Person:Conrad Weiser (1)

Biography

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

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.

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.

Land Warrants

Conrad Weiser helped found and lay out the town of Reading in 1748 and was instrumental in establishing Berks County in 1752. He received two land warrants for property in Reading in 1751 and 1752.

Conrad Weiser Signature

Portion of Conrad Weiser Monument

Lecture on the Life & Times of Conrad Weiser by Morton Montgomery

Muhlenberg Family Tree

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Biographies: Conrad Weiser, in USGenWeb (Pennslvania GenWeb): Berks County, Pennsylvania Genealogy
   11 Jan 2009.

   Weiser, Conrad, pioneer, was born at Afsteadt, near Württemberg, Germany, Nov. 2, 1696, son of John Conrad and Anna Magdelena (Uebele) Weiser. When he was thirteen years old, his father, having lost his wife, emigrated to America, and on June 13, 1710, arrived in New York with a party of German settlers. The son grew up among the hardships and privations of pioneer life, and lived for fifteen years with the Iroquois Indians in the province of New York. He was a great favorite among them, and became perfectly familiar with their language. Desiring to visit Pennsylvania, he proceeded to Philadelphia, where he met William Penn for the first time. He became a confidential interpreter and special messenger for the province, among the Indians, and helped to negotiate many of the important treaties between them and the proprietory government. During the heated controversy between the assembly, led by Benjamin Franklin, and the proprietors led by the governor, Weiser retained the confidence of the governor, the assembly and the proprietors in England, and his influence was an important factor in bringing the latter to temporary terms. In 1729 Weiser removed to Pennsylvania and settled in Tulpehocken. In 1737 he was commissioned by the governor of Virginia to visit the grand council at Onondaga, and he traveled 500 miles through a wilderness accompanied by a Dutchman and three Indians. In 1744 he was in like manner dispatched to Shamokin "on account of the unhappy death of John Armstrong, the Indian trader. In 1749. after Nicholas Scull had laid out the town of Reading for Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, the latter appointed Conrad Weiser to be the first named of the three commissioners to dispose of the plots by public sale. Among the lots sold he himself purchased several and about 1750 erected on one of them a two-story stone building, which was the first in the place. He had also an Indian agency and a hardware and general merchandise business, which he carried on successfully for a number of years. This was the first business place at Reading. In 1755, during alarms on the frontier, he was appointed colonel of a regiment of volunteers from Berks county. He died on his farm at Womelsdorf, Pa., July 13, 1760. The Indians, who always entertained a high respect for his character, were for years after his death in the habit of making visits of remembrance to his grave.
   
   Source: James Terry White. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women Who Are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. New York: James T. White & Co., 1910, p. 497.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Conrad Weiser, in A Cigar Label Junkie's Passion
   2005.

   "Conrad Weiser" - Colonel John Conrad Weiser, Jr., Indian Interpreter/Advisor (1696-1760)
   
   Conrad was born in Wittemberg, Germany to John Conrad Weiser and Anna Maria Uberle (who died when Conrad was 12). In 1710, Conrad and his father came to America, along with 150 other German families. They purchased land from the Mohawk Indians near Schoharie, New York. Conrad's father soon became friends with Chief Quagnant of the Mohawk who invited Conrad Jr. (age 17) to spend the winter with his tribe to learn the language and ways of his nation. After spending a year among the Mohawk he returned home and became a valuable asset as an interpreter between the Germans and the Mohawks. Several years later Conrad moved down into the Pennsylvania area. In 1731 he accompanied his friend Chief Shikellimy, overseer of the Delaware for Six Nations (this included many major tribes and sub tribes), to Philadelphia to work on treaty negotiations with Governor Gordon. In 1732 he was officially recognized as Interpreter of Pennsylvania and Head of the Indian Bureau and remained so until his death. In 1755, during the Indian outbreaks along the frontier, Weiser was appointed Colonel of a regiment of volunteers from Berks County, PA. A number of forts were constructed under his direction along the frontiers of Lancaster and Berks counties. During the "French and Indian War", he commanded the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment. The Pennsylvania Archives states that Weiser's Indian name as "Tarachawagon" or "Tasachawagon", which means "he who holds the reins". Conrad was also a business man and acquired quite a bit of property in the Pennsylvania area. At the time of his death, Conrad's estate included some 900 acres of land in Heidelberg Township, Berks County; Blue Mountain lands; and a lot in the town of Reading. In 1751 he erected a large stone home, which was also the first store in Reading. After the original building burnt down in 1907, a new facsimile was built and is now a museum to honor this unassuming national hero. At the age of 64, he died at his home on July 11, 1760.

   The info on Conrad was taken from excerpts of a book that is being written by Rhonda Hansch who is a distant relative of the Colonel. Actually he is the 11th great uncle on her Dad's, Mother's side of the family.

