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Shaking Your Family Tree

July 29, 1999
	Jewels Tucked in a Small Diary by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Johann Gottfried Arends was a pioneer teacher, preacher, and Revolutionary War patriot who died July 9, 1807 in Lincoln County, N.C. He had arrived in Charleston, S.C. from Germany in 1773 at age 32, and settled in the southern part of Rowan County near Organ Church, teaching the children for two years, then entering the ministry. For a decade he served as an itinerant minister in the vast area that today includes the counties of Rowan, Cabarrus, David, Iredell, Catawba, Lincoln, Davidson, Guilford, and Stokes. Biographies and church histories about colonial ministers, while often of interest to genealogists, seldom provide a great deal of information about the average people of their congregations. However, the diary of Arends is a sparkling jewel, because in it he recorded his business dealings, which reveal the names of a great many Germans who have not previously been identified because their names appear nowhere else. Additionally, he recorded marriages he performed and confirmations, providing the names of the children who were taking their first communion. The original pages of the diary and account book were loose and unbound. "They just turned up here and there, in remarkably good condition in the early 1990s,'' says Jo White Linn. Linn recently published this diary with annotated transcriptions. While the diary covers the period 1775 until 1807, the annotations cover a wider time frame. Effort was made to identify as many of the people mentioned as could reasonably be done. If you have German ancestors in this area of North Carolina, you will want to have this jewel of a book. The annotations are worth their weight in gold. According to historians, Arends traveled long distances on horseback in all kinds of weather, over bad roads and forest paths, to spread the Gospel among people who had long been without pastoral care. It is likely that as he made his rounds as far as 60 miles westward and northeastward that he established a routine of stopping and staying at the homes of leading parishioners in the area. Eventually he became quite well-to-do and was an excellent businessman. He served as an informal banker for many of the Germans in the area. Arends was the founder of the North Carolina Synod and served as its first president. In 1776, he married Hannah Rutsensell (also spelled Rudisill). He served his congregation at Organ Church in southern Rowan County during the trying period of the American Revolution. He "was often harassed, persecuted, and at times in danger of his life,'' but he "took up the cause of American Independence, defying both British soldiers and American Tories,'' according to The Story of the North Carolina Lutheran Synod. In 1785, Pastor Arends moved to Lincoln County, N.C., and became the founder of the Lutheran Church in the territory west of the Catawba River and was the county's first resident minister. Diary of Johann Gottfried Arends (1740-1807): Annotated Transcription by JO White Linn (6x9, hardcover, 168 pages, with complete name and topic index) is available from the author, P.O. Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145-1948; $27.50 postpaid. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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