Rev. Paul Andrew Kirsch, pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran church at Meriden, was born in Webster, New York, February 11, 1889, a son of John A. W. and Martha (Leddin) Kirsch. The father was also a clergyman, devoting his life to that holy calling. The mother passed away in 1894.

  Paul A. Kirsch attended the public schools of Canajoharie, New York, and the parochial schools at Buffalo, New York, the latter conducted under the direction of St. John’s Lutheran church. He remained in these schools until he reached the age of thirteen years and then became a student in the Northwestern College at Watertown, Wisconsin. At the time he entered this college he had not yet made a selection of the vocation to which he wished to devote his life. He pursued a two years’ preparatory course and devoted four years to the collegiate course, being graduated in 1908 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He afterward went to Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he became a student in the Mount Airy Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated with the B. D. degree in 1911.

  His first active church work after preparing for the ministry was as assistant to his father in Buffalo, New York. He was ordained on the 25th of June, 1911, and filled his father’s pulpit while the latter took a vacation abroad. He then accepted a call to St. Mark[‘]s church at Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn, New York, where he remained from March, 1912, until February, 1913. He then came to Meriden to attend a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his sponsor, Rev. C. R. Tappert, who unexpectedly resigned shortly after, and the congregation, having heard Rev. Kirsch, extended to him the call, which he accepted in February, 1913.

  When he arrived the church had a membership of five hundred and today its membership numbers seven hundred and fifty. The church property is valued at nearly forty thousand dollars and Rev. Kirsch was instrumental in discharging the last of the church indebtedness in 1914. The church was totally destroyed by fire on the 30th of December, 1917. The church building as it stood was built about twenty-eight years ago. There were two floors, the lower being used as class rooms, as reception rooms, as Sunday school rooms and for the church library, while the upper floor contained an auditorium, seating about seven hundred. There were eleven very fine and beautiful memorial windows, five of which has been installed through the efforts of Rev. Kirsch. These last windows were made by F. E. Freund, of Hoboken, New Jersey, formerly with the Tiffany Company of New York city. Rev. Kirsch also had installed a beautiful hand carved altar and through his efforts the church was redecorated and new electric light fixtures were put in. The church library had four hundred volumes. Through the work of Rev. Kirsch the income of the church has increased from twenty-seven to forty-five hundred dollars annually. When the church building was erected in 1889 there were but forty members. The charities of the church have been increased over five hundred per cent and under the guidance of Rev. Kirsch the work of the church in all of its various departments has been greatly augmented and a new church as well as parish buildings will soon be erected. He holds services in both the English and German languages.

  On the 25th of September, 1912, Rev. Kirsch was united in marriage to Miss Clara Marie Haller, of Buffalo, New York, and they have one son, Paul John, born February 11, 1914. Rev. Kirsch is not only a student of biblical literature but of the questions and issues of the day, and his aid and influence are on the side of progress. He is an earnest and convincing speaker, a clear and logical reasoner and moreover is a man of ready sympathy who, while recognizing the frailties of human nature, makes strong appeal to man’s better qualities and has been largely instrumental in their development.