USA > Maryland > Frederick County > Graceham > The history of Graceham, Frederick County, Maryland > Part 7
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service was held by the pastor, Bro. Carl Gottlieb Bleck, in which the event of fifty years ago and its object, and the course of events since that time, were rehearsed. A lovefeast followed, for which a printed ode was used, the music specially composed for it, and the singing of the choir, congregation and children giving to the service a truly festal character. An extract of the "Historical Account," written in the Church Register, and a statement of the principal changes in the personnel of the con- gregation, the baptisms, marriages and deaths of the first fifty years, were also read. There was a large attendance of members and of friends who generally attended the services. The Menno- nite preacher, Christian Huber, a good friend, and his wife, were present at all the services. The young Reformed minister, Rahauser, of Emmitsburg, who had visited Bro. Bleck the day before, promised to attend the celebration, but was probably un- able to do so, as it was Saturday. After the lovefeast there was another service in which the entire historical narrative of the be- ginning and progress of the work here was read. Then followed the celebration of the Holy Communion, of which the married brother, Christian Harbaugh, who had been confirmed at the close of the preparatory service on the preceding Sunday, par- took for the first time, and the single brother, Andrew Williar, was present as a candidate for future confirmation. At 7 P.M., there was a service for the members of the congregation, in which the texts for the day were considered, and two persons, John and Catharine Gump, son and daughter of Bro. and Sr. George Gump, were received as non-communicant members in- to the congregation. Afterwards the children marched through the town, which was illuminated, with music and singing. Up and down the village-street, lit up probably by candles in the windows of the houses, and perhaps by pine torches on the street, marched the happy children on the evening of this eighth of October, 1808, singing their glad hymns of thanksgiving, ac- companied by the trombones, which had been in use since 1802, and, it may be, by other instruments; old and young rejoicing together at the close of this festal day, and praising God for the goodness and mercy which he had shown to their congregation and to their village-home through all the varied experiences of the past fifty years.
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A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF GRACEHAM IN 1808.
Let us take a brief glance at the little village which had grown up during the twenty-six years since the first houses in it were built. For twenty-two years after the Gemeinhaus, or combined church, parsonage and school-house, had been built in 1749, it stood alone in the woods, until Adam Kamp, in 1771, bought two acres of land adjoining Dulany's Gift, and built a house and stable there, near the Gemeinhaus, a little to the east of it. Eleven years later, in 1782, after thirty acres of land had been bought from Joseph and Mary Butler, lots were laid off, and the first two houses of Graceham were erected near the Gemeinhaus by Christian Leinbach and John Kamp. This was twenty-four years after the congregation had been organized, and twenty- six more years had passed since the building of the first houses, making together fifty years since the organization, when the Jubilee celebration of 1808 was held.
In the twenty-six years since the building of the first houses a great change has gradually taken place around the Gemeinhaus that stood as a solitary sentinel of the Church Militant for so many years. The wish expressed by Bishop John von Watte- ville in 1785-when, after three houses had been built, the name "Graceham" was given to the incipient village-that soon a dozen houses might stand near the Gemeinhaus, has been ful- filled. Where the trees of the forest had stood so long in un- disturbed security, there is, in 1808, a well-ordered settlement, built up by members of the Moravian Church-no others be- ing at that time permitted to live in Graceham-whose dwell- ings, although for the most part of primitive construction, are well-built log houses-some of them standing, in part, to this day-are comfortable and well-kept and are surrounded by their gardens and orchards and cultivated fields, and in part by the woodland that has not yet yielded to the settler's axe. Most of the lots that have been laid off, about twenty in number, have been built on, and there are more than a dozen houses on both sides of the street.
At the lower end of the village we see the two-story brick parsonage which, in 1797, replaced the original log building, and the church adjoining it, built of planks four inches in thickness, in 1772. There is no road passing immediately south of the
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church lot, which is fenced off on all sides and extends to the fields south of it. The parsonage garden is right before the western gable-end of the house towards the village street, the south side of the house being considered the front, in which there is a door by which the school-children enter and pass into the school-room.
