USA > New Jersey > The early Germans of New Jersey : their history, churches, and genealogies. > Part 2
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"Our German Forefathers"
ADDRESS
Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., LL. D. Senior Pastor Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, N. Y.
MUSIC " Praise Ye The Lord"
PROCEEDINGS-TUESDAY EVENING IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Rev. William S. Delp, Presiding. ORGAN VOLUNTARY-ANTHEM ... "Praise the Lord O My Soul"
PRAYER,
Rev. James R. Gibson.
ANTHEM " I Will Lift Mine Eyes" "The Moravians of New Jersey" ADDRESS
Henry Race, M. D., Member of the New Jersey Historical Society.
ANTHEM
"O, Come Let Us Sing"
" The Lutheran Church in New Jersey"
ADDRESS
Rev. Alfred Hiller, D. D., Professor in Hartwick Seminary, N. Y.
MUSIC. " Ein Feste Burg"
ADDRESS.
"The Germans and the Reformed Dutch Church"
Rev. W. E. Davis, Lebanon, N. J.
ANTHEM
" Praise Ye The Lord"
ADDRESS ..
"The German Reformed Church in New Jersey"
Rev. T. F. Chambers,
Member of New Jersey Historical Society.
MUSIC
"Selected '
8
EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
GENERAL COMMITTEE.
E. M. Bartles, Pres't, Rev.W. S. Delp, V. P. John Parker,
L. Farrow, M. D.
I. S. Vescelius, F. D. Stephens,
Jacob W. Welsh, Jesse Weise, E. Willet, M. D.,
Jesse Hoffman, John Todd,
J. V. Stryker,
Anthony Trimmer, Isaac Dorland,
L. R. Schoenheit,
Silas Neighbour,
Elias Buchanan,
Andrew Axford,
Hagar Trimmer, Fred. Sharp, William Dufford,
Philip Welsh, M. T. Welsh,
Henry Dufford,
Isaac Roelofson, Elijah Dufford, M. M. Lindabury,
C. B. Hendershot,
James Anthony, Willard Apgar,
Wm. S. Naughright, Daniel Swackhamer, John T. Naughright,
W. N. Swackhamer, Lyman Kice,
Sylvester Lake,
Abner Dilts, Joseph Apgar, George Swackhamer,
Rev. T. F. Chambers, Sec'y.
COMMITTEE ON MUSIC.
F. D. Stephens,
W. S. Naughright, I. S. Runyon,
Theodore Van Nest,
Jonathan Bartley, A. P. Down,
E. J. Neighbour, William Dufford.
COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM.
Rev. T. F. Chambers, John Parker, Rev. W. S. Delp,
L. L. Rosenkrans, C. B. Hendershot. COMMITTEE ON FINANCE.
Elias M. Bartles, Lyman Kice, L. Farrow, M. D. J. W. Welsh. COMMITTEE ON ENTERTAINMENT.
M. T. Welsh,
J. W. Willet,
L. Richard Schoenheit, George McLean,
E. D. Naughright, Stewart Neighbour.
COMMITTEE ON DECORATION.
Miss Lillie Hager,
Miss Annie Trimmer,
Miss Luella Weise, Miss Edith Schoenheit,
Mrs. Jesse Weise, Miss Lydia Runyon.
Representative of Order of Odd Fellows, Rev. B. B. Collins.
Representative of Knights of Pythias, Hon. W. S. Naughright.
Representative of the Grand Army of the Republic, L. Richard Schoenheit.
9
THE CELEBRATION
A very interesting feature of the celebration was not on the program. This was a most appropriate and welcome address from the Hon. H. W. Miller, President of the Morristown Sav- ings Bank. Mr. Miller was called upon on the opening of the exercises in the afternoon to make some remarks in behalf of the Washington Association of New Jersey, which had sent a delegation of six prominent citizens of Morristown to represent them on this occasion. His address was as follows :
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
I thank you for the privilege and honor conferred upon me to express for the Washington Association of New Jersey its appreciation of your courtesy in extending to it an invitation to be present to-day at this 180th anniversary of the settlement of New Jersey by the Germans, and the Sesqui-centennial of German Valley.
