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 42
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Whatever unfavorable impressions these visitors received of one or another thing, and any adverse comments they may have passed have not been preserved in the extracts from that journal that have been published. They at least did not trouble themselves about the attitude of the Brethren towards the controverted points of school theology, or ask ill-mannered questions about this and that reproach which some grim divine or reckless sensation-monger had cast upon them in his book; and they had not come to write a racy story about the customs of the Moravians in which the main object would be to make it readable and have it accepted for publication, with the question of the truth of the things written a quite immaterial consid- eration, as has been the case with so many a story in much more recent times. They apparently did not even undertake, from the knowledge gotten through a conversation of a few minutes with the ferryman, or the inn-keeper, or the woman who sold fancy-work at the Sisters' House, to explain the principles and regulations of the Economy for the information of the public. Undoubtedly those girls left with the good will of all the Bethlehem people with whom they had come into contact.
That summer (1761) was a particularly fruitful one in field, orchard and garden, and the array of luxuriant growth, in well-kept condition, certainly enhanced the attractive appearance of the place, to which allusion is made by various people who visited it. Reference occurs in the records to the particularly abundant harvests of several years following the years of scarcity that had added to the trials of those dire times. It was therefore under cheerful circumstances that the first accessions to the population from Europe, since the arrival of the few with Bishop Boehler in December, 1756, were welcomed at Bethlehem near the end of October, 1761.
There was now another church-transport afloat-the fourth, called the Hope. After the loss of the Irene, Captain Jacobsen made several voyages with the brig Concord, which he brought over from Europe after his release from captivity. His last arrival with this vessel, noted in the records, was on June 14, 1760. His only passenger mentioned was Augustus Schubert bound
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for the Moravian settlement in North Carolina as physician. He started for his destination from Bethlehem early in September, 1760. Few details are on record about the building of the Hope. The busi- ness seems to have been left almost entirely in the hands of Captain Jacobsen; so much so that it would appear to have been rather a private undertaking on his part, with perhaps others associated with him, than an enterprise started by the Church authorities, as in the case of the Irenc. He served the Church, however, with this transport in the same manner, to such extent as was required. Henry Van Vleck, merchant, of New York, referred to before in these pages, a prominent Moravian and business agent of the Church authorities in that city, who had been one of the trustees of the Irene and at this time was acting for the others in final settlements on her account, made extensive use of the Hope for importing merchandise. Probably the enterprise was undertaken largely by his assistance and under his personal auspices. From several allusions it might almost be inferred that the vessel was purchased by Captain Jacobsen when in process of building at New Haven, and then finished and rigged under his direction. The first reference to the Hope found in the Bethlehem records is the statement in the diary on December 11, 1760, that, according to a report from the Moravian minister in New York, the Rev. Thomas Yarrell, Captain Jacobsen then had his ship called the Hope floated. Just before the close of the year the Captain himself reported to the board at Bethlehem that "his ship the Hope" was successfully launched on November 21, and brought safely to New York, December 9; and expressed his expectation that she would prove to be a good sailer. He stated also that he intended, shortly after New Year, to put off with her for Charleston, South Carolina, to take on a cargo for London, as none was to be had in New York. The vessel was registered on January 10, 1761, at New York, by Jacobsen and Van Vleck. She was recorded as "plantation built," of a hundred and twenty tons burden, carrying four cannon and a crew of thirteen men. On January 16, when lying in the harbor ready to sail, she came near being damaged by a great mass of ice causing her to drift to a dangerous place. On the 17th, "the day on which George III. was proclaimed King in the fort and in the city," the Captain set sail for South Carolina, but put back on account of heavy wind and the ice, and sailed again on the 19th. He sailed from Charleston, S. C., under convoy, February 23, for England, and reached Portsmouth, March 28. Letters reached Bethlehem, August
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
27, stating that the Hope, three weeks after leaving London, was lying off Portsmouth with sixty-nine souls on board-passengers and crew -waiting for a convoy. She finally sailed from Spithead, August 4, with a fleet of four men-of-war and eighty other craft, arrived at Sandy Hook, October 18, 1761, reaching her dock the next day.
