Category Archives: Moravian History

Fraktur Quilts from the Schleifer-Kichlein Family

: Fig. 1 ENOCH SCHULTZ CYPHERING BOOK, 1829, 2010.02.03 and A FRAKTUR DRAWING, 1805, 2006.264.33. Courtesy of the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center, Pennsburg, Pa. Photo Images © DL Moyer

Prior to the year 1897 Fraktur was clearly understood by everyone as an angular broken-lettered calligraphy or typeface. Thereafter an additional meaning was introduced that has redefined the way we think of Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravian material culture. In September of that year Henry Chapman Mercer gave a talk The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing Among Pennsylvania Germans to American Philosophical Society members in Philadelphia. Most likely thinking of all the illuminated manuscripts containing both visual decorative elements, and Fraktur script, he suggested that all Pennsylvania German illuminated manuscripts be called Fraktur. However, people came to understand this as nomenclature for objects with or without Fraktur script. Since then, birds, flowers, geometric designs, etc. on paper, textiles, clay, wood, glass, metal, or stone with or without any text can be referred to as Fraktur. The material culture of both groups, therefore, is represented through visual, as well as written Fraktur.

: Fig. 2 COMPARISON OF FRAKTUR WEDDING QUILTS WITH PA DUTCH FRAKTUR DESIGNS, 1820-1840 Courtesy of Moravian Museum of Bethlehem PA M849.01; Winterthur Collection 2000.0071; Schwenkfelder Collection, uncatalogued; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016.432.

There are then two kinds of Fraktur quilts: one made up exclusively of blocks signed in Fraktur script; [1] and Fraktur quilts whose central owner/maker block is the only block to be embroidered with initials or name and date in Fraktur script, the remainder being pieced, embroidered or appliquéd with decorative motifs used by the Pennsylvania Dutch in all their media, and commonly called Fraktur. Most frequently seen on illuminated manuscripts, textiles and tombstones, they include geometric designs, doves, pelicans, peacocks, tulips, carnations, pomegranates, trees, stars, and so forth.

Members of the Schleifer-Kichlein family, (Küchlein, Kickline) created four such quilts using Fraktur script, and decorative elements associated with the material culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch, as well as, amazingly enough, embroidering in the center of two of these quilts a tambour worked [2] scene of the latest in fashion design for men, women, and children among both the American English-speaking society, and the well-dressed European family of the 1820s and 1830s.

: Fig. 3 FRAKTUR MOTIFS QUILT, INITIALED “E K 1829” Taken from John Joseph Stoudt . Pennsylvania German Folk Art, 1966, p.334.

John Joseph Stoudt in his 1966 Pennsylvania German Folk Art (p. 334) cites possibly the oldest among the quilts, which at that time belonged to Mr. Oliver Lewis Christman, an antiques dealer and florist living in Pottstown, Pa. One of its blocks is initialed in Fraktur script “E K 1829”. A pieced reel design, along with tambour embroidered Fraktur motifs such as two birds flanking a tulip tree, and French-knotted cherry trees are similar to those found in three other known quilts: an undated/unsigned quilt and two shams reportedly made by Christina Kichline ca. 1830 (Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa, M849.01 & M849.02-01-02), and two other quilts, one initialed in Fraktur script “E S 1830” (Winterthur Museum collection, 2000.0071) in the center owner/maker’s block, and the other, also embroidered in the center owner/maker’s block, in Fraktur script as “Euphemia Kichlein 1832” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016.432).

: Fig. 4 FRAKTUR MOTIFS WEDDING QUILT & SHAMS ATTRIBUTED TO CHRISTINA KICHLINE, CA. 1830. Courtesy of the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa., M. 849.01, M. 849.02-01-02.

According to the Church Register of Christ Lutheran Church in Trumbauersville, Pa., Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) was born on 11/30/1795 to Heinrich and Dorothea Schleifer.[3] Per the same records her brother John and she were confirmed in 1811. She was married to Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854), and was the mother of seven children, [4] three of whose death certificates—Charles, [5] John Abraham, [6] and Mary Ann Kichlein Applegate Christine, [7] confirm parentage as Jacob Kichlein and Christina Schleifer. That Christina was Euphemia Kichlein Scholl’s (1819-1884) mother is attested to by the 1880 United States Federal Census for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa. in which John Scholl, his wife Euphemia, and mother-in-law Christina Kechline are listed. [8] The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania death certificate for William H. Scholl cites John Scholl and Euphemia Kichline (maiden name) as parents.[9] Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854) was born in Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa. on 4/9/1795 to Elisabeth Kepler (Köbler), and Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852). The U. S. 1850 Federal Census lists fifty-five year old Jacob Kichline as a tavern keeper in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, Pa., and head of a very large household including thirty-two year old Euphemia Kichline. [10] He died in Lower Saucon, Northampton County, Pa. 9/28/1854.[11]

The beautifully embroidered and pieced Fraktur motif quilt and pair of pillow shams, now housed at the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa., was a gift of Mrs. Vernon Melhado, and was accessioned in May 1939. It is described as a

Quilt of red LeMoyne stars of wool on white cotton. Tambour embroidery in wool yarn of birds, tulips, trees, in blue, red and gold colors. Centerpiece tambour work depicts [a] man, woman [,] and child. Braid on 3 sides finished with fringe edges in red and grey is 4.5 inches long. Backed with white cotton.

The accession report dates the quilt to ca. 1830, noting that Christina Schafer [sic] [Schleifer] Kichline made this as her wedding quilt, having married Jacob Kichlein in 1817 at age 16. N. B. In 1817 she was twenty-two. The aforementioned information, along with a note that she carded the wool that was produced on land owned by the Unangst family near Quaker Hill in Northeast Bethlehem in 1815 comes from the original catalogue card. It is not unusual for facts to become blurred by time and memory. Neither are church records always right, but, as already noted, the official birth and baptismal entry for Christina indicates that she was born in 1795 and baptized in 1796. She would have been sixteen in 1811, the date she was confirmed at Christ Lutheran Church, not 1817, and 35 by 1830 when it is estimated the quilt was made.

This is the work of a skilled needleworker. Christina may, indeed, have made it as a wedding quilt, but not for herself. It was traditional for Pennsylvania Dutch grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters to make quilts for young boys and girls in the immediate family as early as age eight or nine for their Aussteuer, i.e. future wedding trousseau. Finished quilts were stored away in dower chests waiting to be given several years hence to the now young man or woman when he/she “went housekeeping.” Christina could have made this quilt for any one of her then living children as a future wedding gift.

: Fig. 5 FRAKTUR MOTIFS WEDDING QUILT, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

A similar quilt, in the Winterthur Museum Textile collection, replaces the LeMoyne stars with a reel pattern. French knotted cherry trees with pomegranates placed on either side alternate with the reel block to form an attractive border that, like the second example, is embellished on three sides with a braided edging finished in red fringe.

: Fig. 6 CLOSE-UP FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

Tambour work beautifully renders two birds flanking a tulip tree with trailing pomegranates, a design that is common to all quilts in varied forms.

: Fig. 7 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

“E S 1830” is embroidered in Fraktur script on the center owner/maker block, and surrounded by flowering tambour worked tulip vines. At the moment we do not know the maker of this quilt, but can definitely say that it was someone within the Schleifer-Kichlein family.

: Fig. 8 ELISABETH KÖBLER EMBROIDERED TAUFSCHEIN 1830 & HEINRICH EBNER & CO. PRINTED TAUFSCHEIN 1822. Courtesy of the Goschenhoppen Historians, 1971.01.55 & Allentown Art Museum, 2009.006.031.

Although not a quilt, a one-of-a-kind embroidered Taufschein owned by the Goschenhoppen Historians (1971.01.55) [12] is also linked to the embroidery achievements of members of the Schleifer-Kichlein family. It was embroidered by J K in 1830 to commemorate a special moment in the past, the October 9, 1776 birth of Elisabeth Köbler Kichlein, grandmother to Jacob and Christina’s seven children. Atypical for the Pennsylvania Dutch, this is a Taufschein intended to be hung on the wall and shown. Its frame, original to the work, encloses two embroidered pieces: The upper one shows the initials of the maker and date J K 1830 in Fraktur script, and the lower one the birth and baptismal certificate. The needleworker’s choice of decorative elements is an interesting combination of motifs contemporary to her time period such as the putto, angels, and birds from Heinrich Ebner’s printed Taufscheins of the 1820s, along with more traditional Pennsylvania Dutch sampler-like objects such as French-knotted cherry trees, embroidered sleek birds, and creeping tulip and other floral vines to form the border framing the text. The tambour work is not as finely done as in the quilts. The ever present baptismal verses announcing the brevity of life and importance of baptism usually found on printed Taufscheins of the period are noticeably absent from this piece. Although it is still unknown who embroidered it, and for what occasion, perhaps it was a fifty-fourth birthday present for a very special grandmother.

Elisabeth’s parents Jacob and Christina Kerschner Köbler (Kepler, Keppel, Koepler, Käbler, Kebler, Kepple) were married 5/18/1762 [13] in St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Coopersburg, Pa., a church still better known as the Blue Church for the bluish-hued plaster that once covered the outer masonry as insulation and protection.

