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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... period , and posterity will not forget him . " Richard Peters , Secretary of the Province of Pennsylvania , wrote already in 1761 : " Since 1744 he has acted a prominent part between the In- dians and the Government , by whom his loss ...
... period during the Berks County Teachers ' Institute of that year to devise means and plans to launch the movement . It was resolved and agreed that the second day of November should be kept as " Conrad Weiser Day . " Spe- cial exercises ...
... period of their forefather's arrival in America , and line of their blood and name — all of which is fast proving a great satisfaction to the children of German , Swiss , French , English and other emigrated ancestry , in the measure ...
... period . As this was never done , it was made a present to them . " A man at that period and in that country own- ing a homestead with adjoining fields , meadows , vineyard and garden worth 675 guldens , and titled , besides , as an ...
... period of thirty years . But the circumstances of the country at that time and the peculiar qualifications of the man did not afford him such seclusion . There is a divinity in the affairs of men , com- munities and things which ...