USA > Maryland > Frederick County > Graceham > The history of Graceham, Frederick County, Maryland > Part 5
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On Friday and Saturday, July 28 and 29, several of the mem- bers assisted Bro. Schaaf's in moving their household goods to Bro. Lembke's, where they were to have a temporary home. Monday, the 3Ist, at an early hour the brethren met to tear down the old house, and finished by noon. In the afternoon the site for the new house was staked off and they began to dig the foundation. The new house was to be larger than the old one, measuring 371/2 feet on the side fronting the town, and 35 feet on the sides running back to the church. (Bro. Weller's plan makes it 35 feet square, but the present dimensions are as here given.) As there was some dissatisfaction in the congregation with the plan that had been adopted (Bro. Lembke's), Bro. Schaaf proposed accepting in place of it Bro. John Weller's plan, to which the committee agreed, and this plan was also accepted by the Congregation Council, and was carried out in the building of the new house.
As the plan for the first story is still in the archives, we can see from it that the two rooms on the north side of the house, the present dining-room and kitchen, are the same as when the house was built, except that in the kitchen there was to be a bake-oven on one side of the large fire-place. It was built either there or in the yard, where one stood in later years. Bro. Wel- ler's plan shows no door in the kitchen opening into the yard, as there now is, and as is shown on another plan in the archives. The south side of the first floor was occupied entirely by the large school-room, 25x14 feet, and by a hallway or passage in the rear of the school-room, 7 feet wide until it reached the stairs to the second floor (the stairs being enclosed until recent
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years), and extending to the door leading into the yard. Into this hallway, a door on the south side of the house-then called the front-opened, the lines of which can still be seen on the wall outside, below the window nearest to the church, the door having been changed into a window during the pastorate, we believe, of the Rev. Charles C. Lanius, 1884-1887. From this hallway a door opened into the school-room, from which an- other door led into the hallway 5 feet in width, extending from the present front door to the rear hallway, from which a door directly opposite to the front door of the house led into the church, as at present it leads into the lecture-room. The present front door was intended chiefly for the use of the sisters of the congregation, when they wished to go to their room, the present dining-room, which was called "the sisters' room," the door in- to which was directly opposite to the door leading from that hallway into the school-room. Until the present church was built, the brethren-and the children who attended the school- used the door on the south side of the house, leading into the rear hallway, which was sometimes occupied by hearers when the church was full.
There is another plan in the archives (probably Youngberg's or Lembke's) which shows the arrangement of the interior on both floors, according to which there were to be four rooms on the second floor, two on each side of the central hallway, at the eastern end of which were the stairs leading to the garret (Bro. Weller's plan for the second story is not in the archives.)
On Monday, August 14, "at 8 A.M., parents and children and some friends assembled in the church," we read in the Diary, which continues : "After singing and a discourse on the Texts for the day (Luke 14:21 and Ps. 105:1) we went to the site for the new building, and in a fervent prayer the congregation, and especially the children who would be instructed in this new building, were commended to the Lord, and His blessing was implored upon the instruction that should be imparted to them. The building itself and all who were taking part in its construc- tion were commended to His grace and protecting care, and we besought Him to maintain love and concord among us, to bless our land and government, and especially to be with those who serve this congregation, and to sprinkle all their activity with
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His precious blood. The solemn service was closed with a hymn and the benediction. The peace of God accompanied the whole transaction."
The masons and carpenters then began their work; on Sep- tember I the first beams and joists were laid, and on the 21st the roof was finished, with a little belfry in which the bell was hung. This was not the bell now in the church-steeple, but a smaller one, which was therefore originally not on the church, but on the "school-house" or parsonage, and was rung not only for the church-services, but also for the school. The children were not allowed to go to the school-house before the bell rang.
