Wilhelm, Jr. had planned from boyhood to emigrate to the New World as soon as it was possible. He had already begun to save when he learned that the parents of the girl he planned to marry, Anna Susanna Schaeffer, born about 1717, were about to emigrate themselves. Although Wilhelm had not planned to marry so soon, Anna Susanna would have been obliged to go with her parents and, although she wished to emigrate, she did not want to leave Wilhelm. To prevent this from happening, they moved up the date of their marriage and were married in 1732, the year Anna's parents emigrated to the New World. Wilhelm was 19 and Anna was about 15.

Born to them in 1733 was a son, also named Wilhelm (III). In 1735 their daughter, Susanna, was born.

Wilhelm Jr is said to have given Anna's father the money he had saved, asking him to buy extra land for them when Mr. Schaeffer found where he wished to settle, plus the necessities to see them through the first year until they could clear land and raise a crop. Mr. Schaeffer eventually arrived in America and purchased land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

By 1738, Wilhelm Bast, then 26, and his wife Anna Susanna had finally saved enough to emigrate to America. They came on the ship Winter Galley with their two children. A third child, Anna Elizabeth, was born during the voyage. The Commander of the ship was Edward Paynter, the voyage began in Rotterdam, with a stop at the English port of Deal, before eventually debarking in Philadelphia on September 5, 1738. . Reportedly the fare was 5# sterling and the trip took over six weeks. Although the passengers were allowed to take few possessions, they had to take their own food. During this voyage, Wilhelm became known as William Best.

Although there is no record of where Wilhelm and his family lived during the first few years, it is probable that they lived in Bucks County, where the Schaeffer's had bought land. Eventually he secured 157 acres of land near Walnutport, in Northampton County on the east bank of the Lehigh River, in 1748. William paid 24# sterling, 6 shillings, and 8 pence, plus a yearly quit-rent of ½ penny sterling per acre.

At this time there were less than 100 people living in Lehigh Township. The land was unbroken wilderness with many wild animals with which to contend. The land had to be cleared before it could be planted. Because immigrants could not bring many tools, they had to use those they could make, ax, saw, hoe, grubbing mattock. William and his wife both had to work very hard. It took some time to clear the land, fell trees, and prepare logs for building, then construct a log house and crude furniture. In the meantime they had to make brush fires upon which to prepare food, and keep them going all night to keep wolves away, until their shelter was ready. Packs of wolves could be heard howling at night and when the log house was built, they sometimes crawled on the roof. Later William turned his attention to building a shelter for the cows and sheep.

Game was plentiful in the forest but until they had rifles, the game had to be trapped and the trapped animals provided meat and furs. It is said that William taught his son, William III, to shoot a squirrel in the head using only one shot, so as not to waste ammunition.

This son was only five years old when the family settled on the frontier but he had to work, also. With both parents busy at the farm work, the child had to watch the cows, keeping them away from the planted area, and grazing from the brush around the edge of the cleared area. The cows were belled to keep wolves and other wild animals from attacking and also to aid in finding them to be milked and stabled at night. In addition to watching the cows, young William gathered sticks to replenish the fire.

William's land was near an old Indian trail from the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, not far from the Lehigh Gap. It was part of the "Walking Purchase" made in 1737, the year before William's arrival in America. The Unami Delawares were said to have sold a hunting tract to William Penn, to be measured by the distance a man walks in a day and a half. By Indian custom, a day's walk meant a walk as Indians traveled, with time to hunt, prepare meals, make a campsite and rest. It would cover about 20 miles. A walk of a day and a half would extend 30 miles. The white man had a different idea. They advertised for fast walkers and promised a prize of 25 pounds and 50 acres to the winner. Riders were hired to carry provisions, including rum, sugar, and lime juice to fortify the 'walkers.' They arranged not a walk but a race. It took place on September 19, 1737 and by noon of the second day, the walk ended at a point not of the 30 miles meant by the Indians but of 60 miles.

