USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Ecclesia plantanda; the story of 125 years planting--expanding--promoting the Church by Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1846-1971 > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02481 0233
Gc 977.202 F77kra Krauss, Paul Hartzell. "Ecclesia plantanda"
Trinity English Lutheran Church
Fort Wayne, Indiana 1846-1971
INDIANA COLLECTION
Pault Krause
Errlesta Mlantanda
Rev. Paul Hartzell Krauss, D.D.
Errlesta Mantanda
The Story of One Hundred Twenty-five Years Planting -- Expanding -- Promoting
the Church
by Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Fort Wayne, Indiana 1846 - 1971
Rev. Paul Hartzell Krauss, D.D.
Fort Wayne Public Library Fort Wayne, Indiana 1971
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Organ Screen
CONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
Chapter Page I. First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne (named St. Paul's Church), 1837-1845 1
II. Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran
Church, 1846-1868
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III. The Pastorate of the Rev. Samuel Wagenhals, 1868-1920 13
IV. The Pastorate of the Rev. Paul H. Krauss, 1920-1970 16
V. The Pastorate of the Rev. Richard G. Frazier, 1967 - 52
FOREWORD
This brochure was requested by the 125th An- niversary Celebration Committee of Trinity Church to record the unusual religious and cultural influence of an historic church over a period of one hundred twen- ty-five years in the life of Fort Wayne. The Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, through its Publications Committee, the Librarian of the Public Library, Fred J. Reynolds, and the Librarian Emeri- tus, Rex M. Potterf, have arranged for the publication of this booklet as a part of its historical community service. Our warm appreciation is extended to them and also to Mr. and Mrs. J. Howard Wilkens, long - time members of Trinity Church, for collaborating in the collecting and organizing of the material for this booklet.
That this church has been my parish for fifty years may justify my selection for the telling of the story.
Paul H. Krauss Pastor Emeritus 1971
HENRY RUDISILL.
PREFACE
The history of Trinity English Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne is particularly significant for four rea - sons:
1. It is the oldest exclusively English -speaking Lutheran Church in northeastern Indiana.
2. Through its founder, Henry Rudisill, its roots go back not only to the beginnings of Fort Wayne but of America, through its "grandfa - ther" church, Trinity Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
3. It has had an extraordinary experience in hav- ing had only two pastors covering a century, from 1868-1967.
4. It has exercised, through an ecumenical, civic spirit and an able leadership, a considerable influence upon the history of Fort Wayne and the Church at large.
Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg
I. THE FIRST EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF FORT WAYNE (NAMED ST. PAUL'S CHURCH), 1837-1845
"The Church must be planted!" That is the ideal which has stirred Christian hearts over the cen- turies, not only the hearts of missionaries, priests and pastors, but of laymen, traders, trappers, ex- plorers ("an endless line of splendor" -- Vachel Lind- say calls it) to plant the Cross and build the Church of Christ to the ends of the earth.
Henry Rudisill was one of those laymen. He was born August 8, 1801, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was baptized August 30, 1801, in Trinity Lutheran Church of Lancaster. (We have in the archives of Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, a pho- tostatic copy of this baptism, recorded in the cramped handwriting of the old Parish Registry of that Pennsyl- vania church, organized in 1729!)
The roots of Trinity Church are in the oldest Lutheran synod in America, which was founded in 1748 at St. Michael's Church, Philadelphia, under the lead- ership of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, thirty years before the Declaration of Independence was adopted! Muhlenberg was the pioneer of the Lutheran Church in America. His sons were Lutheran pastors and prom - inent in the early history of the United States of Amer - ica. Peter was a Revolutionary War general and Gen- eral Washington's chief of staff; Frederick served in the Continental Congress as president of the Pennsyl- vania convention to adopt the United States Constitu- tion, and as a member and speaker of the first U.S. House of Representatives. Because it was the largest
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Auditorium in the city, the funeral services and ora - tion over General Washington, delivered by General Henry (Light-Horse Harry) Lee, were held in the old Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, one of our oldest Lutheran churches in America. One of the least known and most interesting incidents of the Revolu- tionary period was a declaration of independence, called the Mecklenberg Declaration, drawn up by North Carolina Lutherans in 1774. The roots of the Lutheran Church in America, and of Trinity Church, Fort Wayne, reach into this historic background.
