DAVID ZEISBERGER CENTENNIAL.
NOVEMBER 20, 1908.
E. O. RANDALL. As the result of the plans of a committee appointed, several weeks previous to the event, by the Trustees of the Ohio State |
Archaeological and Historical So- ciety, a celebration was held com- memorating the Centennial Anniver- sary of the death of David Zeisber- ger, which occurred November 17, 1808, at Goshen, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The day selected for the celebration was Friday, Novem- ber 20th, (1908). It proved a most successful occasion in every respect. The weather was propitious, bright, crisp and cheery. The program was opened at the little burg of Sharon, some two miles from Goshen, and about six miles from Gnadenhutten. The day's commemorative services |
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began at the Sharon Moravian Church at ten o'clock. The peo- ple, not only of the Sharon community, but from the neighboring towns for a radius of many miles had gathered to participate in the exercises and a large company of interested guests filled the beautiful church recently renovated. The teachers and pupils of the Tuscarawas high and grammar schools attended in a body, occupying the front seats in the church. Professor G. Frederick Wright, President of the Ohio State Archaeological and Histori- cal Society presided. After the opening hymn, "Come, let us join our friends above," Rev. C. Weber, of the Moravian Church in Canal Dover, led in the responsive "Te Deum Laudamus," and Rev. Walter V. Moses, of the Uhrichsville Moravian Church, read 157 |
158 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the Scripture lessons. The choir of the
Gnadenhutten Moravian
Church sang the classic anthem,
"The Heavens are Telling," with
fine effect. Rev. Jos. E. Weinland, the
Sharon pastor, then spoke
warm words of welcome, to which
President Wright made fitting
response. After another hymn,
"Jesus makes my heart rejoice,"
the historical address on "David
Zeisberger" was delivered by
Rev. Wm. H. Rice, D. D., pastor of the
John Heckewelder Me-
morial Moravian Church of Gnadenhutten.
Rev. Mr. Rice is a
lineal descendant of John Heckewelder
for many years the com-
panion and co-worker of David
Zeisberger. Dr. Rice's address,
therefore, comprised not only an
intensely interesting resume of
the life and services of Zeisberger but
had in it also the flavor of
personal sympathy and historic kinship.
We print on a later
page a summary of Dr. Rice's address
which was delivered
entirely without notes owing to his
great familiarity with the
subject. His little book entitled
"David Zeisberger and his
Brown Brethren" is a classic and
one of the leading authorities
upon the life and character of the great
Moravian Missionary.
Mr. Rice's address held the close
attention of old and young in the
audience to the end. Short and informal
addresses were made
by Prof. Archer Butler Hulbert, of
Marietta College, author of the
"Historic Highways" and many
valuable volumes on Ohio and
American History, and Mr. E. O. Randall,
Secretary of the Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society.
Prof. Hulbert spoke on
the great courage, fortitude and
perseverance displayed by the
Moravian Missionaries in their efforts
to reach the Ohio country
and of the incomparable deprivations
which they endured during
their missionary service. Mr. Randall
spoke briefly of the
Christian influence exerted upon the
Ohio Indians by Zeisberger
and his companions and dwelt upon the
treatment of the Indians
by the white race in the pioneer days,
and the efforts employed
by the United States government today to
make some sort of
restitution for the old injustices in
the present national efforts to
care for and elevate the remnants of the
Indian tribes now on the
Western reservations.
The services in the Sharon church were
very impressive and
served to deepen the interest in the day
and in the man whose life
and labors were thus commemorated.
During the noon recess
David Zeisberger Centennial. 159
the people present were served with an
elegant dinner by the
Ladies' Aid Society of the Moravian
Church in the spacious base-
ment of the Sharon church. The noonday
repast completed, the
assembly proceeded to the Goshen
Cemetery, some two miles dis-
tant on the road to New Philadelphia.
The present Goshen con-
sists of but half a dozen houses, one on
the site of the mis-
sionary house in which David Zeisberger
lived and died. The
little enfenced Goshen Indian Cemetery
contains the remains of
the following former White and Indian
Christians:
Rev. David Zeisberger, Rev. William
Edwards, William
Henry, Nicodemus, Thomas, Christian
Gottlieb Henry, Benjamin
Henry, Moses, Abel, Ignatius, Joseph.
