Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameRev. Benjamin LATROBE 
1520
1520Birth PlaceDublin, IRELAND
Death PlaceLondon, Kent, ENGLAND
Burial PlaceMoravian Burial Grounds, Chelsea, London, ENGLAND
OccupationMoravian Minister, Missionary and Leader1545
ReligionMoravian
FatherJames Boneval de LA TROBE (1702-1752)
MotherElizabeth THORNTON (-1744)
Misc. Notes
The son of a sailcloth-maker and merchant in Dublin, Ireland Benjamin Latrobe was a prominent minister and by the time of his death the much loved and widely respected leader of the Moravian Church in Britain.
His family were pious Baptists, and Benjamin was brought up ‘intended for the Ministry.’ In 1743 he was enrolled at Glasgow University. Five years later in 1748 he moved on to Germany where he was received into the Church and ordained.
From 1750 until 1768 Benjamin held a series of positions in the church mainly at Fulneck, the great Moravian settlement in Yorkshire, England.
During that time he established a new settlement, an expression of the Moravian ideal of a Christian community and fellowship. The settlement, known as Fairfield, is in Lancashire, England. John Astley, the fashionable painter, was living nearby and in his portrait of Benjamin he has the appearance of being tall and broad shouldered.
In 1768 Benjamin was appointed leader of the British province and he and his wife Anna moved to London, where the provincial church headquarters was located.
Benjamin was a persuasive preacher and received many invitations to preach in chapels of other denominations. His natural eloquence, it was said, had been “improved by study flowed with ease full of fine imagery.”
The Reverend John Newton, the Anglican clergyman who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” was amongt Benjamin's more intimate acquaintances.
In the summer of 1786 Benjamin was taken mortally ill while on a visit to Middleton in the country, but it was not until November that he could be moved to his house adjoining the Moravian chapel in the city of London. Later that month he died.
A large crowd attended his funeral, and after the ceremony his instructions “Touching my burial” were read. This revealing document, written many years earlier, is in fact a testament of faith which, in the same context, explains why the family did not appear in mourning.
The document reads:
I earnestly request my executors, that my corpse may be interred in as simple a manner as possible, without any parade or any thing that is contrary to our old [Moravian] Congregation rule & order.
I trust in the faithfulness of my dearest Redeemer, that poor & worthless as I am, whenever I shall leave this my mortal body, with which I write these lines according to the dictates of a heart sensible of his love, I shall join in the Songs of the blessed to the praise of redeeming love & blood & this my poor body will be raised like my Saviour's body. Therefore I request, that there may be none of the Signs of dismal & dark mourning at my burial. Nor let my family go into mourning, but tho’ they may weep for a friend, let them rejoice that that friend is promoted to the highest pitch of honor & happiness.
O that all my Brn. [Brethren] & Srs. [Sisters] were wise & above a Conformity to the world.
B La Trobe
Chelsea, June 13th 1775.
The Reverend John Newton, in a letter to an intimate friend, wrote: “Mr. La Trobe dead! Surely not. Why he was a great man, a useful man, Oh! how he will be missed.”
His obituary published in a leading London newspaper stated he had been ‘indefatigable in promoting the laudable purpose’ of his Church ‘at home and abroad.’ ‘The goodness of his heart and the affability of his disposition, endeared him to all his connexions.’1545
____________
There is more about this Benjamin and the Latrobe line dating back to Jehan Latrobe born about 1425 in Monbequi, France at this source. It is written Benjamin was disowned by his father.1499
____________
Benjamin Latrobe, son of James Boneval de La Trobe became a bishop in the Moravian church and was sent to South Africa. He was also somewhat noted as a musician and wrote several books. He died in 1786, and his wife in 1794; they were buried at Falneck in Yorkshire, England.