: Fig. 9 THE “BLUE CHURCH” BY RON PRATT. Courtesy of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church or the “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa. Photo courtesy of AlyssumArts © DL Moyer.

All of their children’s birth and baptismal records are in the Blue Church Register: Elisabeth was the fifth child of seven children. Her siblings included Johan Georg (2/23/1763); Johann Jacob (4/4/1765); Johannes (6/5/1771); Maria C. (2/20/1774); Elisabeth (10/9/1776); Andreas (3/16/1779); and Susanna (4/7/1781). According to a will registered in Bucks County on 4/10/1824 under File No. 5388, Volume 10 (1821-1831 wills), pp. 357-359, and probated 3/22/1825, her father Jacob is identified as a yeoman, late of Richland Township, Bucks County, Pa. He sets forth in his last testament how moneys and other assets are to be divided among his beloved wife Christina, children and grandchildren, and appoints Elisabeth’s husband Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852) and Jacob Smith as executors. Johannes and Elisabeth had two children John K. Kichline (8/24/1793-5/7/1865) and Jacob S. Kichline (1795-1854), husband to Christina Schleifer (1795-1884), and father of Euphemia (1819-1884), Jacob (1821-1911), Thomas (1823-1857), Mary Ann (1826-1908), Elizabeth (1832-1890), John Abraham (1835-1907), and Charles (1837-1916). Both Johannes and Elisabeth Kepler Kichline are buried, side by side, at Christ Church, old section in Trumbauersville, Bucks County, Pa., Plot: Row F1, F2.

: Fig. 10 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

“Euphemia Kichlein 1832” is embroidered in Fraktur script in the central owner/maker block of the quilt now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Textile collection. Euphemia was thirteen when this quilt was made. Perhaps an experienced family seamstress and she completed it together, or perhaps, as previously suggested, her grandmother, mother, or aunt created it for her Aussteuer or future wedding trousseau.

: Fig. 11 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT SECTION, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

The skillfully executed tambour worked variations of Pennsylvania Dutch bird and tulip tree designs alternate with the pieced reel pattern.

: Fig. 12 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT FULL-VIEW, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

The reel pattern is used again in the border, alternating with an angel familiar to those of us who spend time with printed Taufscheins. She balances a bird on her uplifted right hand, and holds a lyre in her left, but shorn of her wings, is now mortal and forever fated to remain on earth.

: Fig. 13 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT BORDER BLOCK 1832, attributed to Euphemia Kichline (1819-1884), and HEINRICH EBNER TAUFSCHEIN, ca. 1830 Quilt courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr; Taufschein courtesy of Allentown Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaplan, 2009, 2009.0060.030. Photo courtesy of AlyssumArts © DL Moyer.

Unlike the winged angel on the Elisabeth Köbler embroidered Taufschein, who still can access celestial realms, the wingless quilt angel, probably copied from a Heinrich Ebner Taufschein of the early 1830s, is destined to walk forever among the tambour worked flowers of this quilt border. Such was the imagination and will of its designer and maker.

: Fig. 14 STYLISH CLOTHING STYLES 1820-1840 IN CENTER QUILT BLOCK Courtesy of MMA Fashion Plates 064, 034, 046; FLP 1068.18.29; Moravian Museum of Bethlehem M849.01

The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem and Metropolitan Museum of Art quilts feature in their center a strolling couple with a young boy. The man, woman, and child are worked in tambour stitch and boast the fashionable styles worn in the 1820s and 1830s by both discerning English-speaking Americans, as well as trendsetting Europeans. Tulip vines and flowers create an arbor-like frame around the scene. Such an addition to quilts principally embellished with Pennsylvania Dutch inspired stars, birds, wingless angels, tulip trees, and pomegranates is unique and quite unexpected. However, if we turn to three fashion plates of the period taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866, [14] we can see the similarity in dress and perhaps the inspiration for the figures on the quilts. Also, Henry Young’s 1829 Fraktur drawing of “Miss Catherine McKnight her Picter in the year 1829” shows us an example of the fashion and style of the time in which the quilts were made. Local sources would have included newspapers, and the extremely popular Godey’s Lady’s Book, a magazine founded by Louis Godey in Philadelphia in 1830 with monthly detailed descriptions of the latest in modish clothing and hand-colored fashion plates.

: Fig. 15 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART FASHION PLATE, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Fashion Plate 034, and FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, 1832, attributed to Euphemia Kichline (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and Courtesy of Patricia Herr.

Although the Schleifer-Kichlein family’s roots were firmly anchored in Pennsylvania Dutch customs, they were also tavern keepers; served the general public; and participated in the contemporary life of the 1820s and 1830s. It was a time of vast change in America. Young people were crossing cultural boundaries, and even as today, merging and blending different cultural milieus. So, perhaps embroidering clothing advertisements directed at English-speaking Americans onto the center of two quilts family needleworkers had otherwise embellished with traditional decorative Fraktur motifs, was an artistic and creative way to express the acculturation of the time period, featuring what was precious from the past while introducing the lifestyle of the present.

ENDNOTES
[1] For more detailed information on this type of Fraktur quilt, see Pennsylvania German Blog Post Nr. 8: Friendship-Fraktur-Signature Quilts.

[2] Tambour work is a needlework form that derived its name from the drum-shaped frame used to stretch the fabric. Instead of a needle, a tiny hook draws a loop of thread from below the fabric to the surface. Reinserting the hook and repeating this operation produces a chain stitch much faster than using a needle.

[3] Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) Christ Lutheran Church Register, Trumbauersville, Pa.: Births/Baptisms, p. 20, accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/zu8jmjn & Namen der Confirmanten vom Jahr 1811. accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/jlf6ygt

[4] Jacob Kichline’s and Christina Schleifer’s children include: Euphemia (1819-1884) , Jacob (1821-1911), Thomas (1823-1857), Mary Ann (1826-1908), Elizabeth (1832-1890), John Abraham (1835-1907), Charles (1837-1916).

[5] Charles R. Kichline Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File N. 17671; Registered No. 9 (born 6/30/1837; died 2/13/1916) Accessed 25 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hdkw87a

[6] J.[ohn] A.[braham] Kichline Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 115188; Registered No. 227 (born 1/30/1835; died 12/17/1907). Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hqzdbyl

[7] Mary Ann Kichline Applegate Christine Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 86431; Registered No. 45 (born 4/24/1826; died 9/10/1908) Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/guybxju

[8] Christina Schleifer Kichlein (1795-1884 U. S. Federal Census 1880 for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa., 22 June 1880 by Joseph a Fluck, p. 41, lines 42-44. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/j4zqs75

[9] William H. Scholl (1841-1907) Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File No. 109911, Reg. No. 147. Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z2j9fyb

[10] Euphemia Kichlein (1819-1884) U. S. Federal Census 1850 for Saucon Township in Northampton county, Pa., 13 August 1850 by Wm J Brownle, p. 43, lines 40-42. N. B. Jacob Kichlein is listed as a tavern keeper, and Euphemia Kichlein as thirty-two years of age. Accessed 24 August, 2016. http://tinyurl.com/zmrlssr

[11] Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z9yhdhw

[12] For more detailed information on the Elsabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein, see Pennsylvania German Blog Post Nr. 7: The Elisabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein.

[13] “Jacob Kepler & Maria Christina Kerschner Marriage Entry 5/18/1762,” in Records of St. Paul’s Lutheran and Reformed Church (Blue Church) in Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1748-1892, edited by Clarence E. Beckel. vol. II, p. 186. Bethlehem, Pa., 1939.

[14] Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866:

Plate 034, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/11871/rec/36

Plate 046, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016 http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3851/rec/21

Plate 062, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3867/rec/53

SOURCES
Sharon P. Angelo et. alia. Quilts: the Fabric of Friendship. Atlgen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for the York County Heritage Trust, Pa., 2000.

Lucinda R Cawley. “Ihr Teppich: Quilts and Fraktur.” Uncoverings 2004 vol.25,
11- 40.

Mary Ann Kichline Applegate Christine Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 86431; Registered No. 45 (born 4/24/1826; died 9/10/1908) Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/guybxju

Russell D. and Corinne P. Earnest. Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners, East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997. 2^nd ed., vol. 1, pp. 287-290.

Linda Eaton. Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection. New York: Abrams in association with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 2007, 68-69.

Patricia Herr. Quilting Traditions. Atlglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for The Heritage Center of Lancaster County, 2000.

