252 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE [1/86 



funeral of his brother-in-law, Dr. Charles Ridgely,* who had died 

 on the 25th instant. He was buried at Dover, Delaware. 



On the 5th of December of this same year Dr. Smith's diary 

 says : 



Received a letter from John M. Langguth at Bethlehem, in regard to 

 the establishment of a school for the education of the German youth, 

 such a plan having originated years ago by Dr. Muhlenberg and my- 

 self. I sent him all the plans as proposed at that time.! 



* The fullovving account of Dr. Ridgely is taken from an old Bible belonging to 

 the family : 



" Charles Greenberry Ridgely was bom near Salem, N. J., January 26th, 1738. lie was 

 baptized by Mr. John Peirson; godfathers. Dr. Philip Chetwood and William Prazer, 

 Esq. At his becoming of age he omiued the Greenberry, and wrote his name Charles 

 Ridgely. He was an eminent physician. He acquired his cla<;sical and medical edu- 

 cation at Philadelphia, practised his profession in Dover, Delaware, with great success 

 and reputation, and. deservedly obtained the esteem and confidence of his countrymen. 

 He was many years a member of the Legislature, before the Revolution, and during the 

 whole period of the contest, and a short time after its termination he was a member 

 of the Convention of the State of Delaware which framed the Constitution of 1776. 

 He departed this life Friday, November 25th, 17S5, aged 47 years. Pie was buried 

 on the 28th of the same month, in the Church burying-ground at Dover. His funeral 

 sermon was preached by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. William Smith." 



•)• This interesting man was the son of a Lutheran clergyman settled at Walschleben, 

 and born there in October of 1718. While at Jena he acted as tutor to young Zinzen- 

 dorf. In 1739 he united himself to the Brethren at Herrnhaag. In 1745 he was 

 adopted by Frederic, Baron of Watteville, a friend of Zinzendorf, into his family, and 

 soon after received Imperial letters patent of nobility. Among the Brethren he was 

 known as " Brother Johannes." In 1746 he married Benigna von Zinzendorf. Prior 

 to his visitation of the Brethren's settlements and missions in North America, he was, 

 in June of 1747, ordained a Bishop. He arrived at Bethlehem in September of 1748; 

 thence he visited the Indian missions in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. 

 In April of 1749 he sailed for St. Thomas. Soon after bis return to the Provinces, in 

 July of that year, he repaired to Philadelphia to hold an interview with heads and 

 deputies of the Six Nations, on which occasion he renewed a covenant of amity, 

 which his father-in-law had ratified with that confederation, in August of 1742. He 

 sailed for Europe in October, 1749. During this visitation. Bishop de Watteville pre- 

 sided at three Synods of the Church, baptized a number of Indians, laid the corner- 

 stone of a church at Gnadenhiitten on the Mahoning (Lehighton, Carbon county, Pa.), 

 and reorganized a number of Moravian congregations. 



After Zinzendorf's decease, in May of 1760, his son-inlaw for a time directed the 

 affairs of the Church. In 1764 de Watteville was elected to the Directory, and in 1769 

 to the Unity's Elder's Conference. While a member of this body he visited North 

 America a second time, inspecting the Brethren's settlements and churches, both North 

 and South, in the interval between June of 1784 and June of 1787. By aulhoriiy of 

 the above-mentioned board, he sanctioned the transforming of Nazareth Hall into a 

 Boarding School for boys and the erection of a Boarding School for girls at Bethlehem 

 in October of 1785. 



Bishop de Watteville died at Gnadenfrey, Prussia, in October, 1788. 



