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Kentiana
Fairfield, the First Moravian Village on the Thames |
By FREDERICK COYNE HAMIL
A CENTURY before the Protestant
Reformation began, John Hus was martyred for
his faith. His followers called themselves the
Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, but their more common name of
Moravians was derived from their country of origin. In 1741 the exiled
Count von Zinzendorf established at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the first
church of this sect in America. Half a century later a group of Christian
Delaware Indians, under the leadership of their Moravian missionaries,
founded on the River Thames the first and only Moravian settlement in
Canada. The first village on the reserve was on the north bank of the
river, in the township of Zone, Kent County, and was called Fairfield. It
was destroyed by the American troops in 1813. Two years later New
Fairfield was built on the south side, nearly opposite. The mission
buildings here still stand, but are
deserted, and the present Moraviantown has developed about a mile farther
to the south-east.
The United Brethren had early
devoted themselves to missionary work
among the heathen Indians, and various
settlements of converts were made throughout the American colonies. In
Ohio these were at Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhütten, Salem, and Lichtenau. During
the American Revolutionary War, situated as they were along the river
valleys of Ohio, these stations were in the path of the western Indians
who travelled to attack the settlers on the borders of Pennsylyania and
Virginia. Despite their neutrality and abhorrence of war, the Moravian
Indians were regarded with suspicion by both sides. In the fall of 1781
the British forced them to leave their villages and remove to Upper
Sandusky; but the following March a hundred of them, returning to harvest
the standing corn, were massacred by a party of American frontiersmen at
Gnadenhütten. The remainder removed to the Clinton river in
Michigan, and founded a settlement near the
present city of Mt. Clemens. Five years later
they were forced to leave because of the
hostility of the Chippewas, who claimed the land. They returned to Ohio,
but by 1791 again found themselves in grave danger from the warfare being
waged between the Indians and the American militia. In May of that year
they were permitted to settle near the mouth of the Detroit river, on the
Canadian side, in full view of Lake Erie, Here they were annoyed by
threats from Indian tribes who tried to induce them to fight against the
Americans, and they began to negotiate for a grant of land on the Thames
river where they would be removed from the border, and safe within
undisputed British territory.
In the spring of 1792 the
Moravian colony secured permission from
the Indian agent McKee to remove to the Thames, or La Tranche, as it was
then called. He did this on his own responsibility because it was
necessary for them to get fields cleared and planted so they might have
provisions for the coming winter, and it would be some time before a grant
could be secured from the Canadian government. On the morning of the 12th
of April the Moravian Indians set out, led by the four missionaries, David
Zeisberger, Gottlieb Senseman, Michael Jung, and William Edwards.
Zeisberger and Senseman were married, and were accompanied by their
families. Jung and several of the Indian brethren went overland driving
the cattle. The rest proceeded in a transport and several canoes by way of
the Detroit river and Lake St. Clair. After a tempestuous voyage, marked
by delays and hardships, the little fleet reached a settlement of
squatters on the river below the present city of Chatham. Here they
remained until the 27th, when, being joined a few days before by the party
driving the cattle, they
continued up the Thames. At this time there were no habitations between
this lower settlement and the Indian villages of Monsey and Delaware far
up the river. It was in the wilderness, remote from neighbors, that the
Moravians wished to settle.
After going a considerable distance
above the present village of Wardsville, the band retraced their steps and
chose a town-site on the north bank of the river beside a deep ravine
running into the Thames. Here, on the 9th of May, 1792, they began to
build the village which they later named Fairfield. As soon as the rich
bottom lands, mostly across the river, were cleared, corn was planted. The
village was laid out as a double row of houses along a single street
parallel to the Thames. Its eastern end terminated at the ravine. A plan
of the village, dated August, 1793, shows thirty-eight houses. The church
occupies the fifth lot from the ravine on the side farthest from the
river.
Just west of this is Zeisberger’s
home. Directly opposite it is the house occupied by Edwards and Jung; next
to them is Senseman’s house, and then the schoolhouse, extending down
river. The remaining houses were occupied by the Indians, whose names are
given in the plan. The graveyard, on a little elevation called Hat—hill,
is almost directly opposite the lower end of the village. Some distance
behind the church is a small field belonging to Zeisberger, which he used
for pasture and turnips. One of the Indians, named Ignatius, had a large
wheat field on the eastern side of the ravine, extending across the
present Longwoods road. Twenty years later, when the town was burned, it
had grown no farther westward, but there were several houses across the
ravine, which had been bridged. There were also some houses on a cross
street which ran back some distance from the main street, just east of the
chapel.
The settlement was fortunate in
having a good spring of water at the head of the ravine, which fed the
little creek running into the Thames. They were fortunate, too, in having
a salt spring on the bank of the river less than half a mile away, which
supplied them with this otherwise expensive necessity. Not far off was a
petroleum spring, the product
of which had long been valued for
its supposed medicinal qualities ; but there is a notation on McNiff's
plan of the village site in 1794, that the Moravians burned it in their
lamps.
