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STORY of the JOINT
SYNOD OF OHIO
C. V. SHEATSLEY
Gc 977.1 Ev13h 1891673
M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02038 2682
1000 1000
Gc 977.1 Ev13h
History of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and other states
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofevangel00shea
REV. C. V. SHEATSLEY.
History of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States
From the Earliest Beginnings to 1919 .
By C. V. SHEATSLEY- Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Bexley, O. and Instructor at Capital University.
CENTURY MEMORIAL EDITION
LUTHERAN BOOK CONCERN Columbus, Ohio 1919
ANon County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indians
1891673
Dediration
To the young men and women of the Joint Synod, who will be inspired to greater love and service for their Church by a perusal of the story of the fathers, this volume is affectionately dedicated.
FOREWORD.
A T the solicitation of the Publication Board of the Joint Synod the preparation of this history has been undertaken. The work in itself is much to the liking of the author. Especially has he found delight in following the footsteps of the pioneers. An added in- centive at this time is the fact that the Joint Synod is just rounding out her first century. It is about time the chil- dren of this generation should have a history of the pioneer Synod of the West in the language of the country. These incentives have kept us working away between the duties of a pastorate and our classes at Capital University.
It would be somewhat disappointing if this history were to be regarded as superficial; on the other hand it does not mean to be an exhaustive study nor yet a docu- mentary history of the Joint Synod.
We have tried to make it readable for the average lay- man. In the first half of the century we have chiefly fol- lowed the men, in the second half we have considered their work. We have striven to give a true picture of the Synod at work for a hundred years. Here and there a little color has been added to enliven the cold dates and figures. Where feasible we have had the fathers speak for them- selves.
The author and the Synod at large are under great obligations to Rev. Albert Beck of Dayton, O., who has both collected ,and collated much documentary material bearing on the history of the Synod. The collecting of the cuts and arranging of the index has also been done by
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FOREWORD.
Bro. Beck. Dr. Theo. Mees, librarian at Capital University, has provided every facility and extended every courtesy possible in the collecting of the data. The German history of the Synod prepared by Prof. Wm. Schmidt and Rev. P. A. Peter has also been helpful in gathering the material. Rev. J. Sheatsley and Drs. Ackermann and Lenski have offered valuable suggestions in the preparation of the manuscript.
If among the sons and daughters of the Joint Synod there are but a few who find delight and profit in the perusal of these pages we shall feel amply repaid for our imperfect efforts; if many will read and be inspired to greater efforts in the Church so that she greatly prospers we shall rejoice and be glad; if any beyond the bounds of our Synod will read and become more fraternally disposed towards us we will gladly go forth to meet them.
The Lord has greatly blessed our Synod for a hundred years and more, may He bless the telling of the story in the years to come.
C. V. SHEATSLEY.
Capital University, October 15, 1918.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. The Pioneers and their Work 9
II. Gathering and Organizing the Forces 58
III. The Seminary, Language Difficulties, New Measure- 1sm, etc. 83
IV. Swarming Time
109
V. Steadily Forward 137
VI. Efforts at Lutheran Union
159
VII. Educational Extension
185
VIII. Missions and Mercy 215
IX. Branching Out
244
X. At the Portals of Our Second Century 289
Table of Synodical Meetings
301
Index
305
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CHAPTER I.
1800-1818.
THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
In these days of distress of nations it affords a respite for the soul to hie away to some out-of-the-way corner and record the history of a band of consecrated men and women who, with no other weapon than the sword of the Spirit and no other purpose than the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ, went bravely forward into the wilderness of the West preaching the everlasting Gospel as they went. Already a hundred years and more have passed since their first efforts were put forth. And now, as the first century passes into history, we must pause for just a little while and jot down for succeeding generations some of the achievements as well as some of the dis- appointments and failures of these pioneers. This year 1918 is opportune for this purpose. Just one hundred years ago the Joint Synod was organized at Somerset, Ohio. In commemoration of this event the First English District is to convene this year in Good Hope of the adjoining Glenford parish. As an added memorial this history of the Synod is being written and published in this historic year.
