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John Heckewelder

From the Guide to the Old Moravian Cemetery of Bethlehem, Pa., 1742- 1897.John Heckewelder, 1743-1823, born March 12, at Bedford, England, the son of Rev. David Heckewelder. He became a distinguished missionary of the Moravian Church among the Indians, beginning his service in 1726 as the assistant of Post and Zeisberger; later he had charge of mission stations in Ohio and of the work in general, but on account of his wife's ill health was compelled to retire from the mission-field. He also wrote a history of the Indian Mission. In 1780 he was married to Susan Ohneberg in the chapel of the mission station Salem in Ohio, this being the first wedding of a white couple in the State of Ohio. His eldest daughter Sarah married Joseph Rice, his second daughter Susan married Christian Luckenbach. He lived to see 13 grand-children and died at the age of 80.
Birthplace: 
Bedford, England
Birth Year: 
1743
Death Year: 
1823