USA > Maryland > Frederick County > Graceham > The history of Graceham, Frederick County, Maryland > Part 4
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On December 18, 1780, Mr. and Mrs. Butler signed the Agree- ment, binding themselves in the sum of £300 to deliver within a year a Deed for Thirty Acres of land adjoining Dulany's Gift on the west, for £90 specie, which, as nearly as we can estimate it in the depreciated currency of those days, (£I in Maryland= $2.66) was about $240, or at the rate of about $8 per acre, prob-
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ably all of it being woodland. (The payment was to be made in "specie," i. e., in coin, not in the paper currency, of which, in 1780, it required $40 to equal $1 in coin. The Spanish dollar, then in use, was equal to 7 s/ 6 d.)
The fgo were made up by several of the members and friends in 1781, and the survey of the land was begun on December 28, 1780, and completed January 6, 1781. The tract extended from Dulany's Gift towards the west and south-west, as far as the present cross street in Graceham, and probably a little beyond. The Deed conveying the Thirty Acres of land to John Weller, as Trustee, "for and in consideration of fgo specie," was drawn up September 28, 1782, and was recorded in the Land Records of Frederick County, October 15, 1782.
On about 12 acres of this tract the original lots of the village of Graceham were laid out, the rest of it being cultivated fields, after they had been cleared, and still so remaining, with the ex- ception of some lots laid out on the cross street on July 30, 1867, and later in part built on, also the plot on which the public school-house stands, and about one and one-half acres adjoin- ing the railroad, sold in 1868 to Mr. Burtis Bennett, who owned the land next to it, as a site for a warehouse and railroad station.
That this tract of thirty acres was probably all woodland ap- pears from the fact that the Diary for October 7, 1781, reads : "As we now have more land, the woods in front of the Gemeinhaus should be cut down, so as to afford more air;" and also from other entries that mention the clearing of the land and making of fence-rails, and of fuel for the Gemeinhaus. Some of this woodland was in existence as late as 1814, and later ; but in the Minutes of the Congregation Council for November 5, 1825, we read: "As the congregation has no woodland of its own, and must, therefore, buy fuel for the church and school-house, the committee recommends that each communicant member con- tribute 25 cents annually for the purchase of fuel." In that year there were 148 communicants, but the resolution adopted by the Council was subsequently modified, as not quite fair to all.
The £go contributed for the purchase of the land by members and friends were refunded to the congregation by the Trustees in Bethlehem, when the Deed was transferred to them in 1804,
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by Henry Weller and Daniel Weller, sons of John Weller, Trus- tee, deceased.
On September 30, 1781, the Rev. John Etwein, one of the prominent leaders of the Church, at Bethlehem, who was con- secrated a Bishop of the Church two years later, visited the con- gregation and communicated the Brotherly Agreement, which had just been adopted, and which was signed later by all the married brethren of the congregation.
THE FIRST HOUSES BUILT.
1782 .- On January 18, 1782, lots were measured off for Chris- tian Leinbach, who had come from Lititz in September, 1781, and for John Kamp, both of whom wished to build houses near the Gemeinhaus. The lot laid off for Christian Leinbach was the first one at the eastern end of the present main street of the village, on the south side, facing the Gemeinhaus. The lot laid off for John Kamp was next to Christian Leinbach's, with an alley between the two lots, each of which measured five rods front and sixteen deep, containing one-half of an acre. On Feb- ruary 16, John Kamp put up his stable, and in April he and his wife came and lived in the stable until their house was built. In April Bro. Etwein came again, laid off some more lots and made a plat of them, and wrote leases for Christian Leinbach and John Kamp. On April 30, Christian Leinbach married the single sis- ter Rosina Paus, and on June 8 his house was raised, the first one in the village. Six days later John Kamp's house was raised. June 30. The brethren and friends who had contributed fgo for the purchase of 30 acres of land from Joseph Butler, signed a Discharge, by which they gave up all claim to the land.
1783 .- In April the widow Protzman (the widow of Lo- renz Protzman who died in 1767) came to John Kamp's, in May obtained permission to build a small house here, and in May, 1784, her house was raised on the lot next to John Kamp's, the third in the incipient village, in addition to the Gemeinhaus.