We do not want our past to be forgotten. We are not ashamed of our history. True, it has not been brilliant, but it carries with it many wholesome lessons and offers an incentive to us and our children to press zealously and earnestly forward in the great work of our Church.
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
Our Synod has had the best of reasons for her exist- ence. She was not born out of strife nor were our fore- fathers a band of exiles who found no tolerance among the Lutheran brethren of the East. The Allegheny moun- tains, nature's natural barrier, answers the question, "Why the Joint Synod?" Had there been a prairie instead of this mountain chain we should probably be writing a chapter in the history of the old Ministerium of Pa.
When the tide of immigration began to flow down the western slopes of the Alleghenies and across into the Ohio country there came also a goodly number of sturdy Lutheran people seeking homes in the great West. The missionaries of the church followed and once on this side of the mountains they were cut off from kindred and home as well as from direct church supervision. Hence these pioneer missionaries gradually formed their own conference and finally formed a separate organization. This body was first called a Special Conference then a General Conference, afterwards a Joint Synod and today is known as the "Ev. Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States," which rather long title we usually shorten to Joint Synod. In tracing the history of this body we are following a stream which starts with a number of little rivulets in the hills, gradually gathering volume and force as it flows on towards the Great Valley. This stream rising in the east and flowing westward followed in the wake of the sturdy Lutheran emigrant. It soon broadened into a river; and now, by the grace of God, it forms one of the most important tributaries of the great Lutheran Church of the Middle West.
The Joint Synod therefore needs offer no apology for her existence. She is a legitimate child born into the lap of that branch of the Lutheran family which journeyed
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
westward. She grew to synodical proportions as naturally as a child grows up to maturity and usefulness.
Let us look up for just a little while and notice our pioneer missionaries as they come down the western slopes of the Alleghenies. And as we look we can almost hear the waiting families sing as they beheld the messengers approaching: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings."
John Stauch.
The first of these pioneers to carry a Lutheran minis- terial seal across the mountains was Rev. John Stauch. The records of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania show that in 1793 "A certain Johannes Stauch handed in a petition from Virginia asking for his admission." On May 29th of this same year Mr. Stauch "received a license as catechist in Redstone, Morgantown and Salem under the supervision of the ordained preacher in Martinsburg." Al- ready in 1794 Mr. Stauch was granted a full license and the records show that during his first year as catechist he bap- tized 148 persons. He was an indefatigable worker as a survey of his life will soon show. We have documentary evidence that in 1794 he was pressing on towards Ohio. This evidence is a hand-painted baptismal certificate signed by Stauch, dated May 30, 1794, Fallowfield Twp., Wash- ington Co., Pa. We insert a cut of this certificate the original of which is now in the library of Capital Univer- sity. It is our oldest document. It is a beautiful testimonial that our first messengers came as the anointed of the Lord, teaching and baptizing them.
We are also fortunate in having at hand a copy of a document which is practically an autobiography of mis- sionary Stauch. The original of this sketch is in the Lu-
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
theran Historical Library at Gettysburg. After many years we are indeed fortunate in being able to insert here at least enough of the document to give a picture of that early day as well as of the labors and character of the leading spirit in the early annals of our Synod.
John Stauch writes in his autobiography: "I was born of poor but pious parents. My father was born and raised in Wuerttemberg, mother in Hanover. They emi- grated to the United States in 1740 and settled in York Co., Pa. I was born Jan. 25, 1762. My mother exercised strict parental and Christian discipline over her children. As soon as they could lisp a language she taught them maxims, prayers and verses from the Bible, many of which remain indelibly impressed on my mind and conscience until this day of three score and ten years.