Andreas Kachline (1728-1781) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73730710

Susanna Benner Kachline (1734-1777) Find a Grave Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73730729

Jacob Kepler Will probated April 10, 1824 and proved in Bucks County on March 22, 1825 under File No. 5388, Vol. 10, 1821-1841 pp. 357-359, Executors John Kachlein and Jacob Smith; Registrar Samuel Smith. Bucks County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Bucks, Pennsylvania. Accessed 25 August 2016 http://www.pa-roots.org/data/read.php?28,59982 as well as http://tinyurl.com/zablvvh

Christina Schleifer Kichlein (1795-1884)
U. S. Federal Census 1880 for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa., 22 June 1880 by Joseph a Fluck, p. 41, lines 42-44. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/j4zqs75

_______________ . Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgibin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=63231022&ref=acom

Elizabeth Kepler [Köbler] Kichlein (1776-1861) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=51926818

Euphemia Kichlein 1832 Fraktur Quilt. Metropolitan Museum of Art Quilt Collection 2016. Accessed 23 August 2016 http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/717944

Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=51926842

Charles R. Kichline Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File N. 17671; Registered No. 9 (born 6/30/1837; died 2/13/1916) Accessed 25 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hdkw87a

J.[ohn] A.[braham] Kichline Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 115188; Registered No. 227 (born 1/30/1835; died 12/17/1907). Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hqzdbyl

Jacob S. Kichline (1795-1854) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=86545893&ref=acom

Thomas J. Kichline. The Kichlines in America. Manuscript presented at the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society of Easton, Pa., January 15, 1926. Accessed 25 August 2016 http://www.kichline.com/documents/archives/kichlinesinamerica.htm

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866, Plate 034, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/11871/rec/36

_______________. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: Women 1827-1829, Plate 046, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016 http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3851/rec/21

_______________. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: Women 1827-1829, Plate 062, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3867/rec/53

Donald and Nancy Roan. Lest I Shall Be Forgotten: Anecdotes and Traditions of Quilts Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, 1993.

Nancy Roan and Ellen Gehret. ‘Just A Quilt’ or Juscht en Deppich. Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, n.d.

Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) Christ Lutheran Church Register, Births/Baptisms, p. 20, accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/zu8jmjn

_______________. Christ Lutheran Church Register. Namen der Confirmanten vom Jahr 1811. accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/jlf6ygt

Euphemia Kichlein Scholl (1/16/1819-9/6/1884) Find A Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64248403&ref=acom

William H. Scholl (1841-1907) Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File No. 109911, Reg. No. 147. Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z2j9fyb

Robert Shaw. American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2009, 44-45.

Klaus Stopp. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol.1 of 6. Mainz, Germany and East Berlin, Pa: privately published, 1997-1999.

John Joseph Stoudt. Pennsylvania German Folk Art. Publications of the Pennsylvnia German Folklore Society, vol. 28, Allentown, Pa: Schlechters, 1966, 334.

Winterthur Research Fellow, Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch Material Culture, 2016

Every year Winterthur provides fellowships to a select group of scholars for research  in their chosen areas of study in social and cultural history, including material culture, architecture, decorative arts, design, consumer culture, garden and landscape studies, Shaker studies, travel and tourism, the Atlantic World, and objects in literature. ~
Winterthur Research Program

Thanks to a short-term research fellowship this summer at Winterthur, I have been able to study rare books in the Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals; objects in the Winterthur Museum Collection; and manuscripts in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera. All has contributed to my research for a book in progress Heavenly Fraktur: How Fraktur Influenced Pennsylvania German and Moravian Material Culture. This blog post is based on that research. My sincere thank you to all at Winterthur who have made this fellowship possible.

My thanks also to Patricia Herr, Author and Collector; the Rev. James Hammond, and Kathy Exner of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa.; Janine Pollock and Joseph Shemtov of the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia; Joanne Kintner, Pat Gottschalk, Nancy Roan, Linda Szapacs, and Robert Wood of the Goschenhoppen Historians, Inc.; Charlene Donchez, Lindsey Jancay, and Keith Sten of Historic Bethlehem, Inc.; Dorothy McCoach, Independent Textile Conservator; Dave Luz, Candace Perry, and Hunt Schenkel of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center; Linda Eaton, Tom Guiler, Julia Hofer, Susan Newton, Catharine Roeber, and Roberta Weisberg of Winterthur Museum.

Fraktur Quilts from the Schleifer-Kichlein Family Blog Post 13 including transcriptions; translations; and photo images, except for images of E. S. 1830 Quilt Winterthur Collection 2000.0071; E. K. 1829 ILL. in John Joseph Stoudt Pennsylvania German Folk Art (1966, p. 334); Photo © Patricia Herr Euphemia Kichlein 1832 Quilt; MMA Fashion Plates 064, 034, 046, © 2016 Del-Louise Moyer.

How God Spoke to the Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravians Through the Media

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Dedication
This blog post is dedicated to Corinne Earnest who left time on May 26, 2016. Without Corinne, Patricia, and Russell Earnest’s unflagging dedication to Fraktur, we would all still be trying to put together many of the pieces of the historical puzzle that they have researched, and solved. She was not zealous for her own purpose, but rather reached out and shared freely her great love and knowledge of Fraktur with everyone. We all shall miss Corinne.

Introduction
The Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravians produced their everyday tools and utensils from seven media: stone, wood, glass, metal, clay, textiles, and paper. Both decorative Fractur script and motifs, as well as everyday cursive calligraphy adorned this material culture, capturing both the spiritual and secular principles then prevalent. In this post we take a look at the scripts and motifs; the practical aspects of time and materials; and how God spoke to the Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravians through the media.

Adam & God
When Adam, father of all mankind, realized his memory wasn’t going to be good enough to remember all the names he had given to earthly living things, he thought he’d better have a talk with God. Now God didn’t want Adam to remember everything, so He said: “Adam, a man can’t keep everything in his head. There should be another way to remember, don’t you think?” Adam, being very relieved, agreed, and so God gave Adam a set of symbols that could be used to keep a record of things. Adam’s children carried on the tradition, and their children’s children, and over time others called these symbols letters or alphabets, and this way of remembering writing.

Writing School in Session
Today, the world over we find varying alphabets, and mankind is still using them to remember. So it was, too, in the eighteenth century when around 1760 people began to ask Johann Michael Schirmer, a writing master, mathematician, and school teacher in the free imperial city of Frankfurt am Main to put together a practical self-instructional handwriting book for the use of young people and adults. Schirmer had very little free time and was reluctant, but finally realized he was the only one who had the broad knowledge and skill necessary to inspire youth to take up the pen and learn to write German in Fraktur, Current, and, chancery scripts, and to notate their Latin, Italian and French in round lettering known as Literae Rotundae and square lettering or Romanae Quadratae. Schirmer’s title page indicates that Current, Canzleÿ, and Fractur are to be understood as German calligraphy, and Cursiva, Rotunda, and Quadrata as Latin calligraphy.

: Fig. I Johann Michael Schirmer. Geöfnete Schreib=Schule oder Deutsche, Lateinische, und Franzöische Vorschriften/Writing School in Session or German, Latin and French Writing Samples. Frankfurt am Maÿn: Selbst Verlag, ca. 1760, Title Page. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33

Current Script
Current, also known as German script, was so named, according to Schirmer, because it was “currently” in common use among the general public. He emphasized that his exercises were so designed to teach one to write in this cursive script with ease and clarity as if one letter grew out of the other.

: Fig. 2 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Von der Current=Schrift überhaupt” or “Concerning Current Script” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule ….Copperplate 7. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE Z43 S33.

Chancery Script
Canzleÿ or chancery script was created from Fractur quite by accident in the chanceries and scriptoria. As shortcuts were found to speed up the making of initial capital letters, first lines, and other applications in Fractur script, rules were altered. Eventually a whole new set of criteria was recognized under the name of chancery script. Schirmer advises the reader that there was no uniform agreement among writing masters concerning this.

: Fig. 3 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Von der Canzleÿ=Schrift überhaupt” or “Concerning Chancery Script” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…. Copperplate 13. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

Fractur Script
Initially German-speaking calligraphers preferred writing in Fractur, but found it required a great deal of time and skill to do so. This made it unsuitable for everyday situations, and, as already mentioned, encouraged simplification in the rules. So it is not surprising that scribes naturally developed a handwriting for daily use, and eventually designated Fractur exclusively for the ornamentation of initial letters, opening text, and important words in documents. Schirmer notes that only after the introduction of the printing press, [1] did people begin referring to the script as Fractur. Although there is no proof of this, one thing is certain: Fractur deriving from the Latin word Fractus, and meaning fractured or broken, certainly was used by those printing or handwriting these angular broken letters, and is still used today to describe its fonts and calligraphy.

: Fig. 4 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Von der Fractur=Schrift überhaupt” or “Concerning Fractur Script” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…. Copperplate 21. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

Cursiva, Round Letters, Square Capitals
Schirmer categorizes Cursiva, Rotunda, and Quadrata as Latin calligraphy. Quadrata or Square Capitals were tedious to form because of their straight lines and angular configuration, making them more suitable for carving inscriptions on stone with a chisel than for writing a text on parchment or paper with a pen. Calligraphers, therefore, as with Fractur, in the course of time modified the shape of this script to a rounder lettered form that could be written with a flowing connected hand and speed for everyday use, calling it Cursiva. They reserved the Square Capitals for special headings and text on paper, and used them on readily conducive media such as stone or metal.

Intended for cursive handwriting, Schirmer includes large and small Round Letter (Literae Rotundae) alphabets in lower case (Gemeine), as well as decorative upper case (Versalien) examples,. He also introduces Literae Romanae Quadratae (Square Capitals) to be used as ornamental lettering.

