Rev. Ed. Doering was born on 12 June 1852 in Walwitz, Germany. He was baptized with the name Karl Friedrich Edward. He came to America where he graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, IL, in 1874. He served as pastor in Glencoe and Evanston, IL.

The Western District resolved to send a missionary to the Northwest, so in the fall of 1881 Rev. Doering accepted a call to become a missionary among the German Lutherans in the Northwest frontier. He and his family traveled to San Francisco by rail, and from there to Portland by steamer. He held his first service in Portland on 4 September 1881. He founded Oregon congregations in Portland (Zion), Cornelius, Mt. Angel, Sherwood, and Albina. In 1903 the Mission Board called him to be an Explorer of the District. Consequently, he expanded his outreach to other congregations in Oregon and Washington as a Reiseprediger or Circuit Rider. His reports to the Mission Board detailed both the joys and the frustrations of his missionary work; they also revealed the great effort and sacrifice that accompanied his activities. His unkempt appearance, his informal manner, his simple theology, and his alleged eccentricities made him a legend. At the request of the Mission Board, he retired in 1921.

He married Helena Margaret Wundor on 15 September 1874. They had three children: Herman, Emma, and Lillian. On 21 November 1922 he was fatally injured when struck by an automobile; he was interred at Riverview Cemetery.

For a detailed account of Rev. Doering's life and ministry see God Opens Doors: A Centennial Celebration of the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. 2000. Portland, Oregon: Northwest District, pages 31-55.

See also Herman E. Doering, Reverend Edward Doering, 1949, unpublished.