Comity at the Crossroads: How Friendships between Moravian and Native Women Sustained the Moravian Mission at Shamokin, 1745–1755

Abstract

abstract:From 1745 to 1755 Moravian missionaries maintained a presence in the Indian town of Shamokin, both pursuing their desire to minister to its inhabitants and fulfilling a request by the Oneida chief Shikellamy to operate a blacksmith shop serving the needs of the Iroquois. Though the exchange of goods and services at the smithy contributed to the civil relations between the Moravians and the Indigenous inhabitants, a close reading of the Shamokin Mission Diary reveals that it was the friendships forged between Native and Moravian women in the early years of the mission that integrated the Moravians into the community at Shamokin and won them friends. As an examination of the relationships and impact of the women present at Shamokin in this period, this article situates itself within existing research on Moravian missionary activity and gender relations in colonial Pennsylvania.