Sommer, Peter Nicholas

Sommer, Peter Nicholas, a Lutheran minister, was born in Hamburg, Germany, Jan. 9, 1709. He. received a thorough classical and professional education, and on the completion of his course was licensed as a theological candidate. He received a call from a Church in Schoharie County, NY., left for America Oct. 24, 1742, and arrived at his destination, May 25, 1743. Here for nearly fifty years he labored, having, a wide field, often travelling from thirty to fifty miles to care for destitute Lutheran settlements. In 1768 he was suddenly smitten with blindness, but still continued to serve the Church for about twenty years, when his sight was as unexpectedly restored. In 1788 he retired from the active ministry and removed to Sharon, Schoharie Co., N.Y., where he remained until his death, Oct. 27, 1795. "Mr. Sommer held a high rank in his denomination, as an able, earnest, laborious, and successful minister." See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 9, 13.