1785 .- The Diary for 1785 contains the following important entry : "March 3. Bro. George Siess, Jr., who returned from Heidelberg and Lititz last evening, brought us letters and con- gregation-news. Bro. Huebner informs us in his letter that our
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recently-commenced village has, by direction of the Saviour through the lot, received the name 'GRACEHAM.' This is to be announced to the congregation as soon as possible, together with the following salutation of Bro. Johannes (Bishop von Wat- teville) : 'May God grant that at Graceham a nice little congre- gation may be gathered together; that soon there may be a dozen houses near the Gemeinhaus, and that the congregation that dwells there may approximate to the character of a church- settlement, and strive to be wholly pleasing to the Saviour, so that no difference may be perceived between them and a church- settlement in their spiritual life as individuals and as a congre- gation, and they not allow themselves anything that is opposed to the genuine spirit of a congregation of Christ Jesus and of its various divisions. May this village be a hamlet, or little town of the Lord's, in which grace abides, with simplicity and a child- like spirit."
GRACEHAM AN EXCLUSIVE CHURCH-SETTLEMENT.
September 28-October 3, of the same year (1785), the congre- gation at Graceham was visited by that devoted and eminent servant of the Church, the Rt. Rev. Baron John von Watteville and his wife, the Baroness Benigna, a daughter of Count Zin- zendorf, accompanied by David Zeisberger, Jr., later the well- known missionary to the Indians, and by others, all being on their way to our congregations in North Carolina. In May, 1786, on their return from North Carolina, they again visited the Graceham congregation. "A short, but blessed visit." (Mem. for 1786.)
1786 .- May 17. "After a funeral sermon preached to a large auditory, the remains of our good friend and near neighbor, Henry Peitzel, were interred on the land bought by Adam Kamp near our house, in 1771." His grave was therefore, probably one of those in the old burial-ground, located in the field next to the church land (Dulany's Gift) and just across the line, on the rising ground in the rear of the church, and which was un- doubtedly the Peitzel's family burial ground, Henry Peitzel, who owned the land lying next to Dulany's Gift on that side, having bought back one-half acre of the land he had sold to Adam Kamp, and which was owned after the death of the latter by his
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son John, who conveyed the half acre by a Deed bearing date "on or about the eighth day of June, 1784, to Henry Peitzel." Later this burial-ground was owned by the Wilhide's, Frederic Wilhide having married Catharine Peitzel, a daughter of Henry Peitzel, which accounts for the name 'Wilhide' on one of the old tombstones. In 1833, Joseph Wilhide, a son of Frederick and Catharine, was buried in this old family burial-ground.
October 12. "The brethren, John Weller and George Siess, went to the mountains and brought 4200 shingles to roof one- half of the Gemeinhaus and the whole of the spring-house."
November 15. "Bro. Peter Guenther, a potter by trade, with his wife and three daughters, arrived from Hebron, Pa. He will build a house and live here," the Diary says, but does not mention where the house stood. They remained in Graceham only a few years, and sold the house to John Protzman, of Ha- gerstown, on May 24, 1793. This was therefore the fourth house in the place, and probably the first one built on the north side of the street.
1787 .- December 16, word was received that the venerable Bishop Matthew Hehl, who presided at the organization of this congregation, and often visited it officially, had departed this life, at Lititz, on December 4, in the eighty-third year of his age.
1788 .- February 14. A violent wind-storm tore away the en- tire back porch at the Gemeinhaus. It was rebuilt the next month.
April 24. Ludwig Protzman's house, the fifth in the village, was raised on the lot next to his mother's. Later it is said that there was a vacant lot between the widow Protzman's and her son Ludwig's, on which John Harbaugh built a house. In the night of May 13-14, 1816, twenty-eight years after it had been built, Ludwig Protzman's house was burned down, the first de- structive fire in Graceham. It was rebuilt, and in 1828 this re- built house was sold by Godfrey Siess, as Trustee for Ludwig Protzman, to John Schmitt, of Lititz, for $450, in partial pay- ments. According to the Lease for L. Protzman's lot (No. 7) there was a road between it and lot No. 8, and on the south of the lots there was woodland, which was therefore between the lots on the south side of the street and the public road from
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Baltimore to Hagerstown and Pittsburg, built through the woods in 1783. This road crossed the fields (then woods) on the south of Graceham, and running west joined the present road to Thurmont (its continuation) at a point a short distance beyond the present last lot on the south side of the street. As there was then, and for many years afterwards, no public road through Graceham, and what is now the upper part of the vil- lage was still woodland, the "road" between lots 7 and 8 was probably for some time the only outlet towards the public road. (See 1808 and 1829.)
