USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume I > Part 57
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Christian Church .- In 1865 a society of this organization was formed in west Lafayette township, with eleven members. Rev. E. W. Ham- mond was the pastor, Stephen Wilson and Thomas Wilkerson, elders, and Isaac B. Dawes and William Jobs, deacons. In 1872 the neat frame church near Beech school-house was erected at a cost of $1,575, and in December of the same year it was dedicated by Elder Smith, of Huntington.
The next church of this denomination to be organized was that in Monroeville, in 1867. For several years meetings had been held at Pool's hall, which was used after the organization for ten years. In 1877 the handsome brick edifice in which the congregation now wor- ships, was built at a cost of $3,500, and dedicated by Rev. L. L. Carpenter.
Universalist Church .- A society of this denomination was organ- ized at the house of Dr. D. Vanderhyden, in 1850, with seventeen mem- bers, and William Chaplin of Kosciusko county, visited the church as pastor. In 1851 their house of worship at Huntertown was erected, and dedicated by Mr. Chaplin, who was engaged in 1855 as pastor, the first of a series of able ministers. The society now has no regular minister.
The First Universalist church of New Haven was organized in April, 1865, at the house of H. W. Loveland. The first officers elected were Mrs. Col. Whitaker, president; Mrs. Nancy McDonald, vice pres- ident; Mrs. Jane Phelps, treasurer, and Mrs. O. D. Rogers, secretary. In 1878 a lot was purchased for the erection of a church, but it was never built and the society is abandoned.
Evangelical Association .- A society of this denomination was organ- ized in 1850, in the northeast part of Lafayette township, and soon after- ward a log church was built, in which meetings were held regularly for many years.
Apostolic Christian Church .- In the fall of 1862, two members of this denomination met at the house of Jacob Schwartz, and organized a society, of which these two were the only members for some time. The first sermon was preached by Rev. John Craybill, of Illinois. The society grew, and in 1878 a house was erected near Hamilton, which was dedi- cated by Revs. Henry Sanders and Joseph Conrad, who served as pas- tors afterward.
Church of God .- Ten members of this denomination organized a society at Potter's station, in Eel River township, in 1875, with Rev. John Parker as pastor. In the spring of 1876, a handsome house was built, 40x52 feet, costing $1,360, which was dedicated May 12, 1876, by Rev. Mrs. McCauley, and christened Ari chapel.
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Union Chapel, near the center of north Pleasant township, was founded as the result of a meeting held at Prayer Grove chapel in June, 1874, to adopt measures for the building of a place of worship in Pleas- ant township which should be open to all denominations. The building was begun in August and completed in December, 1874, and was dedi- cated by Revs. Robinson, of Fort Wayne and T. H. Bernau of Wells county.
Methodist Protestant Church .- An organization under the ministry of Rev. Edward Hickland was effected in about 1838, at New Haven. Among the prominent early members were: Abram Miller and wife, Jeremiah Bateman, Rev. Isaac Bateman, Mrs. Julia Green, E. W. Green, Mrs. Sarah Bateman, Sallie Studebaker, Maria Doyle, Ann Miller, Joseph Young, Abram Hughes, Miss Jane Whitley, Susan McDougal, Mrs. McDougal, Monroe Norton. The congregation used the school- house at first, and in 1857-8 erected a church building, which is still in use.
' The Cuba church of this denomination was organized in the winter of 1851, with fourteen members, by Rev. R. S. Widney. In 1854, dur- ing the pastorate of Rev. David Pattee, a frame church building, 30x40, costing $500, was built. This building was removed to Maysville in 1866, and was used there until 1878, when a handsome frame structure was erected, which involved an expenditure of nearly $3,000. It was dedicated January 19, 1879, by Rev. Mckeever.
Wesleyan Methodist Church .- In 1853 a society of the United Breth- ren church was organized at Eel River township, with ten members, and it prospered for over twenty years, a neat frame church being erected in the west part of the township in 1860; but about 1874 doctrinal dif- ferences between the pastor and congregation resulted in a division, the greater part of the society uniting in the organization of a Wesleyan Methodist church. The meetings of the old church soon afterward ceased, and in 1878 the new organization purchased the old building.
