Jeremiah Haak Good

Background

Jeremiah Haak Good was born on November 22, 1822, at Rehrersburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Philip Augustus and Elizabeth (Haak) Good.

Education

When Jeremiah was ten years old his father died, leaving him to be reared by his uncle, Joseph Good of Reading, who was in comfortable circumstances and made ample provision for the boy’s education.

After attending the Reading Academy, he entered the preparatory department of Marshall College at Chambersburg in 1836 and graduated in 1842 as valedictorian of the class. He stayed at Mercersburg for four more years, studying theology under Philip Schaff and John Williamson Nevin and teaching in the preparatory department of the college.

Career

On May 2, 1846, Jeremiah was licensed to preach by the Mercersburg Classis. His first charge was at Lancaster, Ohio, October 1846 - October 1847, where he also taught a school. From 1847 till 1853, he lived in Columbus, where he started a church paper, the Western Missionary, in 1848, and continued to edit it for some years until the pressure of other work compelled him to give it up.

In 1850, Heidelberg College was founded at Tiffin by the Ohio Synod of the German Reformed Church, and Good was elected professor of mathematics. His brother, Reuben Good, was at the same time made head of the preparatory department. The rest of his life was spent in the service of the college and of the theological seminary affiliated with it.

He was professor in the college till 1869, when he was elected professor of dogmatics and practical theology and president of the seminary. Good accepted the new post, although the salary was less than he had been receiving. For nineteen years, he was treasurer of the Ohio Synod.

His robust health finally gave way, and in 1887, he was made professor emeritus.

He died at Tiffin within less than a year of his retirement and was buried there in Green Lawn Cemetery.

Achievements

• Good supplied a number of congregations - the First Reformed, Grace, St. Jacobi’s (German), Bascom’s, and Salem - in and near Tiffin, and was the founder and for a long time the pastor of the Second Reformed Church of Tiffin.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Heidelberg Catechism, Or: Short Instruction in Christian Doctrine As It Is Conducted in the Churches and Schools of the Palatinate and Elsewhere. ... the Whole Adapted to the Use of Catechetica

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

  • Prayer book and Aids to private devotions

    (Prayer book and Aids to private devotions is an unchanged...)

  • The Church Member's Hand-book Containing the Doctrines, Government ... 1882 Hardcover

    (Lang:- English, Pages 185. Reprinted in 2015 with the hel...)

  • The Reformed Church Hymnal with Tunes ( Full Leather 1878 Hardback)

Religion

Good was a doughty opponent of the “Mercersburg School, ” holding tenaciously to the old doctrines and cultus of his church, although his own instruction in theology had been under the leaders of the new school.

Connections

On December 23, 1846, Good married Susan Hubbard Root of Granville, Ohio, who survived him.

Father:

Philip Augustus

Mother:

Elizabeth (Haak) Good

Uncle:

Joseph Good

Sister:

Elizabeth (Haak) Good

Wife:

Susan Hubbard Root

nephew:

James Isaac Good