Michael Schlatter

1716-1790. Organizer of the German Reformed Church in the Thirteen Colonies. Born in St. Gall, Switzerland, and educated at the University of Gelmstadt, he was ordained in 1739 as a minister in the German Reformed Church. In 1746 he was sent to America to organize and supervise the scattered German Reformed congregations, and did so ably. In 1751, on a trip to Europe to secure ministers for the colonial churches, one of those recruited was Philip Otterbein.* Schlatter served as superintendent of schools in Philadelphia (1754-56) and as a British army chaplain (1756-59). He then became a pastor in Philadelphia. His ardent patriotism led to loss of property and imprisonment in the Revolutionary War.