Schwenkfelders
Foreword - The Ancestors of John and Susanna (Harris) Masters
The ancestors of the Masters family lived in Harpersdorf,. Germany,
the original having been Meisther or Meschter. They were members of a
Protestant religious sect who were followers of Caspar Schwenckfeld von
Ossig (1489 - 1561) a Silesian nobleman, who was a contemporary of Martin
Luther but who differed from Luther over several points of doctrine. His
followers were called Schwenkfelders and there were a considerable number
of them in different parts of Silesia. The Schwenkfelders were the objects
of special persecution by the Catholic Church and in 1726 a large number
of them fled to Saxony where they were given temporary protection. After
staying there eight years, this protection was withdrawn and, rather than
return to Silesia, some forty-three families, including the ancestors
of the Masters family decided to emigrate to Pennsylvania. They went to
Altona in Denmark, then to Haarlem in Holland, and in June, 1734 they
sailed from Rotterdam for America on the English ship St. Andrew arriving
at Philadelphia on September 22, 1734.
The members of the Meschter family who came to America at that time
were Gregorius Meschter, his wife and one son, his brother, Melchior Meschter
and wife, Eve Meschter, and Anna Weiss, sister of Gregorius and Melchior
Meschter. They settled in counties around Philadelphia and most of those
living in that part of the country still use the name Meschter. There
are at present five Schwenkfelder churches in and around Philadelphia
with a membership of over 25O0.
The members of the family remaining in Harpersdorf and their descendants
continued to occupy the Meschter homestead there until near the close
of World War II when the Russians overran that part of Silesia and burned
the buildings and drove the inhabitants of Harpersdorf out of the village.
Most of them returned after a short interval until the Poles occupied
the country and drove all of the residents into the British zone of occupied
Germany.
The ancestor of the Masters branch of the family in America was Gregorius
Meisther or Meschter, b about November, l705; d December 16, l775. He
was the youngest son of Balthasar Meisther who died April 1, 1723 and
was buried at Harpersdorf in the “Viehwag”, a public burial
ground or village dump, because the Catholic Church would not allow the
Schwenckfelders to be buried in the regular cemeteries, Gregorius Meschter
bought land in Hereford Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania and he and
his wife are buried in Washington Shwenkfelder Cemetery in Hereford Township.
He made “his mark” in signing the Oath of Allegiance on September
23, at Philadelphia and was naturalized April 10,1759.
- Paul E. Masters, 143 Orchard Street, Sewickley, Pennsylvania. 1953
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