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DETROIT IN 1838 BY HENRY A. FORD
Within three days, however, by the help of snow shoes, more than a hundred deer were shot, which removed all the present fear of famine. But the streams were frozen hard, and out upon the lake, a mile from the shore, the ice was three feet two inches thick, and did not go out till May. The snow was finally five feet deep, and remained till late in the spring. Most of the season was spent in a struggle for comfort, if not for life.
The mission grew only by natural increase and the immigration of Christian Delawares formerly in Zeisberger's flock. It was started, we have seen, with but nineteen Indian souls, including children. On Christinas, 1782, he-Writes: "There were together fifty three of us, white and brown. " Many of the converts came from the Shawanese towns in Ohio the next May, and in his last entry for the year he says: "Twenty six brethern have this year
been absolved and sixteen readmitted to the holy communion. " Natural increase in 1783 did not quite keep pace with death—five against six. Among the births was Susanna, daughter of Richard Conner, born Dec. 16th, and baptized the Sunday following.
But one new communicant was received in 1784, one woman baptized, eight children born, three couples married, two adults died. At the end of 1785, the last entire year spent at New Gnadenhntten, Zeisberger was able to record only the baptism of two adult women and two girls, as many persons admitted to the communion, one child dead during the year. ''The inhabitants here on the Huron [Clinton] river are 117 Indian souls.
DETROIT MICHIGAN
Page 27
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