Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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I-Ion. Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg C1750-1801l Frederick Augustus, the second son of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, is known to history as the first speaker of the national House of Representatives. After attending Halle, Germany, along with his brothers, he was ordained and became his father's assistant. Among his ministerial charges were churches in New York City and Pennsylvania, but his patriotic views inclined him to re- tire from the ministry and enter the Continental Congress as representative of the Pennsylvania Germans. His high character and judicial firm- ness aptly fittecl him for public service, in which he held the offices of the first President Iudge of Montgomery County, presiding officer of the Pennsylvania assembly, and four terms as representa- tive to Congress, of which he was the first and third speaker. His most famous descendant was a grandson, the Rev. Dr. William A. Muhl- enberg, the eminent Episcopalian, who is remembered as the founder of SL Luke's Hospital, New York, and St. Iohnlandf' cmd as the author of the hymns: I Would Not Live A1way and Savior, Who Thy Flock Art Leading. Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg. D.D. H753-1 8 1 st The third son of the champion of Lutheranism in North America was G-otthilf Heinrich Muhlenberg, the emin- ent botanist and philologist. At age ten he went to Halle with his brothers to study for the ministry. Ordained at an early age, he was appointed assistant to his father and served congregations in New Iersey, Philadelphia, and Lan- caster, the latter for thirty-five years. As a botanist, he was esteemed by his contemporaries and successors. Among his works are books on grasses and a catalogue of the known and naturalized plants of North America. The number of species and varieties first established by him is said to be one hundred. A number of species of plants perpetuate his name, owing to recognition of his services to science, by later botanists. Six scientific socie- ties honored him: he received his M. A. from University of Pennsylvania and his D. D. from Princeton. He also pub- lished the first German-English, English- German dictionary in America. His grandson was the first president of Muhlenberg College.

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Iohn Conrad Weiser H696-17601 This famous Indian interpreter of Tulpehocken was the father-in-law of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who mar- ried his daughter, Anna Mary Weiser. Conrad Weiser came from Germany with his father in 1709, lived among the Indians in New York for fifteen years and was adopted by the Mohawks. His Indian name, Ta-racha-wogoa, The one who holds the reins, is indicative of his power, strength, wisdom, and authority. As official Indian interpreter for Penn- sylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia- as pioneer, soldier, diplomat and Indian agent, Weiser negotiated every treaty from 1732 until near the close of the French and Indian War. He was responsible, more than any other man, for the alliance of the power- ful Iroquois with the English against the French. At the great conference at Easton in 1757 Weiser's influence paci- fied both the Six Nations and the Dela- wares and made peace a certainty. In the words of George Washington: Pos- terity will not forget his services. General Iohn Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg 0746-18073 General Peter Muhlenberg, the eldest son of the Patriarch, is one of Pennsylvania's two representatives in the Hall of Fame at Washington. He was pre-eminently a soldier as early appeared when he left his studies at Halle University, Germany, to join a regiment of dragoons, from which he was released with difficulty by friends. This picture shows Peter at the end of his farewell sermon at Woodstock, Virginia. There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray . . . There is also a time to fight and that time has now come. Throwing back his clerical gown, he displayed the full miiltary uniform of colonel in the Rev- olutionary army. After the war Peter, now a major- general, served Pennsylvania as con- gressman, U. S. senator, Supervisor of Internal Revenue, and Collector for the Port of Philadelphia. As is recorded on his tombstone, He was brave in the field, faithful in the cabinet, honourable in all his transactions, a sincere friend and an honest man. . F

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Rev. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg. D.D.. LL.D. 11818-19011 tPresident: 1867-18761 Dr. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, great- grandson of the Patriarch, was the first president of Muhlenberg College. The forerunner of the college had been Allentown Seminary, founded in 1848, which attained collegiate rank as the Allentown Collegiate Institute and Mili- tary Academy. When Dr. Muhlenberg was called from the Greek professor- ship at Gettysburg, Muhlenberg College was located at Fourth, between Walnut and Union Streets, and had seven faculty members, and 161 students, in- cluding the academic department. Under Dr. Muhlenberg the college steadily developed. The financial panic of 1873 resulted in the Ministerium as- suming the entire management in 1874. After serving failthfully for nine years, Dr. Muhlenberg accepted the Greek professorship at the University of Penn- sylvania, where President lohn A. W. Haas studied under him. From 1891 to 1893 he served as President of Thiel College, Greenville, Pa., and died in 1901. Rev. Beniamin Sadtler. D.D. 11823-19011 tPtesident: 1877-18851 Dr. Benjamin Sadtler, second presi- dent of Muhlenberg College, was grad- uated from Pennsylvania college at Gettysburg and from the theological seminary there. After seventeen years in four Pennsylvania pastorates he served for fourteen years as President of the Lutherville Female Seminary, and as a prominent member of the Board of Trustees at Gettysburg, the presidency of which he had declined. In Dr. Sadtler's inaugural address he expressed the aim of Muhlenberg Col- lege: harmoniously to combine the Christian element in education with a sound and comprehensive culture, her claim to the generous support of the Church and community. During Dr. Sadtler's flourishing administration no- table gifts were received in the form of the Asa Packer Professorship of Natural and Applied Sciences and the Mosser-Keck chair of Greek language and literature. In 1885 Dr. Sadtler sustained severe injuries from a fall on the ice, and re- signed the presidency after nine years of faithful and devoted services.