Born on September 26, 1651, in Sommerhausen, Germany, Francis Daniel Pastorius was a respected lawyer and scholar. In 1683, he led a group of German-speaking immigrants, primarily Mennonites, to Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, plans were made for the city of Germantown, near Philadelphia, which became the first permanent German settlement in North America. Pastorius served as the city’s first mayor in 1691. He is a historically significant figure for authoring the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery, which was the first formal protest against slavery in the American colonies. He died sometime between late 1719 and early 1720 in Germantown.
Francis Daniel Pastorius