German Baptists .- The members of this church who settled in the northern part of the county at the period of the German immigration, worshipped at a church in DeKalb county for a considerable period .. The members in Eel river township withdrew in 1874, chose Jeremiah Gump as pastor, and in 1875 built a frame church 36x50 feet, on sec- tion 9, at a cost of $1,500. In Cedar Creek township, a society was organized in June, 1876, which purchased a building formerly used at Hamilton by the Methodists. This was re-dedicated by Rev. Jesse Calberd.
Mennonite Church .- Rev. Kraber held meetings in 1852, at the house of Jacob Saunders, preaching the doctrines of this church, and a society was organized which met at the residences and barns of mem- bers until the building of a church east of Hamilton, in 1874. In 1860 there was a withdrawal by a number of members, who met at their private houses.
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THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
HISTORY OF THE GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN ALLEN COUNTY.
BY HENRY W. DIEDERICH, Professor of English Language and Literature in Concordia College.
The Lutheran church is the church of the Reformation. There were reformers in the church before Luther, but there was no successful re- formation except which Luther led. It is not necessary to tell the reader who Luther was. As long as history shall be told, and wherever the blessings of religious and civil liberty shall be enjoyed, the name of Luther will be remembered with veneration and gratitude. Of him more than of any other mortal of modern ages, it may be said: THOUGH DEAD, HE STILL LIVETH.
But what is popularly known as the Lutheran church, is not so-called because she is founded on Luther. None can honor and revere the great reformer as a witness for the truth more than does the church that bears his name, but " our faith does not rest upon Luther's author- ity." Far from it. A pious German prince once said: "We are not baptised in the name of Luther. He is not our Lord and Savior. We do not rest our faith in him. In that sense we are not Lutherans. But if we be asked whether with heart or lips we profess the doctrines which God restored to light through the instrumentality of his blessed servant, Dr. Luther, we neither hesitate nor are we ashamed to call ourselves Lutherans." This is the reason why our church has so cheerfully adopted the name which was first applied to us, by way of derision and contempt, by our opponent, the Roman Catholic church.
Our first name, however, and the name of our own choice, is Evangelical. No other word can better characterize our church than this. For the gospel of Jesus Christ, the glad tidings of the Savior of sinners, is the doctrine with which our church must stand or fall. And we hold that the blessings of that gospel are continually presented to us as free as the air we breathe, through the means of grace, God' blessed Word and his holy sacraments. And in accepting them we renounce all dependence upon ourselves, all ideas of human merits, and with a firm and faithful trust cling and cleave inseparably to Christ alone and his merit. Another distinctive trait of the Lutheran church is this At the head of all authority we place the Bible. That book alon determines all questions of doctrine and duty. " It is written," is th only argument to which we submit in matters of religion, our reason feelings, and experience to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Word of God and the Grace of God are therefore the two pil- lars of the Lutheran church. Hence " all is ours," and we strenuously
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maintain that liberty of conscience and private judgment are inalienable rights of man. With a conscience free from any state authority, we are equally unfettered by any high church order in our church govern- ment. We receive our ministers not as masters of our faith, but merely as our pastors, preachers, brethren, and counsellors. One is our master, even Christ, and we are all brethren, and are bound together only by the eternal ties of God's Word. Such are the fundamental principles of the Lutheran church.
Since the days of the apostles, the great object of the Christian church, as an organization, has been " to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." She is appointed to carry the light, liberty and hope of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Her work is not done until the cross is planted in every soil, the banner of redemp- tion unfurled in every breeze, and the wretched and dying of all lands are pointed to the "lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." In this great and glorious work the Lutheran church, from the earliest period of the Reformation, took a conspicuous part, as the mother church of Protestant Christianity, she felt that she must lead the van in the work of missions. Accordingly, we find Lutheran princes and church patrons, already centuries ago, directing their attention to the spreading of the gospel among the heathen. Gustavus Vasa, the Lutheran king of Sweden, has the illustrious honor of instituting and establishing the first effective Protestant mission. The great Lutheran hero, Gustavus Adolphus, was of the same mind in these matters, and many other names might be added, that shine forth from the brilliant constellation of Lutheran missionaries and missionary institutions.
