George Taylor, his “Concubine”, and her Hessian Soldier Husband

 

Researched by Sharon Gothard

Most local people know who George Taylor was. He emigrated to America in 1736, became an Ironmaster at various furnaces. Eventually, he was a Pennsylvania Delegate to the Continental Congress and later was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Taylor married Ann (Taylor) Savage in 1743 and had two children with her, daughter Ann died young, and son James who was their only child to live to adulthood. Most people believe Ann, his wife, died 1768 in Catasauqua, PA. It is possible this is when Naomi Smith, housekeeper to Taylor, started working for him. 

 

There is little known about Naomi. She does not appear in any local church records; we do not know where or when she was born. She is mentioned in his will as his housekeeper. We assume her five children were Taylor’s; Sarah, Rebecca, Naomi, Elizabeth and Edward. ¹ According to his will filed a month before his death, all were under the age ten when Taylor died in 1781. Taylor may have been delusional about his finances. In his will he left £500 to his grandson, George Taylor and also £500 to Naomi, “my housekeeper Naomi Smith in consideration of her great care and attendance on me for a number of years past….” Taylor also left her one bed and bedstead together with such household goods and furniture as the executors saw fit. Any other monies would go to his grandchildren, (James’s children) and Naomi’s children. Unfortunately, Taylor had more debt than money at his death, and had very little left for Naomi, her children or his grandchildren.  Naomi and her children are mentioned in Taylor’s will inventory, as the executors do give Naomi appraised worth of £47 for sundry goods and £10.3 “for clothing for the de’ced children who were almost naked”.

Besides being mentioned in the will and inventory, there are no other mentions of Naomi or her children. We surmise there are a few places Naomi and her children may have lived while Taylor was alive, the Catasauqua house (unlikely as Taylor did not live there very long), Durham Furnace, the Bachmann Tavern, (that Taylor owned for 19 years), and of course what we now call the Parson-Taylor house where Taylor died. Since all of her children were young, we assume they were with her or nearby. In Taylor’s will, he does mention that once Naomi’s children reach the age of 10, that the executors shall put them "out”. (Probably farmed out or apprenticed for work). Sarah, is the only child of Naomi’s who has been found in subsequent records.

After doing research on Naomi and coming up empty, by chance, I found George Taylor mentioned in a book, A Strasbourger in America, John Frederick Ernst Minister of the Gospel, Lutheran Denomination (1748-1805). ²

This book contains the diary, correspondence, and history of Rev. John Ernst from his arrival in America until his death. During his ministry, Rev. Ernst served congregations in the Easton, Pennsylvania, and Greenwich, New Jersey, areas. Within its pages, an extraordinary discovery was found. On November 22, 1782, Ernst wrote a letter to Frederick Muhlenberg—minister, politician, and future first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives—on behalf of Mr. Ludwig Bertram regarding a debt Bertram owed him. Ernst explained how distressed Bertram was over his inability to repay the loan because of a series of unfortunate circumstances.

In the same letter, Ernst wrote: “At present, he [Bertram] needs and wants your kind assistance very much because he has joined in matrimony with a person, to whom was left £500 in the will of the late George Taylor, Esq., to whom she has been housekeeper and concubine for thirteen years. This money can’t well be gotten from the executors under the [pretence] that the estate is insufficient & too much involved into debts, which I truly believe is only a void scheme for some of the executors, who love themselves better than their neighbor*.” At the time, Ernst was living in Sussex County, New Jersey, now present-day Warren County. This letter finally reveals that Naomi had married Ludwig Bertram. Ernst's description of Naomi as Taylor's "housekeeper and concubine" also substantially strengthens the argument that her children were widely believed to have been fathered by George Taylor.

*Ironically, Ernst himself appears to have been unaware of the full extent of Taylor's financial troubles. Earlier in the same book, in a letter dated September 24, 1782, to the executors of Taylor's estate, he complained that he had still not been paid for officiating at Taylor's funeral.

