Christmas trees were first introduced in America through the effort of a German emigre, Karl Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen, in 1832. Follen, among many talents and career paths, was a Unitarian minister. Follen had emigrated to the United States six years earlier, and wished to remember the kind of Christmas he had celebrated in his homeland. By decorating a tree in his home, and sharing it with friends and neighbors, Follen started a holiday tradition that today finds over 100 million American homes celebrating around their Christmas tree.

Follen had led an interesting life up to this point. He entered the University of Giessen at 17 to study theology, but left with his brother shortly after enrolling to fight as a Hessian volunteer in the Napoleonic wars. A bout of typhus sent him home, where after recovery, he re-enrolled at the university to study law. As a student he joined a somewhat radical group pledged to republican ideals. He drafted a petition to the grand duke of his principality seeking greater freedom, and while successful, he incurred the ire of powerful people.

Follen fled the area to Jena, Germany, where he worked as a private tutor and docent. But his essays, which advocated violence and tyrannicide  in defense of freedom led to his dismissal from the university. He moved to Paris, and shortly thereafter to exile in Switzerland, where he taught Latin and history. But his Unitarian tendencies offended the Calvinists, and he was again dismissed from his teaching position. Learning that the German government was seeking his extradition, he left for America in 1824, where he changed his name to Charles, and accepted an offer from Harvard University to teach German, and later ethics and ecclesiastical history.  

Follen befriended the New England Transcendentalists, and became a good friend of Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing. But once again in 1835, Follen was dismissed from his university teaching position, this time because of his outspoken abolitionist views and writings.  

Follen was ordained as a minister in 1836, serving a congregation in Lexington, MA, and then moved to New York City in 1838, where he led a Unitarian congregation that is now All Souls Unitarian Church—but he lost that position, once again because of his anti-slavery views. Follen returned to Lexington, founded a Unitarian Church, and worked to construct a unique octagonal church building which still stands to this day. Follen died tragically in 1840 when the steamer on which he was a passenger caught fire and sank in Long Island Sound.

I find it fascinating to ponder the evolution of thought and theology that the Unitarian Church has witnessed. Here was Charles Follen, an ardent abolitionist in the 1830s, cast out of multiple positions because of those views, when those views became mainstream Unitarian and New England thought less than 30 years later. Follen was a man before his time, both for his abolitionist views, but also for introducing to America a Yuletide tradition we all treasure. And now you know!

Most of the historical information here came from the Wikipedia site about Charles Follen.