Individual Details

Birth

Peter Neukommet is the spelling of the Newcomer name on a marriage record in Switzerland in 1704, but Neukommer may have been the correct spelling. "Neu" and "komm" translate as "new" and "come", but "et" makes it a command--"come here". Use of "er" is common to signify a person of or from a given location, but there is no known place named "Neukomm." Nonetheless, Neukommer seems more likely as a surname than Neukommet.
Maybe the confusion springs from the difficulty of reading German script of 1700. At any rate, it is a guess that this is the Peter Newcomer who immigrated to America. The Peter on the marriage record married Katharina Blaser on 27 April 1704 in Langnau Im Emmantel, Berne, Switzerland.
The tombstone of a grandson (Henry Newcomer) of Peter Newcomer is inscribed Heinrich Neukommets.
Peter immigrated to Leacock Township, Pennsylvania from (Langnau?) Switzerland in 1717. His wife, four children--Hans, Wolfgang, Maria?, and Peter, Jr.--arrived with him in Philadelphia on 24 August 1717. (Another source believes that Hans preceded the family in 1711.)
According to George P. Rowland, Jr., the dates 1711 and 1717 are tied together, if confused by many genealogists. In 1711 a group of Mennonites came to Pennsylvania lead by Mr. Mylin and Mr. Kendig. They chose the Lancaster area to buy land; land bought on installments paid over six years. It was in 1717, then, that each member of the group received his deed to the land.
Other spellings of names that may have become Newcomer are:
* New Kamats.
* Nieuwommet--used at the University of Amsterdam in referring to Swiss Taufers.
* Neuwkomet--showing the Dutch influence.
* Niewcomer, Newkomer, Newcummer, Newcumber, Newcome and Newcomer all appear in the Pennsylvania census or on Strassburger shipping lines list of passengers.
In German,
* Neu translates as new.
* Komm translates as come.
* Komet translates as comet or meteor.
* Kommet translates as come here.
* Kometen translates as rapid.
* Neukommer translates as Newcomer.

BIOGRAPHY: In all of the spellings, the individuals were German Anabaptists from Landvogtei of Erguel, a part of Bishopric of Basel, Canton Berne, Switzerland. They left Switzerland because of religious persecution. Referred to as Dunkards and Mennonites. Mennonites originated in the Netherlands, and were part of the Anabaptist movement. In Switzerland, the Anabaptists were mostly Swiss Brethren and some Mennonites. Between 1625 and 1660, 1,170 Mennonites were executed in France. In Zurich, Switzerland, the Reformed Church was
founded by Zwingli (Calvin founded the Reformed Church in Geneva). Zwingli's Taufer Jaegers persecuted Mennonites. The Taufer Jaegers were a special police force, and their name means those who hunted Anabaptists. When Anabaptists were caught, they were tortured to death. The methods were quite horrendous. The German Baptist Brethren originated in Crefeld, Palatinate, Germany in 1709. Along with English Quakers,
Mennonites and Brethren believed in (1) separation of church and state, (2) adult baptism, (3) opposition to military service, and (4) refusal to swear any kind of oath. Due to persecution by Reformed churches, Mennonites established two customs that lasted even after the need ceased. Holding of religious services in private homes began as a way to avoid detection by the authorities. Burial in family plots began because Mennonites were forbidden burial in recognized church cemeteries.

BIOGRAPHY: Christian Nieuwkommet, 38, and his wife and 6 children, with 7th expected, were recorded in January 1672 at Greisheim, northwest of Strasbough, France. Hans Nieuwkommet and his family lived in the Black Forest of Germany for a short while before moving on to France.
A Babe Newcomer was among the Bern, Switzerland Anabaptists that fled to the Palatinate in 1671.