USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The manual of the First Lutheran Church in the city of Albany > Part 3
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" This is the orthography in most of the at Great records. A fly mland of Leyden fout is equal to 1238 inches English measure, and a budehor Amsterdam fort about our huh less than the lihy nland.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
dat hy cedant in 't minste dacrop without the grantor's making the . meerder heeft pretentie, als beke- Jea-t pretensions thereto any more ; al-o acknowledging that he is fully paid and satisfied therefor. the fir-t penny with the last ; giving there. for plenum actionam cresam, and full power to the aforebamed per- sous in the character of the consis- tory of the Lutheran church being for the use of the whole congrega- tion, to do with and dispose of the aforesaid house and Jot a- they might do with their own patrimonial es- tate and effects ; promising to pro- text and free the same from all such trouble, claims and liens of each and every person, as are lawful, and fur- ther, never more to do nor suffer anything to be done against the same, in any manner, on pledge ac- cording to laws therefor provided. nende daer voor ten genocgen vol- daen en betalt te wesen, de ver-te l'enning met den Lact-ten, gevende derhalven plenum actionand cosam. & volkome macht aen d'voornoenale Persoonen, in qualitae als kerken Raet zynde van d'Lusterse ge- meente, synde voor het gebruyck van d heele gemeente om met het voorsz huys en Fri te doen st te disponeeren golyk als zy met Ir ere Eyge Patrimoniale gooderen & af- fecten doen soude morgen, below- vende 't selve op & Jegens comen Y gelycken te waren & te vryen voor alle commer, macmacninge ofte be- swaernisse als Recht is, & vorders hier togens nimmer meer te sullen doen nochte laeten geschieden in geeniger maniere, onder verbant als Done in Albany, the sitth March. 16-0. naer Rechten daertoe staende.
Actum in Albany.de 26 Maert. His0. ABBAN STAAS.
My present,
No. LIVINGSTEN. SOC.
allestor.
ROBERT LNINGSTES, Sier.
Marginaliter.
A. Tilter. Corn. Van. Unk.
It will be seen by reference to an ancient map of the city, bearing date 1695, that the same spot is marked by a
War subscribed.
In my presence,
In the margin. .1. Tiller.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
·
Lutheran church and burying ground, fronting on South Pearl street, and extending from Howard to Beaver street ; or rather to the stockades, the southern boundary of the city at that point.
We do not learn anything further of the history of this church, during the lapse of nearly a century ; except that in 1714, the Rev. Thomas Barelay was holding Episcopal services in " a small old chappell" belonging to the hu- theran congregation at unreasonable hours, and in 1746, William Christian Berkenmeyer was the Lutheran minis- ter in the city and county of Albany. Although the Lu- therans still had possession of their lot in Pearl street, yet it is known by tradition that about the close of the revolu- tion they had no church, but held their meetings for worship in a private house on the corner of Howard and Pearl street, a front room in which was fitted up with seats sufficient to accommodate the few members belonging to the congregation at that time. There are no church records extant to account for these things,' or giving any information as to the origin or organization of the church. It is found, however, to have been regularly incorporated in
' It would seem that they had worshiped with the Episco- palians by the following obscure entry, found in the book of minutes, written in German. " 1786, March. A unanimons resolution was passed to build a church if possible. We are forced to do so, because the brethren of the English church
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
1784, and its condition at this time may be gathered from a letter written by the Rev. Heinreich Moeller in 1818. in which he says : " I wish brethren you would call to re- membrance the condition of your congregation in 1784 and 1785, when you had no church, and I was your pastor. I traveled in company with an elder, the now deceased Mr. Ehring, to New York, Philadelphia, Schenectady, and adjacent country, and collected, together with the gene- rous donations of the citizens of Albany, and with what the cheerfulness of the poor congregation could afford, the sin of .8640 ($1,600), which was esteemed a large col- lection of money at that time.1 The honest Mr. John G. Geyer, now deceased, was treasurer, and the building was
pulled down the edifice, and appointed an Episcopal minister for themselves. We paid $50 a year as our share of the salary of the common minister."
