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. |
From inside the book
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... Muhlenberg : " In the year 1746 came my wife's grandfather to my house ; he had resided in New York since 1710 , and lately on the borders of New England . He had left that country on account of the dangers which he apprehended from the ...
... Muhlenberg line , though Mrs. Anna Maria Muhlenberg was Conrad Wei- ser's eldest daughter ! In no child of the Indian inter- preter has any knowledge of the supposed mother - tongue cropped out . Conrad had practically learned the Maqua ...
... Muhlenberg , likewise , writes in the Hallische Nachrichten : Our young interpreter remained back and entered into matrimony with a German Christian maiden , of Evangelical parentage , in 1720. ' ' CHAPTER XII . CONRAD WEISER'S ADVENT ...
... Muhlenberg states it in these words : " Mr. Weiser is of the opinion that to convert them to Christianity it would be essential , among other methods , to adopt something like the following : " I. Several missionaries should take up ...
... Muhlenberg , as we shall learn in another place . But he has little time to spend in fes- tivities at home . French machinations call him , in com- pany with Shekallamy and others , to Onondago again . He sets out on the 19th of May ...