George Sebastian Unruh was born in 1738 in Ober Lustadt, a small village in southwest Germany, near the Rhine.1 When he was fourteen, he emigrated with his parents Johann and Apollonia and his older brother George Nicholas, sailing on the ship Brothers out of Rotterdam, stopping at Cowes, England on the way.2 They left no record of their travels, but their experience was probably typical of the many immigrants from the Palatinate at the time. They needed to get a passport from their local officials, travel downstream on the Rhine until they reached Rotterdam in the Netherlands, then switch to a crowded ship for the Atlantic crossing. The Unruh family arrived safely in Philadelphia in September 1752, when the father Johannes took the oath of allegiance at the State House, in front of justice Edward Shippen.3 Johannes could not sign his name, and signed with a mark.

There are no records of the Unruh family for the next six years. They probably lived in Bristol township, adjoining Germantown, working as farmers, either renting land or working for someone else. The two teenage sons were part of the labor force. There would be little time for them to attend school, although they must have gone to school in Germany, since Sebastian was able to sign his name to documents.4 They probably went to the Reformed church in Germantown for services, but some of their family events, such as the marriage of George Nicholas, were at St. Michael’s Lutheran.

In September 1760 Johannes bought a stone house and an acre of land on the Germantown road from Jacob and Elizabeth Dietrich for £200. The land was described as in his actual possession at the time, but he was also described as John Unruh of Bristol.5 In 1761 George Nicholas married Catharine Frank at St. Michael’s Church and settled in Germantown.6 Three years later George Sebastian married Catharine Simon, daughter of Michael Simon of Germantown. Michael Simon was a hatter who had immigrated in 1741, settled in the Cresheim neighborhood of Germantown, and had a large family. He died in 1758.7

George Sebastian and his wife Catherine lived in Bristol, probably with his parents on the 97-acre tract that Johannes had bought from Justus Rubicam in 1764.8 Ten years later Johannes sold the farm to Sebastian, but Johannes and Apollonia probably lived out their lives there. She died in 1776, two days short of her seventy-sixth birthday. Sebastian had reserved a small corner of the tract as a burying ground for his descendants, and his parents were probably buried there as well.9

In 1776 the Unruh family, like many around Philadelphia, were swept up into the chaos of the Revolution. That December, many expected the British to invade the city and thousands of people fled to the west.10 “Everybody but Quakers were removing their families and effects”.11 Many of them must have traveled up the Germantown road. The crisis passed and many refugees returned, but the respite was temporary. In September 1777, the British marched into the city and settled in to occupy it.  They were willing to pay for grain in hard currency, and many farmers chose to sell to them rather than to the Revolutionary forces.12 It is possible that the Unruhs, no matter where their real sympathies lay, sold their grain for British cash. General Howe set up his headquarters at Stenton, formerly James Logan’s country house. A fine brick mansion, it lay five miles north of the center of the city, and just one mile south of the market square in Germantown. Here Howe positioned his army and waited for Washington to attempt to regain the city.13 The land of Nicholas Unruh stretched in a long strip between Chew and Stenton Streets, just north of Vernon and south of Gorgas Lane. The land of his brother George Sebastian was further north, across Stenton Avenue. Both of them were within two miles of the British lines.14 They must have waited anxiously for the battle. Finally on October 4^th the American forces advanced. Fighting raged up and down in the town. Wounded men were carried from the field of battle and some of them were taken to Nicholas Unruh’s house.15 The English soldiers occupied one of his houses, perhaps while the battle raged around Clivenden.16 “Back in the field [off] Gorgas Lane…is the old Unruh homestead. The house is still roofed with earthen tiles under the later covering of tin. After the Battle, wounded soldiers were quartered here. It is not known when the old house was built…On the opposite side of the railroad is another old homestead, with a pond near the house and barn. The tradition is that the retreating soldiers threw their muskets into the water to save them from being captured.”17 The battle ended with a defeat for the Americans and the British still in possession of the city. Two years later the brothers Sebastian and Nicholas served in the army, according to the lists in the Pennsylvania Archives, though it is unlikely that they saw active service.18

The Unruhs went on with their lives, paying taxes on their properties, attending church, adding to their families.19 They appeared in the first national census.20 They witnessed the signing of wills and served as executors for friends’ estates.21 In September 1776 Sebastian and Catherine buried a son Sebastian, just one year old. In 1783, some of Sebastian and Catherine’s children were growing up. With six living sons to provide for, he needed more land. He bought a two-story house on Germantown Avenue, a seven-acre tract in Bristol, three more lots east of the Chew house, and a stone house and 67 acres in Bristol.22 In 1804 Sebastian was growing old. To settle his affairs, he and Catherine made a series of gifts to their sons.23 They gave a stone house and two lots in Germantown to Abraham, and a house and 62 acres to Philip.24 At the same time they gave a house and 97 acres in Bristol to Philip as part of an agreement that he would take care of them.25 They were to stay in the “new room and dwelling” with use of the garret, kitchen and cellar and outbuildings. He was to pasture their cows and provide a yearly annuity.

