Early settlers
Almost all of the early settlers practiced mixed subsistence farming and had to be self-sufficient. They had brought seeds and, when possible, livestock with them on the trans-Atlantic voyage. The European farmers who came here, mostly Germans from the Palatinate, had generations of knowledge of crops and livestock behind them. For years they had lived with the uncertainty of not knowing whether their spring planting would yield a harvest, or if their fields would be destroyed in yet another war. The hardships of crossing the Atlantic to find a new homeland where they would be able to live and farm in peace, own the land they farmed, and practice their preferred religion were offset by the hopes they had for the future of their families.
The first to arrive chose the best land and the most favorable locations for their new homesteads. They needed fresh water from a spring for themselves, water from a creek for their animals, and fertile land. The most desirable land had creekside meadows growing native grasses that their livestock ate to survive until sufficient fodder could be harvested. The rich limestone soils in the valleys of the Little Lehigh, Swabia and Jordan creeks were prime locations for early settlement.
Large chestnut trees and black walnut trees provided plentiful lumber for log houses and barns. German farmers here became famous among early travelers; their log barns especially were admired, as no other group of immigrants built such comfortable housing for their animals. This area became their new homeland, not a stop on a journey to further frontiers. Most became naturalized, which required these Europeans to pledge loyalty to the English king and was necessary in order to purchase land. Their prosperity increased as they cleared and planted more land each year. By dividing land among their children they created a legacy that continues to this day, when so many residents can claim to have ancestors who moved here in the 1700s.
In 1828, journalist and travel writer Anne Royall described traveling from Mauch Chunk to Allentown:
The land becomes richer and less uneven as we approach Allentown; the heights are covered with chestnut, and the valleys with large black walnut, large farms and fine orchards; the largest apple trees I ever saw, fine barns and houses, sleek cattle, few sheep and horses in sight, but a number of fine hogs running at large in the woods. … The road from Allentown to Reading passes over some of the finest farming land in Pennsylvania. It must be understood that from the care and skill of the Pennsylvania farmer the land is never suffered to lose in point of fertility. They have made farming a perfect science and pursue a regular routine in changing their crops from one thing to another, by which means land originally rich is still the same and produces as much as at first, and land originally poor has become fertilized. I have seen nothing in any of the Atlantic states, in the farming line, that has any resemblance to the farming in Pennsylvania. Father and son, grandfather and so on, have become rich on the same tract of land, I see nothing like poverty in the country, whatever there may be in the towns. The great, massy barns, with elegant sash and glass windows, their overgrown horses and cattle, their smooth ploughed furrows, their haystacks and snug, warm houses, their thick, serviceable cloths, the ease and contentment, and above all, that noble independence which marks their steady looks and movements, prove them to be a wealthy and happy people.
http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/germanstudentreading.pdf
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1681-1776/oaths-fidelity.html
http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/12/anne-royall.html
Almost all of the early settlers practiced mixed subsistence farming and had to be self-sufficient. They had brought seeds and, when possible, livestock with them on the trans-Atlantic voyage. The European farmers who came here, mostly Germans from the Palatinate, had generations of knowledge of crops and livestock behind them. For years they had lived with the uncertainty of not knowing whether their spring planting would yield a harvest, or if their fields would be destroyed in yet another war. The hardships of crossing the Atlantic to find a new homeland where they would be able to live and farm in peace, own the land they farmed, and practice their preferred religion were offset by the hopes they had for the future of their families.
The first to arrive chose the best land and the most favorable locations for their new homesteads. They needed fresh water from a spring for themselves, water from a creek for their animals, and fertile land. The most desirable land had creekside meadows growing native grasses that their livestock ate to survive until sufficient fodder could be harvested. The rich limestone soils in the valleys of the Little Lehigh, Swabia and Jordan creeks were prime locations for early settlement.
Large chestnut trees and black walnut trees provided plentiful lumber for log houses and barns. German farmers here became famous among early travelers; their log barns especially were admired, as no other group of immigrants built such comfortable housing for their animals. This area became their new homeland, not a stop on a journey to further frontiers. Most became naturalized, which required these Europeans to pledge loyalty to the English king and was necessary in order to purchase land. Their prosperity increased as they cleared and planted more land each year. By dividing land among their children they created a legacy that continues to this day, when so many residents can claim to have ancestors who moved here in the 1700s.
In 1828, journalist and travel writer Anne Royall described traveling from Mauch Chunk to Allentown:
The land becomes richer and less uneven as we approach Allentown; the heights are covered with chestnut, and the valleys with large black walnut, large farms and fine orchards; the largest apple trees I ever saw, fine barns and houses, sleek cattle, few sheep and horses in sight, but a number of fine hogs running at large in the woods. … The road from Allentown to Reading passes over some of the finest farming land in Pennsylvania. It must be understood that from the care and skill of the Pennsylvania farmer the land is never suffered to lose in point of fertility. They have made farming a perfect science and pursue a regular routine in changing their crops from one thing to another, by which means land originally rich is still the same and produces as much as at first, and land originally poor has become fertilized. I have seen nothing in any of the Atlantic states, in the farming line, that has any resemblance to the farming in Pennsylvania. Father and son, grandfather and so on, have become rich on the same tract of land, I see nothing like poverty in the country, whatever there may be in the towns. The great, massy barns, with elegant sash and glass windows, their overgrown horses and cattle, their smooth ploughed furrows, their haystacks and snug, warm houses, their thick, serviceable cloths, the ease and contentment, and above all, that noble independence which marks their steady looks and movements, prove them to be a wealthy and happy people.
http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/germanstudentreading.pdf
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1681-1776/oaths-fidelity.html
http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/12/anne-royall.html
