Descendants of the Schwenkfelders Immigrants to America in Search of Religious Freedom

1. The Heydrick Family Descendants of the SchwenkfeldersImmigrants to America in Search of Religious Freedom

2. When I was little, I was fascinated by this picture that hung downstairs in my Grandparents’ House “The Arrival of the St. Andrew”

3. On the “back porch”, I spent hours perusing this very old book. Our Heydrick Family has a long and interesting history… Our ancestors were thoughtful, industrious, creative and hardworking All qualities we remember in my Grandfather, George Clayton Heydrick. Here are more stories of Heydricks Past.

4. The Schwenkfelders • The Heydricks who came to America in the 18th Century were members of the Schwenkfelders, followers of the teachings of Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig • A contemporary of Martin Luther, Schwenkfeld was a wealthy German nobleman, scholar and philosopher who led the Protestant Reformation in Silesia. • His beliefs centered upon the concept of an Inner Light, which was to guide human conduct. His teachings were later embodied in books that came into the possession of George Fox of England, who adopted the ideas into the philosophy which emerged as Quakerism.

5. The Schwenkfelders • This Schwenkfelders’ religious ideas, centered as they were in the concept of a personal Inner Light, conflicted with the rulers of their homeland Silesia, who paid their allegiance to the Church of Rome. • The Schwenkfelders, who believed in liberty of conscience, paid fines rather than have their children baptized into other faiths. They saw their dead refused burial in the village plot because they dared to oppose the might of both Rome and the Lutheran Church. • 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. Ruins of Harpersdorf Chapel

6. Migration • Eventually, religious persecution drove our ancestors from Silesia, their homeland, to Saxony, where they were offered protection. This only lasted a few years, however. • Finally, they were given an ultimatum: convert or face the consequences. • Even though they were forbidden to leave Saxony, on Tuesday, April 20, 1734, a band of 176 persons deserted their homes, sailed down the Elbe River, eventually finding refuge in Holland. • Dutch Mennonites gave them food and shelter and paid for their passage on the sailing ship St. Andrew, bound for Philadelphia.

7. A New World • Our Heydrick ancestor was part of this group that landed in Philadelphia on September 22, 1734. His name was Balthasar, and he came with his wife Rosina and 3 year old son Christopher. • Along with many Schwenkfelders, they settled on farmland in Lower Salford Township in the colony of Pennsylvania. On 22 September, 1737, their son George was born. Rosina died just a year later, and Balthasar remarried and had four more children. • Christopher died of smallpox at the young age of 25. George married and remained on the farm. Oath of allegiance to King George, signed by the Schwenkfelders upon arrival in Philadelphia

8. Heydricks in the Revolutionary War • Although the Schwenkfelders, like the Quakers, were generally pacifists, three of Balthasar’s sons, George, Abraham, and Balthasar served in the Revolutionary War. • After the war, Abraham, became the prosperous owner and proprietor of the Wheel Pump Inn, a landmark in Chestnut Hill, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

9. BalthasarHeydrick 1715-1831 • Another half-brother to George, Balthasar, was a Captain in the militia during the Revolutionary War. • After the war, Balthasar settled in this house in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, • Pennsylvania. • .

10. George Heydrick • Our ancestor George married Rosina Krauss in 1760. He was a skilled cordwainer as well as farmer. George and Rosina had five children. The youngest was again named George. He too remained on the farm. • This George Heydrick married Susanna Kriebel. They were the parents of 15 children. Their son, SAMUEL KRIEBEL HEYDRICK, continued the family tradition, staying on the farm in Lower Salford Township. George Heydrick 1775-1855 Susanna KriebelHeydrick 1782-1851

11. Dr. Christopher Heydrick Other descendants of BalthasarHeydrick began to branch out, both geographically and professionally. • Christopher Heydrick, grandson of Balthasar, was born April 7, 1770 in Springfield Township, Philadelphia County (now Montgomery). In his youth, after having fitted himself by a thorough course of education, he studied medicine under the instruction of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Say, of Philadelphia, and in 1792, at the age of twenty-two, graduated with high honors at the University of Pennsylvania. Six years afterwards, in 1798, he was elected a member of the Philadelphia Society of Medicine, and, during the same year, and for some time afterwards, he held the position of Physician to the Philadelphia Hospital. In 1815, he was elected Resident Member of the Cabinet of Sciences in Philadelphia, an honor which has been conferred upon few, and those the most learned and scientific men in the country. Having been engaged in the practice of medicine, and with much success, at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and in the city of Philadelphia, from 1792 until 1819, he at the latter date removed to the borough of Mercer, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. He resided in this place several years, and had a very successful and lucrative practice in his profession. • --The Progressive Men of Pennsylvania, Vol 1. Log house, Heydrick Farm, Venango County, Pennsylvania

