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THE
LIFE, AND
•UNPARALLELED SUFFERINGS OF
CONTAINING
An Accnuntof his Travels through France, Italy, the East and West InTlies, and part oi" the United States : his Imprisonment in Fraiice, Germany and Spain ; and the Latitude, Soil, Climate, Productions, Manners and Customs of the different Countries
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
TRENTON: PUBLISHED BY D. FENTON, NEARLY OPPOSITE THE BANK.
L. Dcure, Printer, N. Brunswick. 1811.
JDisirlcc of jYcrj-Jersey, to lirit, Be it remembered, That on the first day of June, in the thirtj'sixtii year of the Independence of the United Sates of America, ANDREW OEHLER, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book the right whereof lie claims as author in the words '.'allowing, to wit, *( The Life, Adventures, and Unparalleled Sufferings of Andrew Oehler: containing an account of his Travels through France, Italy, the Bast and West Indies, and part of the United States : his Imprisonment in France, Ge many, and Spain ; and the Latitude, Soil, Climate, Productions, Manners and Customs of the different Countries. Written by Himself." In conformity to the ^ctof the Congress of the United Slates, entitled "an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned," and also to the act entitled " a n act supplementary to an act entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein menfioneri, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, Engraving, and etching, historical and other prints " HOBEBT BOGGS, Clerk of the District of New^ersey.
PREFACE, HE following narrative is presented to the public more especially to my friends and acquaintance, in order to give them a history of the adventures, peculiar sufferings, and providential circumstances which i have passed through, than from any view to pecuniary advantage ; and especially as it will serve to explain many things which have not had the advantage of a candid investigation, and have often been viewed in uneven scales. My steady and firm determination has been to set every material circumstance in a critical point of view : many things of small consequence have been purposely omitted, as my friends ought not to be embarrassed with reading over that sum of action which is every where common. I have endeavored to write in the most profitable and entertaining style, and have studied brevity and conciseness throughout the whole work. As for the truth of what the candid reader will find here recorded, I ask. no man to believe, and shall entreat no man's charity, well knowing that the candid and learned amongst men will form no conciusion without first laying down a foundation, built on the strong basis of reason and good sense. To characters of this description I can be generous and candid enough to say, that as they read they may receive the pleasure of believing that these relations are real facts, and a colouring as true as possible given to every circumstance : for the information of the curious and inquisitive amongst the rising youth, I have spoken largely on the most material things relating to the different countries : and with respect to the exhibitions herein mentioned of some extraordinary feats performed at the times related, they will find the most
prominent parts explained at the latter end of the narrative- The peculiar sufferings and imprisonments in Europe and the southern parts of America, through prejudice and jealousy, and the different scenes of prosperity and .-Gversity alternately following, explain the mutability and uncertainty of all human things, which may be as clearly seen as face to face in a glass. That a profitable and advantageous improvement may arise to all, the rising generation in particular, who may please to peruse these sheets, is the sincere wish of the publick's humble servant, ANDREW
OEHLER.
MFE OF
ANDREW
OEHLER.
I WAS born in Alstadt, in the district of Franckfort on the Maine, in Germany, (a free and independent city, which abounds in all the luxuries and necessaries of life), on the lGth day of March, A. D. 1781. My father's namewas Ryneheart Oehler; the son of Anthony Oehler, who was a lieut. in the militia under the Prince of Hesse: my father's business was, trading from Franckfort to Holland in wines, brandy, timber, &c. My mother was the daughter of the Episcopal minister of the same district: her name was Catharine Assumus : she was religious and well educated, and used to take great pains in instructing her little family :—this I can wel! remember from the time that I was quite young. My father was caplairr,. before his marriage, in what was called the seven years wars, that engaged Austria, France and Russia-against Frederick the Great! king; of Prussia. He Ivsd five sons.mid live daughters, and as I was his youngest son he took careto keep me under his more immediate inspec A,2.
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tion, and used to take me along with him as a coustun; attendant in all his business to Amsterdam ; from the time I was six until I was ten years of <<ge, he used to make two voyages therein a year: during this short period I had, at intervals, â&#x20AC;˘ been instructed in the common branches of education which were generally taught in the city. But my brother George being of an enterprizing turn, was willing that I should be brought up in a different manner from what I then followed, and wished me to be placed at school and prepared fora better kind of business. There was, I believe, some altercation and debate on the subject, yet the opinion of my Father must be first regarded, and I was placed at the taylor's shop to learn his trade first; and as the chief object of my brother George was that I should be brought up under his superintendance and instructions, he was promised by my father, that when I had served three years at that business, I should spend the rest of my time with him in the mercantile line, until I should be twenty-one years of age ; this my father had determined on, that if ever I should be unfortunate in the world, (and he had not an independent fortune to give me), that I should not be left without any means of subsistence ; and his ideas were very good, as by experience 1 have found that my trade has often been of verv singular use to me in instances, when, without it, I must inevitably have perished. I do not expect that he had any prognostications of my travels, but this he