164 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
C. L. McIlvaine, representing the New
Philadelphia Board of
Trade.
The announcement was made of the
organization, under the
auspices of the Board of Trade, of the
Schoen-Brunn Monument
Association, and the names of the Board
of Officers were an-
nounced as printed on the program:
President, Wm. A. Wag-
ner, President Board of Trade;
Vice-President, Rev. Dr. Wm.
H. Rice, Gnadenhutten, O.; Financial
Secretary, Professor
George C. Maurer; Treasurer, James F.
Kildenbaugh; Associates,
Laurence E. Oerter, Canal Dover; Oliver
Peter, Uhrichsville; M.
McDevitt, Scio; Apollo Opes and Charles
L. McIlvaine, New
Philadelphia.
It is the purpose of the Schoen-Brunn
Monument Association
to erect a fitting monument to the
memory of David Zeisberger.
Superintendent Maurer, in a short
address that was attentively
listened to, said that the money for the
proposed monument would
be raised by public subscription and he
was sure that the people
of Tuscarawas County and the school
children would be happy to
contribute to perpetuate the memory of
so good a man as David
Zeisberger, whose life was a model.
An original poem from the pen of Judge
J. W. Yeagley, of
New Philadelphia, entitled: "The
Grave of Zeisberger," was
read with much expression by Miss Bertha
Kelly, and was well
received. A pleasing number on the
program was a vocal solo
by Albert Senhauser, entitled: "The
Lord is My Light."
The celebration throughout was a
splendid success and re-
flected much credit upon the local
committee.
DAVID ZEISBERGER.
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. RICE AT SHARON,
NOV. 20, 1908.
DEAR FRIENDS: We are assembled in the
Sharon Moravian church,
on this Friday morning, to make memorial
of the death, and of the burial
one hundred years ago, of David
Zeisberger.
He died in the Goshen Mission House at
half past three o'clock on
the afternoon of Thursday, November the
seventeenth, 1808, and his In-
dian brethren and friends with their
white brethren and friends, laid
the body of their revered pastor and
friend to its well-earned grave-rest
in the near Goshen Indian God's- cre on
the following Sabbath morn-
ing, in loving obedience to his dying
injunction, "Bury me amongst my
David Zeisberger Centennial. 165
Indians." And in that consecrated spot his body has now been resting for a century, awaiting the Resurrection morn. He and his illustrious co-laborer, John Heckewelder, - younger by twenty-three years than Zeisberger, and who, after his subsequent re- moval to Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, in 1810, died there in 1823,-al- though dead are more alive than ever in the esteem of all who love the Gospel and their fellowmen. Their names can never die; they are "writ large" in the annals of men. John Heckewelder, in his 65th year, stood this day, a century ago, at the grave of his honored leader and co-laborer, David Zeisberger, who rested from all earthly labor in the eighty-eighth year of his heroic pilgrimage, sixty-two of which were devoted to mis- sionary work amongst the Indians of North America. In our State and especially here in Tuscarawas County and the Valley of the Muskingum, |
they are honored as the earliest pioneers in the establishment of Christian civili- zation within the borderes of Ohio's im- perial domain. Their foot-marks will never be blotted out so long as the names of Schoen-Brunn (the Beautiful Spring); Gnadenhuetten (The Tents of Divine Grace); Lichtenau (the Meadow of Light); Salem; and Goshen, shall have a place in the records of our State. Your presence here this morning in response to the invitation of the Ohio Ar- chaeological and Historical Society of Co- lumbus, and the presence here of the So- ciety's representatives testify to the deep interest and affection with which the names of Zeisberger and Heckewelder are cherished by the people of today; an interest and affection which Ohio has al- |
|
ways cherished for these heroic pioneers and their illustrious achieve- ments in the beginnings of the establishment of Christian civilization in her broad domain. It is a matter for special gratification to note the presence here this morning of the teachers and pupils of the neighboring grammar and high schools. It augurs well for the perpetuation of the memory and record of the men who were instrumental in the establishment and conduct of the first schools for the instruction of the children and youth of the in- habitants of this section. In 1776, there was published in Philadelphia, Pa., "A Delaware-Indian and English Spelling Book for the use of the Schools of the Christian Indians on Muskingum River," by David Zeis- berger printed by Henry Miller, pp. 113. John Heckewelder was the teacher of the Schoen-Brunn school. It is a good omen for the success of the proposed plan to erect a |
166 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
monument in memorial of the first school
in the territory of the State of
Ohio, which stood on the eastern bank of
the Tuscarawas (then Mus-
kingum) at Schoen-Brunn, that the
teacher and pupils of the neighbor-
hood are showing their intelligent
interest in this centennial memorial
observance.
