Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Möller, Henry

MÖLLER, Henry, clergyman, b. in Hamburg, Germany, in 1749; d. in Sharon, N. Y., 16 Sept., 1829. He came to this country when fourteen years of age, and while wandering about the streets of Philadelphia was accosted by Rev. Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the “patriarch” of the Evangelical Lutheran church in America, who recognized him from a family likeness. He was at once taken into the clergyman's house, and made assistant in a school in which the latter was teaching. His leisure hours having been devoted to the study of theology, he was licensed to preach by the synod of Pennsylvania. He engaged in work among the poor, in collecting congregations and erecting churches, and in extending the principles of the Lutheran faith. During the Revolutionary war he was chaplain of a German regiment in the American army. Möller's first regular pastoral charge was at Reading, Pa. Thence he removed to Philadelphia, and later settled at Albany, N. Y., where he built the first Lutheran church. In 1788 he was called to New Holland, Pa., and labored there until 1795, when he took charge of the Lutherans at Harrisburg, where he remained seven years. After preaching again six years at Albany, he had the care of the united churches at Sharon and New Rhinebeck, Schoharie co., N. Y.