Johann Martin Boltzius

They founded the city of Ebenezer, Georgia to escape persecution in the Archbishopric of Salzburg and other Roman Catholic authorities for their religious views.

During his time at the university, he studied Lutheran Pietism, which emphasized salvation by grace, strong ethics, vigorous pastoral leadership, and social compassion.

In 1733, he was chosen by Gotthilf August Francke, son of a co-founder of the school, to serve as a minister to the Salzburg Protestant refugees.

[5] Boltzius called their journey "into danger, but closer to God", which sheds light on the harsh conditions that travelers often faced during the eighteenth century.

This religiously motivated journey was seen as a chance for the Salzburgers to come closer to God by taking on these hardships in order to follow Christ and therefore, this movement was seen as a pilgrimage more than as emigration.

From his entries in the Detailed Reports of the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America (Ausführliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen Emigranten compiled by Samuel Urlsperger), there are some signals that Boltzius began to blame James Oglethorpe, as representative of the Trustees of Georgia, for the many deaths because of his poor choice of location for the settlement.