The Early Years and Education of John Ph. Koehler

John Philipp Julius Koehler was born at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on January 17, 1859, to Pastor Christian Philipp and Mrs. Apollonia (Schick) Koehler. The previous September his father had followed a divine call from Addison, Wisconsin, where he was first assigned, to serve as pastor at First German Lutheran Church in Manitowoc. In July 1867 the Koehler family moved to Hustisford, Wisconsin, where Pastor Koehler served Bethany Lutheran Church until his death in 1895.

Young John Philipp Koehler was undoubtedly shaped by the principles and practices inculcated in his family’s parsonage. Besides acquiring an acute theological awareness, he learned to play the piano, organ, and violin at an early age, setting the foundation for a lifetime pursuit of musical interests, particularly the study and use of the Lutheran chorale. Already at the age of eight, the young Koehler was accompanying his father’s congregation on the organ during worship.

Not only did his father encourage the study of music, but he also developed his son’s appreciation for drawing and painting. Koehler would later recall that one of his earliest memories was receiving a case of watercolors for his fifth birthday from his father, who served as his first instructor. Later on, Koehler would receive more formal training in drawing and painting from Northwestern Professor John Kaltenbrunn and three well-known Milwaukee artists. His large triptych depicting Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, which once hung on the walls of St. John Lutheran Church, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, is now displayed in the seminary library.

A New Year's Day card that J. Ph. Koehler made for his parents

Preparing for Ministry

On September 12, 1869, at the age of 10, Koehler was enrolled at the recently-founded Northwestern University in Watertown, Wisconsin. The next oldest student living in the dormitory that year was four years Koehler’s senior. The 1869-70 school year also saw the advent of a new college president, Professor Lewis Thompson, who replaced the recently resigned Adam Martin, and a new inspector, Pastor August F. Ernst, who would remain the guiding light of Northwestern for the next fifty-five years. In addition, it would be the last year that the Wisconsin Synod seminary was located in Watertown, under the directorship of Adolf Hoenecke, since the synod had agreed to have its seminarians trained at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, beginning in 1870.

Koehler applied himself diligently to his pre-seminary studies. In addition to his required academic work, he wrote poetry, read ancient classics during vacations, and developed a keen interest in ancient and modern German poetry and history. He graduated from Northwestern on June 27, 1877, at the age of 18, with especially high marks in Latin and Greek.

John Ph. Koehler's diploma from Northwestern University, Watertown, Wis.

The St. Louis Seminary

Koehler enrolled that fall at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where Professor Walther was the grand old man. After his first year, Koehler served for a brief time as Pastor Adolf Hoenecke’s vicar at St. Matthew, Milwaukee, while the latter was recovering from a breakdown. Koehler attended the opening service of the Wisconsin Synod’s new seminary on September 4, 1878, in the company of Hoenecke, who would again take up the reins as seminary director at that time.

Koehler, however, would return in October to the St. Louis seminary, where Professor Franz Pieper, Walther’s heir-apparent, had been called to teach dogmatics at the tender age of 26. More important in terms of Koehler’s theological development was the calling that year of Professor Georg Stoeckhardt to teach exegesis. Stoeckhardt is rightly credited with emphasizing the importance of undertaking a serious and independent exegetical study of the Scriptures to establish Lutheran doctrine and practice. His approach would have a deep impact on Koehler and his future seminary colleagues, August Pieper and John Schaller.

A New Congregation and Wife

Upon seminary graduation in 1880 at the age of 21, Koehler returned to Hustisford and assisted his father, who believed his son was too young to serve a congregation alone. Then in December 1881, J.P. Koehler received a call to serve as pastor at St. John, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Shortly before taking up his service there, he married Ms. Amalia Rohlfling on January 4, 1882, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Louis. The Immanuel parish record of their wedding is pictured below.

The Koehler Children in These Years

The Koehlers' first child, Ada, was born on September 23, 1882. A first son, Karl, arrived on January 26, 1885; Hans was born in 1886 but died in 1890. Altogether the couple had ten children, four of whom died as children, three in infancy.

During his time at Two Rivers, Koehler became the first Wisconsin Synod pastor to supply a mixed group of English Christians with a regular English service. In sermons to this group, Koehler would annunciate some of the same important principles he would later champion at the seminary. “It is not our buissness [sic] to … arrange any religious system so as to make it fit for this or that denomination & then to ornate & decorate it with bible passages. But we should try to find out what God says to us in the bible. & in order to do so, we must look right into it as such who listen, who wish to hear & learn.” Koehler would leave an indelible mark on the Two Rivers congregation when he designed the new sanctuary that was constructed in 1889 and is still in use today.

In 1888, the young pastor was called to serve as professor and inspector at his college alma mater, and Koehler returned to Watertown to begin his long career as a synodical professor.