[Continuing the journey with Bros. Schnell and Brandmueller, Nov. 1, 1749.]
We left Mr. Cresop and went over the North Branch and came to Urban Kraemer who was not home. So we crossed the South Branch and came to the place of a Hollander, Peter Peterson, where we stayed the night.
On Nov. 2 we intended to rest, the day being the "Elders' Festival", but we found no good place to lodge, so we traveled the whole day up along the South Branch. We passed no house for twelve miles. We stayed over night with Henry Van Meter. These people related their escape from a recent flood. The wife had climbed alone upon the barn which was carried away by the river.
Nov. 3. We met John Becker (an ex-Moravian) accidentally. Finally we came to the house of Matthias Joachim, who was not home, but the wife and children received us kindly. She told us, after a while, "We hear much evil of you; we have a book which says bad things about you." But the son said, "Let that be; we have never heard anything wrong from these people in their sermons." We were allowed to stay overnight and passed the next day, a Sabbath in quietness. We bled each other.
On Sunday, November 5th, I preached in Joachim's house. A considerable number of people were present, including some English who asked me to preach to them in English. I repeated parts of the German sermon for them. The people on the South Branch lamented their poor religious condition, not having heard any sermons for three years. In the afternoon we continued our journey and stayed with Michael Ernst.
Nov. 6. We continued along the South Branch through the Gap. On the way we visited the sister of my father-in-law. They related how they had saved themselves during the flood. The man and his wife with their six children had climbed into a tree, which had fallen half way down. There they spent the whole night. Above the Gap we came to the Germans where we called on George Zeh. We agreed to deliver a sermon the next day. When the neighbors heard of our arrival, several came at once to implore us to baptize their children. I refused and our host asked why I refused. I told him because these people had given their children such a poor training.
Nov. 7. More people came wanting their children baptized. Brandmueller preached. I did baptize two girls and a boy. On the next day, I preached at Joachim's. There were more urgent requests for baptism. In the afternoon we traveled several miles up the South Branch and stayed with Michael Stump. On the 9th, he gave us a horse to cross the many creeks. We met a Swiss, Anton Richert, who had read sermons and baptized his own children. We reached the home of Peter Rith, the father of Sister Schmidt. He was away hunting bears.
[Commentary. The Moravian movement had been seeking union among all of the German denominations. The other groups did not trust the Moravians, whom they viewed as wanting to dominate the union. This was the basis of the opposition to them. At about this time (1749), the Moravians abandoned the union movement and declared themselves as another denomination. This increased the opposition to them by church leaders in other groups. However, the Moravians were generally accepted, in a land where there was a shortage of preachers, by the lay people.]
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.