Introduction

Biography

Leopold was the son of court coun­se­lor Jo­hann Ja­kob Lehr.

In child­hood, he was great­ly im­pressed when Au­gust Francke vi­sit­ed his home and blessed him with the lay­ing on of hands.

Lehr was sent to the Gym­na­si­um in Is­tein at an ear­ly age, and stayed there un­til he was 18 years old. He went to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Je­na in 1729, and in 1730 to Halle to stu­dy un­der Jo­hann Ram­bach and Gott­hilf Au­gust Francke.

He al­so tu­tored Jo­hann Frey­ling­haus­en’s child­ren, and later was pri­vate tu­tor to the Count­ess of An­halt-Kö­then.

In 1732 and lat­er, he col­la­bo­rat­ed with court preach­er Al­lendorf of Kö­then to pub­lish Köth­nische Lied­er.

Lehr was ve­ry po­pu­lar, and be­came as­sist­ant pas­tor at Kö­then in 1740. Two years lat­er, he was called as su­per­in­ten­dent, but de­clined the po­si­tion, as he be­lieved his peo­ple need­ed him more.