   Cigar Label
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church History, in Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lingletown, Pennsylvania.

   In 1723 Conrad Weiser, an Indian Agent in New York State, led a large group of German families down the Susquehanna River to a spot near Middletown. Among them were the Wenrich family, who had come to America in 1710. It was this family who later donated land for Wenrich's Church.

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Conrad Weiser, in The Berks History Center
   Article by Susan Wolf, 1957.

   Conrad Weiser was many men: Pennsylvania’s Indian Agent, a farmer, owner of a tannery, one of the founders of Reading, Pennsylvania, a colonel during the French and Indian War, a faithful husband and father of fourteen children, a monk at Ephrata, a pillar of the Lutheran Church, a promoter of Moravian missions, a hymn-writer, traveler, statesman, linguist, diplomat, and woodsman. Because his entire biography is much too vast to relate, I’d like to write about a small phase of his life-his friendship with Chief Shekilammy and the Indians. At the age of seventeen, Conrad lived with his Indian neighbors. After his marriage he lived on land adjoining that of his Indian friends. He learned their language, religion, and social customs. Because he was a good neighbor, the Indians learned to love and trust him. Shortly after Weiser and his family moved from the Mohawk Valley of New York to the Tulpehocken Valley of Pennsylvania, the powerful Six Nations of Indians sent Shekilammy, chief of the Oneidas, to rule over the Delawares. He made his home on the Susequehanna River at Shamokin, which is now Sunbury. An old tradition has it that Conrad Weiser first met Shekilammy while hunting in the woods of New York. The Indian was pleased to find a white man who could speak his language and understand Indian traditions, ceremonies, and problems. They became fast friends. Shekilammy knew of Weiser’s settlement on the Tulpehocken, and as early as 1731 paid Weiser a visit. From then on he was frequently a guest at the Weiser home. The great chief selected Weiser to go with him to Philadelphia for all negotiations with the provincial officials, to whom the chief introduced Weiser as his brother and interpreter. The Governor and Council, realizing the value of Weiser’s services, in 1731 placed him in charge of all Indian affairs. In 1737, accompanied by Shekilammy, Conrad braved flood and famine to carry peace proposals from Virginia to the Six Nations. The journey, which proved Weiser’s courage and good will, impressed the Indians so much that they named him Tarachiawagon (The Holder of the Heavens), after the chief duty of the Iroquois. Weiser and Shekilammy made a good team. Conrad had no trouble with the many Indian delegations he escorted through the province as long as Shekilammy was alive. He felt himself bound by a double loyalty to the Six Nations and to Pennsylvania. An old story says that Shekilammy once went to Weiser, saying, “I had a dream. I dreamed that Tarachiawagon gave me a new rifle.” Conrad, who owed much of his success to the strict observance of Indian etiquette, answered the dream with a rifle. Some days later Weiser said to the chief, “I too had a dream. I dreamed Shekilammy gave me a large and beautiful island in the Susquehanna.” The old chief, we are told, matched Weiser’s politeness, but then said, “Conrad, let us never dream again.” As Shekilammy grew old and feeble, Conrad Weiser gave him assistance in various ways. Five years before the chief’s death Weiser went to Shamokin with eight German carpenters to build a house for his friend. He also saw that the council gave him a present of six pounds to help him through a rugged winter. During the winter of 1748, the scarcity of food in Shamokin overcame Shekilammy, and he died in rags. Weiser continued his work with the Indians, negotiating every Indian treaty from 1732 until near the close of the French and Indian War. He was the man who convinced the Six Nations to take no part in the quarrels between the French and the English. Conrad Weiser died on July 13, 1760, at the age of 63. George Washington, commenting on Weiser’s extensive activities, said: “This departed man rendered many services to his country in a difficult period, and posterity will not forget him.” Today his homestead at Womelsdorf is the site of the beautiful Conrad Weiser State Park. As a remembrance of his great friendship with the Indians and especially with Shekilammy, today the park contains an impressive statue commemorating the great chief.

   The foregoing article was prepared by the author, a student in Reading High School, for delivery on the “Showcase” radio series of 1957-58 over WEEU. This article originally appeared in the Spring 1959 issue of the Historical Review of Berks County.

5. ↑ Conrad Weiser, in Kenny, Kevin. Peaceable Kingdom Lost
   Page 40, 2009.

