USA > Maryland > First settlements of Germans in Maryland > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Mr. Muhlenberg arrived at Monocacy, June 24th, 1747, just seven weeks after the first visit of Mr. Schlatter. Two men from Maryland met him at Conowago on the previous day to take him to a place thirty-six miles distant. They started in a drenching rain, and, finding no house at which to stay, "they were com- pelled to ride all night through the wilderness with the rain pour- ing down and the poor horses up to their knees in water and mire." By morning, June 24th, they reached their quarters. "This was the place called Monocacy, ten miles east of Fredericktown, Maryland. Here they found a log church."
The members of the congregation assembled, but «before sermon Mr. Muhlenberg wrote in the English language in the book of church records a number of articles concerning the order to be observed in the congregation." This book is now in the archives of the Lutheran Church of Frederick. On the back is stamped "Gemiende Manacakee" ( Congregation of the Monocacy. It should be greatly prized by the members of that congregation from the fact that it contains the rules for the government of their church in the handwriting of the great and good man who labored so faithfully for the establishment of Lutheranism in this
12
country. From the fact that so few of the names attached to the articles in this church book are now to be found in the county, it is supposed the most of them or their immediate descendants drifted into other parts of the country.
"Mr. Muhlenberg did not find the German Lutherans at Monoc- acy in as good condition as Mr. Schlatter found the Reformers. The Moravians, with their missionaries, George Ninke and his wife, had been among them and made great inroads into the church, causing much bitterness and strife among the members, which he only partially succeeded in removing."
"Proceeding further, on June 25th, Mr. Muhlenberg and his companions came, after a ten-mile ride, to Fredericktown. A number of Lutherans living there, members of the Monocacy congregation, had been prevented from meeting the others on the previous day by reason of the rain." The most of these attached their signatures to the articles in the church book. After admin- istering the Lord's Supper and baptizing some children Mr. Muhlenberg returned the same evening to his quarters at Monoc- acy, and on the following day proceeded to Conawago, York, Lancaster and to his home, at Philadelphia.
Among the early membership of this congregation are found the names of John George Lay, John Krietzman, John M. Roemer, Peter Axtel, Henry Sechs, Jacob Hoft, Martin Wetzel, George Schweinhardt, John Schmidt, John Verdries, Michael Reisner, Dr. Schney, John Stolmyer, John Sechs, Valentine Verdries, John George Seldner, John Christoph Schmidt, John Vogler, John Davis, Frederick Overdries, Martin Wehel, Jr., Nicholas Wehel, Frederick Willhaut, George Honig, George Rolz, George M. Hoff- man, Peter Apfal, Ludwig Weltner, Frederick Unsalt, Jacob Hoen, Hans Frederick Geyer. These names are attached to the rules in the church book referred to.
At later periods came the Applebees, Boyers, Hardts, Fishers, Debruers, Hallers, Homes, Conradts, Ebberts, Jenkins, How- mans, Levys, Englebrechts, Mayheffers, Mayers, Myers, Metards, Nixdoffs, Weltzhimers, Bechtels, Cullers, Anglemans, Metzgers Hoffmans, Dills, Fearhakes, Reichs, etc.
Monocacy was not only the earliest permanent settlement of Germans in Maryland, but if the statement of Rev. Dr. Zacha- rias, in his centenary sermon Whit-Sunday, 1848-that Germans settled between the Monocacy river and the mountains in 1710- 1712, be correct, Monocacy was the first settlement of white
13
people within the limits of Western Maryland. It was certainly the most important settlement of Germans in the State until the erection of Frederick county, in 1748, when Fredericktown, having been made the county seat, rose into prominence and the headquarters of both churches were transferred to the more popu lous centre; and as Joppa, one of the early county seats of Balti- more county, was absorbed by Baltimoretown, so Fredericktown absorbed the more ancient Monocacy.
'The exact location of the old log church to which Mr. Muhlen- berg refers is not known. The only data that has come down to us is, that it was erected on the west side of the Monocacy river, near where the Virginia road crossed the river and about ten miles above where Fredericktown was afterwards laid out, and about three and a-half miles southeast of the subsequent settle- ment at Graceham. This would locate it a little south of the present Cregerstown.
This building is said to have stood until the commencement of the present century, but not a vestige of it remains to mark the spot where the first German congregations in Maryland were organized and where they worshipped for a period of fifteen to twenty years.
