Joshua Harrsch

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Josua Harrsch alias Kocherthal (born July 30, 1669 in Fachsenfeld , Baden-Württemberg, † June 24, 1719 in New Town, now Saugerties , Ulster County , New York) was an Evangelical Lutheran pastor . It gained importance in the context of the first German mass emigration to North America.

Live and act

Memorial plaque on the Evangelical Church

Josua Harrsch was one of the 23 children of Johann Georg Harrsch (1610–1675), bailiff in Laubach , later in Fachsenfeld , the first from his third marriage (∞ III. August 18, 1668 in Aalen ) with Elisabeth Leonhard († 1693). Harrsch's mother married the school teacher in Beilstein Ulrich Eisenmenger for the second time . The family relationships - Harrsch's father had 110 grandchildren - are known from Harrsch's personal family tree. Harrsch's numerous half-siblings achieved socially respected positions as pastors, pastors' wives, bailiffs, surgeons or hospital clerks.

Studying and starting a family

Harrsch attended the Schwäbisch Hall grammar school , studied Lutheran theology in Orthodox Wittenberg and graduated in 1695 with a dissertation on the divine word in the act of creation. On June 19, 1695, he de-registered in Wittenberg, returned home and submitted a related, by no means identical, examination paper to the theological faculty in Tübingen . After ordination, he married Sibylla Charlotta Winchenbach (1669–1713), who was probably the daughter of the Reformed pastor in Richtstetten , and in 1696 was appointed pastor in the three parishes of Eschelbronn , Mönchzell and Daisbach . The three places were Electoral Palatinate fiefs under aristocratic rule. In 1704 he traveled to London incognito . Details are not known, be it that he campaigned in England for support for the Protestant Elector Palatine , who were complained about by the religious oppression of Elector Johann Wilhelm , or that he was discussing plans to found a colony. English large landowners had huge undeveloped lands in North America that they wanted to settle with tax-paying tenants. In any case, after his return in 1706, Harrsch, who was very skilled at writing, published a small advertising pamphlet on behalf of such circles, possibly already under the pseudonym Kocherthaler , which extolled the advantages of the Carolina province . One can assume that this first edition, of which no copy is known, was only moderately effective.

Emigration to New York

Quassaick Creek at Newburgh

In March 1708 Harrsch left his three parishes with his family and came to London with a group of emigrants from the Kraichgau. He dropped the name Harrsch and from now on only operated under the name Kocherthal (also Kocherthaler, de Kocherthal). The English authorities approved settlement in the province of New York . Kocherthal and his group came to New York on the Globe at the end of 1708 and in the spring of 1709 built the Neuburg settlement on Quassaick Creek in the Hudson Valley, today's Newburgh . In the opening credits of his church book, which he began in 1708 and continued until his death, Kocherthal calls himself the first pastor of the German church in New York . However, after the extremely cold and harsh winter of 1708/1709, there was a huge emigration movement in the Electoral Palatinate. More than 11,000 people strived down the Rhine via Rotterdam into the Kingdom of Great Britain and wanted to be settled in the British colonies, similar to Kocherthal's group. Kocherthal's small handwriting was reprinted three times in Frankfurt in 1709 to meet demand and added to it. Kocherthal traveled to London, wrote petitions and an essay on the possibilities of wine growing in America, presented the British government with the situation of the newcomers, and last followed suit in spring 1710 with the newly appointed governor Robert Hunter and 850 emigrant families with ten ships New York back. These were supposed to produce tar and pitch for the needs of the British Navy in the West Camps and East Camps on the Hudson, about 80 km north of Newburgh , but this did not get under way. Kocherthal died in New Town in 1719 after serving the Word of God on the middle Hudson for nine years. The three daughters dedicated the following surviving grave inscription to their parents in 1742:

Wisse Wandermann / Under this stone rests / together with his Sibylla Charlotta / A right wanderer / The
Standard Germans in North America / their Joshua / and the same on the east and west side of the Hudson River / purely Lutheran preacher /
His first arrival was with Lord Lovelace / 1707/8 January 1st / His second with Col. Hunter / 1710 June 14th /
His return journey to England was interrupted / The heavenly journey of his souls / on St. John's Day 1719 /
Do you want to know more / So investigate in Melanchthon's fatherland / Who was de Kocherthal / Who Harschias / Who Winchenbach /
B [enigna Sibylla] Berkenmayer, S [usanna Sibylla] Heurtin, L [ouysa Abigail] Brefort / MDCCXLII

Works

  • De / Efficacia Verbi / Divini, In Actu / Primo , Wittenberg 1695. Title page
  • Officivm / Ministri Verbi / Divini , Heilbronn 1696.
  • Detailed / and / Complicated report / From the famous landscape / CAROLINA, / In the / Engelländischen America / located./ Given on the day / From / Kocherthalern./ Zweyter Druck./ [Decor] Franckfurt am Mäyn // To be found at Georg Heinrich Oehrling // Anno 1709. [42 pages].
  • Detailed = and cumbersome / Report / From the famous landscape / Carolina // Located in / Engelländische America /. / Given on / From / Kocherthalern./ Third printing.// With an appendix / done outside of an / English author / writing / and one on the Reyse there / understood Hochteutschen out of Londen Notification = / Richtigung / together with a country = chart of / such insul multiplied / [decor] / Franckfurt am Mäyn // to be found at Georg Heinrich Oehrling // Anno 1709 . [72 pages].
  • Detailed = and cumbersome / report / from the famous landscape / Carolina / located in the / Engelländischen America /. / Given on the day / Von Kocherthalern./ Fourth print // With attachments / Zweyer Engelischen / authors description / and a / prompt Reyse there understood Hochteutschen / out of Londen notification / Besides / Eine Land = Carte von Carolina ver = / mehrt./ Franckfurt am Mäyn // To be found at Georg Heinrich Oehrling // Anno MDCCIX. [80 pages.].

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Harsh, Joshua
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kocherthal, Josua; Kocherthaler, Joshua
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor and pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1669
PLACE OF BIRTH Subject field
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1719
Place of death New Town