USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Salisbury in Lancaster County > History of Jerusalem Lutheran and Reformed Church of Western Salisbury, Lehigh Co., Pa. : with complete records of all members of both congregations, baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials > Part 2
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On the appointed Sunday practically all the members of the Macungie circle, forty-four in number, appeared at a lovefeast in Bethlehem, at which the preliminary arrangements were completed, and at six o'clock in the evening were constituted a regular Moravian congregation.
The names of those who entered into the new organization were: Sebastian Knauss, Anna Knauss, Jacob Ehrenhardt, Barbara Ehrenhardt, Samuel Eber-
REV. JOHN BAER STOUDT
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THE SALISBURY REFORMED CONGREGATION.
hardt Kopp, Anna Kopp, Conrad Wezel, Philip Kratzer, Jacob Herrmann, Heinrich Guth, Joseph Graff, Peter Graff, Margareta Graff, Johannes Knauss, Maria C. Knauss, Jacob Loscher and wife, Johannes Koehler, Eva M. Koehler, Martin Bamberger, Elizabeth Bamberger, Johannes Landes and wife, Jacob Barstler, Catherine Albrecht, George Hartmann, Christina Hartmann, Tobias Weber, Margareta Weber, Peter Hoffman and wife, Rudy Oberly and wife, Frederick Rauschenberger, Maria Goetschi Rauschenberger, Catharine Guthin, Rosina Pfingstag, Mrs. Philip Kratzer, Gertrude Cogin, Catherine Wezel.
The union episode and formal organization of a Brethren congregation at Emaus seriously hindered the growth of the Salisbury Union Congregation. The small log church on the Little Lehigh became a deserted house. The Re- formed pastor, John W. Straub, ceased his labors and the formal organization of a Lutheran congregation was retarded for almost a decade. When Rev. Michael Schlatter visited the Reformed congregation of the Lehigh Valley, early in the summer of 1747, for the purpose of organizing them into charges, and to have them unite in the formation of a Synod, he found the Salisbury congrega- tion vacant and inharmonious. (Pages 160-163, Schlatter's Life and Travels.)
Having organized the scattered congregations into sixteen charges, Rev. Schlatter called a convention for the purpose of organizing a Coetus (Synod) .' In response to this call twenty congregations responded by sending 31 delegates, four of whom were ministers. The result of this convention, which met in the old Reformed Church in Philadelphia, September 29 to October 2, 1747, was the organization of the Coetus with a long series of meetings still unbroken. At this convention the Salisbury congregation was represented by Heinrich Roth. His name is recorded as the delegate from the Little Lehigh. At this meeting Rev. Schlatter reported that he had received letters from consistories in Monocaey, Conestoga, Lancaster, York, Donegal, Macungie, Lehigh, Raritan, Cocalico, Little Lehigh, Saucon, Forks, etc., all of which requested help and asked for the Lord's Supper. In reference to the congregation in Oley, Mana- tawney, Maxatawny, Macungie, Allemangel, Lehigh, etc., he reports, they "are not ripe enough" and should be let alone until their desire for true and regular ministers becomes greater.
At the second meeting of the Coetus, held at Philadelphia, September 28, 1748, the delegates from Egypt, Heidelberg and Little Lehigh jointly asked that they constitute a charge and be given a minister. In its proceedings we find the following minute in reference to this request: "The delegates from Egypt and Heidelberg, in Bucks County, and from Little Lehigh, have asked for a regular minister and have received as a unanimous answer from the Coetus that if at least fifty pounds of Pennsylvania money can be raised, then Coetus will send a request to the venerable Christian Synods to obtain a minister for them " Minutes of Coetus, p. 42. Under date of January 29, 1749, Rev. Schlatter? made
I. Minutes of Coetus, Pages 32-38.
2. Schlatters Life and Travels, Page 188.
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HISTORY OF JERUSALEM CHURCH, SALISBURY, PA.
the following entry: "I received letters from Macungie and Egypt with earnest solicitation that I might come over and visit them and administer to them the Holy Supper. On this occasion Rev. Boehm, at my request, took upon himself to attend to the wants of these remote congregations."
On the 28th of April Rev. Boehm accordingly visited the Egypt congrega- tion and administered communion. On his return he was suddenly taken sick and died the following day at the home of his eldest son at Hellertown. Whether Rev. Boehm had previously administered the Holy Supper in Macungie will doubtless never be known, since both the early Macungie, i.e. Salisbury, records as well as the private records of Rev. Boehm are known to have been destroyed.
