David Zeisberger (April 11, 1721 – November 17, 1808) was a Moravian

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man and

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

among the Native American tribes who resided in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...

. He established communities of

Munsee The Munsee (or Minsi or Muncee) or mə́n'si·w ( del, Monsiyok)Online Lenape Talking Dictionary, "Munsee Indians"Link/ref> are a subtribe of the Lenape, originally constituting one of the three great divisions of that nation and dwelling along ...

(Lenape) converts to Christianity in the valley of the

Muskingum River The Muskingum River (Shawnee: ') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country o ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

; and for a time, near modern-day

Amherstburg Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town is ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Biography

Zeisberger was born in Zauchtenthal,

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

(present day

Suchdol nad Odrou Suchdol nad Odrou (german: Zauchtenthal, Zauchtel) is a market town in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,700 inhabitants. Administrative parts The village of Kletné is an administrative ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) and moved with his family to the newly established Moravian Christian community of Herrnhut, on the estate of Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Electorate of Saxony in 1727. However, when his family migrated to the newly established

colony of Georgia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, Zeisberger remained in Europe to complete his education. In 1738, he came to Georgia in the Thirteen Colonies, with the assistance of governor of Georgia

James Edward Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to re ...

. He later rejoined his family in the Moravian community at

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

. At the time, the United Brethren had begun a settlement, merely for the purpose of preaching the gospel to the

Creek Indians The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsBethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, and was there at its dedication on Christmas Eve 1741. Four years later, at the invitation of

Hendrick Theyanoguin Hendrick Theyanoguin (c. 1691 – September 8, 1755), whose name had several spelling variations, was a Mohawk leader and member of the Bear Clan. He resided at Canajoharie or the Upper Mohawk Castle in colonial New York.Sivertsen, Barbara J. ...

, he came to live among the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

. He became fluent in the

Onondaga language Onondaga language (, , literally "Onondaga is our language") is the language of the Onondaga First Nation, one of the original five constituent tribes of the League of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee). This language is spoken in the United States ...

and assisted

Conrad Weiser Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760), born Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr., was a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) pioneer who served as an interpreter and diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native American nations. Primarily a f ...

in negotiating an alliance between the Thirteen Colonies and the Iroquois in Onondaga (near present-day Syracuse, New York). Zeisberger also produced dictionaries and religious works in Iroquoian and Algonquian, making him the father of Lenape writing Zeisberger preaching to the Indians LCCN2003663983

Zeisberger preaching to the Indians LCCN2003663983

Zeisberger began as a

to Native American peoples following his ordination as a Moravian minister in 1749. He worked in

Kuskusky "at the falls, by the falls or rapids" unm, kwësh-kwëshelxus-kee "hogs" + -kee (suffix used in place names) "Hogs Town" , settlement_type = Historic Native American village , image_skyline = , imagesize = , ima ...

among the Lenape (Delaware) of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, focusing his efforts on converting as many Indians as possible to Christianity. He was the senior missionary of the United Brethren (as the Moravians sometimes referred to themselves) among the Indians. His relations with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

took a turn for the worse during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(as they suspected he was providing aid to the

American patriots Patriots, also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or American Whigs, were the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rejected British rule during the American Revolution, and declared the United States of America an independent n ...

, and in 1781 he was arrested and detained at

Fort Detroit Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a fort established on the north bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Italian Alphonse de Tonty in 1701. In the 18th century, Fre ...

. While he was detained, ninety-six of his Native converts in Gnadenhutten, Ohio were brutally murdered by Pennsylvania

militiamen A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, an event known as the

Gnadenhutten Massacre The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing of 96 pacifist Moravian Christian Indians (primarily Lenape and Mohican) by U.S. militiamen from Pennsylvania, under the command of David Williamson, on March 8, ...

. After Zeisberger was released, violent conflicts with other Native tribes and the expansion of white settlement forced many Moravian Christian settlements to relocate to present-day

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and Ontario. A large group of Munsee moved there in 1782, but Zeisberger later returned to live the rest of his life among the Native converts remaining near the village of Goshen (in present

Goshen Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio Goshen Township is one of the twenty-two civil township, townships of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States. The United States Census, 2000, 2000 census found 5,285 people in the township, 4,225 of whom lived in the uninc ...

). Zeisberger spent a period of 62 years, excepting a few short intervals, as a missionary among the Indians. He died on November 17, 1808 at Goshen, Ohio, on the river Tuscarawas, at the age of 87 years. Zeisberger is buried in Goshen.

Notes

References

* ''American Eagle Newspaper'', February 15, 1809; Vol 2: Page 3: Cumberland, Maryland * Earl P. Olmstead.
Blackcoats Among the Delaware
'. . * Earl P. Olmstead.
David Zeisberger: A Life Among the Indians
'. ). * William Henry Rice.
David Zeisberger and His Brown Brethren
'. * David Zeisberger, Archer Butler Hulbert.
David Zeisberger's History of Northern American Indians
'. * David Zeisberger.
Diary of David Zeisberger
'. * Gail Hamlin-Wilson, Nancy K. Capace, Donald B. Ricky.
Encyclopedia of Ohio Indians
'. ). * David Zeisberger.
Essay of an Onondaga Grammar
'. * James H. O'Donnell.
Ohio's First Peoples
'. ). * Beverley Waugh Bond.
The Foundations of Ohio
'. * Daniel P. Barr.
The Boundaries Between Us: Natives and Newcomers Along the Frontiers of the Old Northwest Territory
'. ). * Samuel Lieberkühn, David Zeisberger,
The History of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
' * Edmund De Schweinitz.
The Life and Times of David Zeisberger
'. * R. Douglas Hurt.
The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest
'. . * David Zeisberger.
Zeisberger's Indian Dictionary
'.

External links

Short Biography
at the Ohio Historical Society
David Zeisberger Historical Mile Marker in PennsylvaniaScenes from the Life of David Zeisberger
Free pdf biographical sketch * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeisberger, David 1721 births 1808 deaths Moravian Church missionaries German people of the Moravian Church American people of the Moravian Church American sermon writers 18th-century Protestant religious leaders German Protestant missionaries American Protestant missionaries American evangelicals German evangelicals Protestant missionaries in the United States Protestant missionaries in Canada People of Michigan in the American Revolution Clergy in the American Revolution American people of Moravian-German descent Czech expatriates in the United States People from Suchdol nad Odrou Pre-Confederation Ontario people Burials in Ohio Clergy of the Moravian Church