12. Charles Henry Heydrick (1799-1883), son of Dr. Christopher Heydrick, wrote the following about the farm purchased by his grandfather, Abraham Heydrick , in Chestnut Hill, PA • My farm is one of a number of tracts purchased soon after the close of the Revolutionary war by my grandfather from soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line, to whom they had been granted by the commonwealth in consideration of military services, and in pursuance of the act of March 13, 1783. Early in the present century father, the late Doctor Heydrick, made a tour of inspection of these lands and found evidences of occupation by the Indians, some portions of the alluvial, "bottom" land — the best on the creek, or, indeed, anywhere in the whole region — having been cultivated for many years, and other vestiges of the Indian village of Custaloga's Town being still visible. At that time there was living upon an adjoining tract a settler named Martin, who had settled there soon after the remnant of land north and west of the rivers Ohio and Allegheny and Conewango creek, not appropriated to Revolutionary soldiers, or in satisfaction of depreciation certificates, had been thrown open to settlement by the act of April 8, 1792 — certainly as early as 1798. One of Martin's sons, called John, Jr., was a bright, and for the time and under the circumstances an intelligent young man, and claimed to have been intimate with the Indians, and spoke their language. In 1819 I first visited the place, and stopped at Martin's house. While there I found many vestiges of the Indian village, and made many inquiries about it and its people. In answer to my inquiries John Martin, Jr., told me, among other things, that he had assisted in the burial of three Indians on my farm, an idiot boy, "Chet's" squaw, and a chief whose name he pronounced " Guy-a-soo-ter." He said that he made the coffin for " Guyasooter," and after it was finished the Indians asked him to cut a hole in it in order that he ("Guyasooter") might "see out." He father said that "they buried all his wealth with him; his tomahawk, gun and brass kettle."

13. The Heydrick family operated the homestead and farm until 1946. The Boy Scouts of America purchased the property in 1963 and continue to own it until the present Martin pointed out to me the grave of the chief, and the spot was always recognized as such by the other pioneers of the neighborhood, though I do not remember that any of them except Martin professed to have witnessed the burial. After I came to reside on this farm, on one occasion Martin repeated his statement about the burial of " Guyasooter's" gun, tomahawk and kettle, in the presence of another pioneer who felt unkindly toward him, and the latter made a remark aside, which, while unfavorable to Martin, impliedly corroborated his statement. From all the evidence I had on the subject, much of which has doubtless escaped my recollection, and some of which was probably derived from other sources than Martin, I was so well satisfied that the chief named and others were buried at the place designated by Martin that I have to this day preserved a grove about the reputed graves, and have had it in mind to mark the spot by some permanent memorial. 

14. Heydricks in the Civil War The pacifist religious convictions of the Schwenkfelders seem to have persisted in the descendants of BalthasarHeydrick, for few records exist of them engaging in military service after the Revolution. However, two brothers, his great grandsons, did serve the Union during the Civil War. Charles Heydrick was born on September 20, 1832 in Flourtown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Dickinson College, he led a company of volunteers as a captain in the Civil War. After the war, Charles taught in Oakland, Maryland as well as Bridgeville, Delaware. He married Sallie (alternately Sarah) P. Cannon on January 21, 1863. Sallie was the daughter of Governor William Cannon of Delaware. Charles died on May 11, 1874 in Bridgeville.