Ludwig, or Lewis, Bertram remains an elusive figure. This is not entirely surprising, as New Jersey has no surviving federal census records between 1790 and 1820. In addition, if Bertram had deserted from the Hessian troops, he likely kept a low profile to avoid being discovered. I also searched for papers, journals, and diaries of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, hoping to find a reference to a loan made to a Bertram, but so far I have found nothing. However, while researching in the Marx Room, I discovered three volumes titled The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.³ Henry was the father of Frederick Muhlenberg. In his journal entry for January 5, 1780, Henry wrote: “In the evening a [peddler] came with his horse. He took lodging with us by reason of a claim upon us, as my sons Fried-[rich] and H[einrich] had visited his cousins in Sondershausen when they were in Halle. His name is Bartram, and he came to America three years ago. His trade is that of huntsman, by which he cannot support himself here... The huntsman continued his journey to the city. I gave him the letter to Fr[iedrich] M[uhlenberg] to take along.” I strongly believe this "Bartram" was Ludwig Bertram. I also wondered whether Bertram had served as a Hessian soldier, since I could find no record of him in American military service. After discussing the possibility with a fellow researcher, he located Bertram in the online database Hessian Troops in America. It identifies Bertram, born about 1748, as a Corporal in JAG 5 (the Courier Corps) who deserted to the enemy in July or August 1779. Like many Hessian soldiers who deserted or were captured during the Revolutionary War, Bertram appears to have chosen to remain in America after receiving a pardon or being released at the war's end.

Another important clue concerning Bertram was found in a copy of Rev. John Ernst’s original diary, which is housed at the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia. It was not uncommon for Ernst to use every available space on a sheet of paper, writing in the margins and even reusing pages. On one such sheet, written in large letters, were the words: Mr. Lewis Bertram, Shopkeeper at Pawlingskill.* This was a remarkable discovery, but it raised an obvious question: Why had Ernst written this?

A search for "Pawlingskill" quickly revealed that it refers to what is now known as Paulins Kill in Sussex County, New Jersey. Paulins Kill is also the name of the river that flows through the region and gives the valley its name. Additional historical context appears in Memoirs and Reminiscences by Rev. Casper Schaeffer, M.D.: "That part of the country lying between the Paulinskill and the Blue Mountains was settled originally by the Germans principally… Even before the Revolution many of them were settled there, and in the time of that great struggle, there was considerable [accession] to their numbers, of a dozen or more Hessians who deserted from a detachment of Burgoyne's captured army, on their way through Sussex to a location assigned them as a place of safety near Charlottesville in Virginia."

*This evidence suggests that the note may have been written on the same piece of paper—or perhaps the envelope—that Frederick Muhlenberg gave to Ernst in 1782. It is also significant that Bertram is identified as Lewis rather than Ludwig, indicating that by this time he had begun anglicizing his name, a common practice among German immigrants seeking to assimilate into American society.

A later discovery in a German newspaper, The Royal Gazette of Charleston, South Carolina, provided yet another important piece of the puzzle. The notice announced a suit for malicious desertion filed by Anna Maria Bertram against her husband, Corporal Ludwig Bertram of the Hessian Jäger Corps. The advertisement ordered Bertram to appear in person before the Commission in New York on Tuesday, December 11, 1781, to answer the charges. It further warned that if he failed to appear, he would be declared a malicious deserter by the Consistory, the marriage bond between him and his wife would be dissolved, and the plaintiff would be granted permission to remarry. The notice was dated New York, September 7, 1781.

The "Consistory" referred to a German ecclesiastical court that exercised jurisdiction over matters of marriage and morality. Even during the Revolutionary War, German religious and legal authorities attempted to maintain authority over their soldiers serving overseas. This notice establishes that Ludwig Bertram was already married in Germany before coming to America. It also strongly suggests that, after deserting the Hessian forces, he abandoned his first marriage and later married Naomi in his new homeland. No evidence has been found indicating that Bertram ever appeared before the Commission in New York, making it likely that the proceedings continued in his absence.

 I thought perhaps Rev. Ernst had married them, since he was familiar with Bertram, but unfortunately, no church record or his diary has that mentioned. However, again, in Rev. Ernst book on September 30, 1782 he wrote to Jacob Goering; To Reverend Mr. Goering in Carlisle. (Cumberland County, PA) 

"Honored Colleague! Yesterday I rejoiced [heartedly] [when] I met a married couple from your congregation and spoke with them. They have been made strong by means of your ministry, the Word of our faithful Jesus. They asked me, poor weak [struggler], for help in attacking the Kingdom of Darkness that rules their parents and brothers and sisters to convince them of their pitiful ruin.  All things consist [for the best] or by witness account. They testify at having undertaken this long trip out of love for their next of kin -- a spiritual impulse! -- a trip that will prove its beneficial purpose, if not here and now, then in the next world." Could this be Lewis and Naomi? I looked at Rev. Jacob Goering's church records on ancestry.com but unfortunately Lewis or Naomi were not mentioned.

