Held, August Hm

Held, August H.M.

a Lutheran minister, was born February 22, 1806, at Knoop, near Kiel, Germany. After preparatory study at Kiel he entered the College of Renzburg, and at the close of his theological course was ordained as a Lutheran minister. Instead of entering the pastoral work, he established the Held Institute at Kiel, which he conducted with signal ability for many years. In 1847 he arrived in America. For a time he was assistant pastor of St. Matthew's Church, New York city. Subsequently he founded St. Mark's Church, in Sixth Street. A division occurring in the congregation, a large portion followed him and formed the nucleus of St. John's Church, which at first held its meetings in the old Hope Chapel, and afterwards in the New York University building on Washington Square. In 1858 St. Johns purchased the present church edifice in Christopher Street. For twenty-two years he was pastor of this church, and gathered, about him one of the largest Lutheran congregations in New York. Two years before his death he was obliged to relinquish the pastorate on account of declining health. He died in New York city, March 31, 1881. See Lutheran Observer, April 8, 1881.