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MUHLENBERG, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS (1796-1877)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 957 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MUHLENBERG, See also:WILLIAM See also:AUGUSTUS (1796-1877) , See also:American philanthropist and See also:Protestant Episcopal clergyman, See also:great-See also:grandson of H. M. Muhlenberg and grandson of F. A. C. Muhlenberg, was See also:born in See also:Philadelphia, See also:Pennsylvania, on the 16th of See also:September 1796. He graduated at the university of Pennsylvania in 1815. In 1817 he was ordained a See also:deacon in the Protestant Episcopal See also:Church, and became assistant to See also:Bishop William See also:White (1748-1836) in the rectorship of See also:Christ Church, St See also:Peter's and St See also:James's, Philadelphia. In 1820 he was ordained See also:priest and until 1826 was See also:rector of St James's Church, See also:Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Largely owing to his efforts, Lancaster was the second public school See also:district created in the See also:state. His See also:interest in church See also:music and hymnody prompted his pamphlet of 1821, A Plea for See also:Christian See also:Hymns; he See also:drew up for the use of his own See also:parish a collection of Church See also:Poetry (1823); and in 1823 he was appointed by the See also:General See also:Convention a member of the See also:committee on See also:psalms and hymns, whose collection, approved in 1826, contained several of Muhlenberg's own compositions, including " I would not live alway," " Shout the glad tidings," and " Saviour, who thy See also:flock See also:art feeding." From 1826 to 1845 he was rector of St See also:George's, See also:Flushing, See also:Long See also:Island, where in 1827 he became See also:head of the Flushing See also:Institute, probably the first Protestant Episcopal " church school " in the See also:United States. He founded a St See also:Paul's See also:College, to include the institute, but the panic of 1837 and the refusal of a See also:charter by the state legislature brought it to an end; and the See also:property was sold a few years after Muhlenberg See also:left Flushing.

The methods of this institute were however copied widely; church See also:

schools sprang up everywhere; and St Paul's School, See also:Concord, New See also:Hampshire, and the Groton School in See also:Massachusetts were established in accordance with his ideas. In 1845 he removed to New See also:York See also:City, where in 1.846 he became rector of the Church of the See also:Holy Communion, a " See also:free " church built by his See also:sister, Mrs See also:Mary A. See also:Rogers. Here Muhlenberg founded the first American See also:order of Protestant Episcopal deaconesses, the Sisterhood of the Church of the Holy Communion, begun in 1845 and formally organized in 1852. The See also:work of the sisterhood led to Muhlenberg's See also:establishment of St See also:Luke's See also:Hospital (opened in 1858), for which his See also:congregation made offerings each St Luke's See also:Day after 1846. in 1866 he founded on Long Island the Church See also:Industrial Community of St Johnland. He bought 535 acres (mostly wooded), with a See also:shore front of 12 m. on Long Island See also:Sound, near See also:King's See also:Park, 4.5 m. from New York City, to be a See also:home for the aged and for See also:young See also:children, especially cripples.1 The See also:plan was not reformatory nor purely 1 The Society of St Johnland, incorporated in 1870, has a See also:chapel, the Church of the Testimony of Jesus (1869), St See also:John's See also:Inn, the home for old men (also built in 1869), Sunset Cottage, a home for twelve aged couples, Muhlenberg See also:House for old See also:women, the Fabbri Home, the Sunbeam Cottage (given by Mr and Mrs See also:Cornelius See also:Vanderbilt in 1881) See also:Lawrence House, for babies, a library and See also:village See also:hall, a See also:kindergarten, a school house, and the " See also:mansion," Dr Muhlenberg's home at St Johnland and later the home of Sister See also:Anne Ayres, his biographer, during her superintendence of the society.charitable, and a moderate See also:rent was charged for the cottages. In the St Johnland See also:cemetery is the See also:grave of Dr Muhlenberg, who died on the 8th of See also:April 1877 in St Luke's Hospital, New York City. His ideal of the church was that it was missionary and evangelical as well as See also:catholic with formal See also:government and See also:ritual; hence he called himself an " evangelical Catholic " and wrote the Evangelical Catholic Papers, which were collected and published by Anne Ayres in 1875-1877. See Anne Ayres, See also:Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg (New York, i88o), and W. W. See also:Newton, Dr Muhlenberg (See also:Boston, 1890), in the " American Religious Leaders " See also:series.

End of Article: MUHLENBERG, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS (1796-1877)

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