Peter Schmucker
methodist minister (1784–1860)

Peter Schmucker (1784–1860) was a Lutheran and later Methodist minister, who served congregations first in Virginia, then in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other western states.
Johann Peter Schmucker, son of Johann Christoph and Anna Apollonia (Schoenberger) Schmucker, was born on 27 August 1784, in Reichelsheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt. He died on 9 December 1860.
Peter was an infant when his parents immigrated to the United States and settled near Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia. Christoph, his father, was a farmer. Growing up Peter worked on the farm and then learned the carpenter's trade. When he was eighteen [1802-1803] "he experienced a change of heart, at a camp meeting held by the United Brethren." His parents were Lutherans and two of his older brothers, George and Nicholas, had devoted themselves early to the ministry. Peter after his "change of heart" took steps to enter the Lutheran ministry.
In October 1813 Peter Schmucker attended the meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina and was licensed as a Cathechet, the first degree of ministry on the path to ordination as a Lutheran pastor. He had brought letters from four congregations in Virginia (Hawksbill and Solomon's churches in Shenandoah County and Rader's and Paul's churches in Rockingham County) supporting his request and asking to allow these congregations to join the North Carolina Synod.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter Schmucker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.