Nathanael Seidel, returning after an absence of more than four years, was a passenger with his wife. He had during his absence been married to Anna Johanna Piesch, the grand-daughter of Father Nitschmann, who had been in America nine years before. He had also been consecrated a bishop on May 12, 1758. During this long absence he had not only participated in the successful consummation of a mass of legal transactions, to establish more securely the title to the estates of the Church in America, to which reference has already been made, but had engaged in several conspicuous tours and special labors in company with Count Zinzendorf who had now passed away from the joys and the toils of his earthly mission. He died at Herrn- hut, May 9, 1760, and the tidings of his decease reached Bethlehem, August 19. Seidel had also during that interval made a protracted and arduous official visit to the West Indies, and, after his return to Europe, had undergone a surgical operation for an ailment that had been brought on by the strain and exposure to which he had been so continually subjected during the years of his previous labors in America. He returned to Bethlehem to become the successor of Bishop Spangenberg as President of the Executive Board; Span- genberg's counsel and assistance being desired in the General Governing Board of the Church in Europe with the important and difficult task of a new epoch before it. Seidel furthermore, after the death of Father Nitschmann, became the nominal Proprietor of all American properties of the Church-those in North Carolina excepted -under the arrangement explained in a previous chapter. The most important immediate duties before him were those connected with the abrogation of the General Economy which was now to take place, and the thorough re-organization required, from the supervision of all the settlements, churches and missions down to the management of single farms and branches of industry that had belonged to the Economy. He was accompanied by the Rev. Frederick William von Marschall and his wife, Hedwig Elizabeth, who was a daughter of Hans Christian von Schweinitz. Being a man of high official standing, distinguished ability and large experience in affairs, Marschall had been chosen to eventually become General Superintendent of the work of the Moravian Church in North Carolina.
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Meanwhile he was to assist in the capacity of General Warden in the work of re-construction at Bethlehem. Nine other ordained men were with the company, two of them accompanied by their wives, two of them widowers and the rest single men. There were, in addition to these, twenty-one single men in the colony and ten women, one of them a widow and the rest single women.16 The name of the veteran ship steward David Wahnert appears for the last time in this list. He died at Herrnhut in 1765, after a life of more faithful and valuable service than many another about whom more has been said and written.
A strong body of men was added to the force at Bethlehem and in the work generally by the arrival of this colony ; so that the loss of Bishop Spangenberg the next year, with Bishop Boehler remaining yet for several years during the time of transition, did not affect the situation at that critical stage as seriously as it might otherwise have done. Very busy weeks followed their arrival. Many preparations had yet to to be made for the introduction of the new order of things. There were many details with which Seidel had to familiarize himself, because he had been absent a long time, and the situation had to be
16 Nearly all of the ordained men of this company subsequently rendered conspicuous and important service at Bethlehem. They were Abraham von Gammern who went to North Carolina, and Paul Muenster, a Moravian refugee, who for thirty years was identified with the collegiate pastorate at Bethlehem, for a while with the wardenship and for a few years with the General Executive Board; these two being married men. The two widowers were Andrew Langaard, whose labors closed at Emmaus, where he died, and John Frederick Peter, who also served at Bethlehem, the first of the name who appears in the records. Ordained men, single, were John Arbo who, as warden of the single men and in other offices, filled a prominent place; Jeremiah Dencke, long one of the most