Frederick W. von Marschall (315)

Frederick William von Marschall (5 February 1721–11 February 1802) was an administrator, town-planner, architect, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1771. Born to an army officer and his wife in Stolpen, Upper Lusatia, Germany, Marschall studied at universities in Leipzig and Herrnhaag before joining the Moravian Unity of Brethren in 1739. Traveling to England on behalf of the church, Marschall became involved in the Parliamentary proceedings culminating in the Act of 1749, which endorsed Moravian settlement in the American colonies. The Moravians appointed Marschall Senior Civilis (1761), Agent for the Unity in North Carolina, and Oeconomus of Wachovia, the large Moravian settlement in North Carolina (1763). The French and Indian War delayed his arrival until 1764, whereupon he began planning the central town for the territory, Salem. Construction began in 1766, and by 1772 Salem had a thriving community, the result of Marschall’s excellent designs. However, problems arose: with unchecked power in the settlement, Marschall denied plots to non-Moravians, and in 1771 the regulator movement accused the Moravians of illegally occupying the land; but Marschall saw this as only a ruse to test the Moravian’s determination and charges were averted. When the Revolutionary War began, the Moravians felt trapped in neutrality, reluctant to sever ties to their brethren in England, yet already viewed as suspect by their fellow Americans. The Confiscation Act of 1777 proved a greater threat: to protect Wachovia, Marschall returned from the Moravian Synod in Germany where he had been since 1775 to become a trustee of the territory. From then on, Marschall remained dedicated to the settlement, making frequent visits to the North Carolina General Assembly to defend Moravian claims and continuing to design buildings and institutions for Salem. He died in a thriving Salem, remembered as the father of his community and a religious leader to Moravians and non-Moravians alike.