John George Jungman was a clergyman, Moravian missionary. He promoted influence of community at Bethlehem, realised many missionary enterprises in the United States.
Background
George was born on April 19, 1720 at Hockenheim in Baden (now Germany). He was a descendant of French Protestants. His mother's death when he was less than five affected him deeply, making him unnaturally serious. His father, a cooper by trade, was probably that Johann Dietrich Jungmann who landed in Philadelphia May 15, 1732.
When Jungman was eleven years old the family undertook to emigrate to Pennsylvania, landing in Rhode Island after twenty-five weeks at sea. His stepmother and three sisters succumbed to the extreme privations of the journey; the survivors were fed by Indians, who thus won from the boy a gratitude which resulted in a lifelong devotion to their race. When the Jungmans at last arrived in Philadelphia, friends cared for their needs until they were settled on their own land in Oley.
Education
His father taught John the rudiments of arithmetic and "singing from notes, " and encouraged characteristics of piety and diligence.
Career
John took care and the responsibility of the farm in Oley while his father practiced his trade.
In 1742 the young man first came in contact with the Moravians, and was, as he tells us, "awakened" to a new religious life. After trying in vain to reconcile his father to his plan, he decided to join the community at Bethlehem. In 1743 he took his first Holy Communion, and two years later was appointed teacher in the children's school.
For a year after his marriage in 1745 Jungman kept a school at Falkner's swamp, but in 1746 he began his labors at Gnadenhütten on the Mahoning, a community established by the Moravians for the Christian Indians. In 1754 he was transferred to Pachgatgoch, a similar community near the present town of Kent in Connecticut. During the French and Indian War, as in the period of the Revolution, the work of the Moravians was hindered because their pacifism caused both parties to suspect them of treachery.
The Jungmans left Connecticut in 1758, and after short periods of service at Christiansbrunn, Wyalusing, and Lanuntutenmunk on the Beaver River, they entered a new field at Schonbrunn on the Muskingum in Ohio. In 1777, because of the confusion due to Indian uprisings, they returned to Bethlehem, but in 1781 they were back on the Muskingum. In that same year they with other missionaries and their Indian converts were captured by the Hurons under English direction, and were driven into the wilderness of the Upper Sandusky. In the following year, although the leaders had satisfactorily answered the charges brought against them, the missionaries were all ordered to Detroit. Under the patronage of the Detroit commander, they attempted to establish their mission on the Clinton River.
In 1785, however, the Jungmans returned to Bethlehem and retired from active service. He died in 1808.
Achievements
John George Jungman was an influencial Moravian missionary, whose service spread to the vast territory: Christiansbrunn, Wyalusing, and Lanuntutenmunk on the Beaver River. He also kept a school at Falkner's swamp. The account of Jungman's teaching, preaching, and labor among the Indians is told with characteristic humility in his autobiography.
Connections
On August 24, 1745, he married Anna Margaret (Bechtel) Büttner, daughter of Rev. John Bechtel and widow of Rev. Gottlob Büttner. From that time until her death forty-eight years later she was his companion in all his missionary enterprises.
