ELCA FAMILY HISTORY

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

Social & Scientific Developments

Year

Lutheran Events

Second Great Awakening (Revivalism, "New Measures") takes hold in U.S.

Ever-accelerating advances are made in science, technology and industry.

 1800  
Louisiana Purchase opens territory west of the Mississippi to immigration.

Karl Guetzlaff born in Germany, later becomes first Lutheran missionary to China.

 1803 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Ministerium of North Carolina is organized.
Beginning of the Napoleonic Era in Europe.

Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis, having mapped much new country and bolstered U.S. claims to large areas of the Northwest.

 1806  
  1809 The North Carolina Synod authorizes pastors to baptize slaves.
Soren Kierkegaard, Danish theologian, is born. 1813 Who was John Bachman and how did he influence Lutheranism in America?
Lutheran and Reformed churches form a union in Prussia. 1817  
  1818 Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States (Joint Synod of Ohio) is formed by the separation of the Ohio Special Conference (1812) from the Ministerium of Pennsylvania. Publication: Lutheran Standard (1842).
Publication of Swedish Hymnal which was to be in use for over 100 years. Of 500 hymns, 330 were written, translated or revised by Johan Olof Wallin. 1819  
Flood of European immigration into the U.S. begins, especially from Germany and Scandinavia.

Beginning of the Industrial Age.

 1820 What was the first major Lutheran merger in North America?

What four states formed what three synods at the same time the General Synod was founded?

Samuel Simon Schmucker is licensed to preach by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania.
  1826 The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is established. It becomes the oldest operating seminary in the ELCA.
Cherokee constitution adopted; first Indian newspaper, the Phoenix, begins production the next year. 1827 Who was once called the greatest liturgical scholar of our church?
  1829 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Virginia is established.
Confessional Revival in Germany. 1830 The Hartwick Synod is formed by the Western Conference of the New York Ministerium.
  1831 The General Synod begins publishing the Lutheran Observer, oldest English-language predecessor of The Lutheran. Take time to look at The Lutheran's family tree.
  1832 Do you know who Jehu Jones was?
Nikolai F.S. Grundtvig, father of Danish hymnody, publishes the first of his five volumes of hymns.

Victorian Era begins in Europe.

 1837 The first women's organization is founded by the Hartwick Synod (New York) by wives of pastors attending synod conventions.
Entire Cherokee Nation forced to vacate lands and move west of the Mississippi. 1838  
Photography is invented. 1839 African-American Daniel A. Payne, Gettysburg Seminary graduate, is ordained by the Franckean Synod in New York (having been licensed in 1837). At that time the synod adopts anti-slavery resolution. Payne never serves a Lutheran congregation, but becomes president of Wilberforce College and a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Wave of European colonial expansion begins in Africa and Asia.

Texas and California are annexed by U.S.

First wave of Asian immigrants into the U.S. -- from China, Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines.

 1840  
  1841 Johan Konrad Wilhelm Loehe of Neuendettelsau begins missionary work in North America by sending books and other commodities needed by Lutherans. He sent emergency pastors to serve settlers and convert American Indian people. His groups ultimately became founding congregations of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Who was the first American Lutheran missionary to India?
  1842 What did William Alfred Passavant do that made a difference in the ELCA?
  1845 The Synod of the Lutheran Church Emigrated from Prussia, or Buffalo Synod, is formed under the leadership of J.A.A. Grabau. Begins publishing the Forward in 1914.

How did ministry begin in Michigan?

Boston Jenkins Drayton becomes first U.S. Lutheran missionary to Africa.
  1846 Later called Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America, also called Eielsen Synod after its founder, Elling Eielsen (1804-1883), the first Norwegian Lutheran to be ordained in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is organized.

First Lutheran Church, Lockridge, Iowa, is founded, later to become the oldest Swedish Lutheran congregation of the ELCA. Pastor Magnus Hakonson becomes the first Swedish Lutheran pastor to be ordained in America.

California Gold Rush starts.

Stained glass maker Louis Comfort Tiffany is born.

 1848 The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, formed the previous year in Chicago, changes its name to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
  1849 "Father" Adam Keffer, Vaughan, Ontario, makes the first of two trips walking barefoot to Klecknersville, Pennsylvania, to ask the Pittsburgh Synod to send a pastor to Canada.
  1850 The first deaconess is consecrated in North America. She was one of four representatives who came to Pittsburgh to dedicate the first Protestant hospital in North America. She spent 50 years in service, establishing and managing hospitals and orphanages from Philadelphia to beyond Chicago. Who is she?

The German Evangelical Ministerium of Wisconsin is founded, later merges with Minnesota and Michigan Synods and changes its name, becoming the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1959.
The New York Times appears for the first time. 1851 The First (German) Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas, or Texas Synod, is founded by people from St. Chrischona Mission, Basel, Switzerland. In 1896 it becomes a district of Iowa Synod.
People begin using fossil oil for light & power.

