94 



[March 21, 



A letter from Rev. F. A. Muhlenberg, D. D., accompanying 

 his donation of the botanical note books of his grandfather, 

 Rev. Henry E. Muhlenberg, a former member of this Society, 

 and the letters to him of Rev. Christian Fr. Denke, a Moravian 

 missionary.* 



Botanical Journals, etc., by Dr. Henry E. Muhlenberg ; born Nov. 17, 

 1753, died at Lancaster, Pa., May 23, 1815 ; presented to the American 

 Philosophical Society, of which he was a member, by his grandson, Dr. 

 F. A. Muhlenberg, March 21, 1890: 



1. Botanice. 



2. Book of descriptions, without title. 



3. Plants not determined, according to Linnaeus' System, etc., 1788. 



4. Folia plantarum Lancast. and a catalogue of the plants of North 



America, 1808. 



5. Tage Buch, 1784. 



6. Tage Buch, 1785. 



7. Noten Buch, 1785. 



8. Tage Buch, 1786-S9. 



9. Catalogus arborum et fruticum America? Septentrionalis. 

 10. Cryptogamia Lancastriensis, 1791. 



1. Filices. 

 II. Musci. 

 III. Fungi. 



contains, also, Lichens Lancastriensis, etc. 



* There is no autobiography in existence of Christian Fr. Denke ; but, from informa- 

 tion gained from conversations with Denke and others, a biographical sketch of Chris- 

 tian Heinrich Denke was published in " Nachrichten aus der Briider Gemeinde," 1841, 

 Heft iii, pages 467-477. (The name Heinrich is either a mistake, or possibly Denke may 

 have been baptized Christian Friedrich Heinrich. I have not yet examined the baptis- 

 mal records in Bethlehem). Denke was born at Bethlehem, Pa., September 8, 1775, and 

 was sent to Nazareth Hall in 1785, remained there after his father's death, and afterwards 

 was appointed one of the teachers. In 1797, he resolved to become a missionary among 

 the Indians. After having been ordained Deacon in Bethlehem, he left May, 1800, with 

 Heckewaelder for Gosen on the Muskiagum, remained here until August, studying the 

 Delaware language, and then went to Fairfield in Upper Canada, commencing in June, 

 1801, his labors among the Chippeways. He translated into the Delaware language vari- 

 ous parts of the Bible, of which the Epistles of St. John were printed. In 1803, he re- 

 turned to Pennsylvania, married August 7, at Lititz, Anna Maria Heckedorn, went back 

 to Canada, 1804 to Youngquakamick, 1807 to Pettquoting, then back to Fairfield. After 

 the burning of Fairfield in autumn, 1813, he fled to Delawaretown. In September, 1815, 

 he began to build New Fairfield, but returned to Bethlehem in 1818. Receiving a call 

 as pastor to Hope, in the Wachau, he reached Salem, N. Car., in summer, 1820 ; in 1S22, 

 he became pastor at Friedberg, but retained charge also of the small congregation in 

 Hope. His wife died in 1828, and September 12, he married Marie Steiner. 1832, he 

 retired from his spiritual labors, and intended to again devote his time to botany and 

 other branches of natural science. 1834, symptoms of dropsy appeared ; his right side 

 was paralyzed in November, 1S37, and he died at Salem, January 12, 1838. 



John M. Maisch. 