: Fig. 5 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Literae Rotundae…Literae Romanae Quadratae” or “Round Letters…Square Capitals” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…. Copperplate 27. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

Ornamented Letters in Latin and French
For those writing in Latin and French, Schirmer recommends twelve (12) examples in round capital letters to decorate introductory lines.

: Fig. 6 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Anleitung zu gezierten Lateinisch=und Französischen Anfangs=Zeilen” or “How to Decorate Opening Lines Written in Latin and French” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…. Copperplate 45. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

Ornamented Letters in German
When writing in German, he suggests using any of the following thirty-eight designs in lowercase Fractur to ornament initial text.

: Fig. 7 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Anleitung zu gezierten deutschen Anfangs=Zeilen” or “How to Decorate Opening Lines Written in German” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…. Copperplate 46. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

“Youth’s Lifelong Obligations” Vorschrift by Johann Michael Schirmer, ca. 1760
Schirmer’s European writing samples are not only exercises to master the various scripts, but are also reminiscent of what we find in similar Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravian Vorschriften in America: a combination of design examples, practice formulas, and moral tips, taken mostly from the Bible, hymns, and religious poems, to keep young and old on the path to heaven. The following text from his “Youth’s Lifelong Obligaions” parallels what we find in American writing samples of the time period:

Focus on your Creator when young, and have Him ever before your eyes and in your heart.
With unfeigned love, childlike diffidence, and total confidence, dedicate the first fruits
of your endeavors to Him. Accustom your lips not to curse or swear, and never be afraid
to use them in prayer, praise, and thanks. Be diligent in learning the Word of God, and live
your life accordingly. Be humble towards everyone, and respect the elderly. Always be willing to oblige your friends and enemies. Avoid hateful words and foolish actions. Shun the temptations of youth, and remain chaste and virtuous. Be steadfast in your work, and eat your bread with dignity. Bann all falsehoods and lies. Harbor no evil thoughts nor associate with bad company. [2]

: Fig. 8 Johann Michael Schirmer. “Lebens Pflichten der Jugend” or “Youth’s Lifelong Obligaions” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule….Copperplate 40. Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals, Wilmington, DE, Z43 S33.

“Connoisseurs’ Writing Sample for Reading and Writing” by Wilhelmus Faber, 1812
A comparable American Vorschrift created by Wilhelmus Antonius Faber (active ca. 1790-1820) in 1812 for Johannes Klinger, a school boy living in Exeter Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, demonstrates not only text similarities, but also mirrors a number of precepts found in Schirmer’s Writing School in Session or German, Latin, and French Writing Samples:

Firstly, Faber uses Fractur script for the initial lines as suggested by Schirmer, and chooses a double band decorative element similar to Illustration 7 of “How to Decorate Opening Lines Written in German,” (Copperplate No. 46 ) to ornament the opening religious text “Wohl dem den der Herr in…” Just as Schirmer demonstrates the use of calligraphic flourishes in “Youth’s lifelong Obligations,” (Copperplate No. 40), so too we find Faber embellishing not only the initial letter “W” with flourishes, but also, in similar fashion, all along the top of the line.
The religious text in Fractur script paraphrases the Psalmist David, and then in German script quotes verses 9-11 from Psalm 91, demonstrating the every day cursive handwriting the student is more likely to use throughout his life. The upper and lower case alphabets in Current script are included for practice purposes.
The final line Johannes Klinger’s Writing Sample, 28^th November 1812 is important text identifying the owner, and, accordingly is also done in Fractur.

: Fig. 9 Wilhelmus Faber Vorschrift for Johannes Klinger, 1812. Courtesy of the Henry Stauffer Borneman Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia, (FLP) frk00359.

Connoisseurs’ Writing Sample for Reading and Writing, 1812
He whom the Savior blesses in his work and household shall prosper. For the Lord is your refuge, and the Most High your deliverance. No evil will befall you, and no plague come nigh unto your dwelling. For He has entrusted you to his angels that they may protect you wherever you may be [Psalm 91:9-11].
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A a | b c d e f fs g h j i k l ll m n o p q r s ss s t u v w x y z tz ch ß sch sl si tz
Johannes Klinger his Writing Sample, Exeter the 28^th of November 1812 [3]

Faber was most likely a school teacher, and is best known for his decorative Scherenschnitte or cutwork that frequently encircles the text. However, he also made writing samples such as the FLP example. It has been suggested that he was Moravian since he reputedly once lived in Lititz, Pennsylvania, a Moravian community in northern Lancaster County. He was also, however, active in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Lebanon, Montgomery and Northampton Counties. Knowledgeable in German, Latin, and English, his calligraphy is remarkably fine, and that of a trained scrivener.

A New Definition of Fractur, 1897
In 1897 another meaning of Fractur was introduced that has redefined the way we think of Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravian material culture. In September of that year Henry Chapman Mercer gave a talk The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing Among Pennsylvania Germans to American Philosophical Society members in Philadelphia. He suggested that it would be much more convenient if all Pennsylvania German illuminated manuscripts be called Fractur. Since then objects with or without Fractur script can be called Fractur. For example, a bird or flower or geometric design on paper, textiles, clay, wood, glass, metal, or stone with or without any text can be referred to as Fractur. The material culture of both groups, therefore, is represented through visual, as well as written Fractur. Stone and textiles, per Ellen Gehret in This is the Way I Pass My Time, vie with works on paper for containing the most Fractur script, and hand towels are “more verbal than any other form of Pennsylvania German needlework with the exception of samplers.” [4]

“My God, Through the Blood of Christ” Sampler by Elisa Kulp, 1816
Elisa Kulp, a Mennonite living in the Franconia area of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, worked a most extraordinary sampler in 1816. An A B C sampler with square capital letters in the upper half, along with floral and geometric designs in the lower ensured that she would be able to number and mark her linens with her name or initials for inventory, as well as have a template of decorative motifs to embellish other textiles throughout her life. It is worthwhile pointing out that household textiles were highly valued, and an important part of one’s estate.

Elisa embroidered her name in full twice, and also added her initials so that there would be no doubt to whom this lovely piece belonged. She also embroidered two spiritual reminders, both in square capital letters:

MEIN GOTT ICH BITT | DURCH CHRISTI BLUT | MACHS DOCH MITT | MEINEM ENDE GUT or MY GOD I ASK YOU THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST TO ASSURE ME A PEACEFUL END.
O EDEL HERZ BEDENKE DEIN ENDE or O NOBEL HEART CONTEMPLATE YOUR END.

The origin or inspiration of these phrases can be traced to Ämilie Juliane, Imperial Countess of Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt (1637-1706), who was born in 1637 in Barby, a place which in the eighteenth century was to become strongly associated with the Moravians. Like Luther, this noble lady considered prayer and diligence key necessities to one’s life, meditating three times daily. She died in Rudolstadt in 1706. Ämilie Juliane is known to have written over 500 hymns, one of which Die Eile des Lebens or The Hurriedness of Life contains the phrase Elisa cross-stitched “Mein Gott ich bitt durch Christi Blut Machs doch mit meinem Ende gut.” This refrain comes at the end of each of twelve verses, “My God, my God, I ask you through the blood of Christ to assure me a peaceful end.” The beginning of the third verse “Lord, teach me always to contemplate my end,” or “Herr, lehr mich stets mein End gedenken’ may have inspired Elisa to encircle a flowering heart motif in the center of the bottom half of her sampler with the entire command “O Edel Herz Bedenke Dein Ende” or “O Noble Heart, Contemplate your End.” This was a saying near and dear to the Pennsylvania Dutch and appeared frequently on samplers and towels in the abbreviated form OEHBDDE.

: Fig. 9 Elisa Kulp 1816 Sampler, Private Collection, in Lisa Minardi. “A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans And The Art of Everyday Life,” incollect interiors + collections, Fig. 5. Photograph by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Wilmington, DE. https://www.incollect.com/articles/a-colorful-folk-pennsylvania-germans-and-the-art-of-everyday-life

“That Which You Want Others to Do” Susanna Steltz Plate by Georg Hübner, 1789
There are two kinds of Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravian redware: the greater majority falls under utilitarian in glazed, unglazed, or partly glazed ware; and a much smaller group of “fancy” glazed and decorated ware. Georg Hübner, a potter in Limerick Township, Montgomery PA made a slip decorated, sgrafitto dish thirteen inches in diameter for Susanna Steltz in 1789 that falls into the latter category. Slipware refers to glazed pieces that have had an element of design added such as a drawing, date, name, or saying. For sgraffito, from the Italian for “scratched,” the slip is painted on the surface and the design is scratched through the slip revealing the contrasting red clay beneath. Although such a piece showed off the potter’s skills, and was less likely to be used daily, there is evidence from marks of wear and tear on some that not all were presentation pieces. The Steltz piece, however, appears to have been rarely used, and does, indeed, demonstrate Hübner’s masterful work.

