USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 24
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then resided at Bethlehem, and had the superitend- ence of all the settlements and missions of the bre- thren in Pennsylvania, was commissioned to go with some brethren to North Carolina, in order to sock out, and survey the land. They departed in August, 1752, from Bethlehem for Edenton, and from thence with Mr. Charton, the general surveyor, to the head waters of the rivers Catawba, New river and Yadkin. where they spent several months before they could ob- tain their aim; during which time they suffered much by sickness, cold and hunger, till the end of the month of December. After having surveyed several small pieces of land on Catawba and New rivers, and at the Mulberry fields, on the Yadkin, they were led by the good hand of the Lord to a large tract of land on the east side of the Yadkin, full of springs, rivulets and creeks, well timbered, and, for the greatest part, good for agriculture and raising cattle.
Bishop Spangenberg and the other brethren re- turned in January, 1753, to Bethlehem, having finish- ed the survey of 73,037 acres, in fourteen numbers: to these, an additional survey was made by Mr. Chur- son, of 25,948 acres, in five numbers, in the same tract; making the total sum of 98,925 acres.
In conformity to an agreement made heretofore. between the right honorable John, earl of Granville, lord president of his majesty's most honorable privy council, sole proprietor of a certain district, territory or parcel of land, lying in the province of North Caro- lina, in America, on one part, and the count Zinzen- dorf, lord advocate, chancellor and agent of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, on their behalf, on the
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other part; the aforesaid tract of land, in considera- tion of a certain sum of money to him, the said John, earl Granville, to be paid, was granted and conveyed to James Hutton, gentleman, secretary of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, his heirs and assigns, in trust and for the use, benefit and behoof of the said Unitas Fratrum, to be set out and surveyed in con- venient tracts and parcels, according to the option and direction of such person or persons, as should be em- ployed for that purpose by the lord advocate, chancellor and agent aforesaid, to hold the same to the said James Hutton, his heirs and assigns, at and under a yearly rent to be annually paid to the said John, carl Granville, his heirs or assigns, &c.
The general deed for the whole tract was sealed and signed the 7th August, 1753. Besides it, nine- teen special deeds were made for each number of the said tract. As count Zinzendorf had also the title of lord of the valley Wachau, in Austria, the aforesaid tract of 98,985 acres, was named Wachau, or WACHOVIA.
In order to facilitate the improvement of the land, to furnish a part of the purchase money, and to defray the transport, journey and other expenses of the first colonists, a society was formed, under the name of The Wachovia Society, consisting of members of the brethren's church and other friends. The di- rectors of it were bishop Spangenberg and Cornelius Van Laer, a gentleman residing in Holland. The members of it, who were about twenty, received in consideration for the money which they advanced, two thousand acres of the land. This society was
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again dissolved, in the year 1763, having proved very beneficial, and answered the intended purpose. In the autumn of the year 1753, the first colonists, twelve single brethren," or unmarried men, came from Beth- Jehem to settle upon the land. They had a waggon, six horses, cattle, and the necessary household furni- ture and utensils for husbandry with them. After a - very tedious and fatiguing journey, by way of Win- chester, Evan's Gap and Upper Sauratown, on which they spent six weeks, they arrived on the land the 17th of November, and took possession of it. A small de- serted cabin, which they found near the Mill creek, served them for a shelter, or dwelling house, the first winter .; They imediately began to clear some acres of land, and to sow it with wheat. In the year 1751, seven new colonists, likewise single brethren, came from Bethlehem. It was resolved, that on the same spot, where the first settlers had made already a small improvement, a town should be built, which was named Bethabara, (the house of passage) as it was meant only for a place of sojourning for a time, till the prin- cipal town, in the middle of the whole tract, could be built, at a convenient time. Bishop Bohler, who was here on a visit from Bethlehem, laid, on the 26th of November the corner stone for the first house in this
* Their names are : The reverend Bernhard Adam Grube. minister, Jacob Lash, warden, Hans Martin Kalberlahn, sur- reon, Jacob Pfeil, shoemaker, Erich Ingelretsen and Henry Feldhousen, carpenters, Hans Petersen, taylor, Christoph Merkle, baker, Herrman Lash, miller, Jacob Lung, John Beroth and John Lisher, farmers.