Following the popular slogan of that time: "Go west, young man, go west, " Henry Rudisill migrated to the town of Lancaster, Ohio, and there married Elizabeth Tschantz. (The pulpit in the present church is a memorial to Henry and Elizabeth Rudisill, given by their daughter, Eliza Rudisill.) Lancaster, Ohio, was also the family home of the Wagenhals Family, a son of which, Dr. Samuel Wagenhals, served Trinity congregation in a great ministry of fifty-two years.
At Lancaster, Ohio, Henry Rudisill was com - missioned by Messrs. Barr and McCorkle, the origi- nal United States land agents for the sale of lots in Fort Wayne, to represent them in that new frontier community at the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers. He came to Fort Wayne in late Decem - ber, 1829, to begin this work with his wife and three children in a wagon train up the Wayne Trace from Lancaster, Ohio. Tradition has it that they were mired in the mud on Christmas Eve, 1829, six miles southeast of their destination and were forced to spend a weary night with the accompaniment of howling wolves in the bitter cold of an Indiana winter, albeit in a comfortable closed carriage! Morning brought two representative citizens, Allen Hamilton and Sam - uel Hanna, to escort them to their new home in the little village of Fort Wayne.
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Here he purchased land, on what is now Spy Run Avenue, on the west side of the St. Joseph River, just below the bend at the State Street Bridge. Here he helped to lay the foundations of the growing com - munity, developing a gristmill, a steam sawmill, a tannery, a woolen mill; he served as postmaster for a season and promoted the Wabash and Erie Canal. Most importantly Henry Rudisill helped to plant the Church -- the first Lutheran congregation in northern Indiana in 1837, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and on April 19, 1846, one hundred twenty-five years ago, the first exclusively English-speaking Lutheran Church -- the Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran Church .
Much of this information was imparted direct- ly to the writer by Eliza Rudisill, daughter of Henry. For almost a century, until her death at the age of 92 on December 21, 1929, she was one of the able women leaders of the church and community, possessed of exceptional force of character, warmth of heart, and good judgment. It was said of her, facetiously, that she had two great loves, the "English" Lutheran Church and the Democratic Party! Those were the days when Allen County was called the "Green Spot" of that party in Indiana!
Henry Rudisill's manorial home on Spy Run Avenue was a sort of halfway house where Lutheran pastors were made welcome in their circuit-riding days through the Middle West. He reserved a "Proph - et's Chamber" (cf. 2nd Kings 4:8-10) for the accom - modation of traveling missionaries and for distin- guished guests. One of them was the famous "Johnny Appleseed" -- John Chapman by name. He was a pic - turesque figure who went up and down Indiana and Ohio with bags of apple seeds, planting orchards and, in- cidentally, testifying to the strange religious beliefs which hehad obtained from the Swedish mystic, Eman- uel Swedenborg. Miss Eliza Rudisill remembered
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Johnny Appleseed vividly; he took her on his lap and told her "tall tales" about the Indians of the frontier.
Stephen B. Fleming undertook to establish and mark the site of the grave of Johnny Appleseed. After conferences with Miss Eliza Rudisill and several oth- ers, an official commission composed of Dr. Victor H. Hilgemann, Robert Harris, and William Fruechte- nicht officially approved the site just north of the St. Joseph River near Parnell Avenue in the old Archer Cemetery. A marker with an ornamental iron fence to surround the grave was provided as a gift by Mr. Fleming. This grave site was dedicated by the Com - mission at a special ceremony in 1935, and Dr. Krauss was invited to lead the dedication ceremony .
Henry Rudisill was deeply religious. For his family and fellow Lutherans he wanted to "Plant the Church!" He not only founded Trinity Church but ac- tually was the founder of organized Lutheranism in northeastern Indiana. He led in the formation of the first Evangelical Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne, which was named St. Paul's Lutheran Church. This church, organized in the Court House October 14, 1837, called a pastor, Rev. Jesse Hoover from Wood- stock, Virginia, and drew up a Constitution written in English. Pastor Hoover also served as the first teach - er in the First Presbyterian Day School. Two years later Pastor Hoover died, and Pastor Friedrich Wyne- ken, recently arrived from Germany, followed him and lived as houseguest at the Rudisill home for a number of months. Since Pastor Wyneken spoke only German and the German group increased greatly, this church became German, and the Mother Church of the Missouri Synod in Fort Wayne. Henry Rudisill, how - ever, realized that the language of his children would be English, and he wanted the faith of his fathers preached in the language of the land.