The potter inscribed the outer rim of the plate in Fractur script with a command Jesus gave to the multitude in his sermon on the Mount found in chapters 5-7 of St. Matthew, and chapter 6 of St. Luke—specifically Matthew 7:12, and Luke 6:31, as well as the date and name of the plate owner: “ March 5^th 1789 the plate of Susanna Steltz. All that you would have others do unto you, do unto them.” [5] The inner portion is decorated with a double-headed eagle as per the Fractur script between the two heads: “Portrayed here is a double-headed eagle.” [5] Please note that this is not a Holy Roman Empire double-headed eagle bristling with authority and might, but rather a double-headed eagle of totally different temperament to whom Hübner gave a broad and flowering Pennsylvania Dutch heart.

: Fig. 10 Redware (slip decorated, sgraffito) by Georg Hübner, Limerick Township, Montgomery County, March 5, 1789, Courtesy Winterthur Museum Collection, Wilmington, DE, 965.2301.

“Dear People, Observe” Pennsylvania Stove Plate, 1753
Radiant-heat stoves existed in northern Europe as far back as the mid-sixteenth century. The tradition of casting them in iron with low relief decorative and textual elements, both secular and religious, also originated on the Continent. Some of the eighteenth-century German-speaking immigrants to Pennsylvania brought these cast iron stoves along with them to heat their homes, and when they needed to replace or repair damaged or worn plates, found iron masters who could replicate the traditional plates at local forges.

The Pennsylvania Dutch house in the mid- to late eighteenth century consisted of three rooms on the main floor: a Küche or kitchen on one side of a centrally-located chimney, and a family living space known as the Stube or “room,” as well as the Kammer or “sleeping chamber” on the other. The fireplace opened into the kitchen and, just as in Europe, the most economical way to heat the Stube was via the cast iron five-plate jamb stove, which when put together, formed an open box that could be put against an opening in the wall shared with and opening into the kitchen fireplace. Placing hot coals or burning wood from the fireplace side into the stove opening provided heat in the Stube without the annoyance of smoke.

These plates were made in the same way as in Europe, and typically were adorned with secular or religious inscriptions done in Romanae Quadratae or Capital Square Letters. Fractur visual motifs such as tulips, stars, medallions, wheat sheaves, and human figures often depicted a Biblical story with or without a saying, reminding the viewer of his temporal existence, and need to take stock of the eternal path he was forging.

One unusual stove plate, however, stands apart from all the others, and appears to be a political satire on an event taking place on September 14, 1753. As Henry Chapman Mercer noted in 1914 in his work The Bible in Iron, and as is still the case:

No event on September 14, 1753, either in Pennsylvania, where James Hamilton
(1748-54) was Governor, or in Germany or England, where Frederick the Great
and George the Third reigned, appears to explain this joke or satire (the only
caricature in the whole collection), upon some person, so publicly well known as
to strike the popular fancy and increase the sale of a stove at that time. [6]

This stove plate’s message was easily understood by the denizens of southeastern Pennsylvania in 1753, and although we don’t yet know the true significance of its imagery and text, we can at least contemplate both its visual, and verbal elements.

Two vaulted panels are divided by a vertical molding: At the top on the left in relief are the letters “17.” In the center a rider, in tricorn hat and long coat, clenches a sword in right hand, while holding aloft possibly a torch in his left hand. He conspicuously sits upon a goat. At the top on the right are the letters “53.” In the center a man on foot, wearing a headdress and long coat faces the rider, and with both hands holds a sword in horizontal position in front of him.

Underlined Romanae Quadratae or Square Capital Letters follow:

SEHET. ZU. IHR LIBEN.      DEAR PEOPLE, OBSERVE
LEUT. WIE. DER. HERR      HOW THE GENTLEMAN
AUFF . DIESEM PFRTE     RIDES UPON THIS HORSE.
REIT. D 14 SEPTEMBR      THE 14^th OF SEPTEMBER

: Fig. 11 “Sehet zu, Ihr liben Leut…” Pennsylvania Stove Plate, ca.1753. Courtesy of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, 33.107.3.

“Michael Weber Rests Here in God” Tombstone

“Well over one thousand examples of handcarved decorated gravemarkers exist in Pennsylvania German graveyards with German inscriptions and decorations not unlike those on Fraktur.” [7] The tombstone of Michael Weber, a Revolutionary War veteran, is one of these, and, although the tombstone cutter failed to include any Fractur visual motifs, he chose to inscribe Fractur script, a much more difficult task than if he had used the Square Capital Letters or Romanae Quadratae so suited to stone carving. This marker, unlike many that have been damaged by vandalism, acid rain, and neglect is well cared for and clearly legible: “Michael Weber rests here in God. He was born September 29, 1735 and died December 24, 1826 at age 88 years, 2 months, and 25 days.” [8] As so many others before him, who had used the tools of their trade upon stone, wood, glass, metal, clay, textiles, and paper, this tombstone carver consciously left a lasting warning and promise, one which reaches us even today as we read upon the gravemarker: “O wayfarer, consider your end, which can come all too quickly. Put on Christ Jesus, through whom you can be redeemed.” [8]

: Fig. 12 Michael Weber (1735-1826) Tombstone Fraktur Inscription. Friedensville Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, Friedensville, PA. Courtesy of AlyssumArts

Endnotes
[1] Johannes Gutenberg introduced the first movable type printing press in Mainz ca. 1440.

[2] “Youth’s Obligations Towards Life,” a translation of Schirmer’s writing sample “Lebens Pflichten der Jugend,” in Geöfnete Schreib=Schule…Franckfurt am Maÿn: Selbstverlag, ca. 1760, copper plate No. 40. For original Fraktur script see Fig. 8. The following is a transcription thereof: Bedenke an deinen Schöpfer | in der Jugend, und habe denselben immer vor Augen | und im Herzen: widme ihm die Erstlinge deiner Kraft, in hertzlicher Lie= | be, kindlicher Furcht und vollkommenem Vertrauen. Bewohne | deinen Mund nicht zum Fluchen und Schwören, und schäme dich | nicht, denselben im Beten, Loben und danken aufzuthun. Lerne fleis= |sig das Wort Gottes, und führe dein Leben darnach [.] Sey demü= | thig gegen jedermann, und ehre die Alten. Befleissige dich der | Dienstfertigkeit gegen Freunde und Feinde. Schandbahre | Wort und Narrentheidung laß ferne von dir seyn. Fliehe die Lüs= | sten der Jugend, und halte dich keusch und züchtig. In deinem Be= | ruf sey fleissig, und esse dein Brod mit Ehren. Verbanne die | Falschheit und Lügen. Hege keine böse Gedanken, und meide | endlich alle böse Gesellschaft.

[3] “He Shall Prosper Whom the Savior Blesses,” a translation of Wilhelmus Faber’s 1812 Johannes Klinger Vorschrift. For original Fractur and German script, see Fig. 9. The following is a transcription thereof: Vorschrift der Liebhabern zum Lesen und Schreiben, 1812. Wohl dem, den der Herr in | seiner Arbe[i]t segnet, und seine Haushaltung beglücket. |[Luther Bibel, 1545; Psalm 91: 9-11] Denn der Herr ist Deine Zuversicht der Höchste ist Dein Zuflucht. Es wird Dir kein |übels [sic] begegnen, und keine Plage wird zu Deiner Hütte sich nahen. Denn er hat seinen [sic] | Engel befohlen über Dir, daß sie Dich behüten auf allen Deinen Wegen.
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A a | b c d e f fs g h j i k l ll m n o p q r s ss s t u v w x y z tz ch ß sch fl fi tz
Johannes Klinger seine Vorschrift, Exeter d 28ten November 1812

[4] Ellen Gehret, This is the Way I Pass My Time: A Book About Pennsylvania German Decorated Hand Towels (Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1985), 5.

[5] For original Fractur script, see fig.10. The following is a transcription of the plate rim: “Mertz.5ten 1789 Susanna Steltz, ihre schüssel, Alles was ihr wolt das euch die Leute Duhn sollen Das Duth ihr ihnen.“ Between the two eagle heads, the transcription reads: “Hir ist Abgebilt ein dobelter Adler.”

[6] Henry Chapman Mercer. The Bible in Iron (Doylestown, PA: Bucks County Historical Society, 1961), 59, No. 73, “The Man and the Goat.”

[7] Gehret, 5.

SOURCES
Arthur Cecil Bining. Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century. Harrisburg: PA Historical Commission, 1938.

“Wilhelmus Antonius Faber” in Russell D. and Corinne P. Earnest, Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners. East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997, 2^nd ed., vol. 1, 264-265.

Wilhelmus Faber’s Johannes Klinger 1812 Vorschift in Henry S. Borneman, Pennsylvania German Illuminated Manuscripts. Norristown, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1937, published as plate 3.

Ellen Gehret. This is the Way I Pass My Time: A Book About Pennsylvania German Decorated Hand Towels. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1985.

Tandy and Charles Hersh. Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1991.

Stacy C. Hollander et al., American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum Catalog. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001, 141-142, no. 104 [Georg Hübner].

Catherine E. Hutchins., et al. Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans. New York, NY: Published for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum by Norton: 1983.

