Philip Von Rohr

REV. PHILIP VON ROHR, pastor of St. Martin's German Lutheran Church of Winona, and President of the Wisconsin Synod, is recognized as one of the most prominent and influential citizens of his adopted county, and was born on the 13th of February, 1843, in Buffalo, N. Y. His father, Rev. Henry Von Rohr, was formerly Captain in a regiment which served as bodyguard to the Prussian king. The ancestry can be traced back to 1444, and the family has furnished many representatives to the military profession who have become prominent in army life. There are still many of the name connected with the German army.

In 1839 the father of Rev. Mr. Von Rohr became the leader of about one thousand families who emigrated to America in three vessels, and on reaching New York they established six villages near Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Mr. Von Rohr later went to Wisconsin, locating fourteen miles from Milwaukee with the intention of following farming, but soon after returned to New York and became a minister in Bergholtz, Niagara County, where he continued his labors until his death, which occurred in 1875, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was a leader in the ranks of the Lutheran ministry and was President of the Synod of Buffalo for many years.

Philip Von Rohr, the eldest in the family of four children, was reared in western New York, and at the age of eleven years he entered the Martin Luther Seminary of Buffalo, his parents having decided that he should become a minister. He carried out their wishes, and in his twenty-first year was ordained in Buffalo. His first work was in Toledo, Ohio, where he remained from October,

1863, until May, 1866. In June of the latter year he came to Winona in response to a call from the church at this place. The congregation consisted of nine families, with a membership of twenty, and had been organized for four years, but had had no minister.

Here Rev. Mr. Yon Rohr has remained continuously since. The first house of worship in which he held services was a small frame structure 18x30 feet in dimensions. In the second year after his arrival this was enlarged, and in 1870 a church 36x80 feet in dimensions was erected. This served as a place of meeting for fifteen years, when, in 1885, the present substantial edifice was built. It is 57x133 feet in dimensions, has a seating capacity of eleven hundred, and is valued at 120,000. It stands on the site of the first church. In 1878, through the instrumentality of Rev. Mr. Von Rohr, was erected St Martin's School, which is 50x60 feet in dimensions and two stories in height. It is divided into two largo schoolrooms, a large assembly hall and society and recitation rooms. The two hundred and fifty pupils are in charge of three teachers, who instruct the students in all the common and many of the higher branches and teach in both the English and German languages. They are also instructed in the tenets of the church. The membership of St. Martin's Church has increased from nine to four hundred families, numbering thirteen hundred and sixty communicants.

Rev. Mr. Von Rohr was also the organizer of St John's Church, of Wilson Township. He established it soon after his arrivaljin Minnesota and was its pastor for six years. His church is in a thriving condition, and the various societies connected therewith are in good working order. There is a ladies' society for general church and missionary work, a young ladies' society, and a young men 's society for fostering a love of music and providing a high class of entertainments. There is also a mutual benefit associatioti organized for aid in case of sickness or death, and a life-insurance society, which was organized under the state laws and has a membership of seven hundred. All these associations have been formed through the earnest efforts of Mr. Von Rohr, who is a most untiring worker in the interests of anything connected with the church. Some time since he became connected with the Wisconsin Synod and for six years has been its President By virtue of this position he has charge of the seminaries and colleges of that state, including the Northwestern University at Watertown, Wis., which employs eight professors; a theological school, and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Milwaukee, which was erected at a cost of (60,000. The work of the church in the synod has been carried on in an extremely successful manner.

On the ist of February, 1866, Rev. Mr. Von Rohr was united in marriage with Miss Emma Schaal,'of Buffalo, N. Y. To them were born thirteen children, eight of whom are now living, Hugo, Adella, Freda, Edmond, Ada, [Emma, Adolph and Hedwig. Henry died in June, 1886, in his eighteenth year, while a student at Watertown, Wis.; and Philip died from accidental scalding. May 7, 1894, when three and a-half years of age.

Mr. Von Rohr is a man of fine physique, tall and well proportioned. In manner he is very genial and pleasant, and in his composition has a strong vein of humor. He is broad minded, well read, and has made friends wherever he has gone among all classes of people.

POSTRAir AND BIOGRAPHICAL RBCOBD.

As printed in Portrait and biographical record of Winona County, Minnesota: containing ... (1895). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.