Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Lederer, John

LEDERER, John, traveller. He explored the Alleghany mountains in 1669-'70. and wrote in Latin an account of his discoveries, which was translated by Sir William Talbot with the title “The Discoveries of John Lederer in Three Several Marches from Virginia to the West of Carolina and other Parts of the Continent; begun in March, 1669, and ended in September, 1670. Together with a General Map of the whole Territory which he traversed” (London, 1672). The translator says in the preface that Lederer's presumption in going “where Englishmen never had been, and whither some refused to accompany him,” brought on him “affronts and reproaches” in Virginia, so that he was obliged to flee to Maryland. Here he became known to Talbot, who, though at first prejudiced against him by popular report, found him “a modest, ingenious person and a pretty scholar,” and determined to vindicate him by translating his account of his travels. Lederer appears to have reached only the “top of the Apalatean mountains,” but gives reasons for supposing that “they are certainly in a great error who imagine that the continent of North America is but eight or ten days' journey over from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean.” Sir William's volume is rare.