Author Topic: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program  (Read 2309 times)

Offline mbriggs

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The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« on: June 23, 2019, 08:51:11 PM »
I have been invited to give the feature program at the KRA Annual Meeting next Saturday, June 29th, at 2 P.M. at the Doubletree by Hilton Pittsburgh-Cranberry.

The program is titled "The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract." The KRA President's Display this year is on Moravian Rifles, so it was thought it might be helpful to explore what the Moravians who moved to North Carolina created. KRA Membership is required to enter the gun room, but is not required to attend the program.

I plan to introduce a new rifle that surfaced only one year ago and helps to illustrate the evolution between the early Moravian rifles like RCA 42, made both in Pennsylvania and Wachovia, to the more neoclassical style rifles made by the Vogler family in the 1790 to 1820 time period.  I have termed this new rifle the "Bridge" rifle. We will also explore why the Vogler family used Eagle finials on their patchboxes.  I look forward to seeing my many friends at the meeting.

Blake Stevenson and I are still working hard on our upcoming book, "The Longrifle Makers of the Salem School" and hope to have it completed by the end of this year or early 2020.

Thanks,

Michael Briggs
C. Michael Briggs

Offline mbriggs

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2019, 08:57:57 PM »
Some of the rifles we will study in the program.

1. Christoph Vogler
 


2. John Vogler



3. George Vogler




« Last Edit: June 24, 2019, 12:46:32 AM by Ky-Flinter »
C. Michael Briggs

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2019, 11:22:28 PM »
Beautiful rifles!

Online bama

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2019, 09:41:01 PM »
I will look forward to being there and seeing these beautiful rifles.
Jim Parker

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Offline mbriggs

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2019, 12:31:55 AM »
Jim,
You will need to stop by M.E.S.D.A. on the way up if you want to see the rifles.  We will be studying the photos and will have several Vogler rifles for display.
C. Michael Briggs

Online bama

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2019, 02:27:32 AM »
Dag nab it, I was getting all excited about seeing them thar rifles Micheal and now you went and ruined it.  :-X

Nah, after I sent the post I got to thinking and I figured that you would have only pictures for the presentation. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to do the presentation, I am sure it will be a good one. See you there.
Jim Parker

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Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2019, 04:32:38 PM »
Where would one find the Wachovia Tract?
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2019, 04:34:20 PM »
For those as ignorant as I am:
Wachovia's early settlers were mostly German-speaking people who shared a common Germanic cultural background.

In 1752 Moravian Bishop August Gottlieb "Brother Joseph" Spangenberg led an expedition to locate the area where the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian church, intended to begin the Wachovia settlements. Members of the Moravian Church in Europe purchased 98,985 acres (400.58 km2) of land in the backcountry (middle/western area) of North Carolina, from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. They named the 98,985-acre (400.58 km2) tract of land die Wachau after the area along the Danube River in Austria where the ancestors of Count von Zinzendorf, the Moravians' patron, had lived. "Die Wachau," was latinized as "Wachovia,"

[The land in North Carolina was purchased on behalf of the Moravians by John Henry (Johann Heinrich) Antes who had also served as agent on behalf of the Moravians in the purchase of the 500-acre (2.0 km2) tract which became the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He also served as "Baumeister" ("Construction Manager") of the first buildings which still stand in Bethlehem's historic district. 4,000 acres (16 km2) were purchased by Johann Steinhauer, leader of the Moravian church in Riga, Latvia.[1]]

The name "Wachovia" is the Latin form of the German "die Wachau." "Die Wachau" was chosen as the name of the North Carolina Moravian tract, to honor Count Zinzendorf, Moravian patron and bishop whose family estate was located in the Wachau region northwest of Vienna, along the Danube River between the towns of Melk and Krems. Bishop Spangenberg and the surveying team in 1752 strayed into the mountains of western North Carolina, coming down through what is now Wilkes County (viz. "Moravian Falls" etc) on their way to the Three Forks of Muddy Creek. It was this mountainous landscape in the Carolina back country along the Catawba, Little, New and Yadkin Rivers that suggested the Wachau region in Lower Austria. (Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, vol. 1, pp. 25-69 )

Twelve Moravian Single Brethren traveling from Pennsylvania, most from the Christiansbrunn farm near Nazareth, arrived in Wachovia in 1753, forming Bethabara, in Hebrew meaning "House of Passage", a transitional congregational settlement founded November 17, 1753. In July 1756, during the French and Indian War (1754–1763), a wooden stockade was built around the central-most area of the Moravian settlement, and Bethabara became a place of refuge for settlers from across the region, with many refugees living near the Bethabara Mill, numbering 120 by May 1759.

The first planned Moravian settlement, and oldest incorporated municipality in Wachovia is Bethania, North Carolina formed June 12, (1759), also known historically as Bethany, meaning in the Hebrew language, "house/place of dates and figs." Bethania is the German form of Bethany. The Town of Bethania, North Carolina was incorporated 1995, following the reactivation of Bethania's 1838/1839 town charter, and was spared from being annexed into the city of Winston-Salem. Today, Bethania remains the only independent, continuously active Moravian town in the southern United States. In 2007, Historic Bethania, a visitor center and museum, opened in Bethania, providing information and historical interpretation in yet another Wachovia Moravian community.

Wachovia's central administrative congregational town of Salem, which can be visited presently in Old Salem Museums and Gardens. Salem was begun in 1766 (formally organized in 1771), and was built by Moravians and friends from Bethabara and Bethania.

Subsequent Moravian congregational settlements to be formed include Friedberg (1769), Friedland (1772), and Hope (1775). The congregation at Hope was the first "English" Moravian church in the area.

A secular county seat was founded in 1849 in newly-drawn Forsyth County, north of Salem. Winston was the name given to the new county seat in 1852. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, maker of Winston, Salem and Camel cigarettes, was founded at Winston in 1875. The towns of Salem and Winston merged as Winston-Salem in 1913. Bethabara now lies within the city limits of Winston-Salem, and can be visited today in Historic Bethabara Park, operated by the city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

Over time, the 98,985-acre (400.58 km2) Wachovia Tract was redrawn into the following counties as the backcountry of North Carolina became increasingly populated:
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline Bob McBride

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2019, 04:42:28 PM »
Very interesting. Thanks Schreck.

Offline mbriggs

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C. Michael Briggs

Offline Mick C

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Re: The Longrifles from the Wachovia Tract - KRA Program
« Reply #10 on: July 21, 2019, 12:56:45 AM »
The subject is very close to home and heart.  Wish I could attend.  Hope you'all have a great time.
My profile picture is my beloved K9 best friend and soulmate, Buster Brown, who passed away in 2018.  I miss you buddy!