Lutheran Deaconess Motherhouse at Milwaukee

See also LDMNA 1 Administrative History.

The Rev. Henry Warren Roth was one of the Rev. W. A. Passavant's closest associates. Roth served as vice -director of the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses from 1870 until his death in 1918, and also as secretary and treasurer for many years. He was born in April 5, 1838, the son of a Moravian missionary. Roth received his first letter from Passavant in December 1858 while a student at Pennsylvania College, now Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Roth had written to Passavant, wishing to subscribe to Passavant's paper, The Missionary, and perhaps to write for it. After graduation in 1861, Roth attended Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania and was ordained in 1863. He took a position at Grace Mission, Pittsburgh South Side.

In 1870, Roth became the first president of Thiel College, Greenville, Pennysylvania. The institution was the result of a meeting between Passavant and A. Louis Thiel. Thiel gave

After leaving Thiel College, Roth served as head of the Wicker Park Mission, Chicago, Illinois, where he remained until November, 1889. He was one of the founders of the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary, another of Passavant's educational projects. Roth was a professor there and treasurer of the seminary from 1891-1898. After the death of the Rev. William A. Passavant, Jr., in 1901, Roth became director of the Pittsburgh hospital, 1902-1917. He died on September 25, 1918, at the age of 80.

The H. W. Roth papers were in the possession of Roth's niece and adopted daughter, Marietta Roth. She specified that at her death, all Roth's papers dated 1887 and earlier were to go to Thiel College and the items dated 1888-1894 were to go to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). In 1999 the correspondence in this series was transferred from LSTC to the ELCA Archives, Chicago, Illinois.