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ELCA family history - 1700s

American Lutheran Developments in their Historical Context -- Some Major Landmarks

 

Social & Scientific Developments

Year

Lutheran Events

Constitutional Monarchy is established; beginning of Hanoverian Dynasty in England.

Society reflects high tide of pietist in Germany.

1700 Who was the first Lutheran to be ordained in America?
  1705 Beings Van Guinea and his wife, Jora, both former slaves, offer their home for services to Justus Falckner, in the Raritan Valley, N.J.
Isaac Watts publishes Hymns and Spiritual Songs, the first hymnal in the English language. 1708 "Palatines" or Germans, both Lutheran and Reformed, began immigrating in large numbers and settled in the Hudson River Valley.
  1713 First baptisms of slaves by Lutherans takes place in the Danish West Indies.
Johann Sebastian Bach becomes concertmaster for the court orchestra of the Duke of Weimar, Germany. 1714 Zion Church (now Oldwick) is organized in New Jersey. Three children are baptized, one of whom is the African-American godchild of the Van Guineas.
  1717 Hebron Lutheran Church, Madison, Virginia, is founded, becomes the oldest Lutheran Congregation in the state centuries later.
A new wave of German immigration to U.S. begins, especially through the ports of Philadelphia and Charleston, S.C.

It is the high tide of rationalism in U.S. society.

1720 Lutherans begin to form congregations in Pennsylvania.
  1730 Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pennsylvania, is founded. Later it was served by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787). What became of Augustus Church?
  1734 First Lutheran services are held on St. Croix. Use of Creole dialect becomes an issue immediately.

Salzburgers, persecuted Lutheran exiles from Austria led by Pastor John Boltzius, establish Jerusalem Lutheran Church, New Ebenezer, Georgia.

John and Charles Wesley arrive in Georgia to evangelize colonists and American Indian people. 1735  
Handel's Messiah debuts. 1742 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787) is sent to America as missionary to German Lutherans in Pennsylvania from Halle University, Germany. He served mostly in Pennsylvania, but his travels took him from New York to Georgia. His influence had a wide range in organizational matters as well as spiritual and social ones. Visit the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia to explore Muhlenberg's life and times.
  1743 Nicholas Sommer baptizes American Indian people for the first time in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys.
First Great Awakening (revival) takes place in U.S.

Methodism is on the rise in England and America

England begins to drive France from most of North America.

1748 The Pennsylvania Ministerium, organized under the leadership of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and others, becomes the first North American Lutheran church structure.
  1774 The use of Creole in worship is adopted officially in Virgin Islands.
American Revolution begins. 1776  
John Hanson becomes first president of the Continental Congress. 1781  
  1786 The New York Ministerium is founded under the leadership of John Christopher Kunze and lay delegates receive right to vote.
Treaty of Hopewell signed between U.S. and Cherokee Nations, pledges to respect Cherokee sovereignty and territory. Broken by Indian Removal Act of 1830. 1785  
French Revolution begins.

American republic established, westward migration gathers momentum. Northwest Ordinance passed: "Indian lands will never be taken without their consent."

1789  
  1792 What earth-shattering event took place in the Pennsylvania Ministerium in 1792?
First message is sent over wires by code, called telegraph. 1794  
English attack San Juan. 1797 What was the first American Lutheran seminary?
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