Conrad Weiser Conrad Weiser ( November 2 , 1696 – July 13 , 1760 ) , born Johann Conrad Weiser , Jr . , was a Pennsylvania German ( a . k . a . , Pennsylvania Dutch ) pioneer , interpreter and effective diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native Americans . He was a farmer , soldier , monk , tanner and judge . He contributed as an emissary in councils between Native Americans and the colonies , especially Pennsylvania , during the 18th century ' s tensions of the French and Indian War ( Seven Years ' War ) . Early years . Conrad Weiser was born in 1696 in the small village of Affstätt in Herrenberg , in the Duchy of Württemberg ( now part of Germany ) , where his father ( Johann Conrad Weiser , Sr . ) was stationed as a member of the Württemberg Blue Dragoons . Soon after Conrad ' s birth , his father received a discharge from the Blue Dragoons and moved back to the family ancestral home of Großaspach . In 1709 fever claimed the life of his mother , Anna Magdalena , after the land and people were ravaged by French invasions related to religious wars , pestilence , and an unusually cold and long winter . Conrad Weiser ( senior ) wrote for his children , " Buried beside Her Ancestors , she was a god - fearing woman and much loved by Her neighbors . Her motto was Jesus I live for thee , I die for thee , thine am I in life and death . " Conrad Weiser and his family were among thousands of refugees who left German lands that year , many of them from the Palatine area . They traveled down the Rhine River and then to England , which had offered some support for the Protestant refugees . Thousands of Palatine German refugees made their way to London seeking escape from the harsh conditions ; there were so many that the English had to make a camp for them outside the London walls for the winter . The following year in 1710 , the Crown ( under Queen Anne ) arranged for transport in ten ships of the nearly 3 , 000 Germans to the New York colony . The Crown supported migration of the immigrants to help settle the New York colony . The plan was that they would work off their passage in a form of indenture in camps devoted to producing ships ' stores , such as tar and other materials . Later they would be allowed to trade their work for land . Most of the Germans were first located in what were called the East and West Camps on the Hudson River , near Livingston Manor . It was not until 1723 that some 100 heads of families received land grants in the central Mohawk Valley , under Governor Burnetsfield . Weiser senior managed to get his family to the Schoharie Valley earlier than that . When Conrad was 16 , his father agreed to a chief ' s proposal for the youth to live with the Mohawks in the upper Schoharie Valley . During his stay in the winter and spring of 1712 - 1713 , Weiser learned much about the Mohawk language and the customs of the Iroquois , while enduring hardships of cold , hunger , and homesickness . Conrad Weiser returned to his own people towards the end of July 1713 . On November 22 , 1720 , at the age of 24 , Weiser married Anna Eve Feck , a daughter of Johan Peter Feg and Anna Maria Risch . ( Anna Eve Feck was born January 25 , 1705 in Schoharie Co . , New York , and died June 11 , 1781 in Womelsdorf , Berks Co . , Pennsylvania . ) In 1723 the couple followed the Susquehanna River south out of New York and settled their young family on a farm in Womelsdorf , Pennsylvania near present - day Reading . The couple had fourteen children , of which only seven reached adulthood . Service . Weiser ' s colonial service began in 1731 . The Iroquois sent Shikellamy , an Oneida chief , as an emissary to other tribes and the British . Shikellamy lived on the Susquehanna River at Shamokin village , near present - day Sunbury , Pennsylvania . An oral tradition holds that Weiser met Shikellamy while hunting . In any case , the two became friends . When Shikellamy traveled to Philadelphia for a council with the province of Pennsylvania , he brought Weiser with him . The Iroquois trusted him and considered him an adopted son of the Mohawks . Weiser impressed the Pennsylvania governor and council , which thereafter relied heavily on his services . Weiser also interpreted in a follow - up council in Philadelphia in August , 1732 . During the treaty in Philadelphia of 1736 , Shikellamy , Weiser and the Pennsylvanians negotiated a deed whereby the Iroquois sold the land drained by the Delaware River and south of the Blue Mountain . Since the Iroquois had not until then laid claim to this land , Pennsylvania ' s agreement to purchase from them represented a significant change in the colony ' s policy toward the Native Americans . William Penn , who had died in 1718 , had never