   "The final architect of proprietary policy in Pennsylvania was Conrad Weiser, who moved from Germany to England with his family in 1709 and settled in upper New York the following year. Weiser’s father sent him to live with the Mohawk Indians to learn their language and customs. In 1729 he moved to Tulpehocken, in Lancaster County, joining other members of his family. Weiser entered Ephrata Kloster, the Dunker monastery near Lancaster, as a lay brother in 1735. He returned to his wife and family permanently in 1741 and rejoined the Lutheran Church. Because of his command of Indian languages he had already been appointed Pennsylvania’s official Indian interpreter, for, as Richard Peters observed, Weiser “must be supposed to know the Minds of the Indians the best.” Peters and the other members of the proprietary party needed to know Indian minds well at this time, for Pennsylvania was seeking to build an alliance with the powerful Iroquois confederacy."
   Source Citation: Kenny, Kevin. Peaceable Kingdom Lost. Cary, GB: Oxford University Press, USA, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 May 2016. (Copyright © 2009. Oxford University Press, USA. All rights reserved.)

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr, in Find A Grave: Conrad Weiser Homestead and Memorial Park, Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania
   Memorial# 30161742, Sep 28, 2008.

   Birth: Nov. 2, 1696, Stuttgart, Germany
   Death: Jul. 13, 1760, Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA
   Burial: Conrad Weiser Homestead and Memorial Park, Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA

   Perhaps the most fitting accolade bestowed on Conrad Weiser was by an Iroquois, who, speaking to white men upon the death of Weiser in 1760, lamented, "We are at a great loss and sit in darkness...as since his death we cannot so well understand one another." Who was this man who had such far-reaching influence on relations between Pennsylvania and the Iroquois Confederacy; who had access to provincial governors and sachems alike; who interpreted and negotiated treaties; who was commissioned an officer during the War for Empire; but who also sat as a country judge, served as lay minister, and prospered as a farmer, tanner, and storekeeper? Conrad Weiser was born November 2, 1696, in the German principality of Württemberg. By 1709, his father, Johann Conrad Weiser, had decided to heed Queen Anne's invitation to inhabitants of the Rhine Valley to migrate to England and to the British colonies in America. The Weiser family settled on the New York frontier and in the winter and spring of 1712-1713, young Conrad resided with neighboring Mohawks to learn the language of the Iroquois and serve as a go-between for the German community. During his years in New York, Weiser acquired a keen knowledge of the language, customs and statesmanship of the Iroquois Confederacy (or Six Nations), consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras. By 1723, Germans from the Mohawk Valley had begun the overland trek 400 miles, following the Susquehanna river to settle the Tulpehocken Valley in what is now Berks and Lebanon Counties, Pennsylvania. In 1729, Weiser brought his German-born wife, Anna Eve, and their children to the Tulpehocken region, settling on 200 acres near the present town of Womelsdorf. Over the next 31 years Weiser became a major land-holder, farmer, tanner and businessman. He and Anna Eve raised 14 children (seven of whom lived to adulthood). By the early 1730's, Weiser had become known in government circles in Philadelphia for his knowledge of the Iroquois. Provincial Secretary James Logan hired him to guide the new Pennsylvania Indian policy recognizing Iroquois dominance over the indigenous Lenni Lenape and guaranteeing a stable and safe frontier. Over the next two decades Weiser was constantly directing and implementing this policy through treaty negotiations, land purchases, and journeys to the Iroquois homeland. He worked closely with Shikellamy, who had been appointed by the Confederacy to embody Iroquois authority over the Lenni Lenape. It was through Weiser and Shikellamy that the Pennsylvania frontier remained stable and peaceful until mid-century. By 1755, however, growing competition between Britain and France had ignited a full-blown "War for Empire." Diplomacy was put aside as the Six Nations divided over which side to join. Meanwhile, the French established an alliance with the Lenni Lenape and other Native American peoples and launched raids against the eastern Pennsylvania settlements along the Blue Mountain line. Pennsylvania responded by forming provincial militia and building a line of outposts. In 1756, Weiser received a commission of Lieutenant Colonel with command of the 1st Battalion, Pennsylvania Regimen responsible for manning the line between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. He held this post until 1758. In that same year an expedition to western Pennsylvania by General John Forbes resulted in the eviction of the French and an end to the fighting in eastern Pennsylvania. Throughout his life, Weiser was active in local affairs. He served as a magistrate for Lancaster County, helped found and lay out the town of Reading in 1748, helped to establish Berks County in 1752, and was its President Judge until his death. Though a Lutheran, Weiser joined the monastic community of Ephrata Cloister between 1735 and 1741. He lived intermittently as a celibate brother, withdrawing from family and political life until becoming disenchanted with the Cloister's leader Conrad Beissel. Weiser, returning to the Lutheran Church, in which he had served as a lay minister, became a founder of Trinity Church in Reading. His daughter Maria married Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, "patriarch" of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania. At this death on July 13, 1760, Weiser owned several thousand acres, in addition to his farm, tannery and the store in Reading. Movements to honor Weiser's considerable accomplishments culminated in the establishment of the Conrad Weiser Memorial Park by the Conrad Weiser Memorial Park Association in 1928. The nationally known Olmsted Brothers landscape firm designed the park. Owned now by the Commonwealth, the Conrad Weiser Homestead is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which preserves the restored Weiser structures, graveyard and landscaped park, in addition to interpreting Weiser's life. (Biography courtesy www.berksweb.com)

7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Conrad Weiser Biographical Notes, in The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collections
   Retrieved 2 June 2016.

