The Afternoon of September 17, 1804

Aaltje Soelle (Sell) Elrod
Memoirs 

5th Great Maternal Grandmother (wife of Christopher Elrod Sr ~ 5th Great Grandfather)

WHAT A FIND

A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF ONE'S LIFE

WHAT CAN I SAY?

PRICELESS CAN'T EVEN BE THE RIGHT WORD…

THERE MUST BE A NEW WORD INVENTED FOR THIS!

The following information was taken down 

just before her death…her thoughts…her words...

She died on September 17, 1804.

From Document found in Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Memoirs of Aaltje Soelle Elrod  

 "I was born October 20, 1724, in Germantown in Pennsylvania and since my parents belonged to the Mennonites, I was not baptized as a child. My father moved later to the Canawaga where I faithfully attended the meetings. After I was grown I was baptized by the Lutheran pastor by the name of Can- zler and this made a deep impression on me. Soon after this my father moved to Maryland to the region of Manaskosy where I married my late husband Christopher Elrod on March 26, 1743. In 1751 we moved to North Carolina and settled on the Yadkin River. Some years later some of the Brethern came into the region and some of them visited in the country and preached in the houses and thus we soon had the opportunity of hearing them preach. The first in whose preaching I was awakened was the late Bro. Post. From this time on I sought to obtain my salvation and found much comfort in the preaching of the Brethren Soelle, Ettwein and Utley. "In the dangerous time of the Indian War we fled to Bethabara where we to our blessing had occasion to become better acquainted with the Brethren. When it again became safer in the country we moved back to our plantation but continued to attend the Sunday meetings in Bethabara until a little congregat- ion was organized on the Southfork in Friedberg, when we then attended the meetings of the brethren there, which were very greatly blessed to my heart, although they were held in the German language which I did not know very well. I will, however, never forget how I was encouraged and revived anew when from time to time the late Sister Marschall visited in Friedberg and I could talk with her in the English language very open-heartedly about the state of my heart and her conversation and advice was true balm for my poor heart. "On April 4, 1773, in Friedberg, I had the grace of being received in the congregation and on January 22, 1774, I became a communicant in the body and blood of the Lord in the service of the Holy Communion. Some of our children were also baptized and when the congregation was organized in the year 1780, we had the joy of being among the first members of this little congregation." 

The sketch above is of the Old Hope Church Moravian in Hope, North Carolina ~

Aaltje and her family attended for many years.

 Burial Hope Moravian Old (Original) God's Acre, Clemmons, Forsyth County NC

God's Acre is also called the City of the Equal Dead because all the tombstones are alike. 

Since the first grave in the 1790s to this day the stones are all flat and are approximately the same size. 

People are buried in "choirs" by sex and marital status. 

For example, married brothers are buried in a choir and married sisters in another, 

also single brothers and single sisters are buried likewise. Children are buried together in choirs. 

One must be a member of the Moravian Church to be buried there. 

Each Easter Sunday, a Sunrise Service is held in this cemetery and it is relatively famous world wide. 

The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations, dating back 

to 1457 in Europe and first coming to America in 1735. Moravians have a strong tradition 

of ecumenical (check out the meaning of the word if interested) work 

and are best known for their missionary work and rich musical heritage

The following information was also found in Moravian Archives, Winston-Salen, North Carolina

 From this time she found her greatest comfort and encouragement in the close association with the Saviour and in the observance of his suffering and death. In the olden times when the brethren frequently visited in the country and preached, they were always welcome in her house and could be refreshed there from their heavy labors. The death of her dear husband in January, 1784 grieved her very much, and it was hard for her to adjust to her new condition, and only the hope of follow- ing him soon into eternity often supported her for she had an unusual longing to depart and be with Christ, her Redeemer, and finally became very impatient that she had to wait so much longer than she had expected. When one spoke to her she usually expressed emphatically this longing to be with Christ and if she was recommended to have patience, she said, "I belong to the Savior". He knows his time best and when it pleases him I will go to him, but soon, soon.!" Manifestly she put her hope in God in her almost twenty years of Widow- hood and this hope was not destroyed when she lived by turns with her four sons who all belonged to the congregation and who cared for and tended her with the love of a child. Her quiet way of life, withdrawn from this world and her attach- ment to and persistant association with the Saviour which shone forth from all her activities, made her generally beloved. Since for several years, because of her age and weakness, she was unable to come to the meetings of the congreg- ation, so much the more she was comforted and refreshed by the association with the Saviour at home and when her children sometimes brought her to communion or otherwise at times to church festivals, it was for her always a day of blessing. God had blessed her marriage with 12 children, of whom 9 are still living. From these she had 63 grandchildren and 73 great-grandchildren of whom 57 grandchildren and 68 great-grandchildren are still living. Two weeks ago, in the house of her son, John Elrod, where she is now living, she became sick with the prevailing fever and it was appointed for her to go home to her Saviour as she had so many years longed to do. While conscious and even in delirium she called on the Saviour often and prayed English and German verses. When her children asked her whether she was now ready to go to the Saviour she gave witness of that with joy that she was really separated from the world and had a complete desire to be at home with her Saviour and this was evident in a lovely manner in her last illness. 

On Sunday, the 16th of this month, in the presence of several of her children and children's children 

and blessing of the Lord and the congregation was administered to her for her homegoing and she departed in the afternoon of September 17, 1804. Her age was 79 years, one month, and 3 days.

Gravestone for Christopher Elrod Sr - My 5th Great Grandfather - Buried in same cemetery