Johann Martin Boltzius

Johann Martin Boltzius (December 15, 1703 – November 19, 1765) is most known for his association with the Salzburger emigrants, a group of German-speaking Protestant refugees, that migrated to Georgia in 1734 and founded the city of Ebenezer to escape persecution in Archbishopric of Salzburg and other Catholic authorities for their religious views.

Boltzius was born in Germany in a town southwest of Berlin called Forst. He lived a modest life as a young man. His parents, Eva Rosina Muller and Martin Boltzius worked as weavers. He was awarded a scholarship for theology from the University of Halle. During his time at the university, he studied Lutheran Pietism, which emphasized salvation by grace, strong ethics, vigorous pastoral leadership, and social compassion. Upon completing his studies, he served as the inspector at the Latin School of the Francke in Halle providing Protestant education to orphans.

In 1733, he was chosen by August Hermann Francke, a co-founder of the school, to serve as a minister to the Salzburg Protestant refugees. Boltzius called their journey "into danger, but closer to God", which sheds light on the harsh conditions that travelers often faced during the eighteenth century. This religiously motivated journey was seen as a chance for the Salzburgers to come closer to God by taking on these hardships in order to follow Christ and therefore, this movement was seen as a pilgrimage more than as emigration.

Boltzius envisioned this new community as one where God was the ultimate authority. Although he was chosen and seen as a leader for the Salzburgers, he stressed that the ministers were governed by God and that they would make all of the administrative and disciplinary decisions in His name.

Many of the Salzburgers died due to complications from infectious diseases during the journey, and once they arrived in Georgia. Boltzius insisted that these deaths were due to God's works and that the intervention was only a test of their faith. In his entries in the Detailed Reports of the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America, there are some signals that Boltzius began to blame James Oglethorpe, the representative of the Trustees of Georgia, for the many deaths because of his poor choice of location for the settlement. In 1736, Boltzius demanded that the community be relocated to an area with more fertile land, where the Salzburgers could thrive. After an altercation with Oglethorpe, Boltzius threatened to disband the community if they did not receive permission to relocate.

Boltzius wanted to share his faith with other communities in Georgia. He rejected the Moravians who came into Georgia, but he was able to form relationships with Anglican and Jewish leaders in the community. He was very outspoken when it came to his views about how political issues were affecting the colonies, and this led to his disassociation with many of the other groups in his area. He was strongly opposed to slavery because he thought that it went against Christian values, but for fear of being killed for his beliefs, in 1740 he determined that he needed to become accepting of slavery for the safety of the Salzburgers. He stated that slavery was a new way to spread Christian faith and later purchased his own slaves.

Towards the end of his life, Boltzius became sick with malaria and began to lose his eyesight. When he died in 1765, the Salzburgers felt his absence, for they had lost their leader and their guide.