In the rear of the church lot is that one on which Bro. God- frey Siess has his tannery, started in 1778 by Bro. Adam Ger- nand, and conducted by him until 1799. On the same lot there is a dwelling-house, and at the spring in the hollow behind the church a log spring-house for the use of the minister's family. Nearby is the path across the hollow, leading from the church to the cemetery on the opposite hill. The cemetery is divided in- to four squares by intersecting paths. Cedar and pine trees have been planted in it, and their shadows fall on more than a hundred graves marked by the lowly mounds and small tomb- stones. North-east of the cemetery there is a large field, a part of the Hon. Daniel Dulany's Gift of ten acres in 1747, and south of the cemetery we see the minister's well-kept orchard of apple and other fruit trees.
In front of the church and parsonage lot, on the west side, stands a horse-shed for the use of those members who come to church from their farms in the mountain-valleys and elsewhere, and at one side of the alley, as it is called, which leads down into the hollow, we see the watering-trough, fed by the spring in the so-called "spring lot," where there is also a spring-house, built May 12, 1784, for the families in the village, at that time only three in number.
On the south and west the church and parsonage lot joins the tract of thirty acres purchased, in 1781, from Joseph and Mary Butler. On a part of this tract lots have been laid off, on some of which houses, shops and other outbuildings have been erected on both sides of the street, which is as yet no thorough- fare, the public road from Baltimore to Hagerstown and Pitts- burg passing through the woods and fields on the south of the village.
On the south side of the street, at its lower end, where it ter- minates at the church and parsonage lot, stands a log house, the first house of Graceham, built by Christian Leinbach in 1782,
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and on the next lot, separated from the other by an alley, there is also a log building, built six days after the first by John Kamp, but sold by him in 1792 to Bro. William Lembke, who built an addition to it and conducted there the first store opened in Graceham. After his death, in 1800, Bro. Lorenz Krieger (Cre- gar) bought the "Lembke houses" in 1803, and his son John Krieger is the store-keeper in 1808. On the next lot we see the widow Protzman's little house, built in 1784, and then John Harbaugh's, built in 1802; then Ludwig Protzman's, in 1788, and Isaac Renatus Harry's, built by Godfrey Siess in 1790, and sold by him together with his nail-smithy, to Bro. Harry in 1800. Next is the house built by Bro. Philip Woodring in 1801. Then follow three vacant lots, and then we see John Wilheit's tavern, a two-story brick building, erected in 1804 and 1805 "where two streets meet."
On the south-west corner of these two streets stands a house built probably by Godfrey Siess after he had sold his house in the village to Bro. Harry, as he (Godfrey Siess) had bought a piece of ground there, one acre and a quarter in extent, which the congregation bought from him in 1799 for £35 (about $100). On the north-west corner, opposite to Godfrey Siess's house, is a log-house built by Paul Siess in or about 1800.
Looking down the north side of the street from this point, we notice first three vacant lots. On the fourth there is a frame blacksmith shop, and on the next lot is Christian Eigenbrod's house, built in or about 1803. Next is the house of his mother, the widow Eigenbrod, built in 1792, and then comes a house probably built by Peter Guenther, a potter, in 1786, but sold by him to John Protzman, of Hagerstown, in 1793. This house may also have been built by Jacob Wuensch, the carpenter, in 1803, as it was later occupied by either Abraham or Henry Fahs, Jr., whose father or grandfather, Jacob Fahs, of York, Pa., re- ceived it in 1804 as a creditor of the Wuensch estate. Next to this is Ludwig Moeller's house, built in 1793, and John De- muth's, next to the spring lot, in 1796, closing the row on the north side of the street.
Those lots in the village that have not been built on, and the fields that have been cleared, are cultivated by members of the congregation to whom they are rented for a term of years; but
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there is still some woodland between the lots on the south side of the street and John Biggs' land. Some of the members who own houses that front on the main street have laid side-walks of flagstones before their houses, as the street is sometimes very muddy, but others have not yet done so. Cows are not allowed on the street at night, but during the day may be seen there, and the pigs sometimes find their way into the fields and do more or less damage to the growing crops, although the fences are generally kept in good condition, rails being either cut on the woodland owned by the congregation or contributed by some of the brethren. No traffic passes through the village, but there is considerable on the public road just south of it, with which the village street makes connection beyond the upper end by the new road just opened. Good order prevails in the settle- ment, all of the residents being members of the congregation and, as such, expected to sign and conform to the regulations of the Brotherly Agreement, as well as to those which they choose to adopt in their collective capacity as householders, for the benefit of the community.