' 'The success of their collections is thus entered in the book of minutes : " There was collected in New York $104; in Philadelphia C117. Having paid the traveling expenses, there was left £198 48. 6d. In this city $211 7s. 2d. In the neighbor- hood 963 198. 2d. On the inauguration day CIT 18%. 7d. The deceased Mr. Jacob Evertsen left to the church a gift of 420. The elder, Mr. John Evertsen, left also by his testa- ment a bond to the benefit of the church .$41 1s. 10d. Other small donations were received, making a total of 9610. There was also given subsequent donations by the congregation towards seating the church 919 3.s.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
paid for soon after it was finished. The congregation had- engaged to pay me .£100 ($254), salary, leaving to me one-third of the time free to attend the Low Dutch con- gregation at Loonenburgh.' But finding that the con- gregation proved unable to pay me more than $50. be- sides furnishing me with fire-wood, I remitted the rest .? and employed myself in vacant congregations, some of them laid in perfect wilderness," till I found my arduous task would waste my strength before the ordinary time of age, I took a call to Pennsylvania. After twelve years you did me the honor to present me a second call. ] found the charge easier than before. but my travels to
Athens, Greene county.
2. Nov. 1788. h was arranged with Rev. Henry Moeller that besides the seven Sundays already allowed to him for serv. ing the church at Tomhanick, he should have so many Sundays and holy days in addition as will make a full third of a year. for which he was to remit a full third of his nominal salary in cash, leaving 950 ($125) to be paid by the Albany congregation. The church officers were Martin Hebeysen, Charles Newman, trustees ; John George Geyer and John Conrad Ruby, elders ; George Klinck, deacon.
" The allusion here is to the Lutheran church St. Johns, at Knowersville, which was then called Hellenberg, the records of which, still extant and running parallel with our own, show that it was presided over by the same pastors, and that a much larger and more flourishing congregation existed there.
1
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
Helderberg and Beaverdam, which congregations were. necessary to make up a necessary living, proved injurious to my health, to which was added the heavy expense of keeping a horse and chaise, and the increase of prices for fire-wood and other necessaries. F left you the second time, and am now comfortably settled for the short rest of my life."1
The records of the church extend no farther back than 1784. On the 20th August of that year, the So- viely was incorporated under the title of the Erangelical
"The record of baptisms shows the wide range of parishes which the pastors supplied, some of them, as Mr. Moeller ola- serves, laid in perfect wilderness ; as, Tomhannock, Cocyman's Patent, Kiskatammensick, Pittstown, Half Moon, Waterford, Eichenberg, Cooksburg, Knobos, Norman's kil, Schampanach, Lootman's House, Schotock District, Durham, Schenectady, Freehold, Bescek, Livingston's Manor, Nisketah, Lansing. burgh, Dowesborough, Whiteoakhill, Hocketoch, Watervliet. Beaverdam.
The Rev. Henry Moeller was born in Hamburgh, Germany ; came to this country at an early period of his life : devoted him. self to the study of theology ; served as a chaplain in Gen. Washington's army during the war of the Revolution, and afterwards was stationed as pastor in various Lutheran congre- gations, both in New York and Pennsylvania. He served the church at Sharon, Scoharie county, sixteen years, and died there Sept. IT, 1829, aged SO.
·
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
Lutheran Church, t and on the 30th of that month, the . trustees held their first meeting under their charter, when Johann G. Hildebrand, Carl Neumann and Johann Christian Ehring, the trustees, adopted the following regulations : that the society's chest should be in the keeping of Mr. Neumann ; that Johannes Eversen, John George Geyer and Christopher Beckman should render an account of the collections of money ; that the chest should be produced before the meeting for the examination of the papers it contained ; that the elder, Mr. Eversen, should deliver to Mr. Tröster an inventory of the sacra- mental and other vessels of the church ; that a book should be provided for recording the acts of the church officers, &c. On the 27th September the pastor, Heinreich Moel- ler, arrived from Philadelphia, and the first recorded com- munion is of the date of the 28th May, 1787, when eight persons presented themselves, as follows : Mrs. Catharine Wagner, Johann George Kling, Johann Leonhard, Eliz- abeth Morris, widow, Catharine Marselis, widow, Mar- garetha Enax, widow, Friedreich Kuhler, Anna Maria
" The records were at first in German, and the title is Der Erungelisch Lutherischen Commeinde, yet it is often termed the Ebenezer Church, without explanation, and finally Ebenezer was by common use incorporated in the title of the church. The present title is The First Lutheran Church.
