#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 33 Strength: The Strong Patriotism of George Gottfried Orwig and his sons

 

George Gottfried Orwig, the 7X-great grandfather of my grandchildren, was born in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany, in August 1719. As the map shows, the city is a little south and west of Berlin. In the 18th century, when George lived there, Braunschweig (Brunswick in English) was a political and cultural center of Germany. Goethe's opera, Faust, premiered in Braunschweig. 

The Brunswick Lion

The Brunswick Lion, a bronze cast in the 12th century by Duke Henry the Lion, still proudly stands guard in the main square of the city, a sight that Gottfried would have seen nearly every day. 

In 1741, at the age of 22, Gottfried sailed from Rotterdam for America on the ship St. Andrew, landing at the port of Philadelphia. Gottfried stayed in Pennsylvania for a short time and then returned to Germany, where he married Anna Clara Lampert in 1743.

The young couple returned to America and settled in the area of Maiden Creek, near Reading, which they called Brunswick after their home city in Germany.   

Clara and Gottfried had at least six children, all born at Brunswick:

*Catherine 1748

*Peter 1750

*Maria 1751

*Henry 1753

*Elizabeth 1756

*George 1758 (6X Great Grandfather of my grandchildren)

During the Revolutionary War, Gottfried and his sons all served the American cause.  Peter, a preacher in the German Reform Church, did not join the Army, but did support the cause in other ways. 

Henry served in Col. William Thompson's Rifleman Company and later was an ensign in the Berks County militia. He participated in skirmishes around Boston and took part in the Battle of Brandywine. His Obituary:

Dec 18, 1836, at Orwigsburg, of old age, one of the oldest inhabitants of Orwigsburg and one of the brave who served for the father land in the Revolutionary War. Also as a lieutenant in the Army of the United States and at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. Old age and tired of this life he went quietly and gently drifted to the next at age 83/0/12. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. R. W. Harpel on Hebrew XIII, 14.

George enlisted in the Rifle Company of Captain James Olds in July 1776 and took part in the battles at Long Island and White Plains NY. He was an ensign in the Berks County militia in 1783. 

But perhaps most remarkable was the service of Gottfried Orwig, a man in his late fifties when the war started. He joined a group of eighty other men, all German, in what was called "The Old Men's Company."  Their captain was nearly 100 years old and their drummer 94 years old. Gottfried's name is listed on the plaque shown at the right. 

After the war, Gottfried's son Peter purchased several hundred acres in Berk's County and laid out the town of Orwigsburg in 1796. The town was incorporated in 1813 and became the county seat of newly-formed Schuylkill County.  Peter, Henry and George Orwig all owned land and farmed in the area.

Gottfried Orwig died in Orwigsburg PA in May 1804 and is buried in the Zion's Red Church Cemetery there, beside his wife Clara, who died in 1788.

George Orwig, Gottfried's son, married Mary Magdalena Gilbert in 1779 and had fourteen children with her, five daughters and nine sons, including my grandchildren's 5X Great Grandfather, William Orwig, born in Orwigsburg in 1800. 

George and his wife both died in Mifflinburg PA in 1841 and are buried in the Mifflinburg Cemetery.