John Francis Oberlin (181)

John Francis Oberlin (19 September 1732–2 April 1794) was a Moravian storekeeper and a member of the American Philosophical Society via his 1768 election to the American Society. Born in Strasbourg in Alsace, he immigrated to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, around 1761 and joined the local Moravian community there. Two years later he was appointed the community’s storekeeper. Oberlin was naturalized as a British subject in 1768. An active church member, he served as steward, treasurer, and secretary of the Widows’ Society. And during the lead-up to the American Revolution he was part of a delegation that petitioned local magistrates to exempt Moravians from military service. However, he was censured by his church brethren for wartime profiteering, and in 1778 he was arrested for attempting to use counterfeit currency. In 1781 he and his family departed Bethlehem for Germany. He returned to the Moravian community in Herrnhut, where he died in 1794. (PI)