Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-10-08
A SKETCH OF The HISTORY OF GRACEHAM
IN FREDERICK COUNTY, ND.
SESQI,ICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION or THE
MORAVIAN CHURCH THIS WEEK.

or chapel on the second. In this building
services were held and a school was con-
Quoted by ordained ministers of the Nor
avian or United Brethren's church. and
a congregation in connection with that
church. known Tor some years as 1.-THE
Congregation in Monocacy,' was regn-
larly or, aniZed On the 9th of October,
l,yo. Ihis congregation will, therefore,
hulu its ,.squiy l!teiinlal celebration on
Thur sday, ilday and Saturday.
Ii may be Weu 10 state here that the
Moravian Church. also called the United
nrltnr.n's,, ilui. II, or 'UnitaS Fratrum'
is an entirely different and distinct or
ganlZalion from the United Brethren IN
Christ, found d in lSUO by the followers
OF WiLiam UttcrDein and from the Boz
hemian Moravian organZatlon IN Balti-
more, with bolh Of which worthy and es-
teemed denominations ii has sometimes
been cunlounded The Moravian Church,
or Brethren Unity, was founded m 1857
by followers of John Huss, the martyr,
or their descendants, IN Morava and 30
hernia, and alter period OF great pros
perity, followed by persecution and al
muat entire extinction, was rcSuScltated
and renewed under the patronage of
Count Nicholas Lewis Won Inzendorf ON
his estaCr5ln SaXony, IN futilment Of the
aspirations of The well known bishop OF
the Ancient Brethren Unity, John Amos
ColeniuS. IL Is The oldest Protestant
Episcopal church in existence, its eplS-
copacy eating IRON !46S, when it was OBJ
tanned from Stephen, bishop OF the Wal
denSeS and his colleague, and its validity
was acknowledge by an act of the Brit
ish Parliament IN lI49.
L b,A MnI.lVlDn [ nDrph Rrpt nrpn
Unity d. iacto, consisting of four prov
inces the German or Continental, the
British, the American and the West In
dian and delegates from these provinces
and from our mission fields throughout
the world Will meet next year, ID. ", in
the decennal General Synod at Herruhut,
i'll SaXony. (l he prevailing lack OF an
acquaintance with our church, owing to
our comparatively small membership must
be my apology for the above eXplanaton.)
A Noted Religious Seat.
In his "History OF Western Maryland
published in 1882, Mr.. j. Thomas Scharf,
a. M, makes the following statement:
"Graceham, a century and d quarter ago,
was noLed religious seat, to which came
hundreds OF the early pioneers for religi-
Gus worship. At that time the men all
CdIIlttl llllGS W utltIu lIl'II Selves az illlSt
the Indians and wild beasts. This cen
fury and a quarter has now become a
century and ii hail, and more, ii reckon
ed from the building OF the first log
church-nouse in l7IJ. The sesquicenten-
NAL anniversary which it is proposed to
celebrate is that Of the organization of
the congregation in Monocaby" in 1853.
Mr.Scharf' statement as to the carry
ing of rifles is correct, as there was a
'gun-cOrner in the first Apple S church,
d Union Lutheran and Reformed church,
built in 1863, about "A mile and half from
Graceham, and one mile from Thurmont,
and there was also one, no doubt, in the
first Moravian church-houSe here.
The settlers in the mountain valleys,
especially, as is well known, were eX-
posed to constant danger from the incur
sions of Indians, who We're still in the
neighborhood, and more SO after the
breaking out of the French and Indian
war, when some of them had to leave
their farms, and flee for their lives, some
coming to the church-house here as
place of refuge. A little daughter of
Caspar Schmidt, who had a farm in Har-
baugh's Valley, and was one of the first
members of this congregation, was car
ried Oft by the Indians and kept by them
for several years, until the treaty made
with them, in 1853, required them to give
up their captives, after which she was
recovered by her father, who met her
unexpectedly on the street in Lancaster,
Pa, where he was attending synod of
our church as delegate from this con-
gregation. (Mr. Scharf was msnform-
ed as to the details of this incdent.) SO
great was the peril of those days, that
some people took possession of the church
house here. at that time temporarily un-
occupied, intending to make fort of it
which design, however, was not carried
out.
Dulany's Gift.
In 175l Mr.. Dulany gave up his entire
claim to the ten acres which he had do
mated to the founders of this congrega-
tion and deed to that effect was drawn
up and recorded in the Land Office at
| Annapolis, a fortunate circumstance in
view of the regrettable fact that in 1880
Daniel Dulany the younger, the son Of
our benefactor, with many others, was
deprived of all his estate, real and per-
sonal, by the confscation ordered by the
General Assembly of Maryland.
The first church-house built here
sometimes called the school, house stood
alone in the woods for % years, until
Adam Kamp came from FREDERICK
Town" to live here on piece of land
which he had bought, adjoining Dulanys
Gift. Ten years before that, the old
part of the present cemetery was laid
out. 1t has been enlarged several times.
The Western Maryland Railroad, which
in 1867 was granted the right of way
through the land owned by the church,
now passes along that side of the ceme-
terry, on which the entrance gate origin
ally stood, a path from the church lead
ing directly to it. In l772, an addition
was built to the church house for a new
meeting hall the old one in the second
story of the church-house having become
too small, the members and their chill
dren, together numbering about one hun
dred and fifty completely filling it. This
addition, built at the northeast gable end