(Moravian marriages were most often arranged by the casting of the lot. Because men and women lived separately, there was no chance to get to know one another. Names of potential mates were presented to the congregation, who then voted whether a certain woman would make a good helpmate for a certain man. The results were assumed to be the will of God. The woman was not obligated to accept the proposal.)

Martin

Martin was no stranger to danger. In Europe, he had been jailed for his beliefs. As leader of the Moravian mission in the West Indies, he had angered plantation owners with his work converting the slaves. Drunken mobs broke up his meetings and beat him. Owners sold their slaves to keep them from converting, or punished them severely for speaking to him.

Still, in 1736, he gained 700 converts. He established the Virgin Islands' first Moravian church in 1737, after purchasing a plantation on the east end of St. Thomas. He renamed the plantation "New Herrnhut" and built a one-story brick and stucco building for a church.

In 1739, Martin was thrown in jail, where he languished for months. Slaves still gathered outside his prison cell to hear him preach. Count Zinzendorf personally visited the islands and used his title and prestige to get him released. Prison aged Martin, and he was sickly for the rest of his life. The church on St. Thomas continued to grow despite the opposition. More missionaries and converts joined the congegation.

Maria Barbara was Martin's third wife. She served with him among the slaves in the Virgin Islands for many years. In 1747, they returned to Europe to visit Hernhaag, Hernhutt and Marienborn. While there, their 1½-year-old daughter, Johanna Elisabeth, died of smallpox and was buried in Hernhaag. They stayed in Europe for one year. On the return voyage, their ship was captured by pirates. In her memoirs, Maria Barbara wrote:

"[We] were returning to the Virgin Islands on a ship from Amsterdam when we were captured by a French Caper at Guadaloupe. We were held at St. Eustachius as prisoners for several weeks. When we were finally released to return to St. Thomas we had nothing left of our property and faced some hard times."[30]

Chapter 9