į On the spot where this cabin stood a monument was erected in the year 1806, with the inscription, Wachovia settlement, begun the 17th November, 1753.
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town, which was appointed for a church and dwelling house of the single brethren, with prayer and suppli- cation to our Lord, that he might prosper the work. He likewise examined more accurately the greatest part of the Wachovia tract, divided it into proper parts for improvement, and gave names to several creeks, which are yet sometimes used, and are to be found in deeds and public records.
The Mill creek, on which Bethabara, or Old town, is built, was called Johanna, the Muddy creek, or Gargales, on which Bethany was afterwards built Dorothy, the Middlefork, on which now Salem, the principal town, stands, Wach, and the Southfork, which waters the Friedberg and Friedland settlements, Ens. In the year 1755, a mill was began to be built, on Mill creek, near Bethabara, which proved a great benefit to the settlement. and the circumjacent country. as more inhabitants soon settled in the neighborhood. In the month of May, bishop David Nitschmann came on a visit from Bethlehem, and on the 11th of the same month, the first meeting house was consecrated, which solemn transaction was attended with a gracious feel- ing of the divine presence. Many travellers and neighbors have heard afterwards, in this house, the word of life, with joy and gratitude. The physician, or surgeon, soon acquired an extensive practice, which was a great benefit to this infant settlement. In the autumn of the same year, Wachovia was declared by an act of assembly a separate parish, and after the name of their governor, called Dobb's parish. The reverend Christopher Thomas Benzien, from Bethle- hem, was commissioned to transact this business with
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the assembly. This regulation lasted to the year 1756. The reverend Mr. Jacob Rodgers, who came in the year, 1758 from England, was the first minister, or rector, of Dobb's parish. His ministry, as the preach- ing of the gospel by the brethren in general, was at- tended with great blessing to many bearers in the different places, on Muddy creek, Southfork, S.c. where they used to preach, and particularly to a great number of people, who, on account of the war with the Shawanoes and Delaware Indians, in 1756, and the following years, sought, and found, refuge with the brethren. The latter enclosed their town, Bethabara, and the adjacent mill, near which some of the fugitives built houses, with pallisadoes. As there was at the same time a great scarcity of corn in North Carolina and Virginia; for the crop of Indian corn, which is the chief support of the inhabitants, had failed, the . brethren, who had reaped a great quantity of wheat and rye, were enabled to supply the wants, not only of these fugitives, but also of many other people.
In the year 1758, the Cherokees and Catawbas, who went to war against the Indians on the Ohio, often marched through Bethabara, in large companies, sometimes several hundreds at once, and the brethren were obliged to find them quarters and provisions for several days. The Cherokees were much pleased with the treatment which they met, and gave to their nation the following description of Bethabara: The Dutch fort, where there are good people and much bread.
As several of the fugitives, who had constantly at- tended the preaching of the gospel. and felt the power
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of it, asked leave of the brethren to stay with then and to settle on their land, it was resolved in the year 1759, when bishop Spangenberg and the reverend Mr. John Ettwein, from Bethlehem, were present, to lay out another town, three miles to the north from Beth- abara, on Muddy creek, in the northwest corner of Wachovia tract. This was done in the month of July, and two thousand five hundred acres of land assigned to the town lot, which the inhabitants of the town should hold for a certain yearly rent, after three years rent free, for the first settlers. The town was called Bethany. It was laid out into thirty lots, fifteen of which in the upper part were assigned to the fugitives. and fifteen in the lower town were appointed for such families in Bethabara, (which settlement of Jate had received an increase of ten families from Bethlehem,) who might be inclined to begin husbandry and house- keeping for themselves; for, hitherto, every thing at Bethabara had been done and laid out for the common good, as was the case in Bethlehem, in the first be- ginning of that settlement. Bethabara was visited in the autumn of 1759, with an epidemical disorder, of which eleven persons died, and among them the Ger- man minister of the place, the reverend Christian Seidel, and the surgeon, Mr. Kalberlahn.