On Easter Sunday of this year there was such a large attend- ance at the services that not all could find room in the church. As the Diary states that there were at least 350 persons pres- ent, the seating capacity of the church at that time-the first separate church-edifice-was probably about 250 or 300.
1789 .- September 16. Godfrey Siess, later a prominent mem- ber of the congregation, came from Bethlehem to carry on his trade as a nailsmith at Graceham.
October 29. Jacob Siess began to haul building-stone to his lot in the village. The Diary does not mention the building of this house, nor its location.
1790 .- May 4. Bro. Sydrich, the minister, although still very weak from severe illness, ventured to go to Lititz, to attend a Ministers' Conference. When starting on the journey he said, "In Lititz I shall probably go to the Saviour." His premoni- tion was fulfilled. He could not attend the sessions of the Con- ference, but at its close he, with other brethren, was ordained a Presbyter, and then, after lingering until the 22nd, in the favor- ite expression of those days, he "went to the Saviour." The va- cancy in the pastorate was filled temporarily by the Rev. Gott- lob Senseman and the Rev. John Frederick Peter.
During the pastorate of Bro. Sydrich, October, 1874-May, 1790, the congregation had increased from 136 to 209 members. There was also an increased interest in spiritual things, and more friendliness on the part of some of the neighbors. Several additional houses and shops had been built in Graceham, which was slowly growing; but of the 209 members only 30 were liv- ing in the village, viz., 12 married people, I widow, 2 single
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brethren, 2 older girls, 3 little boys and 10 little girls. The total membership consisted of 53 communicants, 14 non-communi- cants, 42 society members (embracing the older boys and girls and some adults) and 100 children, 53 little boys and 47 little girls.
June II. Bro. Godfrey Siess' house, in the village, was raised. It is uncertain whether this house was on lot No. 8, or else- where, as, according to an unsigned lease in the archives, lot No. 8 was leased to Godfrey 'Siess in 1794. Yet, in 1800, lot No. 8, next to Ludwig Protzman's, was leased to Isaac Renatus Harry, to whom Godfrey Siess sold his house and nail-smithy, which must therefore have been on lot No. 8. Bro. Siess in- tended to carry on only the tannery-started by Bro. Adam Ger- nand in 1788, on the lot in the rear of the church-which Bro. Siess had taken in 1799, when he bought the tannery and the house in which Bro. Gernand's were living. At the same time the Congregation Council resolved (April 25, 1799) that there should be "a dwelling-house built on the tannery-lot, in line with the Gemeinhaus, thus closing the row of houses on that side of the street." The same Council-meeting resolved to buy from Bro. Godfrey Siess "a certain lot of land, about 11/4 acres, which he owned, just beyond the village, where all the streets (or roads) come together, as in course of time, unpleasantness might be oc- casioned." This was the piece of ground just west of the present cross street, between the main street and the public road at that time, and Godfrey Siess may have built a house on it, as the house now standing on the south-west corner of the main and cross streets (now the property of Bro. John Colliflower) was owned and occupied in recent times by his descendants.
Prior to 1819 the congregation owned all the lots in Grace- ham, and rented them to house-builders who were members of the Church, for a period of twelve months, at one penny per square rod. For a lot containing 80 square rods, or half an acre, as some of them did, the annual ground-rent therefore amounted to 80 pence, or about 88 cents, one penny of the depreciated cur- rency being equal to 1 1/10 cents. The house-builders owned their houses and other buildings, and if the congregation saw fit to terminate the lease, for cause, they were allowed a certain amount for the same, in proportion to their size, etc.
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1791 .- April 9. Bishop John Andrew Huebner and the Rev. John Martin Beck arrived, and on Sunday, the 10th, the Bishop presented Bro. Beck to the congregation as their minister.
November 6. The brethren resolved to order a set of trom- bones. This was not done, however, until 1800, nine years later.
November 14. The school was opened for the winter. It was generally closed in April and re-opened in November, as most of the children, especially the older ones, were needed at home, to help with the work on their parents' farms.
November 20. John Paus, a son of the Society-members, Christopher and Magdalena Paus, and therefore a brother-in- law of Bro. Christian Leinbach, having died, and his parents re- questing that he might be buried in our cemetery, a special place in the cemetery was set apart for the interment of those who were not members of the congregation.
December 24. The Christmas Eve service was numerously attended, and the children received lighted wax tapers for the first time. On Christmas Day there was such a large attendance of members and others that there was scarcely room for all in the church. The children received written verses and cakes.
