Famous Americans

Famous Pennsylvanians

Johann Conrad Weiser

1696 - 1760

Conrad Weiser was born in Germany.

His mother died when he was thirteen, and a year later his father moved the family to America.

The family settled on the frontier of New York State.

When Conrad was 16, his father sent him to live with the Mohawk Indians.

While he was with the Indians, Conrad learned the language, customs and diplomacy of the Six Nations of Indians.

When Conrad was 24, he married Anna Feck and moved south into the frontier of eastern Pennsylvania.

Conrad and Anna Weiser bought a farm in Berks County near the city of Reading, and began to raise a family.

They had 14 children, seven of which lived to adulthood.

In 1731, Conrad began his service to the Colony of Pennsylvania.

He had met the Iroquois Indian, Chief Shikellamy on a hunting trip.

Now, the two, Conrad Weiser and Chief Shikellamy traveled together to Philadelphia for a council between the Indians and the Colonists.

Conrad Weiser was an excellent interpreter and was trusted by the Indians because he had lived with the Mohawks.

During the council, a treaty was negotiated in which the Six Nations sold a large piece of land between the to the Pennsylvania Colonists.

Sadly, the Iroquois did not own the land they sold. It belonged to the Lenne Lenape tribe who were part of the Delaware Nation.

The Iroquois, who were a large and powerful nation, forced the Lenne Lenapes off their land to move west to the Ohio River Valley.

The Lenne Lenapes got even during the French and Indian War.

For many decades, Conrad Weiser was present at the councils between the Six Nations and the Pennsylvania Colonists.

Conrad Weiser traveled to all the Indian capitals and negotiated many treaties.

He and Chief Shikellamy kept the peace between the colonists and the Six Nations of Indians.

Conrad Weiser urged the Six Nations on the side of the British during the French and Indian War.

After Conrad Weiser died, an Iroquois Chief told the colonists:

"We are at a great loss and sit in darkness ... as since his death we cannot so well understand one another".

The peace that Conrad Weiser had forged between the Indians and the Colonists went away with his death.

Netlinks for Conrad Weiser

Wikipedia: Conrad Weiser

Berks Web: Conrad Weiser Homestead

Berks Web: Conrad Weiser Biography

Encyclopedia Britannica: Conrad Weiser

Encyclopedia.Com: Conrad Weiser

Google Online Books: The Life of (John) Conrad Weiser

Google Online Books: Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania