THE REV. JOHANN SAMUEL SCHWERDTFEGER
1734-1803
The first Luthern minister to settle in this province, Schwerdtfeger was born in Burgbernheim, Bavaria, and studied theology at the University of Erlangen. Emigrating to America in 1753, he served as pastor of congregations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. Much persecuted for his allegiand to the Crown during the American Revolution, Schwerdtfeger moved to Canada in 1791. He settled her in Williamsburg Township and became pastor of a congregation of German Loyalists, which had been established in 1784, and by 1790 had constructed the first Lutheran church in what is now Ontario. Its site now lies beneath Lake St. Lawrence. Within a few years he had organized Lutheran congregations in neighbouring townships. He died in 1803 and was buried in the old church cemetery.
Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Archives of Ontario
