Moravian Genealogical Research

Moravian Genealogical Research VERNON H. NELSON Moravian Records are frequently consulted for genealogical information, even though the Moravian Church is one of the smaller denominations. The purpose of this article is to explain what materials are available and how they can be used. THE HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH The official name of the Moravian Church is Unitas Fratrum, "Unity of Brethren." The Moravian Church has also been known as the Moravian Brethren, the Bohemian Brethren, the Church of the United Brethren, Brtidergemeine, Herrnhuter. Frequently researchers confuse the Moravian Church with the Church of the Brethren or the Evangelical United Brethren, but there is no connection. The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations. It began in Bohemia in 1457. Within a century it had thousands of members in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, including many prominent noblemen and intellectuals. Its early accomplishments were significant; it produced the translation of the Bible into Czech; it produced the first Protestant hymnal. John Amos Comenius, the great educator, was a Moravian bishop. The Moravian Church fell into near extinction during the Thirty Years' War. Many of its leading laymen were beheaded on the Day of Blood in Prague in 1621. After the war the members had to practice their religion in secret. Religious oppression in Bohemia and Moravia became so severe that thousands left their homes and crossed the border into Saxony, Silesia, and Poland. They usually left at night, taking along only what they could carry on their backs., In 1722 a small party of refugees reached Count Zinzendorf's estate in Saxony. They were led by Christian David, a daring carpenter who made several trips across the border, preaching and encouraging people to leave. The immigrants were allowed to settle on Zinzendorrs estate and to found a village named Herrnhut. Herrnhut became a center for religious refugees from all over Central Europe. Most were German-speaking, even those from Bohemia and Moravia. Count Zinzendorf, then in his twenties, was much interested in religion. Under his guidance, Herrnhut became a prosperous town with shops and small businesses. Zinzendorf was a Lutheran, but he allowed the Herrnhut settlement to reestablish the Unitas Fratrum after he realized that many of the first immigrants were descendants of that ancient church.2 41 42 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine The Moravian movement spread far beyond Herrnhut, in Europe and abroad. In 1732 missionaries were sent to the slaves in the Danish West Indies. In 1735 a mission was attempted among Indians in Georgia. The work in Pennsylvania began in 1740. Bethlehem became the major settlement and headquarters. In 1752 a group of Moravians from Pennsylvania went to North Carolina. Salem, established some years later, became the center of work in the South. It is now part of Winston-Salem. Except for their work among the Indians, the Moravians remained near the East Coast for many years, and that is where most Moravians reside today. In 1849 Moravians began work in Wisconsin and later in Minnesota and North Dakota. In 1895 they went to western Canada. The tendency was to follow members westward, or to minister to German immigrants who knew the Moravians from Europe. The Moravian Church in America today has 60,000 members., TYPES OF RECORDS SIGNIFICANT FOR GENEALOGY The records of the ancient Moravian Church are mostly destroyed and do not merit consideration in this article. The most important remaining records are the Acta Unitatis Fratrum, discovered at Lissa, Poland, in the early 1800s. They are extremely important for Czech history, but do not contain much genealogical information. For the renewed Moravian Church there are genealogical records in abundance. Zinzendorf developed a world-wide organization within the course of only a few years. To keep track of everyone, he needed extensive reports. Ministers were obligated to send reports to Zinzendorf (usually in the form of a diary or as letters), who read and criticized them, and often used them as inspirational reading in church services. As the years passed the system changed very little, although it was no longer necessary to send reports to Herrnhut. The ministers still kept diaries and other records. The records were housed in the church office or perhaps in a closet. Later in many cases they were transferred to one of the central archives buildings. The records were all quite uniform. Here are some of the types of records, listed in approximate order of usefulness for genealogical purposes: I. The register, or churchbook. The register is used to record—in separate sections of the book—baptisms (infant and adult), marriages, funerals, confirmations, reception of members, removal or dismissal of members, ordinations. Often an index is kept at