After the death of Rev. Boehm Rev. Schlatter requested Rev. Leydich to occasionally visit and edify vacant congregations. He frequently conducted services at Salisbury and Upper Milford until they were finally recognized as a part of his charge.
Reformed Pastors.
JOHN PHILIP BOEHM.
Rev. John Philip Boehm was the first pastor to minister to the spiritual wants of the early settlers of the Macungie regions. The Moravian records of Emaus note marriages and baptisms by him. In a letter to Synod of Holland, dated October 18, 1734, he states that some people from Macungie have come at various times to communion in the congregation entrusted to him at Falkner Swamp, and brought children for baptism. He was born at Hochstadt, Ger- inany, November 25, 1683, where his father, Philip Lewis Boehm, was pastor prior to his coming to America. He taught school at Worms (1708-1715) and at Lamsheim (1715-1720) after which he came to Pennsylvania and located in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County, and became a farmer. Soon after his arrival he was called upon by the people to lead in religious services. So well pleased were they with him as a reader that they prevailed npon him to become their pastor and though he explained that according to the church order he could not accept the office of pastor, protesting that he could not justify before God his refusal of so necessary a work. He finally yielded to their entreaties and in the fall of 1725 administered communion for the first time at Falkner Swamp, Skippack, Whitemarsh.
He was regularly ordained in the Reformed Church of New York City, November 23, 1729. He then took extensive journeys to the outlying settlements, baptizing the children and conducting services in houses and barns and laying foundation for the organization of congregations. His labors were chiefly con- fined to the eastern half of the German settlements or to the territory now in- cluded in the counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, Le- high, and Berks. He stood firmly against the union movement of Zinzendorf and
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THE SALISBURY REFORMED CONGREGATION.
saved the Reformed from being absorbed by the Moravians. Dr. J. I. Good says of him, "He saved the Reformed Church and continued her historic existence. Our Church should ever honor him as its defender as well as its founder." Rev. Jos. H. Dubbs' says of him, "In missionary work he was untiring and he founded many congregations which he kept alive by his occasional visits, waiting for better days. More than to any other individual the founding and preservation of the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania in this time is due to the self-secrificing devotion of John Philip Boehm."
In addition to his three original congregations he also preached at various times to the congregations in Philadelphia and Germantown until 1747. Though pressed by age and infirmity, he continued at the request of Rev. Schlatter to visit distant congregations among which were Tulpenhocken, Macungie and Egypt. On his return from Egypt, where he administered communion, April 28, 1749, he was suddenly taken ill and died on the following day in the house of the eldest son, in Hellertown. The house is still standing.
JOHN HENRY GOETSCHI.
John Henry Goetschi was a son of Rev. Moritz Goetschi, who was a minister at Saletz, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, where he was deposed from the ministry, but the people believing him to have been treated unjustly remained attached to him, and he at once organized a colony to go to the Carolinas, and on October 4, 1734, he left Zurich, with a company of about four hundred souls, including his wife and eight children. At the Hague, Goetschi met a Mr. Von Felken, who induced him to change his destination from the Carolinas to Penn- sylvania and to accept the office of Superintendent of the scattered Reformed congregations of the Province. The colony arrived at Philadelphia in May, 1735, and while enroute Goetschi took sick and died a few minutes after being brought ashore. John Henry, his eldest son, a boy of about seventeen years, had been a student for the Gospel Ministry in Zurich and when the people saw his excellent testimonials regarding his studies, they were delighted and insisted that he must preach. He accepted the challenge and soon became very popular.
"Everywhere the people were eager to accept him as a pastor. Rev. Good 'calls him 'The Boy Preacher of the Reformed Church.' " On the title page of the church record at New Goshenhoppen he noted that he was serving simul- taneously congregations at Skippaek, Old Goshenhoppen, New Goshenhoppen, Swamp, Saucon, Egypt, Macedonia, (Maxatawny ) Mosillem, Oley, Bern, and Tulpenhoeken. This entry was probably made in 1736. Rev. J. F. Berk, in Christian Landmarks, published in 1840, states that he also preached in Macungie. This claim of Rev. Berk is substantiated by the fact that the Mora- vian records at Emaus contain two baptisms by him. (See Reformed Baptismal Record.)
I. Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, Page 90.
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HISTORY OF JERUSALEM CHURCH, SALISBURY, PA.