In the time at our command I will
attempt a brief sketch of the
outlines of the history of David Zeisberger.
He was born in the Province of Moravia,
in the Austrian Empire,
of old Moravian stock. His parents,
David and Rosina Zeisberger were
dwellers in the (Valley of Kine),
Kuhlandl, in Moravia, and had their
home in the village of Zauchtenthal in
that valley. One night in July,
1726, his parents arose with their
family of children, including the five-
year-old David, and leaving house and
lands, fled from religious oppres-
sion to find their way across the Saxon
mountain border to the estate of
a young Saxon nobleman, Count
Zinzendorf. Here, since 1722, refugees
from Moravia had been permitted to begin
the building of a settlement
for exiles from their fatherland. They
called it Herrnhut, the Lord's
Watch. To this asylum the Zeisberger
family found its way in 1726.
Ten years later, in 1736, the parents
were sent on missionary errand,
to the Province of Georgia in North
America, where at Savannah, under
the patronage of General James
Oglethorpe, they joined the colony of
Moravians who under Bishop David
Nitschmann, were carrying on mis-
sion work amongst the Indians of
Georgia.
In the intervening ten years, their son
David, now a lad of fifteen,
whom they left behind, had been
attending the schools of the Herrnhut
settlement, and shown great aptitude as
a diligent scholar. He was very
quick in the thorough study of Latin, a
talent which he afterward im-
proved in the acquisition of Indian
languages and dialects. The lad of
fifteen was sent to a newly-established
church-settlement in Holland near
Utrecht, as an errand boy in a
mercantile establishment.
One day he was sent to accompany a
gentleman of rank as a guide
to a neighboring castle. The lad's
manner so pleased the visitor that he
offered him a very liberal gift, on
parting with him. The lad refused to
accept the gift because it was against
the rules to do so. But the gen-
tleman compelled him to take the gift.
On stating the case to his su-
periors the boy was at once denounced as
a liar and thief, and severely
punished. He was told that nobody would
think of giving so large a
sum of money to a mere youth, and that
he must have come by it in a dis-
honest way. This the lad resented. And
we must give him credit for
resenting such unreasonable conduct on
the part of his elders. He made
up his mind to run away from his unjust
superiors. He made his way
across the channel to London, where he
hoped to find the opportunity to
join his parents in the Georgia colony.
In this he was entirely success-
ful. He found friends who introduced him
to General Oglethorpe, the
patron of the colony. He readily
furnished the lad a passage to Savan-
nah. On his arrival at the American
port, Zeisberger's parents could
David Zeisberger Centennial. 167
scarcely believe their eyes on seeing
their son David, who had almost
grown out of their recognition. But
their joy on receiving their son
was greater than their surprise. David
was happy now in the new
home in the American wilderness; for
such it was as compared with the
soft civilization of Holland.
In the third year after his arrival, the
lad of eighteen accompanied
his parents and the rest of the Moravian
colonists to Pennsylvania.
Here, in the "forks of the
Lehigh," within twelve miles of the conflu-
ence of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers,
they founded the Moravian town
of Bethlehem, in 1741. Here amid the
hard experiences of a church set-
tlement in the new country, the youth
grew into the years of early man-
hood, strong in body and resolute in
purpose to do his part in the com-
mon work.
The Moravian church settlement at
Bethlehem was organized for
missionary work, primarily amongst the
Indians of the provinces. Zeis-
berger was ordered back to Europe by the
authorities of the settlement,
who had chartered a vessel to carry a
company to England. On the
dock, at New York, as they were
preparing to embark, Bishop David
Nitschmann, inquired of the young man,
"Are you anxious to go?" The
prompt reply was given, "No! I am
not; I would much prefer to remain
in America! I want to be thoroughly
converted to Christ and to serve
as a missionary to the Indians of this
country!"
The Bishop was surprised and delighted.
His answer came quick,
"Then, if I were you, I'd at once
go back to Bethlehem!"
Without another word Zeisberger jumped
ashore, saved for his great
life-work.
In a year he is the smartest scholar in
the class of young Moravians
studying the Mohawk Indian language as
candidates for missionary work
amongst the Five Nations in the Province
of New York. This pro-
ficiency in acquiring the language of
the Delaware Indians in the neigh-
borhood of Bethlehem caused his
appointment as official interpreter to
the civil authorities in the meanwhile.
