Program; The Gnadenhutten Massacre of 1782
July 3 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm MDT
Location: Brunner Farmhouse (in-person) or attend virtually via Zoom — register below to receive the Zoom link.
NOTE: Schedule / Venue Change!
Beginning June 2025, regular monthly meetings are the first Thursday the month.
Celebrating 25 Years!
“The Gnadenhutten Massacre of 1782”
Presented by: Steve Lake
The Gnadenhutten Massacre on March 8, 1782 was a very sad and dark event in our early history, near the end of our Revolutionary War. An estimated 160 to 400 men who may have participated were led by David Williamson, who was elected as Captain to lead the volunteers, mostly from Washington County, Pennsylvania. The particular Christian Native village, Gnadenhutten, where this massacre happened, had been founded by Moravian missionaries among the Lenape, or Delaware, tribe.
My interest in this historical event had to do with Charles Bilderback. My 4th Great-grandmother, Rhuhama, was first married to Charles, and she later married my 4th Great-grandfather, John Green. One day in about 1789, Charles was captured by Natives, they recognized him by his red hair, and because his captors knew he had participated in the Gnadenhutten Massacre, they tortured him to death and scalped him.
Several research projects in the last 240 years have attempted to identify the militia participants, most recently by George Williston in 2000. When I found his list of 200 potential names, I decided that I would copy his research to as many personal profiles as possible. My year-long project was conducted on a One Place Study free space page on WikiTree.com using information from FamilySearch.org, Daughters of the American Revolution, Find-a-Grave and other resources.
On today’s program, we will show two introductory videos describing the event and then we will play an audio interview about my project, conducted by Noel B. Poirier, Executive Director of the Ohio Genealogical Society. We will have time for questions at the end.
About the Speaker – Steve Lake
Tree builder, photo curator, family historian, amateur genealogist and biography writer. Avid Hobbyist of Genealogy for 20 plus years. He spent over a year doing research on the Gnadenhutten Massacre of 1782.
President of the Broomfield Genealogy Society, 2024-2025
Inquiries or program suggestions: Please contact our Education Director, Bob Yudnich, at Education@BroomfieldGenSoc.org with your questions or program/speaker suggestions.
MEETING VENUE & SCHEDULE:
Brunner Farmhouse
640 Main St
(NE corner of Midway Blvd and Main St)
Broomfield, CO 80020
View Venue Website
- 6:30 PM – Meet and Greet Social Time
- 6:50 PM – Brief Business Meeting
- 7:00 PM – Program Presentation and Q&A
Virtual Meeting Registration: If you are unable to attend in person, please join us virtually by registering here to receive the Zoom link to the meeting.
