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Christena Corriher

At some point the Bible went to Priscilla Sechler Corriher’s aunt, Christena Corriher. She wrote her own name in the Bible at some point, saying it was her book. One of her daughters, Dovey E. Beaver signed both her and her mother’s names inside, although I don’t believe that Dovey ever owned it.

Christena and Henry Corriher’s graves in the Old Mt. Zion Cemetery

Christena’s signature inside the Bible

CONTINUED in PART 2…next PDF FILE

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Why did Christena Corriher and others call this a “Dutch Bible?”

I found the following internet article helpful…

From the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, the phrase Pennsylvania Dutch is

defined as follows: "The descendants of the original German settlers in Pennsylvania."

The people known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, often falsely depicted in travel

advertisements by the tourist industry with images of a little Holland Dutch girl with wooden

shoes, are not Dutch, but are of German and German speaking heritage, They are the

descendants of the early German speaking settlers of the inland counties of Pennsylvania who

arrived in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Large scale

immigration to Pennsylvania and the other rebelling colonies was for the most part stopped

by the British just prior to the start of the Revolutionary War and was much restricted after

that war ended by continuing British interference in the new country's trade and affairs until

after the War of 1812. By far, most were German. But if not specifically German, they were

more likely to be German speaking Swiss or German speaking refugee French Huguenots,

rather than Holland Dutch. These early German speaking settlers of Pennsylvania formed a

culturally unique people and are more correctly described as the Pennsylvania Germans.

The German word for German is "Deutsch." Thus, if a person described themselves as

a Pennsylvania "Deutschman," he meant Pennsylvania German. Thus, recent generations of

English speaking people in the United States, corrupted the pronunciation and spelling to

Pennsylvania "Dutchman".

Dovie E. Beaver

Dovie was Christena and Henry’s daughter who signed her and her mothers name as shown above. She is buried in the Greenlawn Cemetery next to Mt. Zion Church.

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Margaret Victoria Corriher 1847-1921

Married (1868) Crawford Locke Shuping 1846-1917

Six Children were born to this couple Margaret did not sign the Bible.

Margaret and Crawford had a daughter, Effie Octavia Shuping. Margaret is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, next to Mt. Zion Church.

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Effie Octavia Shuping 1875-1957

Married (1894) John Wilson McNeely 1868-1940

Five children were born to this couple. Margaret Blandena McNeely was the youngest of these children. She lived on South Main Street in China Grove. Effie and her husband John are buried at Mt. Moriah Lutheran

Church. Effie Octavia was the oldest daughter at the time of her mother’s death in 1923. Effie had an older brother John Henry Shuping

who died in 1956 at the State Hospital in Morganton.

Effie is the one sitting down. Her youngest daughter, Blandena is in the white dress behind her.

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Margaret Blandena McNeely 1906-1968 Married (1922)

Clarence Edward Corriher 1902-1984

Four children were born to this couple: John, Walter, Nancy, and Luther The Bible then went to John Leonard Corriher.

I do not believe that the Bible passed through Margaret Blandena McNeely

Corriher. This is based on the fact that John Corriher signed the Bible in

1961 and Blandena passed away in 1968. This and several other factors

lead me to believe, in my personal opinion, that it was given directly to

John L. Corriher by his Grandmother, Effie Octavia Corriher Shuping. It

is highly possible that she gave the Bible to him because he was the oldest

grandchild and the only remaining child or grandchild in the Rowan

County area.

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John Leonard Corriher (with Grandson Trent Patterson)

Note: When John signed the Bible on April 22, 1961, the US had just

days earlier finished an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow the Castro government using Cuban Nationals. It was an

embarrassing fiasco. John F. Kennedy was president. It was known as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

� Barbara Corriher (with her son Trent)

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Mt. Zion Church – China Grove, NC

All of the original guardians of the Bible were members of Mt. Zion in China Grove. The original United German Congregation would eventually be part of three different churches, Mt. Zion Reformed Church, Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church, and Lutheran Chapel. Considering the importance of this church, a brief history is included here. Mount Zion Reformed Church in southwest Rowan County traces its roots to a German Settlement in the area dating back to the mid 1700’s. Historical records show a congregation, first known as Savitz’s Church was meeting for worship in 1755. The first crude log structure used for worship was later replaced with a larger, log building painted red. Tradition has it that an overly emotional person, wanted to rid the church of evil spirits symbolized by the red structure, set fire to this building. Shortly after the fire a more suitable building was erected through a joint venture of Lutheran and Reformed members. This building was used jointly until 1836 when the Lutheran members moved a few hundred yards away and constructed their own building. The Reformed members continued to use the building until 1844 when they purchased a four-acre tract of land and constructed a more modern brick building that served them until 1876. In that year this building was demolished to make room for a larger facility. As this building got underway, hard times set in, delaying the completion of this project. The congregation had been given an eighty-five acre tract of land in 1846 to be used for a parsonage. This land had to be sacrificed to meet the obligations of the new building.

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Restoring and Preserving the Bible November 2003-February 2004

As the current “guardian” of this treasure, I decided to have the Bible preserved by a book conservatory located in the Triad of North Carolina. The Bible was restored and is now protected in an archival safe clamshell style box. It is stored in a safe-deposit box. The above pictures show the before and after pictures of the spine. During the process of delivering the Bible to the conservatory, I questioned them about leaving our heirloom in their hands. They took me into their work area and there at the workstation next to where I left it and there were 4 Bibles that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. These were being preserved by Monticello. His signature and his family signatures were in the front. Portions of these bibles were cut out with a pen knife to make what would become known as “The Jefferson Bible.” Thomas Jefferson was a deist and he cut out the miracles of the Bible. I was amazed and shocked to see these national treasures; I quickly realized that I could trust these people. After several months at the conservatory, the Bible was finally finished.

