author
Adelaide L. (Adelaide Lisetta) Fries
1871–1949
A careful historian and translator, she became one of the key voices preserving the story of the Moravians in the American South. Her books and edited records helped turn local church history into a rich, readable record of early North Carolina life.
1 Audiobook
The Moravians in Georgia, 1735-1740
by Adelaide L. (Adelaide Lisetta) Fries
About the author
Born in Salem, North Carolina, in 1871, Adelaide Lisetta Fries grew up in a family with deep Moravian roots. She went on to become an archivist, historian, genealogist, author, and editor whose work centered on the Moravian communities of the southern United States.
Fries is especially remembered for her long service as archivist for the Moravian Church's Southern Province and for editing major documentary collections, including volumes of Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. She also wrote histories such as Forsyth County and helped preserve and translate older church materials so they could reach modern readers.
Her reputation rests on both scholarship and dedication: she gathered, organized, translated, and explained historical records that might otherwise have remained difficult to access. By the time of her death in 1949, she was widely recognized as a leading authority on Moravian history and genealogy in the South.