THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SECOND
MORAVIAN MISSION
ON THE PETTQUOTTING *
by FRED
COYNE HAMIL
Assistant Professor of History, Wayne
University
New Salem, the original Moravian
mission on the Pettquotting
(now the Huron) River in northern Ohio,
was abandoned in 1791
after four troublous years. In 1804
another settlement of Christian
Indians was made close to the old site,
but it too failed after a few
years and had to be given up. This
second venture had its incep-
tion at a General Mission Conference
held at Goshen on the
Muskingum in the fall of 1803 during an
official visit of Bishop
Loskiel. Gottfried Sebastian Oppelt of
Fairfield on the River
Thames in Canada was selected to lead
part of the Fairfield con-
gregation to the Pettquotting the
following spring. John Benjamin
Haven was ordained at this time and
chosen to assist Oppelt at the
new mission.
John Schnall, who had been present from
Fairfield, returned to
the Thames with the news. Most of the
Indians there immediately
expressed a desire to go to the
Pettquotting, but after the matter
had been discussed in council, several
advised waiting for another
year. They believed the chief of the
Tawas who had gone to the
Cuyahoga to hunt for the winter should
first be notified. Oppelt
thought that the objections of these
Indians had some justification,
but just before Christmas he visited
the American Indian agent
Jouett at Detroit who gave the plan his
hearty support. Oppelt felt
that this was more valuable than the
consent of the chiefs, who had
little prestige with their own people
because of their evil ways of
living.
Preparations continued during the early
months of 1804 for
the exodus of part of the Fairfield
congregation. For a time it was
* This account of the founding of the
second Pettquotting colony is based on
a manuscript in German, with a
translation in English, in the Burton Historical
Collection in the Detroit Public
Library. It is entitled Excerpts from a Report of
Br. Oppelt about the Start of an Indian Mission in
Pettquotting to the end of the
Year 1804, and is part I of number II of the
Congregation News, 1806. See also
John Heckewelder, Narrative of the Mission of the
United Brethren among the
Delaware and Mohegan Indians (Philadelphia, 1820), 417-418.
207
208
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
uncertain how many Indians would be
willing to remove to Ohio.
At last six families comprising
thirty-two persons made up their
minds to go, taking with them eight
horses and fifteen cows and
calves which would be driven overland.
An early prayer meeting
was held on April 28, preparatory to
departure, but the Indians were
slow in getting ready and it was not
until four o'clock in the after-
noon that the first four canoes started.
The other four canoes
caught up with them the next morning.
Oppelt and three boatmen
were in a large canoe which the Indians
had built for the use of
his family who had to remain behind as
Mrs. Oppelt was expecting
another child.
The trip down the Thames River was made
very slowly, with
frequent stops along the way, so that it
was May 5 when the party
reached Lake St. Clair. Here stormy
weather further delayed
them, and while they waited the Indian
men sang from their
hymn books to the amazement of the white
settlers whose own
children were unable to read. Oppelt and
part of the Indians ar-
rived at Detroit on the 8th and the rest
came in later. While Oppelt
bought some necessities and dried his
clothes, which had become
wet while crossing the lake, the men
brought some seed corn to
Captain McKee at Amherstburg, receiving
in return plentiful pro-
visions and much powder and lead from
the government stores.
The group was here reenforced by another
Indian family from
Fairfield.
On May 14 the little flotilla continued
its journey down the
Detroit River and around the western end
of Lake Erie. Oppelt
and part of the Indians went far ahead
of the others and had to
wait a day for them to catch up. A
prayer meeting was held on the
20th, and during the following week
stormy weather kept the expedi-
tion in camp. At this place Oppelt
received a letter from Haven
who said that he had arrived on the
Pettquotting River from Goshen
the middle of May. When the weather
cleared on the 27th prayers
were said and the expedition continued.
It arrived at the mouth
of the Pettquotting on June 4 and
encamped about four miles up,
near a band of Chippewas who were having
a drinking party.
The next day Oppelt proceeded up the
river and met Haven,
who told him that he had stayed for
several weeks with a French
PETTQUOTTING 209
trader who was drunk most of the time,
as were the neighboring
Chippewas and Monseys. When he could
bear the drunkenness no
longer he had gone to live with a
Moravian Indian from Goshen
named Nicodemus, who had built a bark
hut twelve miles from the
mouth of the river. Oppelt stayed
overnight in the hut with Haven
and then returned to his people. The
Fairfield emigrants had
already met one of the chiefs of the
Tawas whom they had presented
with a string of wampum and told that
the land on which they were
about to settle belonged to them. They
said that they had been
forced to leave in 1791, but now were
returning with their teacher,
and they hoped their Indian neighbors
would give them a friendly
reception. The chief was favorably
inclined and promised to give
the wampum and the message to the first
chief. The Monseys, who
lived in a town of about a hundred
persons scattered for two miles
on both sides of the river, sent word
that they would come to the
Moravians' camp the next day to hold a
council with them. The
seven old men who appeared did not seem
pleased at the Moravians'
coming, but when they were told that the
land belonged to the
newcomers they said no more and
departed.
Oppelt now led his band up the river
until the water became
so shallow the men had to wade for long
stretches pushing the
canoes before them. At last, when they
could go no farther, they
chose a place for settlement two miles
above the Monsey town. At
this place the water was clear and
fresh, running over slate con-
taining "earth tar," which
burned in a fire like coal. The site
selected for the village was on the
south side on a rather high bank
covered with a thick growth of timber.
