USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 33
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34 In a board-meeting on September 2, following, it was observed that nobody who did not understand it should attempt to clean the spring, for in this country the springs had the. peculiarity that they dried up if stirred in at the wrong time. Did this refer again to the folk- notion mentioned earlier, that the state of the moon must be heeded ? On February 4, 1751, the singular record occurs that the spring which had ceased to flow about a year prior to that, was suddenly running again; as were also springs along the Monocacy on the way to- Nazareth, that had been been dry more than a year.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
Nothing about Bethlehem in those days excited the interest of visitors so much as the water-works. Even before the plan had been successfully tested, when they were yet in process of construction, the project was mentioned in descriptions of the place, as one of its notable features. The earliest such reference to it in print is probably that of the Swedish Lutheran Provost, the Rev. Israel Acrelius, in his history of the Swedish Churches of former New Sweden and descriptions of the adjacent regions, written in 1758. He visited Bethlehem "in company with the Rev. Pastor Peter Brunnholtz, Pastor Eric Unander and Mr. Sleydon," in June, 1754, just two days before the first successful experiment, when the water was forced "as high as the houses." He refers to this project at which "the Brethren were working very actively and industriously." This, he says, "will be a very useful work for the cloister,85 for hitherto it has kept a man busy from morning till night to carry the water up the hill to the houses."
Among the various industries mentioned in an interesting manner by Dr. Acrelius, was a particular one that reveals the disposition of that time at Bethlehem to experiment with every possible thing, in extending the range of activities and products. This was the culture of silk-worms carried on in the Brethren's House since 1752. He found two men in charge of the brood who were kept busy gathering and spreading mulberry leaves. It was explained to him that there
35 The description given of Bethlehem by the Rev. Provost, while highly interesting and. in the main, not as objectionable in tone as the animadversions of Lutheran divines of that time usually were, nevertheless reveals a preconceived aversion to the Brethren. A quizzing manner, with bantering questions and derogatory comments by the party, made their escorts at Bethlehem reserved and ill at ease; for they were not sure that it was not all preparatory to a new contribution to the library of publications against "The Herrn- huters " that had accumulated. Spangenberg, to whom he had a letter of introduction, and who would have met him with ease and dignity, as his peer in all respects, and would, That his perhaps, have enlightened him on some points, was, unfortunately, not at home. acquaintance with the Moravian Church was very defective, and that he entirely miscon- ceived the genesis of things at Bethlehem, as well as the nature of the settlement and its establishments, appears in the opening sentence of his description : "Bethlehem is a Protestant cloister belonging to the Herrnhut Brotherhood, established in the year 1743 by Count Zinzendorff, the founder of the Brotherhood, and instituted by David Nitschmann, Spangenberg, Anna Nitschmann and others, as the elders and officers of the society." It sounds like some articles in modern newspapers, by persons who, after reading such accounts, come and stroll about the town a few hours, pick up some stories at random and then pro- ceed to write up " Bethlehem and the Moravians." The extracts given above are from the translation of Acrelius published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1876.
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BETHLEHEM
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were always persons available for such light duty "who could not be employed for anything else." He drew the amusing inference that these were the "indispensable" musicians who were continually in readiness for service and could not "be put to any hard work;" although the previous evening, when he asked his escort whether he could not hear some music, he was told that it was doubtful because the men "were weary from their work." Some of the hardest toilers, stone-masons, carpenters and farmers, were among the musicians. He was informed that £20 might be expected from the silk product of that year, and that there was a larger cocoonery at Nazareth. That one was started in 1753 by the Rev. Philip Christian Bader, house chaplain at Christiansbrunn, who had come over with Span- genberg two years before and had made the original attempts at Bethlehem. Several times the yield of silk was considerable.
