History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 111

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 111

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

This first Moravian congregation in Philadelphia

contained those who had left the Lutherans when the Pyrlæus affair occurred, and a number of Mo- ravians from Herrnhut, by way of England, who had been awhile in Nazareth and Bethlehem (Jan. 1, 1743). On the evening of his departure from America Count Zinzendorf organized these members into the First Moravian Church. Mr. Ritter gives the names of the following Moravian ministers between the years 1743 and 1747, some, and perhaps all, of whom some- times preached at Philadelphia : Peter Böhler, David Bruce, Thomas Yarrel, John Okley, Owen Rice, Rich- ard Utley, Edward Evans, Thomas Greening, Mat- thew Reitz, Richard Ronner, Andrew Eschenbach, John Bechtel, and Daniel Neubert. Between 1747 and 1751, Abraham Reinke, Owen Rice, and John Gambold. Rev. Hermann Jacobson says that the brethren of most influence in the congregation were Pyrlæus, Böhler, Rice, Yarrel, Rentz, and Reinke. The last four, ordained as deacons, soon became mis- sionaries and ministers elsewhere.

" DEAR COOPER AND COOPERESS :

" Although I take you both to be notorious children of the devil, and you, the woman, to he a twofuld child of hell, yet I would make your damnation as tolerable as possible. . . . For although the laws of this country wisely provideth against such unreasonable parents, and will Dot suffer you to keep her against hier consent, yet for want of it you may vex her soul. If, therefore, that sevenfold devil which possesseth you will permit you to recollect yourself, then consider what has hap- pened, and leave your daughter to the congregation as perhaps the best means to promote your temporal and perhaps spiritual welfare. . . . In case you die without forcing your daughter away, your former sius sball be forgiven you. But if you presume your murdering spirit against her soul by her consent ur not, I recall my peace, and you I leave to the devil : aod the curse of your child-thereby lost-shall rest on you until she is redeemed."

Zinzendorf's biographers say that the idioms of the colloquial German dialect, in which this and some equally startling letters are written, lends itself poorly to translation, and evidently seemed only a rather strong sort of an appeal to those who received it. However this may be, there is evidence enough of the count's eccentricity in his published sermons and writings. He was a strong, earuest, and very peculiar man, and engaged in many controversies. The Mo- ravian doctrines were attacked by Rev. Gilbert Ten- nent and other Presbyterians. This led to the pub- lication of an able pamphlet on the Moravian side, entitled, "The Examiner ; or, Gilbert against Tennent, containing a confutation of the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Ten- nent and his adherents. Extracted chiefly from his own writings, and formed upon his own plan of com-

1325

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

paring the Moravian principles with the standard of orthodoxy, in distinct columns, etc., by Philalethes." In the Pennsylvania Gazette of April 7, 1743, is a translation from the Latin, by P. Reading, B.A., of a letter of Lewis von Thörnstein, in which he styles himself deacon of the Moravian Church. It is ad- dressed "To people of all ranks and persuasions which are in Pennsylvania." It sets forth the con- ditions in which Christian people are dispersed, the different sorts of opinions of religions, and contains a defense of the brethren. It is dated " Lecha [ Le- high], Aug. 29 [according to the vulgar computation], 1742." In the same paper Peter Böhler advertises "that many pieces concerning the Moravian brethren have been mistranslated," and he gives notice that the congregation at Bethlehem will themselves "cause such things to be translated as from time to time they shall judge useful." In the same paper of May 15, 1743, are printed " Answers of the illustrious Count of Zinzendorf, which he wrote down with his own hand in the German tongue, directly upon the sight of the following questions, without any premeditation, at Germantown, March 21, 1741-42. Translated by Peter Böhler."