After the absorption of Monocacy the section of the county known as the Glades became populous, and a log church was built in 1750 upon land ceded by Lord Baltimore. After the Revolution and the confiscation of the property of Mr. Dulaney, who had become possessed of a large portion of the reserved lands of Lord Baltimore, the General Assembly of Maryland passed an act confirming the title for a five-acre lot to the German Church on "Monocacy Manor." For a period of over eighty years the congregation at the "Glades" was under the pastoral charge of the ministers of the Reformed Church at Frederick, but in 1833 it was detached therefrom and was united with the congregations at Woodsboro, Rocky Hill an Cregerstown .-
Between 1748 and 1754, 2,800 Palatinates came into Mary- land by way of Baltimore and Annapolis ; some of whom located in Baltimore and Baltimore county, but the larger part settled in and about Fredericktown. Unfortunately the shipping lists of immigrants to Maryland have not been preserved, but it is known that among the immigrants who arrived during the periods
14
·
1
named were Christopher B. Mayer and his son-in-law, Rev. Ber- nard Houseal, who, in 1753, became the first regular pastor of the Lutheran Church at Frederick.
Mr. Mayer brought a letter from Cecilius Calvert, Secretary and acting Proprietary of Maryland, to Benjamin Tasker, of Annapolis, president of the Council and one of the original large land owners in Frederick county, requesting him to give the necessary assistance to Mr. Mayer and those accompanying him to forward them to Manockesy, their destination. Mr. Mayer was cousin to Christian Mayer, who settled in Baltimore in 1781; 4 descendants of both of whom have been among the most promi- nent and distinguished citizens of Maryland, among them the late Brantz Mayer and Mr. Charles F. Mayer, president of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad; the last named is a descendant of both, his father having been a son of Christian Mayer and his mother a descendant of Christopher.
SETTLEMENTS AT CONOGOCHEAGUE AND HAGERSTOWN.
The settlement known as Conogochegue was near the present town of Clearspring and seven or eight miles southwest of Hagerstown. The first settlers, who were mostly Germans and members of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches, it is thought, . came soon after 1735.
At the time of Mr. Schlatter's visit, in 1 748, and until after the French and Indian war, Conogocheague was the westernmost settlement in Maryland. As has been stated, the settlers built a stockade fort near the settlement. They also built another on the Potomac river, in which their families sought refuge when the Indians became hostile.
The site of the log church at Conogocheague, in which Mr. Schlatter preached in 1748, is now occupied by a stone church, built in 1795, known as St. Paul's, distant about one and a-half miles from Clearspring. It is now and always has been a "Union Church," both Lutherans and Reformers worshipping therein. The first regular German Reformed pastor was Theodore Frank- enfield, who served this as well as the congregation at Frederick- town from 1753 to 1755. It was, perhaps, during the pastorate of this gentleman that Monocacy lost its prestige, as after 1755 I was unable to find any allusion whatever to the place, settlement or church called by that name.
Jonathan Hager, a native of Germany, emigrated to America some time prior to 1739, for on December 16th, of that year, he
15
obtained a patent for 200 acres of land in Washington, then Prince George, and subsequently Frederick county. At later periods he took out other patents, aggregating in all 2,500 acres. In 1762 he laid out a town which he named "Elizabeth," in honor of his wife, but it was subsequently changed to Hagers- town. It soon became flourishing, and by 1775 it contained over 100 houses, which, by 1807, was increased to 300, besides a court - house, jail, schoolhouse and four churches.
Mr. Hager was accidentally killed November 6th, 1775, by a large piece of timber rolling upon and crushing him while superintending the erection of the German Reformed Church at Hagerstown, of which he was an active and zealous member.
Among the early German settlers at Conogocheague and Hagerstown were the Prathers, Poes, Burkhardts, Startzmans, Snevelys, Stulls, Wolgamotts, Hausers, Elwicks, Kendricks, Shryocks, etc.
SETTLEMENT AT GRACEHAM.
Between 1745 and 1749 a number of German families belong- ing to the sect of Moravians settled at what is now the village of Graceham, on the Western Maryland Railroad, Frederick county, twelve miles northwest of Frederick city. A number of these had removed from Monocacy, others from the Pennsylvania settlements.
Among the first settlers were the missionaries, George Ninke and Lorenz Nyberg, who, as we have seen, had been among the Lutherans at Monocacy, and various parts of Pennsylvania, creating dissensions among them. In 1768 they built a log church on a ten-acre lot donated to them by James Carroll, a large land owner in that vicinity. The church soon gave way to a more substantial structure, which stood until 1822, when a third church was built, which is still standing. Graceham is the seat of the first Moravian church in Maryland, and for a long time was a noted centre of religious worship.
