The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Heckewelder, John

HECKEWELDER, John, a Moravian missionary, born in Bedford, England, March 12, 1743, died in Bethlehem, Pa., Jan. 21, 1823. At the age of 12 he came with his father to Pennsylvania. He accompanied Mr. Post in 1762 in his expedition to the Indian tribes on the Ohio, and in 1771 took up his residence among them as a missionary. After 40 years of missionary service, he went to Bethlehem, the principal establishment of the Moravians in America,

and there remained till his death. He wrote several memoirs on the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, the principal one being published in the “Transactions” of the philosophical society of Pennsylvania (1819). See Rondthaler's “Life of Heckewelder” (Philadelphia, 1847).