Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-10-08

and sc feet long, and the walls were SIM
ply planks four inches thick, the interior
being finished in lath. and plaster.
This building served as the church for
| fifty years, Within two months, but was
very often quite too small to accommo-
date those who came to attend the SER
/ vices, especially at funerals, or at Christ
mas and Easter, when hundreds came
| from Frederick, 'Emmitsburg, Hagers-
town, and the whole countryside. The
present church ediiice Of brick, which is
considerably larger, was built in 1872,
one hundl ed and ten thousand brick,
made in this NEG hborhood, having been
used in it's erection. The present par
sonage, also brick building, adjoining
/ the church, had been previously erected
in 1897 and 1898.
. Charles Carols Donation.
The services held here were at first al
together in the German language, that
; being the mother tongue of the majority
of the early settlers in this part of Fred
erick county, and being spoken more
generally tn; n k,nPli h, even ION the
streets of "Fredeli>k Town as late as
1880. In and after 1862 there was occas-
ional English preaching here, "for the
| sake OF our English neighbOrs. some of
| whom had taken up land in this county
before The arlival01 the German pioneers.
Gradually mole English services were in
troduced unit. tlast there was no more
occasion for the use of the language in
which the sturdy first settlers in the for
est wilds of " estern MARYLAND had wor-
shipped God, and express ed their thoughts
and emotions, their fears and hopes, and
plans and purposes, in their daily lives;
for the ever oniiowny tides Of the Anglo
Saxon speech had swept over this part of
the country, too, and the hills and valleys
the churches and homes of the descend
ants of the first settlers no longer echo
ed the accents Of the loved mother tongue
OF their ancestors.
On CAROLS Manor, q few miles south
of "Fr, derrick Town. English services
were held by ministers of our church for
number of years. The Rev. Joseph
Powell was resident minister there from
1866 to l772, during which time the Hon.
Charles Carroll, of Calruliton, gave ten
acres of his land on the manor to our
church, on Il lease of tWenty-one years,
"for the consideration of a Rose per
year." and himself contributed forty
shilIings towards the building of meet
ing house for our Use, which was built
in 1858. English services were held there
until nearly all who had attended them
had moved to North Carolina, in the
western part Of which state our Church
had purchased tract of 9S. 9S5 acres
from John, Earl of Granville, the pro-
prietor. Gin lSl2" Mr.. Schhrf says.
1.-The cornerstone OF a union church for
tons was laid, near the old meeting.
- oh ,hoh lu ha h,,ilt
in 1868, in which Mr.. Powell lived and
preached, and which other families after
wards occupied.
More Land Purchased.
In 1881 the members here contributed
$50, which was then equal to about $24U,
to buy 30 acres of land from MIR. and
Mrs. Joseph Butler, ''the right being in
her." as daughter and heir of Sarah
Ogie, deceased, the relict of Major Jo-
scph Ogle, to whom a tract of 6S5 acres,
surrounding Duany's Gift, had been
granted already in l754. The most, or,
perhaps, all, of the 30 acres was wood
land, AS we read in the diary of this con-
gregation for l7Sl: ''As we now have
more land the woods in front Of the
churchhouse ought to be cut down, SO as
to afford more air. - 1t had been neces-
sary to clear the ground before the Gem
etcry could be laid out, and from their
own woodland the congregation made
fence rails and obtained fuel until about
1920 or 1925, when the diary states that
they had no more woodland. On part
of those 80 acres the original lots of the
future village of Graceham We're laid off,
and the first and second houses We're
: built in 1882, near the churchhouse Of
Christian Leinbach and John kamp.
Gradually more houses were erected,
plain, substantial Lighthouses, some of
which are still standidg, but weather.
boarded now, or faced with brick and
otherwise undermined to some extent.
The first house was destroyed by fire
only 10 years ago, in 1898, ignited by the
sparks from the burning building on the
adjacent lot, a part of which had been
houses, erected in the same year, after
standing for III years persisted together
in the flames.
In 1885, after three houses had been
built, the incipient village received its
name -Graceham from the church au-
thorities. Its growth was slow, for it
was an exclusive church settlement I'M
til 1915. The church had refunded the
money contributed by the members for
the 80 acres, and, therefore, owned the
land, leasing the lots at one penny per
square rod to the members only who
wished to build houses and live here.
BY 1908, however, in which year the con-
gregation celebrated the fiftieth anniver
sary of its organization, houses on nearly
all the lots on both sides of the main
street, including tWo-stOry brick tavern,
at the upper end of the village, "where
two streets meet and several other
houses, had been built, and various in
dustries were carried on by those who
occupied them.
Growth of the Village.
In 1915 their request to be allowed to
rent their houses to non-members was
complied with, and from January l, 1918,
the payment of ground rents ceased, and
each householder could purchase his lot
from the congregation and obtain deed,
which the committee, as trustees for the
congregation, was empowered to give by
an act of the General Assembly of Mary
land, in 1918. Thus the exclusive charac-
ter of Graceham, as a church settlement,
passed away and at this day there are
probably nearly orquite as many members
of other churches resident in the village
as there are members of the Moravian
church.
In 1858, after the interior of the church
edtice had been remodeled and painted
in waterproof fresco, by Mr.. Tetherly, of
Frederick city, the congregation celebrat-
ed its centennial anniversary. The min
listers who came from Pennsylvania and
New York to participate in the exercises
of that occasion had to come by stage
from York, Pa, via Hanover and Lttles-
: TOWN to Emmit ShlIrp where thew were