7
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
Lener, widow. The number of communicants for many years seldom exceeded twenty, until 1791, when the Rev. Mr. Grotz officiated, and 50 were present. The congre- gation had become almost entirely German, although it is inferred that it consisted at first principally of Hollanders. The following is the first recorded list of the pew holders of the church in 1788 :
Christian Ehring,
Carl Niemann,
John George Geyer,
Christopher Beekman,
Matthew Kugler,
Jacob Jacobson,
Evert JJansen,
Philip Wagener,
Charles Bowmann, Regina Hertzberger,
John Tillman,
lohan einreich Niemeyer,
George Klink,
Christoph Friederich Dieffen- bach, Samuel Henderer,
John Zeilmann,
Gerhard Marseilis,
Johann Rattenauer,
Christian Benter,
John Leonhard,
Nicolaus Michel,
Johann C. Friedenreich, John Arnhout,
Omie Lagrange,
Johann Conradt Ruby,
Henry Dowman,
Johann G. Hildebrand, Wendell Hillebrand,
John Heeth,
John Ostrander,
Martin Hebeysen, Andreas Roller,
Bernhard Bauer,
John Matthew Horn, Michael Henn, John Hood (Hutt),
Conrad Freitag,
AAndreas Benter,
.Jörgen Benter, Johann Gross, Daniel Leonhard,
John Geyer, Jacob Kimmich.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
The Rev Mr. Moeller began at onee to collect money . for the building of a church edifice, and in the year 1787 the trustees publicly expressed their acknowledg- ments for the receipt of donations, to the amount of £552 13s. 2d. ; more than &214 of which, they say, was ob- tained in Albany and its vicinity. The total cost of their building was £640 ($1,600). They used, with permission of the common council, stone from the old fort at the head of State street, and work to the amount of over £50 was " done by Christian tradesmen" without charge.
From the time Mr. Moeller left in 1790, to 1794, the church was supplied with the word and ordinances by neighboring ministers. Among these were the Rev. Messrs. Schwartfeger, Groetz, and Ernst.
In June, 1791, Rev. Anthon Theodore Brauy became the pastor and remained till 1800. Ilis record shows large accessions to the church membership. On Easter Sunday, 1795, there were present beside the pastor and 64 communicants, the Rev. Johann Frederick Ernst of Hudson, Johann Christopher Kunze, and Joseph George Wichterman. It was a special occasion, at which 14 new members were admitted by confirmation.
In 1801, the Rev. Heinreich Moeller again took charge of the congregation, and remained until 180G. Under him the largest attendance at communion was 52.
In 1807, the Rev. Frederick G. Mayer was settled as pastor. During his pastorate the number at communion
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
ranged from 8 to 56 until 1830, when there was a con; siderable increase ; the last list recorded by him in 1834, showing 117 members. It was during his ministry that a new church edifice was erected, on the corner of Pine and Lodge streets. It was very plainly con- structed of stone and stue- voed. The corner stone was laid on Thursday, Sep- tember 21st, 1816. Its dimensions were 40 by 60 feet, and the expense of its erection was about $25,000.1 Mr. Mayer died in Decem- ber 1842, at the age of 59, having officiated 37 years, by far the longest term of any pastor of the church of which there is any record.
When Mr. Mayer entered upon his pastorate, in 1807, the services were held in German. At a meeting of the church council (consisting of the trustees, elders and dea-
1 This edifice was demolished in October, 1868, and the corner stone was found, containing an inscription engraved on copper,
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
cons), held May 16th, 1808, at the house of Martin Ile- beysen, it was resolved that the sermons after Whitsunday, should be delivered in English, except one sermon in the forenoon of the last Sunday in each month. In 1812 this subject was again brought up, as though it had not been wholly observed, and a peremptory resolution directed the pastor to preach altogether in the English language, except in the morning of the first Sunday in each month.