We, who consider it our high privilege, as well as our sacred duty to guard and preserve the historic records and relics of the war that gave to us our glorious country, a country which is producing to-day the greatest achievements of human indus- try and thought, enlightening the whole globe and controlling the policies and markets of every nation, we feel that indeed we have a high duty to perform, and are encouraged and aided materially in this duty by the ceremonies so well conceived and carried out by you to-day, for the very creditable purpose you have in view. And what better object can we have to call us together, as we have been on this occasion, than that of pre- serving the history of those periods of our country's life when she was in her infancy struggling for existence, and when her people were overflowing with patriotic devotion for her welfare.
In coming here to-day we seem to have stepped within the boundaries of an enchanted circle, where, as in the Sargasso Sea, the winds and storms and currents are all quieted by a peaceful influence, and from whence are bred again the powers which give life and progress to the air, and energy to the world. For here in this peaceful valley, just outside of the maelstrom which swept so near its borders in the War of the Revolution, throwing off to it the heartrending and heartstirring fragments and again catching up the zeal and energy of the honest and
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
noble spirits, dwelling in this beautiful valley and throwing them with new-born energy into the battle for liberty, we find still at this day, peacefully dwelling the same families, the same names, with the same honesty, zeal, religion and patriotism, ready to develop the same energy with equal earnestness, as in those trying times of old.
It is with great respect to you, Mr. President, and to the Committee, that I thank you in the name of the Washington Association of New Jersey for your courtesy extended to us, and I regret exceedingly the absence of our distinguished President, not only for his own sake, but because he would express the mind of the Association in far better words than I am able to do.
May I in my own behalf express my heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of addressing you in these few words, unworthy as they are, on this occasion, and on this spot, where my ances- tors soon after their arrival in their new country settled and lived, and where my father, so much honored by you, was born, and where he received in his boyhood those teachings of hon- esty and patriotism, which he never forgot, and which by example and precept he sought to use for the benefit of his fellow countrymen.
REV. THEODORE F. WHITE, D. D.
REV. E. B. ENGLAND.
CHAPTER II. OUR GERMAN FOREFATHERS BY REV. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D. D., LL. D.
AUL, the Apostle, in his epistle to the Ephesians, speaking of the work of the Lord Jesus in breaking down the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, said it was for the purpose of making " of the twain one new man," better, far better than either was before the reconciliation. Applying this procedure on a lower scale, many have supposed that a similar result would follow from the mixed population of our own country. The ancient Athenians used with pride to call themselves autochtones, sprung from the soil of Attica and un- contaminated by the intermixture of an alien race. We can make no such boast, nor do we desire to. Our people are descended from a number of nationalities. We count among them English, Scotch and Irish, Hollanders and Walloons, Huguenots of France, and Germans from the Rhine and the Palatinate, together with a few from Scandinavia and from the shores of the Mediterranean. Each of these for a time kept separate, but commerce, trade and alliances of every sort overcame the natural influence of dif- ferent languages, customs and prejudices until the fusion was made complete by the common trials and triumphs of the war of the Revolution. Hence it has been claimed that in the new
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
world and under the influence of free institutions there has been developed a peculiar type of humanity, blending in itself the better traits of each of the races from which it was derived.
Supposing this to be true it may justly be asserted that among these elements composing the American people, a high place must be assigned that which came from Germany, a coun- try which from the earliest period has maintained a definite and strongly marked character. We are fortunate in having from the pen of the great Roman historian, Tacitus, an account which gives authentic information of the tribes who eighteen centuries ago held the region from the marches of Brandenburg to the Rhine. They were turbulent and adventurous nomads who wandered through the interminable forests, which covered the whole region, and, while their religion was mainly one of fear and their culture very limited, they had some noble instincts, and were distinguished for their respect for woman, their reverence for all family relations, and their love of per- sonal liberty and independence. This last mentioned charac- teristic made them a marked exception to the general fate of European tribes, in that they never fell a prey to the Roman arms. Northern Italy, Gaul, Switzerland, Spain and Britain were in succession brought under the sway of Rome, but Ger- many never. The attempt was often made but without success, and shortly before our era Varus, at the head of the flower of the Imperial soldiery, sustained a most disastrous defeat. The loss was so great that it is said the Emperor Augustus tore his- hair in anguish and cried out, " Varus, Varus, give me back my legions !" The leader of the Germans in this conflict was Hermann, or, as the Romans called him, Arminius, and his fame is perpetuated by a gigantic statue erected on the battle field near the town of Detmold. Rome made further efforts at subjugation, but success, when attained, was only temporary, and soon it became settled that the Danube was the northern boundary of the Empire. The independence of foreign control thus attained by Germany was retained all through our era, the country being sub-divided into numerous smaller provinces, each having its own ruler. These were not consolidated into a. homogeneous empire until the latter part of our own century.
