merchant and passenger vessels, the Swedes hold a prominent place. Many Swedes are engaged as engineers, designers, chemists, etc., in the great steel works and manufacturing plants of the East. It has often been asserted in Swedish American papers that the Swedes in this country have made more inventions in proportion to their numbers than any other people. In the absence of reliable statistics I am unable to express a definite opinion, but certainly a very great number of applicants for patents have Swedish names. There are few millionaires among the Swedes in America." As business men they are invariably successful, but with the exception of C. A. Smith in Minneapolis (who owns one of the largest saw mills in America, and is at the head of one of the largest lumber concerns in the world), and five or six others, the Swedes control no really great business interests. In the professions the Swedes are prominent. They have representatives in the faculties of Yale, Columbia, Chicago, Minnesota, Indiana, Nebraska, Princeton, Colorado, etc. Swedish lawyers and physicians have in many instances gained more than local fame and reputation. It has been said that the standard of living indicates a people's position in the scale of culture and social and intellectual advancement. If that is true, the Swedes stand at the head of most, if not all, foreigners in America. In comparing the German and Swedish farmer we are at once struck with the difference. The Swedish farmer has less money in the bank than his German neighbor, but he lives better, he has his house more elegantly furnished and his yard better kept, he has more often sent his children to some institution of learning. The Swede always lives better than the Bohemian or Italian," and re William Penn, in a letter to England, says of the Swedish Americans of his day: . . They desire rather to have enough than plenty or traffic." See Clay's Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware, p. 31. "See the Indus. Com. Report, XV. invariably better than the Irish.78 The love of luxury and high living is a strong trait even among the old Norse people,79 and seems to have descended to the modern Scandinavians.80 The Report of the Industrial Commission makes the statement that the children of foreigners in the Western States are less illiterate than those borne of American parents, and this is true in the States where the Scandinavians, and especially the Swedes, are numerous. And it is a fact that the Swede is always anxious to have his children well educated, and there are very few Swedes (farmers or others) able to do it, who have not given their children a high school or business course, and in many cases sent them to college. This is perhaps the reason why so many well-to-do farmers of the West complain that their sons do not stay on the farm and take the place of their father. AMANDUS JOHNSON. University of Pennsylvania. (To be continued.) "The writer has passed through a great many settlements of the West and invariably found the above statement to hold good. "See Vara fäders sinnelag (Stockholm, 1894), pp. 45-50; also Weinhold's Altnordisches Leben, p. 143 ff. See Indus. Report, XV, pp. 280-281. DOCUMENT RELATING TO EARLY GERMAN SETTLERS IN AMERICA. THE SCHERER FAMILY. The following papers relating to the Scherer family were given me for publication by Dr. Scherer, of Dartmouth College, who is a descendant of Johann Conrad Scherer. The papers offer an unusual variety of information. No. 1 is a Letter of Health and Passport. No. 2 a Certificate of Church Membership. No. 3 a Letter from the Father is Germany to his Son in America. No. 4 a Certificate of Baptism. No. 5 a Love Letter in Rhyme. The documents are here arranged in chronological order. Nos. 1, 2 and 4 are reproduced from the original. The last named, No. 4, has a genealogical record of interest, written on the back and margins, which is here transcribed as accurately as possible. The handwriting in No. 3 is such as to make it difficult to distinguish between capitals and small letters in the case of nouns. What seem to be capitals are evidently often intended for small letters. A few difficult points were encountered in the deciphering. 1. In No. 3 "Kochfrucht" seems to refer to "small vegetables, such as peas, beans, etc. cf. Grimm. Wbch: Kochfrucht, Küchenspeise, wie bes. Erbsen, Linsen, Bohnen." Information on the use of the word will be thankfully received. 2. In the the same letter the name (Daniel Mehr) Bott is unfamiliar, although it is clearly written "Bott." 3. The word "Beickler" (for Beicklen?) in this letter is evidently the German form for "Pikeland," as the name Scherer occurs in the lists for Pikeland township a little later. The common pronunciation of Pikeland even now is "Pikelan," which evidently gave rise to the German form. 4. The abbreviation L. B. S. (Lectori Benevolo Salutem) has been rendered freely in the English translation. 5. It will be seen that No. 5 is in rhyme, although written as prose, showing that the writer was drawing freely upon conventional matter for his original. No. I. Transcription. EDITOR. Wy Burgomeesteren ende Regeerders der Stad Rotterdam in Te kennen gevende, dat hy voornemens was van hier na Frankfort a Main te vertrekke Versoekende daar toe onze ordinaris Brieve van Gezontheyd en Paspoort; Certificeren dienvolgende, dat onse Stad ende Circumjacentien van dien, (door Gods goedheyd) met pestilentiaele of andere contagieuse Siektens niet is besmeth; Weshalven wy gedienstig verzoeken, aan alle Hooge en Laage Officieren, so Militaire als Civile, de voornoemde Jacob Scherer overal vry en liber te laten passeren en repasseren. In kennisse der waarheid, hebben wy Burgermeesteren en Regeerders voornoemt, het Zegel ten Zake deser Stad, hier onder op doen drukken, en door onsen, Subst.-Secretaris doen teekenen, op den 16 January 1700 Drie & Vyftig. No. 2. Transcription. L. B. S. J Van der Mey. Dass der Vorzeiger dieses Johann Conrad Scherer, in der wahren Evangel. Reformirten Religion nicht nur auferzogen, zu welcher Er unter offentlicher und guter Glaubens-Bekandnuss puplice confirmiret worden, Sondern sich auch, in so lange Er bey uns, und in seinem Vatterland gewessen, seiner gethanen Confession gemäss Christlich, und Ehrbar erzeiget, desswegen fleissig dem Gehör göttlichen Worts beygewohnet, nicht weniger das Heilige Abendmahl oft und andächtig genossen, und desswegen auch, allen denen daran gelegen ist, sonderlich Brüdern in Christo, de meliori recommendiret werden kann: Solches habe auf geziehmendes ansuchen, mit anwünschung fernerer göttlicher obhut, geleit, und Seegens, an obgedachten Joh. Conrad Scherer, pflichtmässig attestiren, und mit meinem gewöhnl. Pitschaft besiegelen wollen. Dörrnigheim in Hochfürstl. HessenHanauisch. Ambt Bücherthal d.23t. May 1753. E. P. THEOBALD. L. R. PASTOR. No. 3. Old German Letter (Transcription). Dörnigheim, d. 15ten Mey, 1754. Gott zum gruss und Jesum zum bey-stand Liebwerdester Sohn. Dein werdes schreiben vom 11ten Nofr [Nov. ?] 1753 habe ich wohl und richtig empfangen, auch dein gutes wohl sein darauss ersehen, welches uns von Hertzen lieb und angenehm wahr auch den bethrübten Todesfal wegen deines Bruders, welches wiehr schon vorher gewist haben ehe wier dein schreiben empfangen haben, auch habe ich darauss ersehen dass dich die beiten Brieder Wachner haben auf genohmen und dier behilffllich sind gewessen hat uns hertzlich erfreuet auch habe ich darauss ersehen, dass du meldest von Z [zwei] grossen Thaler die du mit dem Jost an mich geschickt hast aber Ich habe nicht mehr empfangen, als eine Duckat welches den Jost sehr vertrossen hat, weilen er zu miehr gesacht hat du hätest ihm nicht mehr gegeben dan 14 Schilling Bilder auch haben wiehr kein rech |