Page:Historical and biographical sketches.djvu/61

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THE SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN.
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Desmond in 1708; Jacob, Johannes, and Martin Kolb, Mennonite weavers from Wolfsheim in the Palatinate, and Andrew Strayer in 1709; Solomon Dubois, from Ulster County, New York, in 1716; Paul Fried in 1727; and in the last year the unsold balance of the tract passed into the hands of Pannebecker. Van Bebber gave 100 acres for a Mennonite church, which was built about 1725, the trustees being Hendrick Sellen, Hermannus Kuster, Klas Jansen, Martin Kolb, Henry Kolb, Jacob Kolb, and Michael Ziegler.

The Van Bebbers were undoubtedly men of standing, ability, enterprise, and means. The father, Jacob Isaacs, moved into Philadelphia before 1698, being described as a merchant in High street, and died there before 1711.[1] Matthias, who is frequently mentioned by James Logan, made a trip to Holland in 1701, witnessing there Benjamin Furly's power of attorney July 28th, and had returned to Philadelphia before April 13th, 1702. He remained in that city until 1704, when he and his elder brother, Isaac Jacobs, accompanied by Reynier Hermanns Van Burklow, a son-in-law of Peter Schumacher, and possibly others, removed to Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland. There he was a justice of the peace, and is described in the deeds as a merchant and a gentleman. Their descendants, like many others, soon fell away from the simple habits and strict creed of their fathers; the Van Bebbers of Maryland have been distinguished in all the wars and at the bar; and at the Falls of the Kanawha, Van Bebber's rock, a crag jutting out at a great height over the river, still preserves the memory and recalls the

  1. He had three grandsons named Jacob, one of whom was doubtless the Jacob Van Bebber who became Judge of the Supreme Court of Delaware Nov. 27th, 1764.