St. Matthews (NYC) original Charter

Historical records show that the first Lutheran baptism of an American of African descent occurred on Palm Sunday in 1669, when a man named Emmanuel was baptized at Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew in New Amsterdam (now New York City). The congregation was founded in 1643 by Dutch Lutherans in New Amsterdam but the church was not chartered until December 6, 1664, when the new governor, Richard Nicolls, issued a charter after the British had taken control of the colony in April 1664. America’s oldest Lutheran congregation, is now part of the LCMS.