John Ettwein was born at Freudenstadt in Wurtemberg, Germany, of religious refugee stock. His great-grandfather, Jean Edwin, lost both parents in the religious persecutions in Savoy in the seventeenth century and escaped into Wurtemberg where he found a home at St. George in the Black Forest, and it was here that the grandfather and father of the future bishop were born. His mother’s parents had fled from Carinthia into Wurtemberg, and settled at Freudenstadt where many of the persecuted from the Austrian dominions were allowed to establish themselves.
Education
His parents were in humble circumstances, and John Ettwein secured only the elements of an education, becoming a shoemaker by trade.
Career
He was an attendant at the meetings of the Pietists, and in 1738, having fallen under the influence of Moravian missionaries, left his native town and joined the Moravian group at Marienborn. There he prepared himself for missionary work, and he was subsequently appointed to various offices within the Church in Germany, Holland, and England. In the last-named country, he learned the English language. In 1754 he sailed to America with his wife in the company of Bishop Spangenberg and some fifty Moravians, under the appointment of spiritual adviser to the children of the members of the Church in North America. He also undertook various missions among the Indians of the middle colonies and even as far south as Georgia. In 1763, he was placed in general charge of the Moravian work in North Carolina ; at this period, he conducted preaching tours into South Carolina and Georgia, and was also responsible for the property of the Church in these parts. While engaged in these activities, he made the acquaintance of Henry Laurens, which developed into a lifelong friendship. In 1766, he was appointed assistant to Bishop Nathanael Seidel at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and, in that capacity, continued his journey; he also traveled into New England. When it was necessary to find a new home for the Christian Indians of the Susquehanna, he led a party of them in 1772 across the Alleghanies to the settlement established by the advance party under David Zeisberger in the Tuscarawas Valley in Ohio—a pilgrimage that occupied eight weeks. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, having received only kindness at the hands of the British government and not being able to fathom the justification of the bitter hostility that arose against it, Ettwein was a pronounced Loyalist who did not hesitate to thank God in the public services on the occasion of news of a British victory. As a result, he was arrested by the Revolutionary group of Northampton County and was temporarily imprisoned at Easton. As the struggle between the mother country and the colonies progressed, he finally was able to reconcile himself to accept “the independence of the Colonies as a fact against which the Moravian Church ought not to protest” (De Schweinitz, post, p. 238). In the course of the war, he acted as the accredited representative of the Moravians in their negotiations with the Continental Congress and the Pennsylvania Assembly over the issues that arose in connection with their refusal to accept enrolment in the armed forces and to subscribe to the Test Act of the year 1777, as well as the issues arising out of their relations with the Indians and losses sustained by the Church in the progress of the war. Largely through the influence of Henry Laurens, the Moravians were freed from the necessity of taking the Test Oath. When the general hospital for the Continental Army was situated at Bethlehem, in the years 1776-77, Ettwein acted as the chaplain. In the course of the war, most of the Christian Indians whom he had led into the Ohio country were massacred at Gnadenhutten. It was a terrible blow to the Moravian mission work, but, undaunted, Ettwein prevailed upon Congress in the year 1785 to set aside 12, 000 acres in the Tuscarawas Valley as a reservation for converted natives, and in the year 1787, he was instrumental in resuscitating the “Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen”—which had been organized in 1745—and became its president. He also prevailed upon the Pennsylvania Assembly to grant 5, 000 acres for a Christian Indian reservation on Lake Erie. He died on January 2, 1802, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Bishop Ettwein was a man of great force of character, tremendously devoted to the work of the Moravian ministry, at all times outspoken in his language, but winning the respect of supporters and opponents alike by reason of his genuine qualities of manhood. He may be ranked as one of the greatest of the leaders that the Moravian Church has had in North America.
Achievements
John Ettwein has been listed as a noteworthy clergyman by Marquis Who's Who.
Religion
In the year 1784, he was elevated to the episcopacy and from that time until 1801, the year preceding his death, he presided over the destinies of the Moravian Church of North America.
Membership
In the year 1787, he was instrumental in resuscitating the “Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen”—which had been organized in 1745—and became its president.
Connections
In 1746 he was married to Johanna Maria Kytnbel; that same year saw his ordination as a deacon of a church; and in 1754 he sailed to America with his wife in the company of Bishop Spangenberg.
