Request for mbriggs

[okieboy]

 Mr mbriggs, I was reading your response to the "Gun locks down the Great Wagon Road". I have seen references to Moravian gun making for a long time, but as most of the references are to a time earlier than most of my interests I read them without researching them. Today I looked up "Moravian" and found (to my surprise)  that it not only refers to a type of Christianity, but even an ethnic identity, and that these originated in what is now the Czech Republic.
 I wonder if you would be willing to flesh out, for those of us who don't know, a better picture of who and what these early Moravian colonists in America were?
 Thank you in advance.   

[Karl Kunkel]

I'm sure Bob Lienemann can provide a detailed answer.

Short answer:  The "Moravians" or Unitas Fraturam (Unity of Brethren) were a religious sect founded in today's Czech Republic.  After persecution they took refuge in Germany on the estates of Count Zinzendorf.  The count funded missions through out the world including those in colonial PA and NC.

Check out the KRF book "Moravian Gun Making of The American Revolution"

[rich pierce]

All accurate above; I’d add that a good many people of other countries, including Germany, joined the Moravian church before emigrating to the American colonies.

[spgordon]

"Moravian" was a geographical location from which a small (but very important) subset of the members of the "Moravian church" came originally. The "Moravian church," which was an evangelical church established (or revived) in the 1720s, had members from Moravia, Germany, England, etc.

In the eighteenth century, that church typically called itself the Unity of the Brethren. It did not claim or want the name "Moravian," as (a) it confused everybody and (b) it established them as a separate church. But they did not want to be a separate church, co-equal, say, with Lutherans or Reformed or Anglicans. They wanted to "awaken" individuals to some new relationship with Christ but expected these individuals to remain in their historic denominations. The leader of the Unity of the Brethren, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, was an ordained Lutheran and always insisted that what he taught/preached did not conflict in any way with Lutheran beliefs. However, it turned out that these other denominations, Lutheran and Reformed in particular, did not think the same way and felt that the "Moravian" preachers were stealing their congregants. They kept pushing the "Moravians" out of the Lutheran or Reformed church. And so, against the intention of leaders of the Unity of the Brethren, not only did a separate denomination consolidate but the name "Moravian" stuck. It really stuck in Britain and in America first.

In 1747, the leader of the Moravians at Bethlehem wrote to Zinzendorf: "We’d really like to be rid of our name Moravian Brothers (Mährische Brüder). This could cause confusion as we strive for universal acceptance and proclaim universality.... We are not a sect or separate religion, rather free children and servants of Jesus Christ.”

[mbriggs]

Many thanks to S.P. Gordon for providing a basic explanation of the Moravian faith as this is not a subject I have a lot of knowledge of.

My focus is strictly on North Carolina longrifles and the people that made them.  I spent three years researching and gathering information and photographs on my latest book I published in July this year.  "The Longrifle Makers of the Salem School" focuses on the Moravian gunsmiths who worked in North Carolina.  Blake Stevenson, (the master gunsmith of the Timothy Vogler gun shop in Salem) co-authored the book with me and many people including Eric Kettenburg, S.P. Gordon, and Bob Lienemann kindly contributed and offered their thoughts which are included. The total book is 372 pages, with detailed color photographs of 78 original rifles made by the Moravian gunsmiths or by gunsmiths they inspired.  The book is available in softcover for $60, plus $5 shipping, or in hardbound for $80, plus $6.00 shipping. I will attach information on how to order them. Click on each image below to enlarge them.

Thanks for the interest.

Michael

[okieboy]

 Many thanks for all the informative replies.

[blienemann]

Okieboy, thank you for your interest.  Your question is so broad that it is difficult to answer in a forum like this.  Scott has provided a good introduction to the term Moravian.  If you Google "Moravians in America", or "Moravians in Pennsylvania" or "in Georgia", there is a great deal of information available.  Karl offered good advice in one direction, and Michael for the rifles he has studied. 

Zinzendorf sponsored missionaries around the world, including to Georgia in the 1730's, then up to Pennsylvania about 1740.  A group was sent to North Carolina in the 1750's.  Certain communities operated communally for a time, in order to establish a foothold in the New World, while other communities added a school or church, or invited itinerant teachers or preachers to visit.  Rural people from the old countries came here, and some like the Amish or Mennonite continue their way of life.  Townspeople and tradesmen came here, and these groups built fine towns, formed early women's colleges, music colleges, with excellent education and art.  The gunstockers saw the need for iron and steel, set up furnaces, the steel industry, then railroads and canals.  Think of Bethlehem and Salem, and their industries.

You and Daddy2 can also borrow books at no cost by Inter library Loan, after Google searches help you choose topics or locations you are interested in.

If you will take the time to study these resources, you may then have a specific question or two, and we can offer our thoughts here.  Some of us have spent much of our free time for 30 to 40 years with this topic, and there is always much more to learn. 

Enjoy the journey.  Bob