109 in the New World. Of-lowly origin, of the sect called Separatists, they left their native land to secure the privileges denied them in their fatherland. In August they arrived in Philadelphia, poor in purse, ignorant of the world, but rich in a more exalted treasure. On their voyage across the Atlantic, one young man gained their veneration and affections by his superior intelligence, simple manners and kindness to the sick. Originally a weaver, then a teacher in Germany, and now intrusting his fortunes with those of like faith, Joseph M. Bimeler found himself, on reaching our shores, the acknowledged one whose sympathies were to soften and judgment was to guide them through the trials and vicissitudes yet to come. Acting by general consent as agent, he purchased for them on credit 5,500 acres in the county of Tuscarawas, to which the colonists removed the December and January following. They fell to work in separate families, erecting bark huts and log shanties, and providing for their immediate wants. Strangers in a strange land, girt ’round by a wilderness enshrouded in winter’s stern and dreary forms, ere spring had burst upon
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