Rev. John C. Augustus Bergner – Lutheran Minister of the Lykens Valley
Rev. Bergner was born on 28 March 1806, in Thaldorf, Schwarzburg Rudelstadt, Germany. He came to America in 1837 and in the years after his arrival, he worked as a school teacher.
On 17 November 1843, he was licensed by the President of the Synod, and was ordained at Orwigsburg, 10 June 1846.
During his service to the Lutheran Church, he had parishes in Line Mountain and Mahonoy in Northumberland County, in addition to Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
Before coming to American, he married Maria Amelia Augusta Feldtroppe, who was born 10 January 1812 and died 3 September 1893. Together they had at least two known children.
Rev. Bergner served Simeon Lutheran Church, Gratz, from 1843 to his death in 1860 – i.e., from the time the Rev. John Peter Shindel Sr. left in 1843. However, the Danville Conference of 1898 credited his service in Gratz as beginning officially in 1850.
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Edited and adapted from information in a History of Simeon United Lutheran Church, published in 1979, and other sources.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.