Coming To America
William Jasper (named Johann Wilhelm Gasper at the time) came to America in 1767 on the ship Minerva. He and other immigrants hailed from Germany and landed in Philadelphia. He was sixteen at the time but he had decided that whatever the new land held, that he would accept it with open arms.
He arrived in Philadelphia in the fall and was fed some warm soup and then put in a line to take an oath of allegiance and sign his name. When it was his turn though, Jasper didn't know how to read or write so he couldn't even write his name on the list. He had to just put an X down where he should have put his name and next to it the colonist who had signed him in wrote John William Jasper. He then completed a few years of indentured service and moved South to find some land of his own.
Read more about this topic: William Jasper
Famous quotes containing the words coming to, coming and/or america:
“When you’re alone in the middle of the night and you wake in a sweat and a hell of a fright
When you’re alone in the middle of the bed and you wake like someone hit you in the head
You’ve had a cream of a nightmare dream and you’ve got the hoo-ha’s coming to you.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“It almost seems that nobody can hate America as much as native Americans. America needs new immigrants to love and cherish it.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)