On October 6, 1806, the next generation was shaken by a tragic accident.26

On a militia training day after the mustering had been answered and the companies dismissed, two Unruh brothers, William and John, sons of Sebastian Unruh, and Sebastian, a son of John, having charge of the cannon, on their way home with the gun halted on Church Street (then called Bone Lane), at the rear of St. Michael’s Lutheran churchyard, to fire a parting salute, one of them remarking in a jestingly way, it was said, that ‘now we will raise the dead.’ While ramming home the cartridge, the vent became so hot that the thumb of the holder was taken therefrom and a premature discharge of the cannon resulted. William’s left arm was blown off, John lost his right arm and Sebastian was killed outright, his head having been blown off.27

The United States Gazette reported the accident five days later.28

We are told that on Monday last, the Artillery of Germantown, being out to exercise agreeable to law, one of the pieces went off in the action of ramming the cartridge, whereby three persons of one family were injured, viz: the father had his two hands shattered in such a manner, that one of them was amputated on the field, one of his sons was killed on the spot, and one other so much wounded that his life is despaired of.

Later that month two of the sons of Sebastian Unruh went to the Orphans’ Court in Philadelphia with a petition, stating that they were above the age of 14 years but not yet 21, and that they had no guardian to care for their estates. They petitioned the court to choose a guardian for them, and the court chose John Unruh.29 A petition like this to the court would normally be done after the father’s death, but George Sebastian was still alive.30 Had he been incapacitated, perhaps by a stroke? Was this connected to the accident earlier in the month? As the two youngest brothers and the only ones yet unmarried, they would not have received their portion of their father’s estate. The court action may have been to safeguard this.

George Sebastian died in 1813 at age 74.31 By then he had been living with his son Philip for eight years, while Philip and his wife Barbara had their children in the same household. Sebastian was probably buried in the family burying ground on the 97-acre tract in Bristol. He did not leave a will. Catherine died in 1818, at age 72. They lived to see six of their children married, and numerous grandchildren.

Children of George Sebastian and Catharina Simon:32

John, born 1765, married about 1785 a woman named Elizabeth.33 He sold 240 acres of land in Pennsylvania, and took his family west to Warren County, Ohio in 1816, perhaps to leave memories of Germantown behind after the cannon accident.34 The farm was not successful, and his son Joseph later returned to Germantown.35 Children: Sebastian, Elizabeth, Catherine, Susanna, John, Joseph, Maria, Ellen, Sarah. John and Elizabeth died in Warren County, Ohio.36

Philip, born 1769, died 1835, married about 1794 a woman named Barbara. She may have been the daughter of Jacob and Barbara Meyer.37 They lived in Bristol on land given to him in 1805. He was a farmer. His parents lived in a room in the house and privileges of the garden and outbuildings. Children: John, Catherine, Maria, Jacob, Anna.38

Elizabeth, born 1772, died 1846, married William Hergesheimer in 1795. They lived in Germantown, where William died in 1840. Elizabeth died in 1846. They had nine children, including a son Samuel who administered the estate.

A child, born Jan 1773, died in infancy

Sebastian, born 1775, died in infancy

Michael, born 1780, died in 1804, unmarried, named five brothers and a sister in his will.39

George, born 1782, died 1825. He married in 1804 Margaret Rohrer, daughter of John and Margaret, and had children with her.40  After he death he married in 1817 Maria Castor, and had more children. Both marriages were at Germantown Reformed Church. He died intestate.41  Children of George and Margaret: Samuel, Mary, Charles, George, Edward, William.42 Children of George and Maria: Hannah, Lewis, John, Eli.

William, born April 1785, died 1823, married Esther Rohrer in 1807, daughter of John and Margaret. They lived in Germantown. Esther was still there in 1860, as a widow with her daughter Emeline. William and Esther were buried at Ivy Hill. Children: Harriet, Adaliza, Margaret, William, Maria, John, Emeline, Esther.

Abraham, born 1788, died 1872, married in 1811 Catharina Fisher.43 They lived in Germantown. He sold a tract of 78 acres in Germantown to his brother Philip in May 1821.44 They were still in Germantown in 1830 when a son George Washington Unruh was baptized at St. Michael’s Lutheran. In 1870 Abraham was living with his son Abraham in Kankakee Township, LaPorte County.45 He and Catherine were buried at Rolling Prairie, LaPorte County.46 Children: Jacob, Mary Ann, Catherine, Abraham, John, William, George.47