President of North Carolina College and Mount Pleasant Female Seminary, 1866-1867

Birth: 6 Nov 1834, Thurmont, Frederick County Maryland.
Death: 29 Jun 1931, Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina

Parents:
Christian Immanuel Bikle (1803-1874)
Barbara Fichter Bikle (1911-1886)

Siblings:
Charles Agustus Bikle (1836–1921)
William Immanuel Bikle (1838–1912)
Christian Frederick Bikle (1840–1922)
Ferdinand H. Bikle (1842–1923)
Philip Melancthon Bikle (1844–1934)
John Luther Bikle (1847–1904)
Barbara Ann Bikle (1851–1944)
Daniel Bittle Bikle (1854–1928)
Laurena Alaretta Bikle (1856–1857)

Spouse: Sara Ann Chritzman Bikle (1830-1900)
Marriage: 27 Dec 1859, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Children:
George Bikle
Lulu Kate Bikle Means (1862-1957)
Louis Albert Bikle, Jr.

Education: Gettysburg College, A.B. 1857; Gettysburg Seminary, 1859; Franklin and Marshall College, D.D. 1874.

License/Ordination: Licensed 1859 and ordained 1862 by North Carolina Synod.

Calls: Ebenezer, Rowan County, 1870-75; St. James, Concord, 1875-80; supplied Cold Water, Cabarrus County, 1877; St. Matthew, Kings Mountain, 1884-1904; organized St. Luke, Cleveland County, 1895-1904; with the Reverend M. L. Little supplied Holy Communion, Dallas, 1886-91; supplied Emmanuel, Lincolnton, 1890.

Other: Pastoral work done chiefly along with school work. Professor of Latin and Greek, North Carolina College, 1859-61, the College closing in 1861 because of war; President of same, 1866-67, 1868-74, 1878-81. Elected to the first Board of Trustees for Mont Amoena, 1868. Elected to a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of Mt. Pleasant Female Seminary, 1869. Served as Secretary of the Ministerium and a member of the Synod’s Examining Committee, 1869. Elected as one of the North Carolina Synod’s four pastoral delegates to the next convention of the General Synod South which was scheduled to meet at Newberry, S.C., 1868. Elected corresponding delegate to the Tennessee Synod, 1868. Elected a delegate to the Winchester convention of the General Synod South, 1869. Professor, Gaston Female College, Dallas, six years; Principal, Kings Mountain High school, five years. Secretary, North Carolina Synod, four terms; President, four terms. Chaplain, N.C. 20th Infantry Regiment, 1863-65. Retired 1904 at Concord. After retirement taught school at various times for ten years.

Burial: Oakwood Cemetery, Concord, N.C.
Sources: www.findagrave.com, #44673882.;
Life Sketches of Lutheran Ministers: North Carolina and Tennessee Synods, 1773-1965, North Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church of America, 1966, 22, http://divinityarchive.com/.

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The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), 1 Jul 1931, p6.

Dr. Louis Alfred Bikle
CONCORD, June 30, – -Funeral services for Dr. Louis Alfred Bikle, 96, who died early Tuesday at home of his daughter, Mrs. George W. Means, on South Union street, were held this afternoon at 4 o’clock in St. James Lutheran church, which he served as pastor between 1875 and 1880 and of which he was financial secretary until a short time before his death.

Dr. P. E. Monroe, pastor of the church, and Dr. J. L. Morgan of Salisbury, president of the Lutheran Synod of North Carolina, were in charge of the last rites at the church and the committal ceremony at Oakwood cemetery, where interment was made.

Pallbearers were G. H. Hendrix, B. W. Moose, W. H. Beckerdite, Clyde Propst, N. K. Reid and A. C. Cline, all officers of the church. Appropriate hymns were rendered by the church choir and hundreds attended the service.

A beloved former preacher and teacher, Dr. Bikle was Concord’s oldest citizen and one of the city’s most distinguished adopted sons. He had been affiliated in Masonry for more than 60 years and was perhaps the oldest Mason in North Carolina, both in age and in point of service.

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Concord Tribune (Concord, NC), 21 Aug 1966.

A Dedicated Life, A Firm Cabarrus Imprint…

BY E. RAY KING
It is axiomatic that men of today are influenced by the example and work of men who are no longer alive.

Lifting back the folds of history of Cabarrus County there are manifold records of pioneer Cabarrus Countians who achieved impressive success in many fields, including Dr. Louis Albert Bikle, distinguished Lutheran clergyman and educator.

Although a native of Thurmont, Maryland, Dr. Bikle spent most of his long adult life in Cabarrus and Cleveland counties and was a pillar in the Lutheran Church and its educational institutions particularly old North Carolina College at Mt. Pleasant.

Bikle came to North Carolina College as head of the Greek and Latin Department in 1859 and served until 1861 when the institution was closed for the duration of the War Between the States.

The college was compelled to close because its students enlisted en masse in the Confederate Army, and Bikle himself became chaplain of the 20th Regiment of North Carolina troops.

As chaplain, he ministered to the wounded and helped nurse them back to health. He also held funeral services for those who were killed in action.

Although he did not participate in actual combat, he risked his life many times. One time, as he went to help bring back some of the wounded from the firing line a cannon ball smashed into a fence where he had been standing a few minutes before.

After the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox, Bikle walked all the way back to Mt. Pleasant, which was a nine-day Journey. Most Confederate soldiers walked from Virginia to their homes after the war. There was no other method of transportation.

As it was evident that North Carolina College would not immediately reopen, Bikle went to Winchester, Va., where he spent a year in association with his friend, the Rev. T. W. Dosh, in re-organizing the educational system in Winchester.

He was then called back to Mt. Pleasant and was made president of North Carolina College when it reopened in 1866.

Reviving the college after the terrible years of the war was no easy task but he possessed the energy and had the capital of good health, good will and determination to launch the program.

In 1884, Dr. Bikle accepted work in the bounds of the Lutheran Tennessee Synod, and then was called as pastor of St. Matthews Lutheran Church of Kings Mountain where he served for 20 years. During this same period he served as professor in Gaston Female College, Dallas, adn later as principal of Kings Mountain High School.

In 1904, at the age of 70, Dr. Bikle gave up his ministerial work, and came to Concord, and made his home with his daughter.

Many elderly Concordians will recall the distinguished doctor who devoted several years here to teaching in public and private schools. With Latin as his forte, he inspired many of these citizens to excel in this language.

Dr. Bikle felt that a citizen was derelict in his duty if he politics. [sic] He was by firm choice a Democrat and during each election he was in the forefront as a speaker to espouse the abilities and shortcomings of candidates in each party.

Dr. Bikle lived to within five months of his 97th birthday and he was a familiar figure in downtown Concord daily until six months before his death, June 29, 1931. He enjoyed the fellowship of the old Elks Club which was located then on the second floor of the Old Tribune Building on South Union Street.

Dr. Bikle left his imprint firmly on the history of Cabarrus County through his devoted ministry and his abilities as a Latin professor and college president.