Matthäus Stach (sometimes

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

to Matthew Stach) (March 4, 1711,

Mankovice Mankovice (german: Mankendorf) is a municipality and village in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. History The first written mention of Mankovice is from 1374. During the Ge ...

– December 21, 1787,

Bethabara Al-Maghtas ( ar, المغطس, meaning " baptism" or "immersion"), officially known as Baptism Site "Bethany Beyond the Jordan", is an archaeological World Heritage site in Jordan, on the east bank of the Jordan River, considered to be the or ...

) was a Moravian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

Life

Matthäus Stach was born in Mankendorf in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. Th ...

(today

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

). He was home schooled since his parents did not want to send the family to attend the Roman Catholic schools. In 1728, he arrived at the Moravian community of

Herrnhut Herrnhut ( Sorbian: ''Ochranow''; cs, Ochranov) is an Upper Lusatian town in the Görlitz district in Saxony, Germany, known for the community of the Moravian Church established by Nicolas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf in 1722. Geography It is ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. In 1733, Stach traveled to Greenland together with

Christian David Christian David (1692–1751) was a German Lutheran missionary, writer and hymnwriter. He travelled as a missionary of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, the Moravian Church, to Greenland and to Native Americans. He is known as the author of hymn sta ...

and his cousin Christian Stach where they were greeted by the Danish pioneer missionary

Hans Egede Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...

. Together they founded the settlements of New Herrnhut (modern

Nuuk Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other co ...

) and Lichtenfels. In 1741, he made a return trip to Germany where he was both ordained into the ministry and became married. Matthäus and Rosina Stach left the Greenland mission and returned to Germany in 1771. The following year he was called to the Moravian settlement in Bethabara, North Carolina. Over the rest of his life, he and his wife Rosina operated the local Moravian boys' school. Stach died in 1787 at Bethabara.

References

Other sources

*Vormbaum, Reinhold (1853) ''Matthäus Stach und Johann Beck: Missionare der Brüdergemeinde in Grönland und ihre Mitarbeiter'' (W. H. Scheller)

External links

Moravian Settlers in North Carolina
1711 births 1787 deaths German city founders Moravian Church missionaries Greenlandic Moravian clergy Protestant missionaries in Greenland Translators to Inuit German Protestant missionaries German people of the Moravian Church Moravian-German people People from Nový Jičín District Missionary linguists {{Greenland-bio-stub