Rev. Jeremiah Schindel served as minister of Simeon Lutheran Church, Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1865-1870.
Jeremiah Schindel was the eldest child of Rev. John P. Schindel Sr. He was born in Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, 15 May 1807. He was baptized by Rev. Dr. George Lochman, who was then pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Lebanon. When he was five years old, his family moved to Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Rev. John Schindel labored there as one of the pioneer ministers of north-central Pennsylvania. Jeremiah was confirmed in Sunbury by his father.
At the age of 17, Jeremiah moved to Harrisburg to learn the printing and newspaper trade. All the while he was focusing his mind on the ministry. He studied first under Rev. Dr. Lochman, and then later finished his studies under his father in Sunbury.
The Ministerium of Pennsylvania licensed him to preach on 10 June 1830 at Lancaster, and he was ordained in Harrisburg by Rev. Dr. C. R. Demme, president of the synod and his father, who was then the secretary of the synod.
On 13 May 1828, Jeremiah Schindel married Elizabeth A. Masser of Sunbury, and together they had nine children, one of whom became a Lutheran minister.
The first charge served by Rev. Jeremiah Schindel consisted of Pennsylvania congregations at Bloomsburg, Mifflinburg, Cartawissa, Danville, Mahoning and Chilisquaque. Later, other congregations were added at Roaring Creek, Briar Creek, Berwick, Conyngham, followed by other places. During this early period of his ministry he lived part of the time with his family at Bloomsburg and later at Mifflinburg. In addition to his regular congregations, he also had other stations, some at school houses, where he preached during the week. Due to the widespread area of his congregations, he was forced to spend hours driving over the mountains at all hours of the day and night and his life was constantly in danger. This early ministry went on for about seven years, and then in 1837, he went to Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Then he lived at Siegersville, Jordan Lutheran Church, and Allentown. From 1859 to 1861, while a pastor in that area, he served as a State Senator at Harrisburg, representing Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
In the fall of 1861, after resigning from these churches, he entered the U.S. Army as Chaplain pf the 110th Pennsylvania Infantry. He suffered many hardships during the war including having to care for his son, Capt. Jeremiah P. Schindel, who was wounded by a minnie ball at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
In the summer of 1864, he returned home from the army and accepted a call to congregations in Lykens Valley, preaching his first sermon on New Year’s Day, 1865. The charge consisted of St. John’s, Berrysburg; Elizabethville; Huber’s; Miller’s; Fetterhoff’s; Pillow; and Stone Valley. On Ascension Day 1865 he preached for the first time in Gratz, and soon after, Gratz united with the other congregations in the Lykens Valley Charge. Occasionally also, he preached at Vera Cruz. While serving the Lykens Valley Charge, he lived in the parsonage at St. John’s, Berrysburg.
In March 1870, Rev. Jeremiah Schindel took ill with asthma and dropsy. He died on 2 July 1870 in Allentown while living his last days with his daughter. Rev. and Mrs. Schindel are buried in Union Cemetery, in Allentown.
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A biography of Rev. Jeremiah Schindel appeared in a Gratz history published in 1997.
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