prominent minis- ters and officials; Ferdinand Philip Jacob Dettmers, for many years the able and faithful warden at Bethlehem and Lititz; Amadeus Paulinus Thrane, who from his arrival to his death in 1776, was connected with the pastorate and was the principal preacher at Bethlehem ; David Zeisberger, a cousin of the better-known missionary of that name, who served a while at Bethlehem. but much longer at Nazareth. Numerous trades were represented by the other young men of the colony. Individuals of particular interest among them were Immanuel Nitschmann, son of Bishop John Nitschmann, the secretary and musician mentioned in a pre- vious chapter ; John Francis Oberlin, the store-keeper of Bethlehem in Revolutionary times ; Matthias Tommerup, the bell-founder who cast various bells of historic interest. Among the young women were Anna Dorothea Nitschmann, a grand-daughter of Father Nitsch- mann; Maria Dorothea Bechtel, a daughter of John Bechtel, late of Germantown, who had gone to Europe in 1753; Anna Seidel, a sister of Bishop Nathanael Seidel; Elizabeth Broksch, Maria Agatha Hammer and Elizabeth Kannhaeuser who rendered conspicuous official service among the single women; Juliana Esther Wapler, long a teacher in the girls' school at Bethlehem, and one of the last before its re-organization in 1785. There were 18 other single men, one widow, and two other single women.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
carefully studied by von Marschall, particularly the finances and the numerous industries of the Economy which he, as General Warden, would have to re-organize. Besides this, the affairs of the other existing congregations, the important new settlement of Lititz and the Indian missions claimed careful attention. At Old Nazareth, at Nazareth Hall, where the new Nazareth arose later, at Gnadenthal and Christiansbrunn, and at Friedensthal and the Rose, each a little center with distinct industries to foster and features of organization and communal life to re-adjust under the new order, there had to be particular inspection, conference and conclusions, as well as at Beth- lehem. These "upper places" remained more closely combined under the new order, with Nazareth as headquarters. The separation that took place lay in those changes which made Bethlehem one center and the Nazareth group another in local organization and the supervision of the various industries. In all this, furthermore, the status, avail- ability for service, in one way or another, and personal welfare of more than eleven hundred souls,17 old and young, had to be considered, for the whole situation had to be studied from two points of view. On the one hand, the people were here for the benefit of the establishment and its objects. On the other hand, the establishment also existed for the people who had built it up, and those who were in control and responsible for the new order insti- tuted, owed consideration to the people. To make the changes in such a way that due consideration would be shown in both direc- tions, and satisfaction secured throughout, as far as possible, was the problem.
Six elements entered into the situation, when analytically consid- ered, a correct apprehension of which will be conducive to clear- ness in understanding what had to be done and what not. The first was that of relations to the general government and adminis- tration of the Church. In this matter there was nothing that the dissolution of the General Economy in itself altered. What alterations
17 According to the exact census of December 31, 1761, there were 1140, including 62- 54 adults and 8 children-absent on journeys. Therefore there were 1078 at home. Of these, 669 were at Bethlehem and 409 at the several places on the Nazareth land. Of those at Bethlehem, 262 were males and 407 females. At the upper places there were 312 males and 97 females. The male population consisted at Bethlehem of 62 married men 13 wid- owers, 120 single men, 42 older boys and 25 younger boys down to infancy ; at the Naza- reth places, of 61 married men, 6 widowers, 64 single men, 37 older boys and 144 younger boys. There were at Bethlehem 62 married women, 138 single women, 74 older girls, 133 younger girls ; at the Nazareth places. 61 married women, 23 widows, 13 younger girls. All the single women and older girls lived at Bethlehem and all the widows at Nazareth.
