Hartwig, John Christopher

Hartwig, John Christopher came to America as chaplain to a German regiment in the service of England during the first French war, as it is called. He was a member of the first Lutheran synod held in this country in 1748. His first regular charge combined several congregations in Hunterdon Co., N. J. He labored for a brief period in Pennsylvania, but the larger portion of his ministry was spent in the state of New York. He died in 1796. The manner of his death furnishes a remarkable instance of the power of the imagination. Forty years before, the impression from a dream on his birthday, that he would live just forty years longer, had become so strong that he felt persuaded the dream would be fulfilled, and his life protracted to the close of his eightieth year. On the day preceding its completion he came to the residence of the Hon. J. R. Livingston, and announced that he had come to his house to die. In the evening he conducted the family devotions, and the next morning arose in apparent health. He breakfasted with the family, and entered freely into conversation until the approach of the hour, as he supposed, for his departure, 11 o'clock A.M. A few minutes before the time, he requested permission to retire. Mr. Livingston, unobserved by him, followed, and noticed that he was undressing. Just as the clock tolled the hour, he was in the act of removing the stock from the neck; at that moment he fell back and expired. Notwithstanding his eccentricities, he possessed many noble qualities, and his name will ever be associated with the institution in Otsego Co., N.Y., which bears his name, and of which he may be said to be the founder. The tract of land he received for his services as chaplain he bequeathed principally for the establishment of a theological and missionary institution for the instruction of pious young men for the Lutheran ministry, and for the education of Indians in the Christian religion as missionaries among their own tribes. (M. L. S.)