Late in the afternoon on October 5, 1737, the passenger ship Townshend sailed into Philadelphia Harbor, finally docking after a 2-month voyage. Two hundred immigrants, squeezed into its hold, had suffered through a long and hard voyage from Amsterdam Netherlands, through Cowes England, finally arriving in America, the land of their dreams.

On the ship were Johannes Kistler, his wife Anna Barbara and their infant son Abraham. They were of Swiss stock but had left their homeland to try and find their fortune in the new world. Being poor, they managed to secure their passage to America by becoming indentured servants. For 5 years they labored in the employ of a Philadelphia banker named Andrew Schumacher. Johannes was the handyman, mending everything that needed fixing while Anna Barbara kept the house for the Philadelphia banker.

Finally, in 1743, their obligation repaid and their term of servitude up, the family left Philadelphia. By this time, they had added a daughter to their family, Susanna Marie. She was three when the family left Philadelphia, headed north for Berks County. Johannes had secured a warrant of land in Albany Township. It was fifty acres of prime farmland, situated against a small creek called Stony Run, which flowed through a sparsely populated valley at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

They arrived in the valley with little more than the clothes on their back. They had a horse, pulling a small wagon, which contained everything they owned. Behind the wagon was tethered a milk cow. The land was beautiful, green and lush but Johannes knew that dangers abounded almost behind every tree.

The family had no shelter and this was the edge of Indian Country. Neighbors are few and far between while the closest church was miles away in the tiny hamlet of Albany. Johannes wasted no time. Deciding where he wanted his home, he leaned his rifle up against a tree and pulled his axe out of his wagon. By the end of the first day he had felled enough trees to start his cabin. Within the week he had the walls up and a lean-to roof to keep the family secure.

Johannes then looked to the future. He and Barbara have a small amount of money saved from their servitude and decided they need to spend it on a few things. Johannes figures he needs a plow in order to get the land prepared to plant his corn and wheat. To feed and clothe the family, Anna Barbara needs a butter churner and a spinning wheel. At seven years, young Abraham has his heart set on a wooden whistle while little Susanna wants a cloth doll to play with!

You are the proprietor of the Objects R Us mercantile in Albany Township, Berks County Pennsylvania. Besides the above mentioned objects, what do you have in your store to help the Kistlers get started in their new home?

Barb	Birgit	Cait
Daisy	Gary	Karen