the front of each volume. The entries are rather detailed. Infant baptisms usually contain the full name of the child, date of birth, date of baptism, full name of parents including maiden name of the mother, sometimes the occupation of the father, names of sponsors, and name of the officiating minister. Sometimes the child is identified as first-born, fifth-born, etc. The older registers sometimes contain a brief history of the founding of the congregation, plus a list of all members at the time of founding. Sometimes the founding members are listed by Moravian Genealogical Research 43 families, with the pertinent vital statistics given. This information was compiled by the minister and often extends back before the Moravians became involved. The funeral entries are usually a paragraph in length to two pages at the most, and contain a brief biography of the individual. 2. The catalog. At present, ministers are keeping their catalog—which is essentially a membership list—on catalog cards or in a large black book. The card system is newer and less useful, because when a member dies his card often is thrown away. The catalog in book format was standardized by the Moravian Northern Provincial Synod of 1868, but earlier catalogs had similar formats in many cases.. There is, however, more variety in catalogs than in registers. Often a catalog will be nothing more than a few pages listing the names of members by category: married adults, widowers, widows, single men, single women, boys, girls. Sometimes birthdates will be given. The more complete catalogs consist of bound volumes and may contain the following: Name. Parents. 1. Father's Name. 2. Mother's Maiden Name. Birth and Baptism. Date and Place of Each. Admission to Communion. Date and Ordinance. Marriage. Date and Place. Further and Final Record. Re-entry, Dismissal, etc., or Death, Date and Page, or Date and Place. Special Notes. Everyone connected with a Moravian congregation appears in the catalog, if it is kept up to date. Such is not the case with the register, where persons appear only if they have been baptized, married, buried, etc., during the period covered. 3. The memoir (Lebenslauj). Zinzendorf was much interested in persons and their religious experiences. Moravians were encouraged to write down their experiences in what was called a Lebenslauf. Ideally, they would keep the document up to date and it would be read at their funeral, with the fmal portion written by the minister. There are thousands of these documents in the Moravian records. Some are only one page; others are half a dozen or more pages long. Some are written by the person in his own hand; others are copied in their entirety by the minister. Much of the information in the memoir concerns spiritual matters, and thus there are cases where the person doesn't even mention how many children he had. Obviously these are still important documents, and they invariably mention when and where the person was born, and how he came into contact with the Moravians. A few persons write their own memoir today, but usually it is done by the minister, if at all. The practice of reading a memoir at funerals has been largely discontinued. 4. The church diary. Relatively few Moravians kept individual day by day diaries, but every Moravian Church kept (and most still keep) a church diary. In the early years these diaries were very extensive, with much information about what 44 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine was happening in the place, who arrived, who left. If a person was at all important in the life of the church he would be mentioned in the diary, sometimes frequently. In Moravian settlements there were diaries for the Single Brethren's House, the Single Sisters' House, and the Widows' House, in addition to the church diary. 5. Minutes of boards. In Moravian settlements there were several boards with much control over an individual's life. Two of the most important were the Elders' Conference and the Aufseher Collegium. The Elders' Conference dealt with disciplinary and general religious matters. Its minutes contain information about prospective marriages, admission to Holy Communion, arrangement of the religious services, delinquent children, etc. The Aufseher Collegium dealt with all temporal matters, such as property, apprenticeship, businesses, and kept extensive minutes of its activities. 6. Letters. All ministers and in some cases lay persons corresponded with Bethlehem or Salem. There are long series of letters from the various congregations in the Moravian records. 7. Financial records. There are many records of church businesses. These records are useful if the person being studied was a tanner, innkeeper, forester, tilestove maker, or any one of dozens of occupations in a Moravian settlement, or if he dealt with the Moravian businesses. 8. Maps. At an early date the Moravians had skilled surveyers who produced hundreds of maps now in the Moravian records. 