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Go 974.802 P687r 1235106
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02221 4313
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyoffirsten00reed_0
HISTORY OF THE First English Evangelical Lutheran Church IN PITTSBURGH
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THE HISTORY OF THE
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IN PITTSBURGH 1827-1900
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PHILADELPETIA NICMIX
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THE GRANT STREET CHURCH Built in 1888
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THE
HISTORY
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IN PITTSBURGH 1837-1909
L. D. Reed
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Printed for the Congregation BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PHILADELPHIA MCMIX
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COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY THE FIRST ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN PITTSBURGH
1235106
TO THE MEMORY OF
Thomas Detich Lane
FOR SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS A MEMBER OF THIS CONGREGATION AND FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY A FAITHFUL CHURCH OFFICER
THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THE CHURCH COUNCIL
Preface
RADITION is not trustworthy. A carefully prepared and well authenticated historical narra- tive is a safe teacher. Too little attention has been given in the past to the preparation and preservation of accurate ac- counts of the life and work of our individual congre- gations. The value of such records cannot be over-
estimated. Their absence has frequently caused much embarrassment to individuals and to congre- gations. Titles to property, insurance policies, and pension claims have been invalidated by incomplete parish records.
Furthermore, there are developed in the long career of a faithful congregation distinctive methods of work and high ideals of worship which give to it character, prestige, and honor. In order that suc- ceeding generations of worshippers may know their worthy ancestors and perpetuate the praiseworthy individuality of their congregational family these things must be written.
Realizing the far-reaching significance of these facts, the Council of the First Church at various times formally considered the question of editing the records of the meetings of that body for publication.
Historical sermons had been preached in this par- ish, brief items of important congregational move-
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ments had appeared in the religious press at various times, but no serious attempt at a complete and accurate account of the life of the congregation was made until the year 1907, when the question of the proper observance of the seventieth anniversary of its founding was presented to the Council. After a formal discussion of the matter it was referred to a committee consisting of the Pastor, Mr. Thomas H. Lane, Mr. B. F. Weyman, and Mr. Henry Balken, with authority to act. At the first meeting of this committee which was held at the home of Mr. Lane, it was unanimously agreed that no more appropriate and useful observance of the anniversary could be devised than the published account of the congre- gation's long and illustrious career.
The work of gathering the data and editing the same was assigned to the Pastor and Mr. Lane; that of publishing to Mr. Weyman and Mr. Balken, who have generously borne the entire expense of the whole work.
The work was begun at once. With most pains- taking care Mr. Lane made extended transcripts from the Minutes of the Council, which Minutes are, for certain pastorates, quite ample and accurate, but in parts are quite fragmentary, thus necessitating extended research in other directions. This work of transcribing he continued most zealously and affect- ionately until his failing physical strength stilled his hand; even then he drew upon the full store of his accurate memory and related many interesting and important facts which otherwise would have been forever lost, but which have now been carefully in- corporated in this book.
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The scope of the work continued to enlarge until the Committee became aware that in order to do full justice to the congregation this printed record must contain an account, not only of its local life and work but also of its interest in and its relation to the Church at large. As Dr. Passavant speaking of this congregation, said in The Workman of July 24, 1890: "It would require a volume to recount the intimate connection of this Church with the different forces which have been so effective in the history and development of the Lutheran Church in America."
Therefore upon the death of Mr. Lane the Com- mittee formally called to its aid the Rev. Luther D. Reed, Director of the Krauth Memorial Library at the Philadelphia Seminary, whose services in com- piling, amplifying, verifying, and editing the manu- script have been invaluable. To his scholarly effi- ciency, critical judgment, artistic taste, practical knowledge, and friendly offices in this enterprise, the Committee hereby makes most grateful acknowl- edgement.
Early in its career the congregation attained to a position of leadership and has been long noted for its strategic position between the East and the West, for its conservative attitude, its earnest interest in and liberality toward the Mission cause and the work of Christian education, for its generous gifts to the Church and to charity, and for its loyal stand in de- fense of the churchly dignity of its form of worship in an unliturgical community. No language difficulty has ever impeded its progress, and it has known no
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strife or contention except the Synodical controversy of 1866.
The record of these things as contained in the Min- utes of Council has been much enlarged by reference to various published histories of the city of Pitts- burgh and of other congregations in the city; to cer- tain denominational publications; to the published biographies of the Rev. Drs. Heyer, Krauth and Pas- savant; and to the files of the Church papers and the Minutes of Synods.
