Henry Boehm was an American Methodist itinerant preacher. For over 70 years he was going to different churches and lecturing about various religious topics.
Background
Henry Boehm was born on June 8, 1775, in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Martin and Eve (Steiner) Boehm. His father was expelled from the Mennonites for his "too evangelical opinions, " and became a bishop of the United Brethren Church, the members of which were largely German Methodists. His home at Conestoga sheltered many of the itinerant preachers of the pioneer period of Methodism and in "Boehm's Chapel, " built in 1791, their voices were heard. Henry Boehm's boyhood was passed under frontier conditions and amid these religious influences.
Career
Boehm was a vigorous, daring, self-trained young man of twenty-five when he himself became an itinerant preacher, traveling circuits in Maryland, Virginia, and the regions beyond. Later he labored in Pennsylvania, introducing Methodism into Reading and Harrisburg. His success was augmented by his ability to preach fluently both in English and German. At Bishop Asbury's request he superintended the translation of the Methodist Discipline into the German language, thus giving material aid to the progress of the Methodist Episcopal Church among the Germans of the United States. As traveling companion of Bishop Asbury for five years he visited annually not only all the states along the Atlantic coast, but all the frontier settlements and many of the isolated homes. After he ceased to travel with Bishop Asbury he was appointed to various important districts of the rapidly growing denomination needing skilled leadership, and then to pulpits of commanding influence in Pennsylvania and New Jersey until old age compelled him to ask release from regular ministerial duties. After his one hundredth birthday he preached several times, and only a few days before his death gave an effective formal address.