Henry (Johann Henrich) Aurand, born March 24, 1747 at Weidelbach, Germany, second son of Johannes Aurandt and Anna Christina Hoff was but six years old when the family, aboard the Edenburg having set sail from Rotterdam, arrived in Philadelphia on October 2, 1753. Henry, along with his parents and three other brothers, ages 8, 2, & 2 years, came to Pennsylvania at the peak of the German migration. The family remained the first winter in Philadelphia and when spring came, Henry’s father bought a horse and wagon to carry the family inland. They stayed on the Indian paths/roads traveled by other German families.

The Annals of Bufffalo Valley, Pennsylvania 1755-1855; collated by John Blair Linn tells us that a certain portion of the lands called The Province of Pennsylvania which ran west from the Susquehanna and north and westward of York County had been purchased from the Council of Six Tribes of Indians for white settlements. However, according to the Indians, the settlers were going beyond these boundaries and in October of 1755 the Indians decided to clear out these settlements. They attacked the settlers with great brutality. This uprising, later referred to the Penn’s Creek Massacre, must have given Henry’s parents some reason to pause. In 1756 (only one year after the massacre) we find a listing of families in Exeter among these were John Aurand, William Boone, Mordecai Lincoln and Jacob Yoder, to mention a few. The family remained there in Exeter for a few years. Henry’s father, although he had studied to be a lawyer in Germany was forced to fall back on his old apprentice days at the Iron Works in Dillenburg. I’ sure young Henry worked with his father keeping the forges hot as his father bent the heavy iron bands that encircled the large wooden wheels on the great wagons carrying families westward.

Henry, now 13, and his family moved to Berks County where Johannes had purchased land along Maiden Creek (The Aurand Panorama 1550-1982). This lanjd was formerly the Willit’s Plantation and is listed in the Deed Book Volume 3A, page 288). It was on this 200 acre plantation that Henry spent most of his growing up years clearing land, planting and harvesting.

But the new frontier to the west was again calling and Johannes seeking to do better sold his land in Berks County and migrated with his family to Northumberland County, and on September 9, 1772 purchased 690 acres along Turtle Creek which empties into the Susquehanna River just below present day Lewisburg. Title to the land also gave Johannes control of the water rights on Turtle Creek. According to tax records for 1775 (Linn’s Annals, p.67) Johannes built a grist mill and a sawmill there.

The following year, 1773, land adjoining the “Concord”, as the Turtle Creek property owned by Aurandt was called, was purchased by Martin Dreisbach. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter, in particular, Margaret Rebecca, age 22. It didn’t take Henry long to make his acquaintance with the new neighbors and in 1774 Henry and Rebecca were married.

As was the custom in those years, fathers gave land to their sons to “set them up”. Look through the Annals, we find the County Assessment (tax records) for the 1775 listing as owning 15 acres of cleared land (only land that was cleared of trees for planting was valuable), one horse and two cows. Henry’s land was located near Bucknell University adjacent to what is now the Bucknell University Stadium.

In all Rebecca and Henry had 11 children. The oldest son being Daniel, our ancestor, who was born in early 1777. By 1777 the war for Independence had reached the Frontier. The Indians were beginning to be a problem again, spurred on by the English soldiers. In December the Indians reappeared up the West Branch and on January 1, one of the inhabitants was killed and scalped. Eleven Indians were seen, two of which were killed. From the 4th of May on there were more and more incidents of Indian scalpings and killings. O July 5th came word of the Massacre at Wyoming two days before. This caused a stampede of settlers of Buffalo Valley, called the Great runaway. Families left everything thewy had to get to safety-those closest to the forts went there, others simply fleeing to “safe houses”. Can you imagine our ancestor, Rebecca, wife of Henry with a 2 year old daughter, Daniel now 1, and being pregnant fleeing for their lives while Henry and other men banning together to protect their families as they fled east. Henry and family apparently returned in 1779 after the second runaway as Henry is listed as inhabitants of Buffalo Township in April of 1780 (page 180- Linn’s Annals).

With the Runaways of 1778 and 1779, it was impossible to maintain an organized militia for almost the entire population was displaced. Then came into being the Ranger Companies made up of volunteers. The Rangers had the status of militia and came to practically replace the earlier calss system of militia. Through the latter part of 1779, 1780, 1781 and 1782, the Ranger Companies took over the defense of the frontier. The older men and young boys were free to work the fields. There are no records to show when Henry and his brother Jacob joined the Rangers, but the fact that they served can be found in Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, Volume IV, p. 597, 672 -698.

After the war in 1784, Penn compensated these men by providing them with interest bearing “Certificates of Funded or Militia Debts”. The men redeemed these bonds at face value. Henry and Jacob’s names are on that list. Pennsylvania Archives 3rd Series, Volume 25, records the following Warrantees of Lands to Veterans of the Revolutionary War to:

Henry Aurand
150 Acres, May 20, 1785
40 acres, May 20, 1785
300 acres, February 8, 1786 130 acres, December 11, 1792 400 acres, July 6, 1793
400 acres, January 14, 1794
A total of 1420 acres

In 1788, Martin Dreisbach, father of Rebecca, donated 7.5 acres of land for the purpose of building a church and having a burying ground. In this year the German Reformed and Lutheran congregations united in building a log church to be bult on this land. Among the names of members of the Reformed portion of the Congregation were Henry Aurand, Johannes Aurand who was one of the trustees, and Martin Dreisbach one of the deacons. The log church has long since gone, and a “new” church stands in its place. Still called the Dreisbach Church, today its congregation is Presbyterian.

For many years Henry ran a store in Mifflinburg. In 1792 he added to his land holdings by purchasing a 600 acre tract further south. 200 acre of that land he later sold to his daughter and son-in-law whose last name was Troxel, an area that now encompasses a city called Toxelville.

Henry died in 1819 in Snyder County, Pennsylvania at the age of 72. Henry the emigrant, had helped to settle this great land, he had fought for its independence, he had shared his wealth with his eleven children, he had been born a German and died an American.