Born in Königsberg, Prussia, on October 9, 1714, the Moravian missionary Johann Jacob Schmick studied theology as a young man and became acquainted with the teachings of the United Brethren as early as 1742, taking his first communion six years later. He was called to become a missionary in 1751, and was appointed to the Indian congregation at Gnadenhutten, Pa., ministering primarily to a congregation of Mahican converts who had settled there. Schmick taught reading and writing, and was particularly known for teaching singing and introducing the spinet and other instruments to the Indians.
After the original settlement at Gnadenhutten was attacked and destroyed in 1755, Schmick remained with the Mahicans through exile and captivity, facing almost constant threats from white neighbors. He joined his congregation as they sought refuge in Bethlehem, followed them as captives to Philadelphia, and remained with them after they settled in Wyalusing (also called Friedenshutten), Pa., in 1765. Schmick's last move with his congregation came in 1773, when he moved to the new settlement of Gnadenhutten in the Ohio Valley. He was not present at the Gnadenhutten massacre, having returned to Lititz, Pa., in 1777. He died there on Jan. 23, 1778.
Schmick's Miscellanea linguae nationis Indicae Mahikan consists of two volumes (322pp.) of manuscript vocabulary and notes on the Mahican language recorded between about 1753 and 1767. It consists of words and phrases in Mahican, written phonologically, and translated into their German equivalents. The volumes have been edited, translated, and published by Carl Masthay as Schmick's Mahican Dictionary APS Memoir 197 (1991).
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Gift of John G. E. Heckewelder, 1820.
Cite as: Joh. Jac. Schmick, Miscellanea linguae nationis Indicae Mahikan, American Philosophical Society.
Recatalogued by rsc, 2002.
The Schmick miscellanea has been microfilmed (Film 1362).
The Schmick volumes are indexed in the On-line Guide to American Indian Manuscripts (number 163 and 2079).
The volumes have been edited and published as: Masthay, Carl, ed., Schmick's Mahican Dictionary, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 197 (1991).
These two bound volumes contain a large dictionary of Mohican. The collection was the gift of John Heckwleder, suggesting that he may have used the books in his missionary efforts.