The questions are upon doctrines, polemical points, etc. The Rev. Gilbert Tennent, in a subsequent paper, According to the statements in Ritter's history, the following ministers had charge of the First Moravian Church in Philadelphia during the quarter of the century following the year 1750, to wit: 1651, John Gambold ; 1751-53, Abraham Rienke ; 1753-54, Jacob Rogers, - Herman, John Brandtmiller, and Abra- ham L. Rusmayer ; 1754-56, John Valentine Haidt, Christopher Frank, and Thomas Yarrell; 1756-62, Christian Otto Krogstrup, Jasper Payne, - Her- man, Jacob Rogers, - Till, and Henry Beck ; 1762 -74, George Neissor, Richard Utley, and Jacob Fries ; 1774-84, Daniel Sydrick. reviews Zinzendorf's positions. Zinzendorf made a farewell speech, Dec. 29, 1742 (O. S.), at the house of John Stephen Benezet, a wealthy member of a noble Huguenot family. He settled in Philadelphia in 1731, and had been for some time a Friend, but was the first treasurer of the Moravian congregation, and three of his daughters married Moravian clergymen. The count was his guest when first arriving in Pennsyl- vania. Said Zinzendorf, "Here, in America, the congregation of God in the spirit is the 'factotum,' and not the Moravian Church." (" Factotum" mean- ing "chief thing.") "I see no reason," he went on, During the same time transient visits were paid to the church hy Bishops Spangenberg, Cammerhof, and Rev. George Soelle. The church was maintained dur- ing all this time without a settled pastor, the itinerancy being a part of the discipline of the church. Daniel "why the Moravian order and church discipline should be introduced in this country. The only cause for not leaving the Moravian plan out entirely is, that it unites the Lutheran and the Reformed." Here we see again the apostle's idea of church unity. | Sydrick, as noted above, was in charge during the Rev- He set sail for Europe early in January, 1743, and was never again able to visit America, though often expected and ardently longed for, especially by the | Nazareth community, which reared its large build- ings in full expectation of his speedy return. Finan- cial and political causes combined to prevent this. Yet the most notable figure in early Moravian his- tory in America is that of this picturesque enthusiast, Connt Lewis Zinzendorf.

In 1747 the Philadelphia congregation was threat- ened with disunion. It was composed of both Eng- lish and Germans, the latter having Brother Rentz as pastor, and the former Brother Yarrel. Bishop Cammerhof, of Bethlehem, wrote to Count Zinzen- dorf, and explained it by saying that the English were proud and overbearing. The English, on their . from the parent church in Herrnhut to its branches

part, accused the Germans of exercising too severe discipline, and of arrogating all the high officers. The existence of the church was in danger. Bishop Spangenberg had to visit Philadelphia, investigate and measure out judicious punishment. Brother Abraham Rienke was made pastor of both Germans and English.

Meanwhile, as Reichel says in his " Memorials of the Moravian Church," a small congregation was founded by the Moravians in Allemingle township. It commenced in the establishment of a school, which was opened in February, 1747, by the brethren. On Dec. 14, 1751, a new school-house, which had just been erected, was dedicated by Nathaniel Seidel, on which occasion sixty partook of the love-feast and seventeen of the sacrament. In January, 1755, Rev. Abraham Rienke officiated at the first interment made in the graveyard adjoining the house. This building was called in later times "the old white church." The Moravian congregation remained until October, 1755, when in consequence of Indian dep- redations and barbarities, the church was broken up, and some of the families belonging to it removed to other parts of Pennsylvania. The school-house was afterward sold to the Lutherans.

olutionary war. The history of the Moravians seems to have been a quiet and undisturbed current while the war swept about and over them. We do not hear of any disturbance even during the British possession of Philadelphia. When Sydrick retired, in 1784, Rev. George Neissor, who had been one of their pas- tors between 1762 and 1764, assumed charge, hut died in November, that year, and lies huried in the graveyard at the corner of Franklin and Vine Streets. The itinerant character of the pastorate was at this time changed, and a permanent one established by Rev. John de Watteville, a son-in-law of Count Zin- zendorf, and husband of his eldest daughter, Henri- etta Benigna Justina. This minister was familiarly called " Brother Johannes," and he was a delegate

1326

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

in America. On Sunday, June 5, 1785, the committee appointed by Brother Johannes to transact the busi- ness of the United Brethren Church in Philadelphia, met for the first time. It consisted of the following persons : Bernhardt Adam Grube, Jacob Fries, min- isters ; Adam Goos, George Schloscher, John Peter, John Cornman, George Senneff, Conrad Gerhardt, Godfrey Haga, and Thomas Bartow. This was called the standing committee or vestry, and of that body Brother Thomas Bartow was appointed secretary and general accountant of the church. It appears that . Brother Neissor was succeeded by B. A. Grube and Rev. Jacob Fries. The name of the latter does not appear upon the church minutes after June, and Rev. B. A. Grube, between July and October, 1785, also retired. Rev. John Meder succeeded, and was very attentive to his duties, preached regularly twice on Sundays, and added, after the latter service, catechi- sation and special religious instruction for the youth of his congregation. He also held religious meetings on Wednesday and Friday evenings of each week, and performed all parochial duties. He continued in these ministrations during the dreadful periods of the yellow fever of 1793 and 1798. In 1799 he was called to serve the congregation in New York, and Rev. John Frederick Frueauff was appointed for the vacancy, which he filled notil the year 1803.

