1828–1896

Introduction

portrait

Born: Ap­ril 13, 1828, Doyles­town, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Feb­ru­ary 2, 1896, Hud­son, New York.

Buried: View­mont Ce­me­te­ry, Ger­man­town, New York.

Biography

Of Mo­ra­vi­an stock, Luck­en­bach was the son of George B. Luck­en­bach, and Ju­lia Bi­sel, and hus­band of Mary B. Comp­ton of Lock­port (mar­ried 1857).

Soon af­ter his birth, the fa­mi­ly moved to Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, where Will­iam lat­er helped his fa­ther in the fa­mi­ly ca­bi­net mak­ing bu­si­ness.

Luckenbach took clas­sic­al and theo­lo­gic­al cours­es at Dick­in­son Col­lege, Car­lisle, Penn­syl­van­ia, and was li­censed to preach by the Sy­nod of East Penn­syl­van­ia in 1855. Lat­er that year, he ac­cepted a call to Lock­port, New York (the lo­cale that in­spired Malt­bie Bab­cock to write This Is My Fa­ther’s World a ge­ne­ra­tion later).

In 1857, he was or­dained to the min­is­try by the Hart­wick Sy­nod at a meet­ing in Zi­on Lu­ther­an Church, Ath­ens, New York.

That fall, he was called to St. Luke’s Church in Phi­la­del­phia. He went on serve at the Third Ev­an­ge­li­cal Lu­ther­an Church, Rhine­beck, New York (1861–66); in Ca­na­jo­har­ie, New York (1866–68); at St. Paul’s Lu­ther­an Church, Red Hook, New York (1868–72); Ha­gers­town, Ma­ry­land (1872–75); Ta­ney­town, Ma­ry­land (1875–78); and at Christ’s Lu­ther­an Church, Ger­man­town, New York, where he re­tired in 1894.

Luckenbach re­ceived an MA de­gree from Get­tys­burg Col­lege, Penn­syl­van­ia, and a DD de­gree from Wit­ten­berg Col­lege, Spring­field, Ohio. He was Life Di­rect­or of the Am­eri­can Tract So­ci­ety and of the Am­eri­can Bi­ble So­ci­ety, and, from 1886 un­til his death, pre­si­dent of the New York and New Jer­sey Sy­nod of the Lu­ther­an Church.

Works

Sources

Lyrics