9. Pictures and photographs. Starting in the American Colonial period there are portraits of Moravians, in oil, in watercolor, or as sketches. After the invention of photography the number of portrayals increases greatly. 10. Private collections. These are collections of letters, poems, pictures, and other types of material received from individuals. The items were once part of the private possessions of the individual or family. For some families there are up to a dozen Archives' boxes, in other cases only a few items. It should be noted that families were often inter-related. THE LOCATION AND AVAILABILITY OF THE MORAVIAN RECORDS The international Moravian Church follows the policy that each province should have its own archives. The American Province, North, and the American Province, South, each has archives buildings. In some of the mission provinces it has been impossible to set up an archives. The Archives Building in Bethlehem is the central repository for the Northern Province, which now has churches in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, California, Alberta, and British Columbia. The building was constructed in 1929. It has four floors, one being a gallery, and has about 10,000 square feet of useable space. It is constructed of stone and is fireproof. In 1973 a fund raising drive for $300,000 was launched to pay for a needed renovation, the first ever.' Moravian Genealogical Research 45 The Archives Building in Winston-Salem is the central repository for the Southern Province, which includes North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida. It is an historic brick building which was converted to archives' purposes in 1942. It is pleasant in appearance, and is the size of a large house. Each Archives has a professional staff. In Bethlehem there are two full-time archivists, a part-time cataloger, and a part-time secretary. Each Archives is open regular hours, and the staff works on arranging new materials received, assisting researchers, preparing photocopies, and on other types of Archives work. The majority of Moravian records are in the two provincial Archives Buildings. It is normal practice for the records of disbanded congregations to be sent to the Archives. Existing congregations have the option of sending records to the Archives or retaining them. Many have chosen to place their records in the Archives, where they are much safer. There is a published guide to the Archives in Winston-Salem.6 Unfortunately, the Archives in Bethlehem does not yet have a guide.? Some of the major congregations with records in the Archives in Bethlehem are as follows:, Settlements: Bethlehem, Lititz, Nazareth, Pa.; Hope, N.J. Town Congregations: Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, Pa.; New York City; Newport, R.I. Country Congregations: Schoeneck, Gnadenhtitten, Heidelberg, Hebron, Bethel, Mount Joy, Pa.; Oldman's Creek, N.J.; Staten Island, N.Y.; Graceham, Maryland. Indian Congregations: Schbnbrunn and Gnadenhiitten, Ohio. It is sometimes necessary to consult the records in the congregations themselves. Almost all congregations retain recent records. Some congregations retain old records as well. In general, for the North, the congregations in Ohio and westward have retained their own records. The congregations east of Ohio have placed their records in the Archives. There are some notable exceptions either way. If one wishes to write to a specific congregation, one can find its address and minister's name in the Directory and Statistics of the Moravian Church in America, which is printed annually.. Most congregations have developed a procedure for answering requests accompanied by a return envelope. Unless one knows that a congregation maintains its own records, it is best to write first to the Archives in Bethlehem or Winston-Salem to determine where the pertinent records are located. Moravian records are subject to the usual restrictions applied at practically all archives. Records cannot be borrowed, but must be used at the Archives Building or Church. Normally records less than 50 years of age are closed to researchers. It is not necessary to be a Moravian to consult records. It is also not necessary to be working on the doctoral level. The major requirement is to be able to read the materials, of which many are written in German. Application should be made in advance. 