The first efforts to foster this industry were suggested to the minds of these men by the large number of mulberry trees in the forest about Bethlehem. Experiments were tried also with the cocoons of wild worms found on these trees. Bader's cocoonery was continued a number of years at Christiansbrunn.36
The more important industries at Bethlehem were at this time in successful operation, well manned and well regulated; and the variety of articles produced, not only to meet the practical needs of the com- munity but also for sale to others, is surprising. Spangenberg's executive ability which had again gained control of the situation, the efficiency and faithfulness which, in the main, distinguished the men in charge of departments, as well as the cheerful diligence with which most of the mechanics and laborers applied themselves to their tasks,
36 There have been four silk epochs at Bethlehem and in the surrounding region. The second was near the end of the eighteenth century, when scientific and industrial organiza- tions were encouraging efforts at silk culture, even offering premiums. Bishop Ettwein at Bethlehem, and the Rev. David Zeisberger-cousin of the famous missionary-at Nazareth, were giving special attention to it and making it fairly profitable. They were in cor- respondence in 1793, with President Stiles of Yale College, who was conspicuously in- terested in this, as in so many other efforts in the line of scientific progress and economic improvement. The third was the contagion of the wide-spread, notorious morus mul- ticaulis craze of 1837-39 which also struck Northampton County, when so many farmers, thinking to get rich quickly by raising silk worms, were victimized into planting their fields with real or alleged mulberry trees, by tricky speculators. With very few exceptions, the venture never advanced beyond excitedly buying the trees, planting them and then, when the fever passed, digging them up in disgust and burning them. The fourth came in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, when the era of silk-mills suddenly opened in the Lehigh Valley and brought a new and important addition to the industries of Bethlehem.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
combined to keep the machinery of the whole running smoothly. There had been a disposition among some, for a while, to chafe under the rigid restraints and minute regulations of the Economy. Novelty had worn off and enthusiasm subsided. The more substantial qualities of sterling loyalty and staunch faithfulness to the common purpose were then tested. Here and there one severed his con- nection and went his way or subjected himself to expulsion. Some such returned and sought readmission. Those who were in control knew that the system, as then operated, was necessarily only a temporary expedient and it was never intended to be anything else. The question was carefully considered whether the time had come to do away with it, but the difficulty of dealing with all the new problems that would be involved in radical changes, not yet prepared for, appeared, at that time, to be greater than the difficulty of maintaining the existing methods. Hence, in the summer of 1754, the conclusion was reached to continue the General Economy a few years longer, and meanwhile to develop the regulations to which all voluntarily bound themselves, into something more like a contract, in which men would feel not merely sentiment and enthusiasm appealed to, but conscience and honor laid under obligation. On August 19, 1754, a general meeting of all the adult members at Beth- lehem and "the upper places" was held for the purpose of considering the fundamentals of the situation. Bishop Spangenberg communi- cated a document in eight elaborate paragraphs, setting forth the central objects for which the co-operative union existed, and the cardinal principles upon which it rested. These, when fully elucidated, were to be submitted for common agreement, formal adoption and signature. There was a second reading and discussion on the 21st and a third on September 2; all having been given full opportunity to express their views in the Church Council, or, if they preferred, in writing to the executive board. The paragraphs were all adopted and signed as the first formal "Brotherly Agreement" of the people of Bethlehem and the Nazareth stations. After this had been accepted by all, with a general toning up of morale and strength- ening of bonds for a new start on this basis, various special measures were agreed to, more strictly of a business char- acter. These had long been felt to be desirable, but prior to those general discussions and conclusions, would not so readily have found intelligent acceptance. The most important of them, perfected and communicated in November, was a formal agreement in writing
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1749-1755.