A land grant was not received by the
settlement until July 19, 1793, when an Order—in—Council gave them about
50,000
acres, "on a width of 6 3/4 miles about their village,
extending twelve miles back on the south side, and northward to the
purchase line." So that their village might be in the centre of the
reserve, the width of the third township (Camden on the north of the river
and Howard on the south) was reduced by six lots, and these were added to
twelve that the surveyor McNiff now laid out through their lands. Thus
their township, as well as the third, was made eighteen lots in width
instead of the regulation twenty-four.
The activities of the Moravian
Indians were largely confined to agriculture and maple sugar making. Corn
was the principal crop, though later winter wheat was also sown. Pumpkins
were grown among the corn; and in their gardens they planted tobacco, and
vegetables such as turnips, beans and potatoes. They planted apple trees,
but until they were ready to bear made frequent trips to the lower
settlement and Detroit for this prized fruit. There was but little time
for hunting, although some deer, bears, turkeys and other game were shot
at various times to help out the food supply. Fish were caught in great
quantities in the spring by the children and older people, by means of a
"bound" or fish dam in the river. During the summer the women picked and
dried berries; and in the autumn they gathered great quantities of
chestnuts and walnuts. One of the Indians had brought with him from Ohio a
hive of bees, and soon the village was plentifully supplied with honey.
The peaceful sedentary life of
Fairfield was often disturbed by bands of Indians from the Monsey and
Delaware towns on the upper Thames, by the Mohawks from the Grand River,
and by the Chippewas who wandered about the country. The Thames was a well
travelled highway between Niagara and Detroit, used by Indians and whites
alike, and Fairfield was a stopping place for all. Rarely was the village
without bands of these troublesome neighbors who camped on the river bank,
sometimes for weeks at a time, drumming and dancing and drinking, and
leading the young men astray. The Chippewas were the worst nuisance, for
they stole what they could, and frequently danced their beggar-dance
through the street, begging from door to door.
The most distinguished white visitor
was Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, who travelled through from Niagara to
Detroit in the winter of 1793 and again the following year. From 1795 on,
Zeisberger notes in his diary that "white people arrive almost daily."
Some of these were passing through to Detroit or Niagara, many others were
looking for land on which to settle, or driving cattle through to their
farms. Nearly all stopped for a meal or for the night at Fairfield.
Traders came frequently, usually staying for several days while they
bartered their goods for corn, sugar, cattle, pelts, and baskets. Abiah
Parke, Matthew Dolsen, and John Askin’s clerk came most during the early
years. French traders passed through often, but were dis- -liked by the
missionaries because they sold rum to their Indians.
The connections of Fairfield with
the settlers on the Thames below them were close. The river front as far
as their township had settled very rapidly after the issuance of
certificates of location in 1792 and 1793. During their first winter the
brethren had gone to the lower settlement, at that time below the forks at
Chatham, for corn, but were able to get little because "the settlers are
new beginners and have little." Often afterwards, however, the Indians
worked among the whites to earn corn and flour. They traded at Matthew
Dolsen’s store a few miles below Chat-ham, and took their grain to be
ground at Cornwall’s mill about seven miles down river from Fairfield. The
missionaries found much to complain about from this association, for their
Indians frequently came home drunk. "This is a godless people on this
river," Zeisberger writes, "and if they can lead our Indians astray they
do so gladly." Many of the white settlers were jealous or suspicious of
the Moravian Indians and accused them of stealing. The missionaries
suspected that the whites wished to drive them away so they could get
possession of their lands.
Nevertheless the Moravians had many
friends, and the mission was the religious centre of the Thames for years.
Nearly every Sunday white people came from the lower settlements to attend
services in the chapel at Fairfield. Soon the missionaries were called
upon to extend their work outside the town. Senseman was much occupied
with marrying couples and baptizing children. Sometimes this was done at
Fairfield, but more often in the settlements. Often he went down to
preach, or to visit the sick, and rarely left without baptizing several
children. He was so beloved that in 1796 the inhabitants of the river
wanted to choose him as their representative to the assembly, but this he
declined. For years, beginning in February, 1796, Michael Jung preached
every alternate Sunday at the house of Francis Cornwall, seven miles away.
Like Senseman, he frequently baptized children and conducted funerals. The
demands on the missionaries were so great that they had to decline a
request from a new settlement far up the river, that one of them should
preach there.
