Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/27

 MUHLENBERG

MUHLENBERG

and Halle ; was ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1739, and was ordered a deacon in the church and inspector of an orphan home. He was sent as a missionary to German Lutheran congrega- tions in Pennsylvania, in 1742, and sailed from London for Charleston, S.C, and thence by coast- ing vessel to Philadelphia. He soon extended his field to New York, New Jersey and Maryland and he petitioned his patrons for young and educated Lutheran clergymen. They sent the Rev. Peter Brunnholtz and two theological students, and in a few years the Lvitheran church was firmly established in the colonies. He organized the first Lutheran synod in 1748, and arranged friendly relations with the Swedish Lutherans along tlie Delaware. He was married, April 23, 1745, to Anna Mary daughter of J. Con- rad Weiser, the famous Indian interpreter of Tulpeholken, Pa. He preached in New York city to the Dutch and German congregations, 1751-52 and 1759-60. He delivered addresses in German, Dutch, Latin and English. The first Lutheran church in Philadelphia was dedicated in 1748, and in 1762 he reorganized the congrega- tion under a new constitution which became the model of the Lutheran congregations subse- quently established. At the outbreak of the Rev- olution he favored the American cause. He removed to Trajjpe, Pa., in 1776, wliere he con- tinued to preach when his health permitted. On the centennial of his death, exercises were held at his grave at Trappe. See Biographical Sketch of H. M. Muhlenberg, by J. G. Christian Helmuth (1788) ; Memory of the Life and Times of H.M. Muhlenberg, D.D., by Martin L. Stoever (1856) ; Autobiography of H. M. Muhlenberg edited by William Germann (1881) ; Life and Times of H. M. Muhlenberg, by Wm. J. Mann (1887). He died at Trappe, Pa., Oct. 7, 1787.

MUHLENBERG, John Peter Gabriel, patriot, was born in Trappe (then New Providence) Pa., Oct. 1, 1746 ; son of the Rev. Henry Melchior and Anna Mary (Weiser) Muhlenberg. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, 1760-68, but did not graduate, and studied at he University of Halle, Germany, irregularly, 1763-66. While in Germany he joined a regiment of dragoons. He studied theology in Philadelphia, and was pastor of Lutheran churches, New Germantown and Bedminster, N. J. He removed to Woodstock, Va., in 1772, and was ordained a priest of the Church of England in order to take charge of the parish which was composed mostly of, Lutherans from Pennsylvania. He was chairman of the committee of safety of Shenandoah county, Va., and a member of the house of burgesses in 1774. In 1775 at the outbreak of the Revolution he ac- cepted a colonel's commission in the patriot army. He was a member of the provincial convention

of "Virginia in 1776, was put in command of the 8th Virginia regiment, known as the " German regiment," and ordered to the relief of Charleston, S. C. He participated in the battle of Fort Moul- trie, June 28, 1776 ; was promoted brigadier- general in 1777 ; commanded the 1st brigade of light infantry at the battles of Brandy wine, Ger- mantown, Monmouth, Stony Point and Yorktown, and was commissioned major-general in 1783. Upon the disbandment of the Continental army he returned to Pennsylvania ; was elected a mem- ber of the supreme executive council of the state, and served as vice-president of the council in 1785. He was a presidential elector in 1797 ; was a representative in the 1st, 2d and 3d congresses, 1789-95, and in the 6th congress, 1799-1801 ; was elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat in 1801, but resigned before taking his seat to accept a position of supervisor of revenue tendered him by President Jefferson. He was collector of the port of Philadelpliia, 1803-07. He was married to Anna Barbara Meyer of New Jersey. See " Life " by Henry A. Muhlenberg, 1849. He died near Philadelphia, Pa.. Oct. 1, 1807.

MUHLENBERG, William Augustus, educator, was born in Philadelpliia, Pa., Sept. 16, 1796 ; son of Henry William and Mary (Sheafe) Muhlenberg, and grandson of Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (q. v.). He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, English salutatorian, A. B. 1815, A. M. 1818 ; studied theology under Bishop White ; was ordered deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church, Sept. 18, 1817, and was assistant to Bishop White in Christ church, Philadelphia. He was ordained priest, Oct. 22, 1822, and was rector of St. James's chm-ch, Lan- caster, Pa., 1822-28. He established the first school of public instruction in Pennsylvania out- side of Philadelphia, and in 1828 founded a school at Flushing, L. I., which in 1838 was merged in St. Paul's college. He was rector of the college, 1828-46, when he became rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, N. Y. city, which had been erected by his sister, and was the earliest free Protestant Episcopal church. On St. Luke's day, 1846, he devoted half of the offertory, amounting to S15.00, to be a nucleus for a hospital in New York. In 1850 the hospital (St. Luke's) was in- corporated and the corner stone was laid in 1854 on the block fronting Fifth avenue and bounded by Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth streets, and in 1858 the building was ready for occupancy. He was pastor and superintendent of St. Luke's hos- pital, 1859-77. In 1852 he organized tlie first Protestant sisterhood in the United States. The sisters subsequently took charge of St. Luke's hospital. In 1866 he began the establishment of an industrial Christian settlement on Long Island, which he named St. Johnland. He was a mem-