The Moravians In Georgia, 1735-1740
Adelaide L. (Adelaide Lisetta) Fries
9 chapters
6 hour read
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9 chapters
1735-1740
1735-1740
(Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are capitalized. A few obvious errors have been corrected. Many German names with umlauts have had the umlaut replaced with an ‘e’ following the vowel (according to standard form) due to the limitations of ASCII. These names are noted in the Index.) Winston-Salem, N. C....
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Preface.
Preface.
In the life of any individual, association, or nation, there will probably be one or more occurrences which may be considered as success or failure according to the dramatic features of the event and the ultimate results. Of this the Battle of Bunker Hill is a striking example. On the morning of June 17th, 1775, a force of British soldiers attacked a small body of raw, ill-equipped American volunteers, who had fortified a hill near Boston, and quickly drove them from their position. By whom then
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Chapter I. Antecedent Events.
Chapter I. Antecedent Events.
It was in the year 1728 that the English Parliament was persuaded by James Oglethorpe, Esq.—soldier, statesman and philanthropist,—to appoint a committee to investigate the condition of the debtors confined in the Fleet and Marchalsea prisons. The lot of these debtors was a most pitiable one, for a creditor had power to imprison a man for an indefinite term of years, and the unfortunate debtor, held within the four walls of his prison, could earn no money to pay the debt that was owing, and unle
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Chapter II. Negotiations with the Trustees of Georgia.
Chapter II. Negotiations with the Trustees of Georgia.
Among those who came to share the hospitalities of Count Zinzendorf during the years immediately preceding the renewal of the Unitas Fratrum, were a company of Schwenkfelders. Their sojourn on his estate was comparatively brief, and their association with the Moravian Church only temporary, but they are of interest because their necessities led directly to the Moravian settlements in Georgia and Pennsylvania. The Schwenkfelders took their name from Casper Schwenkfeld, a Silesian nobleman contemp
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Chapter III. The First Year in Georgia.
Chapter III. The First Year in Georgia.
In the year 1735 a voyage across the Atlantic was a very different thing from what it is in this year of grace 1904. To-day a mighty steamship equipped with powerful engines, plows its way across the billows with little regard for wind and weather, bearing thousands of passengers, many of whom are given all the luxury that space permits, a table that equals any provided by the best hotels ashore, and attendance that is unsurpassed. Then weeks were consumed in the mere effort to get away from the
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Chapter IV. Reinforcements.
Chapter IV. Reinforcements.
Before David Nitschmann, the “Hausmeister”, left London, after the sailing of the first Moravian company for Georgia, he presented to the Trustees a series of propositions, the acceptance of which would open the way for a large increase of Moravian emigration. The proposals were, in brief, that the Trustees should give credit to the Moravians to the extent of 500 Pounds sterling, which, deducting the 60 Pounds advanced to the first company, would provide passage money and a year’s provision for
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Chapter V. The Second Year in Georgia.
Chapter V. The Second Year in Georgia.
The same day that Bishop Nitschmann left Savannah, John Wesley moved into the parsonage which had just been vacated by his predecessor, Mr. Quincy. A week earlier he had entered upon his ministry at Savannah, being met by so large and attentive an audience that he was much encouraged, and began with zeal to perform his pastoral duties. He was the third Rector of the Savannah Parish, the Rev. Henry Herbert having been the first, and he preached in a rude chapel built on the lot reserved for a hou
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Chapter VI. Disintegration.
Chapter VI. Disintegration.
After Spangenberg had decided not to comply with the request contained in the letter from Savannah, but to stay and prosecute the work among the Schwenkfelders, where a door seemed to be opening, he became conscious of a feeling of uneasiness, an impression that he was needed in Georgia. This was increased by news of the expected Spanish outbreak, for so general was the alarm that all the war-ships in the northern harbors were ordered to Carolina, and the selling of supplies to the Spaniards was
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Chapter VII. Conclusion.
Chapter VII. Conclusion.
May 18th, 1740, John Hagen arrived in Savannah. He had come over intending to go as missionary to the Cherokees, and his disappointment in finding that the Moravians had abandoned Georgia is another example of the enormous difficulty under which mission work was conducted in those days, when the most momentous events might transpire months before the authorities at home could be apprised of them. Hagen had become very ill on the way from Charleston to Savannah, and with none of his own people to
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