This week in Christian history: ‘The Great Ejection,' LCMS founder dies, first Moravian missionaries
Gotthold Heinrich Loeber dies – Aug. 19, 1849
This week marks the anniversary of when Gotthold Heinrich Loeber, a German pastor who helped to found the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, died at the age of 52.
A native of Saxony whose surname was also rendered Löber, Loeber immigrated to the United States in 1839, settling in St. Louis, Missouri, with other immigrants from the German region.
Loeber was the first pastor for Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri, and later participated in a series of meetings that led to the formation of the LCMS.
“That synod was formed in 1847, and Rev. Loeber was one of the first signers of that organization’s constitution,” wrote Warren Schmidt of the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society.
“The Loeber family binder refers to both cholera and typhus as causes of his death. One can conclude that he died as a result of performing his tasks as a pastor, visiting his members when they were sick.”