   "Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760) was born as Johann Conrad Weiser (Jr.) in Affstätt in the Duchy of Wurttemberg, Germany, to Johann Conrad Weiser (Sr.) (1662—1746) and Anna Magdelana Uebele (d. 1709). The Weiser family left England on December 25, 1709 and arrived in New York on June 13, 1710, where they lived at Livingston Manor in what is now Columbia County. In 1712, when Conrad Weiser was sixteen years old, his father made an arrangement with a local Mohawk chief for the youth to live with the tribe in the upper Schoharie Valley. Weiser spent the winter of 1712-1713 with the Mohawks and learned much about their language and customs. Conrad Weiser died 1760 on his farm in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania."

8. ↑ Conrad Weiser, in Pennsylvania, United States. Internal Affairs Monthly Bulletin, Vol 22, No 6/7. (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
   May-Jun 1954.

   Conrad Weiser received two warrants [Lots No. 2 & 3] in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, patents dated 15 Aug. 1751 & 6 Feb. 1752. Transcript:Conrad Weiser Land Warrants

9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760), born Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr., was a Pennsylvania German (a.k.a., Pennsylvania Dutch) pioneer, interpreter and effective diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native Americans. He was a farmer, soldier, monk, tanner, and judge as well. He contributed as an emissary in councils between Native Americans and the colonies, especially Pennsylvania. Conrad Weiser was born in 1696 in the small village of Affstätt in Herrenberg, in the Duchy of Württemberg (now part of Germany), where his father (Johann Conrad Weiser, Sr.) was stationed as a member of the Württemberg Blue Dragoons. When Conrad was 16, his father agreed to a chief's proposal for the youth to live with the Mohawks in the upper Schoharie Valley. During his stay in the winter and spring of 1712-1713, Weiser learned much about the Mohawk language and the customs of the Iroquois, while enduring hardships of cold, hunger, and homesickness. Conrad Weiser returned to his own people towards the end of July 1713. 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 Co., New York, and died June 11, 1781 in Womelsdorf, Berks Co., Pennsylvania.) In 1723 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 which only seven reached adulthood. Between 1734 and 1741, Weiser became a follower of Conrad Beissel, a German Seventh Day Baptist preacher. For six years, he lived at the monastic settlement, Ephrata Cloister, in the Ephrata Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His wife lived there only a few months before returning to their farm. Weiser visited her frequently enough to father four more children. In addition, he took leaves of absence from the monastery for diplomatic duties, such as those in 1736 and 1737. 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. During the winter of 1737, Weiser attempted to broker a peace between southern tribes and the Iroquois. Weiser persuaded the Iroquois not to send any war parties in the spring, but he failed to convince them to send emissaries to parlay with the southern tribes. Impressed with his fortitude, the Iroquois named Weiser Tarachiawagon (Holder of the Heavens). In 1742, Weiser interpreted at a treaty meeting between the Iroquois and English colonials at Philadelphia, when they were paid for the land purchased in 1736. In 1744, Weiser acted as the interpreter for the Treaty of Lancaster, between representatives of the Iroquois and the colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Like many other colonists, Weiser combined farming with other trades: land owner and speculator, tanner, and merchant. He created the plan for the town of Reading in 1748, was a key figure in the creation of Berks County in 1752, and served as its chief judge until 1760. Conrad was also teacher and a lay minister of the Lutheran Church; he was one of the founders of Trinity Church in Reading. In 1756, during the French and Indian War, the Lenape began to raid central Pennsylvania. When the colony organized a militia, its leaders appointed Weiser as a Lt. Colonel. Working with Benjamin Franklin, he planned and established a series of forts between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. In the fall of 1758, Weiser attended a council at Easton, Pennsylvania. Representation included colonial leaders from Pennsylvania, 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. Weiser died on his farm on July 13, 1760. Weiser is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on July 13. Weiser's will bequeathed about 4,000 acres (16 km²) and part of his farm to Berks County. It serves as an interpretive center for 18th century farming, political and colonial history, and hosts regular re-enactments of events during the French and Indian War. The property is administered as a state park. Weiser and Anna's descendants continued to play roles in civic life. Their daughter Maria married Henry Muhlenberg. Two of their sons had important roles in gaining independence for the United States. Peter Muhlenberg served as a Major General in the Continental Army, and Frederick Muhlenberg was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A great-grandson Peter M. Weiser (born 1781) was a member of the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-1806.