Tuscarawas County, Ohio - Chapter 5: The Moravian Missions, 1884 (part 2 of 2)

In the meantime, the Christian Indians, without the least thought of danger, were busily at work, night and day, in gathering and husking corn and securing it in the woods. They had now been here several weeks and were about ready to depart The 7th of March was fixed as the day of departure. They were not, however, in ignorance of the excited state of feeling on the border. "Four Sandusky warriors," says Heckewelder, "who, on their return from the Ohio settlements, h$d encamped on a run some distance from Gnadenhutten, gave them notice where they had been, and added, that having taken a woman and child prisoner, whom they killed and impaled on this side of the Ohio River, and supposing that the white people, in consequence of what they had done, might make up a party and pursue them ; they advised them to be on their guard and make off with themselves as soon as possible." De Schweinitz says: "Soon after this (their arrival on the Tuscarawas), the war- riors that had murdered the Wallace family passed through Gnadenhutten and warned the inhabitants of the peril to which they were exposing themselves. Carpenter, with noble magnanimity, did the same, pointing out its imminency, however peaceable their intentions. 'My captors,' he added, 'will undoubtedly be pursued and tracked to this place.' " Rondthaler, in his Life of Heckewelder, states: "They received intelligence in all the settlements of the approach of the murderers in time for them to have saved themselves by flight ; for a white man, who had narrowly escaped from some savages, warned them with great earnestness to fly for their lives." The Christians, however, could not realize their danger. Though somewhat concerned for their safety at first, they soon dispelled their fears, knowing that their consciences were clear of even evil thoughts against the whites, and believing the latter would not wreak vengeance on innocent parties. Col. Gibson, in command of Fort Pitt, learning of the expected attack upon the converts, hastily dispatched a messenger to warn them of their impending fate, but he arrived too late.

Williamson's command reached the neighborhood of Gnadenhutten on the evening of the 5th and encamped for the night about one mile from the village without being discovered. On the morning of the 6th, preparations were commenced for an immediate attack. The men were formed into two divisions, one of which received orders to cross the river to the fields on the western side, where the scouts had reported Indians. The second division was to advance upon the village by a circuit through the woods.

On reaching the Tuscarawas, the first division found no canoes ; but what appeared to be one was seen moored on the other side. One of the men swam the river and brought back Dot a canoe but a sugar trough, large enough to accommodate two persons. In order to hasten their passage, a number of men stripped off their clothes, placed them in the trough and holding fast with one hand swam across with the other. Sixteen had crossed the river when Joseph Schebosh was seen approaching. One of the two scouts who were thrown ahead fired at him, breaking his arm. He was soon surrounded, and though he begged for his life and represented that he was the son of a white Christian man, was cruelly murdered. They then pressed on to the plantations, where most of the Indians were at work, and finding them widely scattered over the corn fields, hailed them as friends and informed them they had come to relieve them from the distress, occasioned by the enemy, on account of their being friends to the Amorican people. The Christian Indians, ignorant of the death of Schebosh, and not doubfcing their sincerity, welcomed them and soon crossed over with them to the village, of which the other division of the whites had in the meantime taken possession, killing one Indian who was crossing the river in a canoe to the plantations.

This latter murder was witnessed only by Jacob, a brother-in-law to the unfortunate Schebosh. He was tying up corn sacks about 150 yards from the town, and saw the white party approach " so near him '' he said, " that he might have seen the black in their eyes had they looked in that direction." He recognized some of the men as the same who had captured the Christian In - dians the autumn previous at Schonbrunn, and was about to hail them when they shot the Indian crossing the river. At this he fled precipitately, not stopping till he had placed several miles between himself and them. He remained concealed in the woods for a day and then escaped. Had he not lost his presence of mind, but given the alarm, many of the converts might have been saved.

John Martin, a national assistant, and his son, had been conveying corn to deposit in a distant part of the forest, and on their return were surprised to find the fields empty and numerous tracks of shod horses. Mistrusting something was wrong, they mounted a hill on the west side of the river, which commanded a full view of the town. Beholding the whites and Indians mingling freely together, the fears of Martin were allayed, and sending his son across to the village, he himself bore the news to Salem, there advancing the opinion that God had sent these people to relieve their wants. This view was accepted by the simple-minded Indians, and they appointed two of their number, Adam and Henry, to return with Martin to Gnadenhutten to verify the opinion. Arriving, they found the Indians hospitably entertaining the militia, and learned that they were not to return to Sandusky, but that a place of safety was to be provided for them at Pittsburgh. This plan had been accepted by the Gnadenhutten Indians, who cheerfully delivered their guns, hatchets and other weapons to the whites, they promising to take care of them, and in Pittsburgh to return every article to its rightful owner. The Indians even showed them all tfie implements which they had ooncealed in the woods, assisted in packing them up, and emptied all their beehives for their pretended friends.

A body of the white men now advanced with the messengers to Salem to bring the inhabitants and their effects to Gnadenhutten. They were received in friendship, and under the guise of goodwill and affection the converts were ^easily persuaded to return with them. Some of the white men seemed deeply interested in religion. They asked many questions concerning it, and listened with profound attention to all that was said to them, frequently exclaiming, " You are, indeed, good Christians." The converts surrendered their arms u for safe keeping, " without a shadow of doubt, and freely expressed their opinions and sentiments on whatever topics were discussed. Preparations for the journey were soon completed, and the entire party took up the march for Gnadenhutten. In the meantime, the defenseless Indians at that village had been suddenly attacked, driven together, and, without resistance, seized and bound. The Salem Indians soon met the same fate. As they approached Gnadenhutten the scales began to fall from their eyes. On the sands of the river bank they saw the remains of a pool of .blood, and a blood-stained canoe close by. They were then seized, bound and conveyed across the river, where they found the other Indians confined in two houses and closely guarded.

The words of peace and friendship gave place to accusations and reproaches. They were no longer called Christians, but enemies and warriors. They were accused of aiding the British in the war against the Americans; of harboring and feeding British Indians on the march to the American frontiers ; of stealing horses from the Americans, inasmuch as their horses were branded ; of stealing various articles of clothing, children's caps, tea-kettles and other household equipments, for these were to be found among white people only, and not among Indians.

These charges were all refuted by the prisoners. They spoke of their successful efforts to maintain the Delaware neutrality for years, while other nations about them were engaged in war. They explained the necessity which compelled them to entertain the British Indians passing through their town, and showed that they had induced many a war party to turn back, and that they had also furnished Col. 4Brodhead with provisions. They reminded them that they had turned from savage life, and were now a civilized, agricultural people, and used the same household utensils, mechanical tools, branding irons and other devices employed by the whites.

It was asserted by the militia, on their return, that they found among the clothes of the converts the blood-stained garments of the murdered Mrs. Wallace, whose husband recognized them. This has been disputed; bnt whether so or not, the finding of the drees was by no means conclusive evidence of the complicity of the Christians in that murder, and no justification of the massacre of the Moravian Indians. It was known that the band of savages that perpetrated that outrage encamped close to Gnadenhutten, while the Christians were there, and held communication with them. Although it was a rule among the converts not to purchase booty of the marauding parties, some one of the Indians may have bought the dress secretly, or more probable still, it may have been left by hostile warriors in one of the houses of Gnadenhutten, unknown to the inmates, with intent to fasten suspicion upon the Christian Indians.

