The following history of The Brick Church was prepared by my daughter from sources that we have available. Sources are listed at the end of the message ============================================================ The Brick Church by Caroline R McBride The beginnings of The Brick Church dates back to 1745 when two brothers John Ludwig Clapp and George Valentine Clapp settled in present Guilford County (1, 2). There is some question as to whether John Ludwig was with his brother in 1745 or came later in 1748 (2,3). According to a long standing popular tradition they settled at a site on Beaver Creek which corresponded to one which had been revealed to Valentine's wife in a dream. (1,3) A few years later the brothers purchased land they had chosen from Henry McCulloch, the agent of the colonial government. (2,3) The Clapps were soon joined by other German families. The settlers considering an educational facility vital to their community welfare, combined their efforts to build a school house. The school was also used for religious meetings pending the building of a true house of worship. The services were held under lay leadership. Occasionally an itinerant German Reformed clergyman visited their settlement. (3) Having postponed constructing the church the Reformed settlers willingly accepted an offer in 1764 to share a church building with the Lutherans on the site where Law's (Low's) would later stand. (1,3) This church is about one mile from the school house. (1) There was little theological or ethnic differences between to two groups so the difference between the two religions did not prevent cooperation between the two. By 1770 a Swiss, the Reverend Samuel Suther, a Reformed clergyman who had been ministering Mecklenburg Co, came to Beaver Creek as resident pastor. (1,2,3) The clergyman was an energetic spiritual leader who was noted for freely voicing his opinion on both religious and political subjects.(3) The Beaver Creek residents kept more or less to themselves as might be expected because they spoke German in a land where English was the popular tongue. They were not so handicapped by the language barrier that they failed to understand the protection of their freedom and were quite willing to fight to do so when the American Revolution began. Because of Suther's outspoken criticism of the royal government his farm was raided and his property destroyed by irate Tories. (3) During the trials of this period the harassed Suther became too outspoken in his derision of the Lutheran's Toryism and in criticism of their religious practices. In the consequence the Reformed congregation was locked out of the meeting house which the two denominations had shared. (2,3) George Courtner and Pastor Suther requested the aid of the older and more affluent churches of their denomination. Failure to obtain assistance did not deter the Guilford congregation. (3) Under the leadership of the church elders; Ludwig Clapp, George Courtner and Matthias Schenck and their pastor, the Reformed people decided to attempt building their church near the school house (2,3) at the site visualized by Mrs Clapp in her dream (3). Progress was slow but steady. The building was completed in 1785 four years after Suther left the ministry (2,3). This church is sometimes called the Beaver Creek Church but more prominently, because of the proximity of the Clapp home and the leadership of the Clapp family, the church became generally know as "The Clapp Church" or "Der Klapp Kirche". (1,3) Reverend Andrew Loretz of Lincoln County visited the congregation, quarterly over the next 12 years. Reverend Henry Deiffenbach accepted the pastoral leadership in 1801 and served for 6 years. After his departure the post remained vacant for 14 years although for 6 of those years Loretz resumed his quarterly visits. Captain William Albright paid a visit in person to the Coetus seeking aid for the Clapp Church. Although he was not successful in obtaining the permanent pastor he sought, he sought he did succeed in obtaining the Reverend James A Reilly for an extended visit. (1,3) By the time Rev. Reilly arrived in 1813 (1) the old Clapp Church had become "dilapidated and uncomfortable" and "would not hold the congregation" (3) So a new church was proposed, a meeting house of brick sufficient in size for future growth and stout enough to resist the ravages of time. Construction began immediately and attracted widespread attention. Using clay from a pit on the church grounds they hand made bricks for the building. (4) Brick buildings were rare in that area of the state at that time and the new church gradually became known as "The Brick Church". Various pastors served until 1828 when Reverend John Crawford accepted the charge until 1840. The Rev Crawford conducted his services in English rather than German as had been the custom. (3) During Crawford's ministry on May 21 - 23 in 1831 four ministers and four elders met at the Clapp Church and organized the North Carolina Classis of the German Reformed Church of North America. (1,3) In 1841 Crawford was succeeded by the Rev George Welker who was also the pastor of many other churches in the area including, Steiner's (Stoner's), St Mark's and Mt Hope Reformed Churches. (2,7) He served for 51 years. Almost immediately after his arrival the Brick Church construction was deemed unsatisfactory. in a general meeting on May 20, 1839 it was decided that "the walls shall be taken down to the foundation; that the roof shall be supported in its present position by such means as may be deemed most practicable; that the walls shall be again erected on their present site so that they may again be in proper conjunction with the roof" (3) Several ministers served short terms after Rev Welker retired in 1893. (1,3) In the original Brick Church Records that were kept by be Rev George Welker he commented on the people (as to whether the were drinkers, pious etc) These records originally in German were translated by Rev D I Offman. (2,3) When Rev Offman translated the original records he unfortunately left out these comments. In addition to his translation of the Brick Church Records, Rev Offman compiled lists of generations of many families of German descent. While we must be grateful to Rev Offman for the vast amount of information he compiled; one must remember that Rev Offman obtained a large part of this information from personal interviews. (2,5, 6) In 1973 Rick Madsen of Salt Lake City copied the record on microfilm. A copy of this two roll volume microfilm is in the Burlington May Memorial Library. In 1990 the three volumes that comprised his work are in the possession of Mrs Paul Kinney of Burlington. (5) Dr William Thorton Whitsett also translated some of the Early German records. These men added their own thoughts and interpretations of relationships into the translations. To the confusions of many, much of this added material is erroneous. (2,5) Although it is upsetting to find these errors after believing them for years D I Offmans interviews are invaluable as since many 19th Century marriages are not documented and without his research the maiden names of many of the wives would remain unknown. 1) "History of Brick Church and The Clapp Family" by William Thornton Whitsett, Ph D (date unknown) 2) "Albright, Clapp, Burk Families" by Joseph H Vance, 1987 3) "History of the Brick Church", Durward T Stokes (date unknown) 4) letter from Bruce Clapp, Chairman of the Brick Church Preservation Fund (1995) 5) "The Noah Family", K. Paul Holt, 1991 6) "The Noah or Noe Familes of North Carolina", K Paul Holt, 1990 7) "Stoner's Church Alamance County", (2 page typewritten paper, author & date unknown) ============================================================= Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list See my Ancestors at - http://www.trailerpark.com/tango/lrnoah Gedcoms & other data are at - http://members.tripod.com/~lrnoah Florence Co,SC GenWeb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~scfloren Orange Co, NC GenWeb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange