John Christian Jacobson

Background

Jacobson was born on April 8, 1795, in Burkal, Denmark. His parents were both missionaries of the Moravian church in Denmark.

Education

Jacobson was educated in the Moravian boarding school at Christiansfeld and at the higher school at Niesky, where he studied theology. Immediately after graduation he was called to America where in 1816 he entered Nazareth Hall, the boys' boarding school at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, as a teacher.

Career

Perhaps Jacobson's chief claim to remembrance rests upon his work in the field of education. He was a scholar with a critical knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He brought to America the educational ideals of Europe, and he profoundly influenced the trend of education in the Moravian schools at Nazareth and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and at Salem, North Carolina. In 1820 he became a professor in the Moravian Theological Seminary. In 1826, Jacobson was called to the pastorate of the church in Bethania, North Carolina. For ten years, from 1834 to 1844, he was principal of the Salem Female Academy, and was so successful that he was recalled to Nazareth Hall as principal. Jacobson's influence was also felt on church policy. In 1848 he was a delegate to the General Synod at Herrnhut, Saxony, and the following year he was called to Bethlehem as a member of the Provincial Elders' Conference over which he presided for eighteen years. This was a period of growing importance for the American provinces, inasmuch as the General Synod in 1848 granted them certain powers of self-government, and in 1857 increased these powers to practical independence. The result was increased importance for the Moravian College finally located at Bethlehem, and enlarged responsibility for the American church leaders, of whom Jacobson was one. In 1852 he made an extensive tour through the western part of the northern province, visiting the congregations and mission stations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Upper Canada, Indiana, and Ohio (Moravian Church Miscellany for 1852 and 1853). His story of his journey is an interesting commentary on methods of travel as well as a record of church progress. In 1854 Jacobson was ordained bishop, but he continued from time to time to give exegetical lectures on the New Testament at the Moravian College. In 1867 he retired from active life. He died after three years of retirement, at the age of seventy-five, on November 24, 1870.

Achievements

• Jacobson is best known as the bishop, who profoundly influenced the trend of education in the Moravian schools at Nazareth and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and at Salem, North Carolina.

Personality

Jacobson impressed his contemporaries not only with his serious scholarship, but also with his joy in life, which gave him sympathy with old and young. Characteristic, too, was his broad-mindedness and lack of bigotry.

Connections

In 1826 Jacobson married Lisetta Schnall, also a child of missionary parents.

Spouse:

Lisetta Schnall

References

• History of the Moravian Church: The renewed Unitas Fratrum, 1722-1957
• Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society Volume VIII. Parts II and III.