In the year 1760, the devastations and cruelties of the Cherokees, who had now joined the northern In- dians in the war against the white people, put the inha- bitants of Bethabara and Bethany under the necessity of being day and night continually upon their guard. Hostile Indians came often very near their towns, with an intention to destroy them, and to kill the inhabitants
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or making them prisoners, but never ventured to make an attack. Often times, they were frightened by the ringing of the bell for meeting at church, which meet- ings the brethren in both places kept regularly on Sundays, and every evening in the week. Many sol- diers, marching against the Indians, attended divine service in both places. In Bethany, about four hun- dred were present at it, on Easter Sunday. Besides the meeting house, ten dwelling houses were, in April, 1760, already built and inhabited, in this new town,
When peace was established, in the year 1761, with the Cherokees, the settlements increased in the following years in numbers, by new colonists from Pennsylvania, and trade and commerce began to flourish. At the end of the year 1765, the number of inhabitants in Bethabara was 88, and in Bethany 78. The greatest part in the latter place were farmers, and in the former tradesmen, as taylors, shoemakers, car- penters, potters, tanners, milwrights, gunsmiths, f.c. In the year 1266, the beginning was made to build Salem, the principal settlement of the Unitas Fratrum in North Carolina, five miles to the south east from Bethabara. Hitherto, all the brethren and sisters who settled in North Carolina, came from Pennsylvania. But, in this year, the first company, consisting of ten persons, came from Germany, by way of London and Charleston. As bishop Spangenberg, who with unre- mitted zeal and diligence had superintended the affairs of these settlements, returned, in the year 1763, to Europe, Frederick William von Marshall, senior ci- xilis of the Unitas Fratrum, was appointed in his place, in the year 1764. He laid out, in 1265, the
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town of Salem, went in 1766 to Europe, to transact there the necessary business concerning this new set- tlement, and returned in 1768, with several brethren and sisters. In the conferences, which he had during his stay in Europe with the elders of the brethren's unity, it was resolved, that Salem should be built in the same manner, and have the same regulations as Herrnhut, Niesky, Bethlehem, and other settlements of the United Brethren, wherein the unmarried men and boys, and the unmarried women and girls, live in separate houses, by themselves. The house for the unmarried men, or single brethren, was built in the years 1768 and 1769.
In this and the following years, several families, chiefly farmers, from different parts of Pennsylvania, and the province of Maine, in New-England, settled on the Wachovia tract, and in the neighborhood of it, with a desire, that they and their children might be under the care of the brethren's church, and instructed by them in their way of life. Most of them were be- fore in the connexion of the brethren, and had heard from them the gospel of our salvation through Christ's atoning blood and death, with a blessing for their souls. A part of the German families, who came from Pennsylvania, settled in the neighborhood of Bethany, where they attended regularly the meetings on Sunday : most of them having joined in the following time the brethren's church. Another part of said German fa- milies settled on the waters of the Southfork, in the southwest part of Wachovia. Several of these new, and some of the old, settlers in these parts, to whom the brethren had preached the gospel, since the year
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1758, in the house of Adam Spach, were formed into a society of the brethren, and put themselves under their care in spiritual things. A meeting and school house was built on a piece of ground, consisting of seventy-seven acres, and consecrated for divine service on the 12th March, 1769. This settlement received the name of Friedberg. Another settlement in the south east part of Wachovia land, on the head waters of Southfork and on the Middlefork was begun in 1770, by about fourteen German families, who in this and the year before arrived from Broad bay, now York county, in Maine, in the state of Massachusetts. The first company, consisting of six families, was ship- wrecked on their voyage from Broad bay to Wilming- ton, in North Carolina, near the island of Roanoke, but no lives were lost, and most of their goods saved. They found for the first, winter quarters and provisions in Salem, and assisted in building several houses in the new town. When the second company, consisting of eight families, accompanied by their minister, the reverend Mr. Soelle, arrived, the farm lots of the new settlement were laid out, in November, 1770, and the settlement called Friedland. In the middle of it, a lot of thirty acres was reserved for a meeting and school Irouse. In the year 1771, the inhabitants in all the Wachovia settlements, and especially those in Betha- bara, were in great danger, on account of the regula- tors, who were very numerous in these parts, and se- veral times threatened to destroy the settlements of the brethren, as they would not join them in their opposi- tion to government. Governor Tryon, after having obtained a complete victory over them. and re-esta-
