Today in History (January 11): 1730 Beata Sturm, "Wuerttenberg Tabitha", died (b. 1682); in her youth she was blind for almost two years; although severely limited in sight, she read the Bible through thirty times; she had a good memory and could repeat a sermon almost word for word; she studied the writings of Luther and confessed that no one had so beautifully preached Christ to her and made so much of Him as Luther had done; she visited widows and orphans, the poor, sick, and needy, and especially as were in spiritual trouble; she would deprive herself of necessities in order to give to others 1791 "The First-day or Sunday-school Society" organized in Philadelphia; composed of members of different denominations; first general Sunday school organization in the United States; founded by William White; this marked the beginning of the American Missionary Fellowship, which was chartered in 1817; today, this evangelical and interdenominational organization is headquartered in Villanova, Pennsylvania, and works primarily in the U.S. in missionary training and evangelism 1817 Timothy Dwight, hymnist, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he was president of Yale University (b. 1752) and was a native of Massachusetts as well as a grandson of Jonathan Edwards; Dwight served as eighth president of Yale from 1795 until his death; he is remembered today as author of the hymn of testimony "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" 1843 Francis Scott Key, hymnist, died (b. 1779); Maryland-born son of a Continental Army officer; although usually touted as the author of America's national anthem, he was also a devoted member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and taught Bible classes in and around Washington, D.C.; he was also among the organizers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, founded in 1820 If you wish to use these items, please get permission. Permission to post TIH items on LUTHERAN-ROOTS was received from Marvin A. Huggins, C.A., Associate Director Concordia Historical Institute (314)505-7921 801 De Mun Avenue FAX: (314)505-7901 St. Louis, MO 63105-3168 mhuggins@chi.lcms.org Web Page: http://chi.lcms.org/ for today, John Birkholz brotherjohn@imt.net 963 McIver Road Great Falls, MT 59404