We have thus brought the story of the Moravian Church down to the beginning of the present cen- tury. Let us pause a moment to observe what the manners, customs, and church government of these interesting people were before the great controversies and changes which occurred between 1817 and 1825. The discipline of the church at this time was very straight. Admission to communion was not a matter following upon confirmation. Applicants were ad- mitted only after six months' probation, during which time there were interviews with the minister, conferences and instructions, after which it was ne- cessary that the application should pass the Confer- ence at Bethlehem, where it was determined, after prayer, by lot. The lot was the governing influence among Moravians which settled many difficult mat- ters, most prominent among which was marriage. Under this custom the Moravian who was matri- monially inclined and wanted a wife made known his desire to the minister or Conference. He had the right of suggesting his companion, and if the lot luckily was favorable he was happy, but if he drew a blank or negative the lot was again resorted to, and some marriageable woman chosen. It was his duty to be obedient to the will of Providence. It is claimed by Moravian writers that this chance method of determining the most serious obligation which human beings can enter into was generally happy, even when the persons brought together were previ- ously almost strangers.

In the early period of the church, and until after 1800, there were peculiar regulations in regard to |

costumes, which were enforced by superior authority. In the meetings the sexes were separated. The women generally wore caps exceedingly plain, and white, three-cornered kerchiefs covering the breast and shoulders. The females were divided into classes, designated by the color of their cap-ties. Young girls from twelve to sixteen years of age were allowed to wear red ribbons; the single sisters who had at- tained the dignity of womanhood wore pink ribbons; married women were designated by ribbons of blue ; while widows had white ribbons to their caps. The brethren were also divided into classes, consisting of great boys (knaben), single brethren, married brethren, and widowers. They wore simple costumes, but not such plain marks of distinction between them as were observable among the women. Ritter says,-

" The straight, uolappeled, dark-brown coat, the brosd-hrimmed, low- crowned hat, the knee-buckled emall-clothes, the broad, round-toed shoes were consistent characteristics of a Moravian brother, while the plaio drab or silk boQuet, the three-cornered white kerchiefs, the plain silk gown (Sunday dress), the comfortable hood-finished cloak, the stuff shoes for comfort and convenience were the sisters' concession to St. Peter's advice, 'Whose adorning let it not be that outward plaiting the hair and wearing of gold or putting on of apparel.' "

The officers of the church included some not known in other religious organizations. The "inviter" was an officer whose duty it was to give notice of a death, and to invite the friends of the dead person to attend the funeral. Written or printed invitations to attend funerals were before the Revolution, and for some years afterward, unknown. He was dressed in ap- propriate costume, and passed from house to house, bringing forth the inmates by loud raps administered with his knuckles, or by the knocker, if the door pos- sessed such an adjunct, and, upon response being made, informed the person who answered the sum- mons of the nature of his errand in a proclamation, in a solemn tone, and in set words. The German Churches also had inviters, and upon the cessation of that duty by John Merck, in 1794, Henry Cress, of the German Lutheran Church, was appointed inviter of the Moravian congregation. The chapel servant had charge of such preparations as were necessary during the time of service in the congregation, the preservation of order, etc. His duties were some- what analogous to those of sexton of a modern church. The almoners administered the charity which the congregations contributed to the needy. The sustentation fund committee had charge of moneys given for the support of the minister and maintenance of worship in the church. This was effected by annual subscriptions of twenty shillings from each subscriber, and from the rent of some small properties near the church. The collections were not many. There was one for the poor annu- ally, which Ritter says yielded from eight to ten pounds. One was taken up for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, usually called the Heathen Society. This averaged about thirteen pounds per annum. There were no

1327

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

regular Sunday collections. The offerings were taken as the people were departing, upon a pewter plate, at each door, by the chapel servants.