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Front Inside Cover

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Inside Page 2

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End (Next to the last Page)

Rear Inside Cover

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The Bible at the graves of some of those who have signed it

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Part 2

Other Amazing Family

Discoveries and Information

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Monday, March 15, 2009 Today as I drove to the dentist in Landis, I stopped by Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church Cemetery, located between Landis and China Grove. Andy and I attended Boy Scouts at Mt. Moriah. I remember playing hide and go seek at night in this same cemetery, hiding behind the tombstones listed below. The scout hut was directly next to the cemetery. This morning, I was looking for one particular set of Grandparents, Henry C. and Polly C. Corriher. I searched and searched the cemetery for their grave. They are my great-great-great grandparents. In the process of looking for their graves came across the graves of three other sets of grandparents. I had no idea that these were in the same cemetery. 1. Found the graves of John Wilson McNeely and Effie Octa Shuping McNeely. This is my mom’s great grandparents on the Corriher side. 2. Found the graves of Henry W. McNeely and Nancy Elizabeth Lipe McNeely. Henry is the father of John Wilson McNeely listed above. (Corriher side) 3. Found the graves of John Robert Patterson and Emma Ritchie Patterson. This is my grandfather “Chunk” Patterson’s own grandfather. John and Emma were the parents of Lee Patterson, Chunk’s dad. On my way to the car I finally happened upon the grave I was originally looking for… 4. Henry Clinton Corriher and Polly C. Corriher. MORE GRAVES FOUND ABOUT A WEEK LATER… There are actually six sets (as of this point) in that one small cemetery. John Corriher's Mother's side (3) John Wilson McNeely Effie Octavia McNeely Henry McNeely Nancy Elizabeth Lipe McNeely Daniel Beaver Eliza Beaver John Corriher's Father's side (2) Henry Clinton Corriher Polly Clarissa Beaver Corriher Henry Beaver Sophia Lipe Beaver Chunk Patterson's side (1) John Robert Patterson J. Emma Ritchie Patterson

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Discoveries from Thursday and Friday…March 26-27, 2009 After a pastors meeting in Kannapolis, I went to the Rowan Public Library history room to specifically look for information on our relatives in the Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Mt. Moriah History

I obtained information from a book about the history of Mt. Moriah. I found information for both sides of my family in the book.

Corriher When the Mt. Moriah congregation bought four acres for $6.25 on January 17, 1839, a number of men agreed to give .50 each to pay for the property. Among the men were two of my direct ancestors, Henry Beaver and Daniel Lipe. I found a record of the baptisms and confirmations for a number of the sisters and brothers of my direct ancestors. I also found the following that are worthy of mentioning… Nancy Elizabeth Lipe, daughter of Daniel Lipe and wife, born May 3, 1846; baptized July 12, 1846. This was Blandena Corriher’s grandmother on the McNeely side. Clarence Edward, son of W. E. and M. L. Corriher, born August 23, 1902, baptized September 17, 1905, Rev. D. I. Offman John Leonard Corriher, son of Clarence and Blandena Corriher, born January 15, 1923, baptized March 11, 1923, Rev. J. S. Wessinger. Walter Ray Corriher, son of Clarence and Blandena Corriher, born September 21, 1925, baptized October 31, 1926, Rev. J. S. Wessinger. Nancy Isabella Corriher, daughter of C. E. and Blandena Corriher, born March 12, 1929, baptized May 12, 1929, Rev. Enoch Hite. Patterson I found a number of the children of John Robert and Emma Ritchie Patterson who were baptized at Mt. Moriah, but could not find the baptism of my direct ancestor, Cletus Lee Patterson.

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Well I’ll be John Brown! At the Register of Deeds in Salisbury, I made a copy of the marriage license for William Edmond Corriher and Minnie L. Brown. I found her parents names there for the first time. I confirmed this with the information in the materials that Aunt Florence had.

James Trent Patterson Barbara Corriher John L. Corriher Clarence Corriher William Edmond Corriher married Minnie L. Brown. Minnie died at 31 years of age. Minnie’s father was John Leroy Brown

Aunt Florence’s grandfather…my great-great-great grandfather was John Leroy Brown. He was born in 1850 and died in 1923. The death certificate listed him as living in same community where I now serve as pastor located near Troutman, NC. After a visit to the Iredell County History Room, I found that John Leroy Brown was a neighbor to the two families who donated the property for the church. The Beulah Heights Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized on November 21, 1921; over a year before he passed away. I am now checking locally for connections and family members as well where he actually lived in relationship to the church and parsonage. I am also tracking down pictures of him. His youngest daughter Avis, lived in Troutman until she passed away November 2008. Her son and his wife were familiar with my articles in the local paper and were surprised when I called them. I found the obituary for John L. Brown in the Statesville Record and Landmark printed on January 8, 1923.

His death certificate stated that the cause of death was Influenza Pneumonia. According to a grandson living in Troutman, John loved to hunt and fell ill after hunting in bad weather. I found the following article right across the page from John Brown’s obituary. There was a widespread flu epidemic in the Troutman area during this time. The following article appeared on the page opposite the obituary on January 8, 1923. It didn’t copy from the microfilm very well, so I typed it here: