Notes: Daughter
Maria Magdalena and other children were born in Allemangal, Northampton Co.,
PA. Found report that in 1761 the family fled to Schonack because of an Indian
war, lived there for a year, then moved to Hebron, PA.
In October
of 1767 they left Pennsylvania and migrated to North Carolina and settled three
miles west of Bethania. Bethania was part of the "Wachovia Tract" in
Surry County, which was a large Moravian community. However "three miles
west" may have been outside the Tract? (That location would have been
Rowan County at the time, then became Surry County after a split, and then
became Stokes County after another split, then became Forsyth Co. after another
split.)
Andreas
(Andrew) is found in the Surry County Court Minutes for 15 August 1786, under
the name "Andrew VOLK". He is declared exempt from paying the Poll
Tax in the future, as part of a group of "aged and infirm men". He is found as a neighbor of Henry Spoonour
(see will below).
His son,
Johan Adam FULK also has several entries in the Minutes.
His Will: Found an
abstract of his will, written 23 Nov 1788 and probated in December 1790. To his
wife, Mary Margaretha, he gives furniture, stock, etc. To his son Andrew he
gives the "Plantation I now live on". To son John he gives 100 acres
on the waters of the Yadkin river adjacent to Henry Spoonhour and Adam Fiscus.
He says his children Adam, Ann Mary, Catharina, Christina, Magdalena,
Margaretha and Hannah have already received their shares. Signature is
"Andrew x Folk" (or Fulk).
ANDREAS FULK AND THE MORAVIANS:
There are several references
to Andreas Fulk Jr. in the Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. This
is a multi-volume set of books edited by Adelaide L. Fries, M.A., Archivist of
the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province. These entries prove that he
was a respected member of the Moravian community. The Moravian Diaries tended
to report all sorts of trivia, including the weather:
Nov 9, 1767 (Bethabara
Diary): "Yesterday Andreas
Volz (Volk), Joseph Holder, Stauber, and their families, arrived
from Pennsylvania." (I understand
Joseph Holder was a nephew of Andreas.)
July 23, 1768 (Bethania
Diary):
"For some days the weather has been very hot and oppressive, with frequent
thunderstorms. As Andreas Volk and
his wife were approaching Bethania there was a sharp clap of thunder, the horse
reared, the girth broke, and the saddle and Volk
fell one way, and his wife fell the other. Neither was hurt."
December 30, 1768
(Bethania): "Benjamin Leinbach came to Br. Graff and announced his engagement
to Andreas Volk's daughter,
Christine, and asked for the publication of the Banns, and that we would marry
him. For this latter he was referred to Br. Loesch as Justice of the Peace; the
Banns can be published by Br. Bachhoff as Public Reader and Clerk of Dobbs
Parish."
Next,
we read of Christmas Eve celebrations, and learn that Grandpa Volk is a
musician:
December 24, 1770 (Diary of the Little Company on the Ens or South
Fork.): "In the evening the congregation, including
the children, rejoiced over the Incarnation of our God. In the first service,
at six o'clock, Christmas hymns were sung, and the Christmas story was told to
the children. After half an hour's intermission there was Love-feast, the story
of the Birth of the Saviour was read from the Bible, and hymns were sung to Br. Volk's violin accompaniment. Then
honey-cakes and verses were distributed, and the service closed with earnest
prayer. The children were full of wonder and joy, it being the first time they
had attended such a service."
May 20, 1772: It rained hard for half an hour, with some hail. We
were all thankful, for on account of the drought many people have not been able
to plant corn. Andreas Volk and six
of his neighbors from the New Garden Settlement have been to the Allimance,
where the battle with the Regulators was fought last year, and have secured
3000 lbs of flour, at 15 shillings per 100 lbs."
May 27, 1772: "Andreas Volk was
given a Certificate which frees him from attending Muster. A number have been
issued this year, and the Captains are insisting on it in their
districts."
