USA > New York > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and family history of New York, Volume III > Part 22
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came to America in 1855, and was for a short time in charge of St. John's church in Newark, New Jersey. He became pastor of St. Mark's in 1856 and was ordained soon afterward. He remained with this congregation until 1882, when failing health compelled him to resign ministerial service. He was succeeded by the present pastor.
Rev. George C. F. Haas was born in 1854, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and acquired his education in parochial schools and the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1876. He studied theology in the Lutheran Theological Semin- ary at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated from that institution in 1880. He was ordained at Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, the same year and immediately came to New York and officiated as assistant pastor of St. Mark's church, and after two years became sole pastor. Under his able leadership the congregation is a thoroughly united one, and he is greatly be- loved by all its members.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN TRINITY CHURCH, U. A. C.
In 1839 a number of German Lutheran families, who had left the "Fatherland" on account of religious persecution, set- tled in the lower east side of Manhattan Island, the district formerly known as "Little Germany." After arriving in the country of religious liberty, they gathered at the respective homes of members and read a sermon, sang hymns and served God. This was the beginning of the German Evangel- ical Lutheran Trinity church, U. A. C., of the city of New York. At times a sermon was preached to them by some visiting pas- tor, a German Lutheran. The number of members increasing, services were held in a hall at the junction of Houston and Second streets. In 1842 the congregation sent a call to the Rev.
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Theodore Brohm, at Perry county, Missouri, where he lived among the Saxon immigrants, who settled there in 1839. This was the first pastor of the congregation; he arrived in 1843, in which year a congregation was organized called German Evan- gelical Lutheran Trinity, U. A. C. The congregation at that time numbered eleven voting members and some one hundred souls. Services were held in Second street, later in Stanton and lastly in Columbia street.
As the congregation increased in membership, they desired a church house, and funds were raised for that purpose. A lot twenty-five by one hundred feet was purchased in Ninth street, near Avenue C, a modest house of worship was erected and in 1850 the first church was dedicated. The congregation being in a German neighborhood gained rapidly and soon was in a very flourishing condition.
In 1858 the Rev. Brohm was called to St. Louis, Missouri, and the Rev. F. W. Föhlinger took charge. It soon developed that the church was too small for the number of people attend- ing and the congregation looked for larger quarters. A church at Ninth street and Avenue B, belonging to a Methodist con- gregation, being in the market, was purchased together with the parsonage at seventeen thousand and five hundred dollars and dedicated in 1863. This is the church in which the con- gregation still worships.
The Rev. Foehlinger being obliged to resign on account of ill health, Rev. Fred Koenig was called from Cincinnati, Ohio, and he came to New York in 1872, and labored faithfully until November, 1892, when he went to sleep in Jesus, mourned by the entire congregation. In 1891 the congregation, seeing his failing health, called as assistant the Rev. Otto Graesser, who at the death of the Rev. Koenig was called and took charge, con- tinuing until the present day, the fourth pastor since the or-
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ganization of the congregation. The congregation still takes a very active part in all church life and matters, and though the neighborhood has materially changed, is still in the old locality, holding its own and hopes to continue there for many years to come. It is the oldest congregation in the East allied with the German synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states, the largest Lutheran body in the world. The congregation has during the whole time since its organization, used the German language exclusively in its services, and the official language of all socie- ties is German.
Trinity church has since 1843 also maintained a parochial school, in which religion, German and English as well as all the other branches of knowledge are taught by competent teachers. Hundreds of good citizens have annually gone through this school. Within the congregation there is a large Ladies' Society over fifty years old, a Young Men's Society organized in 1883, a Young Ladies' Society, a Young People's Society and a church choir, who all labor for the benefit of the congregation. A large Sunday school meets twice on Sunday at nine in the morning and two in the afternoon, being organ- ized in 1863.
So "Ninth Street church," as it is generally called, looks back upon a long and successful history, and after sixty-three years of diligent labor in the cause of God, still upholds the banner of sound Lutheranism, is still a city and a beacon upon the hill and preaches the Gospel to many inhabitants of our cosmopolitan city.
