The 18th Century Immigrants

    Beginning in 1727, the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania required captains of ships importing aliens to submit lists of names of those transported. Also, male passengers sixteen years and older were required within forty-eight hours of arrival to take an oath of allegiance to “His present Majesty King George the Second, and his successors, Kings of Great Britain.” Additional Oaths of Fidelity and Abjuration renouncing allegiance to James III, pretender to the throne, were required beginning in 1729. Oaths were signed by immigrants who could write their names. A clerk wrote the names for those unable to write, and the immigrants made their characteristic marks. The translation by William J Hinke includes additional ship lists from 1785 to 1808. The original lists are in the Pennsylvania Archives at Harrisburg.

    A careful evaluation of these lists leads to the conclusion that only six immigrants with our surname arrived at Philadelphia in the 18th century. 

    Longer lists have not survived further scrutiny. “George Zeug,” said to be a cousin of Ulrich Zug, was Jerg Zeng. His signature is in agreement with the captain’s spelling of the name (Zengh). “Henry Zug,” said to be on the same ship, simply does not exist; his name does not appear on the captain’s list or in the published versions, except that of Rupp. Christian “Zug” who arrived in 1738, signed his name to both oaths as Zuegri. Joseph “Zug,” who came in August 1750, was Joseph Hug (Hook), and Jacob “Zuch” who came in 1754, was Jacob Auch, as he signed twice on 30 September.

    Because at least five of the six immigrants were closely related to each other and were the ancestors of over 75% of the Zooks in 1920 America, their genealogy and history is of interest to an exceptionally large number of people. 

    Important new facts concerning these immigrants were discovered in recent years.

• First was the marriage of a "Widow Zuck" of Kaiserslautern in the German Palatinate to a Jacob Guth who planned to move to nearby Wilensteinerhof, but soon sailed to America on the ship carrying the three 1742 immigrants. 
• Secondly, 1688 and 1720 patrimonial leases were found for Wilensteinerhof in which an Anabaptist Christian Zoug/Zug participated as co-lessee. In the first lease, no wife was mentioned, but in the second lease, a wife Barbara was a participant.
• Thirdly, the fourth, fifth, and sixth owners of a Keller Bible, found by Neil Ann Stuckey Levine, were born with the Zoug name. Hans Zoug wrote in the Bible that he received it from Christian Zoug, and then used it to record the births of five children: Anna, b September 1710; Hans, b 21 May 1712; Barbara, b 16 September 1714; Magdalena, b 19 June 1716; and Christian, b 21 February 1718. These first documentations in the Palatinate of a Hans Zoug family with sons Johannes and Christian are in accord with legend that the name of the father of the 1742 immigrant Christian was Hans.
• Finally, confirmation of the Palatinate as the locale of Zougs whose records were found in the Kennel Bible and proof of direct descent of 1742 immigrants Johannes and Christian from 1688 lessee Christian Zug of Wilensteinerhof was found by Kurt Knebel and wife Irmgard in an addendum to a second copy of the 1720 lease. Dated 20 April 1742, just five months and one day before arrival of the 1742 immigrants at Philadelphia, the addendum is a memorandum of approval by Baron von Haake of the sale of one-half of Wilensteinerhof by Christian and Johannes Zug "which had devolved upon them from their father, for them and all their co-heirs." 

    Thus, we now have birth dates for two 1742 immigrants and proof that they are direct second-generation descendants of Christian Zoug/Zug of Wilensteinerhof. Legend that they descend from Anabaptist leader Hans Zaugg of Signau is no longer credible. 

    Legend that the 1727 immigrants were uncles of the 1742 immigrants is reasonable, but they would be sons of Barbara, second wife of Christian Zoug/Zug of Wilensteinerhof, whereas two 1742 immigrants were sons of Hans, son of a first wife of Christian Zoug of Wilensteinerhof. Immigrant Peter Zug is documented at Wilensteinerhof in 1716 on a list of people employed in Amt Trippstadt.

    Neither Ulrich Zug nor Moritz Zug is documented in Europe. Their birth dates and parentage are unknown! Futhey and Cope's History of Chester County states that Moritz was a son of immigrant Peter Zug. This claim was made both in connection with Moritz's house and his Bible, details of which were available at that time only from Moritz's great grand-son M453 Jacob M Zook who lived in the house and owned the Bible. If so, Moritz remained in Europe in 1727 and was raised by the 1742 immigrant family. Immigrant Christian's branch of this family referred to Moritz as Moritz A Zug. The complete 1880 letter of John Hertzler to Michael Zug refers six times to Moritz A Zug, but neither of these authors used a middle initial in Moritz's name in their extensive works several years later. We note that Moritz's name is absent from the Bible record of his "brothers," and not mentioned by the baron when he approved sale of the patrimonial lease.

    Little is known about the ancestry of 1732 immigrant Henrich Zaug, son of Hans Ulrich Zaug, "inhabitant" of Hoffenheim in the Kraichgau east of the Rhine. He was married 29 June 1717 in the Lutheran Church to Elizabeth Schwartz, daughter of the late Martin Schwartz, "citizen." A year earlier, in the Roman Catholic records of nearby Sinsheim, we find the marriage of his brother Ulrich to Anna Maria, daughter of Joseph Huber, "citizen." Who was this lowly "inhabitant" whose sons married into families of Lutheran and Catholic citizens? One possibility is the Uli Zougg banished in 1761 from Canton Bern, Switzerland, at age 30. 

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