Early Life
Samuel Simon Schmucker was born in 1799 in Hagerstown, Maryland. His father, Johann Georg Schmucker, was a German immigrant and an ordained pastor in the Pennsylvania Ministerium. Samuel Schmucker showed a promising intellect at a young age, and entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 15.
After teaching briefly at the York Academy, Schmucker went on a missionary journey to the western frontier of Kentucky and Ohio. On his return he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was ordained a Lutheran minister (1820). In 1820 he helped to establish the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of the first organizations of the American Lutheran church. From 1826 to 1864 he served as professor of didactic theology and chairman of the faculty in Gettysburg Seminary, of which he was one of the founders. Schmucker Hall on the campus was named in his honor. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Schmucker's house was used as a field hospital for soldiers of both armies. He was never compensated for the damages incurred.
His publication of 1838 prepared the way for the formation of the Evangelical Alliance, which was formed in Freemason's Hall, London, August 19–23, 1846. The American branch was organized in 1867. He was the leader of the low-church Lutheran party who were connected with the General Synod and was better known outside of his communion than any other Lutheran minister.
Schumcker's son Samuel Mosheim Schmucker (or Smucker) was a writer of popular biographies. His son Beale Melanchthon Schmucker was also a noted Lutheran clergyman. Schmucker is buried in Evergreen Cemetery (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania).
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