On September 24, 1740, he paid a farewell visit to New Goshenhoppen and then retired from Pennsylvania in order to complete his studies. In 1748 he was regularly ordained by the Dutch Reformed Church. After ordination he re- ceived a call from the Dutch Reformed Congregation, which he served until his death in 1774. Rev. Corwin' speaks of him as a learned, pious and godly man and a faithful and successful preacher of the Gospel, and describes him as being "below the middle size, of a vigorous constitution, abrupt in speech, but his language as clear and expressive."
JOHN WILLIAM STRAUB.
John William Straub before coming to Pennsylvania taught school at Gronau in the Palatinate. He took the oath of allegiance at Philadelphia on September 21, 1732, and was then 44 years of age, hence born in 1688. Between the years of 1739 and 1746 he preached at stated times to the congregations of Skippack, Indian Creek, and Salisbury. It was during his pastorate that the first church in 1741 was erected. He was a linen weaver by trade and was never ordained. It is not definitely known how long he served the Salisbury congrega- tion. The years of service usually credited to him are 1741 to 1743. However, since to him the deed was made, December 15, 1743, we may reasonably presume that his service extended at least over in the year 1744. In 1746 Schlatter found him at Indian Creek when he made the following entry in his diary :2 "Oct. 20. Hitherto a linen weaver, named Straub, has preached here every week in this congregation and has performed ministerial acts, but he has now promised mne to administer the holy sacraments no more. However, he will continue to preach or read at my request, until they secure a minister, hoping that he can then serve as school teacher, for which he is well qualified, and will receive a small yearly contribution from the Reverend Synods of Holland."
REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH.
Rev. John Philip Leydich was born April 28, 1715, at Girkhausen in West- phalia, where his father was pastor. He was an ordained minister and had prob- ably labored in the fatherland for some time before he was sent to Pennsylvania by the Synod of South Holland. Concerning his arrival in America Rev. Schlatter notes in his diary3 thus: "On the 15th of September, 1748, to my exceeding great joy, came to my house, healthy and happy, Rev. John Philip Leydich, with his wife and two children, having been sent over by the Reverend Christian Synod of South Holland, which this year assembled at Briel. Ilis Reverence showed me his letters of appointment as minister in these regions, and handed over to me the letters which the reverend Christian deputies of the Synod
I. Manual of Reformed Church in America, Page 99.
2. Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, December 1905, Page 161.
3. Schlatters Life and Travels, Page 182.
REV. DANIEL, ZELLER
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THE SALISBURY REFORMED CONGREGATION.
had entrusted to him; which convinced me anew of the continued zeal and faith- ful care under which the Christian Synods manifest for the good of the Penn- sylvania churches; and furnishes me with reasons for bowing my knees before God, to present a heartfelt thank-offering before Him." On the 9th of October, Rev. J. P. Boehm installed him as pastor of the congregations of Falkner Swamp and Providence, which congregations Boehm, on account of his advanced age, found it impossible to serve.
Rev. Leydich was a missionary. His labors were by no means limited to his charge. He visited many shepherdless congregations beyond his charge and was the instrument of keeping them from disbanding. He continued to serve Salis- bury and Upper Milford until 1771, when, on account of failing health, he was unable to make the long journey from Falkner Swamp to Salisbury and Upper Milford. He died January 4, 1784, and is buried in a private cemetery in Frederick Township, Montgomery County.
CONRAD STEINER, JR., 1770-1771.
Conrad Steiner, Jr., was a son of Rev. Conrad Steiner, who was born Janu- ary 1, 1707, at Winterthur, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. In response to the constant appeals of Rev. Schlatter to the Churches of Holland and Switzer- land, he was sent in 1749 as a missionary to Pennsylvania. The year of the birth of Conrad, Jr., is unknown, but he appears to have been born prior to his father's coming to Pennsylvania. At first, and up to the year 1771, he served the calling of a school-master and catechist, studying theology in the meanwhile, also preach- ing in vacant charges and assisting Rev. Leydich. It was in this capacity that he served the Salisbury congregation. Rev. Leydich in presenting his resigna- tion to the Coetus suggested Steiner as his successor because the congregations were well pleased with his services. In 1771 he was licensed to preach and in 1774 was called to Lehigh County. In the Coetal minutes of 1782 we find the following notice: "The congregations of Allentown, Moorestown, and Lehigh have informed Synod, with sorrowful hearts, of the death of their beloved pastor, the Rev. Steiner."
JOHN GEORGE WITMER, 1771-1779.
