Samuel Weyler was born in Latvia at a time when Christians actively sought to convert Eastern European Jews, and many Jews emigrated to escape Russian pogroms.

Weyler managed to avoid both, coming to the United States as a teenager. By the time he arrived in Benicia, he was a Congregational Church minister, a graduate of Yale and a skilled linguist.

Weyler’s life will be described Sunday in a lecture by Dr. James Lessenger, who will speak at Benicia Historical Museum about the man who also was instrumental in the history of the city, and in the founding of Benicia High School.

Lessenger, archivist and historian at the Benicia Community Congregational Church as well as contributing historian at the museum, has had a long-time interest in Weyler, and learned more of his story when church members gave letters and other documentation of the local church’s history.

“The more I dug in, the more interesting he became,” Lessenger said.

Weyler was born a German Jew when Latvia was part of Russia. He arrived in the United States in 1882 as a peddler. He was adept at languages, speaking Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, German and some French, Lessenger said; he learned English by reading the Bible and used church services as a tool to perfect his skill in the new language.

Weyler had little love for the Christians he’d known, particularly the denominations that had persecuted Jews. Even though his brother, Rudolph, joined the Russion Orthodox Church, Weyler had no interest in listening to proselytizers who sometimes took — and offered — bonuses for converting Jews.

Lessenger said he discovered some Jews claimed they had converted simply to take the money, and the Christian proselytizers exaggerated their claims of those who had changed faiths.

Weyler was traveling a sales circuit when he was struck with a serious illness. A local Congregational Church family took him in. “It was a classic epiphany,” Lessenger said. Already familiar with the Bible, he chose to join the denomination of his hosts.

But Weyler didn’t simply convert. He enrolled in Knox College, earning tuition as a tutor and translator, then did the same to complete Yale University’s Theological Seminary. “He also was given a leg up from his professors and money from church members, Lessenger said.

After graduation, Weyler first moved to Colorado, where he published two essays, one about Jesus and his interaction with the Pharisees and the other on the Apostle Paul’s Rabbinic education. The latter, printed in the prestigious Andover Review, cemented Weyler’s reputation, and before leaving Colorado he was ordained a Congregational Church minister.

He next went to Big Horn, Wyo., during the time of the Johnson County War, a series of range conflicts that ended only when President Benjamin Harrison sent in the U.S. Cavalry. Before the conflicts ended Weyler attempted to be a calming influence on the opposing sides; Lessenger said in motion picture retellings of the range war, a German-accented minister occasionally appears, based on Weyler.

One contemporary said Weyler had no prepossessing appearance, “but as soon as he began to speak, either in public or private, his hearers forgot all about his small stature and dark complexion.” The writer said he had “a happy facility of being able to pour oil on troubled waters,” and called him “a great preacher.”

After succeeding where other ministers had failed, Weyler was appointed moderator of the General Association of Wyoming of the Congregational Church. From there, in 1896, he was appointed minister of the Benicia Congregational Church, when that church was facing financial difficulties.

Weyler founded a classical academy in 1896 that eventually evolved into Benicia High School. He taught at the academy five days a week in addition to his ministerial duties.

A popular speaker and debater, Weyler would appear at city and county events, and capitalized on his background in both the Jewish and Christian faiths. He took advantage of local ferry service to become involved in the literary and religious scenes in San Francisco, too, Lessenger said.

“Benicia was a jumping-off spot for ministers to go to San Francisco,” he said.

But Weyler also had been ill for some time, and during a January 1898 financial meeting at Benicia Congregational Church, the minister was convinced to travel to Saratoga to a widely known sanitarium. But it was too late. On Feb. 8, 1898, he died. His body is buried in Benicia City Cemetery.

Dr. Lessenger’s talk will start at 1 p.m. Sunday in Benicia Historical Museum, 2060 Camel Road. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.