29Henry and his brother John, on arriving in the US around 1800, were for a time sold into servitude to pay for their passage from Germany. The rbothers were later instrumental in bringing their parents to the US.
After his servitude, Henry learned he weavers trade and later worked as a pack peddler before opening a small store in Freysbusg and then in Newville. Later, about 1817, along with his father-in-law, he purchased a site and water privilege on Canajoharie creek. Later the two men constructed a strong stone dam across the scream, and then erecte a stone grist mill, along with a cooper shop for manmking flour barrels, and a sawmill, distillery fulling mill and carding machine. In the early 1820’s (1822 or 1823) he built several canal boats for use on the Erie Canal. One of them, the “Prine Orange”, was the first of a class callled “lake boats”.
30The 1830 US Census for Montgomery County, NY, showed 10 males and five females living in the household.