Moravian Church in the United States

United States Church Records  Moravian Church Records

History
The Moravian Church in North America is part of the worldwide Moravian Church Unity. It dates from the arrival of the first Moravian missionaries to the United States in 1735, from their Herrnhut settlement in present-day Saxony, Germany. They came to minister to the scattered German immigrants, to the Native Americans and to enslaved Africans. They founded communities to serve as home bases for these missions. The missionary "messengers" were financially supported by the work of the "laborers" in these settlements. Currently, there are more than 60,000 members.

The beginning of the church's work in North America is usually given as 1740, when Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg sent Christian Henry Rauch to New York City on a mission to preach and convert native peoples. Eager to learn more, the Mahican chiefs Tschoop and Shabash invited Rauch to visit their village (in present-day Dutchess County) to teach them. In September 1740, they led him to Shekomeko, where he established a Moravian mission. The two Indian chiefs converted to the Christian faith. By summer 1742, Shekomeko was established as the first native Christian congregation in the present-day United States. Over the next two years, the Moravians endeavored to reconcile the ancient Indian traditions with the new ways of the western society. They made a center for missions to the native peoples. Within the next two years, several more missionaries along with their wives began to settle in the area. Among these were Gottlob Buettner and his wife, Anna Margaret Bechtel, daughter of a minister.

The Moravians were more successful in Pennsylvania, where the charter of the colony provided religious freedom. The towns of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Emmaus, and Lititz, Pennsylvania, were founded as Moravian communities. Graceham, Maryland was founded as a Moravian Community on October 8, 1758, organized by Bishop Matthew Hehl.[3] Later, colonies were also founded in North Carolina, where Moravians led by Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg purchased 98,985 acres (400.58 km2) from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. This large tract of land was named die Wachau, or Wachovia, after one of Zinzendorf's ancestral estates on the Danube River in Austria. The towns established in Wachovia included Bethabara (1753), Bethania (1759) and Salem (now Winston-Salem) (1766).

Bethlehem emerged as the headquarters of the northern church, and Winston-Salem became the headquarters of the southern church. The Moravian denomination continues in America to this day, with congregations in 18 states. The highest concentrations of Moravians exist in Bethlehem and Winston-Salem. The denomination is organized into four provinces in North America: Northern (which includes five Canadian congregations), Southern, Alaska, and Labrador. Source: Wikipedia

Writing to a Local Church

 * Moravian Church Locator

Indian Missions
Moravian Church. Records of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians of North America. New Haven, Connecticut: Research Publications, 1969. (On 40 FHL films beginning with 1017681.) Text in English and German, includes many language dictionaries and indexes for various tribes in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ontario. May include diaries, autobiographical memoirs, year-end summaries, lists of members with biographical details, or parish registers.
 * Introduction: The Moravian Mission Among the Indians of North America

''Guide to the Records of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians of North America: From the Archives of the Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. ''New Haven Connecticut: Research Publications, 1970. (FHL book 970.1 M797g.) Includes writer, type of material, dates, and languages. Schwarze, Edmund.

History of the Moravian Missions among Southern Indian Tribes of the United States. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1993. (FHL fiche number 6104001.)