January 5
459
Simeon Stylites, noted for living on pillars, died (b.
ca. 390).
1527
Felix Manz
(b. ca. 1498), Swiss Anabaptist reformer, was drowned in the
Limmat River by Swiss religious authorities as punishment
for his belief and practice of rebaptizing.
1547
Johann Hess, reformer of Silesia, died (b. 1490 at
Nürnberg, Germany).
1743
George Whitefield (1714–1770)
presided at the first Calvinist Methodist Conference held at
Waterford, Wales.
1774
Nathan Strong (1748–1816),
hymnist, was ordained at First Congregational Church in
Hartford, Connecticut.
1782
Robert Morrison, first Protestant (English) missionary
to China, was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, England (d. 1
August 1834).
1797
Gotthold Heinrich Löber, Saxon immigrant pastor, was
born in Kahla, Saxe-Altenburg (d. 19 August 1849, Altenburg,
Missouri).
1848
Jacob Abraham Clutz, a General Synod and United Lutheran
Church professor, was born in Adams County, Pennsylvania (d.
7 September 1925).
1877
Henry Sloane Coffin, American Presbyterian educator, was
born in New York City (d. 25 November 1954).
1887
Margaret Mackey, hymnist, died at Cheltenham, England
(b. 1802, Hedgefield, Inverness, Scotland).
1906
Kathleen Kenyon, British archaeologist who supervised a
major excavation of ancient Jericho, was born (d. 24 August
1978, Wrexham, Clwyd [now in Wrexham], Wales).
1910
Timothy R. Matthews (b. 4 November 1826), English
clergyman and composer, died.
1915
Revere Franklin Weidner, seminary professor and author
in the General Synod, died (b. 22 November 1851 in
Pennsylvania).
1943
George Washington Carver died (b. ca. 1864). He overcame
the adversity of being born a slave to become a leading
American educator and scientist and was also noted for his
deep faith and humility.
1964
Pope
Paul VI
(1897–1978), during an
unprecedented pilgrimage by air to the Holy Land, met with
Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem.
1972 In Britain the Congregational Church in
England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England
voted to merge. The new church was named the
United Reformed Church.
1982 A federal judge in Arkansas struck down a
state law requiring the teaching of the biblical theory of
creation, ruling that the teaching of creation science
violated the constitutional requirement of the separation of
the state and organized religion.
2001 George Mohr of Brookfield, Wisconsin, a
member and officer of the Missouri Synod Board of Directors
from 1975 to 1989, died. Mohr was chairman of the board from
1986 to 1989 after serving three years as vice-chairman. He
also held positions with the International Lutheran Laymen’s
League, including South Wisconsin District president (1970–1974,
1990–1994), and was on
the ILLL’s 50th and 75th
anniversary committees. He was the founder and owner of
Brake, Clutch and Drum Service of Milwaukee. In 1988 Mohr
received the Miles Christi award from Concordia
Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and an honorary
doctorate from Concordia College (Milwaukee).
