Background
Jacoby was born on October 21, 1813, in Altstrelitz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany (now Neustrelitz, Germany), of Jewish stock, the fifth of the six children of Samuel and Henriette (Hirsch) Jacoby.
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Ludwig Sigismund Jacoby
Edit ProfileEducation
Jacoby attended the excellent school of the Altstrelitz ("Altmochum") synagogue, but the narrow circumstances of his parents compelled him at the age of fifteen to enter the service of A. J. Saalfeld & Company in Hamburg. Later he was a drummer for a firm in Leipzig.
Career
In 1838, after a short stay in Nottingham, England, Jacoby emigrated to the United States and wandered as far west as Cincinnati, where he found sufficient employment as a tutor in English. Out of curiosity he attended a Methodist church on Vine Street between Fourth and Fifth and was converted late in 1839 by the Rev. William Nast. Though diffident of his qualifications, he yielded to Nast's persuasions and prepared himself for ordination. His missionary career, which first brought Methodism to the Germans in the upper Mississippi Valley, to Germany, and to Switzerland, began in 1841, when Bishop Thomas Asbury Morris sent him to open a mission in St. Louis. He then set up preaching stations at Galena, Dubuque, and other points and became presiding elder of the St. Louis German District in 1844 and of the Quincy German District in 1845. In 1848 he petitioned the General Conference to send him to Germany to begin activities there. After a year of rest he sailed in October 1849, established his headquarters in Bremen, and started a congregation. As helpers were sent to him, Jacoby carried the work to other towns in Germany and even into Switzerland. In the north he won followers by his command of his boyhood Plattdeutsch. For twenty-two laborious years Jacoby acted as pastor, book agent, editor of publications, founder and director of a hospice and seminary, superintendent of missions, and presiding elder of the Oldenburg District. He was the author of a Handbuch des Methodismus (Bremen, 1853; 1854), a Geschichte des Methodismus, Erster Theil (Bremen, 1870; 1871), tracts, and other items. Methodism was distinctly unwelcome in Germany, but through Jacoby's sagacity and devotion it gained a foothold. Weary with years of unremitting toil, he returned to the United States late in 1871 and became pastor of the Soulardgemeinde in St. Louis and soon after presiding elder again of the St. Louis District. Before many months he was mortally ill. While awaiting death he compiled Letzte Stunden, oder Die Kraft der Religion Jesu Christi im Tode (1870). Jacoby died on June 20, 1874.
Achievements
Connections
In September 1840 Jacoby married Amalie Therese Nuelsen, born in Germany, who had been converted from Catholicism to Methodism in Cincinnati. She bore him eight children, was his capable assistant in his work, and lived to mourn him.
