Rev. Thomas Steck served as minister of Simeon Lutheran Church, Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1870-1873.
Thomas Steck was born 1 January 1822 at Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania. He was ordained in 1851 and entered the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1857. Before his retirement in 1889, he served many parishes. In November 1870 he came to Simeon Lutheran Church in Gratz, which was part of the Lykens Valley Parish, and he remained until November 1873.
The first parsonage property of the Lykens Valley Parish was a farm of 24 acres located in Washington Township about one mile west of the St. John’s Church in Berrysburg. There was a substantial house on this land which had been erected and first occupied in 1809 by Rev. Daniel Ulrich. In 1870 this farm was sold because the parishioners believed that the pastor should not spend his time in the cultivation of the land and that his undivided energies should be given to the congregation. At the time this land was sold, a house was purchased in Berryburg (later the property of A. J. Kantz, M.D.), and Rev. Steck became the first pastor to occupy this house – and also the last, because in 1874, it was sold because its location was not suitable.
Rev. Thomas Steck served Simeon Lutheran Church during the time of the Harvest Home Festivals of the Union Sabbath School. He addressed the group on at least one occasion.
After his retirement, Rev. Steck moved to Dover, Delaware, but at the time of his death, 21 November 1892, he was in Catawissa, Columbia County, Pennsylvania.
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A biography of Rev. Thomas Steckappeared in a Gratz history published in 1997.
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