It was this missionary spirit first of all, that led to the planting of the Lutheran church in this country. "The English first came hither as adventurers in search of notoriety and gain. The Dutch first came hither impelled by the spirit of mercantile enterprise. The Puritans first came over to escape from religious persecution. But the Lutherans first came hither chiefly moved with the inspiring idea of planting on these newly discovered shores, the pure church of the living God. The . plan was conceived by Gustavus Adolphus, and carried into effect by his prime minister, Oxenstiern The first permanent settlers on this continent landed in Virginia in 1607. Seven years after the Dutch commenced their settlement along the Hudson. Six years later the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock. And but thirty years after the first permanent settlement of Europeans upon this continent, the Lu- theran colonists, sent forth by royal favor from the kingdom of Sweden, took up their abode in the name of Christ, on the banks of the Dela- ware. Among the first, if not the very first Christian churches ever built and consecrated in this new world, were those they built. Five years before the arrival of William Penn, a Lutheran minister was preaching the gospel in the neighborhood of where Philadelphia now stands. On Trinity Sunday, 1699, the first Lutheran church in America was conse- crated at Christina, Del. It is also an interesting reminis-
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cence, that the first missionaries who ever taught the gospel of Jesus to the Indians of America, were Lutherans; and that the first book ever translated and printed in the Indian language, was the Lutheran Cate- chism."
The special mission and work of the Lutheran church in this country has always been chiefly among the Germans and Scandinavians and their descendants. And as the Lutheran church began with the Reformation in Germany, the great majority of Lutherans in this country are Ger- mans and their descendants. It was religious persecution that caused many of them to emigrate from their fatherland and to seek an asylum in America and a home where they might find " freedom to worship. God." This was the beginning of a number of Lutheran colonies in Georgia, South Carolina and other states.
But by far the greater number of German emigrants left their homes and all that was dear to them because poverty and starvation stared them in the face in their native country. They entered upon a long and tedious voyage across the Atlantic and endured the perils and hardships which often greeted them upon their arrival in this country, because they knew that with industry and frugality, better prospects and better oppor- tunities for making a living awaited them here than in their own country. There came the titled nobleman who, by misfortune or mismanagement, had lost that affluence which once surrounded his ancestral home. There came the unfortunate merchant who by unwise investments and lack of success in his commercial affairs brought himself and family to the verge of ruin. There came the industrious mechanic who could scarcely maintain a large and increasing family on the small pittance which was his daily support, and who could never hope to get beyond the point of keeping the wolf from the door. There came the sturdy peasant and tenant who was so overburdened with tithes and gatherings that he groaned over the profitless labor he daily performed. There came the strong and prom- ising youth, to escape the demands of his country upon him for military service. There came, in the blush of life, young and unmarried men and women, who could see nothing before them but overcrowded situ- ations; whose circumstances forbade them ever to arrive at the condition of competency in the ordinary pursuits of life, and who therefore felt but too keenly that the Old World had little employment to offer and less bread to spare. Thus necessity induced the vast majority of German emigrants to seek their fortune in America. And this class of people. lias furnished chiefly the field for the mission of the Lutheran church in America. And it was this class of emigrants that laid the foundation to, and built up, the various Lutheran congregations in Fort Wayne and Allen county.
It was on Saturday, October 14, 1837, when a number of German immigrants met in a room of the court-house of Fort Wayne, and by adopting the formula of the discipline of the Evangelical Lutheran hurch organized the first GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH F FORT WAYNE. This was the first Lutheran church in the state of
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Indiana. There were present twenty-three heads of families whose names were entered upon the records of the newly organized congrega- tion. The pastor was the Rev. Jesse Hoover, and the first election re- sulted in making Adam Wefel and Henry 'T'rier, elders, and Henry Rudisill and Conrad Nill, deacons. Such was the humble origin of St. Paul's church, now on Barr street.
