Background
Johannes Deindorfer was born on July 28, 1828 in Bavaria at Ross-stall near Nurnberg. He was the son of Georg Heinrich and Anna Eva (Leupold) Deindorfer. His father was a farmer and basket maker.
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Johannes Deindorfer
Edit ProfileEducation
In pursuance of his desire to become a minister Deindorfer studied theology in 1847-1851 in Nurnberg and Neuendettelsau under Friedrich Bauer and Wilhelm Lohe. In those years Lohe was giving much of his time to preparing missionaries for work among the German Lutherans in the western United States and recently had founded three Lutheran colonies - Frankenmuth, Frankentrost, Frankenlust - in Saginaw County, Michigan.
Career
At Lohe's suggestion Deindorfer accepted the pastorship of a fourth colony, Frankenhilf, which was to be comprised chiefly of young couples who were unable to obtain legal permission to marry in Bavaria because of their poverty.
He was ordained at Hamburg September 14, 1851, by Reverend J. Meinel and preached his first sermon at Frankenhilf on the second Sunday in Advent.
The other German Lutheran pastors in the country round about were members of the Missouri Synod, with the exception of his friend Georg Martin Grossmann; and when the rupture over the doctrine of the ministry came between Lohe and the Synod, Grossmann and Deindorfer for failing to agree with the Missourians, found themselves in a serious position. It was soon clear that they must either move further west to territory unoccupied by the Missouri Synod or else prepare to endure ceaseless petty persecution.
In July and August 1853, therefore, Deindorfer and the one man of property among his parishioners, Gottlob Amman, visited northeastern Iowa on a tour of inspection, and that autumn they and Grossmann with their families settled there. Grossmann took up his work in Dubuque, while Deindorfer made his headquarters in Clayton County at a spot that he piously named St. Sebald, in honor of the saint who first brought the evangel to the vicinity of Nurnberg.
The hardships of pioneer life told heavily on Deindorfer: during the first winter he and his family suffered severely from cold and were compelled to take refuge at last in Amman's log cabin; a little later Deindorfer almost succumbed to typhoid fever.
On August 24, 1854, in Deindorfer's cabin at St. Sebald, he, Grossmann, Conrad Sigmund Fritschel, and Michael Scheller organized the German Lutheran Synod of Iowa. Deindorfer was vice-president of the Synod 1854-1893, meanwhile serving as pastor at St. Sebald 1853-1856; Madison, Wisconsin, 1856-1860; West Union and Waucoma, Iowa, 1860-1865; Toledo, Ohio, 1865-1870; Defiance, Ohio, 1870-1889; and Ripon, Wisconsin, 1889-1893.
For sixteen years he was president of the Eastern District. He was president of the Synod from 1893 to 1904 and editor of its Kirchenblatt, with a few interruptions, from 1878 to 1904. It was characteristic of him that when he accepted the presidency he stipulated that his salary should be but $800 a year, since he had found that he could live sufficiently on that sum.
He published Denkschriften commemorating the tenth, twenty-fifth, and fiftieth anniversaries of the founding of the Synod and in 1897 an excellent Geschichte der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Synode von Iowa. He died at Waverly, Iowa.
Achievements
Religion
Deindorfer was a member of the Lutheran Church.
Personality
Deindorfer's simplicity, kindliness, and strength of character made him generally beloved. He was a good student and had a distinct literary gift.
Connections
On October 18, 1852, Deindorfer married Katharina Elisabeth Weege, by whom he had nine children.
References
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Born
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Died
May 15, 1907 (aged 78) -
Resting place
Harlington Cemetery, Waverly, Iowa, United States -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Lutheran