My Genealogy Hound

REV. J. A. F. W. MUELLER, Pastor of the St. John’s Lutheran Church, Chester. While there are many avenues by which mental liability leads to distinction, there is scarcely one of more benefit to humanity as a family than that of caring for the immortal soul. A pastor’s duty entails upon him a great deal of responsibility. Not only must he guide people safely through the shoals of this world, but prepare them for the safe passage into the unknown world. Among the men who have labored early and late to accomplish this purpose and to be of inestimable benefit to frail humanity, ranks the Rev. Mr. Mueller.

A native of Prussia, our subject was born in the province of Saxony, October 29, 1825. He is the son of Christian and Mary Mueller, also natives, of the Fatherland. The parents crossed the Atlantic to America in 1839, and landing in New Orleans, made their way up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. From the latter place they went to Wittenberg, Perry County, Mo., where the elder Mr. Mueller engaged in the manufacture of brick, and where he was residing at the time of his decease in 1846. The death of his wife occurred two years previously, during the great flood of 1844.

Mr. Mueller of this sketch spent the first thirteen years of his life in his native land and when old enough attended the model schools near his home. After coming to America he acquired some knowledge of the English language by a six months’ attendance in the schools of Perry County, Mo. After his confirmation, in 1839,he entered the Lutheran Concordia Seminary, in that county, where he carried on his studies from 1839 to 1847. In the last named year he was ordained for the ministry by the Rev. F. Buenger, of St. Louis. For the first nine years of his ministerial labors, our subject was engaged in preaching near St. Louis, and later was called to Chicago, where he remained from 1856 to 1863, also engaging in pioneer work. In the latter year he was called to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he took charge of a large city congregation, over which he had charge until 1870. Then going into Somerset County, that state, he acted as Pastor over four small congregations until 1875, at which time he came to Chester, Ill. At the time of taking up the work in this place, the Rev. Mr. Mueller found a very small following, but at the present time his congregation numbers one hundred and twenty-five families. Mr. Mueller has a pleasant and attractive appearance, is bright, ready and a lively speaker, and commands the attention of his audience from the beginning. His delivery is good, his manner earnest, and he handles his subject as one perfectly at home. In 1879 he had the pleasure of seeing erected a fine brick edifice, in which the congregation meets. He also has a large parochial school in connection with the church, and he procured his teachers from the Lutheran Normal School located at Addison, Ill.

In May, 1849, our subject and Miss Jane Hoehne were united in marriage. Mrs. Mueller was a native of Saxony, Germany, but at the time, of her marriage was a resident of Perry County, Mo. She died in Chester in 1877, after having become the mother of ten children, seven of whom are now living: Herman; Gotthold; Concordia, the wife of Rev. C. Frank, of Evansville, Ind.; Martin; Matilda, now Mrs. Charles Waschilewsky, of Frankenmuth, Mich.; William, a teacher; and Gustave, a minister at West Point, Neb. The present wife of our subject, to whom he was married in 1880, bore the maiden name of Christiana Seidler, and was also a native of Perry County, Mo.