The man who was most active in bringing about this event was Henry Rudisill, who, born and bred in Pennsylvania, had moved to Fort Wayne in the year 1829, when the village had but 150 inhabitants, mostly French and Indians. Mr. Rudisill and his family were the first Germans and the first Lutherans in this part of the country. No hap- pier man than he when, after years of patient waiting, he at last saw the German Lutherans in this frontier village united in a church organiza- tion, and supplied with a Lutheran pastor.
Rev. Hoover entered upon his duties with indomitable zeal, serving his people as their pastor and preacher, and sharing with them their hardships and privations. Not content with his work in the settlement, he extended his mission circuit over the greater part of northern Indi- ana. But unfortunately, after a successful ministry of not quite two years, he died, when but twenty-eight years old. His remains were recently removed from a neglected spot and deposited in the Lutheran cemetery where they have found a prominent and permanent resting place. Blessed be his memory.
The little flock of Lutherans was now without a shepherd. But soon God in His providence led into their midst a man who was not only to supply St. Paul's, but who was to become the patriarch of Luther- anism on this continent west of the Alleghanies. This was the sainted Rev. Wyneken, who only recently hat left his native land, and risked the dangers and exposure of a sea voyage, and cast his lot in a new country with its many inconveniences. And why did he do this? For no other reason than to bring the gospel to his German brethren that were scattered over this new country which was then in a most chaotic condi- tion. Nothing but his great love for Christ and His church could furnish the motive. In the autumn of 1838 he came to Fort Wayne and at once entered upon his labors which were many and arduous. The perils and difficulties, trials and exposures which beset him, can scarcely be con- ceived at this day. And yet his confidence in God remained unshaken. He frequently undertook distant and irksome journeys as far as the states of Ohio and Michigan; sometimes these missionary tours re- quired an absence from home for weeks and months, and subjected him to much persoual inconvenience; yet he cheerfully submitted to all. He was willing to make any sacrifice, endure any suffering, and render any service, however toilsome, that he might advance his mission and bring souls to Christ. He never grew weary in well-doing, but his left hand never found out what his right did in that direction. He had the un- bounded confidence of his people, and no man ever deserved it more than he did.
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What a hard life many of those early German settlers must have had! After a long and stormy passage, worn out with the toils and sufferings of an overland journey in this wild country before the days of the railroad, they finally reached their destination, only to be disapointed in their expectations. Soon, however, they would gather courage, and many of them began to swing their axes and hewed out the timber for their rude dwellings, and laid the foundation to some of the most valuable farms and estates in Allen county. Bread for themselves, their wives and little ones was all they could expect in the beginning from the fruitful soil of their adopted country. And in many cases the poor immigrant had first to work to pay the expense of his passage to America, as he had to borrow the money to cross the ocean. But we shall not rehearse the touching story of the hardships and strugglings of these heroic men and women, the pioneers in the Allen county wilderness! In spite of it all, wood fires, the only comfort that was plenty, blazed bright, and around the warm hearthstone often was heard the prayers of thanksgiving and the song of praise. Ay, those were men and women of strong faith. They were deeply attached to their church. They read and studied the Bible, and were accustomed to family prayers. They laid the foundation of our Lutheran churches both deep and strong, and deserve to be held in grateful remembrance to all future generations.
After having had their services for years in the court-house, and afterward in a small brick building, on the corner of Harrison and Superior streets, the St. Paul's congregation bought some ground and in 1839 erected a small frame building where the new St. Paul's is rear- ing its magnificent spires to the skies to-day.
For some years after the first little church had been built, Rev. Wyneken continued to labor among his people with the same untiring zeal, submitting himself to self-denials and deprivations from which most men would recoil. But a call to a Lutheran church in Baltimore, which he accepted, put an end to his work here in Fort Wayne. This occurred in 1845. We can well imagine the scene of leave taking, as the saddened group of people gathered to bid him good-bye and wafted their parting blessings to him. Afterward the reverend gentleman be- came one of the founders and leaders of the Missouri synod, now one of the largest Lutheran organizations in the country; and for many years he was the president of said synod, where he was frequently and successfully engaged in church difficulties, in restoring peace among the brethren, in encouraging feeble congregations and in performing many other labors in the interest of the Lutheran zion. He died in San Francisco, Cal., in 1877, and was buried in Cleveland, Ohio. The debt of gratitude to him can never be repaid. Wherever his name is spoken his services shall be recounted and his memory hallowed, and his praises dwell living upon the lips of men.