Among the occupations or trades followed by those brethren who were members of the church at Graceham in or about 1808, some of them living in Graceham, but the majority on their farms, we find: I Storekeeper, John Krieger; I Tanner, God- frey Siess, with several employees; 4 Shoemakers, Christian Ei- genbrod, Ludwig Protzman, Jacob Gump and Jonas Eiler; I Nailsmith, Isaac Renatus Harry; I Carpenter and Millwright, Philip Woodring; I Tavern-keeper, John Willheit; 2 Tailors, Paul Siess and George Koch (the latter also a tobacconist); I Tinsmith, Abraham Fahs; I Linen and Damask Weaver, Henry Fahs; 2 Weavers, Philip Williar and George Hahn; 3 Carpen- ters and Joiners, Jacob Born, John Jacob Weller, Jr., and Jacob Wuensch (Winsch); I Gunsmith, Jacob Christ; I Smith and Miller, John Herbach (Harbaugh); 2 Blacksmiths, Samuel Her- bach and Jacob Huber; I Blue-dyer and Stocking-maker, Trau- gott Gerlach; I Doctor and Surgeon, Henry Frederick Schu- man, M.D.
There were nineteen farmers whose names are in the Church Register and Catalogue, viz., Jacob Born (also a Joiner), Peter Brunner, John Gump, Sr., John Jacob Gump, Jonas Eiler (also
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a Shoemaker), George Hahn (also a Weaver), Christian Her- bach, Peter Jansen, Lorenz Krieger, Jacob Protzman, John Wil- liar, Andrew Williar, Henry Weller, Daniel Weller, John Jacob Weller, George Siess (also a Smith), Philip Williar (also a Weaver), John Willheit (also Tavern-keeper).
At the close of the Jubilee year, 1808, the congregation at Graceham consisted of 64 married people, I widower, 7 widows, 36 single brethren and older boys, 26 single sisters and older girls, 47 little boys and 36 little girls, making a total membership of 217, of whom 79 were communicant members.
A CHANGE IMPENDING.
Up to the time of the Jubilee celebration in 1808, Graceham had been a strictly Moravian church-settlement, but the time was approaching when its character in that respect was to be somewhat modified. For several years longer, however, no change was made, although the necessity for such a change be- came gradually more and more apparent.
1809 .-- A new road, leading to Apple's church, was opened through land belonging to the congregation, being in all proba- bility the present cross street extending to the Western Mary- land Railroad crossing. A subscription was made in a meeting of the Congregation Council to pay for a post and rail fence along this road. The Congregation Council was notified by Bro. Herbst (Bishop, 18II) that, as three years had elapsed since the election of the Committee, a new one should be elected, or the same brethren might continue in office. Congregation Council resolved they should continue (Ludwig Protzman, Lo- renz Krieger, Andrew Williar, George Siess).
1812 .- Congregation Council met several times to consider whether, in accordance with the wishes of some members, a new church could be built. For the present, however, it did not seem advisable.
October 25. The Committee elected in 1806, and re-elected in 1809, was again re-elected, with the exception of Geo. Siess, in whose place Godfrey Siess was elected.
In the second war with Great Britain, known as the War of 1812, some of the members were obliged to go with the militia, but all returned in safety to their homes, and the effects of the war were felt only in a slight degree.
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On February 23, 1815, the congregation observed the day of thanksgiving for the end of the war, appointed by the govern- ment. The Diary says: "The Peace Festival was celebrated here. First there was a sermon in the church on Ps. 9, vs. 31- 37, which was numerously attended. Afterwards the whole town was illuminated, and we marched up and down with fine music. During this time a cannon was fired eighteen times. The cere- mony lasted two hours."
1814 .- April 24. Congregation Council resolved that "in fu- ture when the fences on the church-land need repairing, it shall be done by men hired for wages contributed by the members." The superintendence of these matters was given to Bro. Godfrey Siess, as "Captain." He was to be paid for his time, and ac- cepted the office for one year.