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OUR GERMAN FOREFATHERS
The emigrants who came to America in the last century were mainly from the southern part of Germany, and they settled in different States or Colonies from the Mohawk to the Savannah, the largest single body settling in Eastern and Central Penn- sylvania. They brought with them their ancestral traits. Their valor was shown in the war of the Revolution under the lead of such men as Steuben, Herkimer and Muhlenberg. Nor did it fail to appear in the war with Mexico, nor in the longer conflict for the preservation of the Union.
They were distinguished for their industry and thrift, being mainly engaged in agriculture, and sometimes have been under- valued as inferior to other elements of the population. But the homebred virtues by which they were distinguished, their peace- ful and law-abiding character, and their orderly conduct made them a constituent part of the nation's strength and security. In intelligence and culture they fell below their neighbors, the Low Dutch or Hollanders, among whom reading and writing were as universally diffused two centuries ago as they are now any where. The reason is plain. The Low countries had the advantage of a large and varied commerce by sea, a rich devel- opment of the fine and mechanic arts, and a feudal system greatly modified by circumstances, whereas Germany was devastated by the THIRTY YEARS WAR (1618-1648), terminated only by the Peace of Westphalia. We groaned under the four year's war of the Rebellion, but for more than seven times that period huge armies swept over the plains of Germany, cities were taken by storm (Magdeburg) when every man was slain and every woman outraged, the population was more than decimated, and fertile fields turned into a wilderness. So great was the scourge that it is said that even now after the lapse of centuries its track can be distinctly traced. Inter arma leges [et literae] silent. In the struggle for existence education was neglected. And the German emigrants brought with them only those elements of culture that are inseparably bound up with the Protestant faith. How important these were is shown by the fact that a German Bible was printed in our country forty years before an English Bible was put to press.
As to religion the emigiants usually brought their ministers
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
with them and soon erected their houses of worship. In other cases their wants were supplied through the kind offices of Holland where the classes of Amsterdam was the medium of communication with the Fatherland. Nor were they slow to avail themselves of other means of supplying their needs. I remember seeing in some of the old records of the church [Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church] I serve an account of some Germans living twenty miles north of Philadelphia, who being without a minister and having among them a lay catechist, the son of an organist at Wurms, who could instruct their young and baptize their children, sent to the Dutch of New York an earnest request to give this man orders so that he could serve their necessities. Their request was granted.
Along with religion there went a high tone of morality. The people lacked the enterprise of other communities, but they also lacked the taste for wanton speculation which so often proves an ignis fatuus leading to disaster and ruin. They cultivated contentment with the allotments of Providence. They practiced honesty not only as the best policy but as indispensable to peace of mind. They rendered obedience to the law of the land as a duty they owed to God. Their love of country was both a passion and a principle. And so they lived, a peaceful, orderly, God-fearing people, making slow but sure progress in all that belongs to civic prosperity.
Hence the propriety of recalling what they were and what they did, and the great usefulness of such a celebration as is held to-day; an observance to which the people have responded in such numbers and with such heartiness. There is great ad- vantage as well as propriety in rescuing from oblivion or neglect the character of those from whom we trace our descent. As Lord Macaulay says, " It is a sentiment which belongs to the higher and purer part of human nature and which adds no little to the strength of states. A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." But a higher authority than the great English historian, even the Book of Books, has said, "The glory of children are their fathers." Since we have such an
REV. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D. D., L.L. D.
HI NRY RACE, M. D.
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OUR GERMAN FOREFATHERS.
ancestry, so patient and virtuous and faithful, let us strive to preserve and perpetuate their memory. Nay more. The ser- vices of this day, interesting and appropriate as they have been, will surely be but an empty formality if they do not stimulate alike the old and the young to cherish the recollection of our forefathers and to exemplify the diligence, thrift, integrity, loyalty, valor, domestic virtue and obedience to law which characterized them from first to last. The most of them came to the shores of the new world as refugees from a bitter and remorseless persecution. The Palatines and the Salzburgers stand high on the page of history as confessors of Christ who were driven from country, home and friends because they would not renounce the faith. We in this land of perfect religious liberty have no such trial to endure, and therefore the more should we venerate the brave men, women and children who set such a bright example of holy living and immutable fidelity.