The work is necessarily somewhat uneven in its character. Many beautiful acts of faith and devotion on the part of members of the congregation have never been recorded by the hand of man. Much help- ful ministration and inspiring influence has its only earthly record in grateful human hearts. Many noble names and acceptable sacrifices are known only to Him Who is omniscient.
What is herein written of the early struggles, of the loyalty, faithfulness and consecration of the founders and fathers of this Church is a praise- worthy example and a splendid inspiration to the congregation of to-day and likewise to those who shall follow us.
May the precious heritage of seventy-two years of honorable history be kept, guarded, and cherished by worthy hearts and hands to the glory of God and to the enlargement of the borders of His Kingdom.
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
GEORGE J. GONGAWARE
Easter, 1909
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Contents
PREFACE PAGE vii
I. INTRODUCTORY. 1
II. PASTORATE OF THE REV. CARL FRIEDRICH HEYER 10
III. PASTORATE OF THE REV. EMANUEL FREY 23
IV. PASTORATE OF THE REV. JOHN MCCRON, D.D 28
V. PASTORATE OF THE REV. WILLIAM H. SMITH 47
VI. PASTORATE OF THE REV. WILLIAM ALFRED PASSAVANT, D.D. 51
VII. PASTORATE OF THE REV. CHARLES PORTERFIELD KRAUTH, D.D., LL.D 68
VIII. PASTORATE OF THE REV. REUBEN HILL, D.D 82
IX. PASTORATE OF THE REV. SAMUEL LAIRD, D.D. 94
X. PASTORATE OF THE REV. EDMUND BELFOUR, D.D
122
XI. PASTORATE OF THE REV. DAVID HARRISON GEISSINGER, D.D. 148
XII. PASTORATE OF THE REV. GEORGE J. GONGAWARE 180
APPENDIX
195
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
213
INDEX
219
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Illustrations
THE GRANT STREET CHURCH (built in 1888) Frontispiece -
PAGE MR. GEORGE WEYMAN 8
UNITARIAN CHURCH (in which the First English Lutheran Church was organized) 13
THE REV. CARL FRIEDRICH HEYER
16
THE OLD COURT HOUSE (in which the congregation worshipped) ... 24
THE REV. JOHN MCCRON, D.D
30
THE SEVENTH AVENUE CHURCH (built in 1840) .
38
INTERIOR OF THE SEVENTH AVENUE CHURCH.
48
THE REV. WILLIAM ALFRED PASSAVANT, D.D.
52
CHANCEL OF THE SEVENTH AVENUE CHURCH.
65
THE REV. CHARLES PORTERFIELD KRAUTH, D.D., LL.D
75
THE REV. REUBEN HILL, D.D 84
THE REV. SAMUEL LAIRD, D.D 100
PEW PLAN OF THE SEVENTH AVENUE CHURCH.
109
THE ST. JOHN'S MISSION SUNDAY SCHOOL BUILDING
116
THE REV. EDMUND BELFOUR, D.D. 124
INTERIOR OF THE GRANT STREET CHURCH. 137
THE KRAUTH MEMORIAL BAPTISMAL FONT. 140
CHANCEL OF THE GRANT STREET CHURCH
150
ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH (built 1893)
154
THE BLACK MEMORIAL WINDOW 158
THE REV. DAVID HARRISON GEISSINGER, D.D 177
MR. THOMAS HETICH LANE. 185
THE REV. GEORGE J. GONGAWARE 191
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CHAPTER I Introductory
N August, 1748, the very month and year when Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and other Lutheran pastors organized the venerable Ministerium of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Muhlenberg's
father-in-law, Conrad Weiser, the well-known Lutheran Indian Agent of the Tulpe- hocken Valley, led a party of men to Logstown on the banks of the Ohio to treat with the Indians. In the development that succeeded this and the formation of the " Ohio Company," German settlers from Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and even from the Fatherland, were side by side with the Scotch-Irish, and often before them, in pushing forward the fron- tier lines and taking up lands.
