The former St. John's Lutheran Church immediately west of Holy Trinity Church
Commemoration
The first Lutheran minister to settle in this province, Schwerdtfeger was born in Burgbernheim, Bavaria, and studied theology at the University of Erlangen. Emigrating to America in 1753, he served as pastor of congregations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. Much persecuted for his allegiance to the Crown during the American Revolution, Schwerdtfeger moved to Canada in 1791. He settled her in Williamsburg Township and became pastor of a congregation of German loyalists which had been established in 1784, and by 1790 had constructed the first Lutheran church in what is now Ontario. Its site now lies beneath Lake St. Lawrence. Within a few years he had organized Lutheran congregations in neighbouring townships. He died in 1803 and was buried in the old church cemetery.
Born in Bavaria, Schwerdtfeger emigrated first to the United States and came to Upper Canada in 1791. He was the first resident Lutheran pastor in the province and served a congregation of German loyalists that had been in Williamsburg Township since 1784.
Background
Schwerdtfeger was born in 1743. He was brought to North America by the Lutheran Church of York, Pennsylvania. He served in churches in Maryland and New York before coming to Upper Canada in 1791 after the Revolution. His church was lost when the St. Lawrence Seaway flooded the area.
Schwerdtfeger is a good example of the fact that not all Loyalists were British and Anglican. It should be remembered that the British King George III was also a Duke and Prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover") in what is now Germany. Lutheranism was a common religion amongst Germans.