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blished order and peace, came with his army to Beth- abara, to receive the oath of allegiance, and take the arms of all people in the neighborhood, who had op- posed government, He and his army were highly gratified by the treatment they met from the brethren, and by their improvements and progress in agriculture and the mechanical arts. The brethren, on their part, acknowledged, with heartfelt gratitude, the mercy of God, in averting from them all evil in these perilous times, and in strengthening the arm of government for their protection,
In order to promote the internal and external wel- fare of the settlements of the brethren in North Caro- lina in general, and especially to assist in the regula- tions concerning the principal settlement at Salem. a deputation arrived this year from Europe, which was sent in conformity to a resolution, made in the general synod of the Unitas Fratrum, which was held in the year 1769, in Marienburg, in Germany, The deputies were two members of the elders' conference of the Unitas Fratrum, Christian Gregor and John Lorez, the first of whom was afterwards consecrated a bishop, and the latter a senior civilis of the bre- thren's church. Hans Christian von Schweiniz. Mr. von Marshall's son in law, one of the directors of the brethren's settlements in Pennsylvania, also assisted in this service. They arrived in September, 1771, from Pennsylvania, and having finished the work committed to their care, to the satisfaction of all the brethren and sisters, to whom this visit gave much joy and encouragement, they returned in November to Bethlehem. On the 13th of that month, the congre-
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gation and meeting house in Salem, to which the corner stone had been laid on the 17th April, 1770, was consecrated.
In the year 1772, several English families, who lived in Carrollsmanor, in Frederick county, Mary- land, and had been many years in connexion with the brethren's church, came to North Carolina, and be- gan a settlement in the southwestern part of Wacho- via tract. on the waters of Muddy creek. This settle- ment, which in the following year was increased by several other families from Maryland, received after- wards the name of Hope. A number of English fami- lies, living on the Yadkin river and Muddy creek, had the gospel preached unto them, since the year 1758, by the Rev. John Ethvein, Rogers, Usley and Soelle, and other ministers of the brethren's church, at stated times, in the houses of Christopher Elrod and Isaac Douthil, whereby they became connected with the brethren's church, and attended several years the meetings in Bethabara, Salem and Friedberg. Some of them became members of the latter congregation, the meeting house of which being the nearest to them. As these English families had a desire to have the gospel regularly preached unto them, in their own language, they, in conjunction with the English fami- lies arrived from Maryland, formed themselves into a society, with the intent to become in time a settled congregation of the church of the United Brethren, and to build a meeting house in the new settlement, wherein divine service might be held, and the holy sacraments administered unto them in their own lan- guage. Salem received this year an increase of above
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sixty persons from Bethabara and Pennsylvania; and Friedberg, its settlement and regulations as a congre- gation of the brethren's church, and the holy commu- nion was held for the first time in the meeting house, which had been built in this settlement as early as the year 1769.
In the year 1773, Wachovia, formerly a part of Anson, and afterwards of Rowan county, became a part of Surry county. By and act of assembly, made in this year, it was confirmed to be a separate parish. A vestry was elected in April, consisting of twelve persons, and two church wardens were appointed. The Rev. John Michael Graff, minister of the congre- gation in Salem, to whom the Rev. Paul Tiersch, who came last year from Pennsylvania, was associa- ted in this office, was on the 6th June consecrated in Bethlehem, a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. He ordained, on the 17th October, in Salem, Ludolph Gottlieb Bachhoff and John Jacob Ernst, deacons of the brethren's church: this was the first act of ordina- tion performed in Wachovia .. The general direction of all the settlements and congregations of the bre- thren in North Carolina, was now committed to Fre- derick William von Marshall, senior civilis, and John Michael Graff, ep. for., to whom were associated Paul Tiersch, presbyter, and Richard Usley, deacon. They had to superintend all the general concerns, as well internal as external, and to deliberate on them in conference, under the name of the General Helpers? Conference for Wachovia.
