Conrad Weiser
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Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 - July 13, 1760) was a German pioneer who flourished in Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century.
He was born Johann Conrad Weiser in the German state of Württemberg. His family moved to New York by 1709. The youth spent two years living with the Mohawk Indians to learn the Iroquois language and customs. He later applied this knowledge in treaty negotiations, land purchases, and helping to guide Pennsylvania's Indian policy.
In 1720 he married a young German girl, Anna Eve Feck. In 1729 the couple followed the Susquehanna river south and settled their young family on a farm near what is now Reading, Pennsylvania. The couple had fourteen children, but only seven reached adulthood.
He followed a mixed career as a farmer, land owner and speculator, tanner, and merchant. He created the plan for the town of Reading in 1748, was a key figure in the creation of Berks County in 1752 and served as its chief judge until 1760. He attended the Albany Congress in 1754, and arranged additional land purchases from the Iroquois. Conrad was also teacher and a lay minister of the Lutheran Church, and founded Trinity Church in Reading.
In 1756 the looming French and Indian War began with raids along the frontier by the Lenni Lenape Indians. Pennsylvania organized a militia, and Conrad was made a Lt. Colonel. He established and manned a series of forts between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. When General Forbes evicted the French from Fort Duquesne in 1758 the threat subsided.
When he died at his farm, he willed about 4,000 acres (16 km²) and part of his farm to Berks County. The Olmsted Brothers landscaped this park in 1928 and it remains a State Park today.
Conrad and Anna's daughter Maria was married to Henry Muhlenberg, and two of their grandsons had important roles in gaining independence for the United States. Peter Muhlenberg served as a Major General in the Continental Army and Frederick Muhlenberg was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
His great-grandson Peter M. Weiser (born 1781) was a member of the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-1806.
External links
- The Homestead Park (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/weiserhome/page8.asp?secid=31)
- Weiser in the Pennsylvania Archives (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/weiser/page1.asp?secid=31)