It may be stated here that not only the children of the con- gregation, but others also, attended the school, which was taught by the minister, sometimes assisted by his wife, until it became so large, numbering as many as seventy-five scholars, that a teacher was engaged, the first one being Mr. Henry Rick- secker, who lived in this neighborhood, in 1806, during the pas- torate of the Rev. Carl Gottlieb Bleck. The teacher was to have 41/2 shillings school-money for each child, and find board and lodging. He also served the congregation as organist and mu- sic-director, as others did subsequently. In the school the chil- dren were taught not only the common branches, but also sing- ing, and received religious instruction, and were sometimes ex- amined in the presence of their parents, so that they might see what the children had learned. They often pleased the congre- gation with the singing of the hymns they had learned and their ready answers to the questions put to them in the public ex- aminations. There were no Sunday-schools at that time, but a "children's meeting" was held every Sunday, or every other Sun- day, and every effort was made to instruct and train them so that they might become good citizens and worthy members of the Church. Until the "public" or "free" school was commenced at Graceham, in 1839-the school-house being then built of stone on part of a three-cornered lot belonging to the congrega- tion, in the rear of the tavern at the upper end of the village, where it stood until a few years ago, when a frame building suc- ceeded it-this parochial school was kept up, and that its import- ance was recognized is shown by the fact that the house in which the minister lived and in which the school was held, was not
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called the "parsonage," but the "school-house," at least during the prevalence of the German language, until about 1830 or 1835. It is also worthy of note that in the same year in which the pub- lic school was commenced, a Sunday-school was established by the congregation. A "free" Sunday-school had, however, been commenced November 18, 1827, which was kept up for some time.
To return to the building of the parsonage in 1797 and '98: By November 2, the building had progressed considerably, and although cold and wet weather caused some interruption during the winter, the plastering of the walls was finished on April 21. Some of the brethren and boys cleaned up the premises, and al- so the cemetery, in which they planted cedar and pine trees, none of which are now in existence.
1798 .- April 26, the new house was cleaned by some of the sisters and girls and some neighbor women, and, May 5, some of the brethren helped the mason to lay the stone steps at the three doors of the new house, that is, at the present front door and the doors on the north and south sides.
May 7. The window-sashes were put in, the house-doors were hung and painted, and the house was finished.
May 10 and II. Bro. and Sr. Schaaf took possession of the house with praise and thanks to the Saviour, and dedicated it to Him "as an abode of peace." On the next day the brethren fin- ished cleaning up the premises and finished the new stable and woodshed.
Sunday, May 13. The Diary says: "First there was the Lit- any-service. In the preaching-service, the older boys and girls first sang, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His bene- fits toward me, etc .? ' (Ps. 116:12-14.) The sermon, on Ps. 50: 23, 'Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, etc.,' (German: 'Wer dankopfert,' Whoso offereth thanks) treated of the thankfulness well-pleasing to God which we owe for His help in the building of our new school-house: I. Various circumstances connected with the building of the house, and its object, were mentioned. 2. Our realization of His guidance. 3. That we should now manifest our thankfulness to Him, and trust Him to help us in the future. We offered our thanks to Him on our knees, and dedicated the house to the glory of His name, and besought
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Him that He would continue to bless the instruction of the chil- dren, and be with teachers and scholars; and especially that He would grant that His gospel may shine ever more brightly among us, for our increased enjoyment and that of our children and dear neighbors, and that He would bless all who had taken any part in the building of the house."
July 14-26. Bishop Huebner and the Rev. John Youngberg made an official visit, and in a meeting of the communicant members the Bishop, in the name of the Lititz Conference, and of the General Helpers' Conference at Bethlehem, thanked them and the Congregation Council for building the new school-house and parsonage; with the assurance of their warmest interest in the fact that the dear Saviour had granted to the congregation courage and willingness, with love and unanimity, and he hoped that this might continue until everything was finished and settled. Bro. Schaaf thanked Bishop Huebner and Bro. and Sr. Youngberg for their visit, and the latter for their kindness in providing a new cover for the minister's table, and also for a long-desired desk for the same, which Bro. Youngberg had made.
MISCELLANEA.
During the building of the new parsonage, Bro. Schaaf, on November 26, 1797, commenced a singing-school for the single men, at their request. December 31, 1797, the closing service of the year was held at 6:30 P.M. At midnight the French horns announced the new year in the new parsonage and on the hill before the town. January 7, 1798, a singing-school for the girls was commenced. January 26, we read in the Diary : "This afternoon we had a special divine protection here in town. Law- rence Protzman was heating tar in a kettle in Bro. Moeller's house, and when he wanted to cover the kettle he knocked it over with the cover, and the burning tar ran out on the porch, which began to burn ; but the fire was put out, for which we were thankful, as there was a strong wind."
