USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > New Hanover > The Lutheran Church in New Hanover, (Falckner swamp) Montgomery County, Penna. Part XXII. of a narrative and critical prepared at the request of the Pennsylvania-German society > Part 1
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Gc 974.8 P3847p v. 20 1185626
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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GENEALOGY 974.8 P3847P v.20
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Pennsylvania:
THE GERMAN INFLUENCE IN ITS SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
A narrative and Critical history
PREPARED BY AUTHORITY OF
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY
PART XXII
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN NEW HANOVER, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA.
GE
SOCIE
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
Publication Committee. JULIUS F. SACHSE, Litt.D. DANIEL W. NEAD, M.D. J. E. B. BUCKENHAM, M.D,
1185626
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
THE NEW HANOVER LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The Lutheran Church
in new Manover, (Falckner Swamp)
Montgomery County, Denna.
PART XXII. OF A NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY
BY REV. J. J. KLINE, PH.D.
Member of the Pennsylvania-German Society, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Historical Society of Montgomery County.
CI
ETY
LANCASTER, PA.
19II
COPYRIGHTED 1911 BY THE Pennsylvania=German Society.
PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY LANCASTER, PA.
CONTENTS.
PAGE'
INTRODUCTION
5
CHAPTER I. 8
Falckner Swamp. New Hanover. Its Location. Its Settlement.
Its Inhabitants.
CHAPTER II.
THE CONGREGATION
17
Its Early Organization. The Location of its Buildings. The
Church. The Parsonage. The Title to the Property.
CHAPTER III.
THE UNITED CONGREGATIONS
38
Trappe, Falckner Swamp, Philadelphia and then Germantown.
As United into a Synod.
CHAPTER IV.
PASTORS WHO HAVE SERVED THIS CHURCH
Those Before Muhlenberg. Muhlenberg and His Helpers. 50 Mühlenberg's Successors.
CHAPTER V.
SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MINISTERS WHO SERVED THE CONGREGATION 74
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCH BUILDING
145
CHAPTER VII.
THE CHURCH COUNCIL, AND ITS TRANSACTIONS
152
V
vi
Contents.
CHAPTER VIII.
SCHOOL MASTERS AND ORGANISTS OF THE CHURCH . ..... 166 Their Times of Service, and a Brief Sketch of the Sunday-School.
CHAPTER IX.
MEETINGS OF THE SYNOD HELD IN THIS CHURCH I71
CHAPTER X.
SPECIAL EVENTS, DEDICATIONS AND ANNIVERSARIES 176
CHAPTER XI.
HISTORICAL EVENTS 180
A LIST OF BAPTISMS FROM 1740 TO 1825 AS THEY APPEAR IN THE RECORDS OF THE CONGREGATION 198
A LIST OF THE CATECHUMENS AND ADULT BAPTISMS WHO WERE CONFIRMED FROM 1743 TO 1825 AS THEY ARE RECORDED IN THE RECORDS OF THE CONGREGATION 345
RECORD OF MARRIAGES 392
LIST OF DEATHS 418
INTRODUCTION.
OR the preparation of an his- torical sketch of the Lutheran congregation in New Hanover no apology is necessary. It is not an ambitious desire to add another volume to load down the already overburdened book-shelves, but to put on record, as far as they are known, the facts and incidents con- cerning the indomitable courage and Christian heroism of our Pennsylvania-German ancestors in this community and of this venerable congregation. Time has already relegated many things to the irrevocable past, which have transpired within the experiences of the congregation and its members, while a great many other matters have not been considered of sufficient interest or importance to record at all, or, if record has been made of them, such records have now been lost, which we sincerely lament. Another object in view is to preserve, by publication, the minutes of the congrega- tion and its church records, still extant, so that the original books and documents, now fast falling to pieces with age and by frequent handling, may be spared to generations
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yet to come, while the facts and incidents recorded therein may nevertheless be on hand for use to those who may be interested in the congregation's life and history during its existence of over two centuries.
Still another purpose is to encourage research into the records of the past so as to unearth many of the unknown circumstances in its historic life, and to prove beyond a doubt many of the conjectures, concerning its early existence; as well as to invite honest criticism so as to correct many of the errors contained in the following pages, concerning which no one is more painfully conscious than the compiler himself.