John George Witmer was born in 1735 and came to America in 1766 with Rev. John Theobald Faber, a native of Zozenheim in the Palatinate, and at one time a student at Heidelberg. After his arrival in Pennsylvania he was im- mediately called to the Muddy Creek charge, Lancaster County, where he labored with little or no success. The people failed to support him properly and he suffered from chronic melancholy. When, on account of failing health, Rev. Leydich was compelled to relinquish Salisbury and Upper Milford, Coetus deemed it advisable to propose Witmer to them, so that the good man, who is worthy of pity, might be helped in this way. It was further suggested that Rev Blumer, of Allentown, should accompany him and present him to the congrega-
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HISTORY OF JERUSALEM CHURCH, SALISBURY, PA.
tion. He apparently pleased the congregation and was elected and served them very acceptably until the year of his death. In 1777 he served as secretary of the Coetus of Pennsylvania. He died on Christmas, December 25, 1779.
REV. JOHN HENRY HELFRICH.
Rev. Helfrich was born in Moszbach, near Frankfurt-on-the-Main, October 22, 1739. His father, John Peter Helfrich, was burgomaster in Moszbach and died soon after the birth of John Henry and his mother married Rev. Helfen- stein, who later became inspector and pastor in Singheim. John Henry and his stepbrothers, Albert Conrad Helfenstein and John Henry Helfenstein, in com- pany studied theology in the University of Heidelberg. Having completed his studies he was licensed and ordained September 22, 1761. In 1771 the Synod of Holland challenged him, his stepbrother Rev. J. C. Helfenstein and Rey. J. G. Gobhard to go to America. They accepted the challenge and sailed for the new fields of labor September 6, 1771, and landed at New York January 14, 1772. Soon after their arrival he went to Philadelphia and then to Weisenberg, Lehigh County, where he began his labors in June of the same year and continued until the time of his death, December 5, 1810.
The following is a list of congregations he served and the time when he took charge of them: Weisenberg, Lowhill, Kutztown, Delongs, Heidelberg, 1772; Longswamp, 1774; Salisbury and Upper Milford, 1775; Ziegel, 1778; Trexler- town, 1784; Lynntown, 1804. In order to serve these many congregations he often preached weekdays.
Rev. H. Harbaugh ' says: "The first Reformed settlers here were worthy Christian people, the largest number of them being Huguenot and Swiss fami- lies. They came into this country pious, and many for the sake of piety. What they desired and greatly needed was pious ministers; but, alas! such were not to be obtained ..... This region was afflicted, for the space of full forty years, by a succession of unordained, irresponsible ecclesiastical vagrants, who were not only irregular in office, but generally grossly immoral in their lives. The reign of each one was generally short ; as the piety and good sense of the old people were insulted by their crude ministrations and immoral lives. But they got rid of one only to be afflicted again by another like him. Gradually the piety of the fathers itself suffered, and the young grew up in ignorance and vice .... and after from twenty-five to forty years had passed, a peculiar state of society began to prevail, which may properly be designated as half-civilized."
Such were the religious conditions previous to Rev. Helfrich's arrival in 1772. He is said to have organized consistories in a regular way and sought to have the congregations with the Coetus. While he was mild and prudent, never- theless he insisted upon regularity and purity of life, and hence some congrega- tions hardened in their sins soon found it agreeable to dismiss him. In most of the congregations he was successful. Light and life soon spread and order came
I. The Fathers of the Reformed Church, Volume 11, Page 242.
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THE SALISBURY REFORMED CONGREGATION
out of chaos. He by nature was kind and sympathetic and always punctual and prompt. During his ministry he baptized 5830 and confirmed 4000 souls. On the 5th of December, 1810, when in the act of mounting his horse, he suffered from a stroke and died the same day. He lies buried in the family plot.
REV. JOHN HENRY HOFFMEIER, 1797.
Rev. John Henry Hoffmeier was born in Anhalt-Coethen, in Germany, March 17, 1760, and was baptized three days later. Through the death of his several brothers and his own serious illness he was led to consecrate himself to the holy ministry. Soon after his recovery he was left an orphan but found a home in the Orphans' Aslyum at Halle, where his conduct and diligence in his studies made him a favorite. In 1779 he was transferred to Frederick College, also in Halle, where he studied theology, graduating three years later. From Halle he went to Hamburg where he was engaged as a tutor in a private family, but find- ing the climate of Hamburg too harsh he went to Bremen where he began preach- ing as a candidate. While in Bremen he was shown a letter from America, de- scribing the lamentable spiritual destitution of the German settlers, and upon being asked whether he would not respond to its call, he replied : "Yes, I will go : I regard that letter as addressed to me." During his stay at Bremen he had formed the acquaintance of Gertrude Asen, a pious woman of culture and refine- ment, and they were united in holy wedlock, May 8, 1793, and on the following day set sail for America. They were accompanied by Rev. C. L. Becker and his wife, also from Bremen, whose hearts had also been touched by the appeal from their brethren in America. Through the efforts of Rev. Geo. Troldemier, pastor of the Reformed congregation at Baltimore, the port at which their ship landed, they both received calls from Northampton County, Pennsylvania : Rev. Becker, the charge consisting of congregations of Easton, Mt. Bethel, Plainfield, and Dryland, and Rev. Hoffmeier, the charges consisting of Upper Saucon, Lower Saucon, Springfield, and Hamilton, beyond the Blue Mountains. Besides these he often supplied the neighboring congregations.
