where they boarded the arriving vessel making inquiries as to the treatment accorded the passengers by the captain and the crew and assisting redemptioners through counseling and material aid whenever needed. Unfortunately all the records of the first decades of the Society's work were lost, but from the pages of the Maryland Journal of August 10, 1784, we glean a statement of thanks which throws an interesting light on the spirit that guided the Society already during its earliest days. In its efforts to improve the lot of the redemptioners it did not limit itself to charitable and corrective acts but sought publicly to commend and to encourage a captain who had done more than his duty to care for those who had entrusted their lives and hopes to him during their voyage into the New World:

To Capt. Claas Kulkens, of the Brig Lavater:

Sir:

Upon inquiry concerning the usage of the people on board of your brig "The Lavater," we find, with peculiar satisfaction, that your attention to those principles which should animate a Christian heart, has rendered their situation as easy and comfortable as circumstances would permit. We cannot, sir, restrain our strong desire we feel of expressing to you our warmest acknowledgments, and publicly to offer you our sincerest thanks, which we consider as the smallest Tribute due, for your generosity and tenderness.

By Order of the German Society, Baltimore, August 9, 1784 JOHN CONRAD ZOLLIKOFFER, Sec.

While the first membership roster of the Society has not been preserved, some of the prominent members are known to us from other sources. The prime mover in founding The German Society of Maryland was no doubt Dr. Charles Frederick Wiesenthal (1726-1789), the undisputed leader of the German population in Baltimore. Although himself a stout Lutheran, he enjoyed the respect and admiration of men of all other faiths and was highly esteemed among his Anglo-American fellow citizens. He had come to Baltimore from the Province of Brandenburg during the early 1750's to practice medicine in the newly founded town. As a physician he won for himself the title of "Father of the Medical Profession in Baltimore." As a citizen he held innumerable offices in war and peace. For years he was the acknowledged leader of the Lutherans in Baltimore. Many a time he had helped destitute and sick immigrants before an organized Society existed. It was natural, therefore, that he should take the initative in rallying Germans of all walks of life for the purpose of forming "themselves into a Society, for the protection of such of their countrymen as may be induced to come to this State, and guard them from the oppression and barbarity of unfeeling men." Although the distinguished physician was only in his fifty-seventh year of age in 1783, the strain of his indefatigable labors began to wear upon his health. When the German scientist, Dr. John David Schoepf, visited Wiesenthal in the fall of 1783, he noted in his diary: "He has been here since almost the first beginning of the town, and for his private character as well as his attainments, is generally esteemed. It is a pity that his years and infirmities restrict his activities too narrowly." Nevertheless, beyond his active work as the first president of the Society, Dr. Wiesenthal offered his free services as official physician to the Society.

Intimately associated with the Prussian Lutheran in the Society's behalf was the Swiss merchant, John Conrad Zollikoffer, noted layman of the German Reformed Church in Baltimore. When Dr. Wiesenthal's increasing infirmities prevented him from performing his self-chosen duties as the Society's physician, another Swiss immigrant, Dr. William Zollikoffer, a native of St. Gallen, took his place.

The fact alone that such an organization existed in Baltimore helped to prevent many an injustice to German immigrants. Masters of vessels who had taken brutal advantage of their power over their passengers exercised greater care now, knowing that upon arrival they and their crew would be subjected to the scrutiny of the overseers appointed by the German Society.

In a letter to the church authorities in Germany the Rev. Just Henry Helmuth, president of the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, on the 30th of August, 1785, mentioned the good works done by the German Societies of Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York in order to acquaint the clergy in Germany with their existence and their purpose. This letter was printed in the Hallesche Nachrichten in 1787 and thus also helped to spread the name of The German Society of Maryland in Germany.

One of the youngest members, Christian Mayer, a native of Ulm who had joined the Society in 1785, hardly a year after his arrival in Baltimore, showed an immediate interest in the fate of the redemptioners. He made a survey of all laws and regulations relating to servitude and slavery in Maryland and the adjoining states. After studying all the legal factors involved, he wrote a series of articles which he sent to Germany where they were published in 1791. He also furnished examples of actual passenger contracts and indentures for publication in Germany. Mayer was convinced that by informing the German public about the situation of redemptioners the number of people who would engage themselves without formal contract or without understanding the stipulations of their indenture would be greatly reduced. He felt keenly the need for special legislation for redemptioners when he wrote: "Only custom and habit oblige German emigrants to accept such service contracts. The contract which they engage in with the ship owner in Holland does not bind them in any way. When they arrive here they are mere debtors of the captains or owners of the vessel and legally they could apply for the relief of insolvent debtors." Mayer furthermore pointed out that the then existing laws in fact pertained only to "convicts from British and Irish prisons or Negro slaves." Their application to Germans and other emigrants owning money for their ocean fare had no actual legal basis other than being accepted through customary usage. He condemned strongly the expression "to buy or sell a German servant," as it was used frequently in advertisements or on handbills. "Intelligent people will not employ such wording; they will rather say: "the time of servitude of a German girl is to be disposed of." Nor will they advertise "for sale, a number of German Redemptioners" (or even, Servants), but "Arrived-German passengers willing to serve for their freight."

