Adolph Nussmann, born in 1739 and educated at the University of Gottingen, came to North Carolina in the fall of 1773 after being called through commissioners Christopher Layrle of St. John’s Church and Christopher Rintelmann of Organ Church to minister to Lutherans there. Regarded as an able and thorough scholar and a devout and self-sacrificing minister, he became the first Lutheran minister in North Carolina, serving Organ and St. John’s Churches in Rowan County from 1773 to 1774, St. John’s Church in Cabarrus County from 1773 to 1794, and traveling throughout the Piedmont section of North Carolina to minister to Lutherans and establish churches. He died on November 3, 1794, and was buried about 200 yards east of the monument.