Lochner Family Collection

Johann Friedrich Karl Lochner (1822-1902) J. F. K. was born on 23 September 1822 in Nürnberg, Germany. He received his elementary education locally and was trained in the trade of engraving at the Artist Academy in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Before he finished his schooling, he transferred to the Teachers Seminary in Schwabach, Bavaria and later continued his studies of liturgics under Professor Friedrich Hommel in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria.

Pastor Wilhelm Loehe sent Lochner to America in 1845 where he was ordained upon arrival and started serving a parish with the United Lutheran and Reformed Salem Church in Toledo, Ohio. Upon their refusal to constitute themselves a Lutheran Congregation he left to serve parishes in Pleasant Ridge and Collinsville, Illinois, during 1846 and 1850. His next call brought him to Trinity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he served until 1876. He was then called to become an instructor at the Teachers College in Springfield, Illinois. He also served a congregation there until 1887. Due to ill health he returned to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and remained there as an assistance pastor until his death on 14 February 1902.

Friedrich Lochner survived three wives. He first married C. F. W. Walther’s sister-in-law, Lydia Buenger, in June of 1845; she died soon after giving birth to their first daughter in March 1848, the infant daughter died in the same year.

In February 1849 he married Maria Boehme in Pleasant Ridge, Illinois. They had nine children: Christian Friedrich Stephanus (b: 15 Dec 1849); Maria Agnes and Friedrich Christian (b: 30 April 1851); Johannes Timotheus (b: 7 June 1852); Josephine (b: 21 August 1855); Anna Agathe Elisabeth (b: 1 April 1857); Renate Christiana Amalie (b: 13 May 1860) and Daniel Clemens (b: 20 November 1862). Maria Boehme died on 10 December 1876.

In his third marriage he was united with Maria von Haugwitz. They were married from 4 May 1881 until her death on 31 January 1895. They had six children: Martin Gustav Carl (b: 7 Feb 1883); Gustav Friedrich Ferdinand (b: 3 Feb 1884); Lydia Sophie Louise (b: 9 April 1885); Ludwig Paul Heinrich (b: 22 February 1887); Wilhelm Otto Rudolph (b: 27 March 1890) and a stillborn daughter.

J. F. K. Lochner was the editor of the Missionstaube for five years. In addition, he wrote and published a variety of writings: Passions- und Osterbuch, Liturgische Formulare, Der Hauptgottesdienst der Evangelischen Lutherischen Kirche, Die Lage des Alten Ordens der Vereinigten Arbeiter im Staate Illinois, Raphael – ein Gedenkbuch für Konfirmaden, Notwehrblatt Gegen Angriffe hierarchischen Geistes, Kleines Psalterium, etc.

Louis Paul Lochner (1887-1975) Louis was born on 22 February 1887 in Springfield, Illinois, to Johann Friedrich Karl Lochner and his third wife Maria von Haugwitz. His parents gave him the name Ludwig, but he signed his name as Louis. He graduated in 1905 from the Wisconsin Music Conservatory. Muehlenberg College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1942 and the University of Wisconsin bestowed the same honor upon him in 1961.

On 7 September 1910 he married Emmy Hoyer. They had two children, Elsbeth and Robert. After Emmy’s death in 1920, Louis Lochner married Hilde (Steinberger) DeTerra on 22 April 1922. They had one daughter named Rosemarie.

From 1909 to 1919 Louis Lochner was a foreign correspondent in Germany. In 1919 he became the director of the Berlin Bureau of the U.S. Associated Press and remained in this position until 1946. During his tenure Lochner was the first foreign correspondent to follow the German Army into battle; he accompanied them to Poland in September 1939. He also saw Germany’s western front in Holland, Belgium and France and witnessed the French capitulation in Compiegne in 1940. In 1941 he became a news analyst and commentator for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and served in this capacity until 1944. At the end of World War 2, he participated in several governmental missions abroad and was on the Board of Directors for the American Council in Germany.

Louis P. Lochner was awarded numerous fellowships and awards, the most prestigious was the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished services as a foreign correspondent. He authored seven books one being Herbert Hoover and Germany, 1960. He edited others such as The Goebbels Diaries and translated several foreign books into English. He was a member of the editorial board of The Lutheran Witness in 1951, a columnist for The Lutheran Layman and The Lutheran Witness Reporter. Lochner died in January 1975 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Martin Lochner (1883-1945) Martin was born 7 February 1883 at Springfield, Illinois, the son of Friedrich and his third wife Marie von Haugwitz.

Martin was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Concordia College, Milwaukee (1896-1902). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1905 and accepted a call to Immanuel Lutheran College, Greensboro, North Carolina, an institution of the African American mission program of the Lutheran Synodical Conference. In 1912 he moved to Concordia Teachers College (Addison, Illinois) and later at River Forest, Illinois, where he taught languages, music, hymnology, and liturgics until his death. He died on 6 February 1945 of a heart attack on a Chicago street near First Saint Paul Lutheran Church while on his way to serve as organist at a pastoral conference Communion service.

During his professorships he also served as pastor at Meherrin, Virginia, and Christ Lutheran Church, Oak Park, Illinois. He received a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, was a member of the American Guild of Organists and an honorary member of the Pi Kappa Lambda musical society. For many years he edited the music department of the Lutheran School Journal. He served on the music review committee of Concordia Publishing House, on the Choral Union Committee of the Walther League, as a church organ consultant, as head of the music department of Concordia Teachers College and as faculty secretary.

On 9 June 1909 Lochner married Elizabeth Jacobs, and the couple had four sons: Martin Jr., Henry, Fred, and William.