Capital University - Capitalian Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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Frederick William Stellhorn, D.D. G

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DEDICATED to Frederick William SteUhom, D ,0o? Esteemed and Beloved Oeasi of the Theological Seminary, Whose speech and teaching is not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power.

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Frederick William Stellhorn, O. D. T S OT generally known to the general public even in Columbus, yet in his particular I'iV! sphere one of its most distinguished citizens, Frederick William Stellhorn, D.D., I V now seventy-three, faithfully delivers daily lectures on Exegesis, Dogmatics and Ethics in the Theological Seminary and attends to the many other duties which he is called upon to perform as Dean of the Seminary and one of America’s leading Lutheran theologians. His wide learning, profound and exact thinking and plain, trans- parent speech have given him an eminence thruout our land and other lands, and the influence of his labors on the development of the Ohio Synod and other synods is every where acknowledged. Dr. Stellhorn was born in Hanover, Germany, October 2, 1841. His parents were poor in this world’s goods, but rich in faith, and carefully attended not only to the secular training of their promising son, but especially to the development of his spiritual life. In parochial school he learned the beautiful sentences of Luther’s Catechism, the heart-touching narratives of Bible History and the grand old Lutheran hymns. These things became the treasures of his life. In his thirteenth year, his parents emigrated to America and located in Fort Wayne, Ind. A week later the family lost their father, he having fallen victim to the ravages of cholera. But an older brother was able to care for the widow and children so that Frederick could secure an education. He entered the parochial school of Dr. Sihler’s congregation and was confirmed the following spring, in his fifteenth year. Though the means of the family were limited, yet is was desired that the growing youth should continue his studies, so in the fall of 1857 arrangements were made for him to enter the practical Missouri Synod Seminary in Fort Wayne. Two years later he went to St. Louis to complete his classical education and was graduated from Con- cordia College in I 862. Three years later he was graduated from the Concordia Semi- nary in the same city. Dr. Stellhorn’s pastoral career was not to be long, for the Lord had even greater tasks in store for him. He at first assisted Rev. J. F. Buenger in the latter’s large con- gregation in St. Louis, but in a short time was prostrated by a sun-stroke from which he slowly recovered. Though he was eager to continue his ministerial work, the effects of the stroke compelled him to resign against the wishes of the people. In 1 867 he re-entered the ministry and became pastor of a small congregation in Indiana where the work was less trying and there was some leisure for study. His stay there, however, was brief, for in 1869 he was called to a professorship in North Western College at Watertown, Wis. In this congenial position he spent five years teaching ancient languages. In 1874 his Alma Mater in Fort Wayne called him to a similar position on her faculty, which he accepted, expecting to enter a large field of service to the Church. At the end of six years, however, troubles began for the young professor. Though he was a teacher of languages, theology never ceased to interest him to a great degree. As a member of the church, too, he was deeply interested in her doctrinal life. It hap- pened now that about 1880 the Missouri Synod under the leaderdvn o( D . W ' h r taught a doctrine of election practically Calvinistic in its tenor and this Professor Stell- 7