In rather an unhappy manner I passed my life until I reached my 19th year - then I saw plainly that my soul was not brought fully under the power of divine love. I tried to believe, for there is no hope except in the blessed promises of God's holy Book. For, 'It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.' The thought that I must preach the Gospel took hold of my mind. This is now in my 19th year and woe is me if I do not obey the call. I made known the feeling of my mind to my parents and they were willing to have me educated for the Gospel ministry. They had the will and means. But they said I had better consult my pastor before engaging in such an important work. Accordingly I went to Rev. Goehring of York for advice. After asking me some questions, he dismissed me from his study with the advice to defer the matter for that time, and if it was God's will that I should be educated for the ministry it would be done. At a meeting with this same Rev. gentle- man ten years after this he deeply regretted that he did
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
not sufficiently encourage me to qualify for the work of the ministry.
But it was now too late and it was evident that God had called me to the work of an evangelist, or pioneer to cross the Allegheny Mountains, and sound the Gospel trumpet in the wilderness of the West, where the heralds of the Cross had never been. After the close of my school I became an indentured apprentice to the wagon-making trade for four years in Little York, after which I traveled as a journeyman to Hagerstown, and while working there for Mr. Harry, I became acquainted with Miss Elizabeth Hogmyer, or Haguemire, with whom I was joined in holy matrimony, in the summer of A. D. 1787. We started immediately after our marriage to seek a home in the Mississippi Valley, in company with one other young couple. For many days we journeyed, surmounting many grievous obstacles without an accident. But we were punished for desecrating the Holy Sabbath. By traveling on Saturday we remembered the Sabbath. But when it came we did not remember to keep it holy. Our agreement on Saturday was to rest when Sunday came. But on Saturday night there fell a heavy rain and swelled the waters in those mountains to make it dangerous for twenty or thirty hours after the rain, to ford, and when the day of rest came, and the end of the commandment, "Keep it holy," we attempted to cross the Savage Creek (one of the headwaters of the Potomac River) on Sunday morning, after the heavy rain of Saturday night. We plunged into it. My comrade got on the front horse, I on the saddle horse, the two women in the wagon. My comrade, when the horse commenced to swim, fell off and was swept away by the current, and no one to aid him or to save his life. Thus I was alone with the two women in the wagon to behold the solemn scene, with the judgment of God resting
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
on us and not yet over the stream. But our lives and the lives of the horses were saved. On Monday we crossed in safety, but one of our number was carried away by the stream and we saw him no more. As we were breaking our way into the wilderness we did not find turnpikes, macadamized roads, bridges, canals, railroads and such like facilities for traveling, but we had to take our compass for our guide, and ax and cut our way in many places through and around hills and rocks.
Now, when we had settled in the forest we opened a sugar camp, and when the Sabbath came we labored hard all day by gathering and boiling the water, thinking it right to save and boil it if God made it run on the Sabbath. When evening came we emptied the syrup into the trough and covered it with bark and retired to rest, after a hard Sabbath day's labor. During the night the cattle came to our camp and drank all the syrup, which sickened some and destroyed the life of others. So we not only lost our labor, but our cattle, also. These two incidents effectually convinced us that no good would come from violating God's law of the Sabbath by traveling and worldly labor, and never until this day have I tolerated in my family or churches, Sunday traveling, visiting or working under any pretense whatever, except works of necessity and works of mercy. We found a stopping place in the then called Virginia Glades, 160 miles from Hagerstown, from whence we started, and 20 miles from any settlement of white people that we knew of. During the first year we lived there, some young transient men and women came to visit us, but we knew of no settlers nearer than 20 miles from us. The second year there came six families and one young man. The wood ax then began to wake the echo. All around us forests fell. We here learned for the first time that the text, "It is not good for man to be alone,"
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
signifies more than husband and wife. Our Hagerstown fathers were mindful of our spiritual as well as our tem- poral destitution. Having no living ministry to send us, they sent us a sermon-book at their earliest opportunity and earnestly entreated us that we should assemble every Sabbath and praise God by singing and reading prayers and sermons, which we did every Sabbath, with good effect.
