Background
Boehler was born in Frankfurt am Main, then part of Holy Roman Empire, on December 31, 1712. Peter was the fourth child of brewers Johann Konrad Peter Böhler and his wife Antonetta Elisabetha.
Boehler was born in Frankfurt am Main, then part of Holy Roman Empire, on December 31, 1712. Peter was the fourth child of brewers Johann Konrad Peter Böhler and his wife Antonetta Elisabetha.
Boehler attended school in Frankfurt, and went to the University of Jena in 1731. His father wanted him to study medicine, but Boehler was drawn into studying theology by the university's well-known faculty members such as Johann Franz Buddeus, Johann Georg Walch and Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf.
The Count had allowed refugees from Bohemia and Moravia to settle on his lands in Saxony and had encouraged the revival of their church. As a result of his meeting with Zinzendorf, Boehler associated himself with the United Brethren. In 1737 he became a minister of the Moravian Church and in 1738 was appointed pastor of the Moravian community in Savannah. On his way to America, he passed through London and met the Wesley brothers, whom he influenced greatly. On October 15, 1738, Boehler arrived at Savannah, where he discovered that the Moravian community had dwindled to 12. In 1740, as a result of the war between Great Britain and Spain, he led the members of his growing community away from Savannah, since their religious principles forbade bearing arms. They founded a new settlement at Bethlehem. In January 1741 Boehler returned to England and Germany. In March 1742 he sailed back to America, this time accompanied by 56 brethren who were to settle in America. He stayed at Bethlehem one year, after which he returned to Germany. In 1747 he was named superintendent of the Moravian Church in England and was consecrated bishop, January 10, 1748. In 1753 he was again sent to America, where, except for a short trip to attend the general synod of his church in Germany, he remained until 1764. In 1756 he had been appointed assistant superintendent of the Moravian Church in America. While on a trip to England, he died on April 27, 1775, and was buried in a Moravian cemetery in London.