How long or in what capacity he served the Salisbury congregation is not known. In 1797 he opened the communion record, recording the names of those who communed at both the Spring and Fall communions.
In 1806 he accepted a call from the First Church, Lancaster, where he labored very successfully until 1831, when he retired from the active ministry. He died at the home of his son-in-law, March 18, 1838. During his last illness he suffered excruciating bodily pains, and upon being asked by a friend what he could do for him, he replied: "God will strengthen me, for those that put their trust in Him shall never be forsaken." He lies buried directly under the pulpit of the First Church, Lancaster.
It is related that when he was about to leave his first charge and remove to Lancaster, that he was given a dinner by his congregations and that on the day of his departure a large company of people accompanied him several miles, and that
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HISTORY OF JERUSALEM CHURCH, SALISBURY, PA.
for thirty days many of his parishioners wore crape on their arms as an ex- pression of their sense of the loss they sustained by his removal.
JACOB WILLIAM DECHANT, 1805-1808.
Jacob William Dechant was born at Kreutznach in the Palatinate, February 18, 1784. He was a son of John Peter Dechant and his wife Jacobina, nee Walluer. Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were ministers of the Gospel. Mr. Dechant emigrated to Baltimore in 1805 and soon thereafter began to study theology under Rev. C. L. Becker. He was licensed and ordained in 1808 and soon thereafter accepted a call to the charge of which Salisbury was a part, which, in addition to Salisbury, is said to have consisted of the following congregations: Springfield, Nacomixon, Upper Milford, Trexlertown, Long- swamp, and Upper Saucon. In 1815 he was challenged by the Synod to go to Ohio as a missionary, in which capacity he labored about three and one-half years, after which he returned again to Pennsylvania. He died October 5, 1832, and was buried in the graveyard at the Oley church, Berks County.
Harbaugh says: "As a preacher he was popular and generally beloved by his people. He was a man of unusual talents and training and is said to have prepared a number of young men for the Christian ministry."
DANIEL ZELLER, 1815-1857.
Daniel Zeller was born in Tulpenhocken Township, Berks County, Pa., May 27, 1792. He was a son of Francis and Elizabeth Zeller. In his youth he worked on his father's farm, and having a taste for reading, he bought many books which he used during his spare moments. It is related that often while the horses were eating he would read his books, leaving the work about the barn to his older brother. While he told his father of his desire to prepare himself for the Holy Ministry he received a father's blessing and encouragement and the promise of financial aid to prosecute his studies. In the year 1811 he began his preparatory and theological studies under the direction of Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, D.D., in Philadelphia. He was examined and licensed April 15, 1815. By the consent of Synod he took charge of the congregation of which Rev. J. W. Dechant was the pastor and who had been granted a leave of absence for the purpose of making a missionary tour to Ohio. Rev. Dechant never returned to his former field and thus Rev. Zeller continued to serve the charge until May, 1857, when, ou account of bodily infirmities, he was compelled to resign. He died of con- sumption at Allentown on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, April 12, 1862, and was buried in the Union Cemetery, Allentown. The burial services were held in Zion's Reformed Church. Text: Daniel 12:3, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Rev. Zeller's private records, which, however, do not contain an account of the first few years of his ministry, show that he baptized 3,881, confirmed 2,139, married 1,110 couples, and buried 1,073,
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REV. A. J. G. DUBBS
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THE SALISBURY REFORMED CONGREGATION.
Rev. D. Y. Heisler in his Lives of the Fathers says of him: "Father Zeller was a man of great modesty and amiability, wholly incapable, we should think, of doing a wrong act or speaking even an unkind word, an 'Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile.' His mild and kindly disposition made him the friend and favorite of all who knew him. In his habits he was singularly retired and his character, both public and private, was of that quiet innocent and gentle cast which all admire and a few possess."
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