At the close of the last century, an effort was made to procure the location of a Lutheran seminary in Albany. The Rev. John Christopher Hartwick died in 1796, pos- sessed of a large estate, which he left by will for the en- dowment of an institution for training up young ministers of the gospel, and missionaries to be sent among the lu- dians, according to the Angustan Confession and the tenets of the Evangelical Lutheran church. The execu-
in the following words: " The corner stone of the Lutheran Church was laid September 21, 1816, by Frederick G. Mayer. Pastor of the Congregation, and P. Hooker, architect ; Charles Newman, Christopher Monk, John (. Feltman, Hermanus Hen. derer, and Philip Talbot, trustees." Not one of the persons mentioned on the plate survived in 1868, but all had long been dead. The streets had been regraded since the erection of the church, which left much of the foundation wall out of the ground, and the walls had long continued to crack, and the tower rivalled that of Pisa by its leaning. The capacity of the church was abont 250 on the audience floor.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
tors named in his will were Jeremiah Van Rensselaer of. Albany, and Frederick 1. Muhlenberg of Philadelphia, formerly a Lutheran minister of New York, but at this time speaker of the house of representatives in congress. His scheme contemplated the erection of a town on his tract in Otsego county, to be called New Jerusalem, where the theological school should be established, in which " no heathenish author should be read, until when, by divine providence, the revenue should increase, classical learn- ing might be added." The administrators, on looking into the affairs of the testator, found that a large part of the landed estate, about 13,000 aeres, including the in- tended site of the New Jerusalem, was claimed by Judge Cooper, who professed to have purchased it of Mr. Hart- wick at two dollars per acre, payable at a distant time.
It being uncertain that much of any thing remained to found the contemplated school, the trustees of the church at Albany desired to have the institution con- nected with their church, promising to raise $3,000 towards the erection of a suitable building. Mr. Hart- wick had desired to be buried in the Lutheran church of Albany, and his wishes were complied with. His re- mains were first placed under the church in South Pearl street, and removed from thence and placed under the pulpit of the church in Pine street, in 1816. The ori- ginal marble tablet bearing his inscription remains in the floor of the church, in front of the pulpit, in the lecture
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
room. In fact, they claimed the estate, and deprecated the . idea of erecting a college in the wilderness, as a " monn- ment like the pillar of Absalom." They say that the Oneida Indians were provided with a Presbyterian min- ister forty years before, that "other nations have the same, and now the Indians have sold all their land, which will be inhabited by Christians, so that the whim of a college and a New Jerusalem, may fall away, and it may be better to support with it the congregation of Al- bany, which, from the time of Gov. Van Tromp, has always been oppressed. We, Lutherans of Albany, are the next heirs of Mr. Hartwick Ilis own writings will show with what affection we took care of him." At another time, writing to the curators of the estate, the trustees, who at thistime were John Conrad Ruby, Martin Hebeysen, and Daniel Pohlman, still complain of the neglect shown to their interests by those having charge of the legacy, "mourn- fully observing that our poor Ebenezer is entirely forgotten, notwithstanding we appointed in our stead two worthy friends and gentlemen, the most Rev. Dr. Kunze and Mr. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, our advocates for our distressed Ebenezer. Yet in their twelve resolves, nothing appeared for such a poor flock of Lutheran Christians to support their pions business. We collect about .EIS per annum from the members of our church, and no more. Our church is not finished and more like to decay. But we
1
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
are forgotten, though we know that Hartwick loved us,' for he would be with us, even when dead. It is now in your power to support that poor church out of an estate freely granted by the owner." The solicitations of the trustees seem to have been crowned with partial success; for on the 17th of October, 1801, articles of agreement were entered into between them and the trustees of the estate, by which all the estate was to be deposited with the trustees of the church, within two years, for the pur- poses of the seminary, subject to the order of the cura- tors, John C. Kunze and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. The foundation of an edifice was laid in Park street; but the arrangement seems to have given so much dissatisfac- tion among the Lutheran churches, as to lead to its aban- donment. Accordingly at a meeting of the trustees on the 14th April, 1808, they resolved that since it was found impossible to execute the trust committed to them, they would redeliver the property into the hands of the surviving excentor, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer; and two years after, the materials used for the foundation were ordered to be sold. The seminary was finally located at Hartwick, in Otsego county, and a special charter ob- tained of the legislature in 1816.1
See Session Laurs, ( 166; also the Hurterick Memorial pressin.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
In 1816 the city corporation purchased the lot on South Pearl street, which had been in possession of the congregation almost a century and a half, and paid for it $32,000. The boundaries were a little differently de- seribed at this day, as follows : "On the east by South Pearl, late Washington street ; on the south by the Rutten kil; on the west by a small run of water called Fort Kil- litie ; and on the north by Howard, late Lutheran street."!
