Reputation matters

The Moravians were a people of good reputation in the Wachovia. The Wachovia was the name given to the 100,000 acres of land the early Moravians in North Carolina purchased from the Earl of Grandville.

One example of this wholesome reputation dates from March 1762 when The Rev. John McDowell, an Anglican priest, asked whether the Moravians could educate his son, since "I look upon them to be sober, pious and exemplary prudent society of Christians."

As an aside the circumstances were not yet right to begin a boarding school for the priest's son or any others, but the Moravians that year (1762) began holding school in Bethabara and Bethania for their own children, female as well as male.