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 56
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During Bishop Reichel's stay, various changes in the official personnel at Bethlehem took place, bringing some new names into prominence, while some of the officials of 1776, referred to in the preceding chapter, were transferred to positions elsewhere. After
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
the death of Thrane, there mentioned, the Rev. John Andrew Huebner of Niesky, an important seat of Moravian educational work, in Germany, was selected by the Unity's Elders' Conference to become their Helper, at the head of the Elders' Conference at Bethlehem. On account of the disturbances of war, his coming was delayed. He finally sailed, with his wife, from Hamburg for England in March, 1779, and from Portsmouth, the latter part of October, reaching New York, February 23, 1780. David Zeisberger, Jr., of Nazareth and his wife returned to America on the same vessel. They were accompanied also by several other persons ; John Michael Kern, Jeppe Nielsen, bound for Salem, N. C., and the widow Barbara Martens, who became superintendent of the widows. Huebner formally entered upon his duties at Bethlehem on April 3, 1780. For a while he was also the principal preacher of the place. He had the assistance, in general pastoral oversight, of Paul Muenster and, after October, 1784, of John Frederick Peter, Sr. Jeremiah Dencke continued to fill the important office of warden at Beth- lehem, with Christian Frederick Oerter as general accountant, until October, 1784, when Paul Muenster assumed the wardenship. Andrew Busse continued to be chaplain of the Brethren's House and pastoral overseer of the single men until July, 1781, assisted, after May, 1777, by Jacob Friis, who passed the remainder of his days, to 1793, in that establishment, meanwhile diligently preaching for some years at various places about the country. July 23, 1781, Jacob Van Vleck, who had been had in view for the position from the time of his return from Europe-being a young man far superior in ability and attainments to those who preceded him-and had been acquiring preparatory experience in the little Brethren's House at Christiansbrunn, became chaplain of the Brethren's House at Beth- lehem and special pastor of the single men-Bruederpfleger. His services were also utilized as secretary for the General Board and in writing fair copy of the Bethlehem diary. Those who have occasion to search the records of that time, particularly the diary of the Brethren's House, have reason to bless his memory, like that of Immanuel Nitschmann for the manner in which he wrote them, when compared with some other penmanship that causes so much sighing, or even worse than sighing. He was also one of those diarists-for they differed greatly, not only in penmanship-who had some historical instinct and some idea of what would be of future interest, and enough intelligence to use some discretion in the
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insertion of interesting details and incidents, even when writing under the strict instructions about records which reduced the diaries of some other men to a monotonous chronicle of dry routine, scarcely of any use after the governing board had examined it to see whether regulations were being complied with, and then filed the manu- script.10
Siegmund Leschinsky held the wardenship of the Brethren's House from his arrival in April, 1779, to September, 1785, assisted by various young men as stewards, several of them filling the wardenship itself ad interim at different times, as substitutes, and assisting the chaplain of the house in the conduct of services and in pastoral oversight; these positions being filled usually by men in training for larger service at Bethlehem or elsewhere. Several such became prominent officials at Bethlehem, while others entered the ministry and labored at various places. Thus John Schropp became steward in the Brethren's House in April, 1780, and served until March, 1782, acquiring training for his future wardenship of the Congregation. Other such assistants were Abraham Reinke, Jr., during part of 1782, more prominently Abraham Hessler, December, 1782, to September, 1784, followed by John Frederick Schlegel until April, 1785, when John Christopher Pyrlaeus, Jr., who had occasion- ally been doing subordinate duty, became steward and first assistant to the warden until September. In April, 1785, John Gambold, another candidate for service in the country ministry, became an assistant, both to the chaplain and the warden of the house, remaining in the position five years. In the Sisters' House and the Widows' House a superintendent and a stewardess with minor assistants had charge of their respective establishments. The indus- trial activities together with the orchard, garden and other appur-
