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 ...
in
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 Woodlands[Bethlehem, 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](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Zeisberger_preaching_to_the_Indians_LCCN2003663983.jpg)
Zeisberger began as a
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 ...
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 Biographyat the Ohio Historical Society
David Zeisberger Historical Mile Marker in PennsylvaniaScenes from the Life of David ZeisbergerFree 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