Rev. Otto Graesser was born of German parents in the city of Buffalo, New York, December 7, 1864. At six years of age he entered the parochial school in his native city, remaining until confirmed, and at thirteen and one-half years entered public school, No. 12, from which he graduated in 1881. In
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October of the same year he took up the classical course at Concordia College at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and graduated there- from in June, 1887. In September, 1887, he entered Concordia Seminary of the German Lutherans at Missouri synod, St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1890 graduated therefrom and accepted a call as assistant pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity church, Ninth street and Avenue B, New York. In 1892 he took full charge of the congregation, as his predecessor had been called home, and is still in charge of said congregation.
ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This now flourishing church, located at One Hundred and Eighty-first street, attached to the synod of Missouri, has grown out of a mission organized May 1, 1898, by the Rev. John Heck. At first services were held in private halls. Mr. Heck gathered a congregation and ministered with zeal and success until 1902, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Gustav Bohm, who remained until 1904, when, July 31, the present pastor, the Rev. Otto Herman Restin, was installed, and the church was established upon an entirely substantial foundation.
After services had been held in halls until 1903, the con- gregation rented a chinrch edifice from a body of Episcopalians, and this Mr. Restin procured by purchase in the first year of his pastorate, at an outlay of $5,500. It is a neat frame build- ing, with a seating capacity of about one hundred and fifty. The church numbers about three hundred communicant mem- bers, the average Sunday school attendance is about one hun- dred and fifteen, and there is a large class of pupils who as- semble on Wednesdays and Fridays for instruction in the Ger- man language. A Ladies' Aid Society and a Young Men's So- ciety are efficient aids to church work.
The pastor, the Rev. Otto Herman Restin, was born in
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Prussian Germany, 1857. After taking a thorough classic course in the gymnasium, he came to the United States in 1880, and took up theological studies in Concordia College, Spring- field, Illinois, from which institution he graduated in 1888, at the age of twenty-three years. He was ordained to the ministry at Phillips, Wisconsin, and immediately engaged in missionary work. In 1888 he was called to the pastorate of Trinity church in that place, and during his ministry there built up a flourish- ing parish and procured the erection of a substantial church edifice. In 1890 he moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, where he exerted himself most usefully and successfully, in the course of five years largely augmenting the church membership, also erecting a new church. edifice, purchasing a parsonage and es- tablishing a parochial school. In 1894 he accepted a call to the Church of the Holy Ghost at Bergholtz, Niagara county, New York, where he labored devotedly for a period of nine years. He then came to New York city, where for more than a year he' served at the Lutheran Emigrant Mission, at 8 State street, under the care of the synod of Missouri, and was called there- from to the pastorate of St. Paul's church, as before narrated In the latter part of May he was recalled to the Lutheran Emi- grant Mission and on June 1st he took up that work. In 1905 he was appointed emigrant missionary of the synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states as successor of the late Rev. S. Reyl. Mr. Restin is in the prime of life, entirely devoted to his sacred calling, and is giving most faithful performance to a work which is as important as it is exacting.
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Washington Heights Evangelical Lutheran Church, situated in West One Hundred and Fifty-third street, New York city, whose present pastor is Rev. Ernest A. Tappert, was organized
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as a mission in 1890. The early services were held in a hall hired for the purpose at the corner of One Hundred and Fifty- sixth street and Amsterdam avenue, and they were in charge of Rev. I. Ehrhart and Rev. Gustave Tappert, pastor and as- sistant pastor, respectively, of St. Paul's Evangelical Luth- eran church in One Hundred and Twenty-third street. Much credit is also due to Messrs. Henry Gieshen and Herman J. Haendle, both deceased, through whose efforts the first Sunday school was established.
Rev. Ernest A. Tappert took charge of the parish in Au- gust, 1895, the congregation having at that time but six mem- bers, and it is largely owing to his earnest and zealous labors that the church is now in its present flourishing condition. Three lots were purchased in June of the following year in West One Hundred and Fifty-third street, and the cornerstone of the present building was laid November 14, 1897, and the church dedicated March 6, 1898. It is not yet completed, but when finished will be an imposing brick edifice with free stone front, three stories in height, covering seventy-five feet by one hundred feet of ground, and with a seating capacity of about one thousand persons. The interior will be handsomely and suitably decorated. A commodious parsonage was built ad- joining the church in 1904. The services are held entirely in the German language. The membership roll at the present time (1906) contains upward of five hundred names, and there are two Sunday schools having an average attendance of two hundred and fifty scholars. There is also a mixed choir of twenty-four voices. The organizations connected with the church are: Ladies' Aid Society, Young Ladies' Society, Young Men's Society, Sewing School, German Parochial School.