The next pastor of St. Paul's was Rev. W. Sihler, who was installed in 1845. Under his faithful and fostering care the congregation continued to grow and flourish. Soon it became necessary, for want of accommo-
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dation, to erect a more commodious house of worship, to which an addi- tion had to be made again in 1862, in the form of a cross.
One of the leading events during the pastorate of Rev. Sihler was the establishment of a theological seminary, of which he was appointed the first professor and director. This institution, years afterward, was tranferred to St. Louis, and the present Concordia college took its place.
In the course of time the congregation became so large that it became necessary to divide it into two parishes. Accordingly, the EMANUEL's LUTHERAN CHURCH was branched off, and a noble and imposing church edifice erected on the corner of Jackson and Jefferson streets, and Rev. Stubnatzy, who, for years had been Rev. Sihler's most highly accom- plished and immensely popular assistant, was made pastor of the new charge. This was done during the years 1868 and 1869.
Rev. Sihler now continued to perform the duties of his sacred office alone until 1875, when the ever increasing work and his decreas- ing strength induced him to ask for another assistant. Accordingly, Rev. H. G. Sauer, a highly talented Lutheran minister of Mobile, Ala., was called and installed to labor by the side of the venerable senior pastor. The growth of the church was such a rapid one that it soon became apparent that another division would also have to be made. In 1882, therefore, the ZION's LUTHERAN CHURCH, in the southern por- tion of the city, was established, with Rev. Dreyer as her first pastor. In June, 1885, Rev. Sihler, who for forty years had so faithfully min- istered to the spiritual wants of St. Paul's, was constrained, in view of extreme old age, to resign the pastorate. He lingered on for some months, and died on October 27th of the same year. He went to his grave most highly honored and respected. His stern integrity, his in- tense earnestness of purpose, his simple and child-like faith, his sense of duty, and his fidelity to the doctrines of his church will always bear honorable mention.
The year 1887 was a year of special interest to the members of St. Paul's, and to the Lutherans of Allen county in general, for it brought the fiftieth anniversary, which was celebrated in a manner becoming the occasion. It was a jubilee of joy and thanksgiving and it was resolved that, though the old church building was still in fairly good condition, to erect a new and more commodious house of worship, and through the ex- traordinary liberality and devotion of the German Lutheran people, a new church has been built, on the site of the old building that, by universal con- sent, is one of the handsomest and most imposing structures of the city. At writing of this sketch preparations are being made for consecrating the new building to the service of the Triune God. The present pastor is Rev. Sauer, who assumed the full duties of the pastorate ever since the resignation of Rev. Sihler. That his position offers him no sinecure may be gathered from the fact that no less 3,000 souls belong to his par- ish. A man more affable in manners, more genial in disposition, and better gifted for pulpit and other ministerial work, than Rev. H. G.
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Sauer, it would probably be difficult to find. May this faithful pastor and his good people long continue to enjoy God's choicest blessings in the new temple, and may the means of grace used there redound to the glory of God and the salvation of many souls.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran congregation was founded in the year 1853. Besides being small and weak, the congregation contained an element that would not tolerate church discipline and order. Conse- quently, dissensions and conflicts of all kinds that retarded the congre- gation's growth were not wanting during the first fifteen years. Besides this, frequent change of ministers was a great drawback, for during the time mentioned the congregation was served by four pastors, namely, Hochstetter, Kleineggers, Kuhn and Baumann. This and some other things were the cause why the congregation did not prosper at first as might be expected. In the year 1868 the congregation called the pres- ent pastor, Rev. J. Kucher, at that time of Pittsburgh, Penn.
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