In 1794, the standing committee of 1785 being re- duced by the deaths of Brothers Senneff, Peter, and Bartow, their places were filled by the election of Brothers Isaac Smallwood, Jacob Ritter, Sr., and Jacob Frank. Rev. John Meder succeeded Brother Bartow as secretary of the committee between 1792 and 1794, after which Frederick Boller was elected. Brother Bartow, being the steward and general ac- conntant from 1785 to 1792, was succeeded in the latter year by Brother Conrad Gerhardt, who held it until 1814. The collectors of the Sustentation Fund were, in 1785, George Schloscher; 1785 to 1788, George Senneff; 1788 to 1793, Godfrey Haga; from 1793 to 1800, and up to 1823, Jacob Ritter, Sr. The almoner from 1785 to 1814, with the exception of one year, in which George Schloscher officiated, was Con- rad Gerhardt. The organists in 1785 were George and John Peter, and they were succeeded by Freder- ick Boller and John Boller. The chapel servant from 1785 to 1787 was John Merck, and Jacob Frank from 1787 to 1819. John Merck was "inviter" from 1786 to 1794, and was succeeded by Henry Cress and George Gasner, of the Lutheran Church. Brother Jacob Ett- wein was grave-digger in 1786, and for some years thereafter.

Until the year 1757 the Moravians owned no bury- ing-ground in the city. The Nazareth burying-ground was laid out in June, 1743, but upon the decease of any of the members interments were made in the various cemeteries in or near the city, either by con- tract or by courtesy. The cemeteries most used dur- ing this period were those of the Church of England, the Quaker burying-ground, and the Potter's Field. In May, 1757, the congregation purchased a piece of ground for burial purposes, of which the following are copies of the titles :

" Deed May 10th, 1757.

"Samuel Jones, and Amy his wife, heira of Joshua Lawrence, to Lewis Casaler, for lot of ground in the Northern Liberties, north side of Vine Street, and weat aide of a fifty feet street, since called Lawrence Street, being eighty feet two inches oo Vine Street by one hundred and forty feet on Lawrence Street, granted by patent of John Peno to Joshua Lawrence with other ground Feb. 15, 1734."

Lewis Cassler subsequently conveyed the above as follows in trust :

" Deed burial-ground December 28th, 1786.

" Ludwig Cassler to George Schlosser, John Peter, Adam Goos, John Coroman, Thomas Bartoo, Godfrey Haga, and Conrad Gerhart, for lot of ground on north side of Vine Street and west side of a fifty feet atreet called Lawrence Street, io trust. Consideration, £82 15s. Pennsylvania currency, or $215.331/3.

(Sigoed) "SAMUEL JONES. " AMY JONES.

" Witnesses,

" L. WEIS.

"PETER MILLER."

The following, from the church diary, is the account of the consecration of the new ground and the inter- ment of the first corpse :

"1757. The 28th of June was the new burying-ground of the United Brethren in Philadelphia consecrated by Brother Otto Krogstrup, and the first corpse buried, namely, Mary, a daughter of Adam aod Marga- ret Schittehelm, who was boro and baptized on the 19th of January, 1755, by Brother Franck, aged 2 years, 4 months, 12 daye."

On a slip of paper attached to the above is the following :

"The tombstone is to be in breadth twelve inches, and in length eighteen inchea. Ex ist so in Bethlehem ausgemacht. (It is ao made in Bethlehem.)"

The oldest tombstones in the yard are those of Elizabeth Payne, who died Aug. 28, 1757, and Mary Helm, who died June 28, 1757. The Christian In- dians during the disturbances with the Paxton boys were protected by the Moravians in the city, but suffered severely with disease. In the period from the 9th of February to the 24th of December, 1764, fifty-six Indians died by smallpox and fever. July 11th, four of them died, on the 16th three, and on the 24th and 28th, each day, three. When the first one died a grave was dug for the body in the church burying-ground on Vine Street, between Seventh and Eighth Streets. But some " evil-minded persons filled up the grave in the night." After this all who died were buried in the Potter's Field, now Washington Square. The Indians left the barracks on March 20, 1765, being liberally supplied with necessaries by the colonial government, and went to Fort Allen. The Moravian burying-ground appears to have been un- protected, except by a post-and-rail fence, until 1786, when the " committee of the church" ordered the purchase of four thousand feet of New England pine boards to make a board fence, of which report was rendered and account of items stated, amounting to £50 11s. 3d., which sum was immediately collected and paid. During the prevalence of the yellow fever in 1793 eleven, and in 1798 thirteen, members of the congregation died.