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took place in this general government subsequently affected in the same manner all the settlements and congregations. The relations of the general administration to Bethlehem had not been unique even if the organization of the latter was. Therefore nothing new had to be instituted in this respect. The next element was that of ownership in property. In this matter, what would have been the most formidable task was eliminated entirely by the fact that the people did not own any of the real, personal, or mixed estate of the Economy; and that the dissolution of this Economy did not involve any purchases or sales, transfers or conveyances of real estate. It was not a stock company, not a co-operative association in the sense of jointly purchasing and holding property. No process of liquidation in this respect was required. There had been no community of goods, but merely one of labor with a "common house-keeping" in that all labored for the common cause and received sustenance from the common store. No private property rights or interests were merged. This has been explained in a previous chapter. No person had or pretended to have any claim on the property, by reason of his mem- bership. Those who had made loans of money stood secured in the same manner as in like transactions between any other persons elsewhere, and this had nothing to do with the dissolution of the Economy and the re-adjustment of terms between the establishment and individual members. The third element was that which lay in the operation of the farms, industries and handicrafts that had been estab- lished. In this matter an important settlement with individuals had to be made in two respects. The further carrying on of these concerns to the best advantage of the organization and its objects, on the one hand, and so as to give all who had been employed an opportunity to further obtain a livelihood by means of them if they so desired, on the other hand, had to be provided for; while any possible trouble that might arise, after all were no longer taken care of en masse out of the common store as a matter of course, through demands for back wages or questions of indemnity, had to be guarded against. As to the first of these problems, the plan which was adopted divided the concerns into two classes. One class, some of the farms, the taverns-Crown and Sun-the store and several other establishments, continued to be carried on under the direct control of the authorities by men employed on terms and conditions agreed upon; the other class, especially the various handicrafts, were carried on by individuals who purchased the stock and fixtures and leased the buildings on
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premises which remained church property. This property was not owned by the local organization or even by any general organization in the American branch of the Church, but by the entire Unity as such, and was managed by its central financial organization which was called the "General Diacony," of which the men at the head of this business at Bethlehem were the agents. Special "Diaconies" were instituted by the single men and other choir organizations, and the agricultural, mechanical and other operations carried on in con- nection with the several choir-houses, were managed by their several diaconies which then dealt, as if they were individual lessees, with the General Diacony. The other point of settlement with individuals, touching questions of back wages or indemnity, was covered by a release signed by every male adult in which all such supposable claims were renounced, in consistency with the terms and conditions all had signed as members of the Economy.17
While great results had been accomplished in opening up and improving the lands, erecting buildings and establishing industries through the combined labor of the people under the system now terminated, so that what existed at Bethlehem and the Nazareth places was the product of their toil, it would be a misapprehension of the facts to take the view that they were simply left with nothing for all the time and strength they had devoted to the cause-left to start in for themselves empty-handed, many of them far past middle life with strength on the decline, to look back upon the work of years as pure benevolence on their part. In this light the case presented itself to some who viewed it from the outside, and there were people in the neighborhood who so represented it to some of the farmers, mechanics and laborers at Bethlehem and Nazareth, trying to stir
17 There was reason enough to expect that an effort would be made by persons inimical to the Brethren to induce some to attempt to legally present such claims, especially some who had left before this in a disaffected mood or had been given the consilium abeundi. One such test case occurred. In March, 1763, a certain shoemaker, Jacob Musch, who left in disrepute in 1759 and settled at Easton, took legal steps to collect an alleged claim for work to the amount of £525. 13. 9. Bishop Boehler and Warden Schropp had papers served on them. Von Marschall laid the case before Benjamin Chew and secured a legal opinion, which sustained the position of the Church authorities. The case was watched with much interest and caused the Brethren no little anxiety, because if it turned against them, it would become the precedent for similar attempts by others like Musch, and possibly even by some " of the baser sort " who had not left Bethlehem. It went before the Supreme Court, and in October, 1766, that body decided the case in favor of the Brethren. The law being thus shown to be on their side no further like attempt was made.
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up discontent, telling them that by rights all these things belonged to them and even intimating that certain ones had profited richly out of the products of their toil. Nothing could be more natural than that this latter supposition should find a place in some kinds of minds and be recklessly gossiped about the country by those whose studied practice it was to say what they could against the Moravians.
