Pastor Henry C. Schwan

 
 The story of the development of the Lutheran Church in Cleveland is 
 largely the work of Pastor Henry C. Schwan. His direction and 
 leadership spanned many decades. Henry C. Schwan was born in 
 Germany, the oldest son of a Lutheran pastor. He studied theology and 
 graduated from Jena University in 1842. As the nephew to F.C.D. 
 Wyneken, he was aware of the spiritual plight and hunger that existed 
 among German Lutherans in America and it was his desire to serve as 
 a missionary there. He did some preparatory mission work in South 
 America, spending 6 years in Brazil. It was there that he met and 
 married Emma Blum, daughter of a Hessian physician. At the end of 
 1849, he received a letter from his uncle, advising him that the time 
 was right and urging him to come to America. In 1850, he arrived in 
 St. Louis and was installed as pastor of his first church. This church, 
 Neubielefeld, consisted of ten families and was very poor. The group 
 included many evangelicals who resented having a Lutheran pastor, 
 yet he led them lovingly and diplomatically for ten months. At this 
 time, he was called to Zion Lutheran Church in Cleveland. Dr. W. 
 Sihler from Ft. Wayne had become very impressed with Schwan while 
 still in Germany and recommended him to Zion. Schwan preached his 
 first sermon there on August 31, 1851. At this time, the congregation 
 numbered 375 communicants and had been growing steadily since it 
 was formed 8 years earlier.
 
 Quite an interesting and significant event happened at the first 
 Christmas when pastor Schwan brought a lighted Christmas tree into 
 his church. The congregation as well as the town was unaware of this 
 beautiful custom which he had brought over from Germany, and 
 became outraged. An editorial in one newspaper called the tree in Zion 
 "nonsensical, asinine, moronic absurdity, besides being silly." Even 
 many of the church members considered it to be idolatry and sacrilege. 
 Schwan had honestly not been aware that the custom was not known 
 and had meant it to be a special event for all. He was finally able to 
 educate them as to its origin and meaning and to this day Pastor 
 Schwan is credited with bringing the custom to America. Zion 
 Lutheran has been designated as a landmark by the Cleveland 
 Landmarks Commission as follows:
 
 Zion Lutheran Church was the site of the First Christmas Tree in 
 America, publicly lighted and displayed in a church Christmas 
 ceremony in 1851.
 
  Only one year after he began serving at Zion, the congregation joined 
 the Missouri Synod. The following year, Zion invited and hosted the 
 1853 meeting of the Synod. In his early years at Zion, Pastor Schwan 
 also served numerous other Cleveland area congregations as they were 
 born and grew separate and independent from the Mother Church of 
 Zion. Because he was known as a faithful pastor, a doctrinally sound 
 theologian and a far-sighted leader, Pastor Schwan was elected 
 President of the Missouri Synod in 1878, succeeding Dr. C.F.W 
 Walther. At the end of his first term, he asked that Synod not re-elect 
 him because he felt he could not adequately serve as president and as 
 pastor to Zion. He was also dedicated to the growth and development 
 of the Lutheran Church in Cleveland. However, the synod passed a 
 resolution that the office of the presidency become a full-time position 
 and proceeded to re-elect him. So, on May 30, 1881, he resigned his 
 pastorate of Zion Church after having faithfully served them for thirty 
 years. The congregation was saddened to lose him, but knew that God 
 was calling him to a higher service and making wider use of his 
 talents. He held this office for 21 years.
 
 Pastor Schwan also had a great love and dedication to Christian 
 education. This interest in teaching children and his talent as an 
 educator is evident in the Exposition of Martin Luther's Small 
 Catechism which he wrote and published in 1896. This has been used 
 widely as the standard textbook for religious instruction in the 
 Missouri Synod.
 
 Pastor Schwan's 87 years of earthly life were spent in wise, patient 
 and humble service to the Word of Christ. He departed to heaven in 
 1905 approximately one year after suffering a stroke which paralyzed 
 him to the end. He is buried in East Cleveland and his grave is marked 
 by a plain headstone with a simple inscription: H. C. Schwan
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                      Rev. Robert E. Smith of the 
           Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
                                       
                       E-mail: bob_smith@ctsfw.edu
                                       
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