Rev. Ernest A. Tappert, the present incumbent of the above mentioned church, was born in the province of Hanover,
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Germany, October 8, 1874. His entire education, including his theological studies, was acquired in the educational institutions of his native land. He came to the United States in July, 1895, and was ordained to the ministry in St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church in West One Hundred and Fiftieth street by Rev. C. Brenecke, Ph. D. He has been indefatigable in his efforts for the welfare of the church in his charge and his parishoners, and the fact that he possesses in the fullest meas- ure the love and esteem of those for whom he labors is proof of their appreciation. IIe is an eloquent and convincing preacher, and his own exemplary life is the best object lesson he could give those who look up to him.
He married, July 7, 1896, in Meriden, Connecticut, Else Veers, a native of Schleswig Holstein, Germany, and they have children: Elizabeth Anna Alwine, born April 25, 1897; Wil- fried Karl Heinrich, April 11, 1899; Friedjof Detlef, December 18, 1900; Ingeborg Magdalena Dorothea, May 3, 1903.
CHURCH OF SAN SALVATORE.
The Church of San Salvatore, located at No. 359 Broome street, New York city, is in the very heart of the Italian com- munity and is easily accessible to the Italians in the down town section of the city for many miles around. The services are entirely in the Italian language, the assistant vicar, Rev. Abra- ham Cincotti, being a native of Italy, and the needs and habits of the people are specially considered in every particular. The work of this church is under the auspices of the New York City Episcopal Mission, Rev. Edward E. H. Knapp being the vicar, and as above stated, Rev. Abraham Cincotti his assistant. A parish house is connected with the church, which furnishes a home for the various societies, etc., which are dependent upon it. Especial attention is paid to the work of these societies,
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instruction being given the old in the Italian language and to the young in English.
The congregation was organized about 1880, services being held in Grace chapel by Rev. William Stauter, who was the first rector. He was succeeded by Rev. A. Pace, who was the in- cumbent for a number of years, services being held in a church sitnated at southwest corner of Bleecker and Mulberry streets. Later they removed to Bleecker street, the former edifice having been torn down by the city to widen the present Lafayette street. The cornerstone of the actual building was laid in 1900 and it was dedicated in 1902 by Right Reverend Bishop Potter. Rev. Dr. Nelson was the successor of Rev. A. Pace, served three years and was succeeded by Rev. John Henry Watson, who ministered to the needs of the congregation until 1904, giving place to the present incumbent, Rev. Edward H. Knapp. The church has a seating capacity of eight hundred, and the average attendance at the Sunday school is about two hundred. There are three services on Sunday, holy communion and sermon with morning prayer at 11, Sunday school at 9, evening service at 7:30, and each Friday in lent at 7:30 p. m. The Italian work is entirely under the personal supervision of the assistant vicar, Rev. Cincotti, who preaches in both services in his native tongue. The membership roll contains three hundred names, and the parish is in a most flourishing condition. Organizations con- nected with the church are as follows: San Salvatore Mutual Aid Society, with a membership of ninety; clubs for boys, junior and senior; Girls' Friendly Society; Boys' Surplice Choir, forty members; Sewing and Cooking classes; a gym- nasium for boys and girls, and a Bible class.
Rev. Abraham Cincotti was born in Italy, 1874, acquired his education there, and was ordained to the ministry at the age of twenty-two years. For a time he taught Latin, and in 1899
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came to America and for a number of years was engaged in mission work in various parts of the state of New Jersey. He became associated with the work of the Church of San Salva- tore, November, 1903, and since that time has been an active worker in its interests. He enjoys great popularity among the members of his congregation, and his quiet, ready sympathy has made him justly beloved.
ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This parish was organized in 1864. In the course of the same year the erection of a church building was begun. The corner-stone was laid September 3, 1864, and the church was completed and dedicated April 30, 1865. The present church was built on the site of the old one, and is of very attractive ex- terior. It is of blue-white Florentine marble, Gothic in archi- tecture, and the entire framework is of iron. It is built on a lot seventy-five by one hundred feet in extent; the interior height of the church is eighty feet; it has two towers, each one hundred and twenty feet high. The seating capacity is seven hundred and fifty persons; the communicant members are seven lun- dred and fifty; average German Sunday school attendance is four hundred and fifty; average English Sunday school attend- ance is three hundred and twenty-five. The morning services are conducted in German and those of the evening in English. The societies connected with the church are: Church Council, twenty-four members; Ladies' Aid Society, numbering about seventy-six members; Senior Luther League, fifty-five members; Junior Luther League, seventy members; Martin Luther So- ciety or Men's Club, about fifty members; Tabea Society for Misses. thirty-five members. The deaconess of the church, who renders much valuable assistance, is Sister Rosa Dittrich. The first regular pastor of the church, Rev. Büttner, served about
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one year. After the first church building was finished, the first pastor was Rev. Julius Ehrhart, who ministered to the spiritual needs of the congregation for fully thirty years, and was then succeeded by Rev. Dr. John A. W. Haas (now president of Mueh- lenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania), who remained in charge until June, 1904.
Rev. Frederick H. Bosch was born in Brooklyn, New York, August 8, 1870. Is a son of Henry and Dorette (Dreyer) Boschi. He acquired his early education in parish and public schools, and graduated from public school No. 25 in 1885. For the next three years he was engaged in a commercial business in New York. He entered the Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, Rochester, New York, in 1888, and graduated in 1892; then en- tered the Lutheran Seminary at Mount Airy, from which he graduated in 1895. He was ordained to the ministry in Brook- lyn, New York, June 23, 1895, and on July 1st assumed charge of St. John's Lutheran church, Prospect avenue, South Brooklyn, where he labored zealously for nine years. During 1899, through his efforts, a new church was built for his congregation, and the membership of the church largely increased. He was called to pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in April, 1904, but did not begin his active ministration there until Au- gust of the same year. He is an eloquent and forcible speaker, a brilliant scholar, and is more than ordinarily endowed with all of the essentials that are necessary to fit him for his chosen pro- fession.
CHURCH OF ATONEMENT.
The Church of Atonement, Evangelical Lutheran in denomi- nation, located at Edgecombe avenue and West One Hundred and Fortieth street, Rev. Frederick H. Knubel, pastor, is an outgrowth of St. John's Church, Christopher street, New York. The parish was incorporated January 21, 1897, by the present
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pastor, and services were held for a year at No. 2603 Eighth avenue. On May 10, 1897, the ground for the church was pur- chased, and the corner-stone of the building was laid October 31, 1897. In April, 1898, the first story of the building was com- pleted and used for services. The upper part of the building was completed in April, 1904, and on April 3, Easter Sunday, the building was dedicated. It is made of Indiana lime-stone and brick, is Gothic in architecture, and has a seating capacity of seven hundred and fifty. The communicant membership is four hundred and seventy-five, the average Sunday school at- tendance is five hundred and fifty, and religious instruction is given to the children four afternoons of each week. The socie- ties connected with the church are: Ladies' Aid, Senior and Junior Luther Leagues, Young People's Association, and Sun- day School Association. The deaconess of the church is Sister Jennie L. Christ.
The pastor, the Rev. Frederick H. Knubel, was born in New York, May 22, 1870, son of Frederick and Anna (Knubel) Knu- bel. His preliminary education was acquired in grammar school No. 3, from which he was graduated in 1883, after which he pursued a two years' course in the College of the City of New York. He then gave his attention to mercantile pursuits and continued along that line for a period of four years. In 1889 he began his studies for the ministry in the Pennsylvania Col- lege, from which he was graduated in the class of 1893. He then entered the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Penn- sylvania, graduating therefrom in 1896, and for one and a half years thereafter continued his studies in Leipsic University. He was ordained in October, 1896, in St. John's church, New York, and at once entered upon the duties of founding his present par- ish. He has been a devoted and conscientious worker, is well beloved by his people, and in addition to the care bestowed upon
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their spiritual needs, leads their thoughts to higher ideals on many subjects, and in this way makes of them better and nobler citizens.
