Note 8 — INTRODUCTION

[John Christopher Pyrlæus was sent by the heads of the Moravian Church at Herrnhut, Saxony, to Bethlehem, Pa., in the autumn of 1741, to do service in the Indian Mission. Having assisted Count Zinzendorf, during his sojourn in the Province in 1742, in the work of the ministry among a portion of the German population of Philadelphia, we find him, in January of 1743, prosecuting the study of the Mohawk under the direction of Conrad Weiser, the provincial interpreter, at Tulpehocken, (near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa.) This was in view of fitting himself for the office of corresponding secretary of the Mission Board at Bethlehem, and for the duties of an evangelist among the Iroquois stock of Indians, to whom it was purposed by the Moravians to bring the Gospel. At the expiration of three months he returned to Bethlehem, and in the following June, accompanied by his wife, who was a daughter of John Stephen Benezet, a well-known merchant of Philadelphia, set out for the Mohawk country, his destination being the Mohawk castle of Canajoharie. Here he remained upwards of two months, in which interval of time he visited the remaining Mohawk castles, and by constant intercourse with the Indians strove assiduously to perfect himself in their language. Such was his progress then and subsequently, that in 1744 he felt himself competent to impart instruction in that important dialect of the Iroquois to several of his brethren at Bethlehem, who were training for missionaries. In 1748, while settled at Gnadenhütten, on the Mahoning, (Lehighton, Carbon County, Pa.,) he rendered similar service. Meanwhile he had acquired a knowledge of the Mohican, and in 1745 there appeared his first translations of German hymns into that tongue—the beginnings of a collection for use in Divine worship in the Mission churches. Eight of the eleven years of his stay in this country were mainly spent in labors of the kind just enumerated. Having been liberally educated, Mr. Pyrlæus was well qualified for the work in which he engaged. Several of his contributions to this novel department of philology, in manuscript, are deposited in the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Among these are essays on the grammatical structure of the Iroquois dialects, and a collection of notes on Indian traditions. The former Mr. Heckewelder names on a subsequent page, and from the latter he makes frequent extracts. In 1751 Mr. Pyrlæus sailed for England, where he was active in the ministry of his Church until his recall to Germany in 1770. He died at Herrnhut in 1785.]