1792 .- On Easter Sunday so many attended the preaching service, following the usual service on the cemetery, that about fifty had to stand outside, but all were very quiet and attentive.
May 15-24. Bishop Huebner visited the congregation. He brought copies of the Litany, printed separately, for use every Sunday in a meeting before the preaching, and strangers might be allowed to attend.
May 19. Bro. Christian Wilhelm Lembke came from Lititz and bought John Kamp's house, and having built an addition to it, opened the first store in Graceham. He was successful, and was a very useful member of the community and of the church, officiating as organist after the purchase of an organ. But he was taken seriously ill, and in May, 1800, departed this life, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. He was a son of the Rev. Francis Christian Lembke, pastor at Nazareth, Pa., and Princi- pal of Nazareth Hall for many years. (In the brief memoir in the Church Register, and elsewhere, the name is strangely al- tered to "Lambky," which is incorrect.)
THE FIRST STORE.
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A PIPE-ORGAN PURCHASED.
May 27 (Whit-Sunday). In a meeting of all the members they were asked whether they still wished to get an organ for the church. They subscribed £65 (about $175), and John Weller was deputed to go to Lititz the next day and to make an agree- ment with Bro. David Tanneberger, the famous Moravian or- gan-builder, who built organs in many Moravian and other churches in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia, also at Frederick Town in this county .*
June 21. John Kamp, with his family, moved to Cumberland. He had built the second house in Graceham in 1782. On July II, only a few weeks later, Christian Leinbach, who had built the first house, departed this life. Thus Graceham lost the first two house-builders almost at the same time, and by a remark- able coincidence, the two houses they built were both destroyed by fire at the same time, in the year 1893. In this year (1792) the widow Eigenbrod's house was built, on the north side of the street.
1793 .- April 25. Bro. Tanneberger came from Lititz and set up the new pipe-organ on the gallery of the church. In a love- feast on Saturday, May 4, the organ was used for the first time, and Bro. Tanneberger afforded much pleasure to the congrega- tion by singing some appropriate verses from the choir. The organ was used in the preaching-service on the next day, and as the neighbors knew of it, many of them were present. A collec- tion for the organ was taken at the close of the service, and amounted to £5 and some shillings (about $15), which, with the $175 subscribed, made about $190; but the Diary does not state for what price Bro. Tanneberger had agreed to build the organ. Probably the amount raised was sufficient, as an organ in the Reformed church in Frederick Town had cost $193.37. Either that organ or another in Frederick Town was built by Tanne- berger, as the Diary for November, 1775, mentions his arrival at Graceham, with his son, "from Frederick Town, where he had set up an organ."
*While setting up an organ for the Lutheran church at York, Pa., he was stricken with paralysis, fell from a scaffold, and died May 19, 1804. -Levering's History of Bethlehem.
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The pipe-organ which he set up at Graceham, in the smaller church that preceded the present edifice, is still in use, after the lapse of 118 years, and although not as powerful as might be de- sired for the size of the present auditorium, the workmanship of the interior is of the highest order, and the simple and appro- priate character of the exterior impresses one favorably. When the present church was built, the organ was taken down and was rebuilt on the new gallery, where it remained until 1895, when it was removed to the present platform beside the pulpit.
September 12. Bro. Moeller, with his family, came from Hope, N. J., a Moravian settlement (1774-1807). He either built or occupied a house on the north side of the street, on the lot recently owned by the late Bro. John Ogle, now by his bequest the property of the Graceham congregation. This house was then (in 1793) the first of the row on that side of the street, to- wards the parsonage. Bro. Moeller was a potter, but as his health suffered very much from his activity in that trade, he was advised, in 1799, to undertake the baking of the ginger- bread (Lebkuchen) and brewing of the small beer then in vogue, which might be served in his house, but under strict regulations.
1794 .- March 24. A plan of Town Statutes or Ordinances (Orts-Statuten) was made, and on the 30th was approved by the Congregation Council .* Leases were also given to the house- owners in Graceham. In the same month the committee, which had been discontinued for some years, was re-organized by the election of two brethren in addition to the Stewards and the Pastor. It was a part of the duty of this committee to see that proper order was observed in the growing village. In the Christmas Eve service more than seventy children received lighted wax candles, and on Christmas Day verses and cakes.
1795 .- February 19. The congregation observed the day of prayer and thanksgiving appointed by President Washington.