In 1745 he began his missionary career.
He accompanied Christian
Frederick Post, on a mission to the
Indians of the Mohawk Valley. The
sequel of this first attempt was the
imprisonment of both of these Mo-
ravian missionaries as spies in an
Albany, and then a New York prison.
After their release and return to
Bethlehem, Zeisberger accompanied
Bishop Spangenberg through the trackless
wilderness, on a visit to Onon-
daga, the capital of the Iroquois
Confederacy, in New York. On this
visit Zeisberger was adopted into the
Tribe of the Onondagas and the
Turtle Clan, and received the name of
"Ganousserarcheri," which signi-
fies "On the Pumpkin." This
first expedition was followed by a second
visit to the Iroquois capital, on which
occasion a treaty was made, by
the terms of which two resident
missionaries were to be sent to the
capital to learn the language.
On his return from Europe whither he had
been sent by the Elders
168 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
of the church at Bethlehem, to report to
the elders at Herrnhut the
present outlook for successful
missionary operations amongst the In-
dians of the Provinces of New York and
Pennsylvania, Zeisberger pro-
ceeded to Onondaga, the Iroquois
capital, and took up his abode in the
quarters assigned to him by the Indian
Council. In the following year,
1754, with his assistant, Frederick, he
erected a substantial Mission-
House, at Onondaga, with a view to the
establishment of a permanent
Mission center in that section. The good
will of the Iroquois friends
seconded their effort. The Grand Council
of the Iroquois Confederacy
appointed Zeisberger, Keeper of the
Archives, and deposited in the Mo-
ravian Mission House many belts and
strings of wampum, written
treaties, letters from colonial
governors, and other similar documents of
importance.
He was encouraged to believe that his
favorite plan of evangeliza-
tion, with Onondaga as a center of
mission work in the Confederacy,
was now in a fair way to success. He had
gained a complete mastery of
the Mohawk Indian language and spoke
several of the dialects fluently.
His labors in the compiling of an
English-Mohawk Dictionary were ap-
proaching a successful completion. But
the breaking out of the French
and Indian War, in 1755, put an end to
active evangelization, and marks
the close of Zeisberger's missionary
operations in that quarter.
At the close of the War, in 1763,
Zeisberger entered again upon
the life-work which he had chosen, as an
apostle to the Indians. But
now he was called to the field which he
occupied until his death among
the Delaware Nation of Indians in
Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The first mission station was
established in the Wyoming Valley,
on the Susquehanna. In their eagerness
to respond to the invitation sent
them by their Delaware friends,
Zeisberger and his assistants "crept for
miles on hands and feet beneath and
between laurel-bushes whose tan-
gled mazes made walking
impossible." The results of his pastoral labors
were phenomenal. Amongst the converts
was the foremost "prophet"
of the tribe, Papunhank. At his baptism
he received the name of John.
He played a very conspicuous part in
after years, in Zeisberger's work
amongst the Delawares. Rev. John
Heckewelder, who at this time be-
came his assistant, says, in his
manuscript Biography of Zeisberger, "Had
Zeisberger inherited a kingdom, his joy
would not have been as great as
it was over the conversion of the Indian
'prophet,' the first one whom
he brought into the Church of
Christ."
The visiting Quaker Evangelist, John
Woolman, attended the ser-
vices in Zeisberger's church and prayed,
"that the great work which Zeis-
berger had undertaken might be crowned
with success." But again war
-the "Pontiac War"-put an end
to Zeisberger's Indian work. His
converts were imprisoned in
Philadelphia, where small-pox decimated
their ranks.
In the Spring of 1765, on the return of
peace, the Pennsylvania
Provincial authorities released the
imprisoned converts, who like a flock
David Zeisberger Centennial. 169
of partridges that have been cooped up
in the winter quarters of a farm-
er's barn-yard and are set free, these
"children of the forest" flocked to
their forest home on the Susquehanna,
and at once began to rebuild their
Mission Station which they called
Friedens-Huetten, Tents of Divine
Peace.
This village is described as having
twenty-nine log-houses, with
windows and chimneys, like homesteads of
white settlers, and thirteen
huts. These were built along one street,
in the center of which stood the
Mission Church, a structure thirty-two
feet in length by twenty-four in
width, with shingled roof and a wing
used as a school house. Each
house-lot had a frontage of thirty-two
feet. A ten-foot alley ran be-
tween every two lots. Gardens and
orchards, stocked with vegetables
and fruit trees, lay to the rear of the
homesteads.
