"Light From On High Shines Upon The Darkness"

Johann Wilhelm(William) Lerchenzeiler and his family were among the 5th party of Palatines (information about Palatines later in blog) who boarded ship in Holland between July 3rd and 10th in July, 1709. The ship sailed to London on July 15th. Mike Marshall obtained from the British Public Records Office in London a copy of the original list, given in the order they boarded ship. Most published lists are in alphabetical order. Often, friends and family members boarded together, so a list showing the order in which they boarded ship provides clues to friends/family. Lergerseiler was actually first on the following list that boarded on July 3rd. "Y" means had wife, and number following gives number of children listed. It also shows the families who boarded immediately following.

Johan Willem Lergerseiler (sp?) Y 1
Johan Dider Elroot (sp? Elrod) Y 1 (see yellow hi-light below)
Johan Brown Y 1
Anna Mary [?Brown]
John Peter Kneckern Y 1
Peter Patturf Y 5
Elias Steen Y 3
Johan Adam Leitner Y 2
Diderig Doug
Konrat Krow Y
Phillipus Heipt Y 3
Henrig Tamboer Y 1
Hans Peter Appelman Y 3
Johan Peerelman Y 3
14. Johan Krist Y 3
Johan Felten Hoost Y 4
Johan Jurg Soelst Y 1
Niklaas Roel Y 2
Hans Jacob ?Roever Y 1
Kasper Berg
Bernhardt Kreider
Johan Peter May Y 2
Johan Peter Brown Y 4
Mattys Berner Y 2
Herman Man Y 3
Johan Hes
Kristoffel Octet
Godfried ?Bracdvis
Johan Jurg Mangel
Johan Hendrik Wagenaar
Willem Wagenaar
Willem Timmerman Y 2
Hans Phillip Brounet Y 3

U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s

Updated annually, this database is an index to passengers who arrived in

United States and Canadian ports from the 1500s through the 1900s

Name:	Johan Willem Lergerseiler
Arrival Year:	1709
Arrival Place:	England or America
Family Members:	With wife & child
Source Publication Code:	3988.10
Primary Immigrant:	Ledger

"Johan Willem Lergerseiler", wife (Susanna Catharina -married 1673 Palentine,Germany) and one child, all sailed from Rotterdam (often called the Gateway to Europe) on 15 July 1709. On the same vessel was a John Dider Elrood (Elrod) and wife Maria Magdelena Lerchenzeiler (Johann 'John' Wilhelm 'William' Lerchenzeiler was the father, or possibly the brother, of John Teter's wife Maria Magdalena Lerchenzeiler). Most sources associate Johann as Maria's father.

The party arrived in England and most likely took shelter in a barn or army tent that the English provided. London was a small city with its own poverty and hunger issues. Although the English found ways to temporarily provide for the religious refugees, relocating them was a priority. The Palatines were sent to three locations- Ireland, New York, or the Carolinas. The refugees resettled to America were to produce naval stores, turpentine, tar, and pitch for the royal Navy.
The voyage to America claimed many lives. The exiles were lived in crowded quarters. Food and water were scarce and disease was rampant. The exodus continued for many years and conditions onboard got worse with each voyage. Rations of food often ran out and lice were so thick that they had to be scraped off. When the ships arrived in America, a doctor would come aboard and decide who would was healthy enough to stay and who had to return to England. If you had a furry tongue, you were not allowed to get off the ship.
The Elrods arrived in America no later than August of 1709 in the port of New York. During this time in history, the first town in North Carolina was incorporated (1706) and called Bath. From 1711-1714, the Carolina colonists were fighting the Tuscarora Indians and by 1717 Stede Bonnet, better known as Blackbeard, was raiding ships off the North Carolina Coast. Church records show the Elrods in the area of New Castle County along the Pennsylvania/Maryland border until 1721.

In 1721 a son was born to the Elrods and named Christopher. That child was the first American born Elrod ancestor. His mother, Maria Magdalena Lerchenzeiler Elrod, had eight children and died the year that Christopher was born, possibly in childbirth. She is buried at Old Swede’s Church (Holy Trinity Church) at 7th and Church Streets in Wilmington, Delaware. Johan Teter remarried the same year. His second wife was Sarah Wood and the couple had seven children. From the fifteen children of Johan Teter, the Elrod pioneers scattered far and wide.

BACKGROUND

The Palatine emigrants came to England at the encouragement of the British Government whose intent it was to

resettle them in the colony of New York for the purpose of producing naval stores.

The first ship to arrive in New York was the Lyon, which landed June 13, 1710. The last ship arrived August 2,

1710. Although no evidence firmly establishes it, it is assumed that the Elrod and Lerchenzeiler families were

among the Palatines who came over in 1710. Some of the emigrants were resettled on a tract of land known as

Livingston Manor about 90 miles north of New York City. A large number, some 350, remained in NYC. The

available evidence is that the Elrod and Lerchenzeiler families probably remained in New York City, later

migrating to the area of New Castle County, Pennsylvania (later Delaware).

The first record of the Elrod’s in America appears in the communion records of Holy Trinity

(Old Swedes) Lutheran Church in New Castle County on May 16, 1714, where they are

recorded as having communion with the Lerchenzeiler’s. The Old Swede church records

show the presence of the Elrod’s in New Castle up through early 1721. Sometime in late

1720 or early 1721, Johan and his family moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as his

son, Christopher Elrod, is recorded in the church books there as having been born on

January 29, 1721. (http://elrodfamilyhistory.blogspot.com)

Holy Trinity Church, known as Old Swedes. At 7th and Church Sts., Wilmington, Delaware.

Built 1698, graveyard goes back to 1630s. Claims to be the oldest church in America

operating as originally built. Built near Fort Christina, first Swedish settlement in America.

Now part of Trinity Parish, Wilmington (Episcopal).

On the NRHP: National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966.

Iron letters on the east wall of the church dating from 1698, spelling

in Latin "LUX-L.I. TENEBR ORIENS- EX ALTO" which translates to

"Light from on high shines in the darkness"

The communicant records of of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church in New Castle County, Delaware have been transcribed by Courtland B. and Ruth L. Springer in "Delaware History," published by the Historical Society of Delaware, Old Town Hall

(Wilmington DE, 1952-53), Vol. 5.