In 1782 there were about one hundred families in Pittsburgh, living in some sixty houses, only one of which was stone. In this year the German Lutherans and Reformed in and about Pittsburgh together called the Rev. John W. Weber, a Reformed pastor, to minis- ter to them, and he organized and served this, the first congregation in Pittsburgh, in connection with three other congregations in Westmoreland County, Brush Creek, Harolds, and Mt. Pleasant township. This was the beginning of the First German United Evan- gelical Protestant Church, which is claimed to be
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the oldest Union congregation in America or Europe, though it was not until 1821 that the Lutherans and Reformed became legally united in an incorporated congregation. The congregation had no synodical connection and for many years alternated its pastors from Lutheran and German Reformed connections. Its services were exclusively German. From its organization until 1826 the following Lutheran pas- tors served it: John Michael Steck, Jacob Schnee, Henry Geissenhainer, and Henry Kurtz.
The Presbyterians held their first service in 1784, and the First Presbyterian Church was incorporated in 1787. The Second Presbyterian Church dates from 1804.
The Roman Catholic chaplain of Fort Duquesne was probably the first to hold Divine Service in the city, 1754-58. But the French soon evacuated the fort and the first Roman Catholic pastor did not arrive until 1808.
As early as 1787, the Penns, for the purpose of "encouraging and promoting Morality, Piety and Religion in general, and more especially in the town of Pittsburgh," deeded three plots of ground for churches and graveyards to the First Presbyterian congregation on Wood St., the German Evangelical Protestant Church on Smithfield St., and to certain trustees to hold in trust for a Protestant Episcopal congregation to be organized in the future. At the time of the gift these lots were cornfields outside the city proper.
Episcopalian services were first held ten years later and in 1805 Trinity congregation was incor-
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porated and the cornerstone of the church laid. In 1825, the first time a Protestant Episcopal bishop visited Pittsburgh, the church was consecrated.
In the case of the Smithfield St. Church, the property was deeded jointly to "the two German religious societies or congregations," one of which "adheres to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession" and the other known as the "Protestant Reformed Church."
In 1837, when the First English Lutheran Church was founded, the population of Pittsburgh proper was about twenty thousand; including its immediate environs, about thirty-five thousand. The city com- prised five wards, the Fifth lying beyond the canal and usually designated Bayardstown. The canal crossed the Alleghany River by means of an aqueduct, passed across Penn and Liberty Streets and through the tunnel now used by the Panhandle Railroad, and terminated at the Monongahela River.
The city was supplied with water from a reservoir on Grant's Hill (Diamond Alley), diagonally across from the present Court House. Pedestrians using the streets after dark commonly lighted their way by lanterns, though the city gas plant was opened April 7 of this year.
There were four or five daily stage lines to and from the east, and others to the west, north, and south, with their headquarters at the Inn at the corner of Wood and Fifth Streets where the First National Bank now stands. The "Spread Eagle Tavern," on the site of the present Seventh Avenue Hotel, was the headquarters of the wagoners, who,
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in huge, covered, six-horse wagons, transported great quantities of the city's freight. Steamboats also plied the rivers, but the canals afforded possibly the most important facilities for passenger and freight transportation. Two daily packet lines main- tained communication with the east, and other lines operated in other directions.
The German Evangelical Protestant congregation had a brick church on the lot, Smithfield and Sixth Sts., with a graveyard adjoining and extending from the church along Smithfield St. to Strawberry Alley. As already indicated many German Lutheran families were in active connection with this congregation.
The Episcopal Church contained many substantial families who had been Lutheran and who had been drawn into connection with it by the close resem- blance in doctrine and usage to their own Church.
There were, however, those who could not be diverted from their spiritual mother and who longed for a Lutheran congregation and place of worship.
The establishment of the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church is an illustration of the efficient and far-reaching labors possible for devout laymen. To such a large extent was the preliminary work of organization done when the first accredited mission- ary reached the city, that we may truly say that the congregation was founded by a layman. The records clearly indicate that the movement was mainly de- pendent upon Mr. George Weyman, who in his early manhood, had come to this city from Philadelphia, the home of his parents. His acquaintance with the Lutheran ministers of that city led to his corres-
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pondence with them upon the desirability of estab- lishing a congregation in Pittsburgh. This undoubt- edly prepared the way for the final action of the West Pennsylvania Synod and the appointment of Father Heyer as the missionary to organize the congregation.
