Rootless. Or perhaps a better word is “wandering.” Although I was born in Pennsylvania, neither of my parents were and back another generation, few of the grandparents stayed where they were born. Being an American mutt also means not having terribly strong ties to a parent-land. But still, I’m surprisingly attached to Pennsylvania. It’s a fascinating place. One of only two colonies to actively promote religious freedom, it seems an ideal place for spiritual seekers such as yours truly. I’m driven by an obsession to find the truth and this takes me to some pretty strange places. Pennsylvania has an interesting religious heritage. Founded by Quakers who nevertheless wanted diversity (or at least permitted it), my home state attracted a wide range of—particularly German—religiosities. Not only were there Lutherans, there were also Moravians (pietists), Mennonites and mystics.
Rural Germans kept many superstitious practices alive. Many early Americans did, actually. Daniel Leeds was a banished Quaker. Now, without doing a ton of research (for which I don’t have time at the moment) you can’t find out much about Daniel Leeds (i.e. he has no Wikipedia article). He was a rival printer to Benjamin Franklin, and a bit of a freethinker. His family was later literally demonized as being the origin of the Jersey Devil. Leeds was influenced by the mystic Jacob Boehme (who does have a Wikipedia article). Böhme, as his friends knew him, also influenced Johannes Kelpius, and thereby Johann Conrad Beissel, a couple of good Pennsylvania German mystics. Leeds began to have ideas too outré for the Quakers, and, I like to think, inspired future Pennsylvania mystics. Leeds died in 1720 and deserves at least a Wikipedia piece.
Pennsylvania housed some pretty interesting religions over the years. The Germans with their folk beliefs (Benjamin Franklin didn’t care for Germans) would go on to influence a number of American folk traditions. I often wonder whether, if Pennsylvania had not displayed religious tolerance, things would’ve developed radically different in the early United States. It does happen that, although a mutt, much of my heritage is teutonic, and I seem to share the religious curiosity that these folk displayed over time. Upstate New York also had its fair share of new religions as well—beating out their southern neighbor and longest border sharer. Of course, I have ancestry in upstate as well. Perhaps it was inevitable that, being born in Pennsylvania, I would turn out the way I did. Wandering and all.
