Historical Sketch of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania
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Class ^ 153 Rnnk ."BSlA?. GopghtN°_ COPVRIGHT DEPOSm i^^ /S^U^ "A^^i^d^^ \y y^/^^. / HISTORICAL SKETCH OP 4^1 BETHLEHEM IN PENNSYLVANIA, With Some Accotjkt of the Moravian Church, BY John Hill Martin, Of the Philadelphia Bar, A Member of the '•' Moravian Historical Society." And of the " IliatoiiCiU Society of Peuasylvania." PHILADELPHIA : (Printed /or Orrin EogeRS, By JOHN L. PILE, at No. 422 ^A7alnut Street. 1872. V^5. '- ^'^frl \J Wintered according to the Act of Congress, ly John Hill Martin, In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in the year 1869. INTRODUCTION. Tcis work is not a full history of Bethlehem, l)ut simply an historical Sketi;h, for the use of the traveller. It is intended to supply .1 want which is felt by tliose people who desire to know something of the origin of the Town, the character of the peculiar people who first settled and built it, and of the dificrent Institutions they founded in it. No one can visit the Town without desiring to know more of it than can he derived object this sketch. from mere enquiry ; and to render such information is the of It was written entirely for amusement, but from the most authentic information that could be obtained b^' the Author; who became much interested in the Town, its people, its institutions, and its historic mementoes. JOHN HILL MARTIN. PaiLADELPDii, March ist, i86g. ;; Table of Contents. Chatter I. of the first house ; origin of name of the town Settlement of Bethlehem ; buUtUng ; Riime account of the Moravian Church ; sketch of Count Zinzendorf and his family Anna Kitschmann, - - - - - 5 Chapter II. ;• the Indian Chapel The descendants of Zinzendorf, Louis David deSchweinits Old ; the Unity, Doctrine and Missions of the Moravian Church ; a list of the Inhabi- - - - tants of Bethlehem ; the Indian Troubles, 12 Chapter III. The Married People's House; the Indian AVars of 1755; Benjamin Franklin as a General ; his account of Bethlehem ; Penu's Walking Purchase the cause of the Indian Troubles; Longfellow's Burial of the Minisink, - - 19 Chapter IV. The Old Mill, built in 1751, burned in 1SQ9; the Bethlehem Water Works; Revo- lutionary times of 177G; Washington and Bishop Ettwein; Pulaski's Banner; Washington ; Lafayette ; Mrs. Keldesel's Account Longfellow's Poem ; Visit of Manufacturers ; Main Road to Ohio ; the Stone Mrs. Friday ; C(^tton ; the Fishery ; - - - - Ridge ; Views and Scenery, 26 Chatter V. " ;" ; Dr. .John The Crown Inn the Sun Hotel ; Marriages in Olden Times the Choirs ; Schopfs Account of his Visit ; a Sketch from the Boston Magazine of 1784 ; Extract from a Paper read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, - - 36 Chapter VI. The Schnitz House; the Farmer.<! in Old Times ; the Object of the Establishment of the Moravian Church in America ; Rochefoucault's Description of Bethlehem ; the Music Bethlehem Souvenir; Simplicity of Moravian Life in the Last Century; ; Bishop Spangenberg; The Fifty Year's Celebration, June 25, 1792; The Old - Bridge over the Lehigh, 1792 ; Sketch from the American Gazetteer, 4-1 Chapter VII. The First Moravian Store ; Bethlehem in 1797, from Ogden's Excursion into Bethlehem - and Nazareth In loOO ; the Ancient Insiitntions of the Brethren's Church, 50 Chaptek VIIL Description of the large Moravian Church, erected in 1S03 ; The Bethlehem Archives ; The Gemein Hans, or Congregation House ; The First Moravian Church in BL'thlc- Moravian The Old Ciiapel, Second (.."hnrch ; Tlie Old School, or the First hem ; or Seminary for Females ; The Official Seal of the Church of the United Brethren ; The ; CONTENTS. Addition to the Old School; " The Sister's House ;" The "Widows' House;" Origiii of the Sisters' Houses; Marriage by Lot; Lieut. Aubery's Opiuion ; Kxplnnatiou " of the Lot ; Account of it in the Historical Collections of New Jersey ; The Gre it Marriage Act" in Bethlehem, April '20th, 1757 ; Miss Mortimer's Novel of the ALarrying by Lot ; Married Women, and Ancient Customs ; Remarks in Stroud's History of Pennsylvania ; Act of Parliament of 20 George 2d, C. 44, for the Natu- - - - - ralization of Foreign Protestants, &c., 57 . , I Chapter IX. .;1 The Betlilehem Alphabet; the Old Water Works; Dr. Mease's Sketch of the Mora- vians Derby's Gazetteer, 1827 Mrs. Royal's Account, 1829 ; Prince Masarailian ; ; Gordon's Gazetteer of Penn- of Neuweid's Visit, 1832 ; James N. Beck's Sketches; sylvania, 1832: The Centennial Celebration ; U. S. Gazatteer, 1843; Incorporation " ;" of the Borough, 1845 ; God Save the Luckenbach's Act of Parliament Recog- " nizing the Unitas Fratrum," as a Protestant Episcopal Church in 1749 ; Origin of the Moravians ; Some Account of the Settlement at Hope, New Jersey, from the Historical Collections of that State, - - - 03 Chapteii X. Moravian Memories; Modern Bethlehem ; the Old Grave Yard ; Funeral Ceremonies Anecdote of the Chief, the