Tenth Generation

696. Peter GRUBER¹²⁵ was born in 1697 in salzburg Dist., Austria.¹²⁶ From the Gastien Valley in Austria He died on 2 Dec 1740 in Ebenezer, Effingham County, Georgia.^127,128 Died of a heart attack while erecting a cottage Peter Gruber left his parent's farm in the Gastein Valley and by a strange act of fate wound up in America. He was apparently one of the persecuted Salzburgers headed for Prussia until his group was persuaded by an English agent in Memmingen to alter their destination for Georgia in the English Colonies. This group was sponsored by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge or SPCK.

The long trek on land began at Memmingen and proceeded to Augsburg, then on through Dinkelsbuhl and Fothenburg ob der Tauber, to Marksteft on the Main. From Marksteft, the trip was down the Main into the Rhine River by Wetheim and Frankfort on the Oder, and eventually to Rotterdam.

At Rotterdam they boarded a two hundred ton ship, the Purysburg under the Captaincy of Tobias Pry, and set sail for Dover, England, a trip requiring three weeks due to adverse weather and other navigational conditions.

At Dover, the Salzburgers swore allegiance to King George and thusly were awarded all the rights of natural born Englishmen as they were bound for an English Colony.

The Salzburgers again boarded the Purysburg and Jan 8, 1734 set sail for the colonies. They reached Georgia on March 12, 1734, after eight weeks at sea. In Georgia they became the wards of Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia.

Peter GRUBER and Maria KROEHER were married on 23 Feb 1736 in Ebenezer, Effingham County, Georgia.¹²⁹

697. Maria KROEHER was born in 1705 in salzburg Dist., Austria.¹³⁰ She died in Ebenezer, Effingham County, Georgia. Children were:

	i.	Peter GRUBER Jr. was born on 17 Sep 1738 in Ebenezer, St. Mathew Parish, Georgia. He died on 23 Sep 1738 in Ebenezer, St. Mathew Parish, Georgia.
348	ii.	John GRUBER OR GROOVER Sr..