Progressing through the record of Johann Martin Boltzius, it’s been a pleasure encountering other of my Germanic ancestors as they join the cast, eventually marrying into my several Salzburger lines. These had to commit not to disrupt the good order of Ebenezer, Georgia. (I have some way to go yet before the blessed Weidmanns--facebook/photo.php?fbid=2319993643412&set=a.1954863315382.2117951.1356666137 –arrive.) On February 16, 1742, one 7th-great-grandfather makes his appearance: “Scheraus, a fine man from the 4th transport, cut a dangerous wound in his foot. . . . A few days ago I visited this Scheraus and his neighbor Scheffler on their plantations on the Ebenezer River. The two were occupied cutting down trees in great cheerfulness and pleasure. They asked me where I was now, and as the question appeared strange to me, they said: ‘In the Valley of Joy,’ for they both had, they said, great joy in this country and labored with joy.” I just read for the first time of a 6th-great-grandmother’s sibling’s death (Dec. 9, 1750), about whom Boltzius gave distinctive praise: “In the afternoon of this Second Sunday of Advent the sincerely pious boy of sixteen years, Johann Georg Häfner, was released from all evil through a temporal death and was brought to joy in his Lord, whom he has served with an upright heart. Now we have, to be sure, one less pious child, edifying example, and zealous prayer in the congregation; yet we do not begrudge him his blessed dissolution and are content with God’s providence. . . . Four weeks ago he had recovered from scarlet fever and would not let anything keep him from attending Holy Communion, and some people assume that he contracted his last sickness by going out. His master /Georg Mayer/ told me that in the last months of his life he took very little notice of the advantages of his trade and that this had been explained as inattentiveness, as if he had no pleasure in the work. However, people noticed that he was excessively desirous of God’s word and private prayer and that, whenever his professional duties let up even a little, he would seek out a hidden spot in order to speak alone with his Savior. From that one could conclude that, despite all his external work, his spirit was always up there where he always wished to be. His righteous behavior and blameless and edifying conduct were known to most people, especially to the pious among us. . . . Because of this boy and the publication of the first part of the . . . ‘last hours’ of the pious orphan boy in Bayreuth the memory of my Samuel Leberecht [Boltzius, died earlier that year, and had planned on traveling to study theology overseas at Halle] was renewed very tenderly in my heart. He was much like both of them in grace, and therefore he had a high regard for the blessed boy whom we have just buried.”
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 20:23:43 +0000
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