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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... language of the record " a great uproar arose both in Schoharie and Al- bany upon this notice . " In vain did the terrified and perplexed Germans cry out against the injustice of such technicalities and fraud . Of what avail were the ...
... language , ..nd serve them after I should grow too old . " ( Conrad left his father's house during 1713-14 for an Indian town , about eight miles south of Schoharie . Here he resided until he left for Pennsylvania , in 1729. He was ...
... language in his early youth , as we have seen , and had found an almost unbroken occasion to use it officially dur- ing a long life . This fact , of itself , would not warrant us to expect even an acquaintance with a strange tongue , in ...
... languages and meth- ods of business , we are of the opinion that the said Con- rad should be allowed , as a reward from this Province , at this time , the sum of thirty pounds at least , besides pay- ment of his said account ...
... language , yet their peculiar manner of delivery renders their ideas intelligible to me as to any European in this country . In short , I deem it one of the greatest favors bestowed upon me in this life that I have been at Sha- mokin ...