A post and rail-fence enclosed the town.
In summer time the street
and alleys were kept scrupulously clean
by a company of women. They
swept with wooden brooms and removed the
rubbish. Two miles of
fencing enclosed two hundred and fifty
acres of meadow land, between
the town and the river. At the river
bank a canoe for each household
was tied. Cattle, hogs, and poultry of
every kind were raised in abund-
ance. More time was given to farming
than to hunting. Plentiful crops
were raised. They sold corn,
maple-sugar, butter and pork, and canoes
of white pine, to the white settlers,
and visiting Indians.
But the spiritual prosperity of the
Indian church in the wilderness,
exceeded the material prosperity.
The beginning of a great revival was
marked by the baptism, in
the autumn of the first year, of an
Indian convert. From near and from
far came visiting Indians,-- Mohawks,
Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas,
Mohicans, Wampanoags, Delawares,
Tutclas, Tuscaroras, and Nanticokes.
Zeisberger wrote: "For several
months a great revival has been prevail-
ing among the visiting Indians. They
listen as though they never had
enough of the message of a Saviour. They
tremble with emotion and
shake with fear. We have many candidates
for baptism." Of one of
the Indian Helpers or Elders, of the
church, he says: "Anthony enjoys
the particular esteem of his unconverted
countrymen and he sets forth
the Saviour's love with such feeling
that not infrequently his hearers
burst into tears, and Anthony weeps with
them." After four years of
unvexed prosperity the beginning came of
the trouble which ultimately
compelled the abandonment of their
prosperous settlement. The land
was to be sold to the white settlers.
Without waiting for the inevitable
crisis, Zeisberger set out in the
fall of 1767, on a tour of exploration
to the head waters of the Allegheny.
The path of the intrepid apostle to the
Indians, (he was accompanied
by his two Indian Elders, John and
Anthony, with a pack-horse between
them), was through the trackless
wilderness, never before trodden by
the white man. In the following year
(1768) Zeisberger and a company
of Indian converts from Friedenshutten
established the mission station
170 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Friedenstadt, (City of Divine Peace), on the banks of the Beaver River, in what is now Lawrence County, on the Ohio border. Here the preach- ing of Zeisberger was attended with the usual results. The most signal gospel triumph was the conversion of the Delaware Indian war captain, Glikkikan, who was baptized, receiving the name of Isaac. Zeisberger was adopted into the Monsey Indian Tribe and the religion of Jesus was recognized as that of the majority of the Tribe. Here in March, 1772, an urgent invitation from the Grand Council of the Delaware Nation led Zeisberger to visit the Delaware capital sit- uated in what is now Oxford township, in this county of Tuscarawas. It was his first visit to Ohio. Post and Heckewelder, then a mere youth, not yet of age, had been here in 1761 and 1762. But this was the be- |
|
ginning of the first permanent mission in Ohio. Zeisberger was just fifty years old when he first came to Ohio. For the thirty seven after years of his life he was an Ohio Missionary, to the Indians of this region. In 1772 the entire body of Moravian Indians, at the settlement of the Susquehanna (in Bradford County) and at the settlement on the Allegheny (in Lawrence County) were transferred to Tuscarawas County, under the leadership of Zeisberger and his principal assistant, John Heckewelder. The site of the first settlement, on the Muskingum, near Tuscarawas River, marked out for them by Chief Netawatwes, was oc- cupied in May, 1772, and named Schon-Brunn (The Beautiful Spring- in the Delaware language, Welhik-Tuppeek). The site of the second set- tlement, that of Gnadenhutten (The Tents of Divine Grace) was occu- pied in October, 1772, by a party of Mohican Moravian converts, under |
David Zeisberger Centennial. 171
the leadership of Joshua, the Mohican
Elder. Lichtenau (Meadow of
Light) was settled in 1776 on a site
just below the city of Coshocton,
on the Muskingum. In 1780, on a site a
mile and a half below Port
Washington, John Heckewelder founded the
settlement of Salem. After
having built the Chapel at Salem, he
welcomed his bride, Miss Sarah
Ohneberg, the daughter of Rev. George
Ohneberg (a Moravian mission-
ary) who was escorted from Bethlehem,
Pa., by the Rev. Adam Grube.
The wedding took place in the newly
built chapel July 4, 1780, with Rev.
