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GFHC Open Thread: German Canadians [1]

['View Profile', 'Melody', 'Mel', 'Just Saying', 'Greg Dworkin']

Date: 2026-05-02  

With all the buzz about the new Canadian regulations regarding citizenship eligibility, a lot of people seem to be looking at old family Bibles and scrapbooks to see what evidence they might have on hand for applying for a different passport. Just in case. Well, I have a Canadian-born gg-grandfather so I thought I’d start dusting off my research again — mostly for the fun of it, as the “official” evidentiary trails have a few holes that would take a while to patch. I do have some pretty good clues as well as a good timeline of census, land records, and references to other documents provided by historical societies and other researchers, but it is going to be a challenge to provide a proper paper trail.

I should clarify that my ancestors were actually German, arriving in Philadelphia in the mid-1700s. From there, they moved to New Jersey, supported the loyalists during the Revolution, took loyalist land grants in Canada, fought for the British side in the War of 1812, returned to the states in the 1840s … with some fun stories along the way. But first I want to concentrate for this diary only on their entry to Philadelphia … especially after seeing a front pager diary on Greg Bovino and his racist views that Somali immigrants were destroying the fabric of American values, or some such nonsense. I checked his wikipedia page, and see that his own gg-grandparents arrived from Calabria, Italy to Pennsylvania in 1909, becoming citizens nearly 20 years later. Hmmm, I wonder if he gave any thought to the struggles of his family, who likely didn’t speak English and were discriminated against simply because they were Italian.

Anyway, enough of that POS. Back to my ancestors who also arrived in Pennsylvania…what was their experience like? As you may recall from long ago history classes, William Penn received a patent in the 1680s to establish a colony in America primarily for Quakers seeking to escape religious persecution in Europe. A vast number of non-English speaking people arrived in Pennsylvania to start a new life, but by the 1720s people were getting alarmed. These immigrants spoke only German, and maybe did not share true English values. Imagine that. As a solution, it was decided to start having them swear oaths of loyalty to the British king, promising to reject the Scottish pretender to the throne, to renounce the Pope, and to promise to report on those bringing insurrection to English values/institutions/government.

My gggggg-grandfather, Johannes Martin Buchner, of Unnau, Germany, sailed from Rotterdam on the Rowland with his family, arriving in Philadelphia in September of 1753. There is a great reference book “A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 and 1776…” which lists adult male passengers arrivals. The following excerpts are from the 1876 edition, which is searchable and downloadable for free from Internet Archive Books. You can see Johannes Martin Buchner and two of his sons, Johannes Buchner and Johann Henrich Buchner (who was my ggggg-great grandfather). The introduction and prologue of this work goes into a lot of detail of how the original handwritten lists were transcribed and organized.

The book also gives a lot of detail on the loyalty oaths that were administered. Another good source for that is Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission which gives the following as a typical oath the newly arrived immigrants had to sign…this one dates to the 1760s, around the time George III came to the throne, though the wording still refers to his grandfather George II:

“I xxx do solemnly & sincerely promise & declare that I will be true & faithful to King George the Second and do solemnly sincerely and truly Profess Testifie & Declare that I do from my Heart abhor, detest & renounce as impious & heretical that wicked Doctrine & Position that Princes Excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Power Jurisdiction Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within the Realm of Great Britain or the Dominions thereunto belonging. “I xxx do solemnly sincerely and truly acknowledge profess testify & declare that King George the Second is lawful & rightful King of the Realm of Great Britain & of all others his Dominions & Countries thereunto belonging, And I do solemnly & sincerely declare that I do believe the Person pretending to be Prince of Wales during the Life of the late King James, and since his Decease pretending to be & taking upon himself the Stile & Title of King of England by the Name of James the third, or of Scotland by the Name of James the Eighth or the Stile & Title of King of Great Britain hath not any Right or Title whatsoever to the Crown of the Realm of Great Britain, nor any other the Dominions thereunto belonging. And I do renounce & refuse any Allegiance or obedience to him & do solemnly promise that I will be true and faithful, & bear true allegiance to King George the Second & to him will be faithful against all traitorous Conspiracies & attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his Person Crown & Dignity & I will do my best Endeavours to disclose & make known to King George the Second & his Successors all Treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which I shall Know to be made against him or any of them. And I will be true & faithful to the Succession of the Crown against him the said James & all other Persons whatsoever as the same is & stands settled by An Act Entituled An Act declaring the Rights & Liberties of the Subject & settling the Succession of the Crown to the late Queen Anne & the Heirs of her Body being Protestants, and as the same by one other Act Entituled An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown & better securing the Rights & Liberties of the subject is & stands settled & entailed after the Decease of the said late Queen, & for Default of Issue of the said late Queen, to the late Princess Sophia Electoress & Dutchess Dowager of Hannover & the Heirs of her Body being Protestants; and all these things I do plainly & sincerely acknowledge promise & declare according to these express Words by me spoken & according to the plain & common Sense and understanding of the same Words, without any Equivocation mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever. And I do make this Recognition Acknowledgement Renunciation & Promise heartily willingly & truly.”

For a future diary, I plan on talking about how seriously my Boughner line took that oath during the Revolution.

Now, feel free to discuss what you’ve been working on…immigration stories from anywhere welcome!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/2/800031633/community/gfhc-open-thread-german-canadians/

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