Johann Leonhard Dober

DOBER, Johann Leonhard. b. 7 March 1706; d. 1 April 1766. Like his father, he was a potter by trade, a descendant of Bohemian brethren who had emigrated to Mönksroth, Northern Bavaria. According to accounts of his life, in 1723 he was ‘immediat vom Heyland ergriffen’ (‘suddenly moved by the Saviour’), and in 1725 he followed his elder brother Martin to Herrnhut, where he worked as a potter. In 1732 he went with David Nitschmann as the first missionary to St Thomas in the West Indies, from which he returned in 1735 on being chosen by the Moravian community as a chief elder. He resigned his office in 1741, because (after the painful dissolution of the parish of Pilgerruh in 1741) he felt...

If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.

Cite this article