drawn up in final shape, in English, by Charles Brockden of Phila- delphia with the aid of legal counsel. It bound each male adult who remained a member of the Economy or joined it, in five points. These were a declaration of his purpose in belonging to it, as set forth in the Brotherly Agreement ; a disavowal of any improper or undue influence of any kind from any quarter ; an agreement to give due notice of intention to leave and to peaceably withdraw upon due notice of request to do so; an agreement to accept all conditions as found and conform to all regulations ; a promise to sign a quit- claim or release of all demands upon the property held by the Pro- prietor for the Church, or of wages for work performed while living at Bethlehem as a member of the Economy under the accepted conditions. Over against the misunderstanding and misrepresentation to which the general terms of membership have been subjected, it is of importance that four facts be borne in mind. The first is that no individual or body of individuals was enriched in property by the labor of the people under this agreement. The second is that every man, woman and child was entirely provided for in all material and spiritual things-fed, clothed, nursed in sickness, instructed and pastorally cared for, while a member of the Economy under this agreement. Many were thus much better provided for and made much more comfortable than they would have been if taking care of themselves. The third fact is that every adult was entirely at liberty to leave at any time if he wished, and to enter employment for wages elsewhere, or follow his inclinations as he chose. The fourth is that these agreements did not in any way affect the private property of any one possessed of an estate. If any one had loaned money to the general treasury or made it his banker, the release he signed had no bearing on this, which was purely a business transaction, apart from the agreement signed, and settlement was made the same as with any other creditor.
That this strengthening of the institution on a more business-like basis for a further term of existence was thus accomplished without any defection or even serious difficulty in securing unanimous agree- ment, with an adult population of nearly four hundred involved, is all the more notable because the number of quite new recruits who would be more likely to agree, as novices, to anything that was pro- posed, was very small. The men, with few exceptions, had made trial of the situation long enough to know all sides and aspects of it, both desirable and undesirable. They had also learned enough of
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
surrounding conditions and opportunities to have felt whatever there was of temptation to break away from the compact, and either with- draw to begin an independent life elsewhere, or press for the abolition of the system when the subject was opened for general debate.
The members of Gottlieb Pezold's colony, which had lately arrived, had been only in part incorporated in the Economy. Many were distributed at the new settlements in Lancaster County and in Wachovia, North Carolina. After that, until 1761, there were far fewer arrivals from Europe than in previous years. When that colony was safely landed at New York, Captain Garrison determined to quit the sea. He passed most of the time to the middle of July, 1755, at Bethlehem. On January 4, 1755, his son Nicholas Garrison, Jr., was officially appointed captain of the Irene for her next voyage. He sailed from New York, February 4, and on August 12, brought the vessel back to her dock ; but under trying circumstances, for small-pox had broken out on board, carrying off three children during the voyage. The passengers were placed in quarantine on Kennedy's (Bedloe's) Island. Only four of these with four children are men- tioned by name in the records and were Moravians who came to Bethlehem; one of the children being born while the mother was in quarantine, suffering with the disease. When Bishop Spangenberg heard of their distressing plight he hastened to New York and tried to secure their release and transfer to private quarters, but could not effect anything. These persons, who reached Bethlehem September 25, were William Thorn with his wife and two children from England-he left Bethlehem "without saying good-bye," the end of March, 1757, to shift for himself-and the Rev. Lewis William Weiss37 from Germany, with his wife, the infant born in quarantine at New York, and another child. When the Irene sailed again,
37 This was the later well-known Lewis Weiss, conveyancer, counsellor-at-law and Justice, of Philadelphia. He had studied in the Moravian Theological Seminary at Lindheim and been ordained, 1746, but did not follow the ministry after he came to America. In framing legal documents and as a guide in all matters relating to title and conveyance of real estate, he was an acknowledged expert of first rank in Philadelphia. He rendered the Moravian Church important service for many years as legal agent and counsel, and at one period (1788) the Church owed more than has ever been acknowledged in published history, to his ex- cellent judgement and acumen, and his persistent concern for the welfare of its interests, even when not listened to for a while, in persuading the authorities to take special measures, which he saw were necessary at that stage, to secure and establish the title to its real estate in Pennsyvania beyond all possible question, and remove all suspicion of a flaw which the unclearness of certain important documents might have awakened.
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November 9, 1755, she was in command of Christian Jacobsen of Staten Island, the able and experienced seaman who had made a number of voyages, as mate, with Captain Garrison, and now became captain of the vessel.38 Captain Garrison and his wife were passengers on this voyage.
