USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 2 > Part 5
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17Italics mine.
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The German Protestant Society
When the April meeting came the opposition was strong enough to secure a compromise, and it was voted "to choose a committee to joint the town committee to sent for a minister to pritsch the Gospel in German and English." The committee, however, was drawn from the old Germans - Joseph Ludwig, Jacob Ludwig, and Christopher Crammer - who could be de- pended to hold out for a German preacher. In the meantime, since this was the only church edifice in the town, there were groups who were using the building for services with any minister whose services could be secured for a given Sunday. Such services were in English and were unquestionably fostering the growth of new sects in the town. The Society's meeting of April 2nd called a halt to this trend by voting a committee made up of Charles Kaler, Charles Miller, and William Kaler, "to have the care of the meeting house and not to give leaf to ervery Person to Pritch in said house."
For some time the question of a successor to Mr. Ritz hung fire. The old Germans were entirely clear as to their wishes, but a substantial portion of such a preacher's support being derived from the town, those desiring some English preaching were able to make their influence felt through the town officers. Economy in taxation was also a factor, for a single minister preaching in both languages was cheaper than two ministers, the one using German and the other English. On May 27, 1811, a committee of the old Germans made up of Jacob Ludwig, Frank Miller, and Jacob Winchenbach was appointed to confer with the town com- mittee relative to the spending of $450.00 "for the Gospel Min- istray in this town." Their instructions, however, were not to their liking, for they were to the effect that "said committee is to joint in having a good minister for a certain time and that the meeting to be about one Sabath at this meeting, the other at the town house." This in plain English meant one man preaching in two languages on alternate Sundays at the church and the town house. But the old Germans were not downed and were successful in bringing the negotiations to an impasse - no minister at all was hired.
On Aug. 24th a petition to the assessors brought again to the surface the demand of the old Germans for a minister to preach exclusively in their language. It contained an obvious note of im- patience and of ruffled dignity:
Gentlemem, We, the Subscribers, members of said Society, pray you would please to call a meeting, ... and see if any and what measures the Society will adopt to get a German minister for the Society accord- ing to a vote of the Society at one of their former meetings; all exertions for a man who could preach in both languages to us seem to be in vain:
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
and your petitioners shall in duty bound acknowledge this as a great favour from you.
The signers furnish us an index to the make-up of the old German group. They were: Charles Miller, Jacob Miller, Frank Miller, Jr., Chrisen Stahl, John Miller, Jr., John G. Bornemann, Charles Miller, Jr., Charles Wallis, E. Wallis, Jacob Kaler, John Stahl, Nathan Sprague, Cornelius Sides, Isaac Winchenbach, Charles Overlock, Jacob Genthner, Andrew Genthner, Henry Seider, Jacob Winchenbach, Jr., M. Hoffses, George Miller, John Bornemann, Daniel Sidelinger, George Weaver, Godfrey Barna- bus, John Walch, Jr., and Henry Miller.
This demand brought results along with an apparent con- cession to the opposition. On Sept. 12, 1811, it was voted "to sent for a Gospel Minister that can preitch both English and German, if not English to Preatch in German." This minister was to be supported for one year on trial. On Sept. 24, 1811, it was voted
that the Society to receive proposals for any man to go to Philadelphia and to git a minister to pridge the Gospel in English and German Lang- wich. Voted to except of Charles Miller for going to the Southward for a minister, to set out in 14 days: to have $150.00 and the Society is to bear the expenses for the minister if he prings one.
Charles Miller was a member of the old German faction and his quest to the "southward" for a bilingual pastor was not a suc- cessful one. The man of his choice was the Reverend Johannes Wilhelm Starman, a German who spoke little English and who could preach in that language not at all.
