Konrad Fleischmann excerpt from Ministers of the PBA

Konrad Anton Fleischmann: b. Apr. 18, 1812, Nuremberg, Bavaria; d. Oct. 15, 1867, Phila., Pa.; raised as a Lutheran, and believing himself to be a good Christian (though not having experienced regeneration), he left his hometown upon learning a trade and traveled as a journey-man; arriving in Geneva, he came under the influence of Christians who taught him the true way of faith in Christ; here, in 1831, he “soon found peace in believing” (Cathcart); he was subsequently baptized at Basil, Switzerland, by Swiss Separatists; . . .in 1837, he returned to Bavaria for a visit, and the following year was invited by the well-known George Müller to Bristol, England, . . .at Müller’s suggestion in 1839, he left Bristol with the intention of ministering to fellow Germans in America; . . .“partly on account of persecution for the baptism of the three converts and partly because of the large German population in Pennsylvania,” he removed to Reading, Pa., late 1839, where he established a German Baptist Mission, then began preaching in Lehigh and Lycoming Counties, baptizing about 200 persons (Anschutz); in 1842, he went to Philadelphia, where he baptized five converts under his preaching, soon followed by others, so that in July 1843, the first German Regular Baptist church in America was constituted with nine members; here he was pastor, First German Baptist, Phila., 1843-1867 . . . His gravesite is in the Glenwood Memorial Gardens, Broomall, Delaware County, Pa. Fleischmann was characterized as “a perfect John the Baptist in rugged energy and earnest interest in the salvation of his countrymen”—Spencer.