Rau, A collection of upwards of thirty thousand - German ...

PROLEGOMENA. 41
Gknnan cmtographa are difficult to decipher. When a doubt remains
as to the orthography, a note of interrogation (?) has been added.
In List A there are names of males above sixteen years old, marked
»itk, which are not found in B and C, and some are marked dead. To
complete this Collection, these names hare been added, and designated
accordingly. Where this (§) is added to a name, it indicates the per-
son was sick.
Determined to make this publication as satisfactory as possible, the
names of males under sixteen years of age have been copied with the
utmost care, and will be presented in an Appendix, in which the cor-
rect spelling of names, as far as can be ascertained by collating all the
Lists, is represented. By adopting the plan pursued, several thousand
names will be added, which would otherwise not have appeared. Foot
notes have occasionally been added, for reasons fully explained in the
Introduction.
Some of the notes are of a historical, others of a biographical cha-
racter. The most important are those containing the names of early
settlers, who had landed at some port, other than that of Philadelphia,
but who afterwards came into Pennsylvania, and whose descendants
Btill reside here. An attempt has been made to place the diflFercnt
spellings of names in juxtaposition, showing the orthography of the
ancestor's autograph and that of his descendants, as in the case of
the well-known Hiester family. An ancestor signed his name to
the Declaration, Sept. 26, 1737, the time of his arrival, Joat Hikterr—
ffittter is the orthography adopted by his descendants.
It is not the only design of this publication to preserve names,
which indifference or accidents might forever place beyond reach, or
to lead to the recovery of rights to inheritances abroad, that might
otherwise remain unestablished ;
but to enable thousands to determine
with certainty the time of their ancestors' arrival in Pennsylvania.
Prominent and intelligent individuals may be met with, who, when
asked: When did your ancestors arrive? can give only a conjectural
answer. The descendants of Mathias Smtsee, who, numbering in
1845, 1,162 say: "Mathias, with his brother Qeorge and his sister
Margaretta, emigrated to America about the year 1 738, or probably at
an earlier period."* By the aid of this Collection, the year, month of
arrival and day of his signing the Declaration can be determined.
The eonjeetured time is seven years— "far from the mark!"
• Minutes of the Centennial Celebration, held by the descendants of the Elde^
Mathias Smyser, May 3d, 1845, on the fann of Samuel Smyser, West Manoherte«
Township, York Cooaty, P».
4*
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