Friedensstadt — City of Peace
Indian name – Languntoutenunk
( on N. 18 Rt., North of Wampum Village)
In April 1770, accepting an invitation from three Delaware (Lenni Lenape) Chiefs to move to the Beaver Valley, the members of the Moravian mission lead by David Zeisberger, traveling in 15 canoes, went down the Alligheny River, on down the Ohio, and up the Beaver River , where the mission village of Friedensstadt was found.
The missionaries encouraged the Indian’s sports, all except warfare, went with them on hunting and fishing trips, and lived the life of their Indian friends.
The Christian Indians, however, were surrounded by far more numerous pagans, their own kinsmen, who mocked at them for doing women’s work, who under the influence of liquor insulted and injured them, and who even in sober moments rebuked and condemned them for deserting the folkways of their tribe.
The Indians saw and admired the consistency with which the missionaries practiced their own doctrines, but it must have been hard for them to credit the power of the white man’s religion when they saw people professing that religion engaged in bloody wars and even attempting to enlist the Indians against their enemies.
Open warfare became an immediate treat, and so the missionaries and their Indians converts decided to accept a kind offer from the Indian Chiefs in Tuscarawas Valley in Ohio.
In April 1773 , the congregation held ” a solemn baptismal transaction which closed the public worship of the congregation at Friedensstadt and praise and thanksgiving was offered” .
The following day the church was leveled.