taken sides in disputes between tribes . By this formal purchase , the Pennsylvanians were favoring the Iroquois over the claims of the Lenape / Delawares for the same land . Along with the Walking Purchase of the following year , this treaty ( entered into by Penn ' s sons ) exacerbated Pennsylvania - Lenape relations . The Lenapes became disenchanted with the English colonials as a result ; during the French and Indian Wars , they sided with the French and caused many colonial deaths . Penn ' s purchase persuaded the Iroquois to continue to side with the British over the French . During the winter of 1737 , beginning February 27 , Weiser was commissioned by Governor William Gooch to attempt to broker a peace between southern tribes and the Iroquois . He and his German companion , Stoffel Stump , had to survive high snow , freezing temperatures and starvation rations just to make the six - week journey to the Iroquois capital of Onondago . Weiser persuaded the Iroquois not to send any war parties in the spring , but he failed to convince them to send emissaries to parlay with the southern tribes . Impressed with his fortitude , the Iroquois named Weiser " Tarachiawagon " ( Holder of the Heavens ) . Spill - over violence from a war between the Iroquois and southern tribes such as the Catawba would have drawn first Virginia , and then Pennsylvania , into conflict with the Iroquois . Therefore this peace - brokering had a profound effect on Native American / colonial relations . In 1742 , Weiser interpreted at a treaty meeting between the Iroquois and English colonials at Philadelphia , when they were paid for the land purchased in 1736 . During this council , the Iroquois Onondaga chief Canasatego castigated the Lenape / Delawares for engaging in land sales . He ordered them to remove their settlements to either Wyoming or Shamokin village . This accelerated the Lenape migration to the Ohio Valley , which had begun as early as the 1720s . There , they were positioned to trade with the French . At the same time , they launched raids as far east as the Susquehanna River during the French and Indian Wars . In 1744 , Weiser acted as the interpreter for the Treaty of Lancaster , between representatives of the Iroquois and the colonies of Pennsylvania , Maryland and Virginia . During the final day of the treaty , on July 4 , Canasatego , the Onondaga chief , spoke of the Iroquois concepts of political unity : " Our wise forefathers established Union and Amity between the Five Nations . This has made us formidable ; this has given us great Weight and Authority with our neighboring Nations . We are a powerful Confederacy ; and by your observing the same methods , our wise forefathers have taken , you will acquire such Strength and power . Therefore whatever befalls you , never fall out with one another . " Benjamin Franklin printed this speech , which influenced American concepts of political unity . After the Treaty of Lancaster , both the Virginia and Pennsylvania colonial officials acted as if the Iroquois had sold them settlement rights to the Ohio Valley , but the Iroquois did not believe they had done so . In 1748 , Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser to Logstown , a council and trade village on the Ohio River . Here he held council with chiefs representing 10 tribes , including Delawares , Shawnees , and the Iroquois . He arrived at a treaty of friendship between Pennsylvania and these tribes . Threatened by this development and the continued activity of British traders in the Ohio Valley , the French redoubled their diplomatic efforts . In addition , they began to build a string of forts to protect their interests , culminating in Fort Duquesne in 1754 at present - day Pittsburgh . In 1750 , Weiser traveled again to Onondaga , where he found the political dynamics in the Six Nations had shifted . Canasatego , always pro - British , had died . Several Iroquois tribes were leaning toward the French , although the Mohawks remained pro - British . Early in the summer of 1754 , on the eve of the eruption in the colonies of tensions from the Seven Years ' War , called the French and Indian War in North America , Weiser was a member of a Pennsylvania delegation to Albany . The English government had called the meeting , hoping to win assurances of Iroquois support in the looming war with the French . Present were representatives of the Iroquois and seven colonies . Because of divisions within both the British and Native American ranks , the council did not result in the treaty of support which the crown desired . Instead , each colony made the best deal it could with individual Iroquois leaders . Conrad Weiser was able to negotiate one of the more successful agreements . Some lower - level chiefs deeded to the colony most of the land remaining in present - day Pennsylvania , including the southwestern part still claimed by Virginia . In 1756 , the government appointed Weiser and Ben Franklin to lead construction of a series of forts between the Delaware River and the Susquehanna River . In the fall of 1758 , Weiser attended a council at Easton , Pennsylvania . Representation included colonial leaders from Pennsylvania , the Iroquois and other Native American tribes . Weiser helped smooth over the tense meeting . With the Treaty of Easton , the tribes in the Ohio Valley agreed to abandon support for the French . This collapse of Native American support was a factor in the French decision to demolish Fort Duquesne and withdraw from the Forks of the Ohio . Throughout his decades - long career , Weiser built on his knowledge of Native American languages and culture . He was a key player in treaty negotiations , land purchases , and the formulation of Pennsylvania ' s policies towards Native Americans . Because of his early experiences with the Iroquois , Weiser was inclined to be sympathetic to their interpretation of events , as opposed to the Lenape or the Shawnees . This may have exacerbated Pennsylvanian - Lenape / Shawnee relations , with bloody consequences in the French and Indian Wars . Nevertheless , for many years , Weiser helped to keep the powerful Iroquois allied with the British as opposed to the French . This important service contributed to the continued survival of the British colonies and the eventual victory of the British over the French in the French and Indian Wars . Other careers . Between 1734 and 1741 , Weiser became a follower of Conrad Beissel , a German Seventh Day Baptist preacher . For six years , he lived at the monastic settlement , Ephrata Cloister , in the Ephrata Township , Lancaster County , Pennsylvania . His wife lived there only a few months before returning to their farm . Weiser visited her frequently enough to father four more children . In addition , he took leaves of absence from the monastery for diplomatic duties , such as those in 1736 and 1737 . Like many other colonists , Weiser combined farming with other trades : tanner , merchant , land owner and speculator . He drew 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 . Conrad Weiser was also a teacher and a lay minister of the Lutheran Church , and one of the founders of Trinity Church in Reading . In 1756 , during the French and Indian War , the Lenape began to raid central Pennsylvania . When the colony organized a militia , its leaders appointed Weiser as a Lt . Colonel . Working with Benjamin Franklin , he planned and established a series of forts between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers . When General Forbes evicted the French from Fort Duquesne in 1758 , the threat subsided and Britain later gained all territory east of the Mississippi River at the Treaty of Paris following their success in the Seven Years War . Death and legacy . Weiser died on his farm on July 13 , 1760 . Upon his death , one Iroquois Indian noted to a group of colonists , " We are at a great loss and sit in darkness . . . as since his death we cannot so well understand one another . " Indeed , shortly after Conrad Weiser ' s death , relations between the colonists and the Native Americans began a rapid decline . Weiser ' s will bequeathed about 4 , 000 acres ( 16 km² ) and part of his farm to Berks County . Now partly administered by the state , it continues to serve as an interpretive center for 18th century farming , political and colonial history , and hosts regular re - enactments , especially of events during the French and Indian War . Weiser and Anna ' s descendants continued the family ' s civic involvement . Their daughter Maria married Henry Muhlenberg . Their son Peter Muhlenberg became a Major General in the Continental Army during the American Revolution , and Frederick Muhlenberg served as the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives . A great - grandson , Peter M . Weiser ( born 1781 ) , joined the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 - 1806 . He has a great times eight granddaughter named Suzane Gausmen . Places named for Conrad Weiser . Weiser ' s major contribution to history was his service as an emissary between the British colonies and the Native Americans , especially the Iroquois . This service had direct and powerful influence over the histories of the French and British empires , the Native American peoples , and the United States . Veneration . Weiser is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church ( USA ) on July 13 . Weiser was honored in 1996 by a daffodil being named for him .