Catherine Winkworth, who made the riches of German hymnody available to English-speaking Christians, publishes her first collection of hymns.

Crimean War starts; Russian-Turkish conflict draws in British and French as Turkish allies.

Vincent Van Gogh is born.

 1853 The Norwegian Synod, or the synod for the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is established, although an attempt to organize two years previous had failed. In 1887 the group that took the name Anti-Missourian Brotherhood separates from the synod. In 1908 the synod begins publishing the Lutheran Herald.
Immaculate Conception proclaimed as dogma by Pope Pius IX.

Florence Nightingale pioneers modern nursing in the Crimea.

 1854 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States, or Iowa Synod, is formed by pastors influenced by Wilhelm Loehe of Neuendettelsau, Germany. In 1909 it begins publishing the Lutheran Herald.
Noah Seattle, chief of the Duwamish, signs treaty at Point Elliot, ceding to Whites his ancestral land.

David Livingstone finds Victoria Falls during his exploration of Zambezi.

 1855  
Suez Canal Company is formed.

Chinese ports are opened to British and French trade, and Treaty of Tientsin legalizes opium trade.

 1858  
Darwin publishes Origin of Species. 1859 The Lutheran Home at Germantown is founded -- the first residential program for older and infirm adults and the second for children sponsored by Lutherans in the U.S. Significant social ministries are celebrated in a display case.
Lenoir builds first practical internal-combustion engine, the year after Plante builds the first practical storage battery. 1860 What does the acronym SELASNA stand for?
U. S. Civil War begins.

First horse-drawn trams appear in London.

Serfs are emancipated in Russia.

The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed after the king of Naples surrenders to Garibaldi.

 1861 Dorothea L. Dix and others work with Passavant in the care of sick and wounded soldiers during the Civil War.

Where are the roots of LIRS?
President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.

Victor Hugo publishes Les Miserables.

 1862  
French troops occupy Mexico City and install Maximilian as emperor.

Confederate troops lose decisively at Gettysburg.

 1863 What happened to southern Lutheran churches during the Civil War?
International Red Cross is founded in Geneva.

Pasteur invents pasteurization (for wine).

Tolstoy writes War and Peace.

 1864  
First transatlantic cable is laid successfully.

End of U.S. Civil War, Lincoln is assassinated.

 1865  
U.S. buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright is born.

 1867 The General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America is formed by seven former General Synod bodies, including the Pennsylvania and New York Ministeriums plus four other independent synods, including Augustana.
Paul Gauguin paints Jacob Wrestling With an Angel, leaves for Tahiti two years later. 1868 Michael M. Coble is licensed by the North Carolina Synod to organize African-American congregations.
Transcontinental Railroad completed.

Suez Canal is opened.

 1869  
People begin to use natural gas for light & power.

Papal infallibility is proclaimed by Vatican Council.

 1870 The Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Norwegian-Danish Augustana Synod is formed by removal of those ethnic groups from the predominantly Swedish Augustana Synod (1860).
Immigration of Chinese to U.S. reaches its peak, leading to racial disharmony in the western states; in Los Angeles a mob, enraged by the shooting of a white man, killed 19 Chinese people. Discrimination and violent acts toward Chinese people gradually increased, leading to the exclusion act of 1882, and ultimately the Geary Act of 1892.

U.S. Senate declares that Indian nations will no longer be recognized as independent powers with whom treaties can be contracted.

 1871 As part of President U. S. Grant's so-called "peace policy," 71 Indian agencies are assigned to various denominations. This was meant to end corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and assign Christian missionaries the task of working with the tribes. The Lutheran churches were assigned the Sac and Fox Reservation, now the Mesquakie Indian Reservation near Tama, Iowa.
Claude Monet paints Impression, Sunrise. The water lily series at Giverny will follow 27 years later. 1872 What is the Danish North Church?

The Synodical Conference is formed, bringing several church bodies together in a federation with the objective of "union of all Lutheran Synods in America in one orthodox American Lutheran church." C.F.W. Walther of the Missouri Synod is elected its first president.
E. Remington begins to make typewriters. 1873  
Unification of Germany into an empire.

Custer invades Black Hills area in violation of 1808 treaty.

 1874  
Sioux and Cheyenne victorious at Battle of the Little Big Horn, resulting in death for Custer and 265 troops. 1876  
Thomas A. Edison invents electric light bulb.

The Zulu war results in defeat of the Zulus by England in South Africa.

 1879 The (Finnish) Apostolic Lutheran Church of America is founded by followers of the revival movement of Lars Levi Laestadius.

