Jean Frédéric Oberlin

Oberlin, Jean Frédéric (zhäN frādārēkˈ ôbĕrlăNˈ) [key], 1740–1826, Alsatian Lutheran clergyman. He was appointed in 1767 to a pastorate in Ban-de-la-Roche, Bas-Rhin dept., France. Oberlin improved the district by introducing cotton manufacture, new agricultural methods, and good roads and by founding a savings bank, a model orphanage, and five schools. Oberlin College, Ohio, was named for him.

See biography by M. Dawson (1934).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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