The Reverend Starman was born near Elberfeld in the Pala- tinate in 1773 - the son of a Lutheran minister. He came to New York in 1796, studied for the ministry, and was examined and accepted by the New York Synod. The church in Philadelphia recommended him highly to Charles Miller, who met him, out- lined the conditions in the Waldoboro parish, returned, and made a favorable report to the Society. Charles Miller, John Stahl, William Kaler, Paul Lash, and J. G. Bornemann were elected on Nov. 25, 1811, as a committee "to treat with the Reverent Mr. Starman for our minister." An offer of $400 a year was made to Mr. Starman, "his sellery to begin at the time he leaves New York and said Society is to pay his passage." The reverend gentleman countered by setting forth to the Society the condi- tions under which he would accept the pastorate. They exist in a memorandum in the handwriting of Jacob Ludwig, unsigned, and are as follows:
1. He wands an a Greement for Call for Life, or yearly as long as he pleases.
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The German Protestant Society
2. He wands the Society to sign and seal said agreement.
3. He keeps 4 weeks to himself yearly to go to New York, and we are to pay the cost and expenses.
4. We are to pay him yearly $500, without any reduction, at every six months.
5. The minister reserves to himself that if any English Society should give him a Call that he might except said Call and to pridge one half the time English and half the time German, in our meeting house or els wear.
6. We are to be under the direction of the Sinot of New York.18
On March 30, 1812, it was voted "that the Deakins or Elders to be impowered to write to the Reverent Mr. Starman and that they are enpowered to sign a call accepting to his last request." On Sept. 18, 1812, Mr. Starman presented a bill for travelling expenses "from New York to this place, $32.29." With this began his ministry in Waldoboro- a ministry of long, hard, and fateful years which was to witness the slow decline and the ex- tinction of the work to which he gave the better part of his life.
The old generation of Germans had triumphed, but the issue was not to be settled by the mere installation of a new German pastor in their church. The old generation was dying off and with them was dying the German tongue. The spiritual needs of an increasing English population and of the Germans who were be- coming English speaking had not been met by the coming of Mr. Starman. The church was losing support, and to meet ex- penses was an immediate problem. Moreover, these were war years; trade was at a standstill under the Embargo and the war. On July 13, 1813, a committee reported "that the Rev. Mr. Star- man will serve the Society for $400.00 the next year." The oppo- sition was breaking away from the Lutheran Church and a new English parish, the Congregational, was being organized in the town. By 1815 the Society was in arrears in the payment of its pastor's salary, owing Mr. Starman $581.80. On March 20, 1815, he wrote as follows: "I beg the Society will make arrangements for the payment of the balance of what is due to me. And I expect, if the Society wishes me to stay with them any longer, that they will raise my salary again to $500.00, as it was the first year, beginning the first of August next."
With the passing of time it seemed to become clear even to those of the old order that nothing had been settled. The nub of all the trouble was the continuation of the church service ex- clusively in the German language. This was driving the town in the direction of a regular settled English minister. The 1816 report of the joint committee of the Town and the Society gives a clear
18 Jacob Ludwig was now an old man, and his English once good, was on the downhill grade - his memory failing and his spelling reverting to the sound patterns of his native German.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
indication of the existing dissatisfaction, revealed in the following excerpts:
as your agents are impressed with a firm belief that it19 may have a tendency to promote a better harmony of most all the inhabi- tants of the town, and we hope the permanent settlement of the Gospel ministry for the future. ... If the town should be so happy to obtain a minister on hire or probation in whom a majority of the people can cordially unite, we may then have an opportunity and we hope a disposition to make further exertions for a permanent settlement for our worthy and reverend Mr. Starman.
From the first Mr. Starman had stood staunchly with the old Germans for the use of German in the church service. This is understandable. German was his native tongue. An imperfect mas- tery of English was not fitted to that freedom of thought which in public discourse is the source of flexibility, eloquence, and power. In other respects the good man was untiring in his efforts for peace and harmony in his parish. A notable achievement in this respect was his reconciling the differences between the Re- formed and the Lutheran elements in his church and bringing them together in a common communion. But even this did not quell the spirit of discontent in the hearts of those who wanted the Word of God in a tongue they could understand. An un- dated report around 1817 indicates the effort being made in the way of straightening out the unsettled condition:
We think it best to report as follows: 1. That it is expedient to make trial to obtain a man able to preach the Gospel in the German and English languages.
