The following teaser is from an article written by Franziska Holzschuh, and posted in the October 14, 2014 edition of philly.com:
The Uleckinger family’s journey from Germany to Philadelphia ended in catastrophe. Father Jacob and three of his children died on a ship called the Charming Molly as it crossed the Atlantic in 1773, and the mother passed just days after reaching the New World.
The two surviving children, Peter, 13, and Andrew, 9, were sold into servitude to pay for the voyage – a case for the German Society of Pennsylvania.
Twelve years before the United States became a nation, more-established immigrants from the Vaterland founded the society in 1764 to protect and support countrymen such as young Peter and Andrew, who arrived short of money and signed contracts in a language they did not understand.
