VGI Updates

The Rev. Karl Adolf Günther was born 30 November 1756 in Schönewalde, Netherlands. He served the parish in Stephan from 1798 to 1811. He froze to death while on a business trip to Schneegestöber.

Father Heinrich Guillemaint was born 10 March 1771 in Wavre, Belgium. He died there on 4 February 1855.  Father Guillemaint was ordained 16 May 1805 and served the parish of Brabander from 20 January 1807 to September 1820.

Pastor Gyorog served Second German Congregational Church in Portland, Oregon, from 1950-1958. He then served Ebenezer Congregational Church in Portland from 1958-1984.

Pastor Andreas Anton Haag, son of Leonhard Haag, was born in 1768 in Elberfeld. He married on 5 September 1798 in Hattingen to Johanna Maria Katharina Wortmann.

From 1798 to 1805, he worked as a teacher in Elfringausen in the parish of Gattingen. From 1805 to 1806, he served as the pastor in Bredensheid in the parish of Guttingen. From 1807 to 1819, he was pastor in Izhevsk on the Kama.

He served the parish of Dietel (and surrounding colonies) from 1819-1835.

Peter Heinrich Abraham Haag was born 27 December 1805 (baptized 3 January 1806) in Bredenscheid near Hattingen, Westphalia (Prussia). He was the son of Pastor Andreas Anton Haag and Johanna Maria Catharina Wortmann. He died in 1848 in Katharinenstadt. He married Amalie Henriette Otto, the daughter of Pastor Johann Martin Otto and Anna Katharina Filbert. She was born 4 January 1812 in Beideck and died in December 1868 in St. Petersburg.

Pastor Hagelganz was born 15 April 1880 in Kutter. In 1906, Pastor Hagelganz came to America and settled in Portland, Oregon. Soon after his arrival he joined the membership of what is now the Congregational Evangelical Brethren Church. He organized the young people’s Christian Endeavor Society of the church and was active in the church choirs.

The Rev. Gotthold Eduard Hahn, son of Gottlieb Hahn, was born 6 January 1863 in Katzbach (Bessarabia).

He was ordained 7 November 1890 and served as the assistant pastor in Beideck (1890-1892). He also served the congregations in Rosenberg (1892-1906), Boisroux (1906-1912), Hochstädt (1912-1929), and Elisabethal (Caucasus) (1929-1931).

In 1930, he was arrested and kept in prison until 1932. He was then exiled to the city of Tomsk in Siberia.

He was living in Tiflis with his daughter as of 1938.

The Rev. Alexander Haken, son of Johann Jakob Haken & Mathilde Elisabeth Gahlnbäck, was born on 29 May 1804 in Weissenstein, Estonia. He married Natalie Rosenberg.

He studied theology at the University of Dorpat and was ordained on 12 January 1830.

He served the congregations in Beideck (1830-1836), Pensa (1838-1844), and Tambov (1844-1872). While in Tambov, he also served the congregation in Tula-Kaluga (1851-1857).

Pastor Haken died 24 March 1873 in Tambov.

The Rev. Otto Heinrich Johann Harff was born 23 June 1872. He was ordained on 27 October 1896 and served the congregations in Rosenberg (1906-1929), Gnadenflur (1913?-1931), and Kukkus (1929-1931).

Pastor Leonhard Karl Wilhelm Hesse was born 11 Febriary 1856 in Sarata (Bessarabia). He served the congregation in Tomsk-Barnaul from 1884-1885. He was in Galka from 1886-1888; in Penza from 1888-1914; and in Tomsk from 1914-1923.

Pastor Hesse died 26 March 1933 in Saratov.