He could report to the Ministerial Conference, held from June 11 to 14, 1786, "Our meetings are well attended, although not only by our own members, but also by Presbyterians, Methodists and Quakers. Frequently the neighboring towns are visited and meetings held. The attempt to begin week-day meetings has not proved successful. About twenty children attended the school, and once in a fortnight a meeting is held for them. A beginning has been made towards the erection of a new church. The congregation consists of 30 communicants, 54 society members and 88 children." Just when this brick sanctuary which replaced the ancient log meetinghouse was dedicated to sacred use, the present writer has not been able to discover. Frequent attacks of malarial fever-an endemic malady of those parts, it would appear, in the colonial era and early days of statehoodand the death of his wife on November 8, 1793, caused him to surrender the post into the hands of Frederick Mahring, after ten years of severe toil. The "Inventory of the movables belonging to the Brethren's House on Oldman's Creek, Woolwich Township, etc., made November 5, 1793," tells a story of Spartan simplicity and a matter of fact absence of those luxuries which our more sybaritic generation classes amongst its common and almost essential comforts. Not a few necessaries withal are denominated "old," and there is a penchant for articles. that are "small." Moehring's labors seem to have moved along the same lines as his predecessors, more or less distant parochial visitation, coupled with preaching within the homes of those with whom he then lodged; desultory maintenance 1773, Hope, N. J.; then in New York State; 1775-1777, at Gnadenhütten on the Mahoning; 1777, Emmaus; 1779, Gnadenhütten; 1783-1793, Oldman's Creek N. J.; 1793, at Bethlehem; died at Lititz, June 4, 1806, while on a visit. 37 See Biographical Note, p. 410, Vol. II of the Transactions. of a congregation school, and an imitation, as close as might be, of all the unique features of the ritual characteristic of the settlement congregations. One of his official letters, a couple of years after his settlement, affords a delicious glimpse at the naive resolution of a good, pious soul, whose standard of morals, like that of her contemporaries, makes it appear that after all a considerable progress has been achieved in the education of the popular conscience during the hundred years that have intervened. It reads in this wise: "Sister Barnes has taken a ticket in the Canal Lottery, with the purpose, if she draws a sufficient prize, of building a meeting-house with it, and then inviting the Brethren to send a preacher." (Quaere.-Assuming that Sister Barnes should have drawn a prize that could not have been considered sufficient to warrant the carrying into effect of her worthy purpose, what a predicament must she have found herself in, when it should come to the disposal of insufficient moneys?) Between Moehring's removal in 1798 and the year 1800, a vacancy in the pastorate seems to have occurred, the Rev. John Meder, 38 of Philadelphia, occasionally filling the pulpit and administering the sacraments. If the negotiations with the governing board at Bethlehem, which followed, afford a fair ground for inference, deficiency of ministerial support most probably had something to do with the vacancy. In April, 1800, a request for a pastor is signed by sixteen people of Woolwich, as the congregation is now usually denominated, the names Guest, Vanneman, Eastlack, Wood, Avis, Derickson, Madeira and Taylor being prominent. On the part of the authorities at Bethlehem, the Rev. John Frederick Früauff 39 now makes a personal inspection and reporting favorably, 38 See Biographical Note, p. 50, Vol. IV of the Transactions. 39 See Biographical Note, p. 148, Vol. IV of the Transactions. 40 Samuel Towle, previously a missionary in Labrador and in the West Indies, receives and accepts the call. But the subscription list of 53 names scarcely furnishes an adequate salary, and, despite the removal of the parsonage to a more healthy place in 1801, ill health is superadded. So in December, 1802, he removes to Newport, Rhode Island. Nor does the effort made in the following Spring by John Caspar Freytag" result in any more decided per manence. Disabled in Autumn by severe sickness, he is practically incapacitated for pastoral work for months, and in the following March receives permission to retire to Bethlehem. 42 For a time occasional ministrations are rendered by Joseph Zäslein, the pastor in Philadelphia. The last transaction recorded by him in the old church book is the baptism of a child, Joseph Holmes, son of Israel James and Elizabeth (Avis) James, on September 16, 1810. Already in 1807 a notice appears of services being held in the church by Methodist ministers-to the dissatisfaction of good brother Andrew Vanneman, who writes that he has prohibited the widow who served as care-taker, from making such a disposal of the edifice unless permission is granted from Bethlehem. For his part he would once more like to see a pastor stationed amongst them. But it was not to be. Too large a proportion of the members had meantime moved away, especially to Philadelphia. 4o See Biographical Note, p. 412, Vol. II of the Transactions. Born January 6, 1769, in Saxony; 1796, teacher at Bethlehem; ordained May 8, 1803, at Bethlehem, by Loskiel; 1803, minister at Oldman's Creek ; 1804, living at Bethlehem; 1805, minister at Gnadenhütten on the Mahoning; 1818, retired to Cherryville, Northampton County, Pa., where he died, April 3, 1821. 42 Born April 11, 1770, at Basel, Switzerland; 1800-1803, teacher at Nazareth Hall; ordained May 8, 1803, at Bethlehem, by Loskiel; 1803-1812, minister in Philadelphia; subsequently joined the Lutheran Church. 43 When in May of 1827, the Rev. Lewis David de Schweinitz, as Administrator and member of the governing board, visited the locality, he found a number of persons who remembered the labors of the Brethren with affection; but their name had become a reminiscence, and when seven years later the Episcopalians requested the use of the church, there was no reason why it should not be granted. And so ended the connection of the Moravian Church with New Sweden and the Jerseys, until modern home missionary activity once more planted the banner of the conquering Lamb beyond the Delaware. 43 Born Feb. 13, 1780, at Bethlehem, Pa.: Educated at Nazareth Hall, Pa., and in Germany; teacher at Niesky; chaplain of the Single Brethren at Gnadenberg, 1807; chaplain and warden of the Single Brethren at Gnadau, 1808; 1812-1821, Administrator of the Unity's property in North Carolina; 1821-1834, pastor at Bethlehem, Pa., and Proprietor and Administrator of the Unity's property in the North; delegate of the American Moravian Church at the General Synods of 1818 and 1825, at Herrnhut. A distinguished botanist, he received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Kiel in 1812. He was consecrated a Senior Civilis at Herrnhut on Aug. 18, 1825, being the last representative of that degree. As Administrator and Proprietor, he was ex officio a member of the governing boards of the Moravian Church, South and North Died at Bethlehem, Pa., Feb. 8, 1834. |