Weinland, William H.

Biography

William Henry Weinland (1861-1930) was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He attended Moravian schools and was graduated from Moravian College and Theological Seminary in preparation for a life of professional ministry. In 1884 Weinland volunteered for an exploratory expedition into Alaska with Henry Hartmann, a Moravian missionary based in Canada, to determine an appropriate site for a mission. A settlement along the Kuskokwim River was deemed suitable and in 1885, now ordained and newly married to Caroline Yost, Weinland returned to "Bethel," Alaska with his bride and three other missionaries, thus signaling the advent of a career devoted to missionary work. The Weinland's term of duty in Alaska was to be curtailed, however, by the ill health of Mrs. Weinland and one of her daughters.* The family returned to the United States where Rev. Weinland assumed the pastorate of the Moravian Church in Grace Hill, Iowa.

In 1889, after nearly two years at their mid-Western post, the Weinland's received a formal call to take part in more pioneering work. This time they would establish a new mission among the Native Americans of southern California. After surveying the general surroundings, the Weinland's decided on the Morongo Reservation (then known familiarly as "The Potrero") where they would represent the Moravian Church for some forty years. The Weinland's raised seven children on the reservation and spent the final years of their lives in nearby Banning, California.

*For more information on Weinland's activities in Alaska see: Oswalt, Wendell H. Mission of Change in Alaska: Eskimos and Moravians on the Kuskowim. San Marino, Calif.: The Huntington Library, 1963.

From the guide to the William H. Weinland Collection, ca. 1885-1920s, (The Huntington Library)