Christian Mayer's pioneer work in exploring the legal aspects of the redemptioner system was to play an important role some twenty-five years after his first articles appeared. Due to the European events following the French Revolution and the ensuing wars on the continent and on the seas, emigration to North America suddenly came to a standstill. The German Society, which had so well served the purpose its founders had envisaged, fell into a state of inactivity, but, as we shall soon see, not into oblivion. While the pioneer generation passed away, its spirit remained alive among the younger members, to be revived when the hour demanded it.

A Charter and a Law

Due to the Napoleonic Wars which raged all over the European continent, the young American Republic was cut off from the unceasing stream of immigrants. A second and third American-born generation took over where their immigrant fathers had laid the groundwork. Baltimore's Germans had a vital part in the surprising development of the city as a port and as an industrial center. By the turn of the century, Baltimore had grown to more than 40,000 inhabitants with an export trade volume of more than $15,000,000 in merchandise per year, thus becoming the third largest port of the country. A period of prosperity set in, which, besides the complete absence of new immigration, greatly reduced the need for charitable work which the German Society had also undertaken. Wherever individuals required help, the local churches of German origin, whose leading laymen had been among the founders of the German Society, accorded it.

From 1812 to 1814 the United States became temporarily involved in the great European conflict. In 1814 the British navy, recognizing the importance of Baltimore, attempted to capture the city. The heroic American defense of which General John Stricker bore such an essential part is recorded in every school history. The roster of the defense committees of Baltimore in those critical days contained numerous German names which we will soon encounter on the roll of the German Society.

By 1815 the long series of wars in Europe and with it the short belligerency of the United States came to an end. The German states had been the principal battlegrounds. Although Prussia, Austria and the other German provinces were victorious over Napoleon, their lands were impoverished and devastated. Crop failures in 1816 and 1817 all over Northern and Central Europe denied the people the fruits of the restored peace. Some 60,000 Germans, mainly from Swabia and the Rhineland left their native soil to follow the example of an earlier generation. They wandered along the roads leading to the Dutch and Northern German ports or crowded barges down the Rhine. Poverty-stricken by years of war and famine, few among them had enough money to pay their passage to America.

Ship owners in these ports who had suffered tremendous losses during the Continental Blockade were only too eager to resume the old emigrant-running trade which had proved so profitable in pre-war days. Soon again immigrant vessels became a familiar sight in the harbor of Baltimore.

An incident which caused great excitement among the German population occurred late in 1816. A shipload of redemptioners consigned to Mr. Graff, a German merchant, arrived in Baltimore. Without the knowledge of the consignee, two German families were sold to free Negroes. No sooner became this "dishonorable abuse" known than a collection was taken up among the Germans of the city to buy the freedom of the two families. Leading men, among them Christian Mayer who recorded this incident, became increasingly concerned about the revival of the "white slavery" system. However, it took a more spectacular event to bring the old German Society back into action.

About the middle of November, 1816, upward of three hundred Germans, men, women and children, arrived in Amsterdam to seek passage to America. Skipper H.H. Bleeker of the Jufvrow Johanna offered them passage to Baltimore in return for their signing a contract to serve as redemptioners upon arrival. The Dutch ship sailed with its living freight in the midst of winter. Chronicles relate extremely low temperatures for that year. In Baltimore on February 14, 1817, the thermometer registered four degrees below zero. The entire Chesapeake Bay was frozen from shore to shore. It was in this weather that the Jufvrow Johanna, after fifteen weeks on the tempestuous Atlantic, sighted the capes in the first days of February and slowly made its way to Annapolis where it became ice-bound.

Captain Bleeker offered his passengers for sale in the usual manner. Upon arriving within sight of inhabited land, the passengers in their joy at having reached the promised land, threw their rotten bedding overboard. Moreover, the ship's pantry ran out of its last provisions. Acute suffering from the severe cold and from hunger set in.

