Bonwetsch, Christoph Heinrich

The Reverend Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch, son of hatter Johann Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch and Maria Agnes Gänslen, was born in Metzingen, Württemberg (Germany), on 6 July 1804 and died in Norka on 17 February 1876 of a stroke. He married 8 January 1831 in Katharinenfeld, (Russian) Georgia, to Beate Christiana Friedrich, daughter of Pastor Johann Jakob Friederich and Eberhardine Dorothea Canz. She was born 19 October 1802 in Winzerhausen, Württemberg, and died in Norka on 10 February 1888.

Pastor Bonwetsch trained first as a cobbler. On 5 December 1824, he began theological training at the Mission Institute in Basel, Switzerland, and was ordained on 10 September 1828 in Auggen. He served as pastor in Katharinenfeld, Georgia, from 1828 to 1840. He served from 1840 to 1845 in Tiflis (Tbilisi). From 1845 to 1876, he was pastor of the Norka parish, also serving from 1847 to 1870 as the Dean of the congregations on the Bergseite.

Pastor Bonwetsch was the father of Pastors Samuel Theolphil Bonwetsch and Gottlieb Nathanael Bonwetsch. [See separate entries for each of them.]

Pastor Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch was also the father of Paulina Katharina Bonwetsch (born 2 August 1835) who married Pastor Jakob Friedrich Dettling (widower of her aunt) and Beata Bonwetsch (born about 1837) who married Pastor Wilhelm Stärkel. [See entry for Pastor Stärkel.]

Wilhelmine Christiane Bonwetsch, sister of Pastor Bonwetsch, was born 9 September 1809 in Metzingen. She married 28 May 1844 to Pastor Jakob Friedrich Dettling who served as the pastor in Messer. Pastor Dettling later married his wife's niece (see above). [See entry for Pastor Dettling.]