A council of war was now called to determine the fate of the prisoners. The officers, unwilling or unable to decide the question, submitted the question to the detachment The men were drawn up in a line, and Col Williamson stepping forward, put the question, " Shall the Moravian Indians be taken prisoners to Pittsburgh, or put to death," requesting all in favor of sparing their lives to advance in front of the line. Only sixteen men, or, according to other reports, eighteen, advanced out of the line. In this manner was their fate decided. It is supposed the commander himself did not vote, nor is it known what disposition of the prisoners he favored, but his method of obtaining the vote operated in favor of their death, for it left all the indifferent and wavering men, and there may have been many such, in the ranks of those who favored the harshest measures. The few who were guided by feelings of humanity protested that the innocence of the converts was clearly evinced, but finding they could not move the majority, they 1 ' wrung their hands," says Heckewelder, " calling God to witness that they were innocent of the blood of these harmless Christian Indians."

The mode of execution was now discussed. Some were for setting fire to the houses they were in, and burning them alive; others wanted to take their scalps home with them as trophies of victory. This latter plan prevailed at last, and the prisoners were notified that they must die.

4 4 It may easily be conceived, " says Loskiel, 4 4 bow great their terror was at hearing a sentence so unexpected. However, they soon recollected themselves, and patiently suffered the murderers to lead them into two houses, in one of which the brethren, and in the other the sisters and children, were confined like sheep ready for slaughter. They declared to the murderers that though they could call God to witness that they were perfectly innocent, yet they were prepared and willing to suffer death; but as they had, at their conversion and baptism, made a solemn promise to the Lord Jesus Christ that they would live unto Him, and endeavor to please Him alone in this world, they knew that they had been deficient in many respects, and therefore wished to have some time granted to pour out their hearts before Him in prayer and to crave His mercy and pardon. This request being complied with, they spent their last night here below in prayer and in exhorting each other to remain faithful unto the end. One brother, named Abraham, who, for some time past, had been in a lukewarm state of heart, seeing his end approaching, made the following public confession before his brethren: 4 4 Dear brethren, it seems as if we should all soon depart unto our Savior, for our sentence is fixed. You know that I have been an untoward child, and have grieved the Lord and my brethren by my disobedience, not walking as I ought to have done; but still I will cleave to my Savior, with my last breath, and hold Him fast, though I am so great a sinner. I know assuredly that He will forgive me all my sins, and not cast me out" The brethren assured him of their love and forgiveness, and both they and the sisters spent the latter part of the night in singing praises to God their Savior, in the joyful hope that they would soon be able to praise Him without sin.

Early on the morning of the 8th of March, some of the band came to the houses where the prisoners were confined, engaged in singing and praying, and impatiently inquired if they wore not yet ready to die, to which the brethren replied that they were all prepared, 44 havingcommended their immortal souls to * God, who had given them that divine assurance in their hearts that they should come unto Him and be with Him forever." The militia selected two buildings which they denominated 44 slaughter-houses," one for the murder of the men, the other for the massacre of the women and children. The carnage then began. The victims were bound and led two and two together to the slaughter houses and there brutally murdered and scalped. They bore themselves through the terrible ordeal with uncommon patience, and met death with cheer ful resignation. Tomahawks, mallets, war-clubs, spears and scalping knives were used to effect the slaughter, and only a 'portion of the militia took an active part. Abraham, whose long, flowing hair had the day before attracted notice and elicited the remark that it would 44 make a fine scalp," was the first victim. One of the party, seizing a cooper's mallet, exclaimed, "How exactly this will answer for the business." Beginning with Abraham, he felled fourteen to the ground, then handed the instrument to another, saytng, 4 4 My arm fails me; go on in the same way! I think I have done pretty well." When all the men and boys wereslaiu, the slaughter of the women and small children commenced in the other house, whither they were led, two by two, as before.

Judith, a venerable and pious widow, was the first to suffer death here. Christina, another widow, who had been an inmate of the Bethlehem Sister's Home in her youth, and spoke both English and German fluently, fell on her knees before Col. Williamson, and besought him to spare her life, but was told that he could not help her. Thus the cold-blooded butchery continued until ninetytwo victims were slaughtered, when it ceased only because there were not other helpless women and children to kill. Thus was consummated one of the foulest deeds that has ever stained American history.

Besides these ninety -two, four others were killed before - Schebosh. as narrated above, one young convert shot down in the canoe, and two young Indians, Paul and Anthony, who were shot down under the bank of the river while seeking to escape. The borderers returned home with ninety- six scalps. De Schweinitz states that only ninety Moravian Indians perished; twenty-nine men, twenty-seven women, and thirty-four children. The other six were probably visiting Indians at Gnadenhutten. Among the slain were six national assistants, or IndiaD ministers, including the noble spirited, fearless and faithful Isaac Glickhican.

Only four of those who were gathering com at Gnadenhutten and Salem escaped. Jacob, mentioned above, who witnessed the shooting of the convert in the canoe, a little boy named Benjamin, eight years old, saved by a kindhearted frontiersman, who privately took him home with him, where he grew to manhood, and then returned to the Indian country, and two youths sixteen or seventeen years old, whose escape seemed almost miraculous. One of them disengaged himself from his bonds, and slipping unobserved from the crowd crept through a narrow window into the cellar of the house in which the women were executed. Their blood penetrated the flooring and ran in streams into the cellar. At nightfall he escaped from his horrible prison by climbing the wall, creeping through the window, and escaping to a neighboring thicket.

Thomas, the other lad, received only one blow on the head from the men, who then took his scalp and left him. After some time, he recovered his senses, and saw himself surrounded by bleeding corpses. Among these_he observed one brother, named Abel, moving and endeavoring to raise himself. But Thomas remained lying still as though he were dead, and this caution proved the means of deliverance; for soon after, one of the murderers coming in and observing Abel's motions, killed him with two or three blows. Thomas lay quite still till dark, though suffering the most exquisite torment. He then ventured to creep toward the door; and observing no one in the neighborhood, arose and escaped into the woods, where he concealed himself till night These two youths afterwards met, and made a safe journey to Sandusky; though they purposely took a long circuit, and suffered great hardships and danger.

After the massacre was accomplished, the men spent the day in securing their plunder, then setting fire to the "slaughter-houses " filled with the mangled corpses and to the whole village.

