1740 Passenger Ship List

Urban ASCHENBRENNER came to the America aboard the ship "Samuel". This ship set sail from Rotterdam in the Netherlands and traveled to Deal, England where more passengers and supplies were picked up before the long voyage. Departing from Deal the ship crossed the Atlantic and arrived on 3 December 1740 at Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania Colony. Most voyages to the colonies were miserable. Packed to capacity ships were often overcrowded, with no privacy and offering nothing more than polluted water, and vermin-ridden food for the passengers. Food stocks were only large enough for the longest possible voyage. Ship Masters packed ships with as much human cargo as possible to insure many new laborers for the colonies and greater profitability for England. Many would die along the voyage with their families still responsible for all their expenses. Thus was a common struggle for many a traveler in the eighteenth century. Upon arriving he immediately took his Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown. On one ship list he was listed as "Orbinos ASHENBRANDER", age 37, while two other lists had him listed as "Urban ASCHENBRENNER". There is no certainty that he traveled alone since these lists named only males sixteen years and older. He would have been born circa 1703. With the better part of his youth already behind him, Urban was faced with an unusual circumstance for a man of his age, to begin a new life in a new world and start a family. There is no evidence to support the idea that he traveled neither with a wife nor with any children. All supporting evidence indicates that he married sometime within 2-3 years of his arrival.

· Exhibits & Abstracts: [Bibliography]