Boys.-Francis's son, Abraham James, Levi
Moses, Jacob
Henry, Joseph Warner Mortimer, (son of
the Rev. Benjamin
Mortimer), Benjamin Henry, Arnold,
Joseph, Deborah's son,
John Christian's son, John Henry's
Charles.
Joachim's Anna Mary, John Henry's Anna
Benigna, Charles
Henry's Anna Caritas, Ignatius'
Christiana Sophia, the elder,
Sophia, the younger, Salome, Rachel,
Anna Maria, Rachel.
Girls.-Lisetta, Gertrude, Beata Henry,
Ignatius' Agnes,
Abel's Rebecca, Charles Henry's Anna
Rosina, Joseph's Anna
Salome, C. Gottlieb's Rebecca, J.
Henry's Nancy, C. Gottlieb's
Anna, Carolina Louisa Luckenbach (infant
daughter of the Rev.
Abraham Luckenbach).
The names of those whose bodies lie
buried here in this his-
toric sanctuary of the dead as given
above are preserved on a
time stained sheet, fragile from age, in
the Gnadenhutten
Archives.
The after mid-day exercises in the
little Goshen graveyard
were most beautiful and heart appealing.
The assembly gathered
about the graves, including the
officials of the State Society, the
visiting clergymen of the several
denominations, and the pupils
and teachers of the Beidler and Goshen
Hill public schools. Just
after the adults from the nearby homes,
and more distant com-
munities, had assembled in and about the
little graveyard, the
pupils of the two schools just
mentioned, were seen emerging
from their respective school buildings
in two processions, the arms
of the children filled with flowers. The
two little columns slowly
160 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
approached the Cemetery, solemnly
entered therein, and each
little boy and girl deposited a flower
or sprig upon the grave of
Zeisberger. It was a beautiful tribute
to the religious hero of
the pioneer days. Rev. Dr. Wm. H. Rice
lead in the praying re-
sponsively of the Moravian Easter
Morning Litany, which trans-
lated by Zeisberger in 1774 was used
that year in the Easter ser-
vices of the churches of the Tuscarawas
Valley for the first time.
We give a paragraph from that Litany,
both in the Indian tongue
and its English translation:
"Machelemuxowoaganitetsch nanni Amuiwoaganid woak
Pommauchsowoaganid! auwen welsittawot
pommauchsutch quon-
natsch angel."
"Glory be to Him who is the
Resurrection and the Life; He
was dead and behold! He is alive for
evermore and he that be-
lieveth in Him, though he were dead, yet
shall he live."
The following is one of the hymns in the
Litany as rendered
in the Delaware language by Zeisberger:
"Tamse jun ugattumane,
Ajane Wdulhewink,
Mocum nhagatamane
Nhakeuchsowoaganink,
Wentschihhillak Erchauwesit,
Pakantschitsch kikeuchgun,
Nenicchink hokunk epit
Ndaan, Christ ndamuignukgun."
The English rendering of the above as
translated from the
German in the German Hymn Book of the
Moravians is as fol-
lows:
When I shall gain permission
To leave this mortal tent
And get from pain dismission
Jesus, thyself present;
And let me, when expiring
Recline upon Thy breast,
Thus I shall be acquiring
Eternal life and rest.
