Johan Adam Spach (1720 - 1801)

Born 20 Jan 1720 in Pfaffenhofen, Alsace, France

Husband of Maria Elizabeth (Hueter) Spach — married 17 Dec 1752 in Frederickstown, Maryland

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1801 at age 81 in Friedburg, Davidson, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

He is the child of Hans Spach and Salome Müller.

In 1754 Adam Spach settled near the upper line of Davidson County, NC and soon made friends with the Moravians who were building the Village of Bethabara ten miles north of his farm. He invited them to preach at his home, which they soon began to do, and this led to the organization of Friedberg Congregation.

During the Indian War of 1759 Spach and his family took refuge in the Bethabara stockade, as did many other settler from the surrounding country. When he decided later to erect a substantial house on his farm he planned it of a type which could be defended against quite an opposing force. In 1774 Adam Spach built his now famous Rock House.

It stood about one mile from Friedberg Church, and was built of uncut stone, laid up without mortar, except for inside plastering. It was 30 by 36 feet, and was one story, with a full basement and a small attic. It was built over a spring of water; and an outside entrance to the basement made it possible to drive in the cattle for protection in case of need. The windows were of the Flemish-Bond type and each room had its loopholes, through which the defenders could fire, as you can see in the cuts shown at the rear of the house. During these attacks, Spach would gather his cows and place them in the basement to protect them.

Adam Spach had five sons and four daughters; the sons all married and raised large families, so there are many descendants in North Carolina. About 1862 some branches of the family began to spell the name Spaugh, while others retained the original form of Spach, but all trace back to Adam Spach of the Rock House.

Sometime during the mid 20th Century, the Rock House fell to ruin and only a partial foundation can now be found.

When Adam Spach was born on January 20, 1720, in Pfaffenhofen, Bas-Rhin, France, his father, Hans, was 47 and his mother, Salome, was 25. He married Maria Elisabeth Hueter on December 17, 1752, in Maryland. They had nine children in 17 years. He died on August 23, 1801, having lived a long life of 81 years.

Hanns Adam Spach, a sixty-year-old widowed Bildweber ("picture weaver", or weaver of tapestries) from Pfaffenhoffen, Alsace, and his thirteen-year-old son Adam left Alsace in 1733. Adam was the son of Hanns Adam's second marriage, to Salome Müller. The Spachs came to America in 1733 aboard the Charming Betty, landing at Philadelphia in October. The elder Spach was unable to pay the full fare, and on arrival, young Adam was indentured to a Mennonite for six years. After his term of service ended, he moved to Frederick County, Maryland, where he married and where his eldest son was born. In his Lebenslauf (life story), Adam doesn't mention his father after their arrival in America, and the fate of Hanns Adam Spach remains a mystery. He took the oath of allegiance to the Crown at Philadelphia on 12 October 1733, but no further record of him has been found. At sixty, he was already an old man for the time, and that combined with the rigors of the Atlantic crossing may have weakened his health, so it's possible he didn't survive long in America. On the other hand, he was hardy enough to have survived to a relatively advanced age and to have undertaken a difficult voyage, and his son and more than half of his grandchildren lived past the age of eighty. So maybe he settled down in America, perhaps trying to find work as a weaver, and perhaps trying to stay near his son. But it seems most likely that he passed away before the end of Adam's service, which would have been in late 1739. In the mid-1740s, Adam was drawn to the Moravian Church, which had established a presence in Frederick County. It may have been through the church that he met John Gumpp, a German immigrant. In about 1750, Mr. Gumpp brought to his home a young indentured servant from Hüffenhardt, Württemberg. The young lady, Maria Elisabetha Hütter, had made Mr. Gumpp's acquaintance in Baltimore. Learning that she was from his home village, he purchased her indenture and allowed her to work out her obligation in one year, which no doubt considerably shortened her term of service. In 1752, she became Mrs. Adam Spach.

Name

Adam Spach

Birth

20 Jan 1720

Germany

Death

23 Aug 1801

Davidson County, North Carolina, United States of America

Cemetery

Friedberg Moravian God's Acre

Davidson County, North Carolina, United States of America

Family

Spouse:

Maria Elisabeth Spach

Children:

Johann Adam Spach

Anna Johanna Spach

Maria Magdalena Kastner

Jacob Spach

Johann Gottlieb Spach

Johannes Spach

Johann Joseph Spach

Rosina Ebert

Maria Elizabeth Strehle

Marriage

Spouse

Maria Elizabetha Hueter

17 December 1752

Monocacy, Frederick County, Maryland

Residence

1800

Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina

1761

Rowan County, NC

1524 / 1919

North Carolina, USA

1755

Rowan County, NC

1759

Rowan County, NC

1790

Stokes, North Carolina, United States

Probate

November 1801

Rowan, North Carolina, USA

Immigration

1733

Pennsylvania

Sources

• Lebenslauf (Life Story) of Adam Spach
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6368144/adam-spach
• Descendants of Adam Spach: Autobiography and Memoirs of Adam Spach and his wife
• By Adam Spach and Henry Wesley Foltz
• http://www.forsythnchistory.com./adamspach.html
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pocky/spach.html
• Connor, R. D. W., History of North Carolina, Vol. IV, Chicago, Illinois: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1919, p69.
• Year: 1800; Census Place: Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina; Series: M32; Roll: 33; Page: 418; Image: 360; Family History Library Film: 337909
• Wills and List of Early Settlers, 1743-1868; Author: North Carolina. County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (Rowan County); Probate Place: Rowan, North Carolina
• A roster of Revolutionary ancestors of the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution : commemoration of the United States of Ancestry.com  :
• . U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, Place: Pennsylvania; Year: 1733; Page Number: 469. Ancestry.com  :
• Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots Ancestry.com  :
• History of North Carolina, Vols I-VI Ancestry.com  :
• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, Source number: 10058.002; Source type: Pedigree chart; Number of Pages: 4 Ancestry.com  :
• North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, Wills and List of Early Settlers, 1743-1868; Author: North Carolina. County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (Rowan County); Probate Place: Rowan, North Carolina Ancestry.com  :
• North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890 Ancestry.com  :
• 1800 United States Federal Census, Year: 1800; Census Place: Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina; Series: M32; Roll: 33; Page: 418; Image: 360; Family History Library Film: 337909 Ancestry.com  :
• Source: S18 Ancestry.com Web: North Carolina, Find A Grave Index, 1716-2012 Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012; Repository: #R2 NOTE<i>Find A Grave</i>. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi: accessed 18 January 2013.
• Source: S01674 Rominger.FTW Repository: Call Number: Media: Other
• Source: S16769 LEONARD.FTW Repository: Call Number: Media: Other
• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/12074651/person/-340361586/facts