Dr. Heinrich "Henry Carpenter" Zimmerman ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Taken from the website, "Terry Mason's Family History Site" located at, http://www.tmason1.com/pafn69.htm#1238

Dr. Heinrich or Henry ZIMMERMAN

NAME: Zimmermann is a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational name for a carpenter -- Zimbermann in Middle High German. Sometimes our ancestors used the English-version of their surnames after they immigrated. Ref: Red notebook of Catharine F. Borden Mason in possession. RELATIONSHIPS: History of Yeiser family of Danville, Ky; 1900; ; paper of Sallie Hunter Borden passed to her daughter Elsie; Copy sent to T. Mason by Dori Shaffer, Hot Springs, AK. Found a paragraph from "Ship Passenger List's", Pennsylvania and Delaware 1641-1825. The following is a rough translation from the original passage written in German: Immigrant in Pennsylvania before 1700. Almanac on behalf of Auslanddeutsche clan (1736), 53-54 [lancour No. 116] Zimmerman, Heinrich a doctor from Switzerland 1698, son Emanuel, leader of the group to Pennsylvania. He had seven sons whose families consisted of six people. They changed their name to Carpenter. Maria Margareta Zimmerman, a widow was with Magester Johann Jakob who was the arranger of the group of immigrants to Pennsylvania with four children, 1694 immigrants. Per Greg Shively post in FTM forum: Heinrich came to America twice. Once to the new land and second to stay. Tombstone Inscription from the Carpenter Church Graveyard on Route 772 between Talmadge and Leola, PA reads: " 'Heir Ruht Doctor Heinrich Zimmerman' Starborn AprilXVII-MDCCL-XXIII Alt. LIXIAHR VIHMY IIIT." From The Pennsylvania-German Vol. XI, No.2 February 1910, "A CARPENTER FAMILY OF LANCASTER", by A.Y. Casanova, Phillipsburg, PA. "This son Heinrich only will occupy our attention for he became the American pioneer ancestor of the Lancaster family of Zimmerman that later bore on the name of Carpenter. As a youth, Heinrich the younger, seems to have chafed at being confined within the limits of his commune in Switzerland, and, after a not over peaceful course of study in the village school, he obtained the parental consent and enlisted as a soldier in the armies of Louis XIV of France, in whose armies he appears to have served for some time. Heinrich is described at that time as being a splendid specimen of hardy and daring manhood. An expert with the sword and pike and fond of adventure. He fretted under discipline, and being dark featured, black hair and black eyed, was called the 'Black Henry.' After his term of military service had expired, he returned to his home studied medicine, and during the stay won the affections of his future wife, Salome Ruffner, or Ruffener, born December 28, 1765 in the neighboring village of Blumenstein, who was the widowed daughter of the Marquise deFontenoy. His financial resources did not permit him to marry then; the New World offered at the time great opportunities to thrifty young men in the Province of Pennsylvania, the advantages of which colony had been well advertised by William Penn throughout the districts of the Upper Rhine, and the glowing reports having reached Heinrich, he became restive to sail for America to better his fortunes. In pursuance of this desire,he traveled to London, via Rotterdam, and visited Penn's London Offices to obtain detailed information about Pennsylvania and to ascertain what inducements were offered to prospective settlers. Later, passage was taken in a vessel, and he arrived in Germantown in the new colony in 1698 where he was welcomed by the Swiss residents who had preceded him. Exploring trips were undertaken by our young pioneer in order to acquire a better knowledge of the new country, and about the year 1700 he returned to his native land full of enthusiasm to bring his relatives and some of his neighbors to Pennsylvania. The proverbial conservatism of the Swiss tried to chill Heinrich's immigration scheme, but did not cool his love for Salome. He married her in the year 1701. His neighbors, however, looked with favor on his plans, but before taking any decisive steps resolved to send an agent to America to verify the traveller's alluring narratives. This delay annoyed Heinrich, and his restless spirit drove him to become identified with an armed rebellion which took place against the established government. The attempt, though unsuccessful, earned for him the title of the 'Swiss Patriot' given to him by the early historians of the Province. The untoward result of his struggle for freedom compelled Heinrich to seek safety in flight. The family tradition, on the other hand, is that being a communicant of the German Reformed Religion, he was desirous of escaping the religious persecutions