Rev. Edwin Wilson Hutter, D.D.

History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

REV. EDWIN WILSON HUTTER, D.D.

Edwin Wilson Hutter, who was named for his maternal grandfather, James Wilson, was the son of Charles L. and Mary Wilson Hutter. He was of German ancestry, and born in Allentown, Lehigh Co., Pa., Sept. 12, 1813. His grandfather, Christian Jacob Hutter, settled in Lancaster before the Revolution, but later in life removed to Easton, where he established the Sentinel newspaper, and where Charles L. Hutter removed to Allentown, and continued the publication of the Republikaner, which had been started by his father. Upon the death of Charles L. Hutter, Edwin W. Hutter returned from school at Nazareth, and at the age of sixteen took the editorship of this father’s papers,--the Independent Republikaner and the Lehigh Herald, and at the same time assumed a parental relation towards a large family of younger brothers and sisters.

While yet in his minority Mr. Hutter was appointed, in 1832, by Governor Wolf, prothonotary of Lehigh County, and afterwards, by Amos Kendall, postmaster of Allentown. He continued in the latter position until 1839, when, under the administration of Governor Porter, he accepted a position in the Surveyor-General’s office at Harrisburg. He was next called to the editorship of the Keystone. While at Harrisburg he established a German paper,--the Pennsylvania Staat Zeitung, and was elected State printer two successive terms. He next became editor of the Democratic Union, the organ of that party, and at the beginning of Governor Porter’s second term was appointed deputy secretary under Hon. Anson V. Parsons, Secretary of the Commonwealth. At the commencement of President Polk’s administration Mr. Hutter removed to Washington, where he was for three years private secretary to Hon. James Buchanan, then Secretary of State, at the close of which he returned to Pennsylvania, and became the editor and proprietor of the Lancaster Intelligencer and Journal. During his connection with the Intelligencer he delivered a eulogy upon Mr. Polk, which was praised for its grace and the ability displayed, and was republished in several newspapers. Before Mr. Hutter decided to enter the ministry, as an inducement to keep him in political life, President Polk offered him the position of minister to Rome, which he declined.

He was married to Miss Elizabeth E. Shindel, daughter of Col. Jacob and Elizabeth Shindel, and granddaughter of Baron Peter Shindel, Lebanon, Lebanon Co., Pa., though natives of Germany. Their children were two sons,--Christian Jacob, who lived to be two years and twenty-four days old, and James Buchanan, whose godfather was James Buchanan, ex-President of the United States, who died when three years and a half old. On the death of these children Mr. Hutter felt impelled to devote the remainder of his life to the preaching of the gospel.

In the summer of 1849 he was urged by the Lutheran Board of Publication, at Baltimore, to take charge of the Lutheran Book Concern, and to assist in conducting the Lutheran Observer, to which he assented, reading theology, in the intervals, under Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, D.D., its senior editor. He was licensed to preach by the Synod of Pennsylvania (the mother of Synod of the Lutheran Church), at Pottsville, June, 1850, and preached one of his first sermons at Allentown. During the summer he visited Philadelphia, and preached two sermons in the old Pine Street Presbyterian Church, where he was heard by some of the members of St. Matthew’s Church, at whose instance he was invited to preach in the pulpit of the latter, which had shortly before become vacated by the resignation of Dr. Stork. The discourse was so satisfactory to the congregation that on the following day they convened a meeting, and extended to Mr. Hutter a unanimous call, which he accepted, and entered upon his pastoral duties early in September, 1850, where he continued to labor until his death.

As a marked evidence of his sincerity it may be mentioned that in accepting his first and only call the question of salary was a matter of no moment to him.

Immediately before he accepted the ministry of St. Matthew’s a colony of some forty families had gone out from it, with Rev. Dr. Stork, to Spring Garden and Thirteenth Streets, but these vacancies were speedily filled, and during Mr. Hutter’s ministration over eight hundred members were added to the church. All the indebtedness was extinguished, and several Lutheran churches in the city have grown out of the missions originating under his ministrations.

The numerical growth and financial condition of St. Matthew’s have been such that at various times in its history it has been instrumental, through its members, in originating and establishing other prosperous church enterprises. St. Mark’s, on Spring Garden Street, near Thirteenth; St. Luke’s, on Fourth Street, near Thompson; St. Peter’s on Reed Street, near Ninth; Grace Church, Spring Garden and Thirty-fifth Streets; and Messiah, Sixteenth and Jefferson Streets, were severally started and fostered by this congregation. Together with the parents church these congregations are all in a growing condition.

In addition to his other labors, Mr. Hutter was one of the editors of the Lutheran Observer from 1857 to 1870, and upon the death of Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, on Dec. 24, 1865, pronounced the eulogy on his life and character, at Selinsgrove, Pa.

Mr. Hutter was much opposed to the dissolution of the Union, and equally energetic in his opposition to the war, preaching strong and powerful sermons in defense of the Union, which were extensively printed in the leading papers of the city of Philadelphia and throughout the State. But when the conflict seemed inevitable, he assumed a decided position as an adherent of the government and the flag which was so dear to his heart. During the most memorable days of the struggle he did much to relieve the sick and wounded soldiers, laboring upon the battle-field of Gettysburg, where, with characteristic kindness, he ministered alike to Union and disunion soldiers.

At the first battle of Bull Run President Lincoln telegraphed for Mr. Hutter, who with his wife first passed through the Union lines. He enjoyed the confidence and respect of the President, who often summoned him for consultation. Mr. and Mrs. Hutter frequently visited the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals at Washington, through the Shenandoah Valley, and at City Point, distributing money, food, and clothing, and doing much by their presence to soothe and cheer the sufferers. Mr. Hutter was one of the managers of the Refreshment Saloon, which fed many thousand soldiers on their way to the battlefield. He was one of the originators of the Soldiers’ Orphan School throughout the State, and in frequent consultation with Governor Curtain. He was one of the founders of the Industrial Home for Blind Women. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Northern Home for Friendless Children and Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans, and dedicated the first Soldiers’ Orphan School in America. By order of the board of trustees of this institution his bust in marble was placed in the large community-room of the building. There is also erected in the large chapel of the Home a memorial window, depicting the ascension with the inscription, “He being dead yet speaketh.” He left Lehigh County in 1839, and labored successfully for the last twenty-three years of his life in Philadelphia, but ever maintained the warmest attachment for the county of his birth and the friends of his youth.

In 1868, Mr. Hutter received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg. In 1871 his health began to fail in consequence of his severe and too often self-imposed labors in his parish. Nothing was too hazardous or trying in aid of his church. In the pulpit, in the Sunday-

*The rest is among the missing.

Page 229-230

History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Alfred Mathews and Austin N. Hungerford

J. B. Lippincott & Co., Pennsylvania. 1884

Transcribed by Annette Bame Peebles

The Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Biographies Project – http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~arkbios/Lehigh/index.html.

Date of Transcription: 14 June 2007

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