2. That a small committee should be appointed on the part of the town and also on the part of the German Society to write to New York and Philadelphia for such a man, stating the situation of the Town and the Society.
3. That such a man (if such can be obtained) shall preach such part of the time in each of the said languages as may be agreed on yearly.
4. That we recommend to the town to raise $450.00 for the sup- port of the Gospel the approaching season. The said money to be ex- pended for said purpose under the direction of a committee of the town and of the said society and if it should happen that a German preacher can be hired for a few sabbaths he is to be paid from said appropriation.
While the question at issue was being agitated the dissidents were swelling the numbers of the new Congregational parish. Since 1807 a small group of members of this church had been holding meetings in the town house. In 1816 the Reverend D. M. Mitchell appeared on the scene and was installed as the regular Congrega- tional pastor. He was, in fact, installed in the Lutheran meeting- house on June 9, 1816. "The sermon was preached by the well
19 Preaching in both languages.
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The German Protestant Society
known Dr. Payson of Portland, and it is remembered by the oldest inhabitants that the last salmon caught in the river was served up to the council on that occasion, as an eminently proper diet for the successors of Peter and his brethren."20 With the advent of Mr. Mitchell, and in order to satisfy the younger German element in the church and to retain their allegiance to the parish, it was voted on May 26, 1817, "to invite the Rev. Mr. Mitchell to preach the Gospel in this house on Sundays in the afternoons." At the same meeting it was voted "to have a committee to dis- charge the Rev. Mr. Starman, as he has requested his discharge."
Apparently both the parish and Mr. Starman thought better of such a move, and the action authorized was never taken, even though the good man still remained reluctant about preaching in English. While this action was pending a committee was "au- thorized to Write to the Bishop of the Episcopalian Church of this State to see if there be a good Pious man to be had to preach the Gospel to this Society." In the face of pressure of this nature and of the dwindling numbers attending the services, the good Mr. Starman finally yielded and on March 30, 1820, wrote as follows:
To the German Protestant Society
Dear Brethren and Friends: Your Committee told me that you think it necessary, for the building up of our Church, to have more English preaching than you have had hitherto. I myself have thought so for a length of time. And though I find myself but poorly qualified to preach regularly in English, I will in dependance of the assistance of Christ make an attempt to preach English every third Sunday in the forenoon, and if possible likewise in the afternoon. I will give notice on the day I preach in English whether the afternoon service will be also English. I will however have sometimes to change with my brethren in the minis- try.
Affectionately your Pastor, John W. Starman
The acquiescence of Mr. Starman on an issue which had rocked the Society for twenty years, came too late to save it from a languishing death. On May 1, 1823, there was a balance due Mr. Starman of $828.84. A petition of June 26th of the same year containing the clause: "As the contract between the Town and the Society for the support of the Ministry is broke up," etc., is an indication that support through taxation was at an end, and the full weight of the burden of Gospel support had fallen on the shoulders of an ever-dwindling number of those faithful to the old order. Once more it became necessary to resort to popular subscription to carry on the work of the church, and to this task the Society doggedly dedicated itself. On July 14, 1823, the Society
20The Rev. John J. Bulfinch, in The Lutheran Observer, Philadelphia, April 12, 1889.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
voted "to try and keep Mr. Starman to preach the Gospel to the Society as long as he and the Society can agree." Four solicitors were appointed "to go around to members and other inhabitants of the town to see who will support Mr. Starman to preach the Gospel for the next year." In March 1824 this committee reported its collections as follows:
Isaac Winchenbach $131.25
Peter Mink 89.25
Jacob Burnheimer 72.50
Joseph H. Ludwig 81.75
This support came in the main from Dutch and Gross necks, the "westside," and the scattering back-districts, where the old German families had not been displaced by the Puritans, and where the cultural pull of the English was in no sense comparable in strength to that in the village area. It is also worthy of note that it was in these districts that the people were poorest.