One long-familiar figure was wanting at those important meetings in the summer and autumn of 1754, and at the inception of the newest enterprise on the Barony of Nazareth, in the spring of 1755. Henry Antes was not there. These affairs did not lie in the sphere of more general business of the Church, with which he yet had to do, and the heavy labors of his busy life had broken his powerful frame so that during those months he was much of the time an invalid, fre- quently suffering intensely. He visited Bethlehem the last time on June 16, 1754. After that, when consultations with him were necessary, they took place at his home. On June 13, 1755, a message came to Bethlehem that he was very ill and his daughter was taken to Fredericktown to see him. There were repeated pilgrimages to his bed-side during the following weeks. On July 3, Bishop Span- genberg and Captain Garrison went to visit him the last time. The Bethlehem diary contains this record on Sunday, July 20: "A messenger came from Fredericktown this afternoon with the word that our dear brother, Henry Antes, who has rendered such good service to the Church and to the Economy at Bethlehem, passed away, happy in the Lord, this morning." Many a tear was shed at Bethlehem when this message was published. "All were very much affected," says the record. At five o'clock that Sunday afternoon, Spangenberg and his wife, Abraham Reinke, John Bechtel, Matthew Schropp, and eight others set out for Fredericktown. The funeral which took place the next day, was attended by a concourse of six hundred persons, as the record states, of all creeds and persuasions. Bishop Spangenberg spoke the words of consolation, the Rev. Abraham Reinke read the service at the grave, and ten of the men
38 He got back to New York, June 2, 1756, having on board fifteen single men, viz :- Seidel, John Henry (leader), Mueller, John, Boehninghausen, John Bartholomew, Ollringshaw, Henry, Busse, Andrew, Rippel, John Michael, Roth, John, Ruch, Michael, Hall, James, Hellerman, Caspar George, Koorts, Ellert, Schmaling, William Christopher, Mentzinger, George Ernst, Seneff, George,
Schmidt, Hans Jacob.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
from Bethlehem bore his remains to their place of rest on his farm. July 22, at ten o'clock at night, the Bethlehem delegation reached home again, bringing his eight-year-old daughter Benigna who, according to her father's wish and with her mother's full consent, was to be brought up and educated under the care of the Church. Dr. Adolph Meyer and David Bishop were appointed guardians of his minor children, in accordance with his last will and testament. He had also given instructions that all papers and letters relat- ing to affairs of the Church that were found among his effects, were to be sent at once to Bethlehem after his decease. He had selected a spot in the Bethlehem cemetery at which his remains were to rest. This could not be, but very soon a grave was made at that spot for another. On the morning of July 22, Justice Daniel Brodhead, who had come from his home up the Delaware to be treated for cancer of the throat by Dr. Otto, passed away at the home of James Burnside, north of Bethlehem. At the noon-day service his death was announced. It was stated that he had been a friend who was always interested in the welfare and prosperity of the Church and that he had departed in the happy anticipation and ardent longing to meet his Saviour. Justice Horsfield took charge of the funeral arrangements. Two other Justices of the County, Craig and Wilson, were among the large number of people from the surrounding country who, with his widow and her two sons, and the people of Bethlehem followed his remains to the cemetery at seven o'clock on the evening of July 23, and saw them laid to rest at the spot where the grave of Henry Antes was to have been. The weeks of his patient suffering at the house of Burnside were rendered the more pathetic by the fact that his host himself was at the time an invalid nearing his end, and they occupied a room together. On August 8, early in the morning, Burnside died. Horsfield sent messengers to all parts of the County to announce the departure of the Assemblyman. The funeral on the Ioth was attended by about 350 persons from the sur- rounding regions, besides the Bethlehem people. The Rev. Abraham Reinke preached the funeral sermon in English. Doubtless these two men as they passed their last days in that room, associated as they were with public affairs, spoke together of the threatening calamities that might follow the disaster to the British arms in the west, and, as men whose hearts were tender in the shadow of death, perhaps they prayed together for Pennsylvania and for Bethlehem.
CHAPTER IX.
BETHLEHEM DURING THE INDIAN UPRISING. 1755-1756.
