Title: The Record of The Shobe Family in America From 1737 to 1954
Author: Frank D. Shobe

Text:
The Shobe âOFamily
in America


In 1925 a book was published by Faust & Brumbaugh entitled "Lists of Swiss Emigrants in the e ighteenth Century to the American Colonies" and on page ll0 of Volume II appears the followin g story:

"A considerable time before the beginning of the year 1737 some eighteen subjects from Biel-B enken, Arisdorf and other places had come to Basel, (Switzerland) and expressed their desir e to go to Carolina (America) but the mayor had denied them the Chancery order to their Oberv èogte and the Council had up-held his action. Still earlier the Council had learned of some ' plotting' at the house of the 'Lehnsman' fief holder or sub-tenant Lienert Heyer on the Rèuti hard, and ordered the Obervèogte (Magistrate) to look into the matter. The result of his repo rt of Sept. 4, 1736 was in substance as follows:-

"Lienert Heyer's brother and Antoni Rieger of Benken and Jacob Kèuntzlin, a carpenter, and Ha ns Kapp, a wagon maker, of Mèunchenstein had discussed emigration to Pennsylvania. They had b een actuated to do so partly by the letter of Antonio Gondy in praise of Carolina, written i n Charleston, S. C., in 1733, but only lately come into their possession through a man of Gre nzback across the Rhine, and partly by their own unfavorable circumstances. The carpenter an d the wagon-maker had complained of the growing competition in their trades and all of them h ad arrived at the conviction that their heavy debts and the five percent interest they had t o pay in consequence of a certain mandate, combined with the tithes of grain and wine made i t impossible for them to sustain themselves here any longer.

While Jacob Kèuntzlin and Hans Kapp gave up the thought of emigration for the present and di d not go for three years later, Lienert Heyer and Antoni Rieger actively pushed their prepara tions and succeeded in obtaining the consent of the government. They claimed to have friend s in the vicinity of Manheim in the Palatinate and, if they did not find their fortunes there , they would seek it in another country. The following table of their families and their prop erty is based on FAF and supplemented from AA and KB.

Benken
FAF Saturday, May ll, 1737
Rudolph J Lèutzler, of Benken, (60 years of age)
Lienert Heyer, his son-in-law from there, (41 years of age) and
Clara Lèutzler, his wife, (32 years of age) who intend to go to the Palatinate.
Children of Lienert and Clara:-
l. Anna Barbara, " baptized Feb. 22, 1724
2. Elizabeth, " Jun. 17. 1725
3. Leonhard, " - Dec. 25, 1727
4. Hans Rudolph
5. Hans Ulrich, baptized July 29, 1731
6. Clara 2 1/2 years old
Anthoni Rieger, of Benken, (47 years of age)
Barbara Wèurtzin, (from Wittinsburg) his wife (also aged 47) and
Elsbeth Scholerin, (from Zunzgen), her mother, (72 years of age),
who also intend to go to the Palatinate.
Children of Anthoni Rieger by Juditha Schaub, his first wife:
1. Anthoni. 2. Burkhard. 3. Barbara---and by his present wife:---
Maria and Hans Jacob.

The children of Jacob Schaub, deceased, and Barbara Wèurtz,
of Wittinsburg: .....
1. Jacob shoemaker, baptized -Sept. 9, 1714
2. Anna, Baptized - Jan. 31, 1719
3. Martin, " -July 27, 1721
Tax on their Lb.130 worth of property-~Lb. 13......

Another daughter by the name of Elizabeth, baptized Dec. 20, 1716 did not emigrate, for accor ding to KB of Rèumlingen, she came to Waldenburg in 1743, though her family in America longe d for her very much.

The further experiences of the two families are known thru a letter by Lienert Heyer writte n two years after his emigration and an entry in R.P. 129 Aug. 7, 1756. Lienert Heyer lost hi s youngest child, Clara, by the small-pox in England and the next youngest, Hans Ulrich, in A merica, but had another son, Antoni. In 1739 he and Antoni Rieger were living in "Dolben Hage n", Pa. (Probably Tulpehochen, Pa.). in 1756 the Junt Brothers attest his presence in Virgini a and report his willingness to renounce his claims to an inheritance in favor of his son-in- law who had stayed in Switzerland.
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The next chapter of this story of migration can be found in the "Collection of 30,000 names o f Immigrants in Pennsylvania. 1727-1776." by Rupp, at page 107. (Newbury Library, Chicago, Il linois. #E 6968.76).

Arriving at Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1737. In the Ship the Virtuous Grace. Capt. John Bull, fr om Rotterdam, by way of Cowes, England.225 passengers. Among the names of those who landed ar e:-Antoni Rèuger, son; Antoni Rèuger, Jr.; Burckhart Rèuger; Jacob Schaub; Leonhart Heier; Ru dolph Lèutzler; Jacob Stokee and Simon Stokee.

The above named passengers all signed the Oath of Allegiance then required of all immigrant s over 16 years of age who were not already subjects of the British Crown, but women and chil dren were not required to sign. Martin Schaub, who had passed his sixteenth birthday during t he voyage, was apparently not required to sign because of his youth.

Within twenty weeks of the time they had left Basel, these families had reached Philadelphia , which indicates that they had made a fairly expeditious trip for the time and conditions. E ven at best, however, the journey from Switzerland to America was slow and tedious. First the re was the long trip down the Rhine by river boat to Rotterdam. Then at Rotterdam there was n ecessary delay while a ship could be found and passage arranged. Part of the transportation c harges must be paid and provisions and supplies bought for the voyage; for the travelers ha d to furnish their own food and drink for the time they would be at sea.
Nearly all of the ships sailing from Rotterdam for America made a stop at some port on the so uth coast of England - Dover, Deal, Cowes, Plymouth or Falmouth-where repairs or replenishmen t of supplies went on, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for several weeks. Often there wa s a wait for favorable winds before the ship would venture out of the English Channel into th e open sea. Cowes seems to have been the most usual port of call for these ships from Rotterd am, and it was at Cowes that the Virtuous Grace made her last stop before crossing the ocean . It was doubtless at Cowes that Leonhart Heier's youngest child, Clara, died of small-pox.

In the death of this little child on the journey may lie the key to the repeated use in succe eding generations of the Hyer family of the name Clara, modified to Clore, in the dialect use d in America by these German speaking Swiss families. Likewise, the name Elizabeth in the Sho be family may stem from the "great longing" of the Young Shobe's for their sister Elizabeth w ho remained in Switzerland.