In 1764 Johannes Herbergs and Peter Heinrich Strepers traveled from the Rhineland area of Germany to the Province of Pennsylvania to recover the property which their grandfather Jan Strepers had bought in 1682 from a representative of Proprietor William Penn. Johannes’ detailed diary of this effort, involving four crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, was purchased at an auction in 1997 and was made available to the Rheinisches Freilichtmuseum Kommern, which published the journal in 2001. The passage below (the entry for August 27, 1764) mentions a visit to Jan Grothaus and the comment that Jan’s father, Hermen, had come to America from Bielefeld. [Spelling in the eighteenth century was not standardized or consistent.]

On the morning of August 27th [1764], we went to see a man whom Mr. Kurtz had said we should see called Jan Grothus whose father Hermen came from Bielefeld and who has been here for the last 50 years and lives only a mile to one side. We met him at a gentleman's named Schloter, and they both seemed to be very good people. When asked about this and that, they could tell us about everything, but they also said that everything had been sold. ... He, Grothaus, said we should go to see his brother-in-law Wighard Miller. He still had letters in his possession from his father-in-law, who had been the first preacher in Germantown and written a lot, also about the settlers in Germantown.

Footnotes:

• Sketch of German History Before the Birth of Herman Grothaus in 1670
• Changes in Bielefeld's Political Status
• Streeper Exhibition at the Rheinisches Freilichtmuseum Kommern, Germany; article at The Original 13 Settlers of Germantown, PA

Sources:

1. Brave New World: Rhinelanders Conquer America. The Journal of Johannes Herbergs. Edited by Dieter Pesch. Guides and Papers of the Rheinisches Freilichtmuseum and the Landesmuseum für Volkskunde at Kommern, No. 61. Germany: Martina Galunder-Verlag, 2001. Page 95.

2. This book includes a lot of information about other families in Germantown, some of whom were related to the Greathouses or associated with them. You may order your own copy of Brave New World: Rhinelanders Conquer America. The Journal of Johannes Herbergs at Amazon.com.

3. Maureen Ward, Streeper Exhibition at the Rheinisches Freilichtmuseum Kommern, Germany. View @ The Original 13 Settlers of Germantown, PA.

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