Voyage to America 1766

In the 18th Century over 50,000 people left their homeland in Germany, their Deutschland, for America. One-fourth never survived the treacherous six month voyage across the stormy Atlantic Ocean. Mostly settling in Pennsylvania--on free land from William Penn and his "Holy Experiment"--they raised their families and began a new life in a strange new land shared by Native Americans and wild animals. Later, with the ending of the American Revolutionary War, some migrated down The Great Wagon Road and resettled again, on virgin land in the Carolinas. One of these pioneers-Johannes Wilhelm Herrmann-was my ancestor. This is his untold story.