Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger

Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger (1734–1803) was a clergyman who served German Lutheran congregations in Colonial Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, and became Upper Canada's first Lutheran Minister.

Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger
Schwerdtfeger's signature
Born
Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger

June 4, 1734
Burgbernheim, Bavaria
Died1803 (age 69)
Ontario Canada
EducationUniversity of Erlangen–Nuremberg
ChurchPennsylvania Ministerium, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
TitleFirst Lutheran minister in Upper Canada.

Early life and career

Schwerdtfeger was born in Burgbernheim, Bavaria in 1734 to Gunther Johann and Juliana Maria (Koch) Schwerdtfeger. The elder Schwerdtfeger was a pharmacist who catered to travelers visiting the popular Wildbad spa.[1][2][3] Schwerdtfeger attended the Latin School at Neustadt an der Aisch before entering the Erlangen University to study theology. Around 1752, he traveled to London and then to Baltimore, Maryland as a redemptioner where his bond was paid by the Lutheran Church of York, Pennsylvania in exchange for his service as pastor.[4][5][6][7]

At York, he was informally ordained by local clergy but faced controversy when he criticized pietist factions within the congregation.[8] In 1758, he accepted a position as pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Holland where he supervised construction of a new church and parsonage.[9][10] In 1762, Schwerdtfeger joined the Pennsylvania Ministerium, where he was formally ordained by Rev. Henry Muhlenberg.[11] It was during his time in Pennsylvania that Schwerdtfeger met his future wife Anna Dorothea Schwab with whom he would have five children.[12][13]

From 1763-1768, Schwerdtfeger served the Lutheran congregation of Frederick, Maryland after which time he served as an itinerant pastor for congregations in southeastern Pennsylvania and central New York before settling in Brunswick in about 1770.[14][15][16]

Schwerdtfeger remained in New York for the duration of the American Revolution but his loyalist sympathies led him to accept a position in 1791 with the community of United Empire Loyalists in Williamsburg, Ontario where he would spend the remainder of his life. As the first Lutheran minister in Upper Canada, Schwerdtfeger served two churches: the German Evaangelical Church in Williamsburg, Ontario, and a church in nearby Matilda.[17]

The site of Williamsburg's German Church was inundated by the St. Lawrence Seaway but Schwerdtfeger is commemorated by a nearby historical plaque in the Township of South Dundas.[18]

References
  1. Schwerdtfeger, Hazel Mae. Memoirs of Reverend J. Samuel Schwerdtfeger:"The Saint of the St. Lawrence”. (New York, Carlton Press, 1961) p.2
  2. Edda, Hofmann. "Willkommen". Waldgasthof-Wildbad Burgberheim. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  3. Glatfelter, Charles. Pastors and People: German Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the Pennsylvania Field, 1710-1793, Vol. I: Pastors and Congregations (Briggsville, PA: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1980) p.130-131
  4. Schwerdtfeger, 8
  5. Early, J.W. Lutheran Ministers of Berks County: Sketches of the Lives of Those Who Have Lived and Labored in this County (Reading, PA: Central Luther League, 1902) p. 20
  6. Schmauk, Theodore Emmanuel. A History of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania: 1638-1820, Vol 1. (Philadelphia, General Council Publication House, 1903), p. 280-281.
  7. Williams, T.J.C. and Folger McKinsey. The History of Frederick County Maryland, Vol I. (Frederick, MD: Titsworth, 1910) p. 8
  8. Schwerdtfeger, 8
  9. Schwerdtfeger, 26
  10. Hassler, John. Memorial Volume of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Holland, Lancaster County, PA. (New Holland, PA, George Ranck, 1880) p. 27-29
  11. Schwerdtfeger, 24-25
  12. Schwerdtfeger, 21
  13. Early, 20
  14. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania German Society, Vol. XXII. Harrisburg PA, October 20, 1911 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania German Society, 1913.)p. 99
  15. Schwerdtfeger, 33-36
  16. Sprecher, Samuel and Thomas Spencer Lloyd. The Manual of the First Lutheran Church in the City of Albany (Albany, Joel Munsell, 1871) p. 1-4
  17. DCroil, James. Dundas, or, A sketch of Canadian history:and more particularly of the county of Dundas, one of the earliest settled counties in Upper Canada (Montreal: B. Dawson, 1861), p. 252
  18. Brown, Alan L. "The Reverend Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger 1734-1803". Ontario's Historical Plaques. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
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