Leonard Dober
A potter of Herrnhut who offered in 1732 to go to the slaves of St Thomas in the West Indies, if need be as a slave himself. He and David Nitschmann were the first missionaries sent out by the Moravian congregation.
The Moravian Church’s history prints the paper in which Dober explained his purpose to the congregation at Herrnhut. The count’s account of the slaves of St Thomas, he wrote, had made an impression on him that nothing could erase, and he had resolved, if another brother would go with him, to offer himself to be a slave in order to tell them of the love of the Saviour (Memorial-Days of the Renewed Church of the Brethren, pp. 140–143). He left Herrnhut on 21 August 1732 with the carpenter David Nitschmann. At Copenhagen a court official asked what “the potter” would live on, and Nitschmann answered that he would provide for them both (Memorial-Days of the Renewed Church of the Brethren, pp. 145–146). They landed at St Thomas on 13 December (Memorial-Days of the Renewed Church of the Brethren, p. 148). See the Moravians at Herrnhut.
In the timeline
- 13 August 1727, firm dateThe Moravians at Herrnhut
Emigrants from Moravia settle on Count Zinzendorf’s estate at Herrnhut. In 1727 they pledge themselves to common statutes, and their church dates its renewal from a communion service on 13 August of that year. In 1732 Herrnhut sends two men to the slaves of St Thomas.