Muhlenberg family

Muhlenberg family

Distinguished U.S. family associated with the state of Pennsylvania and the Lutheran church. Henry Melchior Mühlenberg (1711–87) emigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany and served as overseer of all the Lutheran churches from New York to Maryland; in 1748 he founded the first Lutheran synod in America. His eldest son, John Peter Gabriel (1746–1807), was a Lutheran minister, a brigadier general in the Continental Army, and a member of Congress. Frederick Augustus Conrad (1750–1801), the second son, was a Lutheran minister who served in the Continental Congress and later became the first Speaker of the House of Representatives. William Augustus (1796–1877), grandson of Frederick Augustus Conrad, became an Episcopal priest and was the founder of St. Paul's College on Long Island and St. Luke's Hospital in New York City. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg (1818–1901), nephew of the earlier Frederick Augustus, was a Lutheran clergyman and educator who served as the first president of Muhlenberg College in Allentown.