In the year 1824 Mr. Starman was paid a salary of $450.00, and it was voted to allow him "to preach the Gospel in the English Language 2 Sabbaths out of three and to administer the Holy Sacrament in the English Languish and not to interfere with the Germans." This latter clause doubtless means that the old Ger- mans, in case they refused the Sacrament in English, were not to be unduly urged or coerced. In 1826 the Society had $3408.26 in what were virtually frozen assets in the form of notes held in payment for its lands. Money raising was never easy among the Germans. They were all tight in such matters and very many were poor. So difficult did the problem become that as a possible means of shaming some of them it was voted "that the Elders notify Mr. Starman and lett him know who his supporters are and who are not."
In April 1828 there was a balance due the pastor of $474.35. On April 11th he requested a settlement that he might, as he said, "be able to pay the balance due on his house and other outstand- ing debts." On Aug. 5, 1826, Mr. Starman at the age of fifty-three had taken to himself a wife. The bride was Mary Ann Kaler,21 a daughter of John William, and the couple were united in mar- riage on this date by the Reverend D. M. Mitchell.22 In prepara- tion for this event the pastor had acquired land on the present Jefferson Street and built the home now owned and occupied by Belle and Dorothy Waltz. The inference is a certain one that the good man possessed courage, and to a rich degree, blind faith.
From 1828 the scene changed and worsened rapidly. The Society was hard put to hold the congregation together and to pay its bills. The drift can best be inferred from the minutes of
21 Her home was the "old Arch. Kaler place."
22Records of the Town Clerk for the year 1826.
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The German Protestant Society
meetings over the next few years. April 12, 1828, "Voted that the Rev. J. W. Starman preach in the German language the first Sabbath in each month and the rest, part in the English language." May 17, 1828, "Voted that the Rev. Mr. Starman preach continu- ously in the English language." Sept. 19, 1829, "Voted to see if the Society will authorize Joseph H. Ludwig to pay certain notes to the Rev. John W. Starman for the remaining part of his salary due him." May 9, 1831, "Voted that all the collectors that have subscription papers go to their subscribers and see what they can get of them in money on their due bill and if not to cross out their names." May 12, 1832, "Voted that the arrearages now due to the Rev. Mr. J. W. Starman up to the first of May 1832 be as- sessed on the notes of the Society." April 20, 1833, "Voted that the Society agree to let the Rev. J. W. Starman go 1/4 of the year to any neighboring town." (The device of farming their minister out to churches in neighboring towns with no regular pastors reveals the straits in which the Lutheran parish now found itself.) May 4, 1833, "Voted to accept the report of the committee that went to make arrangements with the inhabitants of Bremen that they take Mr. Starman 1/4 of the year." June 2, 1834, "Voted to raise $300.00 by subscription for the support of the Rev. John W. Starman for the present year, and to let him go to Warren or Bremen, 1/4, 1/3, or 1/2 the year."
This was all a long-drawn-out tragedy for Mr. Starman. His dream had vanished. His life work had failed. There was ahead of him a bitter struggle to survive and in the end a penni- less old age. He continued, however, to exhort the few remaining faithful to new efforts to carry on the work. On May 7, 1836, he sent a letter to the Society which reflects concretely and tragically the conditions existing. It follows:
The Society have forgotten in their last meeting to appoint a com- mittee to settle with me. I enclose my account herein. The amount due me up to the first of May 1836, is $447.05. . ..
If the Society sees not fit to engage any further my services as their pastor, they will be pleased to remember that our contract demands from them to give me three months notice before our [contract (?) ] can be dissolved, and to make arrangements for immediate payment of the balance due me.
If the Society should conclude to engage my services for another year, I hope they will not think of offering me less than 300 dollars. Even with this sum I find it hard to support myself and a family and to keep a horse. In this case I hope the Society will not forget to give me a draft on their Treasurer at least for the amount of the interest on the money due to the Society. I cannot deny I feel extremely grieved that the Society has shown so little love for their aged Pastor as not to furnish him last winter even with wood. If they had chosen a proper person for that work, he would have been as successful, I have no doubt as Joshua Head and Isaac Reed was the year before last. The Society is
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
under great obligation for very liberal subscriptions to a few of their members, and in particular to George Kaler and Capt. Stahl and Mr. Gross, who notwithstanding that Hay was last winter so scarce, still have made out to collect three loads of Hay for their aged Pastor. This shows what the Society can do if they exert themselves.