There were then sung by the assembly the
hymns of the
Moravian Burial Service, Rev. William T:
Van Vleck, the Gnad-
David Zeisberger Centennial. 161
enhutten organist, acting as precentor. This simple, but impres- sive service was brought to a close with the benediction pro- nounced by Rev. G. Frederick Wright. The families of Rev. Dr. Rice and Rev. Calvin R. Kinsey, relatives of John Heckewelder, furnished a beautiful floral cross which was laid on the grave by Miss Rebekah H. Rice and Miss Martha Kinsey. These two services fittingly honored the memory of the great Zeisberger amid the very scenes of his labors and at the spot where his body was laid to its well-earned grave-rest on Sunday, |
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November 20, 1808. Of that day, one hundred years ago, the chronicler says: "The thick fog of the early morning was dis- pelled by the bright sunshine, which made the day of the funeral one never to be forgotten." The children of the neighboring schools present at the after- noon service will long remember the scene, at the grave of Zeis- berger, on this memorable and beautiful centennial day of his burial, and will in a large measure help to keep green his memory. Upon the evening of the same day, the public commemorative meeting was held in the Union Opera House at New Philadelphia. An audience that filled every seat in Union Opera House was Vol. XVIII-11. |
162 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
present and heard fitting and beautiful
tributes paid to the life
and services of David Zeisberger. School
children, who had been
given some taste of a knowledge of
Zeisberger during the day at
special memorial exercises in their
school rooms, were no small
part of the audience and their attention
bespoke their interest in
what was being said on the platform.
County Treasurer W. A. Wagner, President
of the New
Philadelphia Board of Trade, presided at
the meeting and his in-
troductory remarks were in excellent
form. The exercises were
opened with a beautiful selection by the
New Philadelphia Musi-
cal Club, followed with an invocation by
Rev. Mr. Rettig, pastor
of the First Reformed Church.
Superintendent G. C. Maurer, of the New
Philadelphia Pub-
lic Schools, explained to the audience
the significance of the meet-
ing at which the people were present,
and dwelt with much
earnestness upon the value and necessity
of keeping fresh in our
minds the brave deeds and good works of
the generation who
first settled the wilderness of Ohio.
The example and encour-
agement that their efforts and
achievements should set before the
youth of today, and the necessity of
marking historic spots by
fitting monuments, that the historic
sites might not be lost.
Prof. G. Frederick Wright spoke of the
geological interest
of the Tuscarawas Valley, its wonderful
earth history, and made
the unique suggestion that the most
fitting material that could be
used for monuments upon the historic
sites would be some of the
great bowlders that were to be found in
the immediate neighbor-
hood, imperishable rocks that had come
down on the ice drifts
from the regions of Northern Canada.
Mr. E. O. Randall spoke of the rich
historic interest of the
Tuscarawas country, and related briefly
the story of the siege of
Fort Laurens, the site of which was only
a few miles from New
Philadelphia. He thought that site
should be secured by the State
Historical Society and properly marked.
At that place in the
winter of 1778 and 9, and the spring
months following, there was
enacted one of the great scenes of the
American Revolution. It
was indeed the Valley Forge of Ohio.
Rev. William H. Rice spoke most
enthusiastically and feel-
ingly concerning David Zeisberger and
his "Brown Brethren."
David Zeisberger Centennial. 163
Prof. Archer B. Hulbert in his remarks compared the trials and triumphs of the Moravian Missionaries with those of the Jesuits through the Northwest. Prof. C. L. Martzolff, of Ohio University at Athens, elo- quently portrayed the early history of Ohio. The meeting was one of marked significance, revealing the interest which the people at large will take in the historic events of our State when properly brought to their attention The addresses were informing, interesting and eloquent, and |
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the beautiful sentiments so well expressed, extolling the high Christian character and the untiring efforts of David Zeisberger in planting the Christian religion in this county, filled every one in the large audience with an admiration for the man whose ser- vices have been so far-reaching in good results. The develop- ment of the great Buckeye State as brought out by the speakers was also a source of intense interest and pride to all. The celebration at New Philadelphia was given under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, immediately directed by the local committee consisting of School Superintendent G. C. Maurer, ex-Mayor Apollo Opes and Mr. |
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- |
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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- |
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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,
174 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Who came redeeming all mankind,
Who marks the sparrow's fall.
For SIXTY
YEARS he labored hard,
Braved danger, threat and frown,
In faith sublime that blessings sure
Would all his labor crown.
Vhat toils encountered, perils braved,
What sacrifices made!
What dangers run, what want endured,
What holy zeal displayed!
Ah! who should chronicle and tell
The varied good he wrought?
What savage feuds he stayed and quelled,
And how dissolved the plot?
Zeisberger, rest! thy labor's o'er,
Thy mission nobly done;
Thy battles fought, the triumph gained,
The brightest vict'ry won.