Another intriguing possibility surfaced in Perry County, Pennsylvania. I found an inquest for a Lewis Bartram who died in Juniata Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (now part of present-day Perry County). His body was discovered in his home, and an official inquest into his death was held on October 11, 1806. The jury concluded that he had died of natural causes. Unfortunately, the record provides no personal details such as his age, family members, occupation, or place of birth that might identify him with certainty.

Could this Lewis Bartram be the same Ludwig (Lewis) Bertram who had lived in Sussex County, New Jersey? The timing is certainly plausible, and the anglicized name is consistent with the other records that identify him as "Lewis." However, without additional evidence linking the two men, such as land records, probate records, church registers, or family associations, the identification remains speculative. While this inquest cannot yet be considered proof, it is an intriguing lead that deserves further investigation.

As with much history, many questions beg to be answered. Did Bertram marry Naomi just for her inheritance, that in the end she never received? Did they remain married or have children together? When did they die? What happened to Naomi’s children she had with Taylor and did she have more children with Bertram? We now know a little more of Naomi's life and hopefully the story will continue.

George Taylor is remembered as a signer of the Declaration, but Naomi Smith and her children reveal the far more complicated domestic realities behind elite eighteenth-century lives.

 

Many thanks to:

Richard Musselman – Local genealogist and Researcher

Shayne Schafer – Northampton County, PA Archives

Mary A. Redline – Education and Research

Robert Riffle – Education and Local Historian

and to Frederick Bond III who encouraged this search. 

 

  1.  Will of George Taylor, original at the New York Public Library Archives, copies at the Northampton County Courthouse Archives and Easton Area Public Library Marx Room.

2.      2. A Strasbourger in America, John Frederick Ernst Minister of the Gospel, Lutheran Denomination (1748-1805) by Edith von Zemenszkym, Ph.D., Mary A. Redline, M.A.

3.       3. The Journals of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg in Three Volumes, Translated by Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, Volume III

4.       4. Memoirs and Reminiscences together with Sketches of the Early History of Sussex County, New Jersey, by Rev. Casper Schaeffer, M. D.

 

MARX ROOM PRESENTS…

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

(COPY OF) MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE OF OBSERVATION AND INSPECTION OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 21, 1774 TO AUGUST 14, 1777              

In 2026, when we want to communicate any kind of message quickly whether it be personal or business related, we rely on our electronic devices.  In the 1770’s, a vastly different kind of information network was being used, it was known as the Committee of Correspondence. 

The Committee of Correspondence can trace part of its beginnings to the Gaspee Affair of 1772.  In February of 1772, HMS (His Majesty’s Ship) Gaspee, is sent from England to patrol Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.  During this time period, Rhode Island was an area of suspected trading gone wild, especially with items such as molasses(used to make rum) and tea.  The HMS Gaspee was sent to Rhode Island to enforce 17^th century created laws known as the Navigation Acts.  The Navigation Acts prohibited British colonies from trading with foreign countries except in very limited circumstances and to only trade with the British empire or other British colonies. Without enforcement of the Navigation Acts, early American colonies generated much needed revenue while in turn, Britain lost revenue. 

June of 1772 is said to have been the actual beginning of the Revolutionary War.  On June 9, 1772, a small boat called the Hannah lured the Gaspee into shallow waters.  The Gaspee chased the Hannah and the Gaspee ended up running aground. The Hannah continued its journey to Providence but the Gaspee ended up stranded.  Later that day, local men in the area attacked the Gaspee.  The local men removed the Gaspee crew from the ship and then destroyed the ship by fire.

A second area where the Committee of Correspondence can trace its roots is known as the Salary Controversy of 1772.  The Massachusetts local assembly paid the salaries of officials whereby maintaining leverage over their government.  British officials stepped in and changed the form of payment to be strictly from Great Britain.  This action made the officials in Massachusetts accountable to the Crown and not to the local colonists.