December 24. More than two hundred strangers attended the usual Christmas Eve service, so that the church was filled with a very attentive audience.
*See Appendix, p. 173.
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1796 .- On Easter Sunday, a greater number of persons than the oldest members remembered seeing here-"about 1000", says the Diary-attended the services. There were ten couples from Frederick Town alone, and many from other towns. All were very quiet and orderly.
October 5. Bishop and Mrs. Huebner, with the Rev. Chris- tian Frederick Schaaf and Mrs. Schaaf came from Lititz, and on Sunday, October 8, the Bishop introduced Bro. Schaaf to the congregation as their minister, Bro. Beck having received a call to Mount Joy, Pa. The Congregation Council agreed to pay the minister £50 (perhaps $150) as a fixed salary.
November 24. Bro. Demuth, Sr., of Lancaster, delighted Bro. and Sr. Schaaf with the offer to lend them his piano, which was at Bro. Lembke's. Probably this was the first piano seen and heard at Graceham.
November 27. It was announced that in future the Litany would be prayed at 10:30 A.M., and the preaching would begin promptly at II :45 o'clock.
November 30. It was announced that on Sunday evenings there would be a service of song or a liturgy. The first song- service was held December 4, with a large attendance. On Christmas Eve the church was full, although it was cold and the roads bad. The festal story was nicely sung by the choir, the children and the congregation. Eighty-seven children re- ceived the lighted wax candles. On Christmas Day there were about one hundred children in the lovefeast, and the church was full. Announcement was made that in future the choir festivals of the older boys and girls would be held, and that all who were twelve years old would be received into these choirs or classes, and also into the Society.
December 31. Though it was cloudy and cold, the church was filled with members and friends, most of those living in the mountains being also present for the closing service of the year, at 6:30 P.M. The service was opened with the choir-piece "Lord, Lord God, merciful and gracious," etc., and was closed, after an address on the Texts for the day, with the singing of the Old Testament benediction, accompanied by the musical in- struments. At midnight "the two Williar boys" announced the New Year with the French horns. The records here at Grace-
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ham do not state when these French horns were procured. They were used for a number of years before the trombones were bought. One house more was built in the village this year, John and Catharine Demuth's, on the lot below Bro. Moeller's, and for many years the first (now the second) of those on the north side of the street.
A NEW PARSONAGE.
1797 .- January 15. The Congregation Council considered the building of a new school-house (as the parsonage was then generally called). The matter was postponed to a full meeting of the Council, on the following Saturday. In the meeting on Saturday, the 21st, after an admonition that everything be done in love and unity, all except one brother agreed that it was necessary to build, and that they would build, as the old house, which had stood for forty-eight years, was very much out of re- pair. They decided that the new house should be built of brick, and reckoned that the cost would be about £600 (about $1600), and a subscription of f108 ($288) was made, to which £80 ($213.33) in the treasury, from the cultivation of the church- land, was added, making £188 ($501.33) in hand. Bro. Lembke proposed borrowing £400 from Bro. Schropp, but several would not agree to this, and said, rather than go into debt for the new building they should not build. The pastor, Bro. Schaaf, was requested to write to Bishop John Andrew Huebner, at Lititz, asking for advice. Letters were received January 29, from Bishop Huebner and the Rev. John Youngberg, and a plan which Bro. Youngberg had made by direction of the Lititz Con- ference was shown, but found little approval.
In a meeting of the Council on February II, the resolution to build was renewed, but it should be in such a manner as would not burden the congregation too heavily. Bro. John Weller had made a plan which, also, was not quite satisfactory. A building committee was elected, consisting of the brethren John Weller, George Siess, William Lembke and Jacob Born. A mason (Grosch) and a brickmaker were procured from Hagerstown, and a contract was made with them.
March II. Eight brethren dug the clay for the bricks on John Weller's farm. Bro. Lembke was requested to make an
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agreement with Mr. Gilbert, of Woodsboro, to furnish lime. As to boarding the workmen, Congregation Council resolved that Sr. Leinbach (neé Rosina Paus, widow of Christian Leinbach, who built the first house in Graceham, 1782, and died 1792) should cook for all, and Bro. John Weller should announce to the members their turns to bring butter and vegetables, and that they should sometimes butcher, and cured meat be bought from Bro. Lembke. They agreed that each one should furnish a cow during the building operations, that it should pasture on the church land and be cared for by Sr. Leinbach.
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