Ye Olde History Snippets… On this day, 22 September 1734, a group of 171 religious refugees landed in Philadelphia to enjoy the colony’s well-known religious toleration.
Known as the Schwenkfelders, they were “remarkable for their gratitude. Two days after they disembarked, they held a thanksgiving for their safe arrival to their new homeland. They have repeated this each year on or around 24 September.
Five congregations of Schwenkfelders remained in Pennsylvania at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Apart from his effect on his own followers, Schwenkfeld’s strongest influence was on the Society of Friends (Quakers) that appeared in England in the seventeenth century”.
The above information is courtesy of Mr. Dan Graves, Christian History Institute