In July the Congregation Council resolved that, as the corre- spondence between Graceham and Lititz had become irregular, important letters should be sent by mail, at the expense of the congregation. To send letters by mail required a trip to Fred-
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erick Town or Woodsboro, the nearest points on the stage- route, the former being about 17 miles south and the latter about 8 miles south-east from Graceham.
Sunday, October 7. The congregation festival was celebrated. In the lovefeast a letter from Bishop Huebner was read, in which the congregation was informed that the Rev. John Fred- erick Schlegel, who, with Mrs. Schlegel, had come on October I, on a visit to Graceham, had been called to the pastorate of this congregation, and Bro. Schaaf's to Bethlehem. At 4:30 P.M. Bro. Schlegel and Bro. Schaaf started on their proposed trip to Virginia, lodged that night at Benjamin Ogle's, in Fred- erick Town; on Monday continued their journey through Mid- dletown and Sharpsburg to Shephardstown in Virginia, where they found seven Virginia ministers and Rev. Schmucker, of Hagerstown, assembled in a special conference after the dedi- cation of a church on the previous day, and were very cordially received by them, invited to attend the afternoon session, and Bro. Schlegel to preach at 4 o'clock, which he did. At the close of the session Rev. Young, of Martinsburg, Va., expressed his pleasure and that of his ministerial brethren in having ministers of the Moravian Brethren's Church in their midst, with whom they were one in faith in Christ Jesus and His atoning blood. After a very enjoyable social meeting with the ministers and elders in the evening, the brethren Schaaf and Schlegel started about 9 o'clock the next morning with Rev. Schmucker for Ha- gerstown, where they arrived at 2 P.M. In the evening Bro. Schaaf preached, and Rev. Rahauser, a Reformed minister, spent the evening with him and Bro. Schlegel, and on the next day rode with them towards Graceham, where the brethren Schaaf and Schlegel arrived the same evening, thankful that the Sa- viour had graciously been with them on their journey and had made it such a pleasant one in all respects.
Friday, October 12. Bro. Schlegel's returned to Bethel, to take leave of the congregation.
October 14. As Bro. Schlegel had a horse and chaise (evi- dently an unusual circumstance), at Bro. Schaaf's suggestion, the Congregation Council resolved to furnish feed for the horse during the winter, and to build a shed for the chaise.
Monday, October 22. Bro. Schaaf's started on their journey to Bethlehem.
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November 3. The Rev. John Frederick Schlegel arrived as Bro. Schaaf's successor.
1799 .- January 16. A careful examination of the accounts of the Building Committee showed that after most of the brethren had doubled their subscriptions, the new parsonage and school- house cost nearly £800 (about $2200), £500 of which had been paid, leaving a debt of £300, which by October, 1803, was re- duced to £56 and some shillings, or about $160. The brethren also furnished 1400 rails and posts for fencing the church land.
July 6. Bro. Schlegel writes, "I rode to Woodsboro, to for- ward my letters to Lititz, and to become acquainted with the people."
September 28. Philip and Elisabeth Woodring, with one daughter, moved to Graceham from the neighborhood of Beth- lehem.
November 23. Bro. and Sr. Isaac Harry, with two daughters, came to Graceham from Lititz, and Bro. Godfrey Siess sold his house and nail-smithy to Bro. Harry. Bro. Koch bought Bro. Demuth's house, but the purchase could not have been perma- nent, as the house was sold in 1823 by the Executors of Christo- pher Demuth, of Lancaster, Pa., whose son John, with his fam- ily, lived in it for some time, to Sr. Mary Tippet, of Lititz (origi- nally from Carroll's Manor), for $200.
At the close of 1799, forty-one years after the organization, the congregation numbered 209 persons, viz., 63 communicant members, 46 non-communicants, and 100 children, 50 being boys and 50 girls.
1800 .- February 22. "We observed the prayer and memorial day appointed by the government in memory of the illustrious President Washington, recently deceased."
April 2. The widowed sister, Elisabeth Weller, m. n., Krie- ger, widow of Bro. Jacob Weller, died. She was the last sur- vivor of the seven persons who were received into the congrega- tion when it was organized, in 1758. Her age was 81 years.