Grube as the officiating clergyman, at
what was, probably, the first wed-
ding of a white couple performed in
Ohio.
Schon-Brunn, the first settlement, begun
in May, 1772, had two
streets laid out in the form of the
letter T. The main street ran east
and west, and was long and wide. About
the middle of the transverse
street, and facing the main street,
stood the church, in which, on June
27. of the same year, the Holy Communion
was celebrated for the first
time. In August following the first
church-bell used in Ohio was hung
in its steeple. Adjoining the church on
the right hand stood the house
occupied by Zeisberger.
At the northwest corner of the main
street stood the school-house.
The first school-house erected in the
territory of the State of Ohio.
I am sure I may gather from the interest
these pupils have shown
in my story of Zeisberger, that there
will be no lack of enthusiastic sup-
port of the proposed movement to mark
this historic site in the near fu-
ture with a monument worthy of the work
to be commemorated.
This is not the occasion nor would the
time permit me to give the
history of the heroic missionary
campaigns with all its record of suf-
ferings and of murderous persecutions
with fire and sword, and cruel
captivities and banishments and
wanderings in the Ohio wilderness, and
in Michigan and in Canada, which extend,
over a period of years from
1781 to 1798. In 1782 occurred the
Gnadenhutten Massacre, on March
the eighth.
From "Captives-Town" in
Wyandot County, the Moravians fled
across the border into British
territory, and for four years lived in their
new settlement in Michigan, in Clinton
County, Macomb township, within
the present municipality of Mt. Clemens.
At the close of Indian hostili-
ties they were compelled by their
Chippewa hosts to give up their set-
tlement, and they crossed Lake Erie to
return to the Muskingum Valley.
On their arrival near the site of
Cleveland - at the site of what proved a
short-lived settlment-Pilger Ruh,
Pilgrims' Rest, was occupied for a
few months. In the meanwhile Zeisberger
selected a site in Huron
County, near Milan, for a new
settlement. It was named New Salem.
At this mission station the palmiest
days of the Indian work of Zeis-
berger were revived. Amongst other
gospel triumphs in the prolonged
revival which characterized the labors
of Zeisberger and his Indian Help-
ers, was the conversion, among other
prominent Indians, of Gelelemond,
chief of the Delaware Indians, who at
his baptism was named, at his
172 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
own request, William Henry. Here died
that veteran assistant mission-
ary, Joseph Schebosch, or more properly,
John Bull, aged 68. Since
1742 he had been identified with the
Moravian Indian Mission work. On
the day of his funeral, Friday,
September 5, 1788, Zeisberger writes this
memorable tribute:
"Bruha Schebosch was serviceable to
every man without distinction
white or Indian, at all times ready to
help when he could. He bore his
cross with patience, for in this life he
seldom had things cosy and good.
But he was never heard to complain or
fret, even if things went hard
with him, and he had not even enough to
eat. He loved and was loved.
We shall long miss him among us. His
stay here below will remain with
us and with the Indian Brethren in
blessed remembrance."
"Dear old Abraham," converted
at Friedenshutten on the Susque-
hanna, 1765, who went through all the
sufferings and hardships of the
Indian church, in the years intervening,
died and was buried here at
New Salem. "We have had but one
Abraham," is Zeisberger's tribute
to William, a National helper, an
interpreter in early manhood in the
service of Sir William Johnson, of New
York, who joined the church at
Friedenshutten on the Susquehanna, in
1770, died here. A man of "fine
gifts," honored by Indians and
whites as a man of consequence, Zeisber-
ger pays high tribute to his fidelity as
a Christian and his great helpful-
ness in the service of the church and
against the hostile Indians.
But the final break-up of this
flourishing mission station came, when
on April 10, 1791, the day before the
seventeenth anniversary of his
birth, Zeisberger preached the farewell
sermon preliminary to removal.
They removed once again to a settlement
under the British flag,
near the mouth of the Detroit river, on
the Canada side. After the lapse
of a year, on a grant of land by the
British government, on the River
Thames, in Oxford township, Canada West,
Zeisberger founded the Mis-
sion settlement of Fairfield. The tract
of land was six miles wide and
twelve miles in length. Here they
established a flourishing settlement of
forty-two regularly-built houses, with a
church and parsonage. For six
years, until 1798, Zeisberger labored
here. In 1798, John Heckewelder,
commissioned by the Mission Board of the
Church, at Bethlehem, Pa.,
with the venerable William Edwards, led
a colony of Indian converts
back to Tuscarawas County and built a
new Indian settlement, here at
Goshen.