Who formed the oldest predecessor of Women of the ELCA?
The Cologne Cathedral, begun in 1248, is completed. 1880 The North Carolina Synod ordains David J. Koontz, an African-American.
Another wave of colonial expansion begins in Africa.

"Darwinism" (evolution of the human race, etc.)

 1880  
Chinese Exclusion Act passed to restrict immigration except for merchants, students, teachers and other visitors.

Robert Louis Stevenson writes Treasure Island.

1882 What happened on Christmas Day, 1882?
First skyscraper is built in Chicago.

The Metropolitan Opera is founded in New York City.

 1883  
First subway (underground railway) is completed in London. 1884 How was the Philadelphia Deaconess Motherhouse established?

The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Association in America is formed by Danes removing from the Norwegian-Danish Conference (1870). It is also known as the Danish Association and "the Blair Church."

The Norwegian Synod sends Axel Jacobson, a layperson, to begin the Bethany Mission among the Winnebago Tribe around Wittenberg, Wis. This ministry continued until the Evangelical Lutheran Church closed it in 1955.
Congo becomes the personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium. 1885 The Icelandic Synod, The Evangelical Lutheran Church Organization of Icelanders in the Western Hemisphere, is formed among persons from the U.S. and Canada and formerly part of the Norwegian Synod of 1853. In 1942 the Icelandic Synod was received into the United Lutheran Church in America.
First Indian National Congress meets.

Last Impressionist exhibition held in Paris.

Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

 1886 The Joint Synod of Ohio begins Negro Mission work.
Eastman perfects the box camera.

Herz identifies radio waves.

 1888  
Gustave Eiffel builds tower in Paris. 1889 What was the Alpha Synod?
Census declared the frontier closed.

First moving picture shows in New York.

German Social Democrats adopt Marxist program at Erfurt Congress.

1890 The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or Suomi Synod, is founded under the leadership of J.K. Nikander. Begins its English-language publication The Lutheran Counselor in 1938.

The United Norwegian Lutheran Church in America is founded by merger of the Norwegian Danish Conference (1870) and Norwegian-Danish Augustana Synod (1870) and the Anti-Missourian Brotherhood (1887). Begins publishing The United Lutheran in 1907.

One hundred Lutherans emigrate from Danish West Indies to New York.
Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 1891 Sister Bothilda Swenson is consecrated as the first deaconess in the Immanuel Diaconate in Omaha, Neb. This motherhouse was endorsed by the Augustana Lutheran Synod. The sisters of this motherhouse served at Immanuel Institute, a large health care facility that offered many types of services to the people of Nebraska.
First automatic telephone switchboard installed. 1892 Who started the Oaks Indian Mission?

Emmy Christina Evald starts the Women's Missionary Society of the Augustana Lutheran Church in and serves as its president until 1935.
Henry Ford builds his first car.

Rudolph Diesel patents the diesel engine.

Verdi's Falstaff debuts.

Kipling publishes The Jungle Book.

 1893 John Plocher of the Wisconsin Synod begins a mission with the Apache in Arizona.
  1894 The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America is formed (also known as the Danish North Church).

Where did Tollef L. Brevig go to teach school?
Marconi invents radio telegraphy.

Wilhelm Roentgen discovers x-rays.

 1895 The General Synod establishes a motherhouse for deaconesses in Baltimore, Md., and a Board of Deaconess Work. Though trained chiefly to provide home nursing, these sisters were to open an industrial school for children and an evening school for African-American children as well as serving in parishes and overseas.
First modern Olympic games are held in Athens.

Five Nobel prizes are established.

Klondike gold rush begins.

 1896 The United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church is formed by merger of the Danish Association (1884) and the Danish North Church (1894). In 1946 it drops "Danish" from the name.
Spain provided for more local rule in Puerto Rico, leading to a new Puerto Rican government. 1897 The Friends of Augsburg, led by Georg Sverdrup, which met since 1893 in support of the seminary of the same name, officially organize and take the name Lutheran Free Church.
U.S. troops occupy Puerto Rico & Spain cedes island to U.S. after Spanish-American War, which ends Spanish American empire..

Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium and polonium.

 1898 The Luther League of America, founded as an inter-synodical youth organization of the General Synod, General Council and United Synod of the South. It is the first such organization founded among ELCA predecessors.

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran National Church is organized. It merges into the Missouri Synod in 1963.

Who was Gabriella Cuervos?
First magnetic recording of sound is produced.

Peace Conference held at The Hague.

Aspirin is manufactured for the first time.

Scott Joplin's The Maple Leaf Rag is published.

 1899 Henry Eyster Jacobs, working with John A.W. Haas, publishes The Lutheran Cyclopedia, covering topics, people and organizations from Absolution to Zwickau. It is still in use in as a basic reference work.

Prepared by the Department for Communication
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

< Back to ELCA Family History index