John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 313

The history of the Moravians predates Martin Luther and originates in 1457 with the teachings of John Huss.  The movement had gained a large following in Bohemia and Moravia by the time the Thirty Years' War broke out in 1618, but that War almost wiped them out.  Early in the 1700's, the church was renewed through the efforts of a devout carpenter, Christian David.  Persecutions continued and Count Zinzendorf offered them a refuge on his estates.  Zinzendorf later became a bishop of the church and much involved in the leadership of the church.  From the earliest dates they were missionary in their efforts.  Today, the majority of the membership is non-European and non-American.

The proper name of the church is "Unita Fratrum", which is commonly translated in English as the Unity of the Brethren.  They first came to the North American continent in 1732 with a settlement at Savannah, Georgia.  Later, the base of operations in America shifted to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is actually a city that they founded.  In their services, much emphasis is placed on music.  If possible, they held (multiple) daily worship services.  At first, property was held communally.  They had houses of residence for the men and for the women.  Married couples could be affiliated with the church.

The activities of the members were organized and supervised closely.  Even the members who were on the road kept diaries of their activities which were submitted to their supervisors.  They, in turn, wrote summary reports which were submitted to their supervisors.  All members were required to write autobiographies.  As you might surmise, education was a high priority.  In fact, in the middle of the 1700's, the Moravian schools were the best in North America.  Women were entitled to education as much as men.  The millions of pages that the members wrote were not discarded.  They were bound and kept.  Today at Bethlehem, there is a library devoted to these records which are kept in a fireproof vault better than most banks have.  The only difficulty with these records is that they are written in German and in German script.  There is another archive in North Carolina.

The recent excerpts here from the travels of the Moravian missionaries and brothers illustrate these points.  They kept a dairy of their daily activities to send to Bethlehem.  Selections have been translated from German to English.  From these, the Rev. William J. Hinke and Charles E. Kemper selected material and added some annotations which were published in the "Virginia Historical Magazine."  The selections used here were from Hinke and Kemper series of articles.

In the 1740's, the Moravians dreamed of uniting all of the German churches in America.  By 1748, the Lutherans and the Reformed churches perceived that the union would be dominated by the Moravians who were the best organized.  The Lutheran and Reformed leaders turned against the Moravians and perceived them as competition.  For example, the Rev. Klug of the Hebron Lutheran church was active, by mouth and by writing, in urging Lutherans in the Shenandoah Valley to reject the Moravians.  Apparently, from the remarks of the Moravians, the Germanna people had nothing against the individual Moravian members but they had a low opinion of the church.  Thus, the Germantown residents wanted a Moravian member to be their pastor, but at the same time they held a negative opinion of the Moravian church.

In 1751, Lord Granville offered the Moravians one hundred thousand acres of land in North Carolina.  On 29 November 1751, the offer was accepted by the Brethren in London.  In 1752, a tract was surveyed in North Carolina, ten miles from the Yadkin River on the upper Pennsylvania road and twenty miles from the Virginia line.  At first, the settlement was called Wachovia but now is called Winston-Salem.  The recent notes here recount the trip of fifteen brothers from Bethlehem to take possession of this tract.