Moravian 47, Ontario

Coordinates: 42°34′04″N 81°52′54″W / 42.567723°N 81.881602°W / 42.567723; -81.881602

Administration and library building, Moravian No. 47

Moravian No. 47 is an Indian reserve located in Chatham-Kent Ontario with an area of 13 km². It is occupied by the Moravian of the Thames First Nation, a part of the Munsee branch of the Lenape, and is commonly known as Moravian of the Thames reserve. The resident registered population is 457, with another 587 band members living off the reserve.

Following the Gnadenhutten massacre near present day Gnadenhutten, Ohio, on March 8, 1782, a group of surviving Christian Munsees left that area led by Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, eventually reestablishing their community in what is today southern Ontario Canada.^[1] At first temporarily settling near present day Amherstburg, Ontario, in 1792, Zeisberger obtained permission from the British colonial authorities for the community to inhabit a site on the Thames River, near where it is located today. The site of the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812, in which the Shawnee leader Tecumseh was killed by invading American forces, is nearby the community. Following the battle, before leaving the area, the entire community was burned to the ground by American cavalry. It was later rebuilt on the south side of the Thames in its present location.^[2] For information about other Munsee reserves see Munsee-Delaware Nation and Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation.

See also

• Christian Munsee
• Delaware languages
• Munceytown
• Munsee language

References

1. ^ "The Moraviantown Delaware Nation". Lenape-Delaware History. http://lenapedelawarehistory.net/mirror/delaware_tribes.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
2. ^ "David Zeisberger bio". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2724&interval=25&&PHPSESSID=f10tlkmvg0njh3s5rif7vh3qn4. Retrieved 2008-08-13.