The Moravians in Georgia, 1735-1740

by Adelaide L. Fries

The Savannah Lands.

In January, 1735, fifty acres of Savannah land was granted by the Trustees of Georgia to August Gottlieb Spangenberg, who was going to Georgia as the leader of the first company of Moravian colonists. Spangenberg had the habit of speaking of himself as “Brother Joseph” in his diaries, and in the records he sometimes appears as Joseph Spangenberg, sometimes as Joseph Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg, and sometimes by his true name only. According to custom, the fifty acre grant embraced three lots,—Town Lot No. 4, Second Tything, Anson Ward, in the town of Savannah, Farm Lot No. 2, Second Tything, Anson Ward, in the township of Savannah, and Garden Lot No. 120, East. (Office of the Secretary of State of Georgia, Book D of Grants, Folio 208.)

A few days later a similar grant was made to David Nitschmann, “Count Zinzendorf’s Hausmeister”, generally known as the Syndic from his office in later years, who had conducted the first company from Herrnhut to London. This grant consisted of Town Lot No. 3, Second Tything, Anson Ward, in the town of Savannah, Farm Lot No. 3, Second Tything, Anson Ward, in the township of Savannah, and Garden Lot No. 121 East. (Office of the Secretary of State of Georgia, Book D of Grants, Folio 207.)

When the Moravians left Georgia in 1740, these lots were placed in the hands of an Agent, probably James Habersham, who was acting as Whitefield’s assistant in his hospital and charity school, the Moravian house being rented for the former purpose.

When the Trustees of Georgia surrendered their Charter to the English Crown in 1754, it was found that no formal deeds had ever been made for many of the tracts granted by the Trustees, and it was decreed that any who could legally claim land under grant from the Trustees should have their rights confirmed by royal grant upon application to the Governor and Council of Georgia, within a specified time, the land otherwise to be considered forfeited. In June, 1761, Habersham wrote to Bethlehem that the time for entering claim had expired, but that he had asked for and obtained six months grace for the Moravians, who had previously sent him a full power of attorney, which had failed to reach him.

A new power of attorney was at once sent, and on September 7th, 1762, royal patents were issued to Nitschmann and Spangenberg, for the Town Lots and Farm Lots above mentioned. (Register’s Office, Book D, Folios 207 and 208.)

Meanwhile the two Garden Lots had been sold to Sir James Wright for 10 Pounds, and deeds, bearing date of March 15th, 1762, were made to him by Spangenberg and Nitschmann. The deeds to the Town and Farm lots were deposited in Bethlehem, and the Agent took his instructions from the Manager there.

In 1765 Bishop Ettwein went from Bethlehem to Savannah to look after the property. He found that the large house on Spangenberg’s lot had been condemned as ruinous and pulled down. Some one had built a small house on the other end of the same lot, and it was supposed to pay 4 Pounds a year ground rent, but the family living there was very poor, and Habersham had been unable to collect anything. By permission a poor woman had fenced in the Nitschmann lot, and was using it as a kitchen-garden, rent free. The title to the farm lots was in jeopardy, for a certain Alderman Becker in London claimed that the Trustees had given him a tract, including these and many other farms, but the settlers thereon were making a strong fight to hold their property, in which they were finally successful.

At the time of Frederick William Marshall’s visit to Savannah in 1775, the two farm lots were reported to have some good timber, even if they were not of much use otherwise, and the town lots had increased in value with the growth of the town. Marshall thought the latter could again be used for residence, and as a centre for such missionary work as was already begun by Mueller, Wagner and Broesing, but the Revolutionary War put an end to their efforts.

At this point in the records appears a peculiar uncertainty as to the identity of the owner of the David Nitschmann lots. The fact that there were three David Nitschmanns in the active service of the Moravian Church during a number of years after its renewal in Herrnhut affords ample opportunity for confusion, but one would not expect to find it in the minds of their contemporaries. But even such a man as Frederick William Marshall wrote, “The Deeds to these two lots, Nos. 3 and 4, are kept in Bethlehem (one stands in the name of Brother Joseph, the other of Bishop D’d Nitschmann, who passed away in Bethlehem) and it would be well if something were done about them. I do not know what can be arranged with the son of the latter; but Brother David Nitschmann, who is now in Zeist, said when he was in America that he himself was the David Nitschmann in whose name the grant was made, because he was the one who had shared in the negotiations with the Trustees of Georgia.” Bishop David Nitschmann had died in Bethlehem, Oct. 9th, 1772, where his son Immanuel lived until 1790. The David Nitschmann residing in Zeist was the Syndic, formerly Count Zinzendorf’s Hausmeister, the leader of the first company to London, where he and Spangenberg had arranged matters with the Trustees, and had each received fifty acres of land in his own name. The Bishop had had nothing whatever to do with the matter, and this was the conclusion reached, for the title to the Town Lot No. 3 passed at the Syndic’s death, March 28th, 1779, to his son Christian David Nitschmann.