The sources of information, which have been frequently consulted are mentioned in chapter first, and full ac- knowledgment of the same is here made. The value and importance of these books and documents in the preparation of the material for the succeeding pages is beyond the range of complete expression and full apprecia- tion. Some of the minutes of the congregation and of the church councils have been lost, as were also some of the official records of some of its pastors, which is a source of keen regret. Those still in existence, and in part herein published, prove some of the doubts and misapprehensions in the minds of earlier historians, and correct some of the errors which have become patent to the minds of some of them.
In acknowledging the assistance received from many sources I cannot be sufficiently profuse; for without these this volume would have been impossible. A great deal of the research work, as well as of translating and tran- scribing the church records, is my own, yet I lay no claim to further originality.
I acknowledge the valuable services of those who have
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Introduction.
in any way rendered assistance. In particular do I desire to put on record my appreciation of the services rendered by Irwin P. Knipe, Esq., of Norristown, for clearing up the original titles of the property, and to Mr. O. J. Bickel for returning the original documentary title for the tract of 49 acres of land presented by John Henry Sprogell to the congregation ; to the researches of Julius F. Sachse, Litt.D., also for illustrations furnished by him for this history; also to Rev. John W. Early, without whose aid the completion of this work would have been delayed for some years to come. To all these my sincere thanks are due, and are herewith extended, as well as to all others who have been in any way instrumental in bringing this endeavor to a successful issue.
POTTSTOWN, PA., October 28, 1909.
J. J. K.
CHAPTER I.
Falckner Swamp. New Hanover. Its Location. Its Settlement. Its Inhabitants.
T is somewhat remarkable that so little is known concerning the early history and struggles of this con- gregation. It would be expected that, as this is one of the three original united congregations, and the oldest of them all, very frequent reference would be made to this fact.
Perhaps this may be explained, in part at least, by the fact that it was a little out of the way of the usual route of travel from Philadelphia westward. As to the absence of any explicit statements in regard to the time when this church was organized and when ser- vices were first held here, and in fact in reference to many historical matters about which we might desire informa- tion, it will be sufficient to say, that the reports to Halle were not intended primarily to give the particulars con- cerning the organization of churches which already existed. It should be sufficient for us to remember that the Halle
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The New Hanover Lutheran Church.
Reports of Mühlenberg, Brunnholz and others were mostly simple transcripts or extracts from their official journals, setting forth the extent, nature and difficulties of their own labors in planting and caring for the churches in this western land.
We could not, therefore, expect them to be taken up with matters outside of the line of their own activity, or of events having occurred prior to their time, except in the way of incidental references to them.
Of all the pioneers Rev. John Casper Stoever appar- ently devoted more time and exercised greater care in the preparation and instalment of protocols or church records, than anyone else. Nearly all the churches he served, with the exception of this one, have them. They are generally well kept, except in this one respect, that they frequently omit the names and number of the communicants, also the times of communion. And may not this omission here possibly be accounted for by the fact that he may never have been the actual pastor, but only the assistant of Schulze, who ordained him? Soon after his ordination he left this section. It might even be questioned whether he was ordained here as generally believed. It is certain that Rev. J. Christian Schulze, who ordained him, per- formed baptisms at the Muddy Creek Church during the same month, if not on the very day of Stoever's ordination and marriage, viz., April 8, 1733. It will not be deemed necessary in every instance to give the specific authorities for statements of acknowledged facts, whether derived from "Halle Reports," from Theodore Bean's "History of Montgomery County," Dotterer's "Perkiomen Re- gion," Kuhns' "German and Swiss Settlements," Mann's " Mühlenberg and His Times," Rev. Dr. Schmauk's ex- haustive history of "The Lutheran Church in Pennsyl-
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vania," 1638-1820, or other records; since it is readily understood that in a compilation of this character all avail- able sources known to the author will be readily and freely consulted, and its pages enriched by the facts and data already established in history.
