Frederick David Schaeffer

Background

Frederick David was born on November 15, 1760 in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, the son of Johann Jakob and Susanna Maria Schaeffer, and the nephew of a superintendent of the Lutheran Church. He was orphaned by the death of both parents.

Education

Schaeffer was obliged to leave the Gymnasium at Hanau in 1774. He received the degree of D. D. in 1813 from the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Frederick David Schaeffer became a school teacher in York County, was befriended and prepared for the ministry by the Rev. Jacob Goering, was licensed by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1786, and was ordained in 1788.

He was a pastor at Carlisle during 1786-90. His second charge, 1790-1812, was St. Michael's, Germantown, and its affiliated churches. There he preached occasionally in English and published an Antwort auf eine Vertheidigung der Methodisten (Germantown, 1806) and Eine herzliche Anrede (A heartfelt address, 1806).

His sermons were simple and practical, yet did not suffer by comparison with those of Helmuth and Demme, who were famous pulpit orators. He was at his best, probably, in his instruction of children.

In 1812 he was called to succeed the late Johann Friedrich Schmidt as the colleague of J. H. C. Helmuth at St. Michael's and Zion's in Philadelphia. After Helmuth's retirement in 1820, Charles Rudolph Demme became his assistant and, before long, his son-in-law.

He retired in 1834 and spent the brief remainder of his life with his eldest son at Frederick, Maryland, where he died and was buried.

Achievements

• Frederick David Schaeffer successfully did missionary work at several points in York and Cumberland counties and founded a Lutheran congregation at Harrisburg. His famous works: Eine herzliche Anrede and Antwort auf eine Vertheidigung der Methodisten, a response to the evangelists of the Second Great Awakening.

Works

More photos

• book

  • An Inaugural Address, Delivered Before the Directors of the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: By S. S. ... of Christian Theology, September 5, 1826

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Personality

A man of devout and holy life, with strong intelligence and perfect tact and gentleness, Schaeffer was an unending source of comfort and consolation to the sick, the needy, and the bereaved. The Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint were his daily reading.

Interests

• Music and geography were his pastimes, and in his younger days he was something of a poet.

Connections

In the autumn of 1786 Schaeffer was married to Rosina, daughter of Lewis Rosenmiller of York County, who died less than a year before him. Of their eight children, the four sons who grew to maturity became Lutheran clergymen: David Frederick, Frederick Christian, Charles Frederick, and Frederick Solomon. The last named died at 25, leaving a son, Charles William, to become a Lutheran clergyman.

Father:

Johann Jakob Schaeffer

Mother:

Susanna Maria Schaeffer

Spouse:

Rosina Rosenmiller

son :

Frederick Solomon Schaeffer

colleague:

J. H. C. Helmuth

Son:

Charles Frederick Schaeffer

Son:

David Frederick Schaeffer

Son:

Frederick Christian Schaeffer

assistant and son-in-law:

Charles Rudolph Demme

Friend:

Rev. Jacob Goering

References

• Services commemorative of the one hundredth anniversary of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, Pa: November 10-11, 1895
• Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry (Classic Reprint)