15. Heydricks in the Civil War • David Melville Heydrick graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1859. On the day of his graduation from the Seminary the work in Brooklyn was brought to his attention and his life's career was determined. He at once began his labors in Brooklyn as a city missionary. • In 1864 he became an agent of the United States Christian Commission and engaged in hospital service at Fredericksburg and City Point, Va., and Frederick City, Md., until the close of the war. Returning to Brooklyn, he took up again his work as a city missionary, and ministered to the City Park mission from 1865 to 1868, and to the Bethlehem mission from 1868 until his death, which occurred Feb. 15, 1904, in Brooklyn, of heart disease, in the 78th year of his age. He was buried at Easton, Pa. Mr. Heydrick wrote incidents in the "Annals of the U. S. Christian Commission," "Wonders of Regeneration," and "God in Business." He was married June 2, 1859, in Easton, Pa., to Emily Louisa Hutchinson, who with two sons and two daughters survives him. -----Obituary, Necrological Report, Princeton Theological Seminary

16. The Hon. Christopher W. Heydrick • There are many other notable descendants of the immigrant, BalthasarHeydrick. • Dr. Christopher Heydrick, mentioned earlier, was grandfather to Christopher W. Heydrick, a prominent attorney who served briefly on the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. Christopher W. Heydrick 1830-1914 Heydrick Home, 1902 Franklin, Pennsylvania

17. Jesse A. Heydrick It will be seen that Mr. Heydrick was one of the pioneers of the oil interests, commencing operations at the very start of the oil productions in Pennsylvania. He has been connected directly with its interests, covering a period of thirty-eight years, which is a record that has undoubtedly few equals in the history of the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and it is a question if any man living to-day is more conversant with the history of this, the greatest discovery of modern times. --Progrsssive Men of Venango County • Jesse A. Heydrick, another great-grandson of BalthasarHeydrick, was a professor of mathematics and a pioneer in the field of petroleum engineering. Jesse and his brothers formed the Wolverine Oil Company, the second company ever formed to drill for petroleum. In the 1869’s, they drilled 70 wells in Venango County, Pennsylvania. Jesse became an expert surveying and drawing up oil leases during the oil boom of the 1870’s. Jesse A. Heydrick

18. Jesse A. Heydrick • Jesse’s descendents followed the petroleum industry west to Oklahoma and Texas. They founded Heydrick Mapping Company and Heydrick Petroleum Company. Located in Wichita Falls, Texas, the business is still in operation today. Heydrick Building Wichita Falls, TX A Heydrick Map

19. Benjamin Alexander Heydrick • Another descendents of BalthasarHeydrick was a distinguished man of letters. Benjamin Alexander Heydrick, a fourth cousin to my grandfather, graduated from Harvard University and was a professor of literature. He was an author and editor of several books, many of which are available online today at Google books.

20. Samuel KriebelHeydrick (1826-1879) • SAMUEL KRIEBEL HEYDRICK a third generation descendent of the Schwenkfelderimmigrants, on was a farmer in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His wife MARY BERGEY KRIEBEL died, probably as a complication of childbirth, in 1873. SAMUEL died in 1879, at the relatively young age of 53. They left seven children. His oldest child, Daniel, was only 16 at the time of his death; his youngest child only 4. My great-grandfather, GEORGE KRIEBEL HEYDRICK, was 14. • The orphaned children were taken in by various relatives and neighbors. On the 1880 US Census, GEORGE KRIEBEL HEYDRICK is found working as a laborer on the Burgstrasser farm. Most likely, the Heydrick family farm was sold at the time of Samuel’s death.

21. George KriebelHeydrick • GEORGE KRIEBEL HEYDRICK, in spite of these difficult beginnings, grew up to attend Emory University in Oxford, Georgia. He was ordained as a Methodist Minister around 1896. • For 4 years he served in the Florida Conference, in churches around Palataka, and Orlando. In 1901 he was appointed to the Baltimore Conference. In 1910, he was appointed to Occoquan, Virginia. Here he met Miss Adelaide Viola Dawson, of Fairfax County, Virginia. • On June 21, 1911, they were married.

22. Methodist Ministers travel to new appointments every few years, and Reverend and Mrs. Heydrick were no exception. They various served churches in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. • In September of 1913, they were living in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia when their only child, my Grandfather, was born. Cranford United Methodist Church Lorton, Fairfax County, Virginia

23. George Clayton Heydrick Although George Clayton was an only child, he had a large, extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. His Aunt Sallie Heydrick married Howard M. Schultz, another Schwenkfelder Descendant. The Shultz’s owned a large and prosperous dairy farm, Twin Lynn Farms., in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. They raised 12 children there. Six more cousins lived on the farm of George’s Aunt Annie and Uncle Abraham Kriebel.. • GEORGE CLAYTON HEYDRICK, born September 25, 1913 Despite leaving the farm and the close-knit Schwenkfelder community, Rev. Heydrick, I believe, remained connected with the traditions he learned as a youth, passing them on to my Grandfather.