The believing Indians at New Schonbrunn escaped providentially. The missionaries at Sandusky had received orders to forsake their congregations and remove to Detroit. Wishing to see the converts again before departing, a messenger was dispatched on the 3d of March to request the converts, gathering corn on the Tuscarawas, to return at once. The messenger reached New Schonbrunn on the 6th, the same day Williamson's party entered Gnadenhutten. Being exhausted from his long journey, two of the New Schonbrunn Indians were sent to Gnadenhutten to convey the news to the Indians there. When within a mile or two of the village they were surprised to see many tracks of shod horses on and beside the path. Cautiously advancing, they soon espied the mangled body of the murdered Schebosh. Hastily burying it and thinking all the people of Gnadenhutten had probably suffered the same fate, they returned quickly to New Schonbrunn. Believing the murderers would soon advance upon them, preparations were made for a hurried flight. Yet they were in doubt as to what direction to take. Schonbrunn lay on the west side of the river, while Gnadenhutten was on the east. The opinion prevailed that it would be best to cross the 'river to the east side, pass up the valley above the mouth of Sugar Creek, and there cross again. Early in the evening, all had crossed at New Schonbrunn to the east side, and in the darkness they* proceeded about two and a half miles, when they halted till the light of the morning would enable them to travel again. In their hurry the canoe was forgotten; without it there would be no means of crossing the river above with their families, as the waters were high. Early the next morning, before daybreak, several of them returned for the canoe, and had scarcely taken it 300 yards from the town and were in plain sight of it, when, hearing the tramp of horse's feet down the river, they saw the village surrounded with horsemen looking for Indians and plunder. Hastily screening themselves, they watched the movements of the party, particularly to observe if they attempted to cross the river, which fortunately could be done now only by swimming. The band examined the woods around the town to discover which way the Indians had gone, but finding no tracks, they plundered and set fire to the village, and returned the same way they came. It was remarkable that the Indians paddling the canoe were not observed, for * they were at first in plain view. Had the men but crossed the river, they would have come upon the track of the fleeing converts, and by following the trail met them all in a body on an extensive prairie, only two and a half miles from where they were looking for them. Sorrowfully the little band of surviving Indians turned their faces westward and continued their journey. They had hurried away without even a sufficiency of provisions for the march, and suffered greatly from hunger, besides enduring many other hardships before reaching Sandusky. They had been persecuted for their religion by their savage neighbors, driven from their quiet homes at the approach of a severe winter season, plundered of all their goods and provisions, and when about to suffer death from starvation in a barren and inhospitable country, as a last forlorn hope, made a wearisome journey to the scenes of their former happiness to gather, with their neighbors who accompanied them, whatever fruits of their labor had remained undestroyed. Then fell the pitiless blow that crashed them to the earth; two- thirds of their number inhumanly murdered by those whom they had always treated as friends, and the remnant fleeing emptyhanded and horror-stricken to new hardships and privations. Truly their trials were severe enough to test the stanchest faith, and it is little wonder that many forsook their religion and turned again to the worship of their fathers.

Having burned the three villages, Williamson's band started home with about fifty horses, a number of blankets and other articles, and ninety-six scalps. They marched to Pittsburgh, and fell upon a few peaceful Indians who had recently settled on the north side of the Ohio, opposite the fort, and under the protection of the American Government. A number of them, including a promising young Delaware' Chief, fell a sacrifice to the bloodthirsty crew, and others, among whom was the Delaware Chief Gelelemend, saved their lives by fleeing across the river to the town.

When this expedition against the Christian Indians was planned, it was well known to those who joined it that the Indians had been forcibly removed to the Sandusky country, and that they had returned. The object of the raid was the Moravian villages, and though there may not have been any previous definite understanding as to the fate of the Indians if captured, the determination to spare none doubtless took possession of the minds of most of the men engaged in it. The expedition w as deliberately planned, and the massacre deliberately perpetrated, not in the sudden heat of passion or flush of battle, for not the slightest opposition was made by the trusting, guileless Indians, but their submission was attended with such surrounding extenuating circumstances calling for mercy and forbearance, that nothing but a deep-seated, blood-seeking disposition could have permitted the men to consent to the terrible tragedy- It must ever be regarded as one of the most atrocious acts that has disgraced the Americah name.

Whatever may be said by way of palliation or mitigation has been summed up by Rev. Dr. Joseph Doddridge in his " Notes on Western Virginia," at the close of his account of the bloody affair, and his comments are hero presented:

" The pressure of the Indian war along the whole of the Western frontier," he says, " for several years preceding the event under consideration, had been * dreadfully severe. From early in the spring until the commencement of winter, from day to day, murders were committed in every direction by the Indians. The people lived in forts, which were in the highest degree uncomfortable The men were harassed* continually with the duties of going on scouts and campaigns. There was scarcely a family of the first settlers who did not, at some time or other, lose more or less of their number by the merciless Indians. Their cattle were killed, their cabins burned, and their horses carried off. These losses were severely felt by a people so poor as we were at that time. Thus circumstanced, our people were exasperated to madness by the extent and severity of the war. The unavailing endeavors of the American Congress to prevent the Indians from taking up the hatchet against either side in the Revolutionary contest contributed much to increase the general indignation against them; at the same time that those pacific endeavors of our

Government divided the Indians amongst themselves, on the question of war or peace with the whites. The Moravians, part of the Delawares, and some others, faithfully endeavored to preserve peace, but in vain. The Indian maxim was: 'Re that is not for us is against us.' Hence the Moravian missionaries and their followers were several times on the point of being murdered by the warriors. This would have been done, had it not been for the prudent conduct of some of the war chiefs.

u On the other hand, the local situation of the Moravian villages excited the jealousy of the white people. If they took no direct agency in the war, yet they were, as they were then called, 'half-way houses,' between us and the warriors, at which the latter could stop, rest, refresh themselves and traffic off their plunder. Whether these aids, thus given to our enemies, were contrary to the laws of neutrality between belligerents, is a question which I willingly leave to the decision of civilians. On the part of the Moravians, they were unavoidable. If they did not give or sell provisions to the warriors, they would take them by force. The fault was in their situation, not in themselves.

" The longer the war continued, the more our people complained of the situation of these Moravian villages. It was said that it was owing to their being so near us that the warriors commenced their depredations so early in the spring, and continued them until late in the fall.

" In the latter end of the year 1781, the militia of the frontier came to a determination to break up the Moravian villages on the Muskingum. For this purpose, a detachment of our men went out under the command of Col. David Williamson, for the purpose of inducing the Indians with their teachero to move further off, or bring them prisoners to Fort Pitt When they arrived at the villages, they found but few Indians, the greater number of them having removed to Sandusky. These few were well treated, taken to Fort Pitt and delivered to the commandant at that station, who, after a short detention, sent them home again.

"This procedure gave great offense to the people of the country, who thought that the Moravians ought to have been killed. Col. Williamson, who, before this little campaign had been a very popular man, on account of his activity and bravery in war, now became the subject of severe animadversions on account of his lenity to the Moravian Indians. In justice to the memory of Col. Williamson, I have to say that although at that time very young, I was personally acquainted with him, and from my recollection of his conversation I say with confidence that he was a brave man, but not cruel. He would meet an enemy in battle, and fight like a soldier, but not murder a prisoner. Had he possessed the authority of a superior officer in a regular army, I do not believe that a single Moravian Indian would have lost his life; but he possessed no such authority. He was only a militia officer, who could advise, but not command. His only fault was that of too easy a compliance with popular prejudice. On this account, his memory has been loaded with unmerited reproach.

" Several reports unfavorable to the Moravians had been in circulation for some time before the campaign against them. One was, that the night after they were liberated at Fort Pitt, they crossed the river, and killed or made prisoners a family of the name of Montour. A family on Buffalo Creek had been mostly killed in the summer or fall of 1781, and it was said by one of them, who, after being made prisoner, made his escape, that the leader of the party of Indians who did the mischief was a Moravian. These, with other reports of similar import, served as a pretext for their destruction, although no doubt they were utterly false.

