Conrad Weiser
Conrad Weiser | |
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Johann Conrad Weiser, Sr. Anna Magdalena Ubelin | |
Relatives | Peter Muhlenberg (grandson) Peter M. Weiser (great-grandson) |
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Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760), born Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr., was a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) pioneer who served as an interpreter and diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native American nations. Primarily a farmer, he also worked as a tanner, and later served as a soldier and judge. He lived part of the time for six years at Ephrata Cloister, a Protestant monastic community in Lancaster County.[1]
As an emissary in councils between Native Americans and the colonies, especially Pennsylvania, during the late 18th century's tensions of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), he contributed to alliances that supported the British effort.[2]
Early years
Conrad Weiser was born in 1696 in the small village of Affstätt in Herrenberg, in the Duchy of Württemberg (now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany), where his father (Johann Conrad Weiser Sr.) was stationed as a member of the Württemberg Blue Dragoons. Soon after Conrad's birth, his father was discharged from the Blue Dragoons and moved back to the family ancestral home of Großaspach. In 1709 the boy's mother, Anna Magdalena, died of fever. Their lands had been ravaged by repeated French invasions, there was pestilence, and the people were weakened by an unusually cold and long winter. Conrad Weiser Sr. wrote for his children, "Buried beside Her Ancestors, she was a god-fearing woman and much loved by Her neighbors. Her motto was Jesus I live for thee, I die for thee, thine am I in life and death."[3]
Conrad Weiser and his family were among thousands of refugees who left German lands that year, many of them from the Palatine area. They traveled down the
Weiser senior moved his family to the
On November 22, 1720, at the age of 24, Weiser married Anna Eve Feck, a daughter of Johan Peter Feg and Anna Maria Risch. (Anna Eve Feck was born January 25, 1705, in Schoharie County, New York, and died June 11, 1781, in Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania.) In 1725 the couple followed the Susquehanna River south out of New York and settled their young family on a farm in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania near present-day Reading. The couple had fourteen children, of whom only seven reached adulthood.
Service
Weiser's colonial service began in 1731. The
During the treaty in Philadelphia of 1736, Shikellamy, Weiser, and the Pennsylvanians negotiated a deed whereby the Iroquois sold the land drained by the Delaware River and south of the Blue Mountain. Since the Iroquois had not until then laid claim to this land, Pennsylvania's agreement to purchase from them represented a significant change in the colony's policy toward the Native Americans. William Penn, who had died in 1718, had never taken sides in disputes between tribes. By this formal purchase, the Pennsylvanians were favoring the Iroquois over the claims of the Lenape (whom the English called the Delaware after the river they named after a lord) for the same land. Along with the Walking Purchase of the following year, this treaty (entered into by Penn's sons) exacerbated Pennsylvania-Lenape relations. The Lenape became disenchanted with the English colonials as a result; during the French and Indian Wars, they sided with the French and took part in armed actions against the colonists, causing many deaths. Penn's purchase persuaded the Six Nations of the Iroquois to continue to side with the British over the French in that war. Also, by that time the Iroquois nations had more trading relationships with the English in New York and Pennsylvania than they did the French, who were based further north.
During the winter of 1737, beginning February 27, Weiser was commissioned by Virginia Governor
In 1742, Weiser interpreted at a treaty meeting between the
In June 1743, following conflict between Iroquois warriors and the Virginia militia at the
In 1744, Weiser acted as the interpreter for the
Our wise forefathers established Union and Amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable; this has given us great Weight and Authority with our neighboring Nations. We are a powerful Confederacy; and by your observing the same methods, our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire such Strength and power. Therefore whatever befalls you, never fall out with one another.
Benjamin Franklin printed this speech, which some historians believe influenced development of American concepts of political unity.
After the Treaty of Lancaster, Virginia and Pennsylvania colonial officials acted as if the Iroquois had sold them settlement rights to the Ohio Valley, but the Iroquois did not believe they had done so. In 1748, Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser to
In 1750, Weiser traveled again to
Early in the summer of 1754, on the eve of the eruption in the colonies of tensions from the Seven Years' War, called the French and Indian War in North America, Weiser was a member of a Pennsylvania delegation to Albany. The English government had called the meeting, hoping to win assurances of Iroquois support in the looming war with the French. The Iroquois and seven colonies sent representatives. Because of divisions within both the British and Native American ranks, the council did not result in the treaty of support which the crown desired. Instead, each colony made the best deal it could with individual Iroquois leaders. Not only did no single person speak for the Iroquois League, but bands in each nation acted in decentralized ways in this and other wars. No single chief represented any tribe when it was at war.
Conrad Weiser negotiated one of the more successful agreements. Some lower-level chiefs deeded to the colony most of the land remaining in present-day Pennsylvania, including the southwestern part that Virginia was also still claiming.
In 1756, the government appointed Weiser and Ben Franklin to lead construction of a series of forts on the frontier between the Delaware River and the Susquehanna River. In the fall of 1758, Weiser attended a council at Easton, Pennsylvania. Colonial leaders from Pennsylvania met with the Iroquois and other Native American tribes. Weiser helped smooth over the tense meeting. With the Treaty of Easton, the tribes in the Ohio Valley agreed to abandon support for the French. This collapse of Native American support was a factor in the French decision to demolish Fort Duquesne and withdraw from the Forks of the Ohio.
