Engelbrecht, August, Prof.

KNAUS, SCHERMER, DEINDOERFER, WAEGE, WACKE, BREDOW

Posted By: BCGS
Date: 12/10/2009 at 10:43:50

Professor August Engelbrecht is president of the Wartburg Teachers' Seminary and Academy at Waverly and in this connection is giving the benefit of his long experience, his knowledge and ability to his chosen field of labor, winning for himself recognition as one of the foremost representatives of educational interests. He was born in Niederelsungen, Germany, on the 8th of April, 1862, and is a son of Henry and Marie (Knaus) Engelbrecht, natives of the same locality. The father engaged in farming in his early life and was also a musician of considerable ability. He died in Germany in 1873 and afterward his widow came to America, locating in Iowa City, Iowa, where she remained until her death, which occurred in May, 1881. In this family were nine children: Philip Simon, a ranchman and stock dealer of Buffalo Gap, South Dakota; Elizabeth, the wife of C.A. Schermer, an engineer in a mine at Keystone, South Dakota; Henry, who has passed away; Charles S., a businessman of Davenport; August, of this review; Frederick S., yard superintendent for the Blackhawk Clay Manufacturing company at Rock Island; and three who died in infancy.

Professor Engelbrecht acquired his elementary education in the public schools of Germany, accompanying his mother to America when he was eleven years of age. He attended the parochial and public schools in Iowa City and afterward entered Wartburg College at Mendota, Illinois. He was graduated from the Wartburg Teachers' Seminary at Waverly in the class of 1882 and afterward taught in the Lutheran parochial school at Paducah, Kentucky. At the end of one term ill health compelled him to resign. After regaining strenth he was called as teacher to Defiance, Ohio, and three years later moved to Chicago, where he became principal of the Trinity parochial school. In 1890 he was made a professor in the Wartburg Teachers' Seminary and Academy at Waverly and soon after was made one of the trustees of this institution. In 1909 he was elected to the office of president and this important position he has since filled, discharging his duties in a conscientious, capable and efficient way. His labors are at all times practical and inspiring. Professor Engelbrecht is active in religious school work and has been for many years one of the individual forces in the promotion of school work in the Iowa Synod. He was general treasurer of the Synod of Iowa and Other States for a period of twelve years and for a greater length of time was a member of the board of directors of the Wartburg Publishing House, printers of Lutheran books and newspapers. He was president of this board until 1910, resigning in that year because of overwork. He also served as a member of the board of the Orphans Home, assisting in moving this institution from Andrew to Waverly. He has held other positions of trust and honor in the state synod and in addition to work along this line has published a number of text-books widely used in the German Lutheran schools. He is an able educator, practical, farsighted and discriminating, and his ability has carried him forward into important relations with education interests of the synod.

In September, 1886, Professor Engelbrecht married Miss Marie Deindoerfer, who was born at Toledo, Ohio, December 25, 1868, a daughter of Rev. John Deindoerfer, D.D. and Catherine (Waege) Deindoerfer, the former a native of Bavaria, and the latter, of Hesse, Germany. The father came to America in 1851 and at a very early date settled near Saginaw, Michigan, where he was pastor of the Lutheran church until 1853. In that year with a number of colonists he went to Saint Sebald, Clayton county, Iowa, and was pastor there for a number of years. Since that time he has had various charges, serving congregations at West Union, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; Toledo and Defiance, Ohio; and Ripon, Wisconsin. From the latter city he moved in 1893 to Waverly, having been elected to the presidency of the Synod of Iowa, an office which he held until the summer of 1904. He died in Waverly, May 14, 1907, having survived his wife since July 7, 1900. He was one of the best known ministers in the Lutheran church in the middle west, serving as vice president of the Iowa Synod, as president of the eastern district and as a member of the executive board of the synod. He was well known also as the author of various theological books, also of The History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States, and he was a diligent worker along all lines of church expansion. He was one of the four founders of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States and this has grown to be one of the strongest Lutheran associations in the United States. Shortly before his death he resigned from the presidency because of failing health but remained always one of the foremost figures in religious circles. He and his wife became the parents of eight children: Christina, who married Rev. W. Wacke, of East Toledo, Ohio; Henry, deceased, who was for a number of years printer of the periodicals issued by the Iowa Synod and publisher of a German weekly newspaper; Anna, the wife of Julius Bredow, a teacher in the Orphans Home at Waverly; John R., editor and publisher of the Herald at Defiance, Ohio, and for a period of several years mayor of that city; Marie, the wife of the subject of this review; Caroline; and two who died in infancy. Professor and Mrs. Engelbrecht became the parents of eight children; a son who died in infancy; August W., a Lutheran minister at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin; Ella, who is studying music and who resides at home; Edwin Paul, a teller in the Waverly Savings Bank; Helen, who died in infancy; Rosa and Herbert, who are attending school; and Amelia, deceased.

Professor Engelbrecht gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and he was for many years a member of the city council of Waverly, holding that position from 1896 until 1909, when his manifold duties as professor and president of the Wartburg Teachers' Seminary and Academy compelled him to resign. He is a man of strong intellectuality and marked force of character.

History of Bremer County, Iowa Vol. II 1914