" Should it be asked, what sort of people composed the band of murderers of the unfortunate people, I answer, they were not miscreants or vagabonds; many of them were men of the first standing in the country. Many of them were men who had recently lost relatives by the hand of the savages; several of the latter class found articles which had been plundered from their own houses, or those of their relatives, in the houses of the Moravians. One man, it is said, found the clothes of his wife and children who had been murdered by the Indians but a few days before. They were still bloody; yet there was no unequivocal evidence that these people had any direct agency in the war. Whatever of our property was found with them had been left by the warriors in exchange for the provisions which they took from them. When attacked by our people, although they might have defended themselves, they did not. They never fired a single shot They were prisoners, and had been promised protection. Every dictate of justice and humility required that their lives should be spared. The complaint of their villages being half-way houses for the warriors, was at an end, as they had been removed to Sandusky the fall before. It was, therefore, an atrocious and unqualified murder. But by whom committed? By a majority of the campaign? For the honor of my country, I hope I may safely answer this question in the negative. It was one of those convulsions of the moral state of society in which the voice of the justice and humanity of a majority is silenced by the clamor and violence of a lawless minority. Very few of our men imbrued their hands in the blood of the Moravians. Even those who had not voted for saving their lives retired from the scene of slaughter with horror and disgust. Why then did they not give in their favor? The fear of public indignation restrained them from doing so. They thought well, but they had not heroism enough to express their opinions. Those who did so deserve honorable mention for their intrepidity."

Crawford's disastrous campaign against the Sandusky Indians followed almost immediately after the massacre of the Moravian Indians. It has been charged by the Moravian writers that the object of this expedition was to destroy the remnant of the Moravian Indians on the Sandusky; but C. W. Butterfield, in his " Crawford's Campaign against Sandusky," shows* by strong testimony that the destruction of the hostile Wyandot settlements was the purpose in view. It was a volunteer expedition, and was set on foot and directed by Gen. Irwine, commander of the Western Department of the American Army. The place of rendezvous was Mingo Bottoms, where about 480 men assembled. An election for chief commander was held there May 24, 1782, and resulted as follows : Col. William Crawford, of Westmoreland County, Penn., 235 votes; Col. David Williamson, of Washington County, Penn., 230 votes; the latter was chosen second officer in rankr The men were mounted, and it was designed to make a rapid march to Sandusky, 150 miles distant, and surprise the Indians if possible. The army left Mingo Bottoms May 25, and on the evening of the fourth day encamped on the ruins of Schonbrunn, feeding the hoftes on the unharvested corn of the plantations. Hopes of surprising the savages were here lost by the discovery of two Indian scouts watching their movements. It is not within the province of this work to detail the incidents of the disaster which followed. The Moravian village on the Sandusky had been removed about a month previous by command of Half King, and thus escaped a second contact with American soldiers that spring. CoL Williamson led the scattered forces in the retreat along the trail of the advance, as far as the Tuscarawas, which was crossed between Schonbrunn and Gnadenhutten June 10. From this point to the Ohio, " Williamson's trail n was followed. Williamson was afterward elected Sheriff of his county, and retained considerable i»opularity with the people. He, however, was unsuccessful in business and died in poverty.

The Wandering Moravians

For sixteen years after the crushing blow received in March, 1782, solitude reigned in the Tuscarawas Valley. The dreadful scene of the slaughter of the innocents remained unvisited, save by beasts of prey or occasional bands of red men. The teeming farm lands which surrounded the settlements relapsed into their former state of quiet wildness, and were soon covered with a thick grove of copse, which promised to develop into lofty forest groves. In 1798, however, Zeisberger returned to the Tuscarawas Valley and founded Goshen. A brief mention of the Moravian Indians during the intervening sixteen years would not be improper.

A deep feeling of hostility toward the remnant of the Moravian Indians on the Sandusky was entertained by the warlike tribes in that vicinity, and a removal elsewhere became necessary. At first the enmity was directed to the missionaries, and they were, by order of the Governor of Detroit, separated from their congregations and sent to Detroit The converts, notwithstanding the absence of their teachers, clung to their religious life, and Half King and his warriors persecuted them in consequence. The Christians soon dispersed, some taking shelter with the Shawnees on the Scioto, and others with their heathen Delaware brethren on the Maumee. Soon after, CoL De Peyster provided for a settlement on the Clinton River, thirty miles above Detroit. New Gnadenhutten was founded here in July, 1782. Invitations were extended to the Indians to re- assemble there; some accepted, but many relapsed into savage life. For nearly four years they remained here; they had cleared the land and obtained comfortable homes, but the Chippewas dwelling in that region became dissatisfied with their presence, and insisted on their removal. They embarked, April 28, 1786, in two trading sloops, and after a lengthy detention at the Bass Islands near Sandusky peninsula, they" were landed at Rocky Point, eight miles from Sandusky Bay. They proceeded to the Cuyahoga River, and there formed a temporary settlement, intending to return to the Tuscarawas Valley as soon as the country became sufficiently settled to permit it. A year later New Salem was established on the Huron River, in what is now Erie County. This mission prospered, and in 1700 contained over 200 members. Indian hostilities again necessitated a removal, and in April, 1791, the entire congregation removed to a place in Canada, which they called the Watch Tower, and soon after Fairfield was founded in Canada.

The Moravian society at Bethlehem had memorialized Congress, October 28, 1783, to reserve to the remnant of the Tuscarawas mission their three towns and the surrounding lands. A favorable report was made on March 1, 1784, and an ordinance which passed in the Continental Congress, May 20, 1785, provided " that the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schonbrunn and Salem, on the Muskingum, and so much of the lands adjoining to the said towns, with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be reserved for the sole use of the Christian Indians, who were formerly settled there, or the remains of that society, as may, in the judgment of the geographer, be sufficient for them to cultivate." A resolution of August 24, 1780, granted to the Christian Indians 500 bushels of corn, 100 blankets, 20 axes and 20 hoes, to be supplied from Fort McIntosh as soon as they should settle on the Tuscarawas. The settled oppo sition of the Indian tribes prevented immediate occupation of their old homes by the Indians. By a resolution passed July 27, 1787, a quantity of land adjoining these three settlements on the Tuscarawas, not exceeding 10,000 acres in the aggregate, was reserved to be vested in the Moravian Brethren Society, in trust for the former Indian residents, including Killbuck and his descendants and the nephew and descendants of the late Capt. White Eyes, Delaware chiefs, who have distinguished themselves as friends to the cause of America. An ordinance of September 3, 1788, directed the survey of this land by the geographer of the United States, " as speedily as possible."

The society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen was organized at Bethlehem and incorporated by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, February 28, 1788, to hold in trust the land granted by Congress for the Christian Indians. Having appointed John Heckwelder its agent, he set out for the Northwest Territory September 10, 1788, accompanied by Matthias Blickensderfer, in order to have the tract surveyed. At Pittsburgh he met Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States, with whom he proceeded down the Ohio to Fort Harmar. Here they waited until the beginning of winter, in daily expectation of a treaty to be held with the Indians, upon the issue of which depended the survey, f At last he was obliged to return to Bethlehem without accomplishing his object.