The autumn of 1755 brought dark and dreary days to all the set- tlements on the frontiers and, therefore, also to Bethlehem. Although the storm burst upon the Forks of the Delaware with appalling sud- denness, the clouds had been slowly gathering for months, and already in mid-summer the first roll of distant thunder was heard. The report of the defeat of the British forces and the death of Gen- eral Braddock at Fort Duquesne, was brought to Bethlehem on Sat- urday morning, July 19.
The people were assembling to morning prayer when Nicholas Scull arrived from Philadelphia, as courier from the Provincial Coun- cil to Albany, to convey the report of this calamity with all speed to General Shirley. By virtue of a letter from Secretary Peters,1 he called for a fresh horse and a guide to Dansbury to expedite his jour- ney. They were, of course, furnished without delay.
While this occurrence produced considerable sensation, compara- tively few at Bethlehem possessed that knowledge of the general situation which would suggest to them all that the catastrophe por- tended; and probably the messenger who came the next day, not in haste and excitement, but with quiet sadness, to announce the death
1 " On his Majesty's service :
To the United Brethren at Bethlehem and Nazareth :
Gentlemen-The Bearer is sent by the Council, in the absence of the Gover- nor, with Despatches of the utmost consequence to General Shirley, at Albany. I earnestly entreat, you will furnish him with a good horse, if he wants one, and a guide to shew him the nearest way. If he arrives, time enough, it may be of infinite service to his Majesty's arms, and if you assist, it will be much for your honour. I am, gentlemen, Philadelphia, 18th July, 1755. Your humble servant,
To the Brethren
at Bethlehem and Nazareth.
RICHARD PETERS, by order of council."
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
of Henry Antes, caused far more emotion among the people. Not until four months later did they all realize fully the significance of that French victory for all the border regions, for the country over which the savage allies of the French had planned to wield the scourge of vengeance on account of the doings of 1737, and even for the Moravians, for their Indian missions and their little town of Bethlehem, at which the finger of suspicion had so long been pointed with slanderous inuendoes about serving French interests. Those at Bethlehem who were most familiar with the larger connections of circumstances and events, understood, of course, the uneasy and uncertain disposition of the powerful Iroquois confederacy, the irreconcilable Monseys, the treacherous Shawanese of Wyoming, and the many disaffected Delawares who were not under the influence of the missionaries. They understood that the French had a stronger hold upon them than that which the English had been trying to maintain, and that such a sudden reverse coming to the British arms might precipitate an Indian crisis. It was, furthermore, not unknown to better-informed men at Bethlehem that attempts had been made by French emissaries to tamper even with non-English elements among the white population of Pennsylvania in some quarters ; that it was a part of their cunning policy to pretend that they had their quiet allies among the German people of the Province in order to weaken the confidence of the government in its own citizens, while they counted upon the strong Quaker element in the Assembly with its passive policy of non-resistance-in some cases a sincere convic- tion and in others, perhaps, as charged, merely the cant under which was masked a dogged antagonism to the Proprietaries in the bicker- ings of the time-as a partial handicap to aggressive measures on the part of the government. The Moravians of Bethlehem, being classed with the Germans in suspected foreign sympathies and with the Quakers in alleged obstruction of all defensive measures, besides standing in closer relations to the Indians than any other people, naturally came under particular suspicion from these three points of view. Therefore, while there was not a grain of truth in the accu- sations against them in any of these three respects, the situation made it very difficult for them, and afforded abundant opportunity for those who mistrusted them to conceive a strong mass of cir- cumstantial evidence. They did not get excited, did not have much to say to any one, either about public matters or about their own affairs, did not, like so many of their neighbors, let their tools lie
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1755 -- 1756.
idle in the shops, the summer fruit rot in the orchards and gardens and the weeds grow rank in their corn, while they gathered at the court-house, the taverns and the mills to talk about the signs of the times, but went quietly on minding their own business and follow- ing their accustomed routine. This rendered their position all the more perplexing and suspicious to wrought-up minds. But more than anything else, the incessant tramp of squads of Indians to and fro between Bethlehem and the Wyoming Valley-often quite need- less and both burdensome and annoying to Bethlehem, but not to be prevented-kept suspicion and fear at a feverish stage among the people who were watching it.
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