The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 33

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > Ohio > Tuscarawas County > The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio > Part 33

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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 fur- rowed with deep lines, yet always cheerful and pleasing. His dress was very

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plain, but scrupulously neat and clean. Except for medicinal purposes, he never used spirituous liquors. His words were few. He had adopted the reti- cence 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 auswer somewhat in the way of a speech at an Indian council.

Heckewelder, who was associated with him for many years, says : " He was blessed with a cool, active 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 cir- cumstances of his life. He undertook many solitary journeys, and in the first half of his life lived at places where there was either no society, 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 " hireling," as he termed it, and sometimes suffered from the need of food rather than ask the church for means to obtain it. "He was not only bold in God, fearless and full of courage," said Mortimer, "but also lowly of heart, meek of spirit, never thinking highly of himself. Selfishness was un- known to him. He was an affectionate husband, a faithful, never-failing friend; and every lineament of his character showed a sincere, upright, benev- olent and generous soul; with perhaps as few blemishes as can be expected in the best of men on this side of the grave."

REV. 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 sake 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

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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 Vin- cennes September 12. He was an Assistant Embassador to negotiate with the Indians the next year, but the embassy failed. At the organization of Tusca- rawas County in 1808, he was elected Associate Judge, and served until 1810, when he resigned and removed to Bethlehem, Penn., to pass the remainder 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 Ohne- berg during the summer of 1780, at the mission of Salem, in what is now Tus- carawas County, and their first child was born there April 13, 1781. Hecke- welder died at Bethlehem January 31, 1821, aged nearly eighty years.

During his retirement, he wrote extensively. Among his published works are the " History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations, who once Inhab- ited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States," and " Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohican Indians." "His life," says Hon. Isaac Smucker, " was one of great activity, industry and use- fulness. It was a life of vicissitudes, of perils and of wild, romantic advent- ure. 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 event- ful life! Unselfishly, be exposed himself to danger; disinterestedly, he toiled to bring wild and barbarous tribes into the enjoyment of the blessings of civil- ization and of Christianity. It would, indeed, be difficult to over-estimate the importance or value of the labors of Rev. Heckewelder in the various charac- ters 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, cheer- ful, 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."

Of the other missionaries who labored in Tuscawaras County, brief sketches are herewith given :

John Roth was a native of Prussia, born in the little village of Sarmund, February 3, 1726. He was educated a Catholic, and learned the trade of lock- smith. In 1748, he joined the Moravian Church at Neusalz, Prussia, and in

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Jacob Ackermann. sr:

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1756 emigrated to America. He entered the service of the Indian missions three years later. He united in marriage to Maria Agnes Pfingstag, Angust 16, 1770. In 1772, he became the resident missionary at Friedensstadt, Penn., and the next year accompanied the Indians of this station to Tuscawaras Val- ley. Here he remained but one year, returning with his family to Pennsylva- nia 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 born 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 Livonia, where he became acquainted with the Mora- vians, 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 com- plications with hostile Indians, he returned to Litiz, Penn., where he died Jan- nary 23, 1778.

John G. Youngman, or Jungman, was born April 19, 1720, at Hockenheim, in the Palatinate. In 1731, he emigrated with his father to America, and set. tled near Oley, Penn. He there joined the Moravians, greatly to the indigna- tion 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 born 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 Gnadenhut- ten mission, and in 1778 went with the converts of that station to Lichtenau, in consequence of war disturbances. He was taken with his fellow-missiona- ries 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 ar- rived 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 Fair- field, Canada, January 4. 1800. G

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Michal Young, or Jung, was born January 5, 1743, at Engoldsheim, Al- sace, 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 was taken to Sandusky in 1782, and remained a faithful missionary among the In- dians thirty-three years. In 1813, he retired to Litiz, Penn., where he died De- cember 13, 1826.

Rev. Benjamin Mortimer returned with the Moravian Indians to the Tus- carawas Valley in 1798, as the assistant of Zeisberger, and remained at Goshen until after the death of Zeisberger, whose funeral sermon he preached in En- glish. 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 Colo- nies. Bishop De Schweinitz, in his " Life and Times of Zeisberger," says: " A few weeks before the arrival of Schmick, there had been born 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 his 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: " This interesting fact is established by the official diary of Gnad- enhutten (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.'"

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 Mo- ravian 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

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he is found living on a farm near Nazareth (married), and the head of a family. In 1836, he became a resident of Bath, Penn., and joined the Lu- theran 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 follow- ing inscription:

" 'Zum Anderken au Ludwig Roth, geboren 4th Juli, 1773. Gestorben 25th September, 1841, alter 68 Jahre, 2 m., 21 tage.'

" 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."

Robert Clarke, in commenting on this occurrence, says: "This, then, is 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 born 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 " 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 alto- gether. After the death of her parents, she took up her residence in the Sis- ters' 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 resi- dent of Tuscarawas County territory. He settled at Nazareth, Penn., where he was for many years a merchant, and where he died in 1834.

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John Conner, and perhaps other children of Richard Conner, was born at Schonbrunn and baptized by Zeisberger. Richard Conner, says De Schweinitz, 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, how- ever, had been retained, and while on their way to redeem him they came to Schonbrunn. Mrs. Conner remained at the mission while her husband pro- ceeded 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 of 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 constitu- tion 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

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hand was about $1,300, and soon after the society contracted for the construc- tion 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 Wednes- day, 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 distin- guished 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 chanted 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 monu- mental 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 Anditor 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 grass- covered 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."

The assembly was called to order about 11 o'clock by Judge J. H. Barn-

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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 dis- missed, and re-assembled in the afternoon to listen to addresses from Gov. Foster and other distinguished guests. The exercises closed at a late hour of the day, and the vast crowd slowly dispersed.

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CHAPTER VI.

LANDS AND SURVEYS.

CONGRESS LANDS-DOHRMAN'S GRANT-THE UNITED STATES MILITARY DISTRICT- ITS EXTENT-THE LOCATION OF QUARTERS BY SPECULATORS-SUBDIVISION OF CERTAIN QUARTERS INTO ONE HUNDRED ACRE LOTS-CONVER- SION OF THE UNAPPROPRIATED RESIDUE TO CONGRESS LAND-WESTERN RESERVE SCHOOL LANDS-MORA- VIAN TRACTS-SURVEY OF THE GREEN- VILLE TREATY LINE.

T THE greater part of Tuscarawas County forms a portion of that tract of land known as the United States Military District. Besides the land included within that district, there are, within this county, the three Moravian tracts, an account of which has been given under the Moravian missions, and a strip three miles wide forming the eastern edge of the county, which is Congress land and part of the tract known as the seven ranges.

The first legislation of the Continental Congress, respecting the disposi- tion of lands northwest of the Ohio River, was an ordinance passed May 20, 1785, providing for the survey of townships to be six miles square. This or. dinance resulted in the survey of seven ranges of townships, bounded on the north by a line drawn due west from the Pennsylvania State line, where it crosses the Ohio River, for the distance of forty-two miles; thence south to the Ohio River at the southeast corner of Marietta Township, Washington County, and thence up to the river to the place of beginning. This tract comprises all of Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont and Monroe Counties, most of Carroll and small portions of Tuscarawas, Columbiana, Guernsey, Noble and Washington. The portion included in Tuscarawas County is in Warren, Rush, Union and Mill Townships, and comprises the western half, or three western tiers of sections, of Range 7, Townships 13, 14 and 15. Congress lands are so called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the General Government, conformably to laws and regulations enacted by Congress.

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The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 33

Author: Warner, Beers & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017