The grant of three tracts of 4,000 acres each at the Moravian settlements on the Tuscarawas was renewed by act of Congress, dated June 1, 1790, and President Adams issued the patent for the land February 24, 1798. In the spring of 1797, the survey was made. John Heckewelder and William Henry, with their assistants, John Rothrock, Christian Clewell and a Mr. Kamp, undertook the survey. They left the Ohio, near the present Wellsburg, May 7, accompanied by John Carr as guide, John Messemer, a Dunkard preacher on his way home to Detroit, and two Indians, Capt. Bull and Joseph White Eyes, the letter a son of the celebrated chief of that name. They reached the site of Gnadenhutten on the evening of May 11. Heckewelder proceeded at once to Marietta and returned with Mr. Schmick, Gen. Rufus Putnam and his son, the two latter of whom represented the Government in the survey. The site of Gnadenhutten was a dense wilderness of bushes and trees, and infested with rattlesnakes. Here and there the ruins of a chimney projected from the midst of a blackberry or sumac thicket. To this wilderness they set fire, and when consumed, the ground was seen covered with human bones that gave evidence of having been dragged about by wild beasts. They were the remains of the murdered converts. Schmick, Bothrock and Clewell made an attempt to explore the site of Salem June 5, but returned unsuccessful, the whole country being overgrown and the trail lost The next day, accompanied by William Henry, the search was renewed, and a few remains found. The bottom was covered with a thicket of scrub oak, known as the red -jack. The survey was completed early in July. Three plats, each of 4,000 acres, were laid out, known as the Gnadenhutten, Schonbrunn and Salem tracts.

Goshen Founded

Heckewelder, accompanied by Bev. Benjamin Mortimer, traveled in the spring of 1798 to the mission at Fairfield, Canada, and informed the Indians of the completion of the survey and its readiness for occupation. A number signified their willingness to emigrate thither in the fall of that year. After a week's stay, Heckewelder and Edwards set out with two young Indians to begin a settlement at Gnadenhutten and make the necessary preparations for the reception of the missionaries and Indians who expected to arrive in the fall with Zeisberger and Mortimer. Heckewelder took np his abode at Gnadenhutten. Zeisberger arrived with thirty-three Indians and landed at the beautiful spring of old Schonbrunn October 4, 1798. His colony pitched their tents near the center of the Schonbrunn tract, and soon after made a permanent settlement on the river bank, opposite an island, seven miles northeast of Gnadenhutten. Here a little village called Goshen was lAid out The mission house was completed November 13, and a church was erected in December. Zeisberger visited the site of New Schonbrunn November 11. Single posts of the garden fences were the only remains of the village left standing. Many Indian implements and vessels, however, were scattered over the ground, and the whole region was thickly overgrown with bushes and rank weeds.

It was not long after the return of the missions to the Tuscarawas Valley that white settlers began to arrive, and their influence upon the Indian converts was very unfavorable to the prosperity of the missions. As a precautionary measure, the missionaries sent a memorial to Gov. St. Glair, October 28, 1798, asking that they be empowered to prevent the sale or barter of in- toxicating liquors within the settlement. In response, he sent a message to the Territorial Legislature, which in the session of 1799-1800 passed an act to protect the. Moravian Indians from the traffic of intoxicating liquors. The missionaries were authorized to seize the same whenever brought within the Schonbrunn tract and to * 'do with it as they should think proper." Heckewelder mentions that on one occasion * * Zeisberger, although then in his eightieth year, in his zeal for the cause in which he was engaged, took up an ax and stove the kegs, so that the liquor ran into the river." "In consequence of the influx of settlers," says De Schweinitz, "the prohibitory law could not be carried out on the reservation. Not only passing traders, but its near neighbors tempted the Indians in every possible way. They looked them up in the forest especially, when hunting or sugar boiling, supplied them with liquor and then entrapped them in bargains which were as advantageous to themselves as they were ruinous to the natives. A regular gang of thieves and desperadoes infested the vicinity of Goshen, who worked incalculable injury to the missions. During the Holy Passion week (1805), most of the converts were intoxicated. Zeisberger did what he could to stop the evil, and the Indians gave earnest promises of reform. But a demon had been let loose among them and they fell into his power so often that drunkenness became the mortal sin and the destroying vice of the little flock. Some of them, indeed, like Gelelemend, remained faithful to the last ; and the majority of them erred, not without premeditation, but through that want of stability which is everywhere characteristic of the aborigines, as soon as they meet the white man holding out the inebriating cup. This state of affairs continued to grow worse. Indians from beyond the reservation instituted carousals at Goshen, defying all control ; and in the course of time the prohibitory law was repealed at the instance of traders, as being an infringement on the rights and liberties of a free people."

The entire reservation was too large to be occupied and used by the Christian Indians alone. Foreseeing this, the Society for Propagating the Gospel, as early as September, 1790, issued a circular inviting members and friends of the church to settle there. The surplus land was to be leased in lots of from 100 to 150 acres each, the rent to be used for the benefit of the Indians. In response to this circular Jacob Bush and two other settlers arrived May 8t 1799, and on the 29th of the same month Paul Greer, Peter Edmonds, Ezra Warner and Peter Warner came from Gnadenhutten, Penn. David and Dorcas Peter came from Bethlehem in October, 1799. Peter had been appointed to take charge of a store opened by the society. Other families emigrated soon after. Some of these settlers took up land at Gnadenhutten, others on the site of Salem. Of the colony at Gnadenhutten, Lewis Huebner became the regular pastor in July, 1800, and a church edifice was erected and dedicated July 10, 1803, by Rev. Zeisberger. Soon after another Moravian Church was built on the west side of the Tuscarawas, near what is now Lock 17. It was dedicated December 15, 1805, and received the name of Beersheba. Huebner having been recalled, it was placed in charge of Rev. George God-

The number of the Christian Indians gradually diminished through deaths, removals to the West and return to savage life. The missionaries, becoming enfeebled by old age, lost in a measure their power and could not give the Indians the attention demanded in view of surrounding temptations. The venerable mis. sionary, William Edwards, died at Goshen, October 8, 1801, aged seventy eight years. For several years he had been unable to attend to his duties, but dpclined retiring to the States, wishing to die among the Indians. Zeisberger, too, ended his long and* eventful life in mission work at Goshen. He died November 7, 1808, aged eighty-seven years. His last address was delivered during the summer of that year. About midsummer, forty Muncey Indians had arrived at Goshen, intending to remain a few weeks. By the arrival of another party of savages, the village was tilled with visitors. They were welcomed, but besought to abstain from strong drink. A boat laden with rum soon after arrived, and the visitors forgetting their promises "began a carousal so wild and fearful that the Goshen converts fled to the woods, and the neighboring settlers, seizing their rifles, hastened to guard the mission property and protect the missionaries.*' Part of the savages soon left, but others, contiuuing their debaucheries, Zeisberger aroused himself, summoned both converts and heathens to assemble in the chapel and delivered to them his last address. Mentioning the lawless savages by name, he denounced their brutish conduct, and ordered them to leave the village at once. He entreated them to turn from their evil ways; then warned them of the terrible consequences of continuing in them. Fear fell upon all of them and all soon departed. The evils that beset the missions clouded the last years of Zeisberger's life and doubtless hastened his death.

The three reservations on the Tuscarawas, instead of being a source of revenue, proved to be an expense and at last an intolerable burden to the "Societv for Propogating the Gospel to the Heathen." Accordingly, negotiations were commenced with the United States to divest the society of the trusteeship. An agreement was entered into August 4, 1823, at Gnadenhutten, between Lewis Cass, Commissioner of the United States, and Lewis D. De Schweinitz, agent for the society, by the terms of which the society relinquished its right as Trustee, conditioned upon the payment to it of $6,054, only a fraction of the sum expended by the society for the improvement of the lands. The written consent of the Indians, for whose benefit the land was granted in trust to the society, being necessary to complete the contract, they or their represents tives repaired to Detroit, and there they, November 8, 1823, entered into a treaty ceding to the United States their right and interest in these tracts on condition the Government pay them an annuity of $400, or in lieu thereof a reservation of 24,000 acres of land. This treaty was approved by President Monroe and the deed of retrocession in pursuance of the foregoing articles was executed April 1, 1824.

