Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stork, Charles Augustus Gottlieb

STORK, Charles Augustus Gottlieb, clergyman, b. in Helmstädt, duchy of Brunswick, Germany, 16 June, 1764; d. in Salisbury, N. C., 27 March, 1831. The family name was originally Storch. He received his classical and theological education in the University of Helmstädt, in 1785 became a private tutor, and in 1788 accepted a call as pastor and missionary among Lutherans in North Carolina. He was examined and ordained to the ministry, and arrived in Baltimore, Md., in June. Immediately after his arrival he took charge of congregations in Cabarrus county, N. C., where he remained until he retired from the active duties of the ministry. He was the leader of various enterprises of the church. When, on 2 May, 1803, the synod of North Carolina was organized, he was elected the first president, and he was annually re-elected whenever he could be present. During the latter part of his life he removed to a farm ten miles south of Salisbury, where he spent the remainder of his days. He was a man of learning and piety, and had the reputation of being a superior linguist. See “The Stork Family in the Lutheran Church,” by John G. Morris, D. D. (Philadelphia, 1886). — His son, Theophilus, clergyman, b. near Salisbury, N. C., in August, 1814; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 28 March, 1874, was graduated at Pennsylvania college, Gettysburg, in 1835, and at the theological seminary there in 1837. In the same year he was licensed to preach by the synod of Maryland, and assumed pastoral charge of the Lutheran congregation at Winchester, Va., where he remained until 1841. In the latter year he removed to Philadelphia as pastor of St. Matthew's congregation, the second English Lutheran congregation in the city. In 1842 he was one of the leaders in the movement that resulted in the organization of the East Pennsylvania synod. In 1850 he resigned as pastor of St. Matthew's congregation and organized St. Mark's congregation, building a new church. In 1858 he accepted the presidency of Newberry college, S. C., but in 1860 he removed to Baltimore, Md., as pastor of a new congregation. Here he remained until 1865, when he retired on account of failing health. For the next few years, until 1871, he was engaged in pastoral and editorial duties in Philadelphia, as well as in literary pursuits. In 1851 he received the decree of D. D. from Pennsylvania college. He was at various times editor of the “Home Journal” and “Lutheran Home Monthly,” and assistant editor for several years of the “Lutheran Observer.” Among his published works are “Life of Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany,” edited with introduction (Philadelphia, 1854): “The Children of the New Testament” (1854); “Luther's Christmas-Tree” (1855); “Jesus in the Temple, or the Model of Youth” (1856); “Home Seenes in the New Testament” (1857); “Luther at Home” (1871); “The Unseen World in the Light of the Cross” (1871); “Luther and the Bible” (1873); “Afternoon” (1874); and “Sermons,” edited by his sons (1876). — Theophilus's son, Charles Augustus, clergyman, b. near Jefferson, Frederick co., Md., 4 Sept., 1838; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 17 Dec., 1883, was graduated at Williams in 1857, where his room-mate was James A. Garfield, studied at Andover theological seminary, and was professor of Greek in Newberry college, S. C., in 1859-'60. In 1861 he was ordained to the ministry. He was pastor of St. James's Lutheran congregation in Philadelphia for a few months in 1861, of St. Mark's congregation in Baltimore, Md., 1862-'81, and professor of theology in Gettysburg seminary, and chairman of the faculty from 1881 until his death. In 1874 he received the degree of D. D. from Pennsylvania college. He published numerous articles in periodicals, and was for a time co-editor of the “Lutheran Missionary Journal” and the “Lutheran Observer” in Philadelphia. Some of his fugitive writings have been collected in a posthumous work entitled “Light on the Pilgrim's Way,” edited by his brother, Theophilus B. Stork (Philadelphia, 1885).