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II. TRINITY ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1846-1868
Therefore, he took the lead in organizing an exclusively English-speaking church under the name of the English Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, a name later changed to Trinity English Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Augsburg Confession and Lu- ther's SMALL CATECHISM were adopted as its doc - trinal basis. Preliminary steps were taken on March 22, 1846, when a formula of discipline was read, sev- eral amendments added, and then signed by a number of the brethren in the following four weeks. On April 19, 1846, the signers met and elected Henry Rudisill deacon for two years, Charles Ruch for one year, Samuel Cutshall elder for two years, and Emanuel Rudisill elder for one year. The Church Council met in the German Lutheran Church May 9, elected Henry Rudisill president, and appointed a committee of two to ascertain on what terms the little old Presbyterian Church on Berry Street between Lafayette and Barr streets, could be purchased. It was purchased and until 1864 was the first home of the congregation. The purchase price was $750, $400 of which was in money and the balance "in kind, " so many cords of walnut timber, so much farm products, and goods for trade.
The original charter members of the congre- gation numbered seventeen: Henry Rudisill, Emanuel Rudisill, Samuel Cutshall, John G. Maier, Jacob Kline, Charles Ruch, Joseph G. Edwards, Susannah Rudisill, Sarah Ruch, Ann Edwards, Elizabeth Rudisill, Henry J. Rudisill, Elizabeth J. Maier, Peter Brewer, Judith Brewer, Adam Rudisill, and Sarah Rudisill.
In the early days when the Lutheran Church was "finding itself" in this country and when bitter synodical controversies split the church into many
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First Home of Trinity Lutheran Church
discordant sections, Trinity Church occupied a posi - tion for which she has been conspicuous ever since -- conservative and loyal to true Lutheranism without being reactionary, liberal and tolerant without com - promise or concession of faith, living in kindly peace and friendship with her Christian neighbors.
The Second Church Home
Pastor William Albaugh served the new con- gregation from 1846 to 1850, the Rev. A. S. Bartholo- mew from 1850 to 1856, and the Rev. W. S. Ruthrauff from 1858 to 1867. Pastor Ruthrauff was an able pas- tor from Virginia, and membership increased. As the Church grew a committee was appointed to seek out a suitable building site for a more adequate church structure; finally land at the southeast corner of Wayne and Clinton streets (185 feet on Wayne and 150 feet on Clinton) was purchased. A comfortable and attractive new church was erected. The cornerstone was laid July 29, 1863, and the new building, described by the local press as one of the most attractive in the Middle West, was dedicated March 27, 1864.
Present at the cornerstone laying of this sec - ond church home at Wayne and Clinton streets were two members, Miss Eliza Rudisill and Ernest C. Rurode, who were also present sixty-one years later at the cornerstone laying of the present great church at West Wayne and Ewing streets, June 29, 1924.
On the cornerstone of this second church at Wayne and Clinton streets was inscribed "English Lu- theran Church of the Holy Trinity, 1863." That cor - nerstone was brought over and laid with the corner- stone of the new church at Wayne and Ewing streets in 1924. The sweet-toned tower bell, installed in the second church, was first brought over from the little chapel on East Berry Street and is now in use in the
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The Second Church Home
spire of the present church. Originally installed in the First Presbyterian Chapel in 1837, it is the oldest church bell in continuous use in Fort Wayne; for 134 years it has tolled for funerals, pealed for weddings, and called the faithful to come and worship. A stone baptismal font, adorned with white marble plaques of the Four Evangelists, was also installed in the chan - cel. Brought over to the present church in 1924, it has been used continuously for baptizing little ones into the fold of Christ the Good Shepherd for one hun- dred and six years.
Second Church Home and Parsonage
The new church building at Wayne and Clinton streets cost $17, 200, and a commodious parsonage was built to the east of the church! The entire lot fronting on Wayne Street was surrounded with an iron fence, making it an attractive center of parochial beauty in downtown Fort Wayne, only half a block from the old Central High School.
