While searching at the Madison County Courthouse for the property of one of my ancestors, I discovered that his property abutted that of the Hebron Parsonage. One of the old plats referenced a chancery suit, Fray vs. Lutheran Church 1869.05. That chancery suit contains the original 1733 deed of William Carpenter of St. Marks Parish of Spotsylvania to Michael Cook & Michael Smith "Wardons" & trustees of the German Church with, of course, original signatures. The law suit was filed as a partition suit to allow the church to sell a portion of the parsonage land and was filed by Ephriam D. Fray, a "member of the religious congregation known as the Hebron Evangelical Lutheran Church." Thought the list would enjoy reading two extracts from the bill of complaint: ". . . . that all the original deeds of the church were at one time in the hands of Moses Weaver, a trustee, who died at a great age a few years ago." ". . . Your orator further shews that the said Parsonage Tract has been used by the Church, for time whereof the memory of man runs not to the contrary, as a residence for their minister who has usually combined the business of farming with his clerical duties and taken such products as he could raise on the farm as part of his compensation as minister; that whether the clergy as a class are unfitted by their sacred calling for tilling the soil, whether the worthy ministers of this church have happened to be inferior farmers, or whatever may have been the cause, the land has been steadily damaged under their tillage, although of good original quality it is now disfigured with galls and gullies also with old field pines, briars and other noxious growth; the fencing is in bad condition; the building and improvements are old and sadly in want of repairs; and the whole place is in such a condition that nothing short of the constant personal care of a practical farmer - interested as proprietor in its permanent improvement can suffice to restore it to its original state or to render its cultivation at all remunerative. Your orator further shews that it is incompatible with the spiritual interest of the Church that their pastor should be thus subjected to the drudgery of cultivating a farm in order to maintain himself and family, for in this way most of his time is appropriated to secular pursuits, he has no time for pastoral visitation and no fit opportunity for study or for the proper religious instruction of his flock; that such is the practical working of the system that although he congregation is large and the location in other respects very desirable it is now found impossible to secure the services of a minister of an effective and acceptable character unless the old plan of putting the minister to work on the farm be broken up; that they are now deprived of the services of any minister by these very difficulties, but ministers of high order of merit express their willingness to take charge of the Church, if provided with a mere Parsonage elsewhere, and thus allowed to devote all their time and attention to their clerical functions . . . . " Those who would like a copy of the 1733 deed, let me know. FYI: I shot it with a 12.1 megapixel camera so the images are quite large. Best, Jan

I received a request for the deed last evening that somehow found its way into my junk mail folder and has now disappeared. (I can't remember who it was from.) If you have requested a copy & have not yet received it, please let me know & I'll send it out ASAP. Thanks, Jan -----Original Message----- From: germanna_colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:germanna_colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jan Hensley Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 7:31 AM To: germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com Subject: [GERMANNA] Hebron Parsonage While searching at the Madison County Courthouse for the property of one of my ancestors, I discovered that his property abutted that of the Hebron Parsonage. One of the old plats referenced a chancery suit, Fray vs. Lutheran Church 1869.05. That chancery suit contains the original 1733 deed of William Carpenter of St. Marks Parish of Spotsylvania to Michael Cook & Michael Smith "Wardons" & trustees of the German Church with, of course, original signatures. The law suit was filed as a partition suit to allow the church to sell a portion of the parsonage land and was filed by Ephriam D. Fray, a "member of the religious congregation known as the Hebron Evangelical Lutheran Church." Thought the list would enjoy reading two extracts from the bill of complaint: ". . . . that all the original deeds of the church were at one time in the hands of Moses Weaver, a trustee, who died at a great age a few years ago." ". . . Your orator further shews that the said Parsonage Tract has been used by the Church, for time whereof the memory of man runs not to the contrary, as a residence for their minister who has usually combined the business of farming with his clerical duties and taken such products as he could raise on the farm as part of his compensation as minister; that whether the clergy as a class are unfitted by their sacred calling for tilling the soil, whether the worthy ministers of this church have happened to be inferior farmers, or whatever may have been the cause, the land has been steadily damaged under their tillage, although of good original quality it is now disfigured with galls and gullies also with old field pines, briars and other noxious growth; the fencing is in bad condition; the building and improvements are old and sadly in want of repairs; and the whole place is in such a condition that nothing short of the constant personal care of a practical farmer - interested as proprietor in its permanent improvement can suffice to restore it to its original state or to render its cultivation at all remunerative. Your orator further shews that it is incompatible with the spiritual interest of the Church that their pastor should be thus subjected to the drudgery of cultivating a farm in order to maintain himself and family, for in this way most of his time is appropriated to secular pursuits, he has no time for pastoral visitation and no fit opportunity for study or for the proper religious instruction of his flock; that such is the practical working of the system that although he congregation is large and the location in other respects very desirable it is now found impossible to secure the services of a minister of an effective and acceptable character unless the old plan of putting the minister to work on the farm be broken up; that they are now deprived of the services of any minister by these very difficulties, but ministers of high order of merit express their willingness to take charge of the Church, if provided with a mere Parsonage elsewhere, and thus allowed to devote all their time and attention to their clerical functions . . . . " Those who would like a copy of the 1733 deed, let me know. FYI: I shot it with a 12.1 megapixel camera so the images are quite large. Best, Jan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message