Major L. Fraily of Annapolis, learning of the passengers' plight, inserted appeals in Baltimore newspapers, the first of which appeared in the Baltimore American on the 7th of February:

"To citizens generally and to benevolent Societies.

A ship with upward of 300 German men, women and children has arrived off Annapolis, where she is detained by ice. These people have been fifteen weeks on board and are short of provision. Upon making the Capes their bedding, having become filthy, was thrown overboard. They are now actually perishing from the cold and want of provision."

On the following day appeared an advertisement about the passengers: "Principally farmers and mechanics of all sorts, and several fine young boys and girls, whose time will be disposed of. Mr. Bolte, ship broker of Baltimore, will attend on board at Annapolis, to whom those who wish to supply themselves with good servants, will please apply." For six weeks the Jufvrow Johanna lay in the ice outside Annapolis before it finally arrived at its destination, Baltimore. Again advertisements appeared in the Baltimore American, the first on March 21, and the last on April 7. Presumably by the latter date the captain had sold all his passengers. Five months had elapsed between the departure from Holland and the sale of the last passenger in Baltimore.

The case of the Jufvrow Johanna in itself was certainly not unusual. What Captain Bleeker did to his passengers was no doubt done by numerous other skippers at that time. This incident, however, received immediate publicity thanks to Major Fraily. It went down into the history of German immigration to Maryland because it provided the immediate stimulus for the revival of the old German Society and through it for an effective reorganization of the Maryland immigration laws.

Shortly after the news of the misery aboard the ice-bound vessel off Annapolis became known, the Federal Gazette and Baltimore Advertiser on February 13, 1817, published an appeal to the German inhabitants of Maryland to meet at Kaminsky's Hotel on Bank Street that evening at 6:30 P.M. to revive the dormant German Society.

The gathering was attended by many influential citizens, among them General John Stricker, Commanding General of the Maryland Militia and himself of Swiss-German descent, and Christian Mayer who had joined the Society in 1785. Five days later, on the 18th of February, the first formal meeting in many years was called. A new constitution was adopted. The urgency of the situation demanded quick action. Already on the 3rd of March the new board of officers was elected:

President: Christian Mayer

Vice Presidents: Dr. A. J. Schwartze, Bernard J. Von Kapff, Heinrich Schroeder, General John Stricker

Managers: Justus Hoppe, Lewis Brantz, Conrad Schultz, Jacob Small, Frederick Amelung, William Krebs, John F. Frick, Samuel Keerl, John F. Friese, Peter Sauerwein, Michael Kimmel, Jesse Eichelberger

Secretary of the Society: Lewis Mayer

Secretary of the officers: Lawrence Thomsen

Treasurer: Frederick Waesche

Counsellors: David Hoffman, Esq., William Frick, Esq.

Physicians: John G. Wolf, Jacob Baer

In conformity with the Articles of 1783 the objectives of the Society were reiterated as follows: "The protection and assistance of poor emigrants

from Germany and Switzerland and of their descendants who may reside in the State of Maryland or be temporarily sojourning therein."

One hundred and forty-nine citizens of German and Swiss birth or descent subscribed their names to the new constitution of the Society, among them such leading citizens as Frederick W. Brune, Charles Diffenderfer, J.J. Cohen, Jr., Philip D. Sadtler, Samuel Etting, Charles W. Karthaus and Benjamin J. Cohen. Their numbers included descendants of colonial settlers, immigrants from Austria, Baden or Switzerland, Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews and Catholics, men from all walks of life, a true representation of the German element of Maryland at that time.

In a spirit of tolerance and charity they went to work. The board of managers convened on March 6th to adopt a number of resolutions dealing with the procedure of voting, the duties of the counsellors and physicians and a membership drive. The constitution of the Society was ordered to be printed in the English and German languages. In order to acquaint the public with the Society, the constitution was also to be published in several Baltimore newspapers and in the Westliche Correspondenz (Hagerstown) and the German newspaper of Frederick. It was also resolved that all officiating German clergymen in Maryland should be considered honorary members. The sum of $2,000 of the funds of the Society should forthwith be invested in United States stock.

