Charles August Wilhelm Herrmann

This is a short biography of my grandfather as I remember him sharing it with me from time to time.

Charles August Wilhelm Herrmann was one (I believe the youngest) of 7 brothers born to a well-to-do family in Hamburg, Germany.

By age 20, Charles was able to speak and write 5 languages. He spent some time working in Paris and then decided to move to New York. I do not remember him giving any reason.

In New York he was able to find a job immediately because of his language skills. He took a position with a bank in their international department.

He decided to walk around the city to get to know it and one evening he saw a store window with an open book and a lamp lighting the page. The name of the store was Loizeaux Brothers Book Shop. He stopped to look and read and soon realized that the book was a Bible. His experience with the Bible was all bad because his mother used reading the Bible as a punishment for bad behavior. But he did read the page and continued walking.

On several later nights he found himself walking by the book shop to read the next page and see what happened.

Finally one Saturday morning, he went to the book shop and went in and asked them why they put the Bible in the window and turned the pages each day.

Mr. Eli Loizeaux was delighted to talk with him and explained that they wanted people to see how great the Bible is and how it shows us who God is and how we can know we will be saved and go to heaven. And that they hope that people will come into the store and talk with them about it.

Mr. Loixeaux befriended Charles and soon led him to the Lord and then led him to worship with him in the Assemblies in New York.