Ohio History Journal

David Zeisberger Centennial.                 175

A SCENE AT ZEISBERGER'S GRAVE.

C. L. MARTZOLFF.

From The Ohio Teacher, January, 1908.

A beautiful November day it is. One of those rare last days of

the autumn time whose minutes pass too lightly, for you want to keep

them by you. One of those days when you are watching the sun and

calculate mentally how much of it you have yet to enjoy. You know

that you cannot have many more such glorious days, and you want every

bit of this one.

This is the 20th of November, in the year of our Lord 1908. The

records tell us that it was just such a day as this, a hundred years ago,

that a little band of Moravians--white and red-moved slowly from

yonder site where stood the mission house to this spot and reverently

interred the body of their teacher in the virgin soil of the Tuscarawas

valley.

I like that word "teacher." It is Anglo-Saxon. It has in it the

strength of the English oak. It is cosmopolitan. It means the minister,

the educator, the leader. So they laid to rest their teacher. Over the

open grave of David Zeisberger his "brown brethren," as he loved to call

them, chanted the Moravian litany in the hope of the Resurrection. Many

of his "brown brethren" had gone on before and had received Christian

burial. The remaining followers digged his grave that he might rest

beside those whom he loved, for whom he lived, for whom he labored

and for whom he sacrificed.

Now a century has gone by. The broad valley of the Tuscarawas,

dotted with homes, churches and schools, lay basking in the sunshine.

In the small iron enclosure a little company waited until a party of chil-

dren from a neighboring school could be present. In each child's hand

was a sprig of evergreen. These were laid on the grave. Then with

bared heads the men and women joined in reading the Easter morning

litany of the Moravian Church. The minister who conducted the cere-

monies was a great-grandson of John Heckewelder, a fellow laborer of

Zeisberger. It was a beautiful service.

But why stand by this simple slab in a country graveyard?

DAVID ZEISBERGER

Born April 11, 1721, in Moravia.

Departed this life November 17, 1808.

Aged 87 years, 7 months, 6 days.

This faithful servant of the Lord labored

among the American Indians as mission-

ary during the last sixty years of his life.

David Zeisberger Centennial.                177

was written the first civil code in Ohio. At Schoenbrunn was built the

first church in Ohio. At Schoenbrunn was the first school in Ohio. At

Schoenbrunn was prepared a spelling book for use in teaching the In-

dians. Two years at Schoenbrunn, and on Easter morning. 1774, Zeis-

berger led the people in the praying of the beautiful Easter litany of

the Moravian Church, which he had translated into the Delaware Indian

language.

Who said that there were no good Indians but dead ones? We

are told that we graduate them at Carlisle, and the graduates hang their

diplomas in a tepee, lay aside their civilized garb and go back to the

blanket. Is it a difference of teachers only?

The Zeisberger Indian did not go back to the blanket and bear's

grease. Neither did he cultivate some of the civilized (?) habits of his

white neighbors. He was trying to throw off savagery. Experience had

told him that fire water didn't tend that way. It has taken 6,000 years

to evolve a civilized man out of a savage, but it only takes six minutes.

with plenty of "booze," to turn it the other way.

The Zeisberger education was no veneer. It did not rub off.

Brother Schebosch, the Indian convert, identified himself with the Mo-

ravians in 1742. Zeisberger says on his death in 1788, "He was service-

able to every man without distinction." The Indian woman Agnes died

in 1783. Thirty-two years had she passed through the many hardships

that fell upon her people and then "died in peace." "Our dear old Abra-

ham," as Zeisberger calls him, died in 1791. He was converted in 1765.

"He was formerly one of the greatest drunkards and fighters, so that

all had to flee before him." William became a Moravian in 1770. In

1772 he came to Ohio and for the remainder of his life worked as a

missionary among his own people.

Over at Gnadenhutten is a monument upon which is inscribed these

words:

Here Triumphed in Death

Over Ninety Christian Indians.

