Deggeller, Bernhard

Bernhard Deggeller, son of Johann Caspar Deggeller & Dorothea Pfister, was born 27 April 1822 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and died 25 September 1888 in the Volga German colony of Grimm. He married Elisabeth Lang. She was born 29 November 1831 in Karras (North Caucasus) and died 25 April 1873 in Nikolayevka (North Caucasus).

His first marriage was on 28 October 1856 in Mulbey, India, to Lydia Lang, daughter of Johann Jakob Lang & Margaret Galloway. She was born 1833 in Karras; died 13 September 1858 in Mangalore, Indian.

His second marriage was on 19 April 1860 in Beringen, Switzerland, to Elisabeth Lang, the elder sister of his first wife. She was born 29 november 1831 in Karras; died 25 April 1873 in Mykolaivka (North Caucasus).

His third marriage was on 26 August 1874 in Grimm to Constanze Zürcher. She was born 4 October 1846 in Colmar, Switzerland.

He studied theology at the Basel Missionary Society and was ordained on 24 October 1846. He went first to British India as a missionary where he established an orphanage. He was sent back to Switzerland because of his poor health in 1858. He then served in the Pyatigorsk parish in the North Caucasus from 1860-1873, which included the colony of Karras which had been settled by German colonists from the Volga.

At the invitation of Pastor Bonwetsch, he moved to the Volga German colony of Norka in April 1873, and in September 1873 was called to serve the congregation in neighboring Grimm where he served until his death in 1888. He became ill following a service in nearby Dönhof on 17 September 1888. He developed pneumonia and died in Grimm on 25 September 1888.

Pastor Bernhard Deggeller is the father of Pastor Eugen Deggeller and Lydia Deggeller, the wife of Pastor Gottlieb Nathanael Bonwetsch.