The men and women who labored for the Economy had been fed and clothed and cared for, during those years, with no responsibility resting upon them but to behave themselves and faithfully do their work. Shelter and food and clothing for themselves and their child- ren were not dependent upon their own ability to manage. Those of them who, if left to themselves, would have been incompetent, shiftless and improvident, were not put to the test of providing for themselves. When failure of crops and times of scarcity came, and thousands of bushels of grain had to be bought to feed them, it was paid for by mortgaging property which had cost them nothing, and not a man of them ever had to stand for a single farthing of such debts. When the dissolution of the Economy came, a home and employment were provided for every one who wished to avail him- self of it, and those who preferred to leave were quite at liberty to do so, just as they had always been. Very few did so, for it was generally believed that those in control would deal in good faith with them, and that it was to their advantage to remain at their posts. A fundamental principle of the system now instituted was to enable every person who remained in connection to gain a livelihood. Eventually, too, all of the people who had borne the burden and heat of the day under the Economy were regarded as of right pensioners of the Church. If they were without resources when they became old and infirm, home and keeping were provided for them, not as a matter of benevolence, as towards paupers with no claim, but as a recognized obligation. Their posi- tion became rather an honorable one than one that hurt their self- respect. They had as little reason to be ashamed of it as the man who has lost an arm or a leg or had his health ruined in the service of his country in war, has reason to be ashamed of the pension he receives from the Government. A pathetic interest attaches to the references found in subsequent years to the care of the old Economy people-"Alte Oeconomisten"-in the financial records of the Church.
Another element of the situation to be dealt with in these changes was the practical difficulty of finding separate dwellings for families
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
when the camp-like arrangements, which had yet continued to some extent, were abolished. This was, however, not as formidable as might at first thought be supposed. A considerable number of such private dwelling apartments had been provided in various buildings, after the removal of the boys' school to Nazareth Hall. Various other places were fitted up as a makeshift until, after some years, the increased number of regular dwelling-houses relieved this diffi- culty. The number of girls from other places connected with the boarding-school was before long greatly reduced, and when, in the course of further shiftings, this institution was again fully accom- modated in the first seminary-the bell-turret house on Church Street-the large stone house on Main Street, into which it was moved when the boys were transferred to Nazareth, became entirely a building for private dwellings, and then got the third of its succes- sive names-the "Family House."
When later its population came to consist for some years mainly of such superannuated Economy people pensioned by the Church, the fourth name came into vogue-the "Economy House." A substi- tute for this, brought into use at a later time by some in flippant dis- regard of what they, as comfortable denizens of Bethlehem, owed those old Oeconomisten, was "the poor-house"-a term applied, in like manner, to the Whitefield house at Nazareth, which for a consider- able period was devoted to the same use. This objectionable term, as applied to both structures, was handed down and used long after the last Economist had been gathered to his fathers, and many a one who kept the name alive, together with the staple stock of ludicrous stories, probably many of them were more humorous than true, about the eccentricities of some of the old people, was enjoy- ing in ease and opulence, the fruit of their toil from which he with little toil had waxed fat.
Returning from this digression, it may be observed also that, so far as Bethlehem was concerned, it was at the time a question of providing separate dwelling-rooms for only about fifty married couples who had been yet living in the former fashion-the men and the women respectively occupying separate large apartments in com- mon, while eating together at one table. The single men and the single women were organized in their respective large houses and were thus cared for. This remained as it was, with merely a more independent establishment of their several institutions financially and some reconstruction of their general management.
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1756-1762.
Yet another element of the problem to be solved was the par- ticular one of caring for and educating the children. Proper school facilities had to be maintained, under any circumstances, for the resi- dent population. To some extent, a house had yet to be provided for children too young to join the households of older boys and girls, under separate care and supervision, for the dwelling arrangements of many of the families were so scant in room that the children had to be yet cared for in apartments together, as before. The institution for the very youngest children, known as the nursery, gradually came to an end, for it was finally limited to the case of people who had to be absent in missionary service. But the children of missionaries, from the time that they could be put in the care of others than their parents until the close of their school years and apprenticeship, were regarded as a special charge to be provided for as one of the
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