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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... manner of its execution we must leave to the judgment of others . Were it but half as ably done as it was willingly done , then the work would verily be equal to the occasion . As it is , we can only pray the reviewer's kindness to take ...
... manner in which Con- rad entangles his father , that the elder Conrad Weiser intended to be master in his own house . It may be taken for granted , judging from his heroic conduct at Living- stone Manor and Schoharie , that he was fully ...
... 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 Nation and a member of our ...
... manner . I esteem him as a man anointed with grace and spirit . Though I am not well acquainted with the Matikander language , yet their peculiar manner of delivery renders their ideas intelligible to me as to any European in this ...
... manners and customs , yet reprove their natural vices by a holy , meek and virtuous deportment . " II . Translate Revealed Truth into their own lan- guage , and present the whole as intelligibly as possible . " III . The missionaries ...