Rev. Richard A. Fisher served as minister of Simeon Reformed Church, Gratz, Dauphin County, from 1856 to 1857.
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Richard A. Fisher was born 25 October 1805 in a rural area of Heidelburg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was a son of John Fisher and Susanna Fisher, who were members of Hain’s Church.
Early in life he began to feel a calling to become a minister, and as a young man he began to study under his pastor, the Rev. F. Herman Jr. In 1822 he began the study of theology under Dr. Herman of Montgomery County. He was licensed and ordained in the autumn of 1826. His first call was to the Sunbury Charge. Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he began his ministry in 1827.
During his pastorate in Sunbury, Rev. Fisher met Amelia Weiser, to whom he was married in 1831. Amelia was the eldest daughter of Hon. George Weiser of Sunbury. Rev. Fisher and wife had six sons and four daughters.
Rev. Fisher’s ministry lasted about twenty-eight years in Sunbury. he served a very large number of congregations which required him to travel an incredible amount of miles over mountainous country. His dedication to duty caused him develop very poor health. During the Autumn of 1854 he “passed through a most painful and protracted illness” which left him unable to attend to his duties. After a time of rest and medical help, he regained his physical strength. He then accepted a call to the charge in the Lykens Valley area and began service on 1 June 1856. The people in his congregations immediately formed an attachment to him, but because of his impaired health, his ministry was a short one. He died at St. David’s parsonage, Killinger, Dauphin County, on Tuesday 27 January 1857, of consumption. He is buried in Sunbury.
During his service as a pastor, Rev. Fisher recorded twelve-hundred baptisms, received by confirmation between five and six-hundred persons in the Church, buried nearly five-hundred persons, preached about four-thousand sermons, and assisted in ordaining twelve ministers. In person he was of medium height, slim, straight and genteel in appearance with a modest and quiet disposition.
Mrs. Amelia Fisher survived her husband by fifty-eight years, having lived to be one-hundred and two years of age.
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A brief biography of Rev. Fisher appeared in a Gratz history published in 1997.
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