46 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine FINDING AIDS FOR GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN MORAVIAN RECORDS I. Printed Books and Articles. One of the most useful finding aids is the series of Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society), Volume I contains a register of Moravians in America and in Europe circa 1745. Volume V contains a list of Moravians who immigrated to America. Volume IX contains a list of Bohemian and Moravian emigrants to Saxony, many of whom later came to America. The Transactions contain the published records of three important Moravian cemeteries: Bethlehem (Volume V), Nazareth (Volume VII), and Lititz (Volume VII). There are other helpful articles in the Transactions, such as histories of congregations. For the Southern Province, the eleven volumes of the Records of the Moravians in North Carolina constitute a magnificent finding aid and research tool., There is a published list of burials in Herrnhut, Germany, up to 1822.12 Various historical or genealogical periodicals have printed baptisms, marriages, or burials of certain Moravian places. One of the most interesting examples of the publishing of such records is a volume concerning Oldman's Creek, N.J.13 There are published lists of students at the various Moravian schools, usually attached to a history of the school. In the North, the schools so treated are Nazareth Hall, a boys' school;14 Moravian Seminary for Girls in Bethlehem15 and Linden Hall in Lititz,,, both girls' schools; and Moravian College and Theological Seminary in Bethlehem.,, Nearly every Moravian place has had a full volume history or a shorter work printed about Printed genealogies of some of the major Moravian families are available, such as Zinzendorf,19 Clewel1,2, Nitschmann,21 Van Vleck.22 There are also a number of biographical studies.23 2. Typescript indexes. Typescript indexes are available for some of the registers of individual congregations. The most significant is a two volume work on Bethlehem marriages, which includes not only an index but also abstracts of each marriage with additional information on the children born to the couple, second marriages, deaths, etc. There are typescript indexes to the register of Moravians in Volume I of the Transactions and to the list of Moravians who immigrated to America in Volume V. The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania has prepared an index to all names in the history of the Moravian Seminary for Girls and list of its students. There is an index to the ministers' book, a manuscript work with brief biographies of each minister up to about 1880. Both the Northern and Southern Province Archives have prepared a card index to their memoirs. These give name, date of birth and death, and sometimes place of death. In Bethlehem there are cards for about 5000 persons. Many are American, but some are European or even from mission fields. The most comprehensive card index to Moravian records prepared to date is the work of the late Rev. Carl John Fliegel, who indexed thousands of pages of Indian mission records in the Bethlehem Archives. Moravian Genealogical Research 47 3. The Manuscript Items Themselves. In the 18th Century the Moravians compiled several lists of members in America, arranged by congregation. These lists can serve as a finding aid for locating to which congregation a person belonged. Many of the individual record books have indexes incorporated within them. Most catalogs and registers have an index which was kept by the minister as he made entries. Some of the minutes of boards are indexed at the back of the volume; others have subject listings in the margin. USE OF THE MORAVIAN RECORDS The principles of historical and genealogical research useful for other records apply to the Moravian records as well and need not be repeated here. The Moravian records were kept in most cases by educated persons—ministers, teachers, secretaries, bookkeepers—but even then errors could and did occur. It is always best to have at least two independent verifications of a fact, if possible. The most important facts to establish at an early stage are those of place and date. It is essential to find the name of the congregation(s) to which the person was attached, and at least the approximate dates. Usually the place is known. If not, the finding aids mentioned above often help.,, When the congregation is known, the location of the records can be ascertained by consulting the Archives in Bethlehem or Winston-Salem. Minor requests to congregations or the Archives can usually be handled by mail, but for any major research one should plan to visit the Archives or church where the records are located. It is essential to write in advance if coming from a distance. At the Archives or church, one would normally ask to consult the register for the pertinent years. In many cases no other record is needed. As mentioned, many registers have an index at the front of the book. One should not overlook the cases where typescript indexes have been prepared. When there is no index at all, one must be guided by date; all entries are chronological, within their category. The catalog is the next place to look. It is particularly important when a person was not located in a community long enough to marry, have children, or die there. The catalog also frequently has an index at the front. If there is no information in the register and catalog, the chances of finding something