The successful effort to establish an entirely Eng- lish Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh at this time is all the more remarkable when we recall some of the circumstances. Mr. Weyman himself had been a member of Zion's German Lutheran Church in Phila- delphia. His early associations in Pittsburgh were with the Smithfield Street Church, which was entirely German. Lutherans who came to the city from the surrounding country were without exception from German congregations, as there were at this date very few English Lutheran congregations west of the Susquehanna and none at all exclusively English within the bounds of the present Pittsburgh Synod.
In 1815 the Rev. Mr. Cook of the Protestant Episcopal Church, living in Huntington, Pa., being "convinced of the purity of the principles of the Evangelical Lutheran Church," desired to be received as a member of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and made formal application with the request that he be located in Huntington, where he thought there was a field for English Lutheran work. But that body replied, "as our Ministerium is a German-speaking Ministerium, we cannot have anything to do with him according to our present principles; but as soon as he, according to the declaration of his letter, has acquired the German language so that he can also
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preach in the same, he may apply to us again and expect preferment." 1
There was no attempt to introduce English in the old Brush Creek Church until 1848 and then it re- sulted in a division in the congregation. "English for business but German for worship" was the avowed conviction of many Lutherans of that day.2
The wave of rationalism had sapped the vitality of all branches of the Christian Church. There was a widespread indifference to distinctively doctrinal standards and the prevailing spirit of Unionism inev- itably resulted in the absorption of the weaker by the stronger. Hence several attempts to establish English Lutheran congregations elsewhere had failed. With no English constituency, with but very little Lutheran literature in English, and with the unceasing opposi- tion of the Germans, many English Lutheran enter- prises had existed feebly for a time and had finally been absorbed by the Protestant Episcopal Church. Thus in New York City the first entirely English Lutheran congregation organized in this country, Zion's, 1796, lost its pastor, the Rev. George Strebeck, and a large number of its members to the Episcopal Church in 1805, and in 1810 the remaining portion, with their pastor, the Rev. Ralph Williston, who had originally been a Methodist, also entered the same communion. The New York Ministerium had even
1 Documentary History of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, pp. 479 and 483.
' Ulery, History of the Southern Conference of the Pittsburgh Synod, p. 76.
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officially declared the Protestant Episcopal Church to be the English Lutheran Church, to which all Lutherans preferring English to German should be directed.3
The first permanent English Lutheran congrega- tion in America, St. John's, Philadelphia, had been established but thirty-one years before, after the most bitter controversy over the question of lan- guage, by a party which, under the leadership of General Peter Muhlenberg, had left old Zion's Church in 1806. It is a most remarkable fact that the lan- guage question seems never to have been a matter even of discussion in the early days of the First Church, Pittsburgh.
We must also bear in mind the strong Scotch- Irish population of the city, dominant in numbers and influence, with positive doctrinal positions, using only the English language and already possessing two institutions of learning, at Cannonsburg and at Washington, Pa.
In view of these facts, and of others which might be mentioned, we can appreciate the far-sighted courage, steadfastness, and zeal of those who under- took to establish an entirely English Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh in 1837. If similar progressiveness had been shown by our fathers in other important centres, English Lutheranism would now be more firmly entrenched in our great cities.
3 Jacobs, History of the English Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, p. 319; and article " The Lutheran Church in Philadelphia " (The Lutheran, Oct. 15, 1908).
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Not alone in the pioneer efforts was Mr. Weyman conspicuous for his tireless endeavors, but during all the early struggles of the congregation, the heavy burden of financial responsibility and management rested upon him. Father Heyer records that "Mr. George Weyman undertook to build the church almost alone. Besides the large sum which he contributed, he had, when the church was finished, a claim of $12,000 against it, which the Church has gradually paid off." 4
While the preparatory movements were pending, Mr. Weyman, in travelling eastward on a canal packet, discovered that Dr. Peter Shoenberger was a passenger also, bound for his iron furnaces in Huntingdon County. They discussed the movement for a Lutheran congregation, and came to a tacit understanding unitedly to seek a suitable property and guarantee the payments. While there is nothing recorded to substantiate this, it was in later years accepted and related by Dr. Passavant. Dr. Shoen- berger held a pew in the church on Seventh Avenue and occasionally communed. His business interests were extensive and often required his absence from the city. Prior to the movement to establish the First Church, his family had united with Trinity Episcopal Church. His son, John H. Shoenberger, made munificent gifts and large bequests to that con- gregation and to charitable institutions connected with the Episcopal Church.
‘ Autobiography, see Lutheran Church Review, April, 1906, Ap- pendix.