They had six children as follows: Christian Ignatius, Anna Louisa Eleanora, Benjamin Henry, Justina, Mary Agnes and John Frederick, all born between 1759 and 1779 in the order named. Justina died in infancy; Mary Agnes married Mr. Bateman, and was the mother of John Frederick La Trobe Bateman, the noted English hydraulic engineer; Christian Ignatius remained in England; John Frederick went to Livonia, Russia, where he married the Baroness Stackelberg, whose son was Edward de La Trobe.1546
____________
He was a leading minister of the Moravian Church. Benjamin Latrobe had been a good friend of Admiral Sir Charles Middleton, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Benjamin Latrobe when in his last illness spent five months at the Middleton estate, Teston Hall and died in the Teston vicarage.1547
His family were pious Baptists, and Benjamin was brought up ‘intended for the Ministry.’ In 1743 he was enrolled at Glasgow University. Five years later in 1748 he moved on to Germany where he was received into the Church and ordained.
From 1750 until 1768 Benjamin held a series of positions in the church mainly at Fulneck, the great Moravian settlement in Yorkshire, England.
During that time he established a new settlement, an expression of the Moravian ideal of a Christian community and fellowship. The settlement, known as Fairfield, is in Lancashire, England. John Astley, the fashionable painter, was living nearby and in his portrait of Benjamin he has the appearance of being tall and broad shouldered.
In 1768 Benjamin was appointed leader of the British province and he and his wife Anna moved to London, where the provincial church headquarters was located.
Benjamin was a persuasive preacher and received many invitations to preach in chapels of other denominations. His natural eloquence, it was said, had been “improved by study flowed with ease full of fine imagery.”
The Reverend John Newton, the Anglican clergyman who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” was amongt Benjamin's more intimate acquaintances.
In the summer of 1786 Benjamin was taken mortally ill while on a visit to Middleton in the country, but it was not until November that he could be moved to his house adjoining the Moravian chapel in the city of London. Later that month he died.
A large crowd attended his funeral, and after the ceremony his instructions “Touching my burial” were read. This revealing document, written many years earlier, is in fact a testament of faith which, in the same context, explains why the family did not appear in mourning.
The document reads:
I earnestly request my executors, that my corpse may be interred in as simple a manner as possible, without any parade or any thing that is contrary to our old [Moravian] Congregation rule & order.
I trust in the faithfulness of my dearest Redeemer, that poor & worthless as I am, whenever I shall leave this my mortal body, with which I write these lines according to the dictates of a heart sensible of his love, I shall join in the Songs of the blessed to the praise of redeeming love & blood & this my poor body will be raised like my Saviour's body. Therefore I request, that there may be none of the Signs of dismal & dark mourning at my burial. Nor let my family go into mourning, but tho’ they may weep for a friend, let them rejoice that that friend is promoted to the highest pitch of honor & happiness.
O that all my Brn. [Brethren] & Srs. [Sisters] were wise & above a Conformity to the world.
B La Trobe
Chelsea, June 13th 1775.
The Reverend John Newton, in a letter to an intimate friend, wrote: “Mr. La Trobe dead! Surely not. Why he was a great man, a useful man, Oh! how he will be missed.”
His obituary published in a leading London newspaper stated he had been ‘indefatigable in promoting the laudable purpose’ of his Church ‘at home and abroad.’ ‘The goodness of his heart and the affability of his disposition, endeared him to all his connexions.’1545
____________
There is more about this Benjamin and the Latrobe line dating back to Jehan Latrobe born about 1425 in Monbequi, France at this source. It is written Benjamin was disowned by his father.1499
____________
Benjamin Latrobe, son of James Boneval de La Trobe became a bishop in the Moravian church and was sent to South Africa. He was also somewhat noted as a musician and wrote several books. He died in 1786, and his wife in 1794; they were buried at Falneck in Yorkshire, England.