The Walking Purchase further embittered the feelings of the Delaware toward the settlers. The French were able to take advantage of the Indians' discontent, eventually bringing on the French and Indian Wars of 1753-1763. The Indian war parties began to harass the frontier, striking isolated farms, murdering the inhabitants, taking captives, killing livestock, burning crops and buildings. By the end of October of 1755, the whole frontier, including our William, was in flight.

There is a family tradition that the Best family was warned when the Indian raids were imminent, by an Indian whom they had befriended earlier. Supposedly, little William was lost in the woods, found by an Indian boy and led home. The grateful Best family showered the Indian with gifts, became friends and often visited. It is this Indian who is said to have come and warned them of danger prior to raids in their area. This warning gave them time to load their most prized and necessary possessions on a wagon and flee towards Easton, driving their livestock before them. Some descendants claim to have pewterware and a prized Frankfort chest brought from Germany by William and carried to safety during the Indian raids. After all their hard work, the Best family was once again reduced to poverty.

Both William Jr and his son William III were soldiers in the French and Indian War. After the families had fled, the men returned to try and prevent further damage by the Indians. Much of their work consisted of keeping a close watch on Indian trails and reporting to one of the forts any signs of Indian approach. During the cold winter they suffered greatly from exposure and hunger. Because buildings along the trail had been burned, they had no shelter and it was risky to build even small fires to cook food or warm themselves as it could reveal their locations to the Indians. Some of the men had no weapons and ammunition was scarce. It is said that William Jr.'s health was seriously undermined by the hardships suffered during this period.

After several peace treaties were made, petitions were written to the Governor and General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, asking for help in protecting themselves and several block houses were built and troops sent to garrison them until the cessation of hostilities in 1758. William's mark can be seen on several of these petitions.

William Best Jr. died at age 49, on November 24, 1762, in Lehigh Township, and is reportedly buried in the St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery in Indianland, Lehigh Township, in Northampton County, PA. He and Anna Susanna had 10 children as far as is known. They followed the German custom of double naming the children, with John being a favorite for the sons, Maria and Anna for the daughters. Reportedly our Best families used John as the first name of all the sons for several generations although they were generally referred to by the second name. His health undermined by hardships during the French and Indian Wars, William Jr died of complications following a severe cold. He left a wife and children, with the youngest, John Michael, only a year old. His tombstone inscription in German is translated as: "Here rests Wilhelm Best. He was on this world born in 1713 and died the 24th of November 1762." The funeral text was, "I have the good fight fought." (2 Timothy 4:7&8).

William Jr. died intestate, without leaving a will. In 1769 his estate was appraised and it was decided the land could not be justly divided among the children 'without prejudice' and without spoiling the whole, and so William III was permitted to buy the land and pay his brothers and sisters their share within a year. William Jr's widow, Anna Susanna, later supposedly married a man named Peter Lobaugh and moved to the mid-west. Because Mr. Lobaugh was "a stern stepfather," William III had guardians appointed for the minor children of his father in 1769. Anna Susanna's date and place of death are not yet known at this time.

Later, leaving the homestead to his brother, Henry, William III moved to western Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County, where he cleared and cultivated a large farm and had a grist and saw-mill on the north branch of the Sewickley River. He was Captain and Court Marshall of a Westmoreland County military company to defend the frontier settlements against raids of the British and Indians during the Revolution. He was a member of the Harrold Lutheran community, and later a deacon and elder of the Lutheran Church in Greensburg. He lived in Greensburg, Westmoreland County until he was quite old and then, about 1821, he went to Clarion County where most of his children had already settled. The Clarion County Bests were the nucleus of St. Paul's Lutheran Church near Knox, Beaver Township, which was at one time called "Best's Church."

"From the Indiana Co., Historical Society:

The Wilhelm and Anna Schaeffer Best family was temporarily in Switzerland, having fled from the armies of Louis XIVth, who were invading their homeland in the German Palatinate. The family returned to the Palatinate, the country along the Rhine river, after the death of King Louis XIVth, when Wilhelm was very young. He is said to have six brothers, and all boys were well over six feet tall."