1815 .- Already before the year 1815, some of the members living in Graceham-who owned their houses, but not the lots on which they stood-had been embarrassed by the fact that they could not obtain renters who were members of the church for their vacant houses, and several houses in the town were un- occupied. Relief was sought under these circumstances by a pe- tition to the General Conference at Bethlehem, requesting that the house-owners in Graceham might be given Deeds for their houses and lots, all pledging themselves to abide by the Broth- erly Agreement, and that, if they should wish to rent their houses, they would give the Committee twelve months' time to secure renters who were members. At the request of the Con- ference, two brethren, Godfrey Siess and Christian Harbaugh, Sr., who were duly elected by the Congregation Council, were sent as deputies of the congregation to explain fully the situa- tion of affairs, and discuss the matter with the Conference. They started on their journey November I, and returned on the 19th, bringing the minutes or report of the proceedings. In compli- ance with the request of the members of the congregation, they were permitted to rent their houses to non-members, exercising due caution, but the Deeds could not be given as yet.
1816 .- May 12. A new Committee was elected, consisting of the brethren Godfrey Siess, Ludwig Protzman, John Krieger and Elias Weller. In the night of May13-14, a domestic calam-
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ity occurred, as fire broke out in the house of Bro. Ludwig Protzman, and as there was a strong wind, it was all the neigh- bors could do, with great exertion, to save John Harbaugh's house, which stood next, and prevent the fire from spreading. This was the first destructive fire in Graceham. Bro. Protz- man's house was burned down, but some of the members and friends, with true Christian sympathy, built a new one for him, as his own property. Twelve years earlier, in 1804, it had been resolved, in a town-meeting of the residents in the village, that as a slight precaution in case of fire, a cistern to hold thirty hogsheads of water should be built; but as there is no further mention of such a cistern, the resolution was probably not car- ried out. The brethren also agreed to lay sidewalks in front of the houses on the store (south) side of the street.
DEEDS GIVEN.
1817 .- In the year 1817, chiefly to bar a certain non-resident claimant to their land, who demanded $1000 from the congrega- tion to satisfy his claim-which was wholly unwarrantable, as the trustees of the congregation held deeds for the land in due legal form, recorded in the Land Offices at Annapolis and Fred- erick-but in order to secure themselves fully in the future, the Committee sent a petition to the General Assembly of Maryland, asking that the Act of Assembly which had been passed, secur- ing them in the legal possession of their land, might be pub- lished.
1818 .- Their petition was granted, the Act was published in 1818, a copy of the Act was obtained, and the Committee of the congregation was by it empowered to give, with the consent of the Congregation Council, to all residents of the town who might desire to purchase their lots from the congregation deeds in fee simple for them. Four brethren, John Krieger, Ludwig Protz- man, Christian Herbach, Sr., and Daniel Weller, were appointed by the Congregation Council to appraise the lots, and the price of each lot was fixed. The lots were valued at $42.50 per acre.
December 26. The Congregation Council resolved, that from January 1, 1819, the existing ground-rents of the house- owners in Graceham should cease, and every house-owner or "curator" should pledge himself to pay the interest on the ap-
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praised valuation of his lot, annually, to the congregation, until the full price of the lot should be paid. Whoever asked for a deed from the trustees of the congregation-land would be re- quired to pay the one-third of the value of his lot in cash, as ear- nest money, and to give his note for the remaining two-thirds, payable in six months, with interest, or with longer credit at the option of the Committee, with bondsmen accepted by the Com- mittee and Congregation Council, as security. The government taxes should be paid by the owners of the lots in proportion to the appraised valuation of the same. From this time on, there- fore, Graceham ceased to be an exclusive Moravian settlement.
GRACEHAM AN OPEN SETTLEMENT OR VILLAGE.
1819 .- In May, Bro. Bleck was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rev. John P. Kluge, from Salem, N. C.
June 20. The pastor's salary was fixed at £75 (about $200). The best time for the Sunday evening service was said to be 6 o'clock. The brethren in the mountains having asked for preach- ing in two school-houses there once in four weeks, Congrega- tion Council gave its consent. Services had been held occasion- ally, in former years, at the houses of members in the mountains.
October 17. For the note of hand in the treasury it was re- solved to buy a house-clock for the parsonage. This large "grandfather's clock" was made by Fesler and Son, in Frederick, and is still in service in the parsonage.