They had six children as follows: Christian Ignatius, Anna Louisa Eleanora, Benjamin Henry, Justina, Mary Agnes and John Frederick, all born between 1759 and 1779 in the order named. Justina died in infancy; Mary Agnes married Mr. Bateman, and was the mother of John Frederick La Trobe Bateman, the noted English hydraulic engineer; Christian Ignatius remained in England; John Frederick went to Livonia, Russia, where he married the Baroness Stackelberg, whose son was Edward de La Trobe.1546
____________
He was a leading minister of the Moravian Church. Benjamin Latrobe had been a good friend of Admiral Sir Charles Middleton, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Benjamin Latrobe when in his last illness spent five months at the Middleton estate, Teston Hall and died in the Teston vicarage.1547
Spouses
Birth PlaceHanover, York Co., PA, USA
Birth Date9 Sep 17281544
Birth PlaceFrederick, PA, USA
Bapt Date6 Oct 17281499 Age: <1
Bapt PlaceHarrisburg, Dauphin Co., PA, USA
Bapt MemoIn the High Dutch Reformed Church of Falkner Swamp, Skippack & Whitemarsh
Death PlaceFulneck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, ENGLAND
ReligionMoravian
FatherRev. Johann Heinrich ANTES (1701-1755)
MotherChristina Elizabeth DeWEES (1702-1782)
Misc. Notes
Also known as Margaret Antes.1499
Anna came from a distinguished family: the establishment of the Moravian Church in North America owes much to her influential father in Pennsylvania; and she, herself, seems to have been an able person.1545
____________
In 1743, at age 14, Anna accompanied Count Zinzendorf to London to complete her education in the school of the United Brethren there. She was a child of great natural talent who recceived much attention from the Moravian leaders.1520
____________
After her schooling in London Anna stayed there as a teacher. Later she became Headmistress of the Moravian Girls' School in London and later in Fulneck.
She was the second of eleven children. Her sponsors were Hans Wolf Miller and Anna Margaretta, his wife.1499,1196
____________
Anna Margaret is identified as the daughter of John Frederick Antes, of Pennsylvania, born Baron Von Blume, the head of a noble family of the German Palatinate. In taking, however, to a monastic life, he adopted the Greek equivalent to the family name, "Anthos" a flower; his cousin the Baroness Von Blume was at the same time the Superior of a convent at Majusk; both became Protestants, were married and immigrated to America to escape religious persecution, accompanied by many of his vassals. They kept the name of "Anthos," or Antes, as it became.1546
Anna came from a distinguished family: the establishment of the Moravian Church in North America owes much to her influential father in Pennsylvania; and she, herself, seems to have been an able person.1545
____________
In 1743, at age 14, Anna accompanied Count Zinzendorf to London to complete her education in the school of the United Brethren there. She was a child of great natural talent who recceived much attention from the Moravian leaders.1520
____________
After her schooling in London Anna stayed there as a teacher. Later she became Headmistress of the Moravian Girls' School in London and later in Fulneck.
She was the second of eleven children. Her sponsors were Hans Wolf Miller and Anna Margaretta, his wife.1499,1196
____________
Anna Margaret is identified as the daughter of John Frederick Antes, of Pennsylvania, born Baron Von Blume, the head of a noble family of the German Palatinate. In taking, however, to a monastic life, he adopted the Greek equivalent to the family name, "Anthos" a flower; his cousin the Baroness Von Blume was at the same time the Superior of a convent at Majusk; both became Protestants, were married and immigrated to America to escape religious persecution, accompanied by many of his vassals. They kept the name of "Anthos," or Antes, as it became.1546
Misc. Notes
The Rev. Benjamin Henry Latrobe, married in 1753 [?], Margaret Antes, who was the daughter of John Frederick Antes [?], thus mixing the English stock with the German, for Antes’ gran dfather was one of the settlers from Frankfort, in what is known as Germantown, Pennsylvania.1503
ChildrenChristian Ignatius (1758-1836)
Anna Louisa Eleanora (1761-1824)
Benjamin Henry Boneval (1764-1820)
Justina Elizabeth (Died as Infant)