My Genealogy Hound

AUGUSTUS SCHULTZE, D. D., President of the Moravian College and Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, is well known in this part of the state as a theologian and philologist of marked ability, and to his earnest efforts is due in a large measure the success of this well known educational institution. It is nearly a quarter of a century since he became identified intimately with its welfare, and during this time the college has acquired an enviable reputation among Moravian brethren in all parts of the country. A writer of no mean ability, Dr. Schultze has published numerous works, and is a regular contributor to the leading magazines and papers of his denomination.

A native of Germany, Dr. Schultze was born near Potsdam, in Brandenburg, in 1840, being a son of Lewis Schultze, who was a native of the same locality and a merchant and farmer by occupation. For some years subsequent to 1849 he had charge of the land of the Moravian Congregation in Silesia, where our subject attended the Moravian Academy after reaching his tenth year. Lewis Schultze retired from active work about 1871, when, with his wife, he crossed the Atlantic, making his home in Bethlehem. His death occurred in this city, when he had attained the good old age of seventy-six years. His wife, Fredericka Haeseler, who was born in Gross Beeren, Brandenburg, also died in Bethlehem. Of their two children only one is living. Until his fourteenth year Dr. Schultze attended the Moravian Grammar School, after which he pursued his studies in the Moravian College at Niesky, in the northwestern part of Silesia, and at the Theological Seminary of Gnadenfeld, graduating from the latter institution in 1861. Next going to French Switzerland, he located at Lausanne, where he taught in the Moravian School of that city for one year. In 1862 he was appointed Professor of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Modern History in Niesky College, and continued in that capacity until 1869, when he was made Vice-President of the college. Later he was ordained a minister in the Moravian Church, and in 1870 received a call to Bethlehem.

Though his first invitation to come to this city was declined, on receiving the second call, in the fall of 1870, Dr. Schultze concluded to accept it, and on becoming connected with the Bethlehem Moravian College took charge of the chairs of Exegetical and Dogmatic Theology and the higher classes in Greek and Hebrew. In 1884 he was made President of the faculty, and still serves in this most responsible position. In 1881 he was elected a member of the Board of Elders of the Moravian Church, which has charge of the general supervision and direction of the Moravian denomination in this country. He was re-elected in 1884 and in 1888, and was Secretary of the board. In 1893 he declined re-election, as he found his time too fully occupied with his other numerous duties. The Doctor was editor of Der Brueder Botschafter, a weekly German paper, being sole editor from 1884 until 1893, when he resigned. He has also contributed to the literature of his denomination in many ways, having been the author of the “German History of Moravian Missions, with Maps and Illustrations,” a book of two hundred and sixty pages, and an English grammar and vocabulary of the Eskimo language, a work of seventy pages. He published at his own expense the first Danish-Moravian text-book, the “History of the Bethlehem Widows’ Society,” and “The Books of the Bible, Analyzed.”

Our subject was first married in Bethlehem, in 1871, to Miss Julia Reck, who was born here, and who died in 1874, leaving one son, William, who is a graduate of the Moravian College, and a Professor at Nazareth Hall. The Doctor was a second time married, in 1876, at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, Miss Addie Peter then becoming his wife. She was born in Gnadenhutten, and received her education at Hope, Ind., where she taught for several years. Her great-great-grandfather, Rev. John F. Peter, was born in Germany, and was a minister of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, where he died at the age of eighty-three years. One of his sons, David, and two of his brothers removed to Ohio, taking charge of the store of the denomination at Gnadenhutten. Dr. and Mrs. Schultze have become the parents of four children: Clara, who graduated from the parochial schools with honor, delivering the salutatory address; and Frederick, Emily and Agnes, who complete the number.

In 1879 Dr. Schultze was a delegate to the General Synod of the Moravian Church in Germany, and made a trip of three months, visiting his old home and traveling in Austria, Italy, etc. At the Mt. Gretna (Pa.) Chautauqua he was Professor of Hebrew in 1893, and the following year was Professor of Bible Instruction and Hebrew. In 1893 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the Board of Trustees of Lafayette College. Politically he votes with the Republican party.

A very brief record and description of the Moravian College and Theological Seminary may be interesting to many to whom its name has been familiar since its earliest year. This institution was organized in the early part of the century, and in 1838 was removed to Bethlehem, where it continued until 1851. It was later transferred to Nazareth, where it remained for a period of seven years, and was subsequently removed to Bethlehem a second time, where it has remained ever since, and in 1863 was incorporated under its present title. The primary design of this college is to give young men a thorough classical education, and secondly a complete course in theology. The buildings are beautifully situated on a fine plot of ground at the northern edge of the borough, and comprise Comenius Hall, the main building, which contains four classrooms, fifty study rooms, offices, library, receptions rooms, etc.; “The Helen Stadiger Borhek Memorial Chapel;” the refectory and the resident professors’ house. The second-named building, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ashton C. Borhek, has a seating capacity of about two hundred and fifty, and is beautiful in design and architecture. Special attention is given to the importance of a thorough classical training, as it is believed that thoroughness in the ancient languages is of the utmost importance to young men desiring to devote their lives to ths ministry and to the interpretation of the sacred writings. The regular course is of four years’ duration, while that of the theological department covers two years of study. Students who successfully complete the first-named required course are entitled to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and on a similar completion of the theological course the degree of Bachelor of Divinity is conferred upon them.