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Original 13 Families of Germantown, Pennsylvania

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Arets, Bleikers, Dohrs, Kerlin and 9 others
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On October 6, 1683, the first German Settlers came to America aboard a ship called "Concord" which later became known as the "German Mayflower".

German Americans account for about one third of the total population of people of German ancestry in the world.

The first significant groups of German immigrants arrived in the British colonies in the 1670s, and they settled primarily in the colonial states of Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia.

With 3.5 million people of German ancestry, Pennsylvania has the largest population of German-Americans in the U.S. and is home to one of the group's original settlements-- the Germantown section of present-day Philadelphia. It was founded in 1683 by passengers to America aboard a ship called "Concord" which later became known as the "German Mayflower".

Germantown is also the birthplace of the American antislavery movement, which emerged there in 1688 when the inhabitants organized the first petition in the English colonies to abolish slavery.

The Concord carried a complement of 40 crewmen and 120 passengers.
The family heads are recognized as constituting what has become known as "The Thirteen".
They were the group of thirteen men who came from Krefeld with their families and totaled 33 persons.
Many of these were related. Four were Op den Graffs, three Luckens, three Theisen-Doors & Strepers.

William Jefferies was the master of the English schooner or galleon called the Concord. It was a 500 ton sailing ship measuring 130 by 32 feet.
The ship left Rotterdam on 6 July 1683 and arrived in Gravesend. Here twelve fellow Quakers (many who were former Mennonites) and one Mennonite with their families from Krefeld, 33 persons in all, made their way to Gravesend to join the Claypoole family on the voyage.

The Concord left London, England on 24 July 1683 and arrived in the port of Philadelphia on 6 October after a voyage of 75 days.
Here the German immigrants were greeted by a German lawyer, Franz "Francis" Daniel Pastorius, a close friend of Willian Penn.
He had arrived in Philadelphia earlier in August to help prepare for the arrival of the Concord.
Pastorius assisted the newcomers in establishing the Germantown Mennonite Settlement.

The town they built was named Germantown, as the direct vicinity of the settlement was inhabited by fifty-four German families who had accompanied Johan Printz to the Swedish settlement on the Delaware several years earlier and had resettled themselves.

On the 200th anniversary of the founding, "German Day" was celebrated for the first time in Philadelphia in 1883.
The custom died out during World War I as a result of the war, but the holiday was revived in 1983 in joint resolution 108.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed October 6 as German-American Day to celebrate and honor the 300th anniversary.
Senator Richard G. Lugar (R–Indiana) introduced the bill on April 8, 1987 and on August 6, 1987, Congress approved S.J. Resolution 108, designating October 6, 1987, as German-American Day.
It became Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 100–104, 101 Stat. 721 when President Reagan signed it on August 18.
A proclamation (#5719) to this effect was issued on October 2, 1987, by President Reagan in a formal ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, at which time the President called on Americans to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Presidents since then have continued to make proclamations to observe National German-American Day and it is celebrated every October 6.


No definitive list of the German passengers exists. Penn's letters refer to 33 individuals. The 13 heads of the "families" are known but there is some uncertainty over wives and children.

"The Thirteen" HEADS of Families (in alphabetical order):

  1. Leonard Arets
  2. Abraham Isacks Op den Graeff
  3. Derick Isacks Op den Graeff
  4. Hermann Isacks Op den Graeff
  5. Wilhelm Strepers
  6. Tönes Coenen-Heggers
  7. Reiner Theissen-Doors variant spelling of surname: Tyson
  8. Johann "Jan" Simons
  9. Johann "Jan" Lenssen
  10. Peter Kürlis
  11. Johannes Bleickers
  12. Johann "Jan" Lucken
  13. Abraham Tunes Klinken

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Margaret Pieters, mother of the Op de Graeff brothers died in November 1683. The first male member of the settlers to die was Jan Seimons. He passed away in January of 1684 during the first winter in America, leaving his widow, Merchen Willemson Lucken and their infant son, Peter Jansen Peter Sieman Johnson.
Merchen or Mary, the daughter of William Jansen Lucken, then faced a lonely life in a strange country. She was comforted by the association of her relatives, since her brother Jan Lucken and two of her sisters with their families had also come to Germantown.

40 crewmen (Their names may be lost to history)

120 passengers

"33 persons"
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Concord%2C_sailing_of_1683 (accessed 4 Dec 2023) says the following and claims there has been confusion between a single man named Wilhem and the Wilhelm who was married with 7 children ( Wilhelm Streypers, Original 13 families of Germantown, PA):
"There are frequent references to the Krefeld band consisting of 33 persons (James Claypoole's letters being the most authoritative).
Willem Streypers who travelled on the Concord was single (and has been confused with another Willem Streypers who married Belken Tuffers and had 5 children). Excluding Peter Bliekers born at sea, there are indeed 33 consisting of 2 Kuerlis children, 3 Kunders children (all under 10), ZERO Streypers children, 1 Seimens adult daughter, 1 Op den Graeff mother, 1 Op den Graeff teenage sister, 13 family heads and only 10 wives. Arets, Streypers and Thiessen were the singletons. Thones Kunders may have had a daughter Mary born 1680 and some accounts do refer to him travelling with a wife and 4 children. So the argument is by no means settled."

  1. Abraham Isaccs op den Graeff (a weaver) and his wife
  2. Trintje Catharina Jansen (1656-1710)
  3. His brother, Herman Isacks op den Graeff (a weaver) and his wife
  4. Liesbet Isacks (Van Bebber), sister
  5. Margrit op den Graeff, and mother
  6. Margriet Peters
  7. Their brother, Dirck Isaacs op den Graeff (a weaver) and his
  8. wife Nolcken (Vyten)
  9. Lenart (Leonard) Arets (sometimes Arents or Van Aaken) (a weaver), single
  10. Johan (Jan) Seimens (Simons) and his wife
  11. Mercken (Lucken) (sister of Johann) and
  12. daughter.
  13. Wilhelm Streypers (Strepers), single
  14. Johann Lenssen (a weaver) and
  15. wife
  16. Thones Kunders (a blue-dyer) his wife
  17. Elin and sons
  18. Cunrad Kunders,
  19. Madtis and
  20. John
  21. Reiner (Tyson) Theissen-Doors, single, whose sisters were married to Thones Kunders, Peter Kürlis and Jan Lucken.
  22. Johann (Jan) Lucken (whose sisters were married to Jan Seimens and Abraham Tunes) and wife
  23. Merken (Gastes)
  24. Johannes Bleickers and
  25. wife and son
  26. (born at sea) Peter
  27. Peter Kürlis (Kewrlis) (an innkeeper) and wife
  28. Elisabeth (Doors) and two children
  29. (Martha/Metgen,
  30. Agnes/Angenes)
  31. Abraham Tunes and wife
  32. Beatrix (Luckens), sister of Johann
  33. Crew: William Jefferies, Ship's Master and 40 sailors
  34. Others: James Claypoole, his wife
  35. Helena and
  36. seven children. 1
  37. 2
  38. 3
  39. 4
  40. 5
  41. 6
  42. 7
  43. Elizabeth Bennet (servant of James Claypoole)
  44. Edward Cole Jr (servant of James Claypoole)
  45. Hugh Masland and his
  46. wife (servants of James Claypoole)
  47. Cicely Wooley (servant of James Claypoole)
  48. William Hard
  49. Hugh Lamb
  50. Uncertain: Gerhard Brumbach
  51. Tönes Coenen-Heggers and
  52. wife and
  53. four children (this is almost certainly a variation on Thones Kunders) 1
  54. 2
  55. 3
  56. 4
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