Io It may be remarked here that towards the end of the century a period of-although punctiliously regular-very barren and uninteresting diaries, as a rule, began, which con- tinued for nearly half a century; consisting almost entirely of mere schedules of services from day to day, with painfully faithful mention of who officiated at one and another. Ac- tual history seems, to a great extent, to have been kept out of the congregation diary and recorded in the official minutes of boards, but principally in those of the Provincial Helpers' Conference, or, as it came to be called for a number of years, by the ponderous title. "Helfer Conferenz in's ganze der Pennsy vanischen und umliegenden Gemeinen und Posten," -the title growing as the work shrank. It may also be remarked that examinations of the Sisters' House diary are at all periods very disappointing. It was restricted throughout to such momentous routine and to petty domestic details. Excepting that of the Widows' House, it is the least satisfactory, as a source of information, of all the official records.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
tenances of the former, constituted a considerable body of affairs to be overseen, and called for some administrative ability on the part of the stewardess. There was, furthermore, connected with each of those households-the single women and the widows-a curator. Under the arrangement made in 1779, William Boehler was curator of the former and George Huber of the latter house. The village Board of Supervision-Aufseher Collegium-as then organized, con- sisted of seven of the elected men drawn by lot from the body of can- didates chosen by ballot; three from among the married men, three representatives of the single men and one to represent the widowers, together with six ex-officio members, the several wardens and cura- tors and the local magistrate, if there had been one. Thus the general organization and the official personnel ran to the end of the period embraced in this chapter.
Bishop Reichel and his wife left Bethlehem for New York, August 6, 1781, preparatory to their return to Europe. In order to secure the necessary passports, he had to give satisfactory assurance that he would not return to the country again so long as the war con- tinued. At New York he visited and endeavored to strengthen the much-demoralized congregations in that city and on Staten Island. The vessel on which he took passage had to wait long for a convoy, and did not sail until the beginning of December. He took with him the ten-year-old son of de Schweinitz, Christian Frederick, and as companion and attendant for his wife, a young woman, Anna Maria Yarrell. They were accompanied also by the veteran store- keeper of Bethlehem, John Francis Oberlin, who, with his wife and four children, returned to Europe. After eighteen years of ser- vice, he had been succeeded in the charge of the village store, on Ferbruary 26, 1781, by Christian Renatus Heckewelder, a brother of the missionary John Heckewelder ; he having accompanied Bishop Reichel on his return from North Carolina to Bethlehem for this purpose.
Soon after this change in the store, the inn of the place also changed hands. Jost Jansen, who was in charge during the most stirring times and entertained so many worthies and notables, retired from the position and was succeeded by John Christian Ebert, who was inn-keeper until 1790. Among the public men who visited the place during the last months of Jansen's incumbency were, early in October, 1780-escorted by a squad of cavalry-President Joseph Reed, who made another visit in June, 1782; Speaker John Bayard,
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who came again in September, 1782, and State Treasurer David Rittenhouse. Among foreign celebrities and military officers are men- tioned, in January, 1781, the Marquis de Laval Montmorenci and the Count de Custrine, who took pains to investigate the institutions and arrangements of the place; and on April 5, the Count de St. Maine and Captain de St. Victor, who attended services. At the beginning of July, the new landlord, Ebert, had among his guests a number of English and German officers. To one of these the Bethlehem diarist makes particular reference. This was Captain David Zieg- ler, connected with the Pennsylvania Infantry. It is mentioned that he was a German soldier who had served in the Russian army in the Crimea, whom "Br. Mueller had met in St. Petersburg, who had visited Herrnhut," and who had subsequently come to Pennsylvania. This was the Captain Ziegler11 who later served in Indian campaigns in the West, became a resident and the first Mayor of Cincinnati, in 1801, while living there, showed courtesies to the Moravian mis- sionaries, Kluge and Luckenbach, on their way to the Wabash River, and died there in 1811. In 1782 not many new names appear in the references to noteworthy visits. In April and October, John Dickinson is mentioned and the retired Governor John Penn, with a party, once more in April.