Next,
we learn that Grandpa Volk is an explosives expert:
Sept. 8, 1778: "Br. Bagge has again begun work on the well on
his building lot, and had some rock blasted out by Andreas
Volk."
Jan 10, 1780 (Bethania Diary): "Andreas Volck came for me, and I rode with him
to the home of Heinrich Demuth, where I baptized Demuth's twins, George and
Andreas, and little Anna Catharina Erny."
(Anna
Catharine Arney was born 25 Nov 1779 – she is the third of Henry Arney's
14 children. Henry (aka Johann Heinrich) is Andreas' son-in-law, and also our ancestor.)
Next,
the actual shooting part of the Revolution is now upon Surry County. On October
8, 1780, a band of Tories (loyal to the King), under the leadership of Colonels
Gideon and Hezekiah Wright, attacked Whig targets in the town of Richmond. The
Sheriff was killed, and a distant in-law of mine was wounded. My 6G Grandfather
Andreas Fulk sent his son (probably his youngest son, Andreas III, who would
have been age 15) for help:
October 9, 1780 (Salem Diary): “Andreas
Volk’s son came for the doctor for the brother-in-law Johanna
Krause, who was shot in the leg yesterday while standing guard at Richmond,
which was again visited by a strong party of Tories under Gideon Wright.
The bullet had remained in his limb; Joseph Dixon was sent to bind up the
wound. The Tories had expressed sympathy for the injured man, saying the
ball had not been meant for him but for someone else, and so on. What
consequences this may have remains to be seen.”
MEMO:
There were several more entries in the record for Andreas Fulk, but none of
outstanding interest. He was included on a list of residents of Bethania, and
identified as born in 1722. Many of the later entries clearly refer to his son
Andreas III. I'll add just one final entry:
August 17, 1790 (Bethania Diary): Young Andreas Volck brought
word that his father passed away peacefully last evening."
FAMILY
BURIAL:
Andreas and his wife Maria are buried in the
Bethania Moravian Graveyard (see www.findagrave.com), shown here:
_files/image002.png)
And here is a picture of the tombstone of Andreas:
_files/image004.png)
And here is that of his wife Maria:
_files/image006.png)
Burial
Practices:
The following is a description of the burial
practices of the Moravians. This was found at www.salemcongregation.org:
"Bethania" is one of the churches in the Salem Congregation:
"The Moravian Graveyard is still known fondly
by the old Germanic name of “God’s Acre” (Gottesacker). This burial ground is characterized by its
simplicity and uniformity. As the name implies,
this is a field where the bodies are “sown as perishable seed” to await the day
when they will be raised in an “imperishable form.”
"Here the departed are buried chronologically,
in the order in which they are “called home to be with the Lord.” Here are no
statues or monuments to distinguish the graves of the rich from those of the
poor. The recumbent stones remind us of
the equality of the dead in God’s sight.
"The visitor will soon note that the men,
women, and children are buried separately.
This is a continuation of the “Choir System” introduced in Herrnhut,
Saxony by Count Zinzendorf, the renewer of the Moravian Church. The congregation was divided into groups
according to age, sex, and marital status so that each individual might be cared
for spiritually according to their differing needs. At worship the “choirs” also sat together in
the church, the Brethren and boys on one side, the Sisters and girls on the
other. When death came, then, the
departed were buried, not in earthly families, but as they had been seated in
the church, Brethren on the one side, Sisters on the other, the choirs
together, continuing the form of the congregation at worship.
"God’s Acre is still used by the Salem
Congregation, comprised of twelve of the Moravian Churches within the city of
Winston-Salem. The dead are still buried
according to the “choir system.” On the
Saturday before Easter the members of the Salem Congregation churches decorate
the graves, so that each grave has flowers on it and the graveyard becomes like
a large garden where the famous Easter Sunrise Service is held, continuing a
tradition begun in 1735 in Herrnhut and first observed here in 1772. On Easter morning the Congregation comes here
as the “Church Militant” to affirm amid the grave of the “Church Triumphant”
their faith in the “Risen Lord.”