Henry J. Kauffman and Quentin H. Bowers. Early American Andirons and Other Fireplace Accessories. Nashville, Tn: Nelson [1975].

Henry J. Kauffman. American Copper & Brass. [Camden, N.J.]: T. Nelson [1968].

_______________. Early American Ironware: Cast and Wrought. Rutland, Vt.: C.E. Tuttle Co., 1966.

_______________. Pennsylvania Dutch: American Folk Art, New York: Dover Publications, [1964], 94-95 [Georg Hübner].

Henry Chapman Mercer. The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing Among Pennsylvania Germans. [Doylestown, Pa: Bucks County Historical Society], [1897].

_______________. The Bible in Iron. Doylestown, PA: Bucks County Historical Society, 1914, 59, No. 73, The Man and the Goat. Google Books, Accessed 22 July 2016 https://books.google.com/books?id=kC9PAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lisa Minardi. A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans & the Art of Everyday Life. Winterthur, DE: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc., 2015, fig. 20, 22 [Georg Hübner].

_______________. “A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans And The Art Of Everyday Life,” In Collect Interiors + Collections Online, Fig. 5. Photograph by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Accessed 27 July 2016. https://www.incollect.com/articles/a-colorful-folk-pennsylvania-germans-and-the-art-of-everyday-life

Betty Ring. Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers and Pictorial Needlework,
1650-1850 . New York: A. A. Knopf, 1993.

Earl F. Robacker. “Pennsylvania Redware,” in Pennsylvania Folklife. Vol. 46, No. 3 (1997), 137-142. Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. Book 150. Accessed 26 July 2016 http://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/150 [Georg Hübner].

Margaret B. Schiffer. Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania. New York: Scribener, 1968.

Johann Michael Schirmer. Geöfnete Schreib=Schule oder Deutsche, Lateinische, und Franzöische Vorschriften. Frankfurt am Maÿn: Selbst Verlag, ca. 1760.

Peter Steltz Sr., Last Will and Testament, with Codicil, 1832. Wills, Vol 6-7, 1821-1839. Proved and Letters Testamentary Granted to Valentin, Christian, and Peter Steltz Jr.; Author: Montgomery County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Montgomery, Pennsylvania

John J. Stoudt. Pennsylvania German Folk Art: An Interpretation. Allentown, Pa.: Schlecters, 1966, 313 [Georg Hübner].

Stove Plate – Eighteenth Century. Pennsylvania. The State Museum of Pennsylvania. 33.107.3, accessed 9 July 2016 http://statemuseumpa.org/biblical-guidance-cast-iron/

Swan, Susan Burrows. A Winterthur Guide to American Needlework. Winterthur, Del.: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1976.

_______________. Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1650–1850. Austin, Texas.: Curious Works Press, 1995.

Marjie Thompson, Kathleen L. Grant and Alan G. Keyser. Forgotten Pennsylvania Textiles of the 18^th and 19^th Centuries. Cumberland, ME: Linen Press, [2005?].

Daniel Berkeley Updike. Printing Types Their History, Forms, and Use: A Study in Survivals. Cambridge:Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1962, 2 vols.

Anna Maria Weber, m. n. Angelmayer (6/21/1749-4/3/1834), Friedensville Cemetery, Friedensville, Pa Accessed 10 July 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80302681

Michael Weber (1738-1826), Friedensville Cemetery, Friedensville, Pa.Accessed 10 July 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16462194&ref=acom

Winterthur Research Fellow, Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch Material Culture, 2016
Every year Winterthur provides fellowships to a select group of scholars for research
in their chosen areas of study in social and cultural history, including material culture, architecture, decorative arts, design, consumer culture, garden and landscape studies, Shaker studies, travel and tourism,the Atlantic World, and objects in literature. ~ Winterthur Research Program

Thanks to a short-term research fellowship this summer at Winterthur I have been able to study rare books such as Johann Michael Schirmer’s ca. 1740 Geöfnete Schreibschule in the Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals; objects in the Winterthur Museum Collection; and manuscripts in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera. All has contributed to my research for a book in progress Heavenly Fraktur: How Fraktur Influenced Pennsylvania German and Moravian Material Culture. This blog post is based on that research. My sincere thank you to all at Winterthur who have made this fellowship possible.

My thanks also to Donald Trump of the Friedensville Evangelical Lutheran Church; Joanne Kintner and Robert Wood of the Goschenhoppen Historians, Inc.; Patricia Herr, Author and Collector; Dorothy McCoach, Independent Textile Conservator; Janine Pollock and Joseph Shemtov of the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

How God Spoke to the Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravians Through the Media Blog Post including transcriptions; translations; and photo images, except for images of the Elisa Kulp 1816 Sampler; the Susanna Steltz Plate; and Sehet zu ihr liben Leut Stove Plate,
© 2016 Del-Louise Moyer.

Rebecca Langley and the Pulaski Banner

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Although no evidence is to be found in any of the presently known extant Moravian records of the pertinent time period, namely 1776-1779, a myth has long prevailed that Rebecca Langley (1735-1787), the director and master embroiderer of the Moravian Single Sisters’ tambour and embroidery shop, created and directed the making of a beautiful crimson embroidered banner for Count Kazimierz Pulaski (1745-1779). It is said the sisters made it as a token of esteem for his chivalrous protection of them in Bethlehem from rowdy Continental soldiers who were temporarily encamped there; British prisoners briefly gaoled in the former children’s house; and the sick and wounded housed in the Single Brethrens’ house and other family dwellings.

Pulaski landed in America June 1777; fought in Brandywine under Washington; and, as head of the colonial cavalry battled at Germantown and in the winter campaign of 1777-1778. This guidon or standard, attributed to Langley and her fellow sisters, was carried by his light cavalry regiment during its unsuccessful charge at the Battle of Savannah on October 9, 1779 where Pulaski was fatally wounded. Thus, if we were to find supporting evidence in Moravian records at Bethlehem, it would have to be sometime after June 1777 and before October 1779. The Bethlehem Single Sisters’ Diary, 1767-1783 is the only Moravian source that mentions Kasimierz Pulaski, citing his being in Bethlehem, Pa. on April 16, 1778, and again on May 17, 1778. There is, as can be seen below, no mention whatsoever of a banner being designed, or being made by the singles sisters under Rebecca Langley’s direction during this time period.

: ILL. 1a Single Sisters’ Diary, vol. 3: Title Page. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: The Third Volume of the Single Sisters’ Diary in Bethlehem from the Beginning of the Year 1767.

: ILL. 1b1 Single Sisters’ Diary, April 16, 1778, vol. 3, 22. Courtesy Moravian Archives

: ILL. 1b2 Single Sisters’ Diary, April 16, 1778, vol. 3, 23. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: [22] 16^th [April 1778, Maundy Thursday] at five o’clock in the evening the first lesson was held. General Pulaski and Colonel Kobatsch were among the listeners.

: ILL. 1c Single Sisters’ Diary, May 17, 1778, vol. 3, 30. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: Sunday, the 17th [May 1778] Mr. Samuel Adams, a delegate to Congress from Massachusetts Bay, Dr. [Isaac] Foster and several other gentlemen enjoyed their day today in Bethlehem, and attended several services, as did also General Pulaski, who, along with a solemn escort from several of his corps, attended the English sermon held by Br. Fries.

However, there are entries in the Single Sisters’ Diary that do mention Rebecca Langley acting on behalf of her sisters as a translator, spokesperson, as well as presenting a gift to a high-ranking Continental Army officer for precisely the same reason as was attributed to Pulaski. There are passages that show the sisters’ concern not only for protection of their persons, but also great concern for their food, and fuel supply. Most of all, there are moments depicted where not only Rebecca Langley, or Susanna von Gersdorf—spiritual and temporal leader of the single sisters, but the entire sisterhood show themselves as loving and benevolent to the very soldiery they are so apprehensive about. Excerpts from the months of December, 1776, and September, 1777 speak for themselves:

: ILL. 2 Single Sisters’ Diary, vol. 3: December 1776. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa

Translation: December 1776. 1^st…There was a lot of concern that we will probably be taken over for hospital space. They demanded at first that all of the largest buildings be emptied, even our laundry houses. After much discussion, they finally were satisfied with several family dwellings. Doctor [William] Shippen asked for a nurse to care for the sick, and also expected we would do the ill soldiers’ laundry in our laundry house. Fortunately, God intervened. Sister Mau and her daughters will take over doing the laundry. Even so the daily texts of the last several days were very strange.

4^th. The first of the unfortunate men arrived half frozen at the [makeshift] hospital space. On the same evening we sent over some warm soup, and continued to do so up to the 7^th since they will also get their noon meals from our kitchen.

15^th In the evening just as the sisters were about to go to the evening meal, we were frightened by a reckless neighbor whom we didn’t even know. He came into the house with his musket, and after much interrogating, we learned that he had just wanted to pay a visit. Susel [Susanna von Gersdorf] showed him the way out. During the worship service, amidst much racket, people came to fetch our flatboat to Easton in order to bring across 4000 of General [Charle’s] Lee’s men, who are headed for Bethlehem to make camp for a day of rest, and as we heard afterwards, get into all kinds of mischief. We put our trust in the watchful and protective Guardian of Israel, and entrusted our lives, souls and community to Him, Who is able to keep us from all harm and danger…

17^th General [Horatio] Gates arrived with 500 men. He visited, along with a number of other officers, in our house during the afternoon. An express courier from General Sullivan arrived with an order for Brother Ettwein to make place for the 4000 men who would be arriving in a few hours. Brother Ettwein approached General Gates who immediately sent his Adjutant away from the house with the order that if the men were still some distance from Bethlehem, they were to take a different route. He was, however, too late. Around 4:00 pm General Sullivan arrived with the 4000 soldiers, who in reality are under the command of General [Charles] Lee, a man whom God in His mercy gave into the hands of the British two days ago (from the lips of his own officers here in Bethlehem). We asked General Gates to give us two special guards to protect us from all harm in this noise and confusion, which he immediately granted. We immediately made provisions for our sisters and girls outside of town to be brought to our house to sleep. Brother Ettwein soon brought General Sullivan with several of his immediate officers into the house. Initially he appeared very haughty, but in the end became quite modest. Our sisters had to sing and play the zither for him. Our special guards changed every three hours. After they were relieved, they went for something to eat in Sister Liesel’s room. An English-speaking sister kept watch all night so that she could give them warm wine or coffee, along with a snack through the window. We can scarcely thank the Savior enough for their faithfulness and model behavior for the three days and two nights they kept watch.

18^th From morning ‘til late at night we received continual visits from officers. We counted at least three hundred of them, and thanked God that everything went so smoothly. The one hundred or more fires round about Bethlehem made a frighteningly beautiful sight, but also provoked much concern since they burned all the fences.

19^th Early in the morning General Sullivan and his men took leave. Sister Susel [Susanna von Gersdorf] gave the twelve men who had been our special guards a tour of the house. Many, who had tears in their eyes, thanked and assured us they would never forget the kindnesses we had shown them. Rebecca Langley conveyed our compliments to General Gates and presented him with a very beautiful pocketbook as a gift, which he graciously accepted. In the afternoon Gates left with his people very well disposed towards the Brethren Our sisters outside of Bethlehem were thankful that everything had gone so well with no mishaps.

: ILL. 3 General Horatio Gates, ca. 1794 Gilbert Stuart Portrait. Public Domain.

: ILL. 4a Single Sisters’ Diary, vol. 3: September 1777. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: September [1777]
6^th Rachel Edmonds from Bartows moved into the [single sisters’] house, and her three eldest children into the Children’s House since the 218 English captured soldiers, along with several wives and children, are scheduled to be kept in the former Children’s House. The latter arrived on the 7^th [September] at noon under a guard of one hundred fifty men.

9^th A House Conference was held. The general dearth was great everywhere. There is a lack of wood, and no one to deliver it. Everything within the community is earmarked for the soldiers. Food increased again to 1/. per week.

10^th Pre-communion talks began with Sisters Susel [Susanna von Gersdorf], Esther and Betsey.

13^th We celebrated the congregational communion without any disturbance. The Catholic Baumgertner was readmitted.

16^th We held the liturgy for the sisters.

19^th Totally unexpectedly a letter came from Doctor [William] Shippen, which was immediately read during the communion service since the largest houses are desired to use as a hospital for around 1000 sick and wounded. Immediately afterwards it was decided in the elders’ conference, without additional counsel available, to empty the single brothers’ house, as well as several family houses with the hope that Our Savior will retain both the widows and us in our respective houses. There are no words to describe how our sisters sobbed, and begged our Savior, Who heard us in our need, and consoled us.

20^th Sister Susel [Susanna v. Gersdorf] laid it upon each sister’s heart during the morning blessing to ask the Savior

: ILL. 4b Single Sisters’ Diary, vol. 3: September 1777. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

20^th [September 1777] [new leaf] that He might keep us within our temple/choir house away from the noise of the world, and most of all that He might protect us from the terrors and temptations, and keep our hearts focused solely on Him. This she faithfully prayed upon her knees amidst shedding of many thousands of tears, and thus our Hearts were consoled.

21^st Sunday, the wounded and sick soldiers moved into the single brothers’ house, and several members of Congress also arrived.

22^nd In the morning Brother Ettwein and the members of Congress came into our house. We had a message that they wanted to spend their sojourn here. Sister Susel [Susanna v. Gersdorf] presented her concerns to them in German, and Sister A.[nna] R.[ebecca] Langley translated them into English, namely that she wanted an assurance that no one would expect the sisters to move out of their house, for in so doing their entire way of life would be ruined. This the gentlemen scarcely expected, and they hardly knew how to answer. Mr. Henry Laurens spoke with Brother Ettwein privately in a very cordial way, and pointed him to Mr. Richard Lee, to whom Brother Ettwein turned, and with commiserating tears in his eyes repeated our plea. The gentlemen found the house to their liking, and this afternoon via Br. Ettwein they sent over the following news.

[This is the original English as penned by the single sisters’ diary scribe.]

Bethlehem 22 September 1777.

Having here observed a humane and diligent attention to the sick and wounded and a Benevolent disire to make the necessery provision for the relief of the distressed as far as the powers of the Brethren enables them we desire that all Continental Officers may refrain from disturbing the persons or property of the Moravians in Bethlehem, and perticularly that they do not desturb or molest the Houses where the Women are asambled. Given under our hands at the Time and Place above mentioned.

Richard Henry Lee   William Duer            Conrad Harnett     Henry Laurenz
Benj. Harrison,         Joseph Jonds,            John Adams,           Henry Marchant,
Nath. Folson,            Richard Law,              William Williams   Nathan Broundson
John Hancock,          Samuel Adams,         Elyeth Dyer          Jacob Duane.

Our hearts were full of praise and thanksgiving before the Lord, Who holds all men’s hearts in His hands, and takes special care of His single sisters choir. Hundreds of wagons arrived with baggage, all of which will go out to the family houses. We worried on account of our sisters, young girls and children. In the afternoon all of the sisters went to help with the putting up of the potatoes and white cabbage so they aren’t stolen. During the evening blessing, we commended ourselves to the Protector of Israel.

23^rd Sister Susel [Susanna v. Gersdorf] read a talk by Brother Joseph [Spangenberg] from the congregational news. On the 24^th 700 wagons with women, children, and many hundreds of soldiers arrived. They put up tents all around us, on the low land and in the orchard. The horrible fires, which consumed all the fences, were ghastly to behold. Besides this, great want prevailed, along with no water except what one could bring from the spring. Thus our sisters for the most part fetched the water in the laundry house for the rooms. The water for the kitchen had to be brought by wagon. The flax house on the edge of our wash house was used as a depot for powder and lead, and guarded by sentries. This again caused embarrassment for our sisters, who every morning had to go into the wash house. Thus Sister Susel [Susanna v. Gersdorf] went over there, and asked someone who could speak German to ask the others to allow the sisters, who would come by with a lantern every morning at 4:00 am, to pass by safe and sound. This soldier promised whenever possible to keep the watch himself at this time, which he faithfully did, and he also promised not to burn the fences.

25^th Members of Congress, including Mr. Hancock and Samuel Adams visited our house and were shown around. They were also asked to protect us, and since they were shown the signed assurance from 22 September, likewise added their names.

26^th The 218 English prisoners, who were very staid, and to whom Mr. Wab [Captain Thomas Webb] preached several times in the house grounds, left under heavy guard. Sister Susel [Susanna v. Gersdorf] conducted the communion quarter-hour, and the Savior’s pronounced presence as we unburdened our hearts at His feet was indescribable.

27^th At the house conference today there were all kinds of opportunities to thank the Savior for His preserving us. Each was asked, according to her capabilities, to keep watch, and to report everything immediately to the right place.

: ILL. 5 Moravian single sisters’ wash house located on Sand Island near the sawmill. R. Grider collection, f.16.2. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

In 1825, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized Pulaski’s Banner with a poem entitled “Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem,” and it has been suggested that this fueled the imaginations of those who created a charming, and romantic, but fictional account of the banner. In 1845, Edmund R. Peale donated the actual relic to the Maryland Historical Society, then in its second year of existence. It is still there in storage, and can seen by special appointment. Rufus Grider, a Moravian teacher and artist, drew the front and back from the original in 1871, downscaling it to ¼ of its actual size, and included a synopsis of the popular Moravian single sisters tale. Whether true or not, the story is so engrained in American traditions, it will always be told.

: ILL. 6a Pulaski Banner, front: R Grider collection, f. 29.12. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: Non Alius Regit = No other governs.

: ILL. 6b Pulaski Banner, back: R. Grider collection, f.29.12. Courtesy Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa.

Translation: Unitas Virtus Forcior [sic] = Union makes valor stronger [Letter “C” should be a “T.”]