Its earliest settlers were Germans, or descendants of Germans, who drifted into Maryland from the Pennsylvania settlements. Among them were the Harbaughs, Boilers, Hens, Ebenhards,, Kreigers, Reinekes, Lydricks, Seiss, Schmidts, Utleys, Williards, . Zahns, Herzers, Rosens, Renzands, Schaafs and Richters.
SETTLEMENT AT FLEECY DALE.
In 1784 John Frederick Amelung came from Bremen with a colony of 300 to 400 persons, among whom were bakers, black-
16
7 1
smiths, doctors, shoemakers, tailors, etc., and settled on Bennett's Creek, near the Monocacy, in what is now the Urbana district of Frederick county. Here they erected a factory for the making of glass, and it is said to have been the first works established in America for the manufacture of hollow glassware.
President Washington, in a letter to Jefferson referring to these works, says : «A factory of glass is established upon a large scale on Monocacy river, near Frederick, in Maryland. I am informed it will produce this year glass of various kinds to the amount of ten thousand pounds."
Amelung manufactured and presented in person to Washington "two capacious goblets made of flint glass, exhibiting the gen- eral's coat of arms." 'The story goes, that Amelung, armed with these goblets and dressed in full court costume, proceeded to Mount Vernon. Crossing the lawn, he accosted a man in his shirt sleeves mounted on a ladder fixing the grape vines, and was greatly astonished to find that the person addressed was the great Washington himself.
A large number of pieces of the glassware made by Amelung are still in the possession of the Masonic Lodge at Alexandria, of which Washington was a member and its first master. The old Holland Masonic Lodge, of New York, also possesses a number of decanters, punch and wine glasses made by this factory, pre- sented to it by John Pintard, of Baltimore; and a gentleman of Baltimore county, who married a granddaughter of Amelung, has quite a collection of the glass made by Amelung, consisting of mirrors, goblets, wine glasses, etc., the quality and workmanship of which cannot be surpassed at this day.
These works were brought to Baltimore in 1789 and occupied the site of the present glass works of Charles J. Baker & Sons, on the south side of the basin, under the north side of Federal Hill.
The Amelung colonists established a Masonic Lodge, of which Abram Few, who was one of the Maryland delegates to the con- vention that framed the Constitution of the United States, was master. Members of this lodge, in 1799, assisted in the organi- zatio .. of the first Masonic Lodge, Hiram, No. 27, held at Fred- ericktown.
Before the close of the war of the Revolution there were also large settlements of Germans at Middletown, Creagerstown,
17
Sharpsburg, Tanneytown, Tom's Creek, Point Creek, Hauvers, Owens Creek, Mechanicstown, Union Bridge, Emmettsburg and Woodsbourgh, all then in Frederick county.
Many of the descendants of the early German settlers of Mary- land were our Western pioneers, and their lamilies are now found in every Western State up to the Pacific coast. Tiffin and Day- ton, Ohio, were long the favorite points for emigration by the Germans and their descendants of Frederick county. Many of them extended their pilgrimage to Indiana and Illinois, and until as late as the commencement of the second third of the present century this was termed "Going to the far West." Frequently several families would start in company, carrying their entire effects in large covered wagons. A journey to Indiana required a full month, and was regarded by them and their friends almost as great an undertaking as did the first settlers look upon their voyage across the ocean. But the hardships and deprivations of the later emigrant were mild in comparison with those of the earlier, who not unfrequently were confined in a crowded ship for Sixty to ninety days. Indeed instances are on record where vessels crowded with immigrants were one hundred and twenty days in crossing the ocean.
CUSTOMS, HABITS, ETC., OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
The first settlers usually came in colonies of eight or ten fami- lies, and always located near some spring or running stream of water, of which there was an abundant supply throughout Penn- sylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
They sometimes had a covered wagon, in which their women and children slept, and which was made use of also to convey their effects, among which was the huge iron-bound chest, with which every family was supplied.
In the absence of the wagons, the spreading branches of large trees was the only protection from the weather until they could erect cabins. These were built of rough logs, the interstices between them were closed with mud or clay mixed with straw, the bark of trees formed the roof, and flagstones, when obtain- able, were used for flooring.