In our far off home people were as susceptible of moral and religious feeling, even if they were not as accomplished in their manners, as in the old settlements. A young man and woman came to us soon after our settling in our new home and requested me to marry them. He was tall and straight with a tawny complexion, a dark and restless eye, barefooted and clad from a little below the knees upwards with skins of animals. He carried his gun upon his shoulder, shot-pouch and powder-horn by his side, and his game in his hand, and his bride close by following him, who was also clad with the habiliments of the forest. They, as we ourselves, had no weekly period- icals to publish the fashions of the day, as sent to us from cities and foreign countries to crack our brains and burst our empty purses. He with a manly countenance, she with a mischievous smile upon her lip, asked to be married. We told them we had no license to perform a legal marriage. Now, they said they did not care, they intended to live to- gether at any rate, and there was no minister in the country.
NOTE. - Justices of the peace had no license to confirm mar- riage contracts in the state of Virginia. S. S.
But we were a law unto ourselves, our own conscience bearing witness, our own thoughts accusing or excusing one another. They said as there was no preacher to be had,
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
and as we read sermons we could read marriage ceremo- nies also. We concluded after mature deliberation that we had better solemnize their nuptials. As I had been chosen to lead and read sermons and uniformly to lead in our religious eexrcises, it was consequently thought I should marry them. I accordingly did it backwoods style, without any license myself or asking them for one. Others came on the same business, and I served them also, con- sidering matrimony more civil than religious ordination. I enquired for information from my friend, Rev. Goeh- ring. He directed me to attend and enquire at a civil court in the state. I attended the session of court in western Virginia and obtained license or legal authority to solemnize matrimony. But now another difficulty more formidable than the first awaited us. It was the baptism of our children. I would always find some way to have my own baptized. But others thought it impossible for them. They wanted me to baptize their children. But I declined. They also wanted the Lord's Supper admin- istered, and wanted me to do it or assume that right. We continued reading and talking from one Sabbath to another about spiritual things, with those who wished to hear us (and those that did not wish to hear stayed away from our meeting). The duty of preaching became more im- pressed on my mind than ever before, and my brethren thought that I could and must preach for them and others. But how could I support a family with a wife and four children in the wilderness, and study for the ministry was the dilemma. Jona fled to Tarshish, I to the wilderness, to suffer the lashings of a guilty conscience over wasted opportunities for obtaining mental training that is indispensably necessary for a proper exercise of the ministry. But I read: "I will lead thee into the wilder- ness and there be merciful unto thee." My thoughts 1
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
winde gebobien und granti Corallina des Corniltuo Bangandi vens beffen Chefrau Darbara.
Cobu im Bau pennsylvania Washington Covaly Followfield Township Laufaura maren Carnitina Brugand with Barbara Webgantt chauff ver Formato Elauch
Fitswahr ber if ben Contain thef cetabever Chris Der gründlich glaube bas er au Grafer harder i
BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE OF 1794.
2
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
continued to trouble me more and more. "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," was constantly ringing in my ears and on my mind. In dreams by night I dreamed that multitudes of early settlers would throng the place, tremble and weep at the recital of the Story of the Cross. Some- times it seemed to me the learned and accomplished in the church would upbraid me for transcending my proper sphere. A wife and four children at home and in poverty, a meager pittance for my services in the church, the wretched condition around me, a smiling Savior with a glorious crown on high. In such visions I spent my nights.
After many prayers and much serious consideration, and in view of the blessed promises of God that their place of refuge should be the shadow of rocks, bread should be given them and their water should be sure, I formed a fixed resolution by the grace of God I would preach Jesus and trust God for good results. And this is one of the most important decisions I ever made. In a short time I was invited to Morgantown to commence my ministerial life. I went without any synodical authority, being of God, after the order of Melchisedec, and ministered to them, once in every four weeks. I was soon pressingly solicited to preach for a few Germans in Fayette county, Pa., twenty miles farther west, and in all seventy miles from home. Thus the field continued to increase, the poor Germans hungering for the bread of life. The cry was continually, "Come west," or "Come over and help us." Others asked to have their children baptized and catechised. There was no one to break to them the bread of life, to point them in a dying hour to the scene of Calvary and preach their funerals when they were dead. My heart sickened within me when I thought and saw the wide- spread destitution, that has always existed in the Lutheran Church in the West.
