Henrietta Benigna von Watteville

Benigna Zinzendorf, also known as Henrietta Benigna Justine Zinzendorf von Watteville (1725–1789), was the founder of the first boarding school for girls in the British American colonies, which became Moravian University and Moravian Academy. She was a missionary among Native Americans and assisted her father, Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf, and her husband, Bishop Johannes Langguth, in their religious activities in Europe and America. She enjoyed music and was an Eldress to girls' choirs beginning at the age of 14 and was a leader in an adult choir after she was married. Early life Countess Henrietta Benigna Justine von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, born in Berthelsdorf in Saxony on December 28, 1725, was the daughter of Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf and Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf. She was among the four of twelve children who lived past the age of five. The four children, born between 1725 and 1738, were Benigna, Christian Renatus, Maria Agnes, and Elizabeth. Her parents, Pietist Lutherans, lived in Castle Berthelsdorf until Benigna was two years of age. They moved to a parcel of land that her father had provided to the community founded on his land called Herrnhut by religious refugees from Moravia. They were descendants of the original followers of the Protestant Jan Hus. Both of her parents became involved with the Moravians and conducted a number of missionary journeys, sometimes bringing their daughter with them. As a young girl, Zinzendorf was a well-liked and cheerful girl, but she had a delicate constitution after surviving a serious illness. She had a Moravian governess from who she received her education, and became religious due to the influence of her governess and her parents. She was a good singer and played the cittern, a baroque type of guitar. At the age of 14, she was made an Eldress to the Children's Choir (four to twelve years of age) and at nineteen she became the Eldress of the Older Girls' Choir (up to 19 years of age). Her role was to help, advise, and counsel the singers.