But as sawmills began to be established trunks of trees were sawed into boards and scantling, and the second house, usually two stories high, but still of logs, was erected. As prosperity blessed the labor of the husbandmen many of these before the
18
end of the century were superseded by larger and still more com- fortable dwellings and barns of stone, and sometimes of brick imported from England.
Many of the second houses inay still be seen through the coun- try, but, having been lathed and plastered inside and weather- boarded outside, they present quite a modern appearance. A first house may also occasionally be found, perhaps, now used as a blacksmith shop, or for the more ignoble purpose-a hennery.
Owing to the cost of ocean transportation but few wagons were brought by the first settlers, and it is said that wagons made entirely of wood were sometimes used by them. The wheels were sawed from trunks of the gum or buttonwood tree. Ploughs were also used, made of wood, but ere long all this was changed-the rich ore mines were opened, iron was made, the forge set up and all kinds of useful implements were manufactured.
For a period of nearly fifty years after the first settlements in Pennsylvania were made, transportation of goods was entirely made by means of pack horses. Large sacks or wallets and baskets were constructed and thrown over the backs of horses as panniers, into which the article to be transported were placed. A horseman would sometimes be almost invisible by reason of the mountains of pork, flax, butter, poultry and even live calves and sheep con- tained therein, on their way to Philadelphia and Baltimore, there to be exchanged for merchandise, which in the same manner would be transported to the interior.
By the year 1739 the Indian trails began to be converted into wide country roads, and "wagoning" between the interior and the seaports became quite a business, and long before the close of the century the "Conestogo" wagon was quite an institution and continued to be for many years. Many living remember these wagons, with their brightly painted red wheels and sky-blue bod- ies, drawn by four, six and sometimes eight horses, furnished with bells fitted into an iron arch over the collars of the horses. The wheel horses carried the bass bells and the others had bells pro . ducing different notes, and so arranged as to produce harmony.
The opening of the wagon business necessitated the erection of a great number of inns or taverns along the roads and also in the towns, where the drivers, as well as the horses, took their needed rest and refreshment. Many of these tavern stands are still to be seen along our roads, as well as in our cities. The owners of pack
19
horses bitterly opposed the use of wagons as an invasion up on their rights and prerogatives, as did the wagoners themselves some years later bitterly oppose the introduction of the railroads.
Thus step by step has the march of improvement gone onward and still continues to go on. First the pack horse, trudging over a narrow defile through the almost impenetrable wilderness, then the wagon, carrying, it was thoughit, a great load, and making four to six miles an hour; now the steam locomotive, drawing more than one hundred horses can carry and at the rate of thirty to forty miles an hour.
A long day's lourney of our forefathers can now be accom- plished in an hour. The Rifle Company, formed in Frederick- town by its patriotic citizens, upon hearing of the Battle of Bunker Hill, under the leadership of Captain Cressap, and his gallant lieutenant, afterwards the distinguished Colonel Otho Holland Williams, was nearly three weeks in marching to the Camp of Washington before Boston. Now it is possible for a resident of your city to breakfast quietly at his home, luncheon in Philadelphia, dine in New York and sup and sleep in Boston on the same day.
These are but a few of the great changes and improvements which have taken place in the county, as well as in the country generally, since just one hundred and sixty years ago Thomas Schley came with his one hundred Palatanate families and settled in the beautiful valley of the Catoctin.
20
N EMMITTSBURG
E. PIKE.
OWENS
APPLES CHURCH
CREEK
DIST.
ROCKY RIDGE
R
W.
R
j
GRACHAM ·
SEMMITTSBURG 3 MILES TO GRACHAN
MONOCOCY
P. R. R.
CREER
CREAGERSTON
WOODS BORO
LITTLE HUNTING CREEK
POES OLD FORD
.
OLO TAVERN
GRAVES
E
.
GRAVES
MTS
ROAD
R.
LEWISBURG D
ON
INDIAN TRAIL
EMMITTS BURG
VINNING CREEK GAP
CATOCHIN
P.R.R.
MONOCOCY
FREDERICK.
II MILES To FREDERICK
RIVER
GLADE CHUF. CN
10 R.
P
WALKERSVILLE
MONOCOCY
GRAVE YARD
OLD CHURCH
M.
ROAD
3 MILES
+H
ROAD
RIVER
THURMONT 0
M.
HUNTING
PIKE
Diagram showing the location of "Monocacy" and sites of the old log church, 'n, grave yards, etc. old houses.