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During this period there were two sharply de- fined groups in American Lutheranism. There were the people of the General Synod, who were drifting away from Lutheran confessionalism and customs on the waves of pietism, emotionalism, and wild reviv- alism that then swept the country; and there were those that stressed a severe and rigid Lutheran "or - thodoxy." There was a third group, which occupied and always has occupied a middle ground, represented by the old "Mother Synod, " and Ministerium of Penn - sylvania, and by the Pittsburgh Synod to which Trinity Church belonged. These synods were a part of the General Synod, but, because of pietistic developments in the General Synod, in 1866 in Trinity Church, Fort Wayne, at a meeting of the General Synod the break came that resulted in the formation in Trinity Church the following year, of the General Council, the medi - ating Lutheran Synod of the nineteenth century. Its position was soundly Evangelical Lutheran, its prac - tical spirit progressive, its attitude toward other branches of American Protestant Christianity sympa - thetic and charitable. In 1918 old breaches were healed by the formation of the United Lutheran Church in America by the reunion of the General Synod, the General Council, and the Synod of the South. In 1963, the United Lutheran Church, together with the Augus- tana (Swedish), Suomi (Finnish), and AELC (Danish) churches combined to form the present Lutheran Church in America. Trinity Church of Fort Wayne has thus intimately shared in the historic life of American Lutheranism.
In 1885 the Constitution of the congregation was amended to permit women members to vote -- perhaps an early "Women's Liberation Movement" in- fluence! In the same year a new pipe organ was in- stalled, additions made to church and parsonage, and a steam heating plant repaired for $12,000. Money
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was worth more then! The practice of renting pews, which was standard church practice in earlier days, was abolished in 1885. We have in our archives a pew rent notice to Mr. C. Wilkens -- grandfather of How - ard, Ralph, Helen, Louis, Dorothy, and Alice -- dated April 15, 1872, signed by W. H. Brady and J. J. Kamm. In 1866 Pastor Ruthrauff returned to Virginia. Pastor Kunkelman was called in 1867, remained nine months, then returned to the East.
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Rev. Samuel Wagenhals
III. THE PASTORATE OF THE REV. SAMUEL WAGENHALS, 1868-1920
On June 14, 1868, a new day began when a young pastor, the Rev. Samuel Wagenhals, was in- stalled as pastor of Trinity Church. He served fifty- two years -- an unparalleled record of great service to the church and the community! His pastorate com - bined with that of Dr. Krauss totaled almost one hun - dred years.
Samuel Wagenhals was born at Lancaster, Ohio, the son of a Lutheran pastor. As a graduate of Capitol University, Columbus, Ohio, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Civil War. In 1865 he en - tered the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Church at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Visiting Fort Wayne, he preached at Trinity April 9, 1868. A call followed, which he accepted after ordination; on June 10, he became pastor of the English Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity. The congregation numbered nine- ty-two communicant members at that time.
He married Ellen Hamilton, daughter of one of the most prominent pioneer families in Fort Wayne, and a woman of great native ability. His marriage contributed to the inspiring and strengthening of the young man and broadened his influence in the commu- nity and in his parish. They were blessed with four daughters and a son. Dr. Wagenhals believed in ex- ercise with the family, and it was a delight to the whole community in those days of the bicycle to see the Wagenhals family on bicycles together led by the white-haired pastor and followed by his five children.
Dr. Wagenhals was not only a brilliant preach - er but a devoted pastor as well. The two essentials of an effective minister are the proclamation of the Gospel and the comfort of the people by pastoral con-
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cern; "to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted," an old saying has it! In both areas Dr. Wagenhals served well, not only by challenging men's souls to moral idealism and Christian action but also occasionally ministering even to the physical and medical needs of his people! He had in his study a little laboratory where he kept bottles of various kinds of remedies; some of these he concocted himself and on his calling-rounds gave to parishioners suffering from light ailments.
He was a real intellectual to whom all philos- ophies, arts, and sciences were handmaidens in his preaching of the Eternal Truth. As an editorial in the LUTHERAN stated: "It is an even thing when you meet him whether he will discuss Kant and Lotze with you or ask you to join the Seminary Aid Society."
He took an active part in the discussions of the Fortnightly Club in its early days. He was appointed to the first Library Committee by the Board of School Trustees. This Committee was the forerunner of the Library Board, and its duty was to recommend books for purchase. He was concerned about good municipal government. He believed in municipal ownership of public utilities and encouraged the movement that re- sulted in the establishment of the City Light and Power Plant. Although others sought his help in varied po- litical promotions such as the proposed City Manager Plan for municipal government, he believed that his primary responsibility was to his church, and he de- clined to engage in politics.
His great love was Trinity Church, and that love was reciprocated by church and community. His great church interest outside Trinity was the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary. Dr. Wagenhals was a personal friend of Dr. William Alfred Passavant, founder of the Passavant Hospitals, Epileptic and Or - phans' Homes throughout the Middle West. With the
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help of Dr. Wagenhals and others he founded the Chi - cago Lutheran Theological Seminary for the training of an English-speaking ministry. Large numbers of Lutheran Scandinavian and German immigrants were coming into the Middle West, and their children would want English-speaking pastors. Dr. Passavant was the first president of the Seminary board. Dr. Wag- enhals succeeded him in 1894 and served for twenty- five years!