It is a striking fact that even well-informed people seem to have very indefinite ideas as to the location of this oldest of the German Lutheran congregations in America. Var- ious causes might be assigned for this. Possibly if the same name had always been applied to the place, it would be less difficult to locate. But, in looking at the names of places and sections, we find that it is not only called "New Hanover," but also "Swamp Churches," which, and not " Falckner Swamp," was the original name of the post office, and sometimes merely "The Swamp." If there were not three other places within a circuit of fifty miles, to each of which the same name, "Swamp," is applied, it would be far less difficult to describe the locality in such a way that every one might readily understand where it is found. First we have the Great Swamp in the extreme northwestern section of Bucks County. This formerly in- cluded the greater portion of Milford and Richland town- ships, the centre of the "Swamp " at that time being where Quakertown now stands. What is called Great Swamp at present lies wholly in Milford Township.
The Long Swamp extends from the vicinity of Topton to the eastern line of Berks County, where the " Krotten Creek " joins the southwest and the southeast branches of the Little Lehigh to form that stream. It has given name to one of the eastern townships of Berks as well as to the church in that section. It is from fifteen to twenty miles north by west from New Hanover. Almost thirty miles west, bearing slightly southward is " The Swamp "
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The New Hanover Lutheran Church.
in Lancaster County. It covers a considerable part of Cocalico Township. Some of the branches of the Co- calico have their rise here. There are these three districts known as " The Swamp " besides Falckner Swamp.
Whether New Hanover, or Falckner Swamp, was known by this name before the Great Swamp, about ten miles northeast of it, was so designated, we are unable to say. Theodore Bean in the "History of Montgomery County " describes the place thus :1
New Hanover Township is bounded on the northeast by Upper Hanover, south by Limerick, east by Frederick, northwest by Douglass and southwest by Pottsgrove. It is 634 miles long. Its greatest breadth 31/2 miles, containing 2041/4 square miles.2 It is the fourth in size in the county. The Swamp Creek flows nearly through the central part. It has several branches. The name is derived from Hanover, a capital and a kingdom in Ger- many. Many of the early Lutheran settlers were natives of this kingdom. This accounts largely for the name. Another name is Falckner Swamp, derived from Daniel Falckner, one of the agents, or attorneys, of the Frankfort Land Company. In a purchase made by Geo. McCall, 1735, it is said that Douglass and a part of Pottsgrove are bounded on the south by the " German's Tract of land, meaning at least all of the present New Hanover."
The village of New Hanover, better known as Swamp Church, or Swamp Churches, is situated 16 miles from Norristown, and in 1832, Gordon in his " Gazeteer," says it contains two churches, a post office, a tannery, two taverns, two stores and eight dwell- ings. The post office was established before 1827, under the title of " Swamp Churches," which was changed a few years after to its present name, " New Hanover." It is quite an old settle- ment. Nicholas Scull mentions here in 1758, the Lutheran Dutch and the Dutch Church (Reformed) and Yelyer's mill, etc.
* History of Montgomery County," Cap. LXVI., p. 992.
2 Evidently a printer's blunder. The dimensions given would be a fraction less than twenty-four square miles.
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The Pennsylvania-German Society.
Kuhns in his statements, which however are not always as well authenticated as they should be, speaks of it as if it were a part of the Germantown tract itself. But of this more anon, when we take up the matter of its settle- ment and its inhabitants. Dotterer describes it as follows :
On the north are the South Mountains, on the south the Stone Hills, on the west the Fox Hills, and on the east the ridge rising from the left bank of Society Run. Swamp Creek, having as its tributaries Society Run, Spack Run, Minister's Creek (Pfarrer's Bach), Schlegel's Run and Goshenhoppen Run, flows in a wind- ing course through the valley.
It will not be regarded as necessary to take up the matter of its early settlement and its first inhabitants sep- arately. These are so closely connected that it would be almost impossible to separate them entirely. The great difficulty is to fix dates definitely and distinctly. This will appear all the more clearly evident when it is remembered that Rev. Daniel Falckner, Sprogel or Sproul and others who controlled the 26,000 or more acres of the Frankfort Land Company, acted as if they were the owners of the tract. In fact, Sprogel seems to have had possession of it for a time, deeds being made out in his name. He seems to have become the actual owner of a large part, if not of all the vast tract of land in the vicinity of Falckner Swamp. It is, therefore, impossible to name an exact date as the time of its settlement. There seems to have been a gen- eral development of all these sections about the same time. Throughout Oley, Manathanim, afterwards more com- monly called Molatton, or Morlatton, Falckner's Swamp, the Great Swamp, and even Long Swamp, the stream of immigration seems to have moved forward slowly but steadily from the last decade of the seventeenth century.
