Joseph A. Seiss

SEISS, Joseph Augustus. b. Graceham, Maryland, 18 March 1823; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 20 June 1904. In the late 18th century his grandfather moved to the Moravian settlement at Graceham, and Joseph Augustus was brought up in the Moravian Church. His father (who wanted him to help on the farm, and called him ‘dreamer Joseph’) and the local church discouraged him in his wish to become a minister, but he was helped by some local Lutherans, and at the age of sixteen he entered Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania (1839). Without graduating, he studied theology, and in 1842 he was ‘licensed to preach’ by the Virginia Synod. He was ordained in 1844. He served congregations in Virginia and...