Passengers of the Irene (1749)

Passengers of the Irene in 1749

Please add your Moravian Church ancestors who arrived on the ship "Irene" from Europe to New York to settle Pennsylvania to this project.

From Moravian Church

In 1741, David Nitschmann and Count Zinzendorf led a small community to found a mission in the colony of Pennsylvania. The mission was established on Christmas Eve, and was named Bethlehem, after the Biblical town in Judea. There, they ministered to the Algonquian Lenape. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is today the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania.

" THE IRENE "

The demand from Pennsylvania for more colonists becoming urgent, in the late Summer of 1744. Zinzendorf, after consulting with Bishop Spangenberg, who had been selected to superintend the affairs of the Church in America, and Captain Garrison, recently returned from captivity at St. Sebastian, decided that a transport vessel should be built in New York, under the supervision of the latter.

FIRST VOYAGE

The Irene, in command of Captain Nicholas Gassison, Christia Jacobson, mate, and the following crew, Ehrhardt, Schaut, Christiansen, Kemper, Robbins, Okely and Edmonds, sailing from New York for Amsterdam, September 8th, 1748, 22 and arrived at the Texel November 1st. Cleared from London, March 1st, 1749, and arrived at New York May 12th, having on board the "John Nitschmann Colony." With this colony came Christian David, of Herrnhut, Matthew and Rosina Stach, missionaries to Greenland, and their converts Judith Issek, Matthew and John, who had been on a visit to Europe. Christian David during his sojourn in Pennsylvania assisted in the building of "Old Nazareth," and visited other settlements. At a Love-feast given in Bethlehem on June 9th, the Greenlanders appeared in native costume. In the center of the chapel sat the Greenlanders and aside of them two Arawacks, from the Berbice mission in South America; next some thirty converts from five or six Indian tribes, and back of them the "missionaries to the Heathens," then present in Bethlehem. All the hymns sung were in the languages of the nationalities present. The following day the Greenlanders set out for Philadelphia, where they visited the Governor, and from thence proceeded to New York.

The "John Nitschmann Colony" was the largest ever brought over on a Moravian transport, and it is also worthy of record, that on July 15th, thirty one couples of the Colony were married by seven clergymen at Bethlehem; which epithalamic event is known to Moravian historians as the "Great Wedding."

The following is a roster of the colonists:

1. John and Juliana Nitschmann,
2. David and Rosina Nitschmann,
3. Michael and Anna Helena Haberland,
4. Samuel and Rosina Krause,
5. Joseph and Verona Mueller,
6. Christian Jacob and Anna Margaret Sangerhausen,
7. Matthew and Rosina Stach,
8. John and Anna Stoll,
9. David and Mary Wahnert,
10. Christian Frederick and Anna Regina Steinmann,
11. Christian David, widower,
12. John Schneider, widower,
13. Magdalene Elizabeth Reuss, widow.

