Charles Philip Krauth

Charles Philip Kraut (born in Montgomery County, PA on May 7, 1797; died in Gettysburg, PA on May 30, 1867) was a Lutheran clergyman in the United States. He was the first president of Gettysburg College (then Pennsylvania College) from 1834-1850. At the age of 18, he began to study medicine, but left it for theology, and in 1819 the Pennsylvania Department allowed him to preach. After holding pastors in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, and Shepherdstown, Virginia, he was called up to Philadelphia in 1827 to lead the newly organized English-speaking community. In 1833, he was elected professor of biblical and oriental literature at the Lutheran theological seminary in Gettysburg, and the following year he was unanimously elected president of the College of Pennsylvania, also in Gettysburg. In 1850, he resigned as college president to devote his time exclusively to duties in a theological seminary, where he continued to work until his death. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science. University of Pennsylvania in 1837.