The special direction of the three congregations in Salem, Bethabara and Bethania, was vested in an
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elders' conference, consisting of the above named per- sons and all the ministers and elders of said congre- gations, who met regularly once a week in Salemi. Committees, elected by the church members, were anew appointed in every place to assist the elders' conference, in keeping good order, and in transacting the external affairs of their congregations. Similar committees were afterwards constituted in Friedberg, Friedland and Hope.
In the years 1774 and 1775, two faithful gospel ministers entered into the joy of their Lord, viz: the Rev. Paul Tiersch on the 16th October, 1774, and the Rev. Richard Usley on the 9th October, 1775. In the beginning of the latter, Frederick William von Marshall went to Europe, accompanied by his wife, and attended the general synod of the Unitas Fra- trum in Barbey, in Saxony, as senior civilis and de- puty of all the brethren's congregations in North Carolina. He took his way through South Carolina and Georgia, and visited the missionary settlement of the brethren, which in the preceding year had been commenced on general Habersham's estate, in Geor- gia, for the conversion of the negroes, and conducted unto the missionaries an assistant from Salem.
During the revolutionary war, which commenced in 1726, the settlements of the brethren in North Carolina, suffered great hardships and losses, but ex- perienced at the same time many signal proofs of the gracious providence and powerful protection of the Lord, to whom alone they ascribed their preservation in these perilous times, and who inclined the hearts of superior and inferior magistrates, and officers of the
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armies on both sides, to interpose in their favor, often- times when they found themselves in the greatest dis- tress and anxiety.
In 1778, several brethren were drafted for military service in the army, and each of them had to pay £25 North Carolina currency for a substitute: ill dis- posed persons took out warrants on the lands of the brethren. The system of parishes being abolished, the name of Dobbs' parish ceased of course. In the new county of Wilkes, the court house was built on a tract of land on Yadkin river, near the Mulberry fields, which had been granted in the year 1754 by lord Granville to Henry Cossart, in trust for the Uni- tas Fratrum, and on which certain persons had set- tled without leave. This occasioned in the following time a law suit, between the Unitas Fratrum on one side, as plaintiffs, and the persons who settled on the land, as defendants.
In January, 1779, the Rev. Gottfried Præzel and Christian Heckwælder, were sent to the general as- sembly, then sitting at Halifax, with a petition, signed by the greatest part of the brethren in Salem, Betha- bara, Bethania and Friedberg, praying to be exempted from taking the oath of abjuration, and for protection in the quiet possession of their land, as several persons had entered in the new established land office several parts of the Wachovia lands, and even the town lots of Salem, Bethabara and Bethania. Upon this petition, the general assembly made a law, that the brethren, if they should take the atfirmation of allegiance and fidelity to the state of Carolina, and the United States, should remain in the quiet possession of their proper-
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ty, and be exempted from all personal military doties; provided they pay a triple tax. In conformity to this Jaw, the brethren took the affirmation of allegiance and fidelity before a justice of the peace, and remain- ed from that time undisturbed in the possession of their property, and of those privileges granted unto them by the before mentioned act of the British parliament and the assembly of this state.
A troop of light horse, belonging to general Pu- laski's corps, were quartered in May of the same year, several days in Salem, and attended public wor- ship, with great satisfaction. Their deportment was very civil, and they paid all their expenses. As one of them had lately recovered from the small pox, the town of Salem was infected, and forty persons got the disorder, of whom two died. Frederick William von Marshall returned, with his wife, from Europe, after an absence of nearly five years, being there so long detained on account of the war. They made the voy - age from London to New-York in company with bishop John Frederick Reichel, a member of the Unity's elder's conference, who was deputed by it to hold a visitation of all the brethren's settlements and congregations in the United States of America, and arrived, with his wife, in Salem, in June 1780, with some assistants for the service of the congregations in North Carolina. During his stay, from the 15th June to the 5th October, he published the resolutions of the last general synod of the Unitas Fratrim, which was held in Barby, in 1755, made the necessary regulations in conformity to them, ordained three deacons, bap- tised several adult persons, and strengthened the con- 6
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