SINGLE BRETHREN

1. Gottlieb Berndt, clothier, Upper Silesia,
2. Wenzel Bernhard, baker, Bohemia,
3. Joachim Birnbaum, tailor, Brandenburg,
4. Peter Drews, ship carpenter, Gluckstadt,
5. J. Philip Duerrbaum, Mittelhausen,
6. Enert Enersen, joiner, Norway,
7. J. Godfrey Engel, tailor, Brandenburg,
8. Henry Fritsche, tailor, Silesia,
9. Elias Flex, farmer, Upper Silesia,
10. Paul Fritsche, carpenter, Moravia,
11. J. Leonard Gattermeyer, blacksmith, Bavaria,
12. George Gold, mason, Moravia,
13. John Peter Hohmann, shoemaker, Brandenburg,
14. Daniel Kliest, blacksmith, Frankfort,
15. Christopher Kuehnast, shoemaker, Prussia,
16. Andrew Krause, weaver, Brandenburg,
17. David Kunz, farmer, Moravia,
18. Peter Mordick, farmer, Holstein,
19. John Bernhard Mueller, clothier, Wurtemberg,
20. Michael Muenster, carpenter, Moravia,
21. Martin Nitschmann, cutler, Moravia,
22. Carl Opitz, shoemaker, Silesia,
23. George Pitschmann, weaver, Upper Silesia,
24. John George Renner, farmer, Swabia,
25. John Christian Richter, joiner,
26. Andrew Rillman, stocking-weaver, Saxony,
27. Frederick Schlegel, weaver,
28. John Schmidt, furrier, Silesia,
29. John Christopher Schmidt, fringe and lace maker, Saxony,
30. Melchior Schmidt, carpenter, Moravia,
31. Melchior Schmidt, weaver, Moravia,
32. Martin Schneider, mason, Moravia,
33. Carl Schultze, mason, Posen,
34. Godfrey Schultze, farmer, Lower Silesia,
35. John Schweisshaupt, stocking-weaver, Wurtemberg,
36. Andrew Seiffert, carpenter, Bohemia,
37. Thomas Stach, book binder, Moravia,
38. Rudolph Straehle, mason, Wurtemberg,
39. David Tanneberger, joiner, Upper Silesia,
40. John Nicholas Weinland, farmer.

GREENLANDERS.

1. John -
2. Matthew -
3. Judith -

SINGLE SISTERS

1. Rosina Arndt,
2. Rosina Barbara Arnold,
3. Margaret Ballenhorst,
4. Anna Rosina Beyer,
5. Maria Beyer,
6. Elizabeth Bieg,
7. Catherine Binder,
8. Rosina Dietz,
9. Maria Dominick,
10. Sophia Margaret Dressler,
11. Margaret Drews,
12. Charlotte Eis,
13. Maria Elizabeth Engler,
14. Catherine Fichte,
15. Catherine Fischer,
16. Roina Galle,
17. Margaret Groszer,
18. Helena Grundberg,
19. Juliana Haberland,
20. Anna Maria Hammer,
21. Rosina Haus,
22. Margaret Heindel,
23. Maria Barbara Hendel,
24. Anna Rosina Kerner,
25. Anna Maria Koffler,
26. Anna Maria Krause,
27. Barbara Krause,
28. Martha Maans,
29. Magdalena Meyerhoff,
30. Magdalena Mingo (negress),
31. Anna Maria Nitsche,
32. Dorothea Nuernberg,
33. Helena Nusz,
34. Elizabeth Oertel,
35. Maria Elizabeth Opitz,
36. Catherine Paulsen,
37. Anna Ramsburger,
38. Margaret Catherine Rebstock,
39. Anna Catherine Renner,
40. Anna Maria Roth,
41. Juliana Seidel,
42. Anna Maria Schmatter,
43. Rosina Schuling,
44. Magdalena Schwartz,
45. Dorothea Uhlmann,
46. Divert Vogt,
47. Susanna Weicht,
48. Catherine Wentzel.

notes

During the nine years the Irene was in the service of the Church, she crossed the Atlantic twenty-four times, sailing between New York and ports in England and Holland, and made one voyage to Greenland. She was always rated a staunch vessel and an excellent sailer, and to the time of her capture and loss, had never met with any serious mishap. The large number of colonists she brought over from Europe for settling the estates of the Church in Pennsylvania, and the fact of her never entering at or clearing from the port of Philadelphia, which was nearer to the Brethren's settlement than New York, caused Governor Hamilton in personal interview with Bishop Spangenberg, to ask for an explanation. "We wish it would suit our convenience to use the port of Philadelphia," stated the Bishop, "but it was found impracticable, for our Captain, who was born near New York and has a large acquaintance with the merchants of that city, can more readily obtain freight there than in Philadelphia; passengers alone not being sufficient. And another serious matter is, that the merchants of Philadelphia own their vessels." The explanation was satisfactory.

resources

• The Moravian ship Irene The following information is the complete transcription from "Transactions of The Moravian Historical Society" Moravian Immigration to Pennsylvania 1734-1767 Vol 5 part 2 printed 1896 compiled by John N.Jordan