History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 97

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 97

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Sirth Class, 1878 .- Rev. J. J. Fisher, A. B., Tamaqua, P'a. ; S. L. Ilertzog, B.S., Darrtown, l'a .; M. M. Lenhart, A.B., Hamburg, Pa. ; 11. A. Mathieu, Esq., A B., Philadelphia, Pa. ; L. C. Royer, A. B., Rob- ertsdale, Pa.

Seventh Class, 1879,-F. S. Dietrich, A. B., Albany, Pa. ; A. F. Krout, A.B., Stone Church, Pa. ; W. I. S. Lecron, A. B., Waynesboro', Pa. ; D. B. Markley, A. B., Collegeville, l'a. ; J. B. I'mberger, A. B., Anburn, N. Y. ; Rev. W. H. Slonffer, B.S., Bath, Pa. ; Rev. F. G. Slauffer, B S. Pleasant Valley, Pa.

Eighth Class .- R. J. Baney, B.S., Meyerstown, Pa. ; J. P. Beaver, A. B., Auburn, N. V. ; J. F. Becker, A. B., Catasauqua, Pa. ; L. D. Bech- tel, A. B., Reading, l'a ; L. H. Guth, A.B., Guth's Station, Pa. ; A. S. Keiser, A. B .. Lyons, l'a.

Ninth Class, 1881 .- G. W. Stibitz, A. B., Hrela, Pa. ; E. S. Snively, B.S., Slady Grove, Pu.

Teuth Class, 1882 .- Augustus W. Bomberger, A.B., Collegeville, Pa. Frank A. Guth, A.B., Guth Station, Pa. ; Isa W. Kline. A. R. Meyers- town, Pa. ; Lonis K. Taubel, A. B., Philadelphia, Pa.

Eleventh Class, 1883 .- Marvin Custer, A. B., Fairview village, Pa. ; Frank R. Davis, A.B., Pickering, Pa. ; II. F. Keller, A.B., Zionsville Pa. ; Lincoln A. Landis, B.S., Groter's Ford, Pa. ; A. Bond Warner, B.S., Minersville, Pa. ; George W. Wolfersberger, B.S., Campbellstown, l'a.,

Twelfth Class, 1884 .- Henry A. Bomberger, A.B., Collegeville, Pa. ; David L. Fogelman, A. B., Womelsdorf, Pa. ; Bertha Hendricks, B.S., Collegeville, l'a. ; Howard A. Hunsicker, B.S., Collegeville, l'a. ; John A. Kuiper, A. B., Elizabetbville, Pa. ; James W. Meminger, A.B., Ickes- burg, l'a .; John Y. Stauffer, A. B., Guth's Station, Pa. ; Pbaon W. Snyder, A.B., Sagersville, Pa. ; Minerva Weinberger, A.B., College- ville, Pa. ; Joseph E. Saylor, A. B., Limerick, Pa.

REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER, D.D .- Rev. Dr. J. H. A. Bomberger, president of Ursinus College, College- ville, Montgomery Co., Pa., and a very prominent minister of the Reformed Church in the United States, was born in Lancaster, Pa., on the 13th of January, 1817. His mother was a daughter of Rev. John H. Hoffmeier, for nearly thirty years pastor of the Reformed Church in Lancaster. His ancestors on both sides were of German origin, and in their ecclesiastical relations, as far back as is known, con- nected with the Reformed Church.

After receiving an elementary training, he was entered in the Lancaster Academy about 1827. On the 2d of January, 1832, he repaired to the High School of the Reformed Church at York, Pa., under the management of Rev. Dr. F. A. Rauch as princi- pal, who was the first real teacher whose tuition he enjoyed. According to the prescribed course of academical study, he had in due time prepared enough Latin, Greek and mathematics to admit him into the sophomore class at college. But the High School had no such division in its curriculum, and in accom- modation to existing arrangements, his studies were otherwise continued for two years. Ile was then admitted to the Theological Seminary, also located at York, in which Dr. Mayer was professor of theology. But in the fall of 1835, the High School being trans- ferred to Mercersburg and raised to a college, he was induced to take a full college course, meanwhile suspending theological studies. He graduated in 1837, and afterwards spent a year in completing the theological course, under such aid and direction as Dr. Rauch, president of the college, could furnish him, the Theological Seminary not yet having been removed from York. During the last two years of his course he was employed as tutor in the prepara- tory department of the college.