Perhaps the town of Washington and Union might on proper ap- plication be willing to engage your minister for a few Sabbaths in the year to preach to them. If you see proper you might choose Christian Walter as a committee to go to Washington for that purpose and George Kaler and some other proper person to Union and to report at the next meeting of the Society.
If you should resolve to continue preaching amongst you for an- other year, I would recommend to chose the following collectors: George Kaler, Jacob Gintner, James Urkley, Christian Walter, James Cremer, Christopher Cremer, Peter Mink. The collectors ought to use their exertions, that not only a liberal sum of money is subscribed, but also that their pastor is supplied with wood and hay.
I would further recommend that George Kaler supply each of these collectors with bills and appoint the district they are to collect in, and if any collector refuse to serve, to supply his place with any other proper person, and to encourage the collectors to discharge their duty faith- fully and in proper person.
I have no doubt, if the Society thus earnest engages and perserves in this good work, God will be with them and bless their labor.
I am with due respect Your affectionate Pastor John W. Starman
Waldoboro, 7th May 1836.
From the middle of the fourth decade of the century the life of the parish continued its rapid ebb. Here again this trend can be seen most clearly in excerpts selected from the minutes. Mr. Starman's letter cited in full above served only to effect a temporary quickening in the Society's efforts. In April 1837 he writes: "There have been paid this year $100 more subscription money than last year, and there must be yet a considerable sum due which I would advise the collectors to collect without delay." The year before the Society had advised its pastor to make ar- rangements "to preach in the districts in the furthest part of the town" as a means of augmenting his salary, for the parish was steadily falling behind in its finances. In April 1837 it owed Mr. Starman $497.11. The frequency with which meetings were ad- journed without transacting business would indicate the lack of a quorum, and that interest as well as membership were declining steadily.
In May of this year Charles Miller, Peter Mink, and Chris- topher Crammer were named as a committee "to settle with the Rev. John W. Starman and to have power to dismiss him." Here again there was compromise and Mr. Starman was retained. In May 1843 the minutes contain their last reference to the question of raising money for the pastor's salary. Thereafter money was
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The German Protestant Society
doubtless raised from time to time, or drawn from the Society's funds, of which in 1841 there was still outstanding in notes and interest $829.66. The aged pastor continued to preach intermit- tently when not preaching elsewhere, and as often as failing health would permit. The Society continued to provide him with such money as it could to the end. On June 17, 1845, it was voted "to give John W. Starman $150 out of the funds of the Society, and if he should be sick and need more the Trustees to give him more." Similar votes were passed in June 1847 and in June 1848. On June 18, 1850, it was voted "that the Rev. Mr. Irish23 may preach in the Meeting House when it don't interfere with the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Starman." When the old pastor preached for the last time or when the German language was heard for the last time in the walls of the old church is not known. Its use was probably continued at the funeral services of the old Germans in these early fifties after the walls of the church had ceased to resound to the old familiar sounds of song and exhortation.
Mr. Starman apparently received some financial support to the end of his days in Waldoboro. As late as 1851 the name of a Christian Schweier appears as a collector for the Society. These collections were now in part in the nature of alms contributed by all worthy citizens irrespective of race or creed, actuated by considerations of respect or pity. The town also made occasional grants and paid the old pastor for his services on the School Com- mittee, while benefits and "donation parties" were held from time to time in the interests of softening the old man's penury. In the last years of his life Mr. Starman was a village institution. The Reverend John Bulfinch, who was a neighbor in his boyhood, years later wrote: "His skullcap, gown and cane were familiar objects of interest to his friends and neighbors in the latter part of his life .... One bare-footed urchin of eight,24 well remembered in after years the fatherly expression with which he was greeted on his way from school: "Who would think that one small head would hold so much!"
Mr. Starman sometimes supplied the Congregational churches in the neighborhood, after he had given up regular services in his own church. One of his hearers said to him after such an occa- sion. "Father Starman, I don't see but you preach as well now as you did twenty years ago."
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