In mid-summer of that year (1782), however, Bethlehem was vis- ited-but without any pomp or circumstance-by a more illustrious man than any one who has yet been mentioned. July 25, 1782, the diary contains the following entry: "Quite unexpectedly and very quietly, his Excellency, General Washington, arrived here, accom- panied by two aids de camp, but without escort. Brother Ettwein and other brethren immediately went to pay their respects to him. After partaking of a meal, he inspected the choir-houses (Brethren's House, Sister' House and Widows' House) and other objects of interest in the place, and attended the evening service, at which Bro. Ettwein delivered a discourse in English, on the text: 'In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,' etc. (II. Cor. 6:4), and the choir rendered some fine music, both at the beginning and at the close. The General manifested much friendliness, and the pleasure and satisfaction which the visit afforded him were clearly to be inferred from his utterances." The diary of the Breth- ren's House, written by the same person, Jacob Van Vleck, repeats,
II J. G. Rosengarten, The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States, second edition, p. 124.
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substantially, part of this record and particularly mentions his visit to that house, his partaking of refreshments there while listening to music performed on the organ by Van Vleck, and the impression made by his imposing and agreeable personality. He passed the night of July 25 at the Sun Inn, occupying the principal "guest- room," as the house was then arranged. The record of July 26 states that "at a very early hour he proceeded on his journey by way of Easton," and that "Bro. Ettwein, who had expected to go to Hope, N. J., accompanied him to the first-named place and then (while the General apparently tarried a while at Easton) rode on ahead to make some preparation for his entertainment at Hope, where he dined and looked about the place with pleasure."12
12 The above translation of the diary notes was furnished, in 1891, by the writer of these pages for that part of the " Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to Decem- ber 23, 1783," by Wm. S. Baker, which appeared in Vol. XV, of the Pa. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. THIS WAS WASHINGTON'S FIRST AND ONLY VISIT TO BETHLEHEM. Numerous confusing, contradictory and erroneous statements on this subject have appeared in print. Some writers have treated of two supposed visits. This tradition undoubtedly arose out of the visit of the "nephew of General Washington" on July 28, 1779. Matthew S. Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley has, on page III, the following : "General Washington passed through Easton during the year 1778. The Bethlehem recollections are that he arrived at that place accompanied by one of his aids, where, after partaking of a dinner, he hurried on to Easton." On pp. 215-216 of the same work stands the following : " Washington was here (Bethlehem) in 1778 and was introduced into the various rooms (Sisters' House) by Bishop Ettwein, (Bp. 1784) where finding in the room the mother of the writer, who among others was at work, he remarked, 'Ladies, I am pleased to find you all busy at work.' Ettwein replied to him, 'yes, it stands written in the Bible, those that do not work shall not eat.' The General purchased several pair of knit hose for himself, and the sisters presented him with a dress pattern of 'blue stripe' for his lady which he said she should wear." The statement follows that " he was received with music on the trombones from the belvedere on the Brethren's House " when he entered the village. Then is mentioned also the recollec- tion of some old inhabitants about the odd appearance of the short Ettwein walking between the tall General and his apparently also tall adjutant. Continuing, Mr. Henry says : "In the spring of 1778, Washington again passed through Bethlehem on his way to Easton, but did not stay longer than was necessary to get some dinner for himself and aid and feed for the horses." The author, writing at Easton and preferably for Eastonians, makes that town the objective point of both those alleged visits of 1778, and the impression might be gotten from the reference to the second, that Washington sought to avoid a second contact with Bethlehem people and to get out of the place to Easton as soon as possible. It may be ac- cepted as certain that Washington was neither in Easton nor in Bethlehem nor in the neigh- borhood in 1778, or at any other time prior to July, 1782. To that visit, which he really did make to both places, Mr. Henry makes no allusion although it is a matter of plain official record at the time and not of mere current tradition or " oldest inhabitant's" recollection- always an uncertain source. The incident in the Sisters' House, which Mr. Henry relates, which various other writers have gotten from his book and reproduced, could then only have
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1778-1785.
