Five Things to Know about the Moravians of Yesteryear

The official name was the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brothers);

In the twenty-five years before the Moravians settled in North Carolina in 1753 the Moravian church had grown from about two hundred members in Germany to several thousand from Latvia to Pennsylvania, from Greenland to South America; 

In 1749 the British Parliament recognized the Moravian church “as an ancient and episcopal church, with bishops in apostolic succession like those in the Anglican Church.”

Parliament exempted Moravians from bearing arms in the militia;

By the time that Salem was established in 1771 there were more black Moravians than white Moravians in the New World. 

Anglican Moravians?

It may seem odd that the earliest Moravian settlers in the Wachovia (NC) wished to be an Anglican parish (Church of England). It was for good reason that they sought the status of an Anglican parish. 

At the time the Church of England was the state church of the colony. All land had to be a part of one Anglican parish or another. Everyone regardless of their denominational affiliation had to pay an assessment to the parish in which it was situated. If the Moravians had a parish of their own they could have control over their finances and it freed them from paying the assessment. 

The name of the parish was, Dobbs Parish, a tribute to the Governor, Arthur Dobbs.