Christian Heinrich Rauch

1718-1763. First Moravian missionary to the American Indians. Born in Anhalt, he became a missionary under the Moravians and arrived in New York in 1740. He soon made contact with a group of Mohicans, who accepted his offer to serve as a teacher among them. Rauch located in the village of Shekomeko, and after months of severe hardships baptized several converts in the presence of Count Zinzendorf.* By 1743 the Shekomeko mission prospered, and a chapel was built, but growing white settler opposition resulted in the expulsion of the Moravians and termination of the work by 1746. Rauch then served charges in Pennsylvania and North Carolina for ten years before going to Jamaica, where he spent his last years working among black people.