Carl Heinrich Ernst Kretzmann (1852-1924) Papers

Carl Heinrich Ernst Kretzmann was born 14 March 1852 at Dassel, Germany, to Heinrich Julius and his wife, Johanna Wilhelmine (nee Grube). He immigrated to the United States at age 14, worked for a few years in New York City and entered the practical seminary of the Missouri Synod in Saint Louis. Because of a shortage of pastors, he was dismissed early and ordained on 2 February 1873 to serve a congregation at Yorkville, New York. He subsequently served two congregations in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri - Egypt Mills and Hanover; Dudleytown and Farmers Retreat, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Vincennes, Indiana; and Schenectady, New York. In 1919 he resigned his last pastorate and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he continued to preach in area congregations and served as secretary in the Deaconess Motherhouse until a regular superintendent was called. He died on 25 October 1924 at Springfield, Illinois, while traveling by train from Chicago to Saint Louis for the cornerstone laying of the new Concordia Seminary buildings. He is buried in Concordia Cemetery in Fort Wayne.

His first wife, Elizabeth, oldest daughter of Pastor W. Gustav Polack, died in 1909. To this union seven children were born: Karl, Martin, Paul, Gustav, Elizabeth, Lydia, and Adela. Karl, Martin, and Paul became LCMS pastors.