The common council had conveyed to the church the lot which they now occupy on Pine street, in consideration of some property so indefinitely described that it is not now easy to locate it; but is represented as being between the west side of Eagle street and the east side of Pearl street. This lot on Pine street, occupying the square formed by Pine, Lodge, Steuben, and Eagle streets, was a huge elay hill, at that time hardly worth the cost of
1 This property was purchased by the city for the purposes of a market. There was at the time a small market on a portion of the lot, called Fly market, sometimes Cassidy's market, it being occupied by Cassidy and Friedenreich. A portion of that market building is still (1871) standing, forming the corner of Howard and William streets. It was first erected in the centre of Market street (now Broadway), nearly opposite Stanwix Hall, and was removed to this spot, the ground being leased of the church. The lots west of William street were sold for building lots, and covered with cheap tenements, some of which still remain.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
excavation. The expense of removing 50,000 cubic yards . was $5,000. They afterwards built a session room and par- sonage on the premises; the former was consecrated July 10th, 1836. The westerly portion of the lot was occupied by Wormer's tavern and other wooden build- ings, the lots having been let on long leases, which could not be controlled by the officers of the church. In 1834 the state purchased the ground on Eagle street, occupied by the State Hall, for $5,000. With this money the trustees excavated and began to build upon such lots on Park and Lancaster streets as were not encumbered by long leases. This had been their second cemetery, and was so occupied by them until the cemeteries were removed about 1803, to the new grounds appropriated to that pur- pose west of Knox street. The old cemeteries extended from Eagle street west to Hawk street, and required a vast amount of excavation to make proper grades for streets and building lots. The deed of the last cemetery lot is dated 1 Nov., 1803, and it was formally surrendered to the city in 1868, when the bodies interred in it were removed to the Rural cemetery, ju common with the remains in all the cemeteries. The process of removal had been gradual by families for a period of nearly twenty years before this, so that but 938 bodies remained in the Lutheran ground, when the city undertook the work, and of these but 44 had head stones or plates on their coffins by which they could be distinguished.
,
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
The unsightly buildings owned by the lessees on Pine and Steuben streets being an eyesore to the neighborhood and being beyond the control of the trustees, the common council, against the remonstrances of the trustees, took the property for public use, and it was set apart as a square attached to the State Hall, about the year 1835. The property was appraised at $9,475, of which amount the church was assessed $1,515.14, or about one-sixth the whole amount of appraisal. In 1868, when the old building came to be razed, it was found that the line on Pine street was 63 ft. Bin. in width, and on Steuben street but 57 feet, which was insufficient for the structure they wished to ereet ; whereupon the trustees memorialized the common council for sufficient ground to lay their foundations and equalize the width of the lot on the west line ; which was granted to the extent of six feet on Pine street, and twelve on Steuben.
The immigration of Lutherans from Europe had in- creased so much since 1808, when the services in German had been abandoned, that in 1831, Mr. Mayer found it necessary to resume services in that language on Sunday evenings, and occasionally during the week. After the erection of the Session-house in 1836, the Germans were regularly supplied with the word and ordinances in their mother tongue by the Rev. William Moelhman, from Hanover, until he removed to Cincinnati, when Mr. Mayer kept up the services with more or less regularity.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
In 18-41, the increase of the German population continu- ing, and the inconvenience of holding services in two languages bearing heavily upon the growing infirmities of Mr. Mayer, it was deemed expedient to organize a separate congregation, which was done on the 8th Au- gust, of that year. Early in 1812, by the effective aid of the mother church, and the kind liberality of the citizens of Albany, they were enabled to purchase a church edifice of a Methodist Society in State street above Swan, for $1,800, which was set apart on the 10th of May, with appropriate solemnities, for the worship of God in the German language, and is still so occupied by that con- gregation. The exodus of this portion of the society so affected the audiences of Mr. Mayer, that at the time of his decease in the autumn of 1812, the attendance upon the services was quite small.
In 1813, the Rev. Henry N. Pohlman accepted a call from the congregation, and was installed on the 24th of September. He found about 56 in communion, which in 184S had increased to about 100. The church was seve- ral thousand dollars in debt, notwithstanding it owned, besides a church, session house and parsonage, the whole west side of Park street, from State to Lancaster, and 100 feet on each of the latter streets. Ou this property the trustees had erected four brick houses on Lancaster street, and six on Park street ; the remainder of the lots were under long and very low leases, upon which stood very
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