Christian Cyclopedia

(John Christian Frederick; [Carl?]; July 10, 1793–November 7, 1873). B. Helmstedt, Ger.; to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1807; studied theol. under J. H. C. Helmuth* and F. D. Schaeffer*; taught Zion School, Southwark, Philadelphia, 1813–15; attended U. of Göttingen 1815–16; licensed 1817 by Pennsylvania Ministerium (see United Lutheran Church in America, The, Synods of, 22); itinerant preacher Crawford and Erie Cos., Pennsylvania, 1817–18; preacher Cumberland, Maryland, 1818–24; ordained Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1820; pastor Somerset, Pennsylvania, 1824–27, 1832–37; Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1827–28; pres. West Pennsylvania Syn. (see United Lutheran Church in America, The, Synods of, 22, 23) 1831. In 1837 the Central* Miss. Soc. of the Ev. Luth. Ch. in the US sent him to explore the miss. possibilities in the Mississippi Valley. In 1840 the For. Miss. Soc. of the Gen. Syn. (see Lutheran Foreign Mission Endeavors in the United States, Early, 2–4) asked him to consider foreign miss. work. He consented; studied medicine and Skt. at Baltimore, Maryland, 1840–41; to India as agent of Pennsylvania Ministerium; worked at Guntur 1842–45; home miss. Baltimore 1847. For. Miss. Soc. of the Gen. Syn. assumed Guntur miss. 1846. Heyer left for India December 1847; arrived Guntur 1848; in the Palnad 1849–53; at Guntur 1853–55; to Rajahmundry 1855; miss. in Minnesota 1857–68; helped found Minnesota* Syn. 1860; in Ger. 1868–69; to India again 1869; chaplain, housefather Luth. Theol. Sem., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1872–73. See also Missions, 10.

E. T. Bachmann, They Called Him Father: The Life Story of John Christian Frederick Heyer (Philadelphia, 1942); A. R. Wentz, “Father Heyer Planted a Church,” The Lutheran Church Quarterly, XVI (1943), 39–49; G. Drach, “Father Heyer, the Pioneer,” The Lutheran Church Quarterly, XI (1938), 187–193.