SUPPLEMENTARY.
THE VILLAGE MONOCACY.
Since the completion of the foregoing pages I have been con- tinuing my investigation with a view to more definitely locate the ancient Monocacy, without doubt the first, and for some years the most important settlement of white people, (with the exception perhaps of Montgomery county,) in any part of Western Mary- land. The result of this investigation has almost certainly con- firmed the opinion I expressed that Monocacy was located near the present village of Creagerstown.
Rev. George A. Whitmore, of Thurmont, Frederick county, who has charge of the Reformed Church at that place and Crea- gerstown, has taken great interest in my investigations and most kindly aided me therein, writes me as follows: "I have also been diligent in my enquiries concerning the location of the 'Old Log Church,' and for reasons which may interest you also in the future. The informaton which I have been able to gather from the oldest and most reliable citizens here, one of whom is now 90 years old, and a man remarkably preserved in mind, Mr. W. L. Grimes, Sr., also Mrs. Michael Zimmerman and Miss Melisia Myers-both of them bordering on 80 years, and others - it seems that the present Creagerstown is the site where the old church stood. These good people, who are all connected with the oldest and most reliable families, remember quite well tre old weather- boarded log meeting house which preceded the present brick church in 1834. Mr. Grimes helped to tear down the old building and purchased some of the logs and boarding, which he used in the construction of some houses in the village, and they are there to. day. From what I can lkarn from them, the church was orign- ally built simply of logs, and that the weather-boarding was sup- plied many years afterwards. The new brick church was erected a few rods north of the old site on a new lot containing one and a-half acres, which, together with the old location, is covered with graves. The first graveyard lay immediately in the rear of the old church, and contains also an acre and a-half, but not a tombstone can be found, only the indenture of graves covered with a mat of broom sage, under which no doubt much history is hidden.
21
"Some of the graves that are marked bear dates as follows :- Michael Zimmerman, born 1775, died 1846. George Becken- baugh, born 1722, died 1793. Ann Maria Blumenshine born 1742, died April 24th, 1794, etc.
"Several acres were added on the south side several years ago, and the cemetery is no doubt the largest in the county outside of Frederick City.
"Then again I have found traces in two instances, plain and unmistakeable, of the 'Old Monocacy Road," of which you speak, passing just below the village in a southwestern direction and crossing Hunting Creek, where, according to tradition, there was an old tavern, and where there are now three or four old dwellings.
"Tradition also says the Monocacy road crossed the river at Poe's Ford, which has not been used for over a century, but corresponds with the two points to which you refer. The road on both sides of the creek lies in timber land of old sturdy oak.
"The distances also which you have indicated point to that spot, viz: a short distance southeast of Creagerstown. The location of the place, elevated, affording a fine view, and sur- rounded by beautiful sloping lands, all are in evidence."
This statement of Mr. Whitmore, agrees in every particular with the data we have heretofore been able to obtain, and I therefore believe that the few old houses and the old graveyard are perhaps all that remains of the ancient village Monocacy- Although it never reached the dignity of a laid-off town as its later and more successful rival Frederick did, yet, as we have seen by the journals of the Reverends Schlatter and Muhlenberg, as well as the reference Washington makes to it in one of his letters, it was a point of some importance in Colonial days.
But there are other and much earlier references to this place than those referred to. As early as 1729 Charles Carroll, the elder, located a tract of 10,000 acress of land on Pipe Creek and Conowago and Codorus Creeks, lying partly in what is now York and Adams counties, Pennsylvania, but then all claimed by the Maryland authorities to be within their province.
In 1732 Mr. Carroil, in company with a Mr. Ross, visited these lands the better to inform themselves how to finish a survey of the same. In his complaint to the Pennsylvania authorities of the interference he received from some of their people, he refers to a
22
certain John Tradane, a Marylander, and a resident at Monochasie. And in Kercheval's history of the settlements in Shenandoah Valley, it is stated that among the early settlers there, was Benja- min Allen, Riley Moore and William White who had come from Monocacy in Maryland in the year 1734. These facts incontesta- bly show that as early as 1732 and 1734 Monocacy was a place of some prominence.
Although as stated it never reached the dignity of a "laid off town," it would seem, however, that even as late as 1747, it pos- sessed better accommodations for strangers than did the "laid-off" town of Frederick, for on neither of the visits of Mess. Schlatter and Muhlenberg to that town did they ever stop there over night, but always returned to "their quarters" at Monocacy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.