The beginning of the church's work in North America is usually given as 1740, when Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg sent Christian Henry Rauch to New York City on a mission to preach and convert native peoples. Eager to learn more, the Mahican chiefs "Tschoop" and "Shabash" invited Rauch to visit their village (in present-day Dutchess County) to teach them. In September 1740, they led him to "Shekomeko", where he established a Moravian mission. The two Indian chiefs converted to the Christian faith. By summer 1742, Shekomeko was established as the first native Christian congregation in the present-day United States. Over the next two years, the Moravians endeavored to reconcile the ancient Indian traditions with the new ways of the western society. They made a center for missions to the native peoples. Within the next two years, several more missionaries along with their wives began to settle in the area. Among these were Gottlob Buettner and his wife, Anna Margaret Bechtel, daughter of a minister. Meanwhile, European settlers who opposed the Moravians' defense of Native Americans spread rumors that they were secret Catholic Jesuits allied with the French, British enemies. Such settlers finally were successful in persuading the colonial governor Clinton to restrict the missionaries' efforts. They were expelled in 1744. Buettner died at Shekomeko early in 1745, and the colony dwindled away soon after.