elsewhere are not good. To add to information from the funeral entry in the register, one would want to search the memoir file. Most of the memoirs are indexed on cards, but not all. One might find an un-indexed memoir according to date. Often memoirs are copied into the diary at the time the person died, or at the end of the month or end of the year. The diary is another good place to look. Knowing dates is helpful, but at worst one would have to scan the diary for the name of the person for the years he is known to have lived there. Often one can find some type of picture, especially after photography was in- 48 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine vented. If it is a major Moravian family, there is a good chance of finding a collection of private papers of the family or a related one. If a person moved from one Moravian congregation to another, there is often a record of his leaving the one place and arriving at the other. Thus it is not difficult to trace Moravians who move as long as they remain Moravians. The worst problems occur when someone moved from a Moravian place to a non-Moravian place, without any indication of where he went. In many cases, the problem is not whether anything can be found, but how to wade through the voluminous materials that are available to find exactly what is needed. SOME MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS Most of the Moravian records are written in German Script. Even as late as the 1940s records in German can be found.25 German Script is a real problem for the researcher, because even most Germans do not know how to read it today.25 The Moravians in America use English today. On the East Coast the complete changeover to English took place during the 19th Century. (Some churches had always used primarily English.) The calendar is a special problem before 1752. The Moravians followed the system in use on the Continent. They were eleven days ahead of the calendar used in the colonies and in Britain at the time. Thus the Moravian records before 1752 often seem to be eleven days ahead of events mentioned in newspapers or other records. Sometimes the Moravian records give two dates, written like a fraction, for example: 11/22 Dec. Sometimes a date seems a year and eleven days off. This is because the New Year did not then begin in January. The Moravians did not live completely apart, even in their settlements. They followed Pennsylvania law in Pennsylvania, and thus there are wills, deeds, and other documents in the county courthouses concerning the Moravians. Census records are also helpful. Sometimes people spend time copying Moravian gravestones. There is little sense in doing so, except possibly for artistic reasons. Much more useful and accurate information appears in the written records. Moravian genealogical research need not be confined to persons of European origin. The Moravian Archives have much genealogical material on Indians who belonged to the Moravian missions.27 The genealogical records of slaves in the Caribbean is another fascinating study: the records of the Eastern West Indies Province of the Moravian Church, housed in Bethlehem, contain registers with information on perhaps 20,000 slaves or freed slaves, often giving African tribal names. Once one understands the different types of records in Bethlehem or WinstonSalem, it is relatively easy to use similar records in other parts of the world. The Moravian Church is presently located in the following provinces: America (North), Moravian Genealogical Research 49 America (South), Britain, Continental (Eastern), Continental (Western), Czechoslovakia, Alaska, Eastern West Indies, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Labrador, Nicaragua, South Africa (East), South Africa (West), Surinam, Tanzania (Southern Highlands), Tanzania (Western), with additional work among Tibetans in India and among lepers in Israel. The world-wide membership exceeds 400,000.24 Some of these areas have their own Archives. Of particular importance is the Unity Archives in Hermhut, Germany (DDR). It is the central archives for the international Moravian Church. Any American wishing to consult records there or in any of the other countries mentioned above should get information first from Bethlehem or Winston-Salem. Certain materials available in print or as photocopies would be worth looking at before making a trip. NOTES The standard history written in English of the ancient Moravian Church is Edmund de Schweinitz, The History of the Church Known as the Unitas . (Bethlehem, 1885). 1 For a one volume biography of Zinzendorf, see John R. Weinlick, Count Zinzendorf (Nashville, 1956). 