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This chapter may properly close with the following tribute from the pen of Dr. Passavant, in The Work- man of July 24, 1890.
" While the history of this venerable Church is inwrought with the life and ministry of its successive pastors, we thankfully refer to the important part which was borne in its establishment by an unassuming layman. This was Mr. George Weyman, a former member of old Zion German Church in Philadelphia, who at an early day removed to Pittsburgh. At the peril of his own business, he borrowed $6000 and advanced this sum to purchase the church-lots. As the successive payments on the building became due and the feeble band of members were unequal to the undertak- ing, he made new loans to pay the contractors. In so doing he was compelled to mortgage his factory, and seriously to cripple his business.
On visiting the congregation at its second call, in 1844, we found the church advertised by the sheriff, the principal and interest already due being $16,000-a sum in those days equal to double this amount at present. How he staggered under this oppressive load, patiently bearing the burden for Christ's sake, and quietly waiting for Divine deliverance, is known only to God and the very few who survive. In all the eleven years of our pastorate, not a murmur escaped his lips, and when, before resigning, we made the last pay- ment, in money and securities, he was meditating plans of beneficence for the good of the congregation ! He was indeed a chosen instrument in the hands of Providence to perform a special work, and nobly did he accomplish the work given him to do! "
CHAPTER II Organization of the Congregation, and pas- torate of the Reb. Carl Friedrich Deper 1837
TRAVELLING missionary sys- tem was established by the Min- isterium of Pennsylvania in 1806, and in 1814 the first at- tempt was made to labor among the scattered Lutherans in Western Pennsylvania under this system. The Rev. J. C. F. Heyer was one of these missionaries, and in 1817 he operated in Craw- ford and Erie Counties, and at the request of some settlers who could not understand German he preached in that year what was probably the first English Lutheran sermon in Western Pennsylvania.
In 1825 the pastors of the Ministerium of Penn- sylvania west of the Susquehanna organized the West Pennsylvania Synod and for a time continued the travelling missionary system. The General Synod, organized in 1820, also sent some men into this territory. Some of these missionaries undoubt- edly visited Pittsburgh, met the English Lutherans, held meetings, and did preliminary missionary work.
During the session of the West Pennsylvania Synod at Mechanicsburg, Pa., in 1835, the Central Missionary Society was organized. Meetings were
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Pastorate of the Reb. Carl friedrich Deyer
to be held regularly at the place and time of the meetings of the General Synod, and the purpose of the new organization was to strengthen by systematic co-operation the work of the different synodical societies. The Rev. Mr. Heyer was the chairman of the preliminary meeting. The permanent officers elected were: president, Rev. John Bachman, D.D .; treasurer, Rev. Prof. M. Jacobs ; corresponding secre- tary, Rev. S. S. Schmucker, D.D .; recording secre- tary, Rev. H. L. Baugher.
The following year, 1836, the Synod in session at Lewistown received a letter from Rev. Mr. Rosen- miller of Perrysburg, Ohio, in which he "wishes to know, whether, and to what extent, the Synod would aid him in the attempt to organize an English Lutheran congregation in Pittsburgh." The Synod resolved "that the above application be referred to the Executive Committee of the Central Missionary Society and that the Synod recommend Brother Rosenmiller, as likewise brethren Sharretts and Martin, as suitable persons for Pittsburgh." 1
Father Heyer says :
" Efforts had been made at various times to establish an English Lutheran congregation in Pittsburgh; but so far unsuccessfully. The Synod of West Pennsylvania at its meeting held in October [1836] had resolved to make another attempt, and appointed three of its members to preach in Pittsburgh in rotation. Those thus commissioned were N. Scharretts, J. Martin and C. F. Heyer . . On Sat- urday I arrived in Pittsburgh. Mr. G. Weyman, a quiet but Christian man, took a specially active part in the establish-
1 Minutes, 1836, p. 15.
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ment of an English congregation in Pittsburgh. On Sunday morning and evening I preached in the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. On the following Tuesday seven or eight heads of families came together to discuss what further could and should be done to attain our purpose. Among other things it was resolved to accept with thanks the promised assistance of the West Pennsylvania Synod. Further, a committee was appointed to look for a suitable building where meetings could be held in future. All were urged to hunt up the English-speaking members of our Church in and around Pittsburgh, and to encourage them to take part in the establishment of an English Lutheran Church.
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