CHAPTER III.
THE MORAVIANS OF NEW JERSEY
BY HENRY RACE, M. D.
ORAVIAN history in its earliest periods is somewhat obscure. It can be traced back to 1457 as one of the religions movements that followed the martyrdom of John Huss by the Council of Constance. They originated in Bohemia, and were at first called Bohemian Brethren. They were pious people who repudiated the practices of the Roman Cath- olic Church and worshipped God in simple fashion in quiet meetings for prayer and reading of the Scriptures, and called themselves Brethren. They were not communists, but held that the rich should give of their wealth to the poor and that Christians should live as nearly as possible like the apostolic community at Jerusalem. In 1467 they constituted themselves into a church separate from that of the government. They steadily increased, and in the early part of the sixteenth century they included four hundred congregations and a hundred and fifty thousand members in Bohemia and Moravia. The terrible persecutions which followed the unsuccessful attempt at revo- lution crushed the Protestantism of Bohemia and in 1627 the Evangelical Church had ceased to exist.
A few families in Moravia held religious services in secret and preserved the traditions of their fathers. In 1722 some of them, led by Christian David, left their homes and property to
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THE MORAVIANS OF NEW JERSEY
seek a place where they could worship God in freedom. The first company settled, by invitation of Count Zinzendorf, on his estate at Bertholdorp in Saxony. They were soon joined by others and built the town of Hernhut. Refugees came there from the villages and towns of Fulneck, Gersdorf, Gedersdorf, Kloten, Klandorf, Stechwalde, Seitendorf and Zauchtenthal, and were instrumental in the renewal of their organization. Their Episcopate had been continued, and in 1735 David Nitschman was consecrated first Bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church. Zinzendorf, with his wife and family and chaplain came to live among them, and they adopted a code of rules and ordained twelve elders to do pastoral work.
The Moravian Church has no formal creed, but holds that Scripture is the only rule of faith and practice. The Bohemian catechism, written by Bishop Luke, of Prague, in 1521, compris- ing 76 questions and answers, and entitled "Christian Instruc- tion in the Faith for Little Children," corresponds generally with the fundamental tenets of the Protestant Evangelical denominations.
Their settlements were co-operative, and had for their ob- ject the support of their Ministry and Missions. The members mutually contributed their individual labor for the common canse and lived collectively as one family. The surrender of personal or private property was not required as a condition of membership.
It was from Hernhut that the Moravian Church sent out her first Evangelists and religious teachers, into the other States of Germany and the Continent, and into Great Britain and her American Colonies.
In 1735 a Moravian settlement was undertaken at Savannah in Georgia Five years afterwards it was relinquished and most of its members migrated to Pennsylvania where more successful enterprises were inaugurated. Settlements were made at Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in what, later, became Northampton County. Of these the first named was instituted by Count Zinzendorf who gave the name of Bethlehem to the place, while celebrating the vigils of Christmas Eve in the soli- tary log dwelling which had been erected. The Bethlehem
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
tract consisted of 500 acres of land situated at the confluence of the Monocasy Creek with the Lehigh. It was bought April 2d, 1741, of William Allen, of Philadelphia, by Henry Antes as agent of the Moravians. It was part of a section which the Delaware Indians called Welagamika, rich soil.
In 1741 a company of immigrants, encouraged by the renowned evangelist, Rev. George Whitefield, and under the superin- tendence of the Moravian Bishop, Nitschman, set out from Philadelphia and found their way through the intervening forests to the new settlement. Year after year it grew.
Accessions came from the Fetter Lane Society in London, from Germany, Holland and other places on the Continent. The archives at Bethlehem show that in the first fifty years of the settlement 800 Moravians immigrated there from Europe ; 614 children were born ; 625 persons were buried in the church grounds ; 150 white adults and 125 Indians and Negroes were baptized ; and 134 persons ordained to the Ministry ; namely, 5 Bishops, 27 Priests and 102 Deacons.
The head men of the denomination resided there, men of devoted piety, who had consecrated their lives to the service of their Lord and Saviour, and in obedience to His last command to His disciples they labored as Missionaries in destitute settle- ments in nearly all the thirteen Colonies, and among the benighted Indians. The expressive device of their Episcopal seal was a Lamb with a Banner.
