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"A few days afterwards, a number of
other prisoners were brought to the camp, among whom were
several more children. The woman was sent for and one
supposed to be hers was produced for her. At first sight
she was uncertain, but viewing the child with great
earnestness, she soon recollected its features; and was so
overcome with joy, that literally forgetting her sucking child
she dropped it from her arms, and catching up the new found
child in an ecstacy, pressed it to her breast, bursting into
tears, and carried it off unable to speak for joy. The
father seizing up the babe she had let fall, followed her in
no less transport and affection.
But it may be said, "the Moravians
had settled at Bolivar in 1761, and children may have been
born unto them!" This inquiry is easily answered.
Prior to 1764 there were but two white Moravians in Ohio,
Heckewelder and Post. Heckewelder did not marry until
1780, and Post was married to an Indian Squaw. Add to
this, the fact there were no white women in the Moravian
settlements, prior to the year 1764, and we think the answer
is complete. If any white children either French,
English or American, were born within the limits of Ohio
before the year 1764, we have been unable to find evidences of
the fact. We think therefore we are safe in stating that
the child of the Virginia captive, born in 1764, was the first
known white child born in Ohio.
In 1772, John George Jungmann and
wife arrived at Shoenbrun, O., from Bethlehem, Pa.
Jungmann was a Moravian Missionary, and his wife was the first
married white woman who came West among the Christian Indians.
In April 1773, John Roth and wife
reached Gnadenhutten, O. Roth was also a missionary,
sent out by the Moravian Church. Nearly three months
after her arrival, Mrs. Roth gave birth to a son of
Gnadenhutten, who was named John Lewis Roth. His birth
occurred on the 4th of July, 1773, and he was baptized on the
5th, by the Rev. David Zeisberger.
In the life of Zeisberger, by Bishop
DeSchweinitz, will be found an interesting biographical notice
of John Lewis Roth, as well as sketches of his father and
mother.
When John Lewis was one month old,
August 1773, his parents removed from Gnadenhutten to
Shoenbrun. At that place Mr. Roth labored for nearly a
year, with marked success. His converts were many, which
filled his heart with great joy and gratitude to God. It
was at this time that Dunmore's war broke out. The
Christian Indians were threatened, the missionaries' lives
were despaired of, the entire destruction of all the Moravian
towns daily looked for. In this trying moment Zeisberger
recommended Roth to return to Pennsylvania with his family.
This advice was followed. Mr. and Mrs. Roth reached
Bethlehem in June, 1774, when their infant son, John Lewis,
was less than a year old. Mr. Roth continued in the
service of the Moravian Church many years, being successfully
employed at Mount Joy, York, July 22d, 1790. Mrs. Roth
died at Nazareth, February 25th, 1805.
John Lewis Roth, whom Bishop
DeSchweinitz and Judge Blickensderfer claim to have been the
first white child born in Ohio, was educated at Nazareth Hall,
Bethlehem, Pa. At an early age he married and settled on
a farm near Nazareth, Pa., where he lived until his 63d year.
In 1836, he removed to Bath, Pa., and while residing there
joined the Lutheran Church, of which the Rev. A. Fuchs was
pastor. Mr. Roth was an exemplary Christian, and brought
up his children in the love and fear of God. He died
September 25th, 1841, and is buried in the cemetery at Bath,
where a small marble tombstone bears this inscription:
"Zum Andenken an Ludwig Roth, geboren
4th Juli, 1773. Gestorben, 25th September, 1841, Alter
68 Jahre, 2 M. 21 Tage."
The village of Gnadenhutten where Mr. Roth was born was
situated on the Tuscarawas river, in Clay township, Tuscarawas
county, Ohio, not far from the outskirts of the present town
of Gnadenhutten. It was there that the horrible massacre
of Christian Indians took place in March, 1782.
The next white birth in Ohio, is
founded upon the assertion made by Mr. Henry Howe, in his
"Ohio Historical Collections," page 437. He says "Mr.
Dinsmoore, a planter of Boone county, Ky., orally informed us
that in the year 1835, when residing in the parish of
Terre-Bonne, La., he became acquainted with a planter named
Millehomme, who informed him that he was born in the forest,
on the head waters of the Miami, on or near the Loramie
Portage, about hte year 1774. His parents were Canadian
French, then on their route to Louisiana."
We know nothing of the facts in this
case other than as given by Mr. Howe. We presume he
considered the statement of Mr. Dinsmoore reliable, or it
would not have found a place in his valuable work.
Early in the year 1780, the Moravian
Church at Bethlehem sent to the Ohio Missions as teacher, Miss
Sarah Ohneberg. She was a young woman of fine education,
amiable disposition and unaffected Christian piety. Soon
after her arrival at Shoenbrun, she was the recipient of
marked attentions
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