German-American Firsts
German-American Firsts
I have been reading and doing research, as I consider the next book I would like to write. (More on that later.)
As I have been reading and researching, I came across some German / German-American “firsts” in America.
I’ll share some highlights below. (If you have more, please in the comments below!)
For a reference: (the year) 1683 – marks the start of continuous German settlement in North America. (However, small numbers of Germans were counted among the second group to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia in 1608.)
1. Franz Daniel Pastorius – Founder of the first permanent German-American settlement: Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1683.
2. German Protest Against Slavery (1688) – First written protest against slavery in the British colonies drafted in Germantown (in German). (The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition)
3. Molly Pitcher – Born Maria Ludwig Hays, she was the first woman to be awarded a military pension from the US Congress in 1778.
4.William Rittenhouse (1690) – Established the first paper mill in America at Germantown, which supplied the paper for early colonial printing.
5. Christopher Sauer (1743) – Printed the first Bible (in German) in America, predating the first English-language Bible by 40 years.
6. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben – First U.S. Army regulations manual in 1778.
7. Margarethe Meyer Schurz – opened the first kindergarten in the United States in 1856.
8. David Gottlieb Yuengling – founded the oldest operating American brewery, D. G. Yuengling & Son, in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
9. John Roebling – designed the Brooklyn Bridge, pioneered the use of wire rope, and revolutionized suspension bridge engineering in America.
10. Levi Strauss (1873): A German immigrant from Bavaria who partnered with Jacob Davis to create the first blue jeans.
11. F.W. Rueckheim (1896): A German immigrant who created Cracker Jack, the first popular mass-produced snack food “toy surprise” combo.
12. Gustav Goelitz (1898): His family started the candy business that eventually produced the first “Candy Corn”.
Again, if you have more, please in the comments below!
