Johann Martin Boltzius

Johann Martin Boltzius (December 15, 1703 – November 19, 1765) was a German born, American Lutheran minister. He is most known for his association with the Salzburger emigrants, a group of German-speaking Protestant refugees who migrated to the British colony of Georgia in 1734. They founded the city of Ebenezer, Georgia to escape persecution in the Archbishopric of Salzburg and other Roman Catholic authorities for their religious views.

Boltzius was born at Forst in Lower Lusatia, a town southeast of Berlin, Germany. His parents, Eva Rosina Muller and Martin Boltzius worked as weavers. He was awarded a scholarship for theology from the University of Halle. During his time at the university, he studied Lutheran Pietism, which emphasized salvation by grace, strong ethics, vigorous pastoral leadership, and social compassion. Upon completing his studies, he served as the inspector at the Latin School of the Francke in Halle providing Protestant education to orphans.

In 1733, he was chosen by Gotthilf August Francke, son of a co-founder of the school, to serve as a minister to the Salzburg Protestant refugees. Boltzius called their journey "into danger, but closer to God", which sheds light on the harsh conditions that travelers often faced during the eighteenth century. This religiously motivated journey was seen as a chance for the Salzburgers to come closer to God by taking on these hardships in order to follow Christ and therefore, this movement was seen as a pilgrimage more than as emigration. Boltzius envisioned this new community as one where God was the ultimate authority. Although he was chosen and seen as a leader for the Salzburgers, he stressed that the ministers were governed by God and that they would make all of the administrative and disciplinary decisions in His name.

In 1734, the group of Salzburgers who sailed from England to Georgia, arriving first in Charleston, South Carolina before proceeding to Savannah, Georgia. James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony, met them upon arrival and assigned them the piece of land that would become Ebenezer. Many of the Salzburgers died due to complications from infectious diseases during the journey, and once they arrived in Georgia. Boltzius insisted that these deaths were due to God's works and that the intervention was only a test of their faith. From his entries in the Detailed Reports of the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America (Ausführliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen Emigranten compiled by Samuel Urlsperger), there are some signals that Boltzius began to blame James Oglethorpe, as representative of the Trustees of Georgia, for the many deaths because of his poor choice of location for the settlement. In 1736, Ebenezer was moved closer to the Savannah River. Boltzius had demanded that the community be relocated to an area with more fertile land, where the Salzburgers could thrive. After an altercation with Oglethorpe, Boltzius threatened to disband the community if they did not receive permission to relocate.

...
Wikipedia