Laros, John Jacob

Laros, John Jacob, a minister of the German Reformed Church, of Huguenot descent, was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in February 1755. He was three years a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and fought in the battle of Trenton. Afterwards he went to North Carolina, where he taught school. He studied theology privately, and was licensed to preach in 1795. He preached seven years in North Carolina, when he removed to Ohio, and there continued the good work. He was not ordained, however, till 1820. He died November 17, 1844, having accomplished an important work in Ohio as a pioneer of the German Reformed Church. Mr. Laros wrote much. He left behind in MS. treatises on The Decrees of God and Reprobation, and The Evidences of saving Faith. These are in Germanably conceived, well conducted, and written in a beautiful style. He left also a number of poems of considerable merit. Without much learning, he was decidedly a genius, but, what is better, he left behind him the record of a long, laborious, and useful life.