William Cornelius Reichel (born in Salem

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, 9 May 1824; died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...

, 15 October 1876) was a Moravian author in the United States who did much to document and examine the early history of the Moravian church in the United States.

Biography

Reichel was the son of Rev. Benjamin Reichel, of Salem Female Academy. He entered Nazareth Hall

Nazareth Hall

Nazareth Hall was a school in Nazareth, PA. It was built in 1754 in hopes that Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf would return from Europe and settle permanently in the community; he never came back to America...

 in 1834, and in 1839 the Moravian Theological Seminary

Moravian College

Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...

, where he was graduated in 1844. After serving as tutor for four years at Nazareth Hall, he became a professor in the theological seminary. In 1862 he was appointed to the charge of Linden Hall Seminary, Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 6 miles north of the city of Lancaster.-History:Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756, and was named after a castle in Bohemia near the village of Kunvald where the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church had...

, which he resigned in 1868. From 1868 until 1876, he filled the duties of professor of Latin and natural sciences in the seminary for young ladies at Bethlehem

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...

. He was ordained a deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 in June 1862,and a presbyter

Presbyter

Presbyter in the New Testament refers to a leader in local Christian congregations, then a synonym of episkopos...

 in May 1864.

Works

Reichel did more than any one else to elucidate the early history of the Moravian church in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In addition to articles in The Moravian and the local press, and a sketch of Northampton County

Northampton County, Pennsylvania

As of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.As of the census of...

, prepared for William H. Egle's History of Pennsylvania, he wrote:

• History of Nazareth Hall (Philadelphia, 1855; enlarged ed., 1869)
• History of the Bethlehem Female Seminary, 1785-1858 (1858)
• Moravianism in New York and Connecticut (1860)
• Memorials of the Moravian Church (1870)
• Wyalusing, and the Moravian Mission at Friedenshuetten (Bethlehem, 1871)
• Names which the Lenni Lennapé or Delaware Indians gave to Rivers, Streams, and Localities within the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, with their Significations, from a manuscript of John Heckewelder
  John Heckewelder
  right|thumb|350px|sketch by [[Henry Howe]]John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder was an American missionary.He was born in Bedford, England. He came to Pennsylvania in 1754, and, after finishing his education, was apprenticed to a cooper. After a visit to Ohio with Christian F...
  
  (1872)
• A Red Rose from the Olden Time, or a Ramble through the Annals of the Rose Inn on the Barony of Nazareth in the Days of the Province (Philadelphia, 1872)
• The Crown Inn, near Bethlehem, Pa., 1745 (1872)
• The Old Sun Inn at Bethlehem, Pa., 1758 (Doylestown, Pa., 1873)
• A Register of Members of the Moravian Church, 1727 to 1754 (Bethlehem, 1873)
• John Heckewelder, History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States, revised edition (Philadelphia, 1876)

He left unfinished History of Bethlehem and History of Northampton County.