Many distinguished visitors from different parts of the coun- try were attracted to Bethlehem, some of whom were George Washington, Gen. Horatio Gates, the Marquis de LaFayette and other Generals of the Revolution ; John Hancock, Samuel Adams, James Duane, Richard Henry Lee, William Duer, Henry Laurens, Benjamin Harrison, John Adams, Henry Marchant, William Williams and other members of the Conti- nental Congress came and participated in the worship as con- ducted by Bishop Etwein.
In August, 1742, Count Zinzendorf made a transit through the upper valley of the Delaware, and was followed by Mis- sionaries from Bethlehem. Soon after, the settlers in Walpack and the region drained by the Paulin's Kill in Sussex, now
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THE MORAVIANS OF NEW JERSEY
Warren County, New Jersey, applied to the Moravians for a school and for the Gospel Ministry. A church and parsonage were erected for the use of the Evangelists, on the Broadhead settlement in Walpack and dedicated to the worship of God by Rev. Abraham Reincke in May, 1753. They were burned by the Indians in December, 1755, and the mission was abandoned.
In the more Southern Counties of New Jersey the Society had regular preaching stations at Maurice River, Penn's Neck, Raccoon, Cohansey, Middletown, Trenton, Maidenhead, Cross- wicks, Cranberry and Princeton.
In January, 1743, Paul Daniel Bryzelius was ordained to the Ministry by Bishop David Nitschman and sent by Zinzendorf to preach the Gospel to the descendants of the early Swedish settlers at Maurice River, Piles Grove, Narraticon and Penn's Neck. His Ministerial services were not approvingly received by the Swedish Lutherans, who were in the majority, and they closed the doors of their churches against him and compelled his withdrawal.
After the Moravians had established their settlement at Bethlehem, Pa., some of their members passed, occasionally, through New Jersey for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to the Indians of New York and New England. These Mis- sionaries, and Indian converts who accompanied them, were often entertained on these journeys by Samuel Green and his wife Anna Abigail, who lived in a log house where the village of Hope, Warren County, is now situated. The Moravian Ministers, Bruce Shaw, Joseph Powell and others, in passing, preached at their house. They were both baptized at Bethle- hem by the Revs. Nathaniel Leidel and John F. Cammerhoff ; they also had their children baptized and placed in the Moravian school to be educated.
During the French and Indian War they went to Bethle- hem for shelter, and lived for a time at Emaus, near that place. So great was their attachment to the Moravian brethren and so paramount their religious principles, that, in 1768, Mr. Green went to Bethlehem and offered them all the land comprised in the tract on which he lived, for the purpose of establishing a settlement at that place similar to the one at Bethlehem. After
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
consideration the brethren declined this generous offer because of regard for the interests of Mr. Green's children, who in their opinion would be wronged by their acceptance of the land as a gift. They purchased the tract for £1,000 cash, with the full consent of his two sons ; Green's house and garden, fire- wood and hay for two cows, were reserved for him and his family during their life time.
Samuel Green was the eldest son of Samuel Green, senior, a deputy surveyor, who filled various official positions in Amwell, Hunterdon County, and removed to Sussex in, or shortly previous to 1738. He is recorded that year as a voter in Greenwich township, which at that time was in Hunterdon, now in Warren County. In the latter part of his life he settled near Johnsonsburg, formerly called the Log Jail, at one time the County Seat of Sussex.
In the Secretary of State's office at Trenton, and also in the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa., is recorded a deed of conveyance of 500 acres of land from Benjamin Harris to Edward Kemp, dated March 26th, 1718. This same tract was conveyed, December Ist, 1754, by Samuel Green, senior, to " Samuel Green, junior, heir apparent of said Edward Kemp." This implies that the wife of Samuel Green, senior, was the daughter of Edward Kemp, and her eldest son, Samnel Green, junior, by the law of primogeniture then in force, was heir apparent of Edward Kemp, he having no male issue.
He, Samuel Green, junior, was born in, or near, 1705. There is no record of his birthplace, but, presumably, it was Amwell, Hunterdon County. He married, in 1740, Anna Abigail, daughter of Marmaduke Light, of Springfield, N. J. The Light or Licht, now Lick family, of Lebanon, Pa., are Morav- ians. Mr. Lick, who endowed the University in California which bears his name, is of that family, and was born in Lebanon County. That Mrs. Green was related to that family is probable, but not certain.
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