Rest "faithful servant of the
Lord,"
Sweet rest from all thy strife;
Thy name is writ on hist'ry's page,
And in the Book of Life.
And thy red brethren pass'd away,
Who with thee trouble bore,
right jewels in thy crown are they,
And saved forever more.
Oh! sweet the greetings must have been,
In mansions of the blest,
As one by one they gathered in,
And entered into rest.
Zeisberger, rest! thy honored name
Adorns our early age;
Oh! rest secure in noblest fame
Upon our hist'ry's page.
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.
176 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
It is the story of a hero. Near him is the tomb of his co-worker, Edwards. All around are the graves of the forest children whom he taught. Yonder is the site of the mission house which he built and to which he retired in his later years. A farmhouse now stands there. Some of the rock foundation is still in use under the modern structure. Two miles up the river is Schoenbrunn, where Zeisberger and Hecke- welder began a settlement in 1772. Here was built a church and school. A little plot of ground now owned by the Moravian Society reminds us of this pioneer movement of civilization. It was the beginning of a se- ries of Moravian communities on the Upper Tuscarawas-Gnadenhutten, Lichtenau, New Schoenbrunn and Salem. Here within a few years were gathered by the devoted Moravian missionaries hundreds of converted |
Indians. They were prepared for the future world by preparing them to live well in this one. Agriculture and stock raising and the manual trades were taught. Rum was not to be brought into the community. They were not to go to war. To get an Indian to agree to all this in such a short time is cer- tainly a compliment to his teacher. A hunting, roving, rum-drinking, blood-thirsty aborigine to be transformed into a law-abiding citizen of a community is enough to cause one to doubt the doctrine of total de- pravity. Dr. Winship, of Boston, expresses the idea in describing two small boys whose behavior was at opposite poles. He said that there was no difference between the boys; they had different mothers only. Schoenbrunn was the first "dry" territory in Ohio. At Schoenbrunn |
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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
180 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
county. The church probably stood in the
yard of Mr. Moore,
and the town stretched across over the
farm of Mr. Foraker.
The settlement of the Lichtenau village
was begun by Rev.
David Zeisberger on April 12, 1776, just one day after his 55th
birthday anniversary. Eight families
accompanied Zeisberger
and his assistant, Rev. John
Heckewelder, a young man of 33.
It was Saturday. On the following day,
April 13, Chief Neta-
watwes with almost the entire population
of Goshochkunk at-
tended the first Sunday services.
Zeisberger preached on the
text Luke XXIV, 46 and 47.
"Thus it is written and thus it
behooved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day;
and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all na-
tions beginning at Jerusalem."
The one street of this village ran
parallel to the river. The
church was erected on a lot half way
between its northern and
southern ends. The work prospered from
the outset and con-
tinued as this letter of Pastor
Heckewelder shows. Among the
converted were members of Chief
Netawatwes' family, as well
as himself. The first service at which
the Lord's Supper was
celebrated was on Sunday, May 18, 1776.
At this time the Delaware-English
spelling book by David
Zeisberger, printed for the use of
pupils in the Mission schools ot
these Ohio towns in Philadelphia, Pa.,
was completed and came
into use in these parts. It is the first
Ohio spelling book pub-
lished 132 years ago, for schools at
Schoen-Brunn, Gnadenhutten
and Lichtenau. In July, 1776, the first
baptism took place at
Lichtenau. The convert from among the
heathen Indians was
a grandson of chief Netawatwes. He was
named John. To a
friend who advised him how perilous it
would be for him to risk
religion, John made quick answer, and
brave as it was quick.
"If my life is in danger, I will
the more cheerfully witness
of the truth. Do you imagine that a
baptized Indian fears your
sorceries as he did when he was a
heathen, and that he will hesi-
tate to make known what the Saviour has
done for him and for
all men? No! While I live I will not hold my peace, but pro-
claim salvation. This is the command of
God."
David Zeisberger Centennial. 181
Among the men who wielded the axe in cutting timber for the building of Lichtenau was the converted Indian Chief and brave warrior, Isaac Glicklican, who was a church elder as emi- nent for his piety as for his prowess. He perished in the Gnad- enhutten massacre in 1782. |
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