November 15. Congregation Council resolved that "if Bro. Henry Ricksecker will start a regular music-school, that is to say, for certain hours every week will instruct those children and young people who have an aptitude for it, in organ and violin playing and choir-singing, according to the method usual in our congregations, and will write the notes necessary, and care for the music in the church, and hold concerts on Sunday afternoons with the musicians for practice, the congregation binds itself to reward him suitably with a voluntary subscription of at least $40, as promised last year. But if Bro. Ricksecker does not ful- fill these conditions, he need not expect to be paid $40." Bro. Ricksecker accepted these terms.
November 20. As Bro. Godfrey Siess wished to have his tar- nery-lot, which was partly contained in the ten acres of land
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known as "Dulany's Gift," belonging to the congregation, in fee simple, like the other lots in town, and as the Provincial Confer- ence had given consent, on condition that an equal amount of land be given in exchange for it by the congregation, Congrega- tion Council, which had affirmed that none of said land should ever be sold, accepted the condition, and resolved that "in place of the land taken from the ten acres named 'Dulany's Gift,' so much shall be taken from the north-west side of the congrega- tion-land, where the spring-lot is, and be added to the remainder of the ten-acre piece, so that it remains complete, according to the deed. The congregation binds itself, and in its name the present trustees, for themselves and their successors, that no part of the ten acres named 'Dulany's Gift' shall ever be sold."
1820 .- April 18. Among the resolutions adopted by a town- meeting of all heads of families in the town, were the following : "No house-owner shall permit a gathering of children or young people in his house or lot, in order to prevent all noisy play, especially on Sundays and festival days. Every one shall forbid his children and young people to go into other lots, in order to take any of the fruit or vegetables. Playing or making a noise on the church-lot shall not be permitted. No cattle shall be allowed on the street at night. A road-master shall be elected, who shall have supervision of the streets in town, and with the help of the house-owners shall keep them in order. An over- seer for the watering-trough at the spring shall be chosen." The following brethren were thereupon elected, viz., Overseers, Lud- wig Protzman and Paul Siess ; Street-supervisor, Christian Eigen- brod; Watering-trough Overseer, Jacob Christ.
A NEW CHURCH.
July 22. The Congregation Council unanimously agreed that it was very necessary to build a new church, as the old one- built in 1772-was too dilapidated to be repaired and too small. As the first step, it was resolved to buy a raft of boards at the Susquehanna River, as they could be had cheaper than ever be- fore. In the same meeting Joseph Protzman was granted the lot next to John Krieger's tavern for $50. At this time, there- fore, it appears that John Krieger kept the tavern, but when he succeeded John Wilhide and was succeeded by Isaac Harry, the
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records here do not state. As an agreement was made with Isaac Harry, in May, 1821, to board and lodge the workmen en- gaged on the new church, it is probable that he had taken the tavern in the latter part of 1820 or early in 1821. This is the more probable as John Krieger died March 22, 1828, after suf- fering for six years from tuberculosis, and some years before had moved to Mechanicstown (Thurmont).
1821 .- February 9. The Congregation Council resolved that a plan, showing the size of the new church, and an estimate of the cost, should be made and laid before Council. John Her- bach, Jacob Reitnauer, Conrad Wilhide, Jacob Siess and Fred- erick Wampler, were elected to do this. The brethren of the Committee were charged to obtain some money from all debtors to the congregation, especially ground-rents and interest, so that at least so much might be secured as was necessary to pur- chase the required boards.
February 24. The plan and cost of a new church were re- ported to the Council, and it was resolved anew that a subscrip- tion be started among the members and friends, in order to see whether so much could be added to the funds of the congrega- tion as was required for the building.
April 28. The subscription lists were examined, and the amount subscribed ascertained, as also the amount which the congregation had on interest; and it appeared that if every brother would every six months pay a part of the money he owed to the congregation, which they promised to do, the build- ing of a new church could be undertaken. Therefore it was re- solved to proceed with the project in good earnest, and to make the necessary preparations by buying boards and making bricks.
May 13. John Wilhide, Sr., William Boller, Jacob Siess and Jacob Reitnauer were elected as a Building Committee. In place of the last-named brother Christian Eigenbrod was elected, and as Jacob Siess could not serve, Conrad Wilhide was elected in his place. These brethren were empowered to make and set- tle contracts and attend to everything necessary until all should be finally settled.
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