then prevalent in his country, and that he did not deem it consistent with true religion to persecute persons who professed a different faith from his own. Friends essayed to force him to renounce the doctrines of the Reformation and wanted to retain him Switzerland. In order to hold him at home, they planned to kidnap his wife, thinking he would not leave without her. Salome, however, was bent on going with her husband, and when Heinrich heard of the plot, he secretly obtained a small boat which he tied to a spot on one of the shores of the Lake of the Four Cantons, or Luzerne, to await a favorable opportunity to escape. Heinrich and his family left their home one day for the lake. He had armed himself, and this precaution was not taken in vain, for they were attacked on the road by hussars who tried to prevent their departure. Dr. Seymour Carpenter in his version of the incident informs us that the hussars were mounted and armed with sabres and spears. As the latter drew near, Heinrich ordered them to halt, and not being heeded, attacked them with stones. The horses became restive, the hussars were compelled to dismount, and Heinrich taking advantage of this delay in the hostilities, ran to the boat. He was fleet of foot, but before reaching the boat one of the hussars who had pursued him seized Heinrich's coat tail and an unhappy ending to the adventure might have resulted had not Salome, who was in the boat, seized an oar and by a well directed blow, felled the hussar. Heinrich sprang aboard, pushed off, and in this dramatic manner escaped from the land of his birth. More hospitable shores then received them. Tradition further informs us that Heinrich also practiced the trade of carpentry, and on his way to America, he sojourned in England where he was presented with a large auger and other tools by Queen Anne for use in the new country. The family arrived in Germantown about 1706. A house was purchased. Heinrich practiced the medical profession, acquired money, bought lands and gradually improved them. He was allowed to take possession of several hundred acres of land provided he went sixty miles west of Philadelphia. In 1710 two hundred acres of land in the present limit of Lancaster county were purchased by him, and in 1712, five hundred and seventy-two more acres were registered in his name. In the year 1717, when he already was the owner of about 3,000 acres of fine land on which the pioneer had erected a two storied dwelling house with an out kitchen, the family moved to the new location in this county but the children continued attending school in Germantown. It should be noted here that William Penn on issuing patents for lands arbitrarily changed foreign names to English equivalents, often translating the patronymics, metamorphosing the early primitive names, and we find Zimmerman anglicized by translation to Carpenter in the deeds and naturalization papers of American pioneers of this family. Dr.Henry, son of the pioneer, however, had his name changed as above noted by a special act of the Pennsylvania Assembly. The correct orthography of a given family name is not always maintained in the records, but this family is one of the few whose patronymic has come down to unchanged after assuming the name of Carpenter. Heinrich Zimmerman died about the year 1749 and his wife had preceded him to the majority in the year 1742. They had the following children: Emanuel, born 1702, died 1780; Gabriel, born 1704, died 1767; Christian, born 1707; Salome, born 1709, died 1736; Henry, born 1714, died 1773; Daniel, born 1716, died 1764; Jacob born 1717, died 1771; and Mary, born 1722, died 1750. The first two children were born in Europe, and the remainder in Pennsylvania. These children and the descendants united with some of the leading families of Lancaster county, but the limits of this article only permits us to lightly sketch the children of Heinrich making only short references to some of his later descendants, some of whom became prominent in the history of their county and State. The pioneer's descendants are very numerous at present and may be found in every Sate of the Union, but distant though they may reside from the Keystone State, many of them travel back at vacation time or home week celebrations to visit the early home of their forefathers."

Heinrich married Maria Salome Rufener Or Ruffaner, daughter of Peter De Fontanoy Rufener and Anna Krebs, in 1701 in Bernese, Oberland, Canton-Berne, Switzerlan. (Maria Salome Rufener Or Ruffaner was born on 28 Dec 1675 in Blumenstein, Oberland, Bern, Switzerland, died on 9 Aug 1743 in Pequea, Earl Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA and was buried in Carpenters Graveyard, Paradise, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA.)