Figure on In- of the Moravians ; Tschoop ; Tadeusknng, dian Rock, on the Wissahicon ; David Nitschmann ; Dr. Rjbert Dudley Ross ; Mourning Dress not Worn by the Moravians; the Passing Bell; Easter Morning Bethlehem Maurice Celebration ; Drives, Walks, and Places of Interest near ; Dr. - - C. Jones and the Fremdeudiener's ; Moravians in Early Times, 81 Chapter XL The Moravian Parochial School ; the Moravian College, founded, A. D., 1807, charted April 1863; the Bethlehem Male Boarding School ; Nisky Hill Male S.?minary 3, ; the Old Barn of the Congregation Farm ; Sketch of the Bethlehem Seminary for Young Ladies; the Military Record of Bethlehem durinj the Rebellion, - 97 Chapter XII. The Enterprise of the Moravian Church; their schools ; their Publications; the ; Text-Book ; Birth Days, and their Celebration the First Printing Office ; the New.s- papers of Betlilehem in the Past and Present; " Pennsylvania Dutch ;" "Love- " Feasts;" the Moravian Christmas Pntz ; the Young Men's Missionary Society," and Christian Association of Bethlehem, - - 110 Chapter XIII. The Society for Propagation the Gospel among the Heathen ; Statistics of the Unity 1. North- of the Brethren, January 1809 ; List of the Churches and Missions in the ern Diocese of the Chnrrh of the United Brethren in America; an Old Passport " Christian Frederick Port ; Sister Polly Heckewelder ;" Rev. John Heckewelder, anil his Writings ; the Ilorsfield Papers ; History of Northampton County, from a Pamphlet; Ofhcial Seal of the Moravian Church, a Correction; Travels of the Marquis de Chastellu.N; in America, 1780 ; Chas. Thompson's Theory of the For- mation of the Wind-Gap ; Curiosities; the Old Iron Stove Plates; Indian Corn CJrinder; the Old Sun Dial; Old Tiles; Old Water Pipes; the First Market House; Old Grave Y'ard, South of the Lehigh ; Zinzendo.f's visit to Wyoming ; Formation of Northampton County, - - - - 127 Chapter XIV. The Litany of the Moravian Church; "Barlow's Path;" Niskey Hill; Friedenshuetten ; the Indian House; the German the Stations Burns ; Tecuraseh ; Indian Missionary ; Haidte's Painting of the First Fruits ; Seheussle's Picture of Zeisberger Preaching to the Indians; The Lehigh, its Freshets and Fishei-ies ; A ride on the Switch- ; CONTENTS. Ill back; American Tea; The Old Perseverance and the Fire Apparatus of Bethle- Streets Social Life; Census of hem; The Hotels; The ; The Old Tannery ; 1870; Powder Magazine ; Height of the Lehigh Hills ; May-day ; The Masonic Societies of Bethlehem, - - - - 141 Chapter XV. Music in Bethlehem, by Kufus A. Grider, of the Bethlehem Moravian Congregation, - 157 Chapter XVI. Lot ; An Ac- Borough Authorities ; Lawyers and Doctors ; The choice of Bishops by " count of a Vesper" of the Moravian Historical Society ; Old Map of Bethlehem in the Historical Sooiety of Pennsylvania ; The Married Peoples' Houses ; Mano- kasy ; The Apothecary Shop; Pottery; Tobacco; Silk; Public Buildings; The Vineyards ; The Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Co. ; South Bethlehem ; The Pa- per Bag Manufactury ; New Street Bridge ; Volunteer Companies ; The Lehigh University The Freshet of First Roads ; David ; October 4, 1869 ; The Public Nitschman and His Company ; The Great Minnisink Trail ; The First Post Office " " The Mode of Travel in the Olden Times ; The Crown Inn ; Stage Route, Wind Gap to Philadelphia, .... 174 V — i!S^ .*-"'c^*- First House, Bethlehem, built 1741. IIISTORU'AL SKETCH from its mouth at Easton, on the river Dela- OF ware, and fifty-two miles from, and connect- BETHLEHEM, ing with the city of Philadelphia by tha North Pennsylvania Railroad; which forms Pennsylvan ia, a junction with the Lehigh Valley Railroad WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MORAVIAX at that point; thus placing Bethlehem witliiu CHuncn. two hours ride by railroad of Philadelphia, —tXl*— and three hours from Harrisburg and New York. A quiet town, embnwered by patriarch trees. Bethlehem was settled in 1741 by Moravians Around wliich sleeps an atmosi'liere, ba sweet As airs of Paradise : wliere tiny feet from Germany. It is a place of great resort Tinlcle. at twilight, on a balmier breeze. in the summer season for the inhabitants of Than ever blew from Ceylon's ppicy seas Philadelphia and New York, and is chiefly And where throughout the long and languid daj's Poised on the Sycamore's silver-rinded sprays, celebrated for its dry and salubrious climate. The Oriole swings his nest, and flntes his p:Ii es. It is particularly adapted as a place of resi- Far statelier spots may beam beneath the sun, dence for invalids, especially for those suffer- But none so bland in beauty—none so bright With Eden's own Asphodel, that, exhaling liglit, ing from weakness of the lungs, being at the Blooms in her paths, while, like a kneeling nun soutliern end of an extensive plain called Hearing High Mass, she looks with revcri'nt c'yes. the " Dry lands," and sheltered on the west Through clasping greenery, on smiling ^kii s 1 —Henrt B.