Hither, in October, 1798, the venerable
David Zeisberger in the 77th
year of his pilgrimage, came to spend
the last of his honored career.
Here in the Goshen Mission Home he lived
from October, 1798, until the
autumn day in 1808, November 17th, when
he fell asleep in Jesus, and
rested from a period of missionary
labors which extended over more than
sixty years.
He enjoyed during the two months of his
last illness the counsel
of a physician and the nursing care of
his fellow missionaries and friends.
During the closing days of his life,
when scarcely able to speak, he
David Zeisberger Centennial. 173
signified his great satisfaction and
comfort when his Indian brethren,
who watched with the dying saint, sang
some of the Delaware hymns
for the dying, which he had rendered
into their vernacular years ago.
And thus on the afternoon of November
17th he fell asleep amid
the prayers of his brethren and the
singing of his converts, after the
benediction had been spoken in the name
of the church.
On the following Sunday, at noon, after
funeral sermons in Eng-
lish and in German, interpreted into the
Delaware vernacular, three of
his Indian brethren and three of his
white brethren bore his body to the
near Goshen God's-Acre, followed by a
large concourse of the inhabi-
tants of the vicinity. There they buried
him, one hundred years ago this
very hour. And to-day his name is more
alive than ever in the memory
and esteem of the people of Ohio, and of
this neighborhood, as every-
where in the world where men value
apostolic love and fidelity to Christ
and to those for whom Christ lived and
died.
GRAVE OF ZEISBERGER.
The following is the Poem written by Judge J. W. Yeagley
and read by Miss Bertha Kelly at the
celebration of the Centen-
nial of the death of Zeisberger at the
New Philadelphia Opera
House, November 20, 1908.
Close by a placid river's shore,
Near where its waters lave
The sylvan banks that fringe a plain,
I saw an ancient grave.
And by it rose a monument,
On which thereon was traced
The name of one who toils endured,
And many dangers faced.
The name of one who came from far,
Who crossed the ocean wave,
That he might be an instrument
The red man's soul to save:
Might make his home in wilderness,
And teach the savage rude
The mission true of human life,
And all it does include:
Might tell him of the loving One,
Who loves his creatures all,
164 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
C. L. McIlvaine, representing the New
Philadelphia Board of
Trade.
The announcement was made of the
organization, under the
auspices of the Board of Trade, of the
Schoen-Brunn Monument
Association, and the names of the Board
of Officers were an-
nounced as printed on the program:
President, Wm. A. Wag-
ner, President Board of Trade;
Vice-President, Rev. Dr. Wm.
H. Rice, Gnadenhutten, O.; Financial
Secretary, Professor
George C. Maurer; Treasurer, James F.
Kildenbaugh; Associates,
Laurence E. Oerter, Canal Dover; Oliver
Peter, Uhrichsville; M.
McDevitt, Scio; Apollo Opes and Charles
L. McIlvaine, New
Philadelphia.
It is the purpose of the Schoen-Brunn
Monument Association
to erect a fitting monument to the
memory of David Zeisberger.
Superintendent Maurer, in a short
address that was attentively
listened to, said that the money for the
proposed monument would
be raised by public subscription and he
was sure that the people
of Tuscarawas County and the school
children would be happy to
contribute to perpetuate the memory of
so good a man as David
Zeisberger, whose life was a model.
An original poem from the pen of Judge
J. W. Yeagley, of
New Philadelphia, entitled: "The
Grave of Zeisberger," was
read with much expression by Miss Bertha
Kelly, and was well
received. A pleasing number on the
program was a vocal solo
by Albert Senhauser, entitled: "The
Lord is My Light."
The celebration throughout was a
splendid success and re-
flected much credit upon the local
committee.
DAVID ZEISBERGER.
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. RICE AT SHARON,
NOV. 20, 1908.
DEAR FRIENDS: We are assembled in the
Sharon Moravian church,
on this Friday morning, to make memorial
of the death, and of the burial
one hundred years ago, of David
Zeisberger.
He died in the Goshen Mission House at
half past three o'clock on
the afternoon of Thursday, November the
seventeenth, 1808, and his In-
dian brethren and friends with their
white brethren and friends, laid
the body of their revered pastor and
friend to its well-earned grave-rest
in the near Goshen Indian God's- cre on
the following Sabbath morn-
ing, in loving obedience to his dying
injunction, "Bury me amongst my