Francis Daniel Pastorius (September 26, 1651) was a German born educator, lawyer, poet, and public official. He was the founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania, now part of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the first permanent

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

settlement and the gateway for subsequent emigrants from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Early life

Franz Daniel Pastorius was born at

Sommerhausen Sommerhausen is a municipality and market town in the district of Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany. History Sommerhausen has been an important municipality on the Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly t ...

in the German Duchy of Franconia, to a prosperous

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

family. He received a Gymnasium education in

Windsheim Bad Windsheim (East Franconian: ''Winsa'') is a small historic town in Bavaria, Germany with a population of almost 12,000. It lies in the district Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim, west of Nuremberg. In the Holy Roman Empire, Windsheim held t ...

(also in Franconia), where his family moved in 1659. He was trained as a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

in some of the best German universities of his day, including the

University of Altdorf The University of Altdorf () was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Ba ...

, the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

and the

Friedrich Schiller University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

. He started his practice in Windsheim and continued it in

Frankfurt-am-Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

. He was a close friend of the

theologian and

Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

leader

Philipp Jakob Spener Philipp Jakob Spener (23 January 1635 – 5 February 1705), was a German Lutheran theologian who essentially founded what would become to be known as Pietism. He was later dubbed the "Father of Pietism". A prolific writer, his two main works, '' ...

during the early development of Spener's movement in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. From 1680 to 1682, he worked as a

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in co ...

accompanying a young nobleman during his Wanderjahr through

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Pastorius' biography reveals increasing dissatisfaction with the

Lutheran church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and state of his German youth in the

Age of Absolutism Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...

. As a young adult his

Christian morality Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...

even strained the relationship with his father

Melchior Adam Pastorius Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations. As a first name * Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide * ...

(1624–1702), a wealthy lawyer and burgomaster in Windsheim. These difficulties came to a head in 1677–1679, years of tumult in this imperial city. After Pastorius had completed his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in law, returned to Windsheim and begun his law career, his family and friends (with Habsburg backing) suppressed a popular insurrection against abuses of oligarchic rule. It was in this context that he left his home in 1679, joined the Lutheran Pietists in Frankfurt, and repeatedly urged adherence to Christ's Golden Rule. He emigrated to Pennsylvania four years later, and never went back to Windsheim.

To Philadelphia

300px, Home of Francis Daniel Pastorius in Germantown, as it appeared circa 1919 In 1683, a group of

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

Pietists Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

, and

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

in Frankfurt, including

Abraham op den Graeff Abraham Isacks op den Graeff (c. 1646 – c. 1731) was an original founder of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Germantown, Pennsylvania, as well as a civic leader, award-winning weaver, and signer of the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Agai ...

a cousin of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, approached Pastorius about acting as their agent to purchase land in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

for a settlement. Pastorius took passage, aboard the ship America and arrived in Philadelphia on August 20th, 1683. In Philadelphia, he negotiated the purchase of 15,000 acres (61 km²) from William Penn, the

proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

of the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

, and laid out the settlement of Germantown, where he himself would live until his death. As one of Germantown's leading citizens, Pastorius served in many public offices. He was the first mayor and also was a member of the

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...

in 1687 and 1691.

Writings

He wrote extensively on topics ranging from

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. He was "the first poet of consequence in Pennsylvania . . . ndone of the most important poets of early America" (Meserole, p. 294). His extensive commonplace compilations provide insight into early Enlightenment culture in colonial Pennsylvania. He was also a skilled poet whose work appears in the New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse. Pastorius' most important book was his manuscript "Bee Hive," which is now in the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

's rare book room. It is his commonplace book, which contains poetry, his thoughts on religion and politics, and lists of books he consulted along with excerpts from those books. Also of interest is his ''Geographical Description of Pennsylvania'', first published under the title, ''Umständige geographische Beschreibung der allerletzt erfundenen Provintz Pennsylvania'' (1700). This book also contains many of his letters home to Germany. His manuscripts include treatises on horticulture, law, agriculture and medicine. SealOfGermantownPa1691

Penn State University Press published in 2019 a reader on Francis Daniel Pastorius edited by Patrick M. Erben.

Personal

Pastorius married Ennecke Klostermanns (1658–1723) on November 6, 1688. They had two sons: Johann Samuel Pastorius (1690–1722) and Heinrich Pastorius (1692–1726). Though raised as an upper-class

, he converted to

Lutheran Pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...

as a young adult in Germany. He grew increasingly liberal in Pennsylvania, espousing universalism and moving close to Quakerism. Famed jazz bass guitarist

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bass guitar, bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1 ...

is his distant descendant.

Legacy

Anti-slavery stand

In 1688 he drafted, together with Garret Hendericks,

Derick op den Graeff Derick is both a masculine given name and a surname. It is a variant of Derrick. People with the name include: Given name * Derick Adamson (born 1958), Jamaican runner * Derick Amadi (born 1984), Nigerian footballer * Derick Armstrong (born 1979) ...

, and

the first protest against slavery in America. Pastorius was a cosigner of the

1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery was the first protest against enslavement of Africans made by a religious body in the Thirteen Colonies. Francis Daniel Pastorius authored the petition; he and three other Quakers living in G ...

, the first petition against slavery made in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...

. Before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, when abolition of slavery was gaining strength, Pastorius was ripe for celebration. The Quaker poet

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

celebrated Pastorius' lifeand particularly his anti-slavery advocacyin Whittier also translated the Latin ode addressed to posterity, which Pastorius prefixed to his Germantown book of records.