1 The standard history of the renewed Moravian Church is J. Taylor Hamilton and Kenneth G. Hamilton, History of the Moravian Church, 1722-1957 (Bethlehem, 1967). See The Journal of the Provincial Synod, 1868 (Bethlehem, 1868), 129-132, for regulations concerning registers, catalogs and diaries. , For a brief history of the Archives in Bethlehem, see Vernon H. Nelson, A History of the Archives at Bethlehem (Bethlehem, 1971). t The North Carolina Records Survey, Guide to the Manuscripts in the Archives of the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province (Raleigh, N.C., 1942). , However, see Kenneth G. Hamilton, "The Resources of the Moravian Church Archives," Pennsylvania History, XXVII, 3 (July, 1960), 263-272. This list is taken from the congregations in existence at the time of the Revolutionary War. This directory is included at the back of the Daily Texts, a devotional guide printed annually by the Moravian Church in America. 1. The Transactions have been published since 1859 by the Moravian Historical Society, Whitefield House, Nazareth, Pa. There are now twenty-two volumes, each usually consisting of several parts. " The period covered runs from 1752 to 1879. All volumes consist of translations of German records in the Winston-Salem Archives. They are published by the State Department of Archives and History in Raleigh. Der Gottes-Acker Sc Herrnhut, 1822. 11 Paul Minotty, The Records of the Mor.ion Church at Oldman's Creek . .. (Gloucester County Historical Society, 1968). 15 H. H. Hacker, Nazareth Hall, an Historical Sketch and Roster of Principals, Teachers and Pupils (Bethlehem, 1910). William C. Reichel and Wm. H. Bigler, A History of the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies at Bethlehem, Pa. (Bethlehem, 1901). It Herbert H. Beck, A Century and Three-Quarters of Life and Service, Linden Hall Seminary, Dam Pennsylvania. 1746-1921 (Lancaster, 1921). 1, William Nathaniel Schwaive, History of the Moravian College and Theological Seminary (Bethlehem, 1910). " More research has been done on Bethlehem than on any other Moravian place in America. See J. Mortimer Levering, A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 1741-1892 (Bethlehem, 1903); W. N. Schwa= and S. H. Gapp, A History of the Beginnings of Moravian Work in America, (Archives Publication I, 1955); Kenneth G. Hamilton, translator, The Bethlehem Diary, Volume I, 1742-1744 (Bethlehem, 1971). 50 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine See Gerhard Meyer, Nikolaus Ludwig Reichsgraf von Zinzendort and Amends's!, eine genealogische Studie (Hildesheirn, 1966). . Lewis B. Clewell and Lewis P. Clewell, History of the Cloven Family in the United States of America, 1737-1907 (Bethlehem, 1907). Josef Nitschmann, Das Geschkct Nitschmann (Wien, 1942). Jane Van Vleck, Ancestry and Descendants of Tidman Van Vkck (New York, 1955). William H. Armstrong, Organs for America; the Life and Work of Dot id Tannenberg (Philadelphia, 1967) is a good example. 5. At worst, one would have to go through the records of every congregation until the pertinent items were found. rs In Alberta, Canada. . Each summer the Archives in Bethlehem conducts a two week course in reading German script. The main tribes were the Delawares in the North and the Cherokees in the South. rr See Directory and Statistics, Moravian Church in America, 1975, p. 60, for current membership statistics. Notice Readers are asked to inspect carefully the pages of the previous issue of PGM, XXVIII, 4 (1974), especially the Index, to see that the correct pages are included. If any pages are missing, please notify the Society's Office, so that the omission may be remedied. The Society apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this error. Summer Course in German Script A course of training to read German Script of the 18th and 19th centuries, as used in Germany and in German areas in America, is offered by the Archives of the Moravian Church. Dates are 16 to 27 June, 1975; instructors are the members of the staff of the Archives; and costs are $125 for tuition, plus $15 for materials (room and board extra). Prerequisite: reading knowledge of German. This course has been conducted each June since 1971, with from nine to twenty-one participants each year, most of whom have been professors or graduate students of German literature, German or American history, and church history. For further information, write to Archives of the Moravian Church, 1228 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018. The Nerw York Magazine, published in New York City by Thomas and James Swords, on page 502 of the number of September, 1796, reports on twelve farms in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, 18 miles from Philadelphia, which in 1793 were owned and occupied by elderly persons. Three of these individuals had died by September, 1796, namely, A. Stout, age 94, J. Gilbert, age 93, and C. Garrison, age 79. The other nine are listed, with ages in September, 1796, as J. Irwin (93), H. Yerkiss (90), S. Shoemaker (73), S. Irwin (72), A. Buskirk (76), J. Bellew (77), J. Fry (74), T. Craven (82, who had been 78 in 1793) and G. Craven (78). Contributed by KENNETH SCOTT, F.A.S.G.