Perhaps somewhere on an attic or in an archival storage space there is yet a manuscript or two that will support the suggestion that Pulaski during his brief appearances in Bethlehem was so taken with the Moravian sisters’ gorgeous embroidery that he ordered the famed banner, and that Rebecca Langley designed and directed her fellow embroiderers in its creation. Master tambour embroiderers could stitch more quickly than by other traditional embroidery methods for they were using only one stitch. This was accomplished by stretching fabric between two round fitted hoops much like the head of a small drum or tambour; and using a special hook to punch through the material, catching the thread from beneath and drawing it up to create a linked, chainlike stitch. By working rows of chained stitches closely together they could produce shaded color work with great depth and variety. An actual example featuring a pin cushion with tambour work done in silk, linen, cotton, and wool ca. 1790-1810 in Bethlehem, Pa. is preserved in the Winterthur textile collection.

: ILL. 7 Pincushion: 1981.0093, tambour work, Moravian/Bethlehem ca. 1790-1810. Courtesy of Winterthur

Unlike Pulaski’s banner, we don’t know the whereabouts of the beautiful pocketbook Rebecca Langley presented to the Continental Army General Horatio Gates on December 19, 1776, but it might have been similar to this ca. 1770 pouch with tambour work on silk and leather. What we do know is that the documented story of Rebecca Langley, Susanna von Gersdorf, and the

: ILL. 8. Pouch: 1960.0172, tambour work ca.1770-1820. Courtesy of Winterthur

Moravian single sisters’ experiences in Bethlehem from 1776-1779 is not only full of surprises, great and small deeds, valor, chivalry, kindness, caring, and Christian love, but also is totally true!

: ILL. 9. Curator Mary Brown with Becky Langley Doll. Moravian Museum of Bethlehem. Courtesy AlyssumArts

BIOGRAPHICAL THUMBNAILS
John Ettwein (1721-1802) and his wife came to America in 1754, and served as Moravian missionaries to the Delaware Indians, first at Friedenshütten near Wyalusing, and then at Friedensstadt on the Beaver River in southwestern Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, he was the chief spokesperson for the Moravians in Pennsylvania with members of the Continental Congress and other dignitaries. After being consecrated a bishop in 1784, he became the head of the Moravian Church in America.

Dr. Isaac Foster (ca. 1740-1781) was a physician, and a delegate to the first provincial congress of Massachusetts in 1774. He was appointed a surgeon in 1775, and for several months was the head of the military medical department. At Washington’s request Foster was elected by Congress in April 1777 as Deputy Director-General of the Hospitals for the Eastern District. He retired from public life in 1780 due to poor health, but did not resign his commission. He died in 1781.

Horatio Gates (1727-1806), a retired British soldier, served as an American major general during the Revolutionary War. When it was clear that the English would not be attacking Ticonderoga in 1776, Gates marched some of the army to join Washington in Pennsylvania, to where they had withdrawn after the fall of New York City to the British.

Susanna (‘Susel’) von Gersdorf (1731-1805) was the spiritual and temporal head of the Single Sisters in Bethlehem from 1764-1784, having replaced Anna Rosina Anders in 1764. She later filled the same position in Neuwied (1789-1795) and Ebersdorf (1795-1805).

Rebecca Langley (1735-1787) was born in Northampton, England on September 6, 1734. Her father was James Langley, a successful merchant involved in many ventures, and her mother Rebecca, née Waston. Both were Presbyterians, and followers of Rev. Philip Doddridge, an independent religious thinker and writer. They came to know the Moravians, especially Brother Jacob Rogers, and when Rebecca was eleven moved to London to be closer to the Unitas Fratum’s members. Upon her mother’s death in 1747, Mr. Langley brought his daughter to a very famous boarding school where she spent three years receiving an upper class education. Rebecca probably had begun to learn practical and decorative sewing at home, but it was more than likely she acquired the requisite skills in tambour work and other fine stitchery at this private finishing school. Upon completion of her studies, the headmistress retained her as an assistant in the school. During this time her father emigrated to the American colonies to try his luck, and settled in Boundbrook, New Jersey. On June 14, 1753 Rebecca and her youngest sister Erdmuth went on board the Moravian-owned ship “the Irene,” and were specially attended to by its Captain Nicholas Garrison (1701-1781) and his wife. Both girls also got to know Peter Boehler, and other Moravians during their three month sea voyage. They landed in New York in the beginning of September1753. Rebecca briefly stayed with a famous New York merchant, and then, along with Erdmuth, was brought to Boundbrook by her father. The eighteen-year-old was so unhappy in the rural environment that she found an excuse to return to the merchant family in New York where she stayed for three months, enjoying all the worldly delights the city had to offer. Upon her return to New Jersey, George Whitefield, the preacher famous for the “Great Awakening” movement both in Europe and America, came from Philadelphia and visited in the Brunswick area where Rebecca heard him preach quite often. The Garrisons also came through the area about the same time inviting her to visit them in Bethlehem. The influence of both prompted the young woman to reconsider her spiritual state. Her father left once more to try his fortune, this time in the West Indies, and placed his daughters in the home of one of his merchant friends in Brunswick, NJ. This man was quite taken with Rebecca. He almost immediately found a work opportunity for Erdmuth, but to Rebecca he offered his house. It isn’t clear if this means as housekeeper or wife. However, Becky Langley does say that the combination of all of these experiences jolted her into the reality that she had to choose a definite direction for her life that would take care of her temporal, as well as spiritual needs. She chose a life with the Moravians, arriving in Bethlehem on June 19, 1755. She must have been very elegant in appearance and ways for most of the Moravians didn’t think she would fit into their simple lifestyle. Rebecca convinced them to take her, and was baptized by Peter Boehler August 24, 1755; became a candidate for communion on June 10, 1756. On January 1, 1757 she received permission to take communion, and on January 21^st partook of the Lord’s Supper for the first time. Her confirmation on September 3, 1758 forever sealed her commitment to the life of a single sister. The scrivener who completed Rebecca’s memoriam mentions that she was consecrated as an acolyte on the same day as her confirmation, serving her fellow Moravians lovingly and with great joy. When the communal economy was dissolved in 1762, and the sisters had to found businesses that would support their economic needs, Rebecca’s creative talents as a master embroiderer proved especially beneficial. She also was convivial, dealt well with strangers, and was adept in business matters, all making this energetic woman the perfect person to direct the tambour and embroidery shop in the sisters’ house. Her younger sister Erdmuth also came to Bethlehem, and became a single sister, but always stood in the shadow of Rebecca. In 1778 James Langley came to Bethlehem in his seventieth year as a broken and ill man. His daughters lovingly cared for him for fourteen weeks, and saw him die as a redeemed sinner of the Lamb. Rebecca Langley first showed signs of illness in 1785, periodically spending time in the sisters’ sick room where she was lovingly cared for. In the summer of 1787 she went to Philadelphia for several weeks where she hoped to regain her health among friends and acquaintances. However, on her trip back to Bethlehem she caught a cold, and never quite recovered. Rebecca occupied the sick room from July until her death on October 2, 1787. Buried on 5 October, she was survived by Erdmuth, and a brother James, who lived in London.

Henry Laurens (1724-1792) was an American merchant and rice plantation entrepreneur from South Carolina. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeded John Hancock as President of the Congress. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and was president of the Continental Congress when the Articles were passed on November 15, 1777.

Charles Lee ( 1731-1782 ) British-born Major Gen. Charles Lee joined the forces of Geroge Washington’s Continental Army in 1775. A competitive and rash man, he openly challenged Washington’s authority and capabilities and his arbitrary decision-making often put the Continental Army in precarious positions. In September 1776, after the British had withdrawn from the southern colonies, Washington ordered him to rejoin the main U. S. Army under his command in Pennsylvania. Lee intentionally moved his troops as slowly as possible so as not to be accused of not following orders. During this leisurely march, he was captured December 13, 1776 by the English at Basking Ridge, near Morristown, N. J., and taken to New York City where he remained prisoner until late December, 1777, finally being exchanged in Philadelphia for British Maj. Gen. Richard Prescott on April 21, 1778. After his capture, General Sullivan took command of Lee’s forces and marched them to join Washington in time for the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1777. Charles Lee’s December 1776 capture by British troops, as well as his retreat during the Battle of Monmouth, led to a court-martial and removal from the army.

John Sullivan (1740-1795) served in the Revolutionary War as a major general; proved his bravery and loyalty at the Battle of Trenton, NJ on December 26, 1776; was a delegate from New Hampshire to the Continental Congress; Governor of New Hampshire; and a U. S. Federal judge.

Thomas Webb (1724-1796) was born in the west of England, and fought under the British in North America during the French and Indian War. He was converted by a Moravian minister, but found his spiritual home among the Methodists. Having sold his commission in 1766, Webb crisscrossed between America and England. However, in April 1773 he returned to America, newly married and as a civilian. Acting on a report from an American agent, Webb was arrested as a British spy and brought to Bethlehem where he ministered to other English military internees.

My thanks to Linda Eaton and Roberta Weisberg of Winterthur; Charlene Donchez Mowers, Lindsey Jancay, and Mary Brown of Historic Bethlehem Inc.; Paul Peucker, and Tom McCullough of the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa; and Allison Tolman of the Maryland Historical Society