OF LANCASTER COUXTV. 4 1 j 



peril to himself. This was one great cause of liis having hcon so long in a n.innritv 

 and of his entrance late in life into the councils of the nation; but for this, he was 

 fully compensated by living to see the destruction of an institution wlii.b ho 'loathed 

 and by receiving for his reward, and as the crowning glory of his hfc. the blessings of 

 millions he had so largely aided to make free. 



The remains of Mr. Stevens lie in Lancaster, in a private cemetery, cstablislicd by 

 an old friend, in a lot selected by liimself, for reasons as stated in the touching anil 

 beautiful epitaph prepared by himself for inscription on liis tomb: "I repose in tliis 

 quiet, secluded spot, not from any natural preference for .solitude, but finding otlier 

 cemeteries limited by charter rules as to race, I have diosen it that T might Ik- enabletl 

 to illustrate in my death the principles whidi I have advocated through a long life- 

 equality of man before his Creator." 



Weiser, Conrad,! an active, enterprising man, conspicuous in the annals of tliis 

 county from its organization till 17G0, was born in Germany, lOilO. At the age of 13, 

 in 1709, he left his Vaterland, accompanied by his father and seven brothers and si.sters; 

 with three or four thousand other Germans, they went to England; tliencc they sailctl 

 for New York, where they arrived the 13th of June, 1710. In the fall of the sjime 

 year, the father of the subject of this notice, and hundreds of German families, weio 

 transferred at Queen Anne's expense to Livingston District, where many of them 

 remained till 1713; that year about one hundred and fifty families moved to Scholiarie 

 to occupy lands presented to Queen Anne by a Mohawk chief, for the benefit of tliese 

 Germans. While residing here, Conrad Weiser's father, in 1714, became acquainted 

 with Quagnant, a chief of Maqua or Mohmrk nation. Quagnant proj)oscd to the fatlier 

 to take Conrad with him into his country, and to teacli liim the language sjiokcn by 

 his nation; the father consented, and Conrad accompanied the chief to his house in the 

 autumn of 1714. Here his sufferings, according to Weiser's own journal, were almost 

 intolerable. He was exposed to to the inclemencies of a severe M-inter, ^'pinched by 

 Tiunger and frosV'' menaced with death by the inebriated Indians, to escape which, he 

 had often to flee and conceal himself till reason was restored, and "a second tobtr 

 thotight,''' restrained their threats. Having spent eiglit months among them, and 

 acquired the principal part of tlie Mohawk language, he returned to the German colony, 

 where, as interpreter, he acquired a competent knowledge of the language, in a very 

 short time. 



Owing to a defect in the titles to their lands which involved them in difticulties. tliis 

 German colony was dispersed; some remained at Schoharie; among these was A\ eiser, 

 the interpreter, others left, in search of a new home; tlicse wended their coiu-so in a 

 south-westerly direction till they struck the Susquehanna, where they nuule canoe.s 

 freighted these with families and goods; floated down the river to the mouth of Swatara 

 creek thence they worked their way up till they reached a fertile spot in TuliK'h.xkon, 

 where they settled amidst the Indians, in 1723. 



Weiser, as stated, remained at Schoharie, till 1729, when he, liis wife and four clul.l- 

 ren left, and followed his relations and friends to Tulpchocken, wliere they were all 

 cordially received. Here he took up a tract of land within a few miles of the site of 

 Womelsdorf. 



He, as occasion demanded it, acted as interpreter between tlie Indians an.l (.erman 

 settlers. Though he had determined to spend his remaining days in i.nvate. Ins talents 

 soon attracted the attention of the Government, and his services, as u.terpreter, were 

 required, by the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Lieut. Govern. .r of Pennsylvania as early a.s 

 1731; for that purpose, Weiser accompanied Shekellany and Cehaeluiuey, In.lians«lu. 

 had returned from the Six Nations, to Philadelphia. He was called on i-eiK'ate.lly to 

 act as interpreter while pursuing the improvement of his fann. _^ 



He was a man of unbounded benevolence, and disposed ^-to hope all things. it ^as 

 IFrom Rupp's History of Lancaster County, p. 256 s<i. 