In November of 1772, Samuel Adams was motivated by both of the events that had occurred – the Gaspee Affair and the Salary Controversy to create a Committee of Correspondence.  The first Committee of Correspondence consisted of twenty-one members. The initial assignment of the committee was to outline the colonist’s rights and Parliament’s infringement upon those rights. The reports were put together and became the Boston Pamphlet. This pamphlet served as the year 1772’s version of being similar to a mass email in today’s world and was then sent to other colonies to gain support against the British Parliament.

But how did Northampton County get involved with creating its own Committee of Correspondence? In 1774, tensions among colonists in Pennsylvania increased with the passing of the British Parliament’s Boston Port Act that closed the Boston Harbor as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.  Northampton County’s Committee of Correspondence consisted of George Taylor, Lewis Gordon, Peter Kachlein, Jacob Arndt, John Oakley, Henry Kooken.

Committees of Correspondence expanded across the colonies and eventually formed into the First Continental Congress in 1774.  The purpose of the First Continental Congress was to create a unified colonial response to mounting taxation and punitive laws by Great Britain.  One of the major outcomes of this meeting was the Articles of Association that formed a boycott against receiving British goods and a plan to halt sending goods from the colonies to Britain.  In order to enforce the Articles of Association, the Committee of Observation and Inspection was created. It was requested of each county to elect members to the Committee of Observation and Inspection in order to inspect local commerce and ensure compliance.

Northampton County’s Committee of Observation & Inspection formed on December 21, 1774, and met until August 14, 1777.  The elected members of the committee were as follows:  Lewis Gordon, Peter Kachlein, Jacob Arndt, Michael Messinger, Melchoir Hay, George Taylor, John Hays, Jr., John Oakley, Anthony Lerch, Jacob Morry, John Wetzel, Andrew Engelman, John Geesemar, Henry Kooken, David Deshler, Casper Doll, Joseph Gaston, Philip Droom, Yost Dreisenbach, Daniel Knause, Thomas Everet, Michael Ohl, John Hartman, Nicholas Depui, Manuel Gonsales, and Abraham Westbrook.  The members covered nearly one member from each township in Northampton County.

The May 22, 1775, meeting of Northampton County’s Observation & Inspection several regulations were outlined and those items were to be published in the English and German newspapers.  Among the regulations defined was that all Freemen be equipped with necessary arms & ammunition & muster to make themselves expert in Military Art.  Storekeepers needed consent of the Observation & Inspection Committee in order to sell any arms or ammunition.  The committee clearly defined residents as either associators or non-associators.  If you rejected the regulations as defined by the committee, you were a non-associator and would be considered an enemy of the county.

Non-associators were completely disarmed which included no arms for even hunting purposes.  Non-associators who refused to surrender their firearms faced fines, prison, and shame from their fellow residents. 

With the formation of the newly formed Pennsylvania government, the Northampton County’s Committees of Correspondence, Observation & Inspection were ended in 1777.  There is more to uncover so be sure to visit the Marx Room and read the minutes of the actual meetings held by these committees.

                  

Did George Washington ever visit Easton, PA? 

Did the father of our country, Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and our very first president of the United States, ever visit Easton, PA?

There are many that say he visited Easton, PA, several times and the fact is that he very well may have but actual evidence of his visiting is sparse.

One account is a typewritten document found at the Easton Area Public Library in a file at the Henry F Marx Local History Room titled, George Washington, that talks about Elizabeth C Van Duzer.  Elizabeth C Van Duzer was associated with the Warwick Historical Society in Warwick, NY.  In 1927, Mrs Van Duzer is said to have visited Henry F Marx, the first director of the Easton Area Public Library.  Mrs Van Duzer was supposedly researching prisoners of war from Massachusetts that may have passed through the City of Easton during the Revolutionary War.  During a conversation she is said to have had with Mr Marx, she became actively interested in George Washington visiting Easton, PA.

The account of Mrs Van Duzer’s visit goes on to say that in January 1928, Mrs Van Duzer supposedly wrote a letter to Henry F Marx noting the following:

“Friday, July 26, 1782. At a very early hour His Excellency, George Washington, left Bethlehem on his way to Easton. “ 

Another account of Mr Washington visiting Easton, PA, is found in a book in the Marx Room by Joshua Trachtenberg.  On page 71 of the book titled Consider the Years, it states that Mr Washington visited with Michael Hart in Easton, PA, either in 1778 or 1782. 

