The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-18
AN HISTORIC SPOT
In BRADFORD COUNTY
FIRST CHURCH LOCATED NEAR
wYALUsING.
In l7eo the Early Missionaries Es.
tablished Mission Church for In
dians and Performed the First
Baptism-spot Marked By an Ap-
propriate Monument.


On June &c. 1868. near where Wya-
lusing now stands, occurred the first
Christian baptism to be performed i'm
what is now Bradford county. The
person baptized was Papunhank, a
Monsey chief of some note.
A short distance below the village of
WyalUsing near the Lehigh Valley
tracks, stands monument erected to-
perpetuate the memory of the men
who first brought religious teachings
into this region and their converts.
Count Zinzendorf, founder of the
Moravian church, came to America in
1741 from Europe and established the
Moravian settlement at Bethlehem.
He is supposed to have been the first
white man to set foot in the Wyoming
valley. In 1742 he came with an IN
terpreter and proposed to talk with the
Indians. They looked upon him with
great distrust and it was proposed to
assassinate him. A few warriors Sc
lected for the purpose approached the
tent of the unsuspecting stranger by
| night to accomplish their designs.
Peeping through an opening of his tent
they saw a huge rattlesnake crawling
over his feet without doing him any
apparent harm. while he was engaged
in writing. Considering that he was
protected by the great spirit they de-
narted without Offering him the least
molestation. To this Circumstance has
been attributed the success OF the
Moravian missionaries among the
Indian tribes.
AN OLD INDIAN VILLAGE.
In 1745 two 'Moravian missionaries
named Spangenburg and Zeisberger
made n visit to the Indians along the
| Susnuehanna river They found near
Uvalusing the remains Of an old
Indian village called Co-hon-to-to'
They learned that the village had at
one time been inhabited by tribe or
Indians called Te-ho-tach-se, upon
whom the Five Nations of INDIANS
made war and wholly eXterminated
them. the greater part being slalh'
few only being taken captive anu
odonted nv some of the families OF the
C,avupa tribe of Indians. This battl =
was fought With bows and arrows anu
ie sunnosed to have occurred not later
than 1850, as in 1641 the Dutch at Fort
Orange. on the Northern Frontier, had
.supplied the Mohawks, one of the tribes
of the Five Nations with guns.
Zeisberger returned to Philadelphia.
in 175O and induced Bishop Cammer-
hoff to accompany him on returning
exnedltion. They were deeply inter-
ested in their church work among the
Indians.
In 1852 Papunhank, Monsey Chiet
of some note, with number or taml-
lies. came to Wyalusing from the head
waters of CayuEa lake and built a
new town a little below the site of Co
hon-to-to and called it McChiwihilus-
ing Cor Wyalusing).
FRIEDENHUTTEN.
In May, l760, Christian Frederick
Post, a Polish" Prussian and missionary
of the Moravian church arrived at Nc
Chiwihilusing and established church
among the Indians. In 1866 the village
was renamed and called Friedenhut-
ten, huts of peace. From 1865 to III,
2OG Indians had connected themselves
with the mission. The lands on which
the village of ITriedenhutten was located
was sold by the "IrOQuois" to the
Christian Indians in 1866, and in 1I6S
sold the same tract to the Propretaries
of Pennsylvania. The latter sale was
for a time kept profoundly secret from
the Indians at Wyalusng, who had no
intimation of the fact until Dec. .,
when it was told them by trader
Governor Penn had promised that his
surveyors should not run lines nearer
than five miles to the village, yet IN
the spring of the next year proprietary
warrants were laid in sight Of the VIII
LACE. Afterwards the whites began
to push their settlements up the Sus-
uIehanna, and the mission became
more exposed to the irregularities, i'm
moralities and Illicit trade in ardent
spirits, which could not be checked,
and it was decided to abandon the VII
lage and remove with the CHRISTIAN
Indians to the Allegheny river, which
was done in 1872.
COMMEMORATED.
To mark the spot of Friedenhutten
and perpetuate the memory of the
Christian Indian town a monument,
hearing fitting inscriptions, was erect
ed under the auspices of the MoraVian
Historical Society in 1871, which stands
in an open field about one mile east Of
Wyausing. at what is known as Sugar
Run siding on the Lehigh Valley rail-
road.
on the northern face Of this monu-
ment is inscribed, "To mark the site Of
Friedenhutten, McChiwilusing, a set
tlement of the Moravlan Indians, be-
tween 1865 and 1772,"
On the Eastern face, "Thls stone
was erected on the 18th day Of June,
in the year Of Redemption, 1871, by
members OF the Moravian Historical
Society.N
On the western and southern face,
"And my people shall dwell In a peace
able habitation and in such dwellings
and IN quiet resting places Remember
the days Of old. consider the years Of
many generations. Ask thv Father
and He will show thee thy Elders and
they will tell thee"