Heinrich Christian Schwan

Heinrich Christian Schwan (April 5, 1819 – May 29, 1905), a German Lutheran pastor, was the third president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), from 1878 to 1899. He earlier served as a missionary in Brazil, as a pastor in Cleveland, Ohio, and as president of the synod's Central District. Schwan is credited with being the first pastor to erect a Christmas tree in an American church sanctuary and was responsible for the Missouri Synod's first exposition of Martin Luther's Small Catechism. He was the son of the Rev. Georg Heinrich Christian Schwan, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor in northern Germany, and his first wife, Charlotte Wyneken, and was also the half-brother of Major General Theodore Schwan.