Beyond and below lay
low fertile lands for planting. The
people came together under a
large hickory tree where Oppelt held a
church service and talked of
their purpose in coming, until a violent
rain storm forced them to
disperse. The next day they surveyed the
site, laying out a street par-
allel to the river. Most of the people
chose their lots on the side next
to the stream. It was planned to build
the church on the opposite
side near the center of the village,
with the schoolhouse and Haven's
house to the right of it and the
Oppelts' house on the left. Tempo-
rary huts of bark were built immediately
for protection against the
frequent rains and thunderstorms.
210
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Several of the Indian brethren went down
to the Monsey town to
plant in some empty fields there, and
although the missionaries did
not like to have them exposed to the
evil influence of the heathen,
they could not protest as it was already
very late to begin planting.
Oppelt and Haven cleared a piece of land
for themselves and put
in potatoes and vegetable seeds, and
they sowed corn on another
piece which the Indians cleared for
them. The meat supply was
exhausted soon after their arrival, and
they had to live on bread
baked in ashes, and on the huckleberries
which grew in pro-
fusion about them. In July the
missionaries were able to move
into the Oppelts' house, glad to have a
roof over their heads al-
though the doors and windows had not yet
been put in. The next
day was Sunday and the hearts of the
missionaries were gladdened
by the appearance of ten strangers at
the service held in the house.
Oppelt had received a letter from
Fairfield telling him of the
birth of his son Conrad Benjamin. Since
he had fallen ill with
fever it was August 6 before he was able
to set out to get his
family. Haven was left in charge of the
congregation at Pett-
quotting and busied himself with putting
doors and shutters on the
Oppelts' house, which were badly needed
for protection against the
wild dogs which infested the region.
Despite the extreme heat he
then cut down trees for his own house
and split the shingles for it.
Some of the young men went down to the
Monsey town and got
drunk, and one was saved from being
killed by the savages only
when the squaws covered him with
blankets. On September 7 the
cemetery lot was consecrated at the
funeral of a little girl. Many
strangers came regularly to the Sunday
services, but on the 9th
there were none due to the fever which
struck many in the Monsey
town as well as in the Moravian
settlement.
After a difficult trip from Fairfield,
Oppelt and his family
approached the mouth of the Pettquotting
on the evening of Sep-
tember 10. Almost swamped in the
breakers when the boat came
too near the shore, the French boatmen
were with great effort able
to get into deep water again. Then they
found that the mouth of
the river was blocked. They attempted to
get across the bar on a
large wave but missed the entrance and
were driven ashore. The
boatmen jumped out and carried Oppelt's
family to land, and Oppelt
PETTQUOTTING 211
waded to safety. It was only with
difficulty that the boat was
brought into the river, and in the
evening all reached the house of
a trader named Borrell. He received them
kindly and supplied
woolen blankets for the night since
their own belongings were
drenched with water.
On September 16, although late, the
mission celebrated the
Marriage Festival in the new church
which was still covered with a
tent cloth in place of a roof. Three
days later Haven and the
Oppelts were all ill with fever, but
despite their weakness the mis-
sionaries were able to put up a stove
which had been brought from
Fairfield. This brought relief from the
dampness of the house
which still lacked a chimney for the
fireplace. The people generally
were weakened by sickness and a spell of
unseasonable hot weather.
Their only food consisted of flour and
some smoked pork which had
been cured the year before.
The missionaries celebrated the first
Lord's Supper at Pett-
quotting on October 13. On the 24th a
sick Indian woman was
brought in who asked to be baptized and
allowed to remain. Oppelt
talked with her, then baptized her with
the name of Sophia, and
she died a few days later. In November a
young Indian brought
word that the sick Amalia, daughter of
old Samuel, was about to
die. She had said several times that she
wanted to live with the
Moravians but had been prevented from
doing so by her father.
The missionaries sent her words of
comfort and when she died
buried her in their cemetery.
By the end of November the village
consisted of eleven houses,
all sufficiently completed for their
owners to move into them.
Oppelt and Haven built a chimney for the
Oppelts' house and a
large baking oven. Until then they had
been forced to bake their
bread daily in a Dutch oven. They
harvested their potatoes, but
most of them had to be saved for the
spring planting. Many of
their vegetables had been ruined by wild
animals although they
obtained a plentiful supply of turnips,
beets, and carrots. Sorely
needed provisions arrived from Fairfield
at the end of November.
A storage house was completed before the
end of the year despite
the illness of most of the company and
the interruptions while work
was done on the houses and wood cut for
heating. On Christmas
212
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Eve the congregation celebrated with a
love feast at which lighted
candles were distributed to all,
including several strangers. The
mission now consisted of forty-six
people, of whom thirty-eight
were baptized.
Thus the Pettquotting mission was
founded, but although it
seemed to have a promising beginning,
with many of the heathen
Indians taking an interest in religion,
it proved a failure. It was
too close to the evil influences of the
Monsey town, and the young
people were corrupted by the rum trade.
The final blow came
when it was learned that the government
had sold the land to white
settlers and the Moravians were liable
to expulsion at any time.
In the fall of 1809 two directors of the
society, John G. Cunow
and Charles de Forestier, came to
Pettquotting and the decision was
made to migrate to the Sandusky River.
Some of the Indians re-
mained at Pettquotting and others went
to Goshen. The mission at
the Sandusky was abandoned during the
War of 1812.