1802 Gottfried Thomasius, German Lutheran theological writer, was born (d. 24 January 1875). [German Wikipedia article]

1811 Eusebius Schultz Henkel, president of Union Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, was born near Lincolntown, Lincoln County, North Carolina (d. 17 December 1874).

1816 Johan Nordahl Brun, Norwegian hymnist, died in Bergen, Norway (b. 21 March 1745).

1833 Having abolished the slave trade in 1807, Britain’s House of Commons banned slavery itself.

1855 William Schmidt, professor at Luther Seminary (Saint Paul, Minnesota), was born in Hermannsburg, Hannover, Germany (d. 31 May 1931).

1869 England’s Disestablishment Bill was passed, officially dissolving the Church of Ireland.

1873 Samuel Simon Schmucker, influential Lutheran theologian, General Synod leader, educator and founder of Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary, died (b. 28 February 1799, Hagerstown, Maryland).

1881 Rees Edgar Tulloss, president of Wittenberg University (Ohio), was born near Leipsic, Ohio (d. 8 June 1959).

1925 William Jennings Bryan, leader of the Fundamentalists in the Presbyterian Church, died (b. 19 March 1860).

1930 Anna Sarah Kugler, medical missionary to India, died in Guntur, India (b. 18 April 1856, Ardmore, Pennsylvania).

1933 Charles A. Tindley (b. 7 July 1851), African American Methodist preacher, died.

1935 The Open Bible Standard Churches, Inc. was formed by the merger of two separate revival movements: Bible Standard, Inc. (founded in Eugene, Oregon in 1919) and Open Bible Evangelistic Association (founded in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1932).

1948 Paul Christian Paulsen, UELC pastor and Danish hymn translator, died (b. 26 March 1881, Alstrup, Jutland, Denmark).

1969 Anna Hauge Martinson, missionary, died in Hong Kong (b. 18 September 1868, Huxley, Iowa).

1978 The LCMS began mission work in Liberia.

1984 Albert Frederick Bayly, Congregational minister, hymnist and author of “Praise and Thanksgiving,” died while returning home to Chelmsford, Essex, England, after attending the annual conference of the Hymn Society of Great Britain in Chichester.

1998 H. Armin Moellering, professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) and a frequent Lutheran Witness contributor, died in Olivette, Missouri (b. 20 April 1919). The son and grandson of LCMS pastors, Moellering was pastor in Evansville, Indiana; Omaha, Nebraska; Grand Prairie, Texas, and Palisades Park, New Jersey. He taught at the Saint Louis seminary from 1978 until his retirement in 1990. Moellering, a scholar in classical languages, was also well-known for his love of the visual arts.