Thones Dennis Kunders (c. 1654 – September 1729,

Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Germantown () is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest fr ...

) was an early settler of colonial

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Biography

Kunders was born in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, and was a citizen of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

. A dyer by trade, he was the head of one of the first 13 German families who sailed aboard the ship ''Concord'' to arrive in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, on 6 October 1683, beginning the German immigration to America. Kunders later called himself Anthony Conrads and still later Cunard, and was also called Dennis Conrad. At Kunders's house in Germantown were held the first German religious services in America, attended by both Mennonites and Quakers, including Pennsylvania proprietor

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

. On February 18, 1688, the first protest against slavery in the New World was drafted in Kunders's house. The protest, written by

Francis Daniel Pastorius Francis Daniel Pastorius (September 26, 1651) was a German-born educator, lawyer, poet, and public official. He was the founder of Germantown, Philadelphia, Germantown, Pennsylvania, now part of Philadelphia, the first permanent German-American ...

and signed also by Garrett Henrich, Abraham Up den Graef, and Derick Up de graeff, opposed the importation, sale, and ownership of slaves. When Germantown was granted a charter by Penn in 1689, Kunders was appointed one of the first burgesses. Today, a historical marker stands at the site of his Germantown house.

References

Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
at USHistory.org *''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'', Historical Society of Pennsylvania, v. 4, 1880 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunders, Thomas People from Philadelphia Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to the Thirteen Colonies Year of birth uncertain 1729 deaths