PART IV
176 PART
IV
IV. MARIA ROYER, DAUGHTER
OF III. PETER
IV. MARIA ROYER, p. 141,
m. Christian Bauman, Apr. 24, 1794,
being his second wife. They resided on the Trout Creek
near
Ephrata, Lanc. CO., where he died July 4, 1815. Maria
(Mary) had
seven children:
V. Peter Bauman,
b. Feb. 1, 1795; 7 P. M. Lanc Co.
V. Daniel "
b. Apr. 1, 1796; 8:30 P.M. Lanc. Co.
V. John "
b. July 26, 1799, 6 A. M.; single.
V. Samuel "
b. Feb. 9, 1801, - __ P. M.; m. Polly
Smith.
V. Henry "
b. Sept. 29, 1803, 10:30 A. M.; single.
V. Sarah "
b. May 21, 1806, 6 P. M.; d. July 29, 1893.
V. Adam "
b. Nov. 25, 1809, 7 P. M.; moved to
Va.
They were second cousins
to my father.
This record of births was
copied by A. H. Huber, p. 210, from
their old Family Bible, printed in 1746, in Philadelphia,
which was
at the time in the possession of their daughter, V. Sarah.
V. HENRY and V. SARAH united
with the Seventh Day Breth-
ren. Henry is supposed to have died in their institution
at Snow
Hill, Franklin Co., Pa. He was unmarried and was an extremely
devout man. The Royers have been more or less interested
in the
Seventh Day movement, the present minister in charge
at Ephrata
VII. Samuel Zearfus, being
a Royer descendant. The following
account of this work by A. H. Huber, who visited Sarah
at Ephrata
in the summer of 1879, is therefore regarded as in place.
Sarah
Bauman, the Ephrata Sister.
Driven by the hand of religious
persecution from their homes in the
Palatinate and other parts of Germany and from Switzerland,
the German
Baptists or "Tanfer" (Brethren), emigrated
to Pennsylvania in the hope of
practising religion according to their own peculiar tenets.
They were a mere
handful then and came in scattered groups. The doctrine
of Seventh Day wor-
ship did not obtain among them until many years later,
when the young Ger-
man pioneer, Conrad Beissel, effected the change. His
leadership was soon
acknowledged and many of the members in time followed
his standard. The
feature of a monastic life for both sexes was preached
and practised; and in
1732 a saal or temple was erected for worship. This house
still stands near
Ephrata, on the banks of the Cocalico.
To it is attached a large
four storied structure, known as the Sisters' House
or Saron, which, as its name implies, was devoted to
the exclusive use of the
females. All of the buildings were of the mediaeval style
of architecture; and
all of the more quaint and peculiar whether reference
is had to the exterior or
interior. The windows are irregularly placed, and so small that many of
them
admit but a ray of light. Most of the doors are so low
that an ordinary sized
man is compelled to stoop in passing through. The cells
in which the sisters
slept were almost entirely without furniture and the
sleeper had for his or
her pillow a billet of wood! This was the case in all
of the buildings, and was
practised by the order when the Seventh Day organization
was in the height
of its power.
At the time of my visit the society was on the verge
of dissolution. But a
few sisters occupied the Sister's House, and among these
was Sarah Bauman -
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