In the summer of 1798 Edwards and
Zeisberger left for the Tuscarawas valley in Ohio, accompanied by some
forty or fifty Indians, to found a colony. Fairfield at this time had
three hundred acres of land under cultivation, and each year produced and
sold 2000 bushels of corn and 5000 pounds of maple sugar. Two years later
Gottlieb Senseman died and was buried at Fairfield. Michael Jung remained
until after the burning of the village in 1813. He was assisted until 1804
by
Haven and Oppelt, who in the summer of that year led out another colony
and began the enterprise near the site of New Salem; also by John Schnall
who came soon after the departure of Zeisherger. In the spring of
Christian Frederick Denke and his wife arrived to found a mission among
the Chippewas. After two attempts had failed, first on Harsen’s Island,
then on the River Sydenham below Florence, Denke returned to Fairfield in
December 1806. Here he remained until 1813.
News of the war between Great
Britain and the United States was received at Fairfield on July 1, 1812.
On the 15th a detachment of soldiers from Hull’s army at Sandwich, under
Colonel McArthur, penetrated as far as McGregor’s mills at Chatham, on a
foraging expedition. The Moravian Indians, fearing they would come farther
up the river, took refuge in the woods. Ten days later, when they were
assured the Americans had gone back, the Indians returned. For the next
twelve months they were filled with alarm and wished to move away, but
could not agree among themselves where to go. On September 10, 1813, they
heard the sound of guns from Lake Erie, where the British fleet was
defeated by Perry. Late in the month General Harrison’s army landed at
Fort Malden, and the British and Indians under Procter and Tecumseh began
their retreat up the Thames. The church and the schoolhouse at Fairfield
were used as hospitals for seventy sick and wounded British soldiers who
arrived on the 2nd of October. A
day or so later these were hastily removed to
Delaware, along with Procter’s family. By the 5th, when the Battle of the
Thames was fought about a mile and a half below, Fairfield was deserted
except for Jung, who was ill in bed, and Schnall and his family. Denke and
his wife, and the Indians, had hid in the forest.
Procter fled with his staff at the
beginning of the battle. They were pursued by some of the enemy cavalry
along the road through Fairfield and far beyond, but eventually escaped.
Johnson’s cavalry occupied the village, while the rest of the American
army encamped on the battlefield. That night and the following day the
town was given over to plunder, despite Schnall’s protests to General
Harrison.
Rafts were built and loaded with
valuables to be floated down the Thames. The missionaries were roughly
used, being suspected of hiding some English officers and their
possessions. After a thorough search they were permitted to leave with
their personal property. John Dolsen, who had come to Fairfield just
before the battle, loaned them his wagon and team of horses. They left on
the 6th of October, and the following day the whole town was burned to the
ground. The reason given for this destruction was that the Indians had
been hostile to the Americans and that some had fought on the English
side. The petition of the Moravian Society for compensation was refused by
the United States Congress on the same ground. Some time later, however,
the Canadian authorities made an appropriation to cover part of the loss.
This was paid in installments, the last in 1836.
Schnall and his family, with Jung,
eventually made their way hack to Pennsylvania, but Denke and his wife
remained to care for the fugitive Indians. After nearly two years spent at
or near Burlington Heights, the band returned to the site of Fairfield in
August, 1815, the war having ended. They lived in huts there until
September, when they moved to the opposite side of the river, in Orford
township, where the village of New Fairfield was founded. In 1818 Denke
went back to Bethlehem, and Schnall returned to the mission to take his
place, dying there the following year. The later history of New Fairfield
can not be told here. Suffice it to say that on April 1, 1903, the mission
was merged with that of the Methodist Church in Canada, whose workers had
been invited to the reserve about forty years before.
The ruined basements of Fairfield remained as an object
of curiosity to travellers until near the end of the century. One family
of Indians named Jacobs continued to live on this sidle of the river, but
across the ravine. By 1536 the Moravian Indians had been induced to
surrender all their lands north of the Thames to the Government. The
Jacobs were not disturbed, however, and continued to live there for many
years. In 1889 George Yates received a Crown grant of "lot lettered B
north of the Longwood's road, township of Zone," which contained most of
the village site. The Indian burying ground, about one half acre in
extent, was reserved by the Government. It is now neglected, and only one
broken gravestone remains, that of Simon Jacobs, who died in 1864. Those
of the missionaries were removed to Bothwell cemetery soon after 1900,
where they may still be seen. Most of the burials after 1813 were in
another cemetery across the river, near the New Fairfield church. This has
been largely destroyed by the falling away of the bank, and a third is now
used, not far from the present Moraviantown.
The site of Fairfield is today marked only by the
course of the river, the ravine, the clump of trees covering the old
graveyard, and a number of apple trees, degenerate descendants of those
planted by the Moravians before the village was destroyed. Just a century
and a quarter ago, Schnall and Jung on their way down the Thames saw the
smoke arising from this very spot. "Even if the town is destroyed,"
Schnall said, "the flames will not burn up the prayers which we have
offered in behalf of the mission, in the church, the gardens, the fields
and the woods, and the Lord will surely in his own good time re-establish
his work here." Neither could they erase the influence which the town had
had on the spiritual and economic life of the settlements on the River
Thames. |
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