May 30. Without giving notice or asking permission, the most prominent men in this district, about fifty persons, held a meeting in the Gemeinhaus (probably in the school-room) to consider the election of a President. There was no disorder, but
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Bro. Schlegel did not attend the meeting, although invited to do so.
On September 9, after having several attacks of the prevail- ing epidemic, Bro. and Sr. Schlegel, by the doctor's advice, went to Lititz and Bethlehem, returning greatly benefitted on October 3. The disease was a malignant bilious fever, of which thirty persons in this neighborhood died, and from March to Septem- ber eight members of the congregation.
October 29. The Rev. John G. Cunow (later, in 1808, conse- crated a Bishop) and the Rev. Nathaniel Brown came from Bethlehem, the latter to remain and assist Bro. Schlegel in the school and in pastoral work.
October 30. Bro. Cunow having some business in Frederick Town* (he was the administrator of the Unity's property in Pennsylvania) the three brethren went thither. On the next day, as they were about starting on their return, the bells of the town were rung to announce the arrival of the President (John Adams, President Washington's successor in office) "and there- fore we brethren," writes Bro. Schlegel, "delayed our departure, and after the large number of people who had come to the hotel to greet His Excellency had gone, we waited on him. He re- ceived us, after Dr. Thomas had presented us, in a particularly friendly manner, gave us seats beside him, and after Bro. Cunow had expressed to him, in the name of the Brethren's Church, our best wishes, he inquired about his friends in Bethlehem-where he had visited twenty-five years before, at the beginning of the Revolution-and sent his greetings to them. We bade farewell to this worthy man, thankful for our brief interview with him."
November 30. "We entered the gladsome season of Advent. Our children sang the Hosanna anthem." On Christmas Day there were 130 children in the lovefeast. They sang with so much feeling that it made a deep impression. In the evening they sang for some sick members in their houses, until late in the night.
December 30. "Nearly all of our school-children had a special experience of the Saviour's grace and blessing in their closing service of the year. They promised individually to give them-
*Perhaps with reference to the ten acres donated by Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, on his manor, and the meeting-house built there for our use.
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selves entirely to the Saviour, as His eternal property. We three brethren were so deeply moved that we mingled our tears with theirs." (Tears of joy !)
December 31. "The adult members closed the year for the first time in fellowship with our town-congregations Bethlehem and Lititz, as follows: In a service at 10 P.M., which was attended by a good many friends, the blessings of God and special occurrences concerning this neighborhood were referred to, and a Psalm of Thanksgiving was sung by the choir and children. At II:30 P.M., we met for the first time to close the old year and open the new one in the house of God. After the opening anthem by the choir, 'Lord, Lord God, merciful, etc.,' there was an address on the Texts for the day until the choir announced the New Year, after which we united in fervent prayer and thanksgiving, and so entered the New Year."
From the Minutes of the Congregation Council we take the following items : "Various matters concerning order in our vil- lage were discussed. No one should keep a vicious cow, as last week Sr. Moeller's cow tossed and almost killed a child. On account of the muddy street, it was desired that every house- owner should lay a pavement before his house. It was urgently requested that the old regulation, which is also one of our Town Ordinances, should be maintained, viz., that no one should build anything, however unimportant, without giving notice to the Congregation Council, as this arrangement prevents possible unpleasantness. As there are, in these times, two political par- ties, each of which desires to have the largest following, the brethren were requested to act prudently, and when election day came to vote as their conscience and heart dictate. Council is opposed to having the election held in Graceham, as some people had proposed." The brethren evidently had their reasons for taking this position. In his "History of Western Maryland," Dr. Scharf says: "Before the organization of the Districts of Hau- vers, Emmitsburg, Mechanicstown, Lewistown, Catoctin, and Woodsboro, all created out of its original territory, people had to go to Creagerstown, from a distance of ten or fifteen miles, to vote, and often at these gatherings serious fights occurred. Creagerstown, situated at the junction of the Baltimore and Pittsburg road with the Washington and Buffalo road, was
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a great stage point until the building of the Frederick and Em- mitsburg railroads, and in its palmy days supported four well- kept taverns. A very large tannery was in operation between 1785 and 1810. John Creager owned the land on which the vil- lage stands, and laid it off in lots before the Revolution. A large majority of the earliest settlers in the Creagerstown Dis- trict were Germans, and many of them from Pennsylvania." Among the names given by Dr. Scharf we find those of the Creagers, Zimmermans, Protzmans, Wilhides, Hammets and Bollers, some of the members of which families were for many years, and some still are, connected with the Graceham congre- gation.
