Background
He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on 1 November 1864. His mother was Eliza Jane Wattles, and his father, Jacob, was also a Lutheran minister.
He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on 1 November 1864. His mother was Eliza Jane Wattles, and his father, Jacob, was also a Lutheran minister.
He attended Reading High School in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Muhlenberg College and Mounty Airy Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
He was president of the Lutheran Synod of New York for a time, and also was president of the Rochester Federation of Churches. From 1927 until the time of his death he was secretary of the Board of American Missions of the ULCA. He died of a heart attack on 13 December 1933.