The Nazareth graveyard was laid out in 1756, and Peter Lelinart was the first buried there, Feb. 14, 1756. A matter of considerable interest relates to the method of arranging the graves. A history of religious denominations, published in 1783, remarks that, as one of the peculiarities of the Bethlehem Moravians, " These simple-minded people lay their dead with their heads to the sonth and their feet to the north." But this is not a universal rule. In Herrnhut, the Moravian Mecca, the place where the Unitas Fratrum were renewed, the dead are buried in rows, east and west, the feet toward the west. In Nazareth, Lancaster, Litiz, Philadelphia, and Leba- non they were buried lying east and west, with feet toward the east. In the Bethlehem cemetery it is the lay of the land which induced the north and south arrangement.

When the nineteenth century dawned the pastor of the First, or Race Street, Church was Rev. John Frederick Frueauff, but in 1803 he was called to the inspectorship of Nazareth Hall, and so resigned his

1328

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

charge.1 Rev. Joseph Zaeslein became his successor, and served till 1812; but losing his wife, and the church rules forbidding any one without a wife from acting as minister, he resigned and went to Beth- lehem. Rev. John C. Beehler occupied the pulpit for one year, then went to Staten Island, N. Y. Rev. John Meder (who had ministered to the congregation from 1785 to 1789) again assumed charge, but in 1814 was succeeded by Rev. George Godfrey Miller, of Muskingum Station. In 1817 the latter removed to Litiz, then a strong Moravian centre. Rev. William Henry van Vleck was next appointed in 1817. He preached his introductory sermon in English from 1 Cor. iii. 11-13. During the pastorship of this clergy- man a question came to a final decision which had been mooted in the congregation in 1806. The situation of the church at the corner of Race and Bread Streets had become by the changes in business an active neighborhood not inviting to strangers; not only the objection to the locality was urged, but the fact that the old church was inconvenient and too small. Want of funds and the difficulty of finding another suitable location quelled the agitation in 1806. It was renewed about ten years afterward. There were some who ad- vocated building upon the burial-ground lot of the congregation at Lawrence [now Franklin] and Vine Streets. But there was not unanimity, and the matter was again suspended.

In 1817 the congregation settled finally an irrita- ting question, which had been the cause of heat, con- troversy, and separation in the Lutheran and Re- formed Churches, namely : the subject of changing the services from the German to the English language. The Moravian congregation in Philadelphia had been founded by Germans, and was under the control of the Bethlehem establishment, which was entirely German. But the changes in manner, and the fact that the German children were taught in English, and that they forgot the language of their fathers as soon as possible, offered a serious obstacle to the prog- ress of the congregation. In fact, the German ele- ment in the Moravian congregation had been so weakened years before that it was not able to resist, even had it been willing to do so, the partial use of English in the church services. They were held every other Sunday in German; but, the majority now becoming in great degree English, they joined in 1817 in voting that the German language should

not be used in the future services of the church. The question was carried by a large majority, there being few Germans in the congregation willing to contest the matter. The result of this movement was ex- ceedingly beneficial to the church. It brought into the congregation a new element, and, in comparison with previous progress, may be said to have origi- nated a new era of prosperity. Mr. Van Vleck was fully capable of carrying on the services in English to the entire satisfaction of persons acquainted only with that tongue. Ritter says, " His popularity was induced as well by his unadorned oratory and manner as by the spirit-endowed matter. Untiring in zeal and winning in its application, he reached the heart kindly."

The access of new members and the dissatisfaction with the old arrangements brought the question of a change of the location of the church into prominence once more in 1819. It seemed that there could be no agreement as to the proper place for the new loca- tion, and at length it was determined to tear down the old church on Race Street, and erect a more modern and convenient edifice in its place. The committee was composed of Daniel Man, Francis Kampman, Jacob Boller, William Gerhard, and George Ritter.

In the spring of 1819 the venerable building, which at that time was the most quaint and striking speci- men of the style of architecture of the eighteenth cen- tury, and where the fathers of the Moravian Church in America had preached, was, after seventy-seven years of service, torn down. The corner-stone of the new building was laid on the 12th of May, 1819. Fifteen clergymen of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed, and Baptist Churches assembled in the Moravian parsonage and accompanied Rev. Mr. Van Vleck to the spot where the ceremony took place. Mr. Van Vleck delivered an address, and placed iu a box to be inclosed in the corner-stone books, coins, written papers, names of officers of the church, etc., and this inscription :

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 111

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992