The Life of (John) Conrad Weiser, the German Pioneer, Patriot, and Patron of Two RacesJohn Conrad Weiser was among very few colonial settlers to achieve fluency in Native American languages, working for decades as an interpreter and peacemaker between European settlers and native tribes. The services rendered by Conrad Weiser were immensely important to the colonists of North America. He spent time living with the Maqua tribe, learning their customs and culture, and achieving supreme command of their language. When disputes arose, Weiser was called upon - on several occasions, his mediation and diplomacy prevented disagreements from descending into violence. In maturity, he served as Superintendent of the Indian Bureau; an agency which promoted peaceful cooperation between Native Americans and white Europeans. This biography charts Weiser's humble beginnings in Germany, his boyhood emigration to America, and his first communications and residence with the Maqua. His greatest successes as interpreter and promoter of peaceful understanding are related in detail. Strongly revered for decades after his death in 1760, George Washington himself revisited Weiser's gravesite in 1793 to remember his contributions. Weiser remains a pivotal figure in the history of colonial America, and his house in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania is today a museum dedicated to study of the era. The author of this biography, Clement Zwingli Weiser, was a descendent keen on family research, who lived at the turn of the 20th century. |
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... England , he would have been remem- bered long ago in marble , story and song ; but , because he lived in Pennsylvania , he is forgotten even by his own people . The very grave in which he is buried is known to very few , and not ...
... England , offered a free passage to America , the fabled land of promise ? Had not Hol- landers , Swedes , Swiss ; Lutherans , Reformed , Mennon- ites , Quakers , all these opened the way already since 1613 ? Could not Penn and ...
... voyage : about two months we reached London , in England , along with several thousand Germans , whom Queen Anne , of glorious memory , had taken in charge and was furnishing with food . " From the close of August until CONRAD WEISER . 17.
... England , and from England to America . We were directed by several Com- missioners , viz .: John Cast , Henry Meyer and Richard Leykott , who were put in authority over us by Robert Hunter , Governor of New York . " Who can refrain ...
... Boston , after having begged or bought their outfit , and arrived in London poor , strange and helpless , only to find that good Queen Anne had died . Hunter and company had likewise despatched their agents to England 3 CONRAD WEISER . 25.