· Other new visitors of interest, up to the close of the period cov- ered by this chapter, may be mentioned in this connection, so that this feature in the picture of Bethlehem life during those years, pre- served in various extant records, need not be again adverted to. The next visit of special note, because it produced one of the inter- esting published descriptions of the place at that time by a distin- guished foreigner, was that of the Marquis Francois Jean de Chas- tellux, who had entered the American service under Rochambeau. He came to Bethlehem, December 10, and remained over the next day. He asked many minute questions about things, says the diarist, and, as a result, he devoted some space in his famous narrative13 to
13 Voyage dans l' Amerique septentrionale dans les annees, 1780-82, Paris, 1786-"translated by an English gentleman who resided in America at that period, with notes by the transla- tor." The English translation, under the title Travels in North America, 1780-82, was published in London in 1787. The anonymous translator, who was eventually concluded to have been one George Grieve, a Northumberland attorney, in America several times between 1780 and 1783, was evidently also in Bethlehem and reveals some knowledge of Moravian people and things.
occurred in 1782. Washington was at that time on his way from Philadelphia to his head- quarters at Newburg-on-the-Hudson. If he had been in Bethlehem twice in the early part of 1778, it would have been while the hospital was yet at the place. That two visits by the Commander-in-Chief to the place under those circumstances would not be alluded to by himself or any public official in any extant public records, any journals or correspondence is not supposable. The statement Mr. Henry makes about the second alleged visit, if 1779 were substituted for 1778, would partly apply to the visit of the " nephew," but the latter went from Bethlehem to Nazareth. That Washington was greeted on entering the village by the music of trombones from the belvedere, or roof terrace, of the Brethren's House, was only an unfounded local tradition embellishing the story. He appeared in the place sud- denly, not expected by any one. That compliment was sometimes paid in olden times to prominent Moravian visitors or to particular dignitaries of state. Even if there were no other circumstantial or negative evidence that General Washington was not in these parts prior to 1782, any one who has examined the Bethlehem diaries of those years and noted how the presence of all the prominent generals and civil officers who visited the place is regu- larly recorded, will take the absence of all reference to a visit, by the greatest of them all, as convincing evidence that he was never among them.
Mr. John Hill Martin, who assiduously gathered up local traditions and oldest inhabitants' recollections for the Historical Sketch of Bethlehem (1869), incorporated several in connection with Washington, which also reveal the confused and uncertain character of such sources. That Ettwein was conspicuously a Whig among Tory clergy (p. 29) is an instance of erron- eous tradition. That "nearly all the sisters sided with the Whigs," will not be taken seriously by those who know how much Moravian sisters of that time indulged in pronounced political sentiments. The Rev. C. F. Seidel, there quoted, who came to America in 1806, first settled at Bethlehem in 1817. Ettwein hardly spoke German to Washington (p. 30), and
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Bethlehem, giving previously also an interesting account of his visit to Hope, N. J. Bearing the reputation of a somewhat flippant French aristocrat, not much in sympathy with Christian piety, it is the more striking that he treats the institutions and customs of Bethlehem with so much respect. His first remarks, as usual, are about the tavern. Some misunderstanding or misinformation led him to state that it formerly served the Moravian Brethren as a magazine. He says, "I could not derive much information from my landlord on the origin, opinions and manners of the Society, but he informed me that I should next day see the ministers and administrators, who would gratify my curiosity. The IIth, at half-past eight, I walked out with a Moravian, given me by the landlord, but who was likewise
even if he did, he hardly addressed him with "du." That Washington said "I wish I were a simple Moravian " is highly improbable.
