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“What will become of our young people ?” Goals for Indian Children in Moravian Missions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Extract
Eighteenth-century European writers showed a heightened awareness of childhood and children, expressed frequently in sentimental or romantic terms. Historian Hugh Cunningham lists key aspects of this sensitivity to children, which had its roots in the Renaissance and Reformation and emerged in the mid-nineteenth century's “ideology of childhood.” He includes: “a belief in the importance of early education; … a concern for the salvation of the child's soul; … a growing interest in the way children learn; and … a sense that children were messengers of God, and that childhood was therefore the best time of life.” An exemplar of this type of thinking was Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian church in the eighteenth century. Emphasizing the child's connection to the divine and portraying childhood as a special stage of life, he wrote in 1739: “Children are little royal majesties. Baptism is their anointing, and from then on they should be treated as none other than a king by birth.” Zinzendorf wrote numerous religious works for children and about child-rearing, demonstrating a deep concern for early education.
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References
1 Cunningham, Hugh, Children and Childhood in Western Society since 1500 (London, 1995), 41, 61; quotation (my translation) from Zinzendorf in Hahn, Hans-Christoph and Reichel, Helmut, Zinzendorf und die Herrnhuter Brüder: Quellen zur Geschichte der Brüder-Unität von 1722 bis 1760 (Hamburg, 1977), 276. For a discussion of Zinzendorf's writings on children and for children, see Meyer, Henry H., Child Nature and Nurture according to Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (New York, 1928).Google Scholar
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11 Gnadenhütten diary, 21 Oct. 1773, item 1, folder 2, box 144, RMM; Schönbrunn diary, 27 Jan. 1774, item 1, folder 4, box 1411, RMM; Friedenshütten diary, 5 Feb. 1769, item 1, folder 6, box 131, RMM.Google Scholar
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16 On the importance of vivid imagery to Zinzendorf, see Atwood, , “Blood, Sex, and Death,” 39–41. Friedenshütten diary, 20 May 1771, item 1, folder 8, box 131.Google Scholar
17 Friedenshütten diary, 28 Dec. 1768, 28 Dec. 1769, and 29 Dec. 1771, item 1, folders 5, 6, and 8, box 131; ibid., 24 Dec. 1768, item 1, folder 5, box 131; Gnadenhütten diary, 24–25 Dec. 1773 and 1–2 Jan. 1774, item 1, folder 2, box 144; Schönbrunn diary, 24 Dec. 1775, item 1, folder 4, box 1411.Google Scholar
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21 Zeisberger, David, “History of the Northern American Indians,” ed. Hulbert, Archer Butler and Schwarze, William Nathaniel, Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, vol. 19 (Columbus, 1910), 77. For a slightly different version, see John Ettwein, copied by Jared Sparks, [1788?], “Some Remarks and Annotations concerning the Traditions, Customs, Languages &c. of the Indians in North America, from the Memoirs of the Reverend David Zeisberger, and other Missionaries of the United Brethren,” no. 100, John Ettwein Papers, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem.Google Scholar
22 Friedenshütten diary, 22 Jan. 1769 and 8 Jan. 1770, item 1, folders 6 and 7, box 131. For more examples of the baptisms of pre-teen and early teen age children, see Gnadenhütten diary, 6 Jan. 1774, item 1, folder 2, box 144.Google Scholar
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24 Friedenshütten diary, 26 June 1769, item 1, folder 6, box 131; Zeisberger, , “History,” 80; Harrington, , “Preliminary Sketch,” 213.Google Scholar
25 Zeisberger, , “History,” 76.Google Scholar
26 Ibid.; Friedenshütten diary, 22 Feb. 1768, item 1, folder 5, box 131; Lawunkhannek diary, 12 Mar. 1770, item 1, folder 4, box 135, RMM; Schönbrunn and Gnadenhütten diary, 28 Feb. 1773, item 1, folder 2, box 1411.Google Scholar
27 Schönbrunn diary, 22 Apr. 1775, item 1, folder 4, box 1411; Gnadenhütten diary, 11 Sept. 1774, item 1, folder 4, box 144; Friedenshütten diary, 9 Sept. 1768, item 1, folder 5, box 131.Google Scholar
28 Friedenshütten diary, 8 Jan. 1769, item 1, folder 6, box 131; Schönbrunn diary, 8 Jan. 1775, item 1, folder 4, box 1411.Google Scholar
29 Schönbrunn diary, 22 May 1775, item 1, folder 4, box 1411. The Moravians told one woman seeking baptism that she must “neglect friends and children and everything that the Savior does not love” and “expect insult and enmity from such as these.” Friedenshütten diary, 3 Jan. 1767, item 1, folder 4, box 131.Google Scholar
30 For Glikhikan's family members, see Fliegel, Carl John, comp., Index to the Records of the Moravian Mission among the Indians of North America (Woodbridge, Conn., 1970), 1:150–51; and Fliegel catalog, folders 2 and 4, box 3191. Friedenshütten diary, 9 (quotation), 11, 12 Sept. 1768, item 1, folder 5, box 131. There were a few occasions when the Moravians rejected Indians who seemed to want to join the missions only to be with their family members. See Friedenshütten diary, 12 May 1770, item 1, folder 7, box 131. More often than not, however, the Moravians accepted Indians who had many family connections in the missions.Google Scholar
31 Heckewelder, , History, 116.Google Scholar
32 “Bruder Ettweins Bericht von seinem Besuch in Langunto Utenünk an d. Beaver Cr. u. Welhik Tuppeeck am Muskingum [?], 1772,” 12 Aug.-25 Sept. 1772, no. 115, Ettwein Papers.Google Scholar
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36 Friedenshütten diary, 7, 9, and 17 Dec. 1769, item 6, folder 6, box 131; ibid., 7 Jan. and 20 Dec. 1770, item 1, folder 7, box 131; ibid., 18 Jan. 1771, item 1, folder 8, box 131; Schönbrunn diary, 4 Dec. 1775, item 1, folder 4, box 1411.Google Scholar
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