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The New Hanover Lutheran Church.
From 1694, when the "Frankfort Land Company sent its first load of emigrants to Germantown, to begin the development of that section, there has been a steady growth of population and developing of its resources," until it has become one of the richest and most prosperous portions of this magnificent commonwealth.
From the statements of some of the writers it would al- most seem as if at first it had been regarded as a part of the Germantown settlement. To make the matter per- fectly clear it may be well to go back a little further and recount the history of the movements and doings of some of the others of those early settlers. Pastorius having conferred at Kriegsheim with Peter Schumacher, Gerhard Hendricks and other leaders of the intending settlers, " descended the Rhine to Crefeld, where he conferred with Thones Kunders, Dirck Herman, the Op den Graeff broth- ers, and others, who followed him across the ocean six weeks later." Having thus become the agent of the Frankfort Company, of the Kriegsheimers and the Cre- felders, he sailed June 6, 1683, and reached Philadelphia, August 16. Some two months later, thirteen men with their families, who had sailed on the Concord, reached Philadelphia. Coming late in the year they suffered great privation. But soon they found themselves in comfort. The communication of the news of their good fortune soon brought over others. But towards the close of the century, 1694, a considerable addition was made to this colony. A band of forty pietists under the superinten- dence of Johann Kelpius settled on the banks of the Wis- sahickon. It is not necessary to dwell on the letters which Koester, D. Falckner, Kelpius, Schaeffer and others sent back to Germany to influence their friends to join them in this land of promise. The real leader of the party of
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forty who came over at one time, we are told, was Joh. Jac. Zimmerman, a minister, but he died at Rotterdam.1 It does not belong to our province to discuss the religious opinions of these people. We therefore simply add the statement that they are said to have been chiliasts of a pronounced type, separatists of different kinds, and some Lutherans and Reformed. Rev. Daniel Falckner, who made a special trip to Germany to interest people in the enterprise and to encourage settlers, a project in which he succeeded measurably at least, was one of them.2 We might well ask, would he not naturally put forth efforts to care for the spiritual welfare of his own people at once, instead of waiting from ten to twenty years before doing so ?
While not highly educated, the mass of early German settlers of Pennsylvania were not ignorant and illiterate. The larger portion of them were undoubtedly able to read and write. In accordance with the universal custom in Protestant Germany education and religion were combined. At a very early day, Bibles, hymn books, books of devotion, and even school books, were printed in German at Phila- delphia. They were generally read and used. A prac- tical education in religious and secular affairs was thus secured, and a comparatively large number of the German pioneers possessed what might be called learning. We find traces of this even among unprofessional people.
Johannes Kolb, a weaver of Germantown had a copy of Eras- mus in Latin, bought from his brother. A Schwenckfelder, named Schultz, had a well-thumbed copy of a Latin grammar. And the earliest settlers were under the direction of some of the most learned men of their time.
1 Vide Sachse's German pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
2 Vide Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania anno 1700, Sachse, 1905.
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The New Hanover Lutheran Church.
The Frankfort Land Company consisted of a number of well-educated and highborn people. Pastorius is known to every one. Most of the pietists who came over in 1694 were university men, and they were scattered through the whole community. Zimmerman, who planned the colony, is said to have been " Ein grund gelehrter-astrologus." His successor, Johann Kelpius, was the son of a clergyman, and a doctor of philosophy of Tübingen; Henry Bern- hard Köster had studied at the gymnasium of Bremen and at Frankfort; Daniel Falckner was the son and grandson of a clergyman and was himself educated for the ministry; his brother had been a student at Halle, and Peter Miller, subsequently prior of Ephrata, was a very learned man. He is said to have translated the Declaration of Indepen- dence into seven different languages, and to have spoken "Latin as readily as we do our vernacular." So says Andreae.