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
At the close of a hard Sabbath day's labor, I retired to rest. In my sleep my thought wandered to my distant home. I dreamed that my wife and I had parted and were to live together no more on earth. I started for home early next morning, confident that something serious awaited me. I reached home that day, a distance of forty miles and found all well. But on Wednesday following death came to my lonely cabin, and removed my dear, affectionate and pious wife to heaven. She suffered severely but patiently.
In her last moments, she gave her neighbors pious counsel, her little children a mother's dying blessing with her trembling hand resting upon their heads, to me a long farewell, and said: "I die happy," and immediately her spirit returned to God, who gave it. We buried her remains in a small burying place under a large oak tree in a lonely woods. We covered sod over her grave, and with the requiem in the tall pines, we returned to mourn her vacant seat at home and place of devotion. She went before us to heaven, and we were blessed in her loss for we were brought nearer that happy place by thinking of her there. We had wandered hand in hand through the desert of life; rejoiced and mourned, hungered and thirsted together for a few happy years. But God severed the tie that bound us, and His will be done. "Gott hilf mir, Amen !"
This heavy stroke of Divine providence very unex- pectedly called me from my ministry to attend to the severed offices of my family. I made arrangements as soon as I could and returned to Hagerstown in May, 1793, after spending six years in the wilderness. The summer was advancing, and we were now driven from a paradise (for such my dead wife made our home) and exposed to all the ills of life. My four little ones were taken ill with the smallpox, and the horse I rode was claimed by an inn- keeper in Hagerstown as stolen property. I had gotten him
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
in Fayette, in exchange for a less or lighter one, to suit the travel of the long journey. I was now bereft of my wife, deprived of my horse proven as stolen property. My motherless children were homeless and sick. Yet it was a source of unspeakable happiness to feel that we had done our duty before God and man; and there was still left in our desolation a merciful providence to guide us whither- soever we went. Nor was our humble confidence in the superintending care of heaven disappointed, for my old and for 20 years tried friend, Rev. Otterbein, preached within eight miles of Hagerstown, and came once more with con- soling words that cheered my gloomy condition, and renewed my fainting spirits. He assured me that although God dwelled in darkness, He walks in light. His consola- tion encouraged me and his unfeigned sympathy and pray- ers did me good. At the close of the religious service he made a public statement of my destitute condition and raised a collection which amounted to a sufficient sum to purchase a horse.
I then continued my journey to the city of Philadelphia to attend the meeting of the Pennsylvania Evangelical Lu- theran Synod, which convened May 27th, A. D. 1793. Was examined by that honorable body and was found competent to receive license as a catechist for one year. On my re- turn home from Synod, I removed from Hagerstown to German Township, Fayette County, Penn., and occupied the glebe* and house belonging to St. Jacob's Church.
NOTE. - This glebe contains about 100 acres of land and was purchased by the early Lutheran German settlers, and obtained a title by paying a piece of foreign gold, a Sou. They borrowed the money from Martin Mason who was taken captive in the time of General Braddock's defeat at Ft. Pitt (now Pittsburg) by the Indians, while on his way to carry provisions to his father in the army, and who was sold to a French general for a bottle of gin
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THE PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK.
in A. D. 1755 and was taken to Canada and when grown up returned to his native land and brought this piece of gold with him and lent it to the congregation to pay for the land, and became and lived a devoted Christian and member of that Lutheran Church and lived to an advanced age and died in triumph of faith in what is now called Ashland County, Ohio. S. S.
attended the next meeting of the Pennsylvania I Synod, which convened on the 18th of June, 1794, in. Reading, Pa., and was examined by that honorable body and found qualified to receive a candidate license to preach one year, in Salem, Morgantown, Redstone (und als weiter) and still farther west. These congregations and one in Washington County I organized before I was licensed to preach. I had ten preaching places in German Lutheran settlements, from one hundred miles to one hundred and sixty miles distant, to which I traveled every four weeks.
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