Today in History (December 29): 1778 British capture Savannah, Georgia 1821 Matthias Sheeleigh, director of Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, born in Charlestown, Chester County, Pennsylvania 1839 Philipp Friedrich Adolph Theodor Spaeth, president of General Council, born (or October 29) in Wuerttemberg (d. 1910); educated at Tuebingen; private tutor in Italy, France, and Scotland until 1864, when he accepted a call as associate pastor of Zion Church in Philadelphia; in 1867 he became pastor of St. Johannis; in 1873 he became professor in the Philadelphia Seminary, was president of the General Council (1880-88) and of the Pennsylvania Ministerium (1892-95); wrote biographies of Dr. Mann and Dr. C. P. Krauth (whose son-in-law he was); besides being a historian, he was a liturgical scholar, was a gifted pulpit orator, and wrote a number of homiletical works 1841 Howard College was chartered in Marion, Alabama, under Baptist sponsorship; the campus relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1887 1851 Henry Jacob Schuh, president of Western District of the Ohio Synod, born in Bauernhoff of Maisbach, Germany 1851 The first YMCA in the U.S. was organized in Boston, Massachusetts 1860 Holston Synod organized in Sullivan County, Tennessee; it included congregations in Tennessee and western Virginia; it shared with its mother synod its doctrinal basis, but repudiated its peculiar notions as to theological seminaries, incorporation, and synodical treasuries; from 1867 to 1872 it belonged to the General Council; from 1874 to 1886 to the General Council; from 1886 until it merged with the United Lutheran Church, with the General Synod, South; in 1922 in merged with the Synod of Southwestern Virginia and the Synod of Virginia into the Lutheran Synod of Virginia 1876 Philip P. Bliss, religious composer, died in a tragic railroad accident near Astabula, Ohio (b. 1838); the train in which Bliss and his wife were riding plunged off a bridge into a ravine 60 feet below and burned; Bliss survived the fall, but returned to the wreckage to rescue his wife; he perished with her in the fire; Bliss was only 38 years old; he had written and composed many hymns, [more information avalable] 1898 First Lutheran General Conference held in Philadelphia 1925 The Board of Trustees of Trinity College in Durham, North Carolina, changed the name of the school to Duke University in exchange for a $40 million trust fund from the estate of James B. Duke, recently deceased founder of the American Tobacco Company 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