Gebhard, John G

Gebhard, John G.

an eminent German and Dutch Reformed minister, was born at Waldorf, Germany, February 2, 1750. He received his classical education at the University of Heidelberg, and completed his theological studies at Utrecht, in Holland, where he was. licensed in 1771. The same year he emigrated to America, and officiated in the German churches of Whitpain and Worcester, Pennsylvania, for three years. In 1774 he removed to New York city, as pastor of the German Church, and in 1776 accepted the call of the Dutch Reformed Church of Claverack, Columbia County, where he continued until his death, August 16, 1826. Mr. Gebhard mastered the Low Dutch tongue in three months so as to be able to preach in it. He founded the Washingtonian Institute of Claverack in 1777, and was its principal for many years. He was a spirited, earnest, and pathetic preacher, a good theologian, a leader in educational movements, a great lover of peace, a sagacious, prudent adviser, having full control of himself,. and large influence over a wide region of country. He threw the whole weight of his character and office into the cause of his adopted country during the Revolutionary war. See Harbaugh, Fathers of the Germ. Ref. Church, 2:293; Zabriskie, Claverack Centennial; Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, s.v.; Magazine of the Ref. Dutch Church, October 1826, page 232. (W.J.R.T.)