Tuscarawas missions. The fourth article of their agreement secures in perpetuity to the society free from any condition or limitation whatever "ten acres of ground, including the church called Beersheha, and the graveyard, on the Gnadenhutten tract; and also the church lot, parsonage houses, and graveyard in the town of Gnadenhutten; the house and lot occupied by John G. Demuth; the house and lot occupied by David Peter, both which lots are about five rods in front by sixteen rods in depth; and the house and lot occupied by Frederick Dell, which lot does not exceed two acres; and also the missionary house and graveyard at Goshen.

Goshen was now abandoned and the little remnant of converts joined the mission in Canada. In 1837, many removed thence to Westfield, Kan. This mission was abandoned in 1853, and a new station was founded on the Little Osage called New Westfield. It still remains, and with two other smaller missions, New Fairfield in Canada and New Spring Place in Georgia, are all that remains in North America of the once thriving and extensive Moravian Indian Missions.

Rev. David Zei8Berger

This pioneer missionary was born in the small village, Zachtenthal, Moravia, on Good Friday, April 11, 1721. His ancestors were members of the ancient Moravian Church, and his parents in 1720 sacrificed their possessions and went to Herrnhut for the sake of religious freedom. In 1730, they emigrated with the second little band of Moravians to Georgia, leaving David in Europe to finish his education. He was an apt scholar under the guidance of Count Zinzendorf, and acquired languages readily. Two years later, he rejoined his parents in Georgia, and in 1741 removed with them to Bethlehem, Penn., and assisted in commencing the settlement there, which has since continued the chief seat of the Moravian Church in America. He continued his studies, and traveled among the Indians, perfecting himself in 1744-45 in the Mohawk tongue. From 1746 to the date of his death, sixty-two years later, he was engaged, with few and short intervals, in the missionary work. He labored in various localities, until the Tuscarawas missions were established in 1772, when he became their chief minister. He led the Delaware converts during all their reverses and frequent changes of habitation, until his earthly career was closed at Goshen, Tuscarawas County, November 17, 1808. At the age of sixty years had married Miss Susan Lecron, June 4, 1781, but left no issue. Mrs. Zeisberger remained at Goshen until August, 1809, when she returned to Bethlehem. She died there in 1824, aged eighty years.

Zeisberger did more to develop the Delaware language and the Onondaga dialect of the Iroquois than any other cotemporaneous man. He was well versed in both, and was the author of many works, many of which remain in manuscript.

He was a man of small stature, yet well proportioned, says De Schweinitz. His face wore the marks of constant exposure and of a hardy life. It was furrowed with deep lines, yet always cheerful and pleasing. His dress was very plain, bat scrupulously neat and clean. Except for medicinal purposes, be never used spirituous liquors. His words were few. He had adopted the reticence of the natives among whom he spent his life. In conversation, one of their social ways had become a habit with him. When questioned, especially in later years, regarding any incident of his life or experience of the mission, he often observed a profound silence instead of giving a reply, and allowed the conversation to turn on other subjects. After a time, however, he addressed the querist, and delivered an answer somewhat in the way of a speech at an Indian council.

Heckewelder, who was associated with him for many years, says : 44 He was blessed with a cool, aqtive and intrepid spirit, not appalled by any dangers or difficulties, and a sound judgment to discern the best means of meeting and overcoming them. Having once devoted himself to the service of God among the Indians, he steadily, from the most voluntary choice, and with the purest motives pursued his object His reticence was the result of the peculiar circumstances of his life. He undertook many solitary journeys, and in the first half of his life lived at places where there was either no Bociety, or such as there was not congenial. Hence, he withdrew within himself, and lived in close communion with his unseen but ever-present Heavenly Father. In all his views he was very thorough, not impulsive nor suffering himself to be carried away by extraneous influences, nor giving an opinion until he had come to a positive and settled conclusion in his own mind. Experience invariably proved the correctness of his judgment. " He would never consent to receive a salary, or become a 44 hireling,'' as he termed it, and sometimes suffered from the need of food rather than ask the church for means to obtain it. 44 He was not only bold in God, fearless and full of courage," said Mortimer, 44 but also lowly of heart, meek of spirit, never thinking highly of himself. Selfishness was unknown to him. .He was an affectionate husband, a faithful, never-failing friend; and every lineament of his character showed a sincere, upright, benevolent and generous soul; with perhaps as few blemishes as can be expected in the best of men on this side of the grave. "

Bev. John Heckewelder

, John Heckewelder was born in Bedford, Eng., March 12, 1743. His father, David Heckewelder, was a Moravian exile who, with Christian David, emigrated to Herrnhut for the Bake of religious liberty, and afterward removed to England. John was sent to the Moravian schools till eleven years of age, when, with his parents, he sailed for America and settled at Bethlehem. He attended school two years, and was then employed for two years in field work and other manual labor at Christian Spring, a small mission near Bethlehem. He then began his apprenticeship to a cooper, and was serving it when called by Post to accompany him to the Tuscarawas, as already narrated. On his return to Bethlehem, he was assisted in establishing the new mission of Friedenshutten, and for nine years was employed at this and other stations as teacher. .In the spring of 1771, he accompanied Zeisberger to Friedensstadt, and the next year to the Tuscarawas Valley. He labored with the missions most of the time until 1798, when he became agent of the " Society of United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen." and took up his residence at Gnadenhutten. In 1792, he was appointed Associate Embassador with Gen. Putnam to form a treaty with the Indians, which was effected at Post Vincennes September 12. He was an Assistant [Embassador to negotiate with the Indians the next year, but the embassy failed. At the organization of Tuscarawas County in 1808, he was elected Associate Judge, and served until 1810, when he resigned and removed to Bethlehem, Penn. , to pass the rt mainder of his life in retirement, after having served the missionary cause with ability and fidelity for nearly half a century. He was married to Miss Sarah Ohneberg during the summer of 1780, at the mission of Salem, in what is now Tuscarawas County, and their first child was born there April 13, 1781. Heckewelderdied at Bethlehem January 31, 1821, aged nearly eighty years.

During his retirement, he wrote extensively. Among his published works are the w History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations, who once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States," and " Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohican Indians." " His life," 88ys Hon. Isaac Smucker, " was one of great activity, industry and usefulness. It was a life of vicissitudes, of perils and of wild, romantic adventure. How it abounded in hardships, privations and self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the barbarians of the Western wilderness! How earnestly, persistently, faithfully, zealously he labored to propagate that Gospel which was the chief inspiration of the exalted heroism that characterized his eventful life! Unselfishly, be exposed himself to danger; disinterestedly, he toiled to bring wild and barbarous tribes into the enjoyment of the blessings of civilization and of Christianity. It would, indeed, be difficult to over-estimate the importance or value of the labors of Rev. Heckewelder in the various characters of philanthropist, philosopher, pioneer, teacher, ambassador, author and Christian missionary. He was a gentleman of courteous and easy manners, of frankness, affability, veracity; without affectation or dissimulation; meek, cheerful, unassuming; humble, unpretending, unobtrusive; retiring, rather taciturn, albeit when drawn out, communicative and a good conversationalist, he was in extensive correspondence with many men of letters, by whom he was held in great esteem. Throughout his long life he was the Red man's constant and faithful friend, having gone forth a pilgrim, while yet in his young manhood, in the spirit of enthusiastic heroism, unappalled by danger, unwearied by fatigue and privation, and undismayed by prospective toils and self-denials, to put forth his best efforts to ameliorate their condition and bring them under the benign influence of a noble, elevating, purifying, Christian civilization."