March 8, 1782.

Yes, David Zeisberger, you were a teacher, and it is because of your

work as teacher that I linger a little at your grave today and stand by

the waters of Schoenbrunn.

When the last page of the world's history is writ and the scroll is

about to be made up and placed in the archives of the eternities, there

will be no pages more replete with heroism, sacrifice and service than

those upon which are engrossed the achievements of the teacher, and

none of these will be brighter than the one devoted to David Zeisberger,

the first Ohio teacher.

Vol. XVIII-12.

178        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

MEMORY OF ZEISBERGER.

A poetical tribute by John Milburn Harding, New Philadel-

phia, Ohio, November 17, 1908.

AT ZEISBERGER'S GRAVE.

[One hundred years after he died.]

There are tombs of the high, there are graves of the low,

There are sepulchers sacred in story

But the grave hollowed here just a century ago

Has a halo of unselfish glory.

'Mid the scenes of thy triumphs and direst defeat,

Near the spring rich in savage tradition.

Here you gave up the ghost and at Jesus' feet

You implored but a Christian transition.

Sixty years of your life you had headed the strife

To upbuild in the Indian nation

The Moravian faith in the heavenly life,

And a prosperous civilization.

Whether "vagabond" preacher, or pris'ner in jail,

Or advisor in savage commotion.

Or guest in the lodge, or a guide on the trail,

You possessed the sincerest devotion.

Though your labors were vain as to saving the race,

Yet the souls that were saved numbered many.

The success of your work on our fair valleys' face

Has scarcely been equaled by any.

Could you now, brave Zeisberger, return to this vale

When the church bells on Sabbath are pealing,

With thy "Brown Brethren" gone, and the faces all pale,

Would it bring you a sad hearted feeling?

Still the stars twinkle down, and the river still flows,

And the flowers bloom in springtime at Goshen,

Still the sunshine still falls, and the rains and the snows,

But our life has a greater commotion.

'Twas the strength of the race--the invincible one-

That o'ercame your high hopes and ambition,

And that forced the brave Red Man to follow the sun

Would this be to you now true fruition?

David Zeisberger Centennial.            179

Slumber on, and may Christians of whatever creed

Bow their heads to the altered condition,

And as years roll along with eternity speed

Give thy tomb its deserved recognition.

Slumber on in the vale far away from thy birth

Where pure beauty and plenty fail never,

Where thy victories were in the efforts put forth

For the Race almost vanquished forever.

SITE OF LICHTENAU.

Regarding the location of Lichtenau, founded by Rev. David

Zeisberger of the work of Heckewelder and Zeisberger and the

first spelling book used in Ohio, Rev. W. H. Rice, D. D., says the

following:

Lichten-Au is a German word, signifying a Pasture or

Meadow of Light here the name is significant of God's smile upon

the green pasture lands. It was the name given by Rev. David

Zeisberger to the Christian village settlement which he founded

in April, 1776, on the eastern bank of the Muskingum river, two

and a half miles below Goshochkunk (Coshocton) in accordance

with the urgent wishes of the chief of the Delaware Indian Na-

tion. Chief Netawatwes whose capital was Goshochkunk the

Indian name which has survived in "Coshocton." Netawatwes

selected the site in such proximity to his capital because, "If the

brethren will live near me, I will be strong. They will make me

strong against the disobedient."

The site is a broad level of many acres stretching to the foot

hills with a slight rise. The river bank has an arc-shaped out-

line and was covered with maples and sycamores. There was a

rich soil, and an abundance of materials for building.

The pre-historic relics tell of its having been occupied once

before as a village site. There is a circle of five acres and a

mound. The former is quite near this site of Lichtenau and the

latter three-quarters of a mile down the river.

Forty-five years ago the site of Lichtenau was identified as

stretching across the long lane that runs from the river to the

foot hills, separating the farms then owned by Mr. Samuel Moore

and Mr. Samuel Foraker, in Tuscarawas township, in Coshocton