Stork, Theophilus (August, 1814 - 28 March 1874) Luther's Christmas Tree

The son of Charles Augustus Gottlieb Stork, a clergyman who immigrated to North Carolina from Brunswick, Germany, Theophilus Stork was born near Salisbury, N.C. He graduated from Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, in 1835 and then attended the theological seminary there, graduating and becoming licensed to preach in 1837. He assumed pastoral charge of the Lutheran congregation at Winchester, VA, where he remained until 1841. At that time, he moved to Philadelphia and became pastor of St. Matthew's congregation, the second English Lutheran church in the city. He was one of the leaders of the movement that resulted in the organization of the East Pennsylvania synod in 1842. He accepted the presidency of Newberry College, S.C. in 1858, but two years later, he moved to Baltimore to become pastor of a new congregation. He retired in 1865 due to his failing health, and until 1871, he engaged in pastoral and editorial duties and literary pursuits. He served as editor of several magazines including the Home Journal, Lutheran Home Monthly, and the Lutheran Observer. He published Life of Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany (Philadelphia 1854), The Children of the New Testament (1854), Luther's Christmas-Tree (1855), Jesus in the Temple, or the Model of Youth (1856), Home Scenes in the New Testament (1857), Luther at Home (1871), The Unseen World in the Light of the Cross (1871), Luther and the Bible (1873), Afternoon (1874), and Sermons (1876).

Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, eds. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. V. New York: Appleton, 1888. 708.

Other Sources:

Kirk, John Foster. A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and English and American Authors. Vol. II. Lippincott: Philadelphia, 1891. 1397.

Morris, John G. D.D. The Stork Family in the Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: 1886.

Knight, Lucian Lamar. Biographical Dictionary of Southern Authors. Gale: Detroit, 1978. 421.