The practical work for the protection of the immigrants was resumed without delay. The case of the Jufvrow Johanna allowed no further hesitation. A communication from a resident of Georgetown, D.C. was read during this first board meeting reporting grievances of a German family sold by Captain Bleeker outside the limits of the State of Maryland. Similar complaints reached the Society from Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The ship had originally sailed for Baltimore and the redemptioners aboard had the legal right to enter their service as redemptioners only in Baltimore or at least within the State. Bleeker, however, like several other captains, offered his human cargo for sale also in D.C. and Virginia newspapers. This being a clear violation of the law and the terms of the passage contract, the reports gave the Society an opportunity to bring the cause of these immigrants before the U.S. Court.

The large number of letters and appeals received by the Society immediately after its reorganization showed how badly it was needed. In all cases that became known to the Society, it took vigorous and energetic action as far as the existing laws permitted. From the records of 1817 still extant, we gather how Christian Mayer, ably assisted by the two lawyers, David Hoffman and William Frick, and the other officers of the Society, always tried the direct approach first by appealing to the conscience of the master against whom a complaint had been lodged. Only when an amicable settlement seemed impossible was court action sought without delay. From funds hastily made available by the members, the Society did its utmost to relieve those in distress.

Christian Mayer, whose familiarity with all legal aspects of the indenture system had already found expression in his earlier publications, as the president of the German Society could now put his long experience to good use. No one knew better than he the limitations of the existing laws in America and the complete ignorance regarding American legal process among the German and Swiss emigrants. While the Society could do valuable work in alleviating misery and suffering, a general improvement of the situation could only be brought about by the enactment of laws and regulations for the protection of immigrants arriving in the State of Maryland. Together with the two legal counsellors of the Society, Mayer drafted the text for such a comprehensive law to be submitted to the next session of the Maryland legislature which would meet in December, 1817.

The work of this committee of three proceeded satisfactorily. When the Society made its first public appearance at the festive banquet held at Kaminsky's

Hotel on the 26th of December, 1817, President Mayer could report that the draft of the charter for the Society and the carefully prepared text for a redemptioner law had been submitted to the legislature at Annapolis.

The first banquet marked the beginning of what was to become the great annual gathering of the German Society. Once a year the entire membership and honored guests would meet at this social affair to pause and look back over the achievements of the past year, to gather impetus for renewed efforts and to spend a few hours in fellowship and good cheer. The first banquet had immediate results: the objectives and good works of the Society became more widely known, which was of great importance for the success of the proposals pending before the legislature.

The spirit which prevailed at this banquet has ever remained alive among the members of the Society. Toasts were offered by the officers to "The Land We Live In," to "The German Confederation," to the great men of American and German history, but the one which, more than all eloquent speeches, came from the hearts of these men who had gathered to dedicate themselves to the service of newcomers on these shores, was: "To All Emigrants, May They never Be Ungrateful to the Country which Adopted Them."

The German Society of Maryland had now entered the public scene. What had originally been a group of charitable citizens who were banding together to help fellow Germans in distress, grew after the reorganization into a forceful weapon to combat injustice. As so often before and since in American life, the initiative of public-spirited men triumphed over the evils of the time. Prominent lawyers supplied the Society with the necessary legal knowledge. The great esteem in which General John Stricker was held all over Maryland lent a considerable moral authority to its cause. The names of wealthy and successful merchants on its roll had a powerful influence on public opinion.

As early as the 3rd of February, 1818, The General Assembly granted a charter incorporating The German Society of Maryland. Two weeks later, on February 16, 1818, the law prepared by the officers of the Society was passed by the legislature. It was entitled, "An Act Relative to German and Swiss Redemptioners."

The most important step was accomplished. For the first time a law was put into effect which decreed state regulation of the redemptioner system.

It provided for the appointment by the governor of a commissioner to supervise all contracts for apprenticeship of immigrants. No longer could such contracts be imposed on the redemptioners without being first submitted to the commissioner and deposited in his office. His approval was the prerequisite for the contract's validity. The act further provided that everyone who secured a redemptioner under twenty-one years of age was required to give him at least two months of schooling annually during the term of his servitude. Most important was the provision that no immigrant was to serve longer than four years. No one could be held on board ship longer than thirty days after arrival in the port of destination.

Furthermore, stipulations for the protection of children, sick persons and next-of-kin survivors of persons who died during the voyage were included. The law expressly mentioned The German Society of Maryland which by its virtue was for the first time equipped with a powerful legal means to carry out its efforts in behalf of the immigrant.

If the Society had done nothing more than achieve the enactment of this law, it would have deserved its place in the annals of Maryland history. The decades now following were the time of the greatest immigration in United States histo