The recollections of one "old sister," quoted (p. 32), correctly state only one visit, but do not give the year. James Hall, the fuller (p. 32), evidently confused the two Washing- tons. The trombone music he refers to was probably rendered when Washington approached the house on his tour of the town after dinner. Mr. Martin gives these statements as he got
· them. An additional tradition, given by the Rev. Wm. C. Reichel in The Crown Inn, p. IIO, is the following : " According to the late Mr Frederick Fuehrer's statement (he was the fifth son of Valentine and Margaret Fuehrer [thirteen years inn-keeper at the Crown] and having been born in the ferry-house in September, 1768, was in the fifteenth year of his age, when Washington was at Bethlehem) the General passed the night of the 24th of July at his father's, and on retiring, pleasantly sought to impress the people of the house with an idea of the height of his person by reaching his hand into a ring suspended from a staple in the ceiling, which was inaccessible by men of ordinary stature." This " recollection," somewhat perplexing because definite and circumstantial, admits of two explanations. One is that this again was not General Washington, but the " nephew " of July, 1779, and that the exact date (24th) was assumed by Reichel as the only possible one in connection with the General's visit, the memory of Fuehrer having hardly been so distinct, he, at most, prob- ably specifying, " the night before " Washington came into Bethlehem. This was not an improbable occurrence in the case of the nephew, who may also have been a tall man and was doubtless more likely than his stately uncle to thus show off his height, to " astonish the gazing rustics ranging round." The other possible explanation is that General Washing- ton, traveling unannounced and unobtrusively, as he was then doing, may really have passed the night before entering Bethlehem at the Crown on the south side, reaching there perhaps late in the evening from Pottsgrove, now Pottstown. In the Itinerary of General Washing- ton (Pa. Mag., XV, p. 306) it is assumed that he passed the night of the 24th at Pottsgrove, from an entry of his expense account : " Exp. to Pottsgrove, £1. 13. 4-Bethlehem, £3. 17. 6." But this is not conclusive, for that entry has merely "July, 1782," without exact date. Lodging and breakfast at the Crown and next day's entertainment at the Sun might not unnaturally have been placed in one item as "Bethlehem." This lengthy note, which some may think needless, may prove of use to others, for reference, bringing under review together, at one place, the various published Bethlehem-Washington stories.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
FROM CHAS. WILLSON PEALE'S PORTRAIT OF 1780 SEE PENNA. MAGAZINE, VOL. XIII, P. 257
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ill-informed, and only served me as a guide. He was a seaman who imagined he had some talent for drawing, and amuses himself with teaching the young people, having quitted the sea since the war, where, however, he had no scruple in sending his son. He subsists on a small estate in Reading, but lives at Bethlehem, where he and his wife board in a private family."14 The example of the old-time Bethlehem hotel-keeper, Ebert, in referring visitors who propose to write, to the "ministers and administrators" when led into deep water by questions out of the ordinary about Moravian history, doctrine and institutions, might even in modern times be followed by some interrogated people, with results more in accordance with the facts when the fruits of such inquiry appear in print.
His first visit was to the "house for single women." Referring to the variety of work done there, he remarks that some "engaged in works of taste and luxury," revealed a particular skill in certain fine kinds, "like our French nuns." He speaks of the superinten- dent, "Madame de Gersdorff," as being "a woman of family," but states that "she did not presume upon her birth." Like a high- bred gentleman, he offered her his hand in going up and down stairs and she even appeared surprised at the attention. Of the dormitory he says, "though it be very high and airy, a ventilator is fixed in the roof like those in our play-houses." In the "clean and well-kept" kitchen were "immense earthen pots upon furnaces," like in our hospitals, he says. In the chapel of the house he observed, besides the organ, "several instruments suspended on nails." The church-the present Old Chapel-he speaks of as "simple" with the remark, it "differs little from that we had seen at Moravian Mill." He means Hope, N. J., where he had previously been, and which
14 The seaman referred to was Nicholas Garrison, Jr., who owned property and had been in business at Reading, for a while served as an express between Moravian places during the Revolution, and at this time was at Bethlehem with his wife Grace, daughter of William Parsons, founder of Easton, whom he brought to Bethlehem in March, 1780, on account of her impaired health. Commonly, his attainments as a draughtsman and sketcher are spoken of with more appreciation than the French Marquis expresses. He made views of a num- ber of Moravian settlements of which two of Bethlehem, 1757 and 1784, and one of Naza- reth, 1761, are known to have been engraved and printed. His eldest son, Nicholas No. 3, born in 1760, came to Bethlehem in March, 1782, from Philadelphia to visit his parents. He it is to whom de Chastellux refers as sent to sea and whom the translator, who says he served with him on board ship, gives an exceedingly bad reputation in a note; commenting on the miscarriage of his good Moravian education and training. The "seaman " must not be mis- taken, as has been done by some, for the famous old Captain Garrison, Sr., who died in 1781.
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