March 3

1520 Matthias Flacius, Lutheran theologian and church historian, was born at Labin, Istria (Illyria) (d. 11 March 1575).

1554 John Frederick the Magnanimous, Elector of Saxony and defender of the Reformation, died (b. 30 June 1503 at Torgau, Saxony).

1593 Sweden adopted the Augsburg Confession.

1732 Georg M. Pfefferkorn, hymnist, died at Graefen-Tonna near Gotha, Germany (b. 16 March 1645, Ifta, near Kreuzburg).

1870 Lettie B. Cowman, American missionary and author, was born in Iowa (d. 1960). In 1901 she and her husband went to Japan as missionaries where they founded the Oriental Missionary Society. After her husband’s death (1924), Lettie became president of the society and led the work until her retirement in 1949. Her devotional guide, Streams in the Desert, first published in 1925, has been translated into fifteen foreign languages.

1880 Weert John Janssen was born in Golden, Illinois (d. 18 November 1956, Renton, Washington). He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois) in 1905 and served as a pastor in Denver, Idaho, and Yakima and Renton, Washington. He was vice-president of the Oregon and Washington District of the Missouri Synod from 1918 to 1921 and president beginning in 1921.

1881 Frank W. J. Sylwester, professor at Concordia College (Portland, Oregon), was born in Gaylord, Minnesota (d. 26 October 1972). He was a graduate of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1905 and became professor and president of Portland in that year, serving as president until 1946 and as an instructor until 1957.

1883 Leighton George Hayne, hymnist, died (b. 28 February 1836, Saint David's Hall, Exeter, England).

1887 A congressional act was passed giving the U.S. government power to seize and administer the property of the Mormon church. The seized property was not returned until 1896 when the church renounced the practice of polygamy.

1892 Ottomar George William Krueger was born in Seymour, Indiana (d. 19 February 1976, Libertyville, Illinois). He graduated from Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1914. He served parishes in Rolla and Elk Prairie, Missouri; Orchard, Nebraska; Akron, Ohio; and Lake Zurich, Illinois. He became director of Saint Paul's College (Concordia, Missouri) in 1925 and was later director (president) of Concordia College (Fort Wayne).

1912 Kermit C. Meyer was born in Saint Louis, Missouri (d. 21 July 1996). He graduated from Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois) in 1932 and served schools in Lansing and Detroit, Michigan, and Saint Louis, Missouri. He was North Wisconsin and Southeast Michigan District Conference secretary (1937–1947), president of Western District Teachers Conference (1952–1954), a member of the Western District Education Committee (1953–1959) and a member of the Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) Board of Control (1959–1967).

1913 E. L. Arndt (1864–1929) and family, first Missouri Synod missionaries to China, arrived in Hankow, China.

1922 David H. Bauslin, Lutheran theologian, died (b. 21 January 1854).

1925 LCMS mission work was opened in Bangalore, India.

1926 Colegia Concordia (Crespo, Entre Rios, Argentina) was opened.

1931 Christopher F. J. Drewes, director of the Missionary Board of the Lutheran Synodical Conference, died (b. 12 January 1870, Wolcottville, New York).

1932 John William Theiss, poet, pastor and president of the California-Nevada District of the Missouri Synod, died (b. 20 September 1863, Zelienople, Pennsylvania).

1968 Australian Lutheran College (formerly Luther Seminary) was dedicated.