I would invite my 5ggrandparents Peter & Catharine Barbara (Werner) Ziegler. The question I would ask is if when Catharine and her mother attended the communion service at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bucks County on 12/31/1773 did she know Margaret Hedrich (my 5ggrandmother on my mother’s side) and her daughters? Did they even think that after 165 years, with my dad’s ancestors moving to Snyder County, VA, then back to Lehigh County and finally to Phoenixville where my dad was born and my mother’s family moving south in Bucks County and then to Lansdale in Montgomery Co. where she was born, that their great grandchildren would eventually marry? I had an hour to kill yesterday and spent it in the genealogy room of the local library. I found the following contract for passage in the book Pennsylvania German Immigrants 1709-1786 edited by Don Yoder and published by Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc. in Baltimore, MD in 1984. It might be appropriate to take a moment and consider what our ancestors went through so we could have this day. Know all men by these presents, especially those whom it may concern, that we, the undersigned passengers, have contracted with Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope, Merchants in Rotterdam, even as we herewith contract for ourselves and our families in the following manner: Firstly, The above-mentioned Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope shall furnish us a good, comfortable, and well-sailing ship, in order with the same to have us transported to Philadelphia And to that end shall be made in the ship firm bunks for each whole freight, sex feet long and one and one-half feet wide. Secondly The above-mentioned Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope shall fit out the said ship well with good and proper provisions, namely: good bread, meat, bacon, flour, rice, barley, peas, syrup, butter, cheese, beer, good fresh water, and whatever else is necessary; likewise the ship shall be twice daily cleaned with vinegar and juniper berries, to purify the air; and daily there shall be given out to each whole freight the following: Sunday – one pound of beef cooked with rice Monday – barley and syrup Tuesday – one pound of white wheat flour Wednesday – one pound of bacon with peas Thursday – one pound of beef cooked with rice Friday – one pound of white wheat flour and one pound of butter Saturday – one pound of bacon, one pound of cheese, and six pounds of bread for the entire week. besides, every day one quart of beer (as long as it remains good), and two quarts of water daily, to each whole freight. If brandy is desired, it shall be given each morning to every person who desires it. Lovers of tobacco, however, shall receive one pound to take along on the journey. Thirdly We, the undersigned passengers, want to have freedom (as God’s weather permits) to cook a few victuals for ourselves and the little children, and to make use of the fire from six o’clock in the morning till the same time in the evening; also permission to be on deck; yet those who are sick are especially to enjoy the right to help themselves to the fire and water as often as they need it for their refreshment; likewise there shall be provided on the ship all kinds of aromatics and also wine, so that the sick can the better be cared for. In return for which We, the undersigned passengers, promise to pay to the above-mentioned Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope in Rotterdam, or on their order, for transport of our persons, baggage, and household goods, from Rotterdam to Philadelphia, SEVEN AND ONE-HALF DOUBLOONS for each whole freight, and the goods that we have with us shall be delivered on land there gratis, without our being forced to pay anything therefore to the stevedores. Now the freights shall be reckoned in the following manner: Children under four years old are free; from four to fourteen years, shall pay half freight; and fourteen years and upwards, full freight. But if anyone agrees to take them all together for less than the above-mentioned sum, Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope promise to do the same, except where it is plainly done as spite work against Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope, in which case they release the people from the contract, however, in such case those who offer cheaper transportation are to pay Messrs. Isaac & Zacharias Hope for the expenses which they incurred before the people arrived at the port. As proof whereof we vow and promise on both sides to carry out all the above faithfully and uprightly, binding to this end our persons and properties; In witness whereof we have validated this contract with our personal signature. Done at Rotterdam, February 16, 1756, (signed) ISAAC & ZACHARIAS HOPE. P.S. Without prejudice to others we let it be known that this year our agreement has been somewhat altered; the reason WHY and the way IN WHICH it has been improved is this: Because new merchants, who have never made the hourney, have had such [an agreement] prepared. The particular way in which we are now improving ours is as follows: Inasmuch as we, as experienced merchants, who have been transporting people twenty or more years already, have found that bacon and meat are very heavily salted, from which salted provisions scurvy and other complaints arise, and moreover, the High Germans are brought up moreon fresh than on salted provisions, we are ready to give two or three fresh meats weekly, which they will judge more fit for them. [On the margin of the first page, the following prospective emigrants, onaly a few of whom were Wertheimers, personally subscribed their names, with their proportion in “freights”.] Johann Philipp Oswald --- 1 freight Balthasar Thorwart --- 3 ½ freights Johannes Schäfer --- 2 freights Margarete Baumann ---- 1 bed [?] Georg Mehrling --- 2 freights Barbara Schlegling ---- 1 freight Andon Bock --- 11 freights Christoph Hartlaub --- 1 freight Philipp Stockhammer ---- 3 ½ freights Barbara Schar [Schärin] ---- 1 freight Hans Georg Frank --- 3 freights Kaspar Zottelmeyer --- 3 freights Mattes Gröss --- 6 freights Joh[ann] Pet[er] Ziegler --- 3 ½ freights Caspar Englert --- 3 freights Jak[ob] Kern --- 1 freight Joh[ann] Görg Knobloch --- 2 freights Melcher Landeck --- 2 freights Mattes Stumpf ---- 1 freight Joh[ann] Mich[ael] Dosch --- 11 freights Friedr[ich] Ott --- 1 freight Hans Görg Friedert ---- 1 freight Barbell Spiell[?] --- 3 freights Görg Jacob Spiell [Sprit?] of Schweinfurt --- 3 freights Mich[ael] Lousser --- 1 freight TOTAL --- 71 ½ freights