Thus we can readily perceive that almost from the day that William Penn, who had become known to the German people by his residence among them, took possession of his province, a stream of German emigrants came over to settle in Pennsylvania. Although quite a number tarried in the vicinity of Philadelphia, a respectable proportion moved onward, to the Trappe, to New Hanover, to Mo- latton among the Swedes, who already occupied that sec- tion, and even to Oley with its hills, and then through it and Goshenhoppen, which then included New Hanover, through the gaps in the Lehigh hills up to the very foot of the Blue Mountains. This will account for the fact that quite a number of taxables, whose names show them to have been Germans, are found in New Hanover, in Oley and some even in Maxatawny, at the very beginning of the eighteenth century, and a few even before that time. It
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will also show why there are very frequent suggestions as to religious services held, of occasional gatherings for wor- ship, and of congregations without a formal organization. It was this state of things that opened the door to the tramp preacher and furnished him a field in which to carry on his work. These people were no heathen. They wanted their churches and pastors. When they could not get the best, or even the really good, they took what they could get. They simply did the best they could; others have done so since. Would not we pursue a similar course under similar circumstances ?
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CHAPTER II.
THE CONGREGATION.
Its Early Organization. The Location of its Buildings. The Church. The Parsonage. The Title to the Property.
HERE the first service was held, who con- ducted that service, when the first steps toward the organiza- tion of a congregation were taken, and even the exact date of the erection of the first ,church building, are matters which will probably never be positively known. It certainly should have been patent to every one, that Rev. H. M. Mühlenberg and his co-labor- ers in reporting to headquar- ters, would only describe their own activities. If they did at any time refer to the men who had labored before them, it would be only incidentally. If at any time they spoke of the churches ex-
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isting before their arrival, it would be in the same casual way. This will become all the more evident if we bear in mind the fact that some of the settlements were com- menced fully half a century before Mühlenberg's arrival.
These people had ministers, ordained men, among them. Under these circumstances they would not have remained altogether without the word and the sacraments volun- tarily. They would not have been satisfied without some arrangements by which their spiritual wants would be provided for. They did not do this elsewhere. They would not have done it here.
First of all we will endeavor to give the substance of the statements of the " Halle Reports," meagre though they be, in regard to the early history of this congregation. Perhaps the fullest and most satisfactory statement there given is the report of Revs. Mühlenberg, Brunnholtz and Handschuh, the three oldest pastors, sent to Halle at the request of the Synod, July 9, 1754. In that report they give a brief résumé of the church's history, as well as their own labors in it, from the very beginning up to the time when the report was sent.
After setting forth that this statement is made at the request of the Swedish Provost, together with fourteen German pastors, they pass in review the whole history of the Lutheran Church, as well as that of the individual congregations in the Province of Pennsylvania. They tell us that " shortly before the beginning of this century [the eighteenth] a few Germans came across the sea and took advantage of the religious liberty secured by Penn to all the inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania." They designate the time from 1688 to 1708 as the first period in which a few straggling immigrants arrived. Among these they refer to Henry Frey, whose wife is said to
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The Congregation.
have been still living at that time, and who had arrived about 1680. They also speak of some North Germans who came over about the same time, some of whose descen- dants were still to be found in this vicinity, some being baptized by them. Others had adopted the habits and beliefs of the Quakers.
They designate the period from 1708 to 1720, in which many separatists came along with the members of the Lutheran Church and settled among them, as the second period.
The third period is said to have been that from 1720 to 1730, when some of the Lutherans who came brought ministers along, Falckner, Hinckell and Stoever. That this must be Daniel Falckner is evident from the fact that the paragraph immediately following mentions Justus Falckner as one who was sent out by the Swedes. 1730 to 1743, when Zinzendorf became so active in worrying our churches, is named as the fourth period. But these state- ments, as will at once be seen, take no account of the or- ganization of this congregation.
In note 26, Vol. I., p. 36,1 it is properly stated that " this is the oldest German Lutheran congregation within the bounds of the United States." But we fail to find any well founded authority there, or elsewhere, for the addi- tional statement that it is " difficult to say in what year the first settlements were made." This may be true. But when the editor adds: " it is highly improbable that it was before the year 1700," he has evidently lost his bearing and forgotten some of his own statements. For he soon adds that "Many of the first settlers came from New Hanover in which the first settlements inland in Pennsyl- vania are to be looked for." Elsewhere he tells us that in
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