Joseph C. Dylkes

Joseph C. Dylkes, also referred to as the Leatherwood God, was a messianic figure in the early settlement of the Ohio Country in the United States.

Very little is known about him, when and where was born, or what happened to him after his public apparition.

He came out in August 1828, in a camp meeting near a chapel known as the Leatherwood Church in Salesville, Ohio. On Sunday afternoon, the United Brethren minister John Crum was preaching to a large congregation, when a voice shouted "Salvation" followed by a strange sound, taken by all who heard it to the snort of a horse.

Everyone were taken by surprise and turned to see the stranger, dressed in a black broadcloth suit, frock coat, white cravat and wore a yellow beaver hat, and appeared to be between the ages of 45 and 50 and sporting long black hair.

The stranger was hosted by some members of that congregations, attended various religious meetings and sometimes preached. Displaying knowledge of the Bible, he started to declare himself to be a celestial being, and finally claimed he was the Messiah who came to establish a kingdom that should never end. His assertion of immortality had as a proof that no one could harm him or touch a single hair of his head.

Some families accepted his claims and became his followers, creating a controversy in the Ohio valley. A mob decided to discredit him came to a religious service in a home of a Dylkes follower and tore out a considerable lock of his hair to show his humanity.

Dylkes was carried before the local Squire to be charged, but was dismissed on the grounds that "was not a crime to be a god". Dylkes took refuge in a farm belonging to one of his followers and declared he was going to Philadelphia to establish a "New Jerusalem", during the trip he disappeared and never any trace of him was heard again.

A few of his believers, such as Michael Brill and Robert McCormick died believing in Dylkes.

Source

• Howells, William Dean (1837–1920) - "Leatherwood God"

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Name	Dylkes, Joseph C.
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