Pastor Henry C. Schwan The story of the development of the Lutheran Church in Cleveland is largely the work of Pastor Henry C. Schwan. His direction and leadership spanned many decades. Henry C. Schwan was born in Germany, the oldest son of a Lutheran pastor. He studied theology and graduated from Jena University in 1842. As the nephew to F.C.D. Wyneken, he was aware of the spiritual plight and hunger that existed among German Lutherans in America and it was his desire to serve as a missionary there. He did some preparatory mission work in South America, spending 6 years in Brazil. It was there that he met and married Emma Blum, daughter of a Hessian physician. At the end of 1849, he received a letter from his uncle, advising him that the time was right and urging him to come to America. In 1850, he arrived in St. Louis and was installed as pastor of his first church. This church, Neubielefeld, consisted of ten families and was very poor. The group included many evangelicals who resented having a Lutheran pastor, yet he led them lovingly and diplomatically for ten months. At this time, he was called to Zion Lutheran Church in Cleveland. Dr. W. Sihler from Ft. Wayne had become very impressed with Schwan while still in Germany and recommended him to Zion. Schwan preached his first sermon there on August 31, 1851. At this time, the congregation numbered 375 communicants and had been growing steadily since it was formed 8 years earlier. Quite an interesting and significant event happened at the first Christmas when pastor Schwan brought a lighted Christmas tree into his church. The congregation as well as the town was unaware of this beautiful custom which he had brought over from Germany, and became outraged. An editorial in one newspaper called the tree in Zion "nonsensical, asinine, moronic absurdity, besides being silly." Even many of the church members considered it to be idolatry and sacrilege. Schwan had honestly not been aware that the custom was not known and had meant it to be a special event for all. He was finally able to educate them as to its origin and meaning and to this day Pastor Schwan is credited with bringing the custom to America. Zion Lutheran has been designated as a landmark by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission as follows: Zion Lutheran Church was the site of the First Christmas Tree in America, publicly lighted and displayed in a church Christmas ceremony in 1851. Only one year after he began serving at Zion, the congregation joined the Missouri Synod. The following year, Zion invited and hosted the 1853 meeting of the Synod. In his early years at Zion, Pastor Schwan also served numerous other Cleveland area congregations as they were born and grew separate and independent from the Mother Church of Zion. Because he was known as a faithful pastor, a doctrinally sound theologian and a far-sighted leader, Pastor Schwan was elected President of the Missouri Synod in 1878, succeeding Dr. C.F.W Walther. At the end of his first term, he asked that Synod not re-elect him because he felt he could not adequately serve as president and as pastor to Zion. He was also dedicated to the growth and development of the Lutheran Church in Cleveland. However, the synod passed a resolution that the office of the presidency become a full-time position and proceeded to re-elect him. So, on May 30, 1881, he resigned his pastorate of Zion Church after having faithfully served them for thirty years. The congregation was saddened to lose him, but knew that God was calling him to a higher service and making wider use of his talents. He held this office for 21 years. Pastor Schwan also had a great love and dedication to Christian education. This interest in teaching children and his talent as an educator is evident in the Exposition of Martin Luther's Small Catechism which he wrote and published in 1896. This has been used widely as the standard textbook for religious instruction in the Missouri Synod. Pastor Schwan's 87 years of earthly life were spent in wise, patient and humble service to the Word of Christ. He departed to heaven in 1905 approximately one year after suffering a stroke which paralyzed him to the end. He is buried in East Cleveland and his grave is marked by a plain headstone with a simple inscription: H. C. Schwan ______________________________________________________________ This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by Debbie Harris and is in the public domain by permission of Rev. Manfred K. Rembold. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: bob_smith@ctsfw.edu Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (219) 452-2148 Fax: (219) 452-2126 ______________________________________________________________