CHRIST EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This parish was formed by the present pastor, the Rev. Herman Van Hollen, in March, 1897, and its history is insep- arably connected with the narrative of his own life.
Mr. Van Hollen is of German ancestry, born in the province of Hanover, December 1, 1852. He received a most thorough classical education in the gymnasium, and took theological courses in the universities of Hanover and Saxony. March 22, 1878, being then in his twenty-seventh year, he was ordained to the ministry in the city of Hanover, and was at once appointed to the pastorate of the Deaconnesses' church, in connection with the institution of the same name, and served acceptably as such until 1896, covering the long period of eighteen years, only sever- ing his connection with it to answer the call of the Apostolic As- sociation to go to the United States to found a parish in that section of New York city where is now located the Christ Evan- gelical Lutheran Church. After encountering opposition which would have proven unsurmountable by one of less determination and not entirely consecrated to his mission, he established his church upon a substantial foundation in 1897, and was happy in the dedication of the sacred edifice on March 27 of the same year. It is a brick edifice, neatly furnished, with a seating capacity of about four hundred. The work of the church is in larger degree among a poor class of the German population. A flourishing Sunday school is conducted for children, using only the German language, and another for those who use the lan- guage of the country. A Ladies' Aid Society, working under the direction of the pastor, is doing excellent work in ameliorat-
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ing the condition of the sick and distressingly poor. Owing to a lack of accommodation for the Young People's Association and the Sunday schools, an addition, ten feet wide by seventy-five feet deep, was built on the east side of the church in the spring of 1906, thereby giving ample accommodation to the increase in this branch of the church.
Mr. Van Hollen is credited with another excellent work, the establishment of the Association for the Relief of Indigent Ger- mans in the Public Institutions of the City and State of New York, and of which he has been chaplain from its institution. This truly commendable organization has for its purposes : 1. To provide spiritual aid and regular church service for the German inmates of the public, penal, correctional and charitable institutions of the city and state of New York. 2. To ameliorate the condition of the German inmates of said institutions by ma- terial and moral aid. 3. To assist German inmates of such in- stitutions after their discharge therefrom. 4. To provide suit- able work and employment for them. 5. To exercise a super- vision over the families of the German inmates of the said in- stitutions, and to assist such families in case of extreme neces- sity. These purposes have been most efficiently discharged, and the work of the association is recognized as placing it in the front rank of philanthropic institutions in the great metropolis, in character, if not in extent. To the church and association Mr. Van Hollen devotes his entire ability, and the people among whom he labors with such unselfish assiduity regard him as their chief and most devoted friend. His residence is at 552 West Fiftieth street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, Man- hattan.
Mr. Van Hollen married, in Hanover, Germany, June 29, 1890, Matilda Lomberg, and to this union was born seven chil-
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dren, three of whom died in childhood, and the four surviving are: William, a student for the ministry, now at Wagner Col- lege, Rochester, New York; Marica, Carl, Lydia.
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE ADVENT.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Advent, situated at the northeast corner of Broadway and Ninety-third street, is a building finished in recent years. This parish was founded in 1896 by the present pastor, and is an offshoot of the old church of the Holy Trinity, now at the corner of Sixty-fifth street and Central Park West, of which Mr. Krotel was formerly pastor. The Church of the Holy Trinity was organized by him in 1868, and many of its members were formerly members of St. James, which was the oldest and up to that time the only English Lu- theran church in the city of New York. From 1896 until the completion of the new church edifice services were held in halls. The corner-stone of the new building was laid in 1900, and the church was consecrated in 1901. It is of brick with limestone trimmings, and the style of architecture is Gothic. It has a seat- ing capacity of five hundred, and there are over three hundred communicant members. Two hundred and forty scholars attend the Sunday school. The services are conducted entirely in the English language. The societies are as follows: Ladies' Aid Society, Young People's Society, Missionary Society, Kinder- garten and Sewing School.
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