Operation Pastorius

Despite the Quaker sympathies of Pastorius, his name was appropriated in 1942 by the ''

Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...

'' of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

for "

Operation Pastorius Operation Pastorius was a failed Nazi Germany, German Espionage, intelligence plan for sabotage inside the United States during World War II. The operation was staged in June, 1942 and was to be directed against strategic American economic tar ...

," a failed

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

attack on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

that included a target in Philadelphia.

Biographies

For generations Pastorius has won the affections of historians. In the early twentieth century, German-American scholars embraced him and the University of Pennsylvania professor

Marion Dexter Learned Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) * Marion (surname) * Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" * Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * M ...

(1857–1917) wrote a lengthy biography; Learned had access to papers that have subsequently been lost. In 1953 DeElla Victoria Toms wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on intellectual and literary of Francis Daniel Pastorius. In 1985 John Weaver documented the cultural background of Pastorius' childhood and youth, and his reasons for emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1683. More recently Princeton University professor Anthony Grafton has written about Pastorius as a representative of European intellectual culture.Anthony Grafton, Jumping Through the Computer Screen, ''New York Review of Books''
Grafton's presidential address to the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

in 2012 was on Pastorius.Anthony Grafton The Republic of Letters in the American Colonies: Francis Daniel Pastorius Makes a Notebook, ''American Historical Review,'' February 2012
Anthony Grafton, Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe 152-185 (Harvard University Press, 2020). Weaver extensively revised his earlier research in a book (in PDF) available online and published in 2016. In 2012 Patrick Erben wrote ''A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania''. In 2017 Margo Lambert published "Mediation, Assimilation, and German Foundations in North America: Francis Daniel Pastorius as Cultural Broker."

Legacy

* The Pastorius Home Association, Inc. operates the Pastorius Haus in

Bad Windsheim Bad Windsheim (East Franconian: ''Winsa'') is a small historic town in Bavaria, Germany with a population of almost 12,000. It lies in the district Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim, west of Nuremberg. In the Holy Roman Empire, Windsheim held t ...

, Germany and the Pastorius House in

Germansville, Pennsylvania Germansville ( ) is an exurban, unincorporated community which is located in Heidelberg Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Lehigh Valley, which has a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area ...

. * The Pastorius Monument is located in Vernon Park in

Northwest Philadelphia Northwest Philadelphia is a section of the city of Philadelphia. The official boundary is Stenton Avenue to the north, the Schuylkill River to the southwest, Northwestern Avenue to the northwest, Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, and Wister Stree ...

, PA. *

Pastorius Park Pastorius Park is a sixteen-acre (6.5-ha) park that is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is maintained by the Fairmount Park Commission. History and notable features Established in 1915, this American park was named in hon ...

is located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, PA.

References

Other sources

* Bowden, Henry Warner (1977) ''Dictionary of American Religious Biography '' (Westport, CT:Greenwood Press) * Brophy, Alfred L.
"Ingenium est Fateri per quos profeceris: Francis Daniel Pastorius' Young Country Clerk's Collection and Anglo-American Legal Literature, 1682–1716," University of Chicago Law School Roundtable (1996)
volume 3: 627–721. * Dünnhaupt, Gerhard, "F. D. Pastorius" (Biography and Bibliography) in: ''Personalbibliographien zu den Drucken des Barock", vol. 4, (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1991, pp. 3075–3079) * Genzmer, George Harvey "Pastorius, Francis Daniel," in Dumas Malone (ed.), ''Dictionary of American Biography'', Vol. 7, Part 2, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934 (1962 reprint), pp. 290–291) * Gross, Leonard; Gleysteen, Jan (2007) ''Colonial Germantown Mennonites'' (Telford, PA: Cascadia) * Meserole, Harrison T. (ed) "Seventeenth-Century American Poetry," Anchor Seventeenth-Century Series. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968, pp. 293–304)

Writings by Pastorius

* ''Deliciæ Hortenses, or Garden-Recreations, and Voluptates Apianæ'', ed. Christoph E. Schweitzer (Columbia, South Carolina: Camden House, 1982). * ''Francis Daniel Pastorius Reader: Writings by an Early American Polymath'', ed. Patrick Erben (University Press: Penn State Press, 2019). * Marion Dexter Learned, “From Pastorius’ Bee-Hive or Bee-Stock,” Americana Germanica 1, no. 4 (1879): 67-110.

External links

Francis Daniel Pastorius Describes his impressions of Pennsylvania, 1683

Full text of Learned, Marion Dexter, ''The Life of Francis Daniel Pastorius, the Founder of Germantown'', Campbell: Philadelphia, 1908, x, 324p.

* ttp://triptych.brynmawr.edu/u?/HC_QuakSlav,8 Quaker Protest Against Slavery in the New World, Germantown (Pa.) 1688.*
Philadelphia Public Art: Pastorius Monument
* Th

which include his personal papers and writings, are available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pastorius, Francis Daniel 1651 births 1720 deaths Educators from Philadelphia Politicians from Philadelphia People of colonial Pennsylvania People from Würzburg (district) Poets from Pennsylvania University of Altdorf alumni University of Jena alumni University of Strasbourg alumni German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies American abolitionists American Quakers Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly People from Philadelphia Quaker abolitionists