Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

Page 27 text:

Iohn Conrad Weiser H696-17601 This famous Indian interpreter of Tulpehocken was the father-in-law of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who mar- ried his daughter, Anna Mary Weiser. Conrad Weiser came from Germany with his father in 1709, lived among the Indians in New York for fifteen years and was adopted by the Mohawks. His Indian name, Ta-racha-wogoa, The one who holds the reins, is indicative of his power, strength, wisdom, and authority. As official Indian interpreter for Penn- sylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia- as pioneer, soldier, diplomat and Indian agent, Weiser negotiated every treaty from 1732 until near the close of the French and Indian War. He was responsible, more than any other man, for the alliance of the power- ful Iroquois with the English against the French. At the great conference at Easton in 1757 Weiser's influence paci- fied both the Six Nations and the Dela- wares and made peace a certainty. In the words of George Washington: Pos- terity will not forget his services. General Iohn Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg 0746-18073 General Peter Muhlenberg, the eldest son of the Patriarch, is one of Pennsylvania's two representatives in the Hall of Fame at Washington. He was pre-eminently a soldier as early appeared when he left his studies at Halle University, Germany, to join a regiment of dragoons, from which he was released with difficulty by friends. This picture shows Peter at the end of his farewell sermon at Woodstock, Virginia. There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray . . . There is also a time to fight and that time has now come. Throwing back his clerical gown, he displayed the full miiltary uniform of colonel in the Rev- olutionary army. After the war Peter, now a major- general, served Pennsylvania as con- gressman, U. S. senator, Supervisor of Internal Revenue, and Collector for the Port of Philadelphia. As is recorded on his tombstone, He was brave in the field, faithful in the cabinet, honourable in all his transactions, a sincere friend and an honest man. . F

Page 26 text:

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg t1711-17871 ' Over two centuries ago there was born in Eimbeck, Germany, the man for whom Muhlenberg College is nam- ed-Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. The college may be justly proud to bear the name of Muhlen- berg-pastor, missionary, administrator educator, and man of unusual talents. So remarkable Was his youth that his native town voted him a yearly stipend while he was attending the University of Goeitingen. With other students he founded the Goettingen orphan home, which is now a large institution. From a background of orphanage and pastoral work he accepted a call to three imperfectly organized Lutheran congregations among the Pennsylvania German immigrants, at New Hanover, The Trappe, and Philadelphia, arriving in America in 1742. Braving the ele- ments in the arduous life of a pioneer pastor, he soon extended his wide- spread mission Worl-: to New York, New Iersey, and Maryland and later as far south as Georgia. Being a man of linguistic ability, he preached in German, English, Dutch, and Latin, and frequently conducted public religious services every day in the week as he traveled from one settle- ment to another. In 1748 he organized all the Lutheran churches and pastors into the mother synod of Lutheranism in America, and continued to superin- tend them for thirty-nine years. His pas- toral work was aided by his excellent tenor voice and ability in playing the clavichord and organ. In 1745 Henry married Anna Mary Weiser, daughter of I. Conrad Weiser, the famous Indian scout. Of their eleven children, we shall consider the three famous sons separately. The year 1937 marks the 150th anni- versary of the death of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. On his grave at Provi- dence, Pa., is this inscription: Who and what he was future times will know without a mounment of stone.

Page 28 text:

I-Ion. Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg C1750-1801l Frederick Augustus, the second son of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, is known to history as the first speaker of the national House of Representatives. After attending Halle, Germany, along with his brothers, he was ordained and became his father's assistant. Among his ministerial charges were churches in New York City and Pennsylvania, but his patriotic views inclined him to re- tire from the ministry and enter the Continental Congress as representative of the Pennsylvania Germans. His high character and judicial firm- ness aptly fittecl him for public service, in which he held the offices of the first President Iudge of Montgomery County, presiding officer of the Pennsylvania assembly, and four terms as representa- tive to Congress, of which he was the first and third speaker. His most famous descendant was a grandson, the Rev. Dr. William A. Muhl- enberg, the eminent Episcopalian, who is remembered as the founder of SL Luke's Hospital, New York, and St. Iohnlandf' cmd as the author of the hymns: I Would Not Live A1way and Savior, Who Thy Flock Art Leading. Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg. D.D. H753-1 8 1 st The third son of the champion of Lutheranism in North America was G-otthilf Heinrich Muhlenberg, the emin- ent botanist and philologist. At age ten he went to Halle with his brothers to study for the ministry. Ordained at an early age, he was appointed assistant to his father and served congregations in New Iersey, Philadelphia, and Lan- caster, the latter for thirty-five years. As a botanist, he was esteemed by his contemporaries and successors. Among his works are books on grasses and a catalogue of the known and naturalized plants of North America. The number of species and varieties first established by him is said to be one hundred. A number of species of plants perpetuate his name, owing to recognition of his services to science, by later botanists. Six scientific socie- ties honored him: he received his M. A. from University of Pennsylvania and his D. D. from Princeton. He also pub- lished the first German-English, English- German dictionary in America. His grandson was the first president of Muhlenberg College.