Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Cammerhoff, John Frederick

CAMMERHOFF, John Frederick, Moravian bishop, b. near Magdeburg, Germany, 28 July, 1721; d. 28 April, 1751. He was educated at Jena, and when but twenty-five years of age was consecrated a bishop, 25 Sept., 1746, in London, and sent to America as Bishop Spangenberg's assistant. He began his work with enthusiasm, helping to superintend the churches, going out to preach to the settlers of Pennsylvania and New York, and promoting the mission among the Indians. His friendly ways and great zeal made such an impression upon the aborigines that the Iroquois formally adopted him into the Turtle tribe of the Oneida nation, giving him the name of Gallichwio, or “A Good Message.” He frequently visited the Indian country, and gained many converts. In 1750 he undertook a visit to Onondaga, the capital of the Six Nations, enduring hardships and dangers with the fortitude of an apostle. His journal of this tour, which occupied three months, and embraced a distance of 1,600 miles, is full of startling incidents and hair-breadth escapes. Cammerhoff's physical frame was too weak to bear the strain of such journeys, and he died at the age of twenty-nine. When the Iroquois heard of his death, they mourned for him as for a brother. “He was,” they said, “an honest, upright man, in whose heart no guile was found.” Thirty-one years later, Zeisberger, apostle of the western Indians, heard his name mentioned among them with deep respect. He was a fine scholar and a powerful orator.