What is the Exile Society?
While information for the 1923 publication of The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families was being collected, an interest in the genealogy and history of the Schwenkfelders was raised among the immigrant descendants. As a result, it was proposed that an organization, similar to the Mayflower Society, be founded by the descendants of those Schwenkfelders who arrived during the years 1731-1737.
Several organizational meetings were held and in February 1921 a constitution was adopted and officers of the new organization were elected. The first meeting of the Society of the Descendants of the Schwenkfeldian Exiles was held on April 29, 1921, in the assembly hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Secretary presented the names of 126 men and women who made up the Charter membership.
The original plans called for two meetings per year. A Spring meeting in the country, where most of the descendants lived, and a Fall meeting in Philadelphia, when the election of officers would be held. More recently, the Society has adopted a single meeting held during October at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA.
Topics of Schwenkfeldian interest are presented at the meetings. Occasionally, on-site meetings are held at meeting houses, cemeteries, schools, and other places of interest connected with our ancestors. Good fellowship is promoted in the social hour that follows.
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The Viehweg at Harpersdorf – "What It is and Why We Care"). In 1732, there was a chapel built in Harpersdorf with the fines our ancestors paid rather than worship as the Pope and Emperor dictated. This chapel was still in existence and used for services into the 1940’s.The Schwenkfelder religion goes back 200 years before the Exiles left their homes in Silesia, to the writings and speeches of a wealthy nobleman named Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig. A contemporary of Martin Luther, he engaged in many debates on religion with this great man. Gradually, he came to have a considerable following of men and women who believed as he did. This belief centered upon an Inner Light, which was to guide their conduct, and later was embodied in books that came into possession of George Fox of England, who adopted the ideas into his philosophy which emerged as Quakerism. In fact, some books call the Schwenkfelders German Quakers. No less authority than Dr. Rufus Jones attested to the vital influence of Schwenckfeld upon the thought of the Quakers.
This religious thought in Silesia did not conform with the ideas of the rulers who paid allegiance to the Church of Rome. Some Jesuit priests were sent by Emperor Charles to convert the Schwenkfelders who, however, believed in liberty of conscience and paid fines rather than have their children baptized by the Jesuits. They saw their dead refused burial in the village plot because they dared to oppose the might of Rome and the Lutheran Church (see
Finally they were driven from their homes and found refuge for eight years in Saxony under Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf, supporter of the Moravians. He then was forced to withdraw his protection and our ancestors were given a period of grace not to exceed one year. Although they were forbidden to emigrate, on Tuesday, April 20, 1734, a band of 176 persons deserted their homes, sailed down the Elbe River, and found refuge in Holland. Dutch Mennonites gave them food and shelter and paid for passage on the ship St. Andrew bound for Philadelphia, PA. Nine of this group died and were buried at sea on route.
Six groups of Exiles, totaling 209 persons and 52 families, arrived in Philadelphia, 1731 to 1737, but the largest -- the third -- contained 44 families and 170 persons. The day after they arrived, the able-bodied men affirmed allegiance to the British King, George II, and the following day, perhaps in the nearby Friends meeting house, all of the group held a thanksgiving service for their safe arrival in a land of religious tolerance. Every year thereafter on the anniversary a similar service has been held in one of the Schwenkfelder Churches. Currently it is celebrated on the Sunday closest to September 24. A number of religious and historical addresses are presented and a meal of bread, butter, and apple butter is enjoyed, commemorating their first Day of Remembrance (Gedaechtnis-tag). It is said that this is the only group of religious exiles who, from the first, have perpetuated their arrival here with an annual celebration of thanksgiving. Honorable Samuel W. Pennypacker, Governor of Pennsylvania, mentioned this fact in his address delivered on September 24, 1908, at the 175th Schwenkfelder Day of Remembrance.
There was a high degree of literacy among these immigrants and some brilliant scholars. One Schwenkfelder, The Rev. Balthasar Hoffman, conducted a correspondence course in Hebrew before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The early settlers built homes for themselves in Salford, Towamencin, and Worcester Township areas of Pennsylvania, as well as in the Upper District of Hereford and Upper Hanover townships of the Perkiomen Valley, where many descendants now reside.
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On September 24, 1884, at the 150th Gedaechtnis-tag, the speaker, Dr. Chester Hartranft, challenged the Schwenkfelder congregation to collect and publish a definitive edition of Schwenckfeld's writings. Seventy-seven years later, in 1961, the last of 19 large volumes making up the Corpus Schwenkfeldianorum appeared. The editorial and historical materials collected during this endeavor are preserved in the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center. The Corpus consists of 1252 documents, 17,886 pages (covering 408 different theological topics) written by Schwenckfeld during the forty years, 1521-1561.
On the bicentennial anniversary of the moving of the group from Silesia to Saxony, the Society in 1926 presented an elaborate pageant of the early days, with script by Dr. Samuel K. Brecht. The pictures taken were published by the Society as an issue of The Exile Herald, a modest publication that was issued for members. Another pageant was presented in 1934 during the bicentennial celebration and again in 1976, the 250th anniversary.
The completion of the Corpus Schwenkfeldianorum in 1961 resulted in a new understanding of Reformation history and of Schwenckfeld's role therein. In 1984, on the 250th anniversary of the Exiles' safe arrival in the New World, a colloquium was sponsored by the Schwenkfelder Library. A number of revisionist books and papers had appeared in 1961 and several of the authors spoke at the colloquium. In addition to the scholarly lectures, topics of popular interest relative to life in Pennsylvania were presented.