From A Survey of
Immigrants of the Haldeman Family of Switzerland to Montgomery, Chester and
Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania before
1750, by The Rev. Carl Thurman Smith, in The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine,
21(1958-1960):53:
The first of the family to arrive in Pennsylvania was probably Nicholas Haldeman who settled
in Lower Salford Township,
Montgomery County.
In 1743, he was naturalized along with his sons Nicholas and Christian.
The son Nicholas was born about the year 1718 according to a deposition he made
in 1797 in which he states his age as 71 years.
Christian, the other son naturalized, bought land in 1735. Assuming that he was at least 21 years of age
at this time, his birth date would have been before 1715. Christopher, the youngest son of Nicholas
Haldeman the immigrant, was issued a patent for land in 1747. Again assuming that he was of age, the latest
year possible for his birth would have to be 1726. Thus we can arrive at a period from 1718 to
1725 for the arrival of Nicholas Haldeman in Pennsylvania, probably about the year 1719
or 1720. Soon after his arrival in Pennsylvania,
Nicholas Haldeman must have joined the Mennonite community in the Skippack and Salford
area of Philadelphia County now in Montgomery County. It was not until the 1728, however, that he
purchased land. the
intervening years may have been devoted to accumulating enough cash to pay for
his farm, or more likely, it may not have been
until this year that he found suitable land available for purchase. On 13 August 1728, Nicholas Haldeman paid the
sum of £45 to Rees Williams, an inn holder of the City of Philadelphia
for a tract of 125 acres not far from the north branch of the Perkiomen Creek
in the southwest part of Lower
Salford Township. On the same day, another Mennonite, Colla Heffelfinger made a similar
purchase from Williams for an equal acreage.
These tracts appear to have been unimproved. They were the larger part of 300 acres which
Williams had bought of Rowland Ellis, Jr., of Philadelphia in May of 1726, having been laid
out to Ellis two months earlier. The
rest of the 300 acres had been sold by Rees Williams in July 1728 to Henry Tenlinger. This was
a small tract of 28 acres in Skippack across the township line. John Ulrich Bergey,
who is said to have come to America
about the same time as Nicholas Haldeman, was a near neighbor to the
northeast. John Lederach,
whose family was connected with the Haldeman family in the Emmenthal
in Switzerland,
had bought land to the southeast in 1718. In the year 1738, the Mennonites of
the Salford area
built a meeting house for worship on a tract of land Henry Funk, Christian Myre, Jr., Abraham Reiff, of
Franconia Twp., and Dielman Kolb of Salford Twp. purchased from Henry Ruth. They in turn executed a deed of trust to
seventeen members of the congregation.
Nicholas Haldeman heads the list, followed by Christian Allebaugh,
Henry Ruth, Hans Ulrich Berge, Hans Wyerman, Garret
Clements, Feltus Kratz,
Jacob Clements, Johannes Clements, Hens Reiff,
Frederick Alderfer of Salford
Twp., and Christian Myre, Sr., Andreas Swartz, Henry Clemmer, Jacob Hackman, Ulrich Hunsberger, and Jacob Landes of
Franconia Twp. This peace loving Mennonites lived a quiet life following their
ancestral occupation of farming. They
were thankful to be free of the constant threat of religious persecution and an
enforced conformity to an established state church. Their peaceful agricultural pursuits were
threatened in the year 1728 by an attack of the Indians upon the back
inhabitants of the Province living about Falkner Swamp
and New Goshenhoppen.
The Quaker administration in the more protected
centers were not unduly disturbed by the Indian uprising and were slow
to adopt measures for the protection of the frontier. On 10 May 1728 the inhabitants of Bebber's Twp. and the adjoining neighborhood petitioned
Governor Patrick Gordon to take immediate action for the defense of their homes and
lives. Those who signed the petition
were living in what are now the townships of Perkiomen,
Skippack, Franconia, Lower Salford, and Upper and Lower Providence.
Some of the petitioners signed their own names, but the names of others
were affixed by the scribe of the petition who was probably John Roberts. Among the names so written is that of
"Nickolas Huldiman" which immediately
follows that of his neighbor Colly Hafilfinger. The
name of "John Huldiman" is also on the
list, separated from the name of Nicholas by Michael Sigler (Ziegler),
Christian Stoner, and Johannes Gerber.
This John Haldeman is presumably the eldest son of Nicholas.