Throughout his decades-long career, Weiser built on his knowledge of Native American languages and culture to become a key player in treaty negotiations, land purchases, and the formulation of Pennsylvania's policies toward Native Americans. Because of his early experiences with the Iroquois, Weiser was inclined to be sympathetic to their interpretation of events, as opposed to the Lenape or the Shawnee. This may have exacerbated Pennsylvanian-Lenape/Shawnee relations. Their alliance with the French during the war resulted in deaths of Pennsylvania colonists during the French and Indian Wars.
But for many years, Weiser helped to keep the powerful Iroquois allied with the British, as opposed to the French. This important service contributed to the continued survival of the British colonies and is believed to have helped the victory of the British over the French in the French and Indian Wars.
Other interests
Between 1734 and 1741, Weiser became a follower of
Like many other colonists, Weiser combined farming with other trades: tanner, merchant, and land speculator. He drew the plan for the town of Reading in 1748, was a key figure in the creation of
In 1756, during the
Death and legacy
Weiser died on his farm on July 13, 1760, and was buried on a small hill slightly west of his house.[8] Weiser's will bequeathed about 4,000 acres (16 km2) and part of his farm to Berks County. Shortly after Weiser's death, relations between the colonists and the Native Americans began a rapid decline. Although the British leaders tried to restrict colonial settlement to east of the Appalachians, to preserve Native American territory west of there, the colonists kept pushing into western territories and encroaching on the various nations' hunting grounds and territories. Armed conflicts increased.
Since the 20th century, the Conrad Weiser Homestead in Womelsdorf, has been partly administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and a supporters group known as Friends of the Weiser Homestead. It has been preserved to serve as an interpretive center for 18th-century farming, political and colonial history, and hosts regular re-enactments, especially of events during the French and Indian War.
Weiser and Anna's descendants continued the family's civic involvement. Their daughter Maria married
Memorials
In 1996, a daffodil was named for Weiser.
Places named for Conrad Weiser
- Camp Conrad Weiser[12][13] is a 500-acre (2.0 km2) YMCA overnight camp in Berks County.[13] Founded in 1948, it serves boys and girls aged six to sixteen.
- Conrad Weiser Area School District in western Berks County serves the townships of South Heidelberg Township, Heidelberg Township, North Heidelberg Township, and Marion Township, and the boroughs of Wernersville, Robesonia, and Womelsdorf.
- The Weiser State Forest occupies 17,961 acres (72.69 km2) on several tracts in Carbon, Columbia, Dauphin, Northumberland, and Schuylkill counties in southeastern Pennsylvania. However, since the realignment of Pennsylvania State Forest Districts on July 1, 2005, northern Berks County is no longer part of Weiser State Forest District #18.
- Berks County border to East High Street in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania.
See also
References
- ISBN 9780598446930.
- ^ Sylvester, Joe. "Historians take issue with Penn's tavern lore." The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pennsylvania), 29 October 2015.
- ISBN 1-889037-06-0
- ISBN 9780598446930.
- ^ Walton, Joseph Solomon. "Conrad Weiser and the Indian policy of colonial Pennsylvania". Historic Pittsburgh Text Collection. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
- ^ Council, Pennsylvania Provincial (3 November 1851). "Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania: From the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government. [Mar. 10, 1683-Sept. 27, 1775]". J. Severns – via Google Books.
- ^ "Request Rejected". historicpittsburgh.org.
- ^ Interpretive brochure at no. 6, available at "Virtual Tour and Map of Conrad Weiser Homestead". Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ "Reading Eagle article on closing of Daniel Boone and Conrad Weiser homesteads".
- ^ "Events at Conrad Weiser Homestead, State Historic Site located in Womelsdorf, Berks County, PA". Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Home". Friends of the Conrad Weiser Homestead.
- ^ "YMCA Camp Conrad Weiser - South Mountain YMCA - Reinholds, PA". March 2016.
- ^ a b "Summer Camps & Programs - South Mountain YMCA Camps". www.smymca.org.
Further reading
- Walton, Joseph S. Conrad Weiser & the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1900. Reprinted New York: Arno Press, 1971, ISBN 0-405-02895-4.
- Weiser, J. Conrad Early Western Journals, 1748-1765. 1904. Reprinted Wendawoods, 1998, ISBN 1-889037-12-5.
- Weiser, C. Z. The life of (John) Conrad Weiser, the German pioneer, patriot, and patron of two races. Reading: D. Miller, 1899. Reprinted Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-4179-6774-9
External links
- Philip E. Pendelton, "Conrad Weiser Homestead: Finding a Light Into the Forest", Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, Volume XXII, Number 3 - Summer 1996, e-text, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Website
- "Conrad Weiser", Berks County Website
- The Homestead Park
- The Ephrata Cloister site
- "Conrad Weiser", Pennsylvania State Archives
- "Last Day of the Lancaster Treaty Council", Simpson College, IA
- Joseph S. Walton, Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania, 1900, University of Pittsburgh, Historic Pittsburgh Website. (Weiser's importance in colonial relations with the Iroquois, p. 13. The effect of the 1736 treaties, pp. 27–29. His pro-Iroquois inclination, p. 56.)
- John Conrad Weiser Jr. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- The Weiser Family Association
- The Conrad Weiser papers, which detail his work as an Indian affairs agent and lieutenant colonel for the British forces in the French and Indian War, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.