Leisey Family Website

Family and genealogical information concerning the descendants of Joseph Leisey, who came to the U.S. from Germany circa 1770.

Category: Notes

  • Indentured Servitude

    by Donald E. Leisey, Ed.D In 1768, Joseph Leisey age 14 and his sister, Catherine, 10 years of age left Basel, Switzerland and traveled by boat on the Rhine River to Rotterdam for passage to the Colonies. Wikipedia defines an indentured servant as an unfree laborer under contract to work for a specified amount of Continue reading

    ,

  • Joseph Leisey’s Birthplace

    I had asked the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society to search for Joseph and Catherine’s arrival at the port of Philadelphia in 1770. I could never find the ship upon which they had arrived. Neither could they. They searched their records, Internet records and records at the Philadelphia archives without results. They did find an arrival Continue reading

    ,

  • Joseph Leisey’s trip down the Rhine River on his way to the Colonies

    Last October I took a cruise down the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Antwerp, Belgium. The major purpose of the trip was to trace the journey Joseph Leisey took at age 14 in 1768, as an indentured servant on his way to boarding a ship from Rotterdam to Philadelphia in the Colony of Pennsylvania. Continue reading

    , ,