The Lutheran Church is, so to speak, the granddaddy of the Protestant Churches. It is based on the teachings of Martin Luther, the German friar whose theories on reforming the Catholic Church led to the Protestant Reformation. Lutheranism spread from Germany and Switzerland throughout Scandinavia during the first quarter of the 16th century.
It was the immigrants from these countries that brought the Lutheran faith to America. Three of my ancestral families were included in this move. The Rinkers arrived in Philadelphia from Switzerland in 1743 and migrated to Virginia. The Schultz family arrived from Switzerland about the same time. Maria Schultz married Hans Caspar Rinker in 1757 before they headed south to the Shenandoah Valley. The Crousores [originally Kraushaar] were German Lutherans who arrived in Philadelphia during the early 1750s. Nicholas Crousore moved to western Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War.
Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Maria Magdelene Rinker and John Rogers married Henry Wolary and became a Methodist. The Crousores probably became Episcopalians by marriage.
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