Rev. John Adam Leis served as minister of Simeon Reformed Church, Gratz, Dauphin County, from 1844 to 1856.
____________________________________
John Adam Leis was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania. In his early years he worked as a carpenter. While helping to erect the First Reformed Church in Lebanon, he was involved in a serious accident which shaped his views on life and made him feel a call to preach the Gospel. He began his ministry in Ohio, but then returned to Pennsylvania where he became the pastor of churches as Bethlehem and Friedenburg, where he served until 1838.
In 1844, Rev. John Adam Leis came to the Lykens Valley from Dillsburg. He served congregations in the valley for twelve years, until January, 1856, when he resigned due to “indisposition and spells of dropsy and asthma.” According to the minutes of 26 January 1856 of the Lykens Valley Charge”
We are sorry that our congregations must give up our pastor, John Adam Leis, who for the duration of twelve years served us faithfully and with much patience and great diligence… [and whose] service was accompanied by an irreproachable Christian life.
Rev. Leis was living in the Reformed parsonage at Killinger while he served the area. At the time of his resignation, the following was recorded in the minutes:
[w]e take charge of the parsonage of the congregation… so that as soon as we secure a new instructor, he can occupy the house. However, John Leis shall have the right to live there until the time of his departure from our midst.
On 26 January 1856, Rev. Leis resigned his pastoral duties and left the Lykens Valley. He became a pastor in Illinois and stayed there for one year. From there, he went to Ohio where he preached for ten years before returning to Pennsylvania.
_________________________________
A brief biography of Rev. Leis appeared in a Gratz history published in 1997.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.