Creagerstown and Mechanicstown had both grown consider- ably by the end of the century, and were larger than Graceham. Mechanicstown (now Thurmont) "was first settled in 1751, when a few buildings were erected along the road leading from Ha- gerstown via Herman's Gap to Baltimore. Lots were then laid out by James (or John) and Lawrence Creager, who owned near- ly all the land as far as to Creagerstown. Jacob Weller, one of three brothers who came from Berks County, in Pennsylvania, was the first settler, attracted by the large and fine spring of water now called the Cold Spring. The first hotel, until recently the Central House,* was built in 1800 by Jacob Weller, son of the first settler, and the first store was opened by Jacob Firor, in 1806. In 1810 the first tanyard was established by a Mr. Wampler,t and a Post-office was opened. In 1811 an extensive edge-tool manufactory was started by Jacob Weller, the first one south of New York. Built on Fishing Creek and run by that stream, it continued until near 1850, receiving orders from the southern States and even from the West Indies. In 1815 a large woolen mill was erected, and was kept in successful opera- tion over forty years. In 1850 the celebrated Hunting Creek
*Conducted as a hotel until 1910, when it was partly torn down and re- constructed with store-rooms on the first floor and two suites of apart- ments on the second.
¡Possibly Frederick Wampler, who, in 1814, married a daughter of George Siess, became a member of this congregation, in 1820 applied for a building lot in Graceham, and in 1821 was one of the brethren of the Build- ing Committee appointed for the building of the present church at Grace- ham.
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tannery was built by Richard Jones, of Baltimore, and carried on an extensive business. There were several other tanneries, in all requiring 5000 cords of wood and $150,000 capital. The first lucifer matches made in America were manufactured in Me- chanicstown by Joseph Weller, between 1825 and 1830." (Scharf's History of Western Maryland.) The building in which those matches were made, a one-story stone house, is still stand- ing on West Main Street, in Thurmont, but recently a second story was built, and other modern improvements made.
TROMBONES FOR GRACEHAM.
August 31, 1800, Congregation Council resolved to procure a set of trombones, to be imported from Europe, and voted $20 for a set ; but having learned that a set could be bought in Phila- delphia, the order to Europe was recalled. The Philadelphia set proving unsuitable, the order sent to Europe was renewed, and as Bishop Huebner, who had gone to Germany to attend the General Synod of our Church, and had been requested to in- quire about trombones, was hampered by the price set, Council resolved on February 8, 1801, that "trombones shall be procured for the Graceham congregation, whatever the price may be. Congregation Council binds itself to pay for them." It was also resolved that the trombones should be used exclusively for the service of the congregation, or at the dedication of other churches, if requested, with the consent of the minister and Com- mittee or Council. "Bro. Philip Woodring, who had been per- mitted by the Conference at Lititz to build a house here, re- ceived the lot (now Bro. Jacob Shown's) above Isaac Harry's. It was measured September I, but only 4 rods wide, as all the lots are too wide (5 rods). We would gladly have given him the lot he wishes, on the corner opposite the store (now Bro. Frank Colliflower's), but the members requested that the spring and the bleaching-ground should not be fenced in."
1801 .- March 28. "This week the organ and choir gallery was lengthened." (This was the gallery in the old church.) "Some of the brethren contributed money and materials, and each one of the carpenters worked one day gratis. The work was completed to the satisfaction and pleasure of all. Congre- gation Council passed a special vote of thanks to those members
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of the congregation who last October improved the streets in town, and wished that others would do the same in front of their houses, as streets that are kept clean and in proper order are a part of the propriety of a church-settlement.
July 26. As the state of the church-treasury permits it, a proper lovefeast coffee-kettle with a spigot will be procured from Mr. Steinman, in Lancaster, Pa., as the best maker of such utensils." (The kettle is still preserved, but no longer in use.) "It was stated that Bro. Steup, in Bethlehem, would furnish tomb-stones for $4.50, and the members were reminded how nice it was to have each grave marked with a tombstone.
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