August Gottlieb Spangenberg, first bishop of the Moravian church in America, born at Klettenberg, Prussia, July 15, 1704, died at Berthelsdorf, Saxony, Sept. 18, 1792. He graduated at Jena in 1726, began to lecture as a junior professor, and in conjunction with a number of students established free schools in the suburbs of Jena for the children of the poor. In 1731 he was appointed adjunct professor at Halle, and assistant superintendent of Francke's orphan house. His liberal views in respect to such as were not in connection with the established church, and especially his strong love for the Moravians, led to his dismissal from his offices in 1733. He went to Herrnhut, ana was appointed assistant to Count Zinzendorf, in which capacity he visited various parts of the continent. Toward the close of 1734 he went to England, where he entered into successful negotiations with the trustees for Georgia relative to a Moravian settlement in that colony. Fifty acres of land were granted him, and 500 acres were made over to Count Zinzendorf. One of these tracts formed a part of the present site of Savannah, and the other lay on the Ogeechee river.

Spangenberg arrived at the former tract with nine immigrants in the spring of 1735, and immediately commenced a settlement, which was the first formed by the Moravians in America. Having spent four years partly in Georgia and partly in Pennsylvania, where he preached among his German countrymen, he returned to Europe, His report upon the state of religion in Pennsylvania induced the church to begin an enterprise in that province, and the town of Bethlehem was founded. In 1741 he visited London, where he was made general deacon of the brotherhood, and founded the first organized Moravian society in England. In 1744 he returned to Germany, and, after being consecrated a bishop, went again to America, in order to superintend the entire work of the Moravians in this country, in which he continued for 18 years, interrupted by occasional visits to Europe. He undertook frequent journeys to the Indian country, and was adopted into the Oneida nation. Soon after the conquest of Canada, Spangenberg was appointed a member of the college of bishops and elders elected, subsequently to Count Zinzendorf's death, to govern the three provinces and the missions of the Moravian church.

He left America in June, 1702, arrived at Herrnhut in November, and immediately entered upon the duties of his new office, and for 30 years was the leading spirit among his colleagues. In 1764 he was appointed supreme inspector in upper Alsace, and in 1789 president of the general directory. Among his principal works are his Leben Zinzendorf' s (3 vols., 1772-'5), and Idea Fidei Fratrum (1770). The latter is the standard of theology among the Mora-vians. It was translated into English by La-trobe in 178-1, under the title of "An Exposition of Christian Doctrine as taught in the Protestant Church of the United Brethren".