John Roth was a native of Prussia, born in the little village of Sarmund, February 3, 1720. He was educated a Catholic, and learned the trade of locksmith. In 1748, he joined the Moravian Church at Neusalz, Prussia, and in

1756 emigrated to America. He entered the service of the Indian missions three years later. He united in marriage to Maria Agnes Pfingstag, August 16, 1770. In 1772, he became the resident missionary at Friedensstadt, Penn., and the next year accompanied the Indians of this station to Tuscawaras Talley. Here he remained but one year, returning with his family to Pennsylvania after the breaking-out of the Dunmore war. He was the minister at York, Penn., when his death occurred, July 22, 1791.

John Jacob Schmick was bora at Konigsberg, Prussia, October 9, 1714. He was an alumnus of the University of Konigsberg, and for a time pastor of the Lutheran Church at Livouia, where he became acquainted with the Moravians, and in 1748 united with them. He accompanied Zeisberger to America on the return of the latter from a visit to Europe, in response to a call of the Missionary Board. He served various missions successfully, and in August, 1773, with his wife, entered the field in the Tuscarawas Valley. He was pastor of the mission at Gnadenhutten, and in 1776 disapproved of the evacuation of Schonbrunn by Zeisberger. In August, 1777, owing to the threatened complications with hostile Indians, he returned to Litiz, Penn., where he died January 23, 1778.

John G. Youngman, or Jungman, was bora April 19, 1720, at Hockenbeim, in the Palatinate. In 1731, he emigrated with his father to America, and settled near Oley, Penn. He there joined the Moravians, greatly to the indignation of his family. In 1745, he married the widow of Gottlob Buttner, and served the church in various capacities till he became a missionary. He went to Schonbrunn in 1772. He remained there as assistant pastor until 1777, when in consequence of the Muncey insurrection, he fled to Lichtenau, and in August of that year returned with his wife to Bethlehem. He returned to the valley in 1780, and labored at New Schonbrunn until he was taken with the Christian Indians to Sandusky in 1782. He retired from missionary work in 1784, and died at Bethlehem July 17, 1808.

William Edwards was bora April 24, 1724, in the Parish of Brinkworth, Wiltshire, England. His parents belonged to the Anglican Church. In 1749, he joined the Moravians, emigrated to America, and became a distinguished missionary among the Indians. He arrived at Lichtenau in November, 1776, becoming Zeisberger's associate. The next year he took charge of Gnadenhutten mission, and in 1778 went with the converts of that station to Lichtenau, in consequence of war disturbances. He was taken with his fellow-missionaries to Sandusky in 1782, and faithfully served among the Indians until his death. In 1798, he returned with Heckewelder to the Tuscarawas Valley, and died at Goshen October 8, 1801.

Gottlob Senseman was the son of Joachim and Catherine Senseman; the latter was one of the victims of the massacre of Gnadenhutten, His father afterward became a missionary among the slaves of Jamaica. Gottlob arrived as a missionary from Pennsylvania in the Tuscarawas Valley in 1780, and was assigned to duty at New Schonbrunn, where he remained till carried into captivity two years later. He remained a faithful laborer till his death at Fairfield, Canada, January 4, 1800. o

Michal Young, or Jung, was born January 5, 1743, at Engoldsheim, Alsace, Germany. His parents were members of the Reformed Church, and in 1751 emigrated to America, settling at Broadbay, Me. Here Michael joined the Moravian society, and in 1767 proceeded to Bethlehem, remaining till called to serve the Indian mission at Salem in the autumn of 1780. He waa taken to Sandusky in 1782, and remained a faithful missionary among the Indians thirty-three years. In 1813, he retired to Litiz, Penn., where he died December 13, 1826.

Rev. Benjamin Mortimer returned with the Moravian Indians to the Tuscarawas Valley in 1798, as the assistant of Zeisberger, and remained at Goshen until after the death of Zeisberger, whose funeral sermon he preached in English. Mortimer was an Englishman. Subsequent to 1808, he became pastor of a Moravian Church in New York City, where he died November 10, 1834 Rev. John Joachim Hagen became one of the missionaries at Goshen in 1804.

First White Child Born In Ohio

The first known white native of the territory now embraced within the limits of the State of Ohio was born at Gnadenhutten exactly three years prior to the Declaration of Independence by the Congress of American Colonies. Bishop De Schweinitz, in his " Life and Times of Zeisberger," says: " A few weeks before the arrival of Schmick, there had been bora in the midst of this mission family, on the 4th of July, 1773, at Gnadenhutten, the first white child in the present State of Ohio. Mrs. Maria Agnes Roth was hie mother, and he received in baptism, administered by Zeisberger on the 5th of July, the name of John Lewis Roth." The author of this work remarks in a foot-note: M This interesting fact is established by the official diary of Gnadenhutten (in the archives of the Moravian Church), preserved at Bethlehem, Penn., which says: 'July 4, 1773. - To-day God gave Brother and Sister

Roth a young son. He was baptized into the death of Jesus, and named John Lewis, on the 5th inst., by Brother David Zeisberger, who, together with Brother Jungman and his wife, came here this morning. 9 n

Lord Dunmore's war occurred the following year (1774), causing great anxiety in the mission settlement, and, by the advice of Zeisberger, Roth, the only one of the missionaries who had children, returned with his family to Bethlehem, Penn. In the work above referred to, the subsequent history of Roth is thus given: "In this way, John Lewis Roth, the first white child born on the soil of Ohio, was brought to Pennsylvania when not quite one year of age. There his parents lived successively at Mount Joy, York, Enman's and Hebron, at all of which places his father was pastor of the Moravian Church. In 1790, his father took charge a second time of the church at York, where he died in the following year on the 22d of July. His mother died at Nazareth February 25, 1805.

" John Lewis Roth himself was educated at Nazareth Hall, and formed a member of the class of 1785, the first organized in that institution. After leaving Nazareth Hall, there are no traces of him for a number of years, until he is fonnd living on a farm near Nazareth (married), and the head of a family. In 1830, he became a resident of Bath, Penn., and joined the Lutheran Church, which the Rev. A. Fuchs gathered in that neighborhood. Of this church, he remained a consistent and worthy member. He died on the 25th of September, 1841, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and was buried in the graveyard, where his remains now lie. His tombstone bears the following inscription:

" Mr. Fuchs preached his funeral sermon on the parable of the prodigal, which text Mr. Roth himself selected previous to his death. He left five children - four sons and one daughter. " the first recorded birth of a white child within the present limits of Ohio. It is quite possible, however, that he may not have been the first bora of Ohio. A fort and trading-post was established at the mouth of the Sandusky as early as 1751 by the French, and was subsequently held by the British. Loramie's and other British trading-posts were established within the State; but probably that of Sandusky was the only one to which families could have been brought in safety. The British traders were generally solitary adventurers, who risked their own lives for the enormous profits of their traffic with the Indians. The French were more permanent in their settlements, and carried their families and priests with them. Vincennes, Ind., in 1772, numbered about 400 white inhabitants; Detroit, over 600, so that it is probable that numbers of families had established themselves at the immediate station of Sandusky; and, if so, white children may have been born there previous to 1773.

