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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... Philadelphia . Here Governor Gor- don , likely , learned to know and appreciate him . The sum of forty shillings was accorded him on this occasion for his free - will services . Under date of December , 1731 , we find the following ...
... Philadelphia at once , to attend and · provide for them . On the 27th the Chiefs , with Weiser , came to the President's house at Stenton . Here a feast was provided . On the 28th the Council was held , in the presence of Governor ...
... Philadelphia after this manner , in his behalf : " We esteem our present Interpreter to be such a person , equally faithful in the interpretation of whatever is said to him , by either of us ; equally allied to both . He is of our ...
... Philadelphia tobacco , and told them that " it was enough to kill a man to come such a long and bad road , over hills , rocks , old trees , rivers , to fight through a cloud of vermin , and all kinds of poisonous worms and creeping ...
... Philadelphia . In reference to this matter he says , in a letter , dated Tulpehocken , April 26 , 1744 : “ I am always willing to comply with His honor's commands , but could wish they might have been delayed till after Court , where my ...