It is still possible Mr Washington may have visited Easton, PA, at other times but finding concrete proof of his visits to Easton, PA, remains a history mystery.  Come to the Easton Area Public Library Henry F Marx Local History Room to uncover more history mysteries!  

                                                     

                                                   

                        

 

July 8, 1776

Do you know why Easton, PA, each year holds a celebration at the beginning of July that includes family activities, food vendors, and fireworks and calls it Heritage Day?

The reason for Heritage Day in Easton, PA, is because on July 8, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in Easton, PA, by Robert Levers, a Northampton County politician.

July 8, 1776, Robert Levers reading the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the old Northampton County Courthouse to a large, attentive, and serious audience including a light infantry company displaying the famous thirteen-star flag of Easton, Pennsylvania.       

 

On July 5, 1776, the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia stated the following:  “Resolved, that copies of the Declaration be sent to the several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils of Safety, and to the several Commanding Officers of the Continental Troops, that it be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the Head of the Army.”  In Consequence of the above Resolve, Letters were wrote to the Counties of Bucks, Chester, Northampton, Lancaster, and Berks, Inclosing Copy of the said Declaration, requesting the same to be publish’d on Monday next, at the places where the Election for Delegates are to be held.” Pennsylvania. Council of Safety. "Minutes of the Council of Safety, July 5, 1776." In Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government, Vol. 10. Edited by Samuel Hazard. Harrisburg: Printed by T. Fenn, 1851-1852.

It has been stated that the Declaration of Independence was read in three places - Philadelphia, PA, Easton, PA, and Trenton, NJ.  However, the Declaration may definitely have been read at several other locations as well. Most notably it was read by Colonel John Nixon on July 8, 1776,  in Philadelphia and in Trenton, New Jersey, by Samuel Tucker.

Want to learn about the City of Easton, Robert Levers, or other events that occurred in Northampton County during the early years of the birth of our country? If yes, then come to the Marx Local History Room at the Easton Area Public Library to find out more.

AN ORDINARY SOLDIER

 

by Rory Morgan

When the U.S. declared war on Germany in April, 1917, the furthest thing from anyone's mind was the flu. Patriotic excitement swept through  the country. Young men rushed to military recruiting offices to enlist. Newspapers proudly announced the number of locals who had signed up to become soldiers and sailors. These early recruits received a modest amount of training in the U.S. and then were loaded onto transports for the journey to France, on their way to becoming the "doughboys" of the American Expeditionary Force (or AEF), fighting alongside the British and the French.

One of the early recruits in Easton was Robert E. Bitzer. He was 26 years old, one of nine children. He lived in the family home at 802 Spring Garden Street, and appears to have worked as a plumber in a silk mill. He was well-known in Easton for his participation in local football and baseball leagues. He was sworn into the Army on May 15, 1917, and was assigned to Battery A of the 7th Field Artillery, 1st Division. 

The unit shipped out to France in July, and was one of the first U.S. units to arrive. (The earliest-arriving American field artillery units, lacking adequate cannons of their own, had to borrow them from the French. These were usually the famous "French 75" rapid-firing howitzers.) Battery A claimed credit for firing the first American shot at the Germans, in October 1917. It was engaged in frequent combat from then until the Armistice brought an end to the fighting in November, 1918. Bitzer was promoted to Corporal in late 1917. By October of 1918, he had experienced a year of fighting and had received just one minor wound. 

Suddenly, the doughboys faced a new enemy, one that wore no uniforms and carried no guns. It was the worldwide epidemic of influenza. It somehow came to be called the Spanish Flu, even though Spain had no more to do with it than any other country. The first sign of the illness was often cyanosis - a blue coloring of the face. Some of those affected died within a day of becoming ill. Pneumonia frequently developed. Autopsies revealed unusual lung damage. Compared to earlier editions of influenza, it was particularly harmful to young, otherwise-healthy people - such as soldiers. Overcrowded training camps and troopships provided a ideal environment for the spreading the disease. New arrivals to France brought the virus from the U.S., passing it to exhausted veterans.

Eventually, about 25,000 soldiers of the A.E.F. died from the effects of the disease. Corporal Bitzer was one of the them; he died of pneumonia on October 15, 1918. He was initially buried in  France. In 1921, his body was exhumed, returned to the U.S., and reinterred in Easton Cemetery. In addition to his stone in the cemetery, Bitzer has a plaque in the grove at Hackett's Park which honors the Easton World War I service men who gave their lives.