FIRST-GENERATION. Peter Gruber was born ca 1700 in Taxenbach, Berchtesgaden, which was in vicinity of Salzburg, Austria. He was the first of the family to come to the colony of Georgia at the behest of General James Edward Oglethorpe after Catholic Anton Leopold of Austria ordered all protestants out of Austria in 1722. They were given two weeks to pack their things and depart. A group of several hundred people traveled first to Holland searching for homes, then about 100 ended up in England still unsettled. When General Oglethorpe of Georgia heard of them, he invited them to settle in Georgia. By then, the bedraggled group had dwindled in numbers.
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 The New Jerusalem Church was successfully constructed by the Germans who were known to be industrious and hard-working people.
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