On the morning of Friday, November 30, 1750, the ship "Sandwich", Capt. Hazelwood, Master, docked at the port of Philadelphia with a crew of perhaps thirty and a cargo of 200 immigrants from Germany, having safely completed the arduous, almost suicidal trans-Atlantic passage from Amsterdam via Cowes on the English Channel isle of Wight. Of the 200 "whole freights" aboard, the ninety seven men and boys 16 years and older were led off the ship and marched to the mayor's office where, in the presence of the mayor, the "worshipful Wm. Plumstead", they were required to sign two oaths, one an oath of allegiance to his majesty, the King of England, the second an oath of abjuration, or renunciation of allegiance to any other sovereign, most especially the pope of Rome and the pretender to the throne, James III. Having officially sworn these oaths the ninety-seven were led back to the ship as the city hall bell tolled the latest indenture sale.

Among those signing that day were some of our earliest ancestors, Joseph Klopfer and his sixteen year old son, Lorenz (b. 1733) and aboard the "Sandwich", Joseph's wife Anna Christina, daughter Dorothea (b. 1744), daughter Elisabeth Catharina (b. 1737), and son, Phillip Jacob (b. 1747). (Lorenz and Elisabeth Catharina were born to Joseph’s first wife, Maria Agnes Rapp; m. January 23, 1731 d. May 8, 1741). Having endured a journey we can hardly imagine today, the immigrants would be confined to the ship while advertisements were placed in the local papers and notices posted in the city announcing the latest sale of indentures, which meant that those aboard who could not pay their passage would be sold to the highest bidder for a time of servitude, men, women, and often children as well. This service, which usually lasted for from four to seven years, depending on the debt owed, was no less than slavery and was governed by laws for owner and owned. Many times families were separated and as in slavery, conditions varied from one master to another.

Whether the Klopfer family were indentured or not we do not know, but it seems most likely that the passage was paid, perhaps in advance, for in less than four years of arrival in Philadelphia Joseph owned 100 acres of farmland in Dover township, York County, PA. (4 April, 1754 - warrant #415-draft #699 - York County Recorder's office). Incredibly though, only seven weeks after arrival Anna Christina gave birth to another daughter, Marie Catherine, on January 19, 1751 (bapt. St. Michael’s church, Philadelphia). When we try to imagine the hardships these people suffered on the long and difficult journey, it is truly a wonder that mother and child survived.

When Joseph and his family were finally released from the ship they almost certainly were temporarily settled in a neighborhood of Philadelphia known as Germantown. This German-speaking community provided support for new immigrants who spoke no English and were unfamiliar with the laws and customs of the English colonies. This community, with its bi-lingual street signs and German language newspapers, would have been the place where most German-speaking immigrants began their new lives in this brave new world.

There is evidence that shows that Joseph may have been the second of the Klopfer line to emigrate to America. A Matheus, or Mathias, Klopfer and his wife, Rosina, arrived at Dover Delaware on May 8, 1750 from Poppenweiler, near Ludwigsburg, Germany. However, church records show that Joseph and his ancestors lived in the town of Metterzimmern, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. Poppenweiler and Meterzimmern are both located very near Ludwigsburg, although on opposite sides of the city. Joseph and Matheus could possibly be brothers or related in some way, since the coincidence of their arrival dates and the facts of their settlement in York County at virtually the same time (Matheus crops up in public records almost more often than Joseph) leads to the conclusion that they were not strangers to each other. This is speculation on my part. In addition, a third possible brother, Johan Max, arrived at Philadelphia on Wednesday, 27 September 1752 on the ship "Nancy", Capt. John Ewing. I have found no further reference to Johan Max, but again the coincidence is too compelling.

One can only speculate as to how these families made the decision to emigrate to America. Conditions in Germany at that time were terrible for common people. Continuous warfare and economic collapse made life all but impossible for all but the aristocracy, and Matheus, Joseph, and Johan Max must have seen their only future in a new land. Little did they suspect what a future lay in store.

For Joseph and Anna Christina the first three years in America are not clear. They probably spent some time in Germantown, though with friends or on their own we'll never know, but by the 12th of January, 1753, another son, Simon, was born and baptized at Trinity Lutheran church in Lancaster, PA, and again a daughter, Eve or Eva, was born 6 April, 1754 and baptized at Trinity. The connection to Lancaster shows that the family located there between January, 1751 (the birth of Marie Catherine) and Easter 1752, for it is known that Joseph and his wife attended Easter communion services at Trinity in 1752 and again, Joseph, Anna Christina, Lorenz, and Elisabeth Catherine were present at this church the Sunday after Christmas, 1752. This is the last recorded evidence for Lorenz that I have found and it may be that, since he was eighteen years old in 1752, he may have chosen to begin his own life, either in Lancaster or some other locale. More research could reveal whatever direction life might have taken him.

Another son of Joseph and Anna Christina, Frederick, was born on October 4, 1755. We do not know where he was born or baptized but given the date it was most likely in Dover Twp., York County. There were no German Lutheran churches there yet so this may explain the lack of birth and baptism records.

In the spring of 1754 a deed (the aforementioned warrant #415, draft 699, for 100 acres) was recorded at York town. This land must be the same property that Joseph was taxed at 4 shilling-sixpence in 1762, since it is unlikely he would have sold one property and bought another during this eight year period (there is no record of such a transaction). Therefore it can be said with some certainty that the first ownership of land in America by the Klopfer-Clapper family originated by April 4, 1754.

On an uncertain date in February, 1757 our ancestor, George Sr. was born. It is most certain that his birth was in a rough cabin of logs in a sparsely populated area of Dover Township, York County that was his father's new land. This cabin and its surrounding 100 acres was located along what is now the Dover-Carlisle road, about one-half mile north of the town of Dover, probably on the west side of the road. It was impossible to determine the exact plot of land, due to development and the lack of accurate survey information, but the 1754 land warrant locates it generally in this area.

On the 30th of May, 1757, Joseph and twenty-seven of his neighbors signed an agreement combining the Reformed and German Lutheran congregations into the Salem Union church, which has come to be known as the Dover, or Strayer’s church. This church, which stands about three-quarters of a mile southwest of the town of Dover, is named for Peter Streher who, along with two other local landowners, sold a parcel of land to the congregation to establish the church and cemetery. The original church, a large, dirt-floored log building, is long since gone, replaced by a fine brick structure built for the one hundredth anniversary of Strayer’s founding.

Two days before Christmas, 1773, Joseph died at age sixty-three. A will and inventory of his possessions exist in the York County Recorder's office and these give a most interesting insight of the man and his position in the society of the time. He never learned to read or write and, interestingly, signed his will with a hand-drawn symbol of a radiant sun with his initials in the center. While far from wealthy, he seems to have been a moderately successful farmer of that day who must have worked very hard to acquire the goods and land and raise such a large family. Anna Christina died on March 21, 1796.

Joseph and Anna Christina are buried in Strayer’s cemetery. Although most of the grave markers are too weathered to be legible and thus their graves could not be identified, they are, however, listed in Strayer’s cemetery records.