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DETROIT IN 1838 BY HENRY A. FORD
The second of these, although not so long in the service as Zeisberger, became the most famous of the Moravians in America, partly by his writings on the Indians, which are still highly esteemed, and partly from his superior qualities. The historian Hildreth says: "In disposition he was like the Apostle John, while his companion, Zeisberger. partook of the spirit of St. Paul. " He was English born, but sou of a German refugee, and died at Bethlehem Jan. 31, 1823, aged 80 years. Although much associated with Zeisberger in Ohio and elsewhere, he was not a founder of the mission on the Clinton, but several times visited and labored there, and should have honorable mention in the story of its brief career.
The little party was but poorly equipped for the journey to Detroit, and had a painful time struggling on horseback through "the deep swamps and troublesome waters" of northwestern Ohio. Somewhere near the present
site of Toledo Zeisberger records: "We met to-day, as indeed every day as far as Detroit, a multitude of Indians of various nations, who were all bringing from Detroit horse loads of wares and gifts, and in such number that one would think they must have emptied all Detroit. " Arriving at the River Rouge, which he calls the "Rush, " they could not get over for want of a boat, and "had to pass the night three miles from the city, under the open heaven, but had nothing more to eat. We could see very plainly, " he adds, "the city and the whole country round about, on both sides the river, which is about a mile wide.
DETROIT MICHIGAN
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