Before the publication of the w Life of Zeisberger," in 1870, the honor of being the first white native of Ohio soil had been ascribed by many to Mary Heckewelder, or Joanna Maria Heckewelder, the daughter of Rev. John Heckewelder. She was born at the mission of Salem April 6, 1781, where she remained until 1785. Her parents then sent her with the Youngman family to Bethlehem, where she was educated. In 1801, she was appointed a teacher in the Ladies Boarding School at Litiz, Penn.: but five years later retired on account of impaired hearing. Eventually she lost her hearing altogether. After the death of her parents, she took up her residence in the Sisters' House at Bethlehem, where she received many visitors, and impressed every one that approached her by her culture, gentleness, piety and child-like resignation to her affliction. She died September 19, 1868, agod eighty-seven years.

Christian David Senseman, the son of Rev. Gottlob Senseman, was born at New Schonbrunn August 30, 1781, immediately preceding the captivity of the Moravians. With his parents, he was taken to the Wyandot country in September, 1781, when only a few days old, and was never afterward a resident of Tuscarawas County territory. He settled at Nazareth, Penn., where he was for many years a merchant, and where he died in 1834.

John Conner, and perhaps other children of Richard Conner, was born at Schonbrunn and baptized by Zeisberger. Richard Conner, says Pe Schweifiitz, was a native of Maryland, who, while ranging through the Indian country, met and married a captive white girl among the Shawnees. They remained with this tribe until the close of Dunmore's war, when by the stipulations of the treaty they were surrendered and settled at Pittsburgh. Their son, however, had been retained, and while on their way to redeem him they came to Schonbrunn. Mrs. Conner remained at the mission while her husband proceeded to the Shawnees country. By the time he returned, having learned nothing of their child, she had acquired an ardent desire to remain at the mission, having a strong predilection for Indian life, and at the same time a desire for the Gospel. They remained, built a house at Schonbrunn, and after a probation of one year were admitted into the full communion of the church, at Easter, 1776. They continued worthy members. Soon after the treaty at Pittsburgh in October, 1775, Mr. Conner accompanied Col. John Gibson, an Indian Agent, and several other Americans on a tour through the Indian country. In the Shawnees territory, he discovered bis son, succeeded in ransoming him, and in the following spring returned to Schonbrunn. The Conner family followed the Moravian Indians through their misfortunes, until the departure of the latter from New Gnadenhutten, Mich., in 1786. Richard Conner was well advanced in life at this time, and remained with his family on the homestead which he had acquired at New Gnadenhutten. Some of his descendants were still residing, a few years ago, at Detroit and in Indiana.

The Gnadenhutten Monument

For fifteen years the mutilated and charred remains of the martyrs were left without sepulture. The site of Gnadenhutten grew to be a dense thicket of weeds, briers and bushes. Indians and white men alike avoided it. But in 1797, John Heckewelder, in clearing the plat of the village and surveying the tract, gathered together the scattered human skeletons and buried them. Two years later, with David Peter, Heckewelder re-interred the remains in one of the cellars of the old town. The site o'f this grave was lost in time, but in 1842 was accidentally discovered by Rev. Sylvester Wolle while digging for parched corn. The next year, on the 7th of October, the Gnadenhutten Monumental Association was organized. Rev. Wolle was the first President, and Lewis Peter, Secretary. In the first and second articles of the constitution adopted, the purpose of the society was declared to be "to make judicious and suitable improvements upon the plat of the old Indian village, and to erect on that spot an appropriate monument, commemorating the death of ninety-six Christian Indians, who were murdered there on the 8th day of March A. D. 1782." It was provided that any person paying annually $1, should be considered a member ; that the payment of $10 should constitute one a life member, or the payment of $20 a life director. The fund grew very slowly. The association was but a local society in an obscure village. In four years, only $70 had accumulated. In the fall of 1871, the amount of funds on hand was abont $1,300, and soon after the society contracted for the construction and erection of a monument at a cost of $2,000, relying upon the liberality of the citizens of Tuscarawas County to subscribe $700 for the object.

The dedication of the monument took place at Gnadenhutten on W ednesday, June 5, 1872. The stone is Indiana marble, the main shaft, one solid stone, weighing fourteen tons, rising twenty -five feet above the base. The entire height of the monument is thirty-seven feet. On the south side of the base is the inscription: "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782 ; '' on the north side is the date of dedication, "June 5, 1872." The monument is located exactly in the center of the street of the original town. Here and there through the grove remain evidences of the old cellar excavations. Close by the fence on the east side, lie entombed the remains of the Indians.

An immense crowd, variously estimated at from 8,000 to 12,000 people, assembled to witness the dedicatory ceremonies. Many of the most distinguished and prominent members of the Moravian Church were present. The oration was delivered by Rev. Edmund De Schweinitz, D. D., of Bethlehem, Penn., Bishop of the Moravian Church. At its close, a funeral dirge was chantod by the choir, and an Indian, stationed at each of the four corners with cord in hand, as the last notes of the requiem died away, detached the drapery, which fell to the ground and revealed to the gaze of the assembled multitudes the proportions of the beautiful column. The four Indians present were from the Moravian mission in Canada. One of them, John Jacobs, was the great-grandson of Jacob Schebosh, the first victim of the massacre ninety years before. No accident, or disturbance of any kind occurred to mar the sacred exercises of the day.

The centennial year of the massacre was observed at Gnadenhutten, May 24, 1882, by appropriate memorial services under the auspices of the monumental association. The weather was fine all day, and the greatness of the occasion drew together an audience of probably 10,000 people. Excursion trains were run from Steubenville and Columbus, and among other dignitaries present were Gov. Foster, Secretary of State Townsend, and State Auditor Oglevee. Henry B. Lugwenbaugh, a grandson of Rev. John Heckewelder, was present with his wife and participated in the solemn ceremonies. In the western half of the village cemetery, the location of the ill-fated Moravian village, temporary indices were erected, pointing to the location of historical buildings. Thirty feet west of the monument was a small mound, with a board labeled " Site of Mission House. " Fifteen feet east of the monument was a sign " Site of- Church." Seventy feet further east, nailed to a tree, was the inscription "Site of the Cooper-shop, one of the slaughter houses." About 200 feet south of the monument, near the cemetery fence, was a grasscovered mound, eighteen feet across and five feet in height, bearing the sign "In a cellar under this mound, Rev. J. Heckewelder and D. Peter, in 1779, deposited the bones." hill. Bishop H. J. Van Vleck delivered an address of welcome, and after other preliminary exercises, Hon. D. A. Hollingsworth, of Cadiz, the orator of the day, was introduced. At the close of his address, the audience was dismissed, and re-assembled in the afternoon to listen to addressee from Gov. Foster and other distinguished guests. The exercises closed at a late hour of the day, and the vast crowd slowly dispersed.