The pastorate of Dr. Wagenhals was one of un- broken peace and progress. On the fiftieth anniver- sary of his pastorate the entire city did him honor. Because of increasing infirmities, in the spring of 1920 he asked for retirement from the congregation. His request was granted with the use of the parsonage for the rest of his life, and there he died on December 10, 1920. His successor, Pastor Krauss, at the fu- neral service held in a packed church where the Rev. Dr. Wagenhals had been pastor for fifty-two years, took for his text, Acts 10:38: ". . . who went about doing good . . . and God was with him."
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IV. THE PASTORATE OF THE REV. PAUL H. KRAUSS, 1920-1970
In the summer of 1920 Dr. Wagenhals suffered a slight stroke. During that summer of Dr. Wagen- hals' illness, a young pastor, the Rev. Paul H. Krauss, preached as a substitute at Trinity Church. Pastor Krauss was the son of the Rev. Dr. Elmer F. Krauss, a minister-professor at Chicago Lutheran Seminary, a long-time friend of Dr. Wagenhals. When Dr. Wag- enhals submitted his request for retirement, Rev. Krauss was unanimously called on July 26, 1920, to succeed him as pastor of the congregation.
After his ordination in 1915 Pastor Krauss had married Miss Helen Hitchcock, the daughter of a Con- gregational minister in Oak Park, Illinois. They had their first parish for three years at Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following a short tour of duty as a chaplain in the United States Navy in 1918-1919, Rev. Krauss served a year as secretary of University Student Work of the Board of Education of the United Lutheran Church in America.
Because of his obligation to the Board of Edu- cation, Pastor Krauss could not come until the first Sunday in November. This condition was approved by the congregation; Rev. and Mrs. Krauss arrived in Fort Wayne the last week of October in 1920, and he preached his first sermon as pastor on All Saints' Sunday, November 7, of that year. Dr. Wagenhals had been granted the use of the parsonage next to the church as long as he lived, and the Church Council provided a parsonage for the new pastor and his wife at 1917 Florida Drive into which they moved and where they lived until 1936. They adopted a baby daughter, baptized Constance Avery Krauss, December 20, 1925.
Dr. Krauss writes: "We arrived in Fort Wayne
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Tuesday, October 27, 1920, and were received by members of the Church Council. In the process of getting settled, we were joyfully assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. H. Hoffman, Mr. and Mrs. John Cook, and Mr. and Mrs. Russell Cook. The members of the Church Council in that period were Charles F. Pfeiffer, president; Wil- liam A. Bohn, vice-president; J. W. Reynolds, secre- tary; George E. Becker, treasurer; John F. Bauerle, Arnold G. W. Curdes, Henry C. H. Hoffman, William H. Plogsterth, W. A. Sheets, Carl J. Suedhoff, and R. L. Wilkinson."
Of that period Dr. Krauss writes: "The con- gregation received us with open arms. We both had been raised in a parsonage and were accustomed to the spirit and life of the Church. A new spirit and life began to vitalize new activities. One little incident we always remembered with a chuckle. Mrs. Krauss had a very striking red hat, and 'Aunt Eliza' Rudisill (as we called her), then in her late 80's and a dear friend of both of us, once very diplomatically wondered to Mrs. Krauss 'whether that red hat was not a little too conspicuous for a pastor's wife?'" That was fifty years ago! Suppose those old-timers were to come back and see today's women's fashions!
In 1920 there was no young people's society other than the Trinity Circle, a group of business and professional women. One of the younger people con- fided to Mrs. Krauss with tears that they had not had a young people's society, whereupon she organized the Luther League for the young people, which has func - tioned effectively in its various parts for the last fifty years. The officers at the beginning were Raymond Bohn, president; Paul Weitzman, vice-president; Paul L. Stier and Mildred Pfeiffer, secretaries; Ralph W. Doctor, chairman, membership committee; Estella Sherbondy, chairman, social committee; and Minnie
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Nessel, treasurer. Mrs. Krauss, assisted by Miss Esther Erickson, directed a pageant by the Luther League entitled, the STRIKING OF AMERICA'S HOUR, which was enthusiastically received.
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