In October, 1838, the Synod of Lancaster licensed him to preach the gospel; and in the latter part of November, in compliance with a call, hc settled in Lewistown, on the Juniata. Here he was ordained on the 27th of December, 1838. For the Reformed Church this was a difficult and discouraging mis- sion, so that he remained but twenty months. He preached three or four times every Sunday in English and in German. His salary at Lewistown was two hun- dred and twenty-five dollars. To aid in his support he obtained the academy (classical school) of the place, which had run down to three pupils, and only by special effort was raised to ten, thus adding two

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hundred dollars to his income and five days and a half a week teaching to his other work.

In July, 1840, he accepted a call from the Waynes- maintain itself. In 1860 Christ Church, Green Street, boro' charge, in Franklin County, consisting of four organized congregations,-Waynesboro' and Salem in Pennsylvania, and Cavetown and Leitersburg in Maryland. Here he remained until April, 1845, when a call as English pastor of the Easton congrega- tion, as successor to Rev. B. C. Wolff, D.D., was accepted by him. At this place he was associated with Rev. Thomas Pomp, who was German pastor.

tlement, and though by great effort it was kept alive for three or four years, this enterprise was unable to near Sixteenth, was founded. Race Street was scarcely strong enough to justify sending off a branch, but the wants of the church in the then northwestern part of the city demanded it. About three years later another interest was started, also under the an- spices of the Race Street Church, in the vicinity of Fourth Street and Girard Avenue, which afterward grew into Trinity Reformed Church, now at Seventh

In August, 1852, a call was extended him by the ; and Oxford Streets. Still another enterprise was First Reformed Church, Race Street, below Fourth, commenced, now the Church of the Strangers, in West Philadelphia. In the light of these facts the minis- terial work of Dr. Bomberger in Philadelphia must be regarded as having been in a high degree success- ful. Philadelphia. The consistory of the Easton Church having unanimously opposed it, the invitation was declined. Two years later the call to Philadelphia was renewed, and under special pressure accepted. The Race Street Church was reduced to about one Through his varied experience and natural endow- ments Dr. Bomberger has accomplished in his minis- terial services an amount of work which few men would have undertaken, and which fewer still could have carried to a successful issue. As a pulpit orator hundred communicants, and much discouraged. But against many difficulties the congregation quietly and gradually grew. A second flock (Church of the Apostles) had been organized shortly before his set-

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he possesses great power, and has acquired to perfection the art, or inherited the gift, of enchaining the atten- tion of an audience. Of a graceful form and dignified bearing, with a voice full, rotund and modulated, and with a diction at once pure and elegant, he wields all the advantages of a ready and nent extempore speaker. His style tends to the diffuse, his manner is somewhat impassioned, and his imagery brilliant and captivating,-essential qualities in a public speaker. Possessing these advantages, it is quite natural that he should be unusually successful in the active dutics of the ministry, and enjoy a reputation far beyond the limits of his own denomination. In addition to his pastoral work, Dr. Bomberger occupies a prominent position as a writer on theological topics, and as a defender of the historical faith of the Reformed Church. About the year 1852 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Marshall Col- lege.

His first literary attempt of note was a series of articles in the Mercersburg Review, 1853, on " Dr. Nevin and His Antagonists." Since the above date he has at- tained honorable distinction as a controversialist, and, in addition to occasional published sermons and ad- dresses, has performed literary work as follows : In 1857 appeared his "Five Years in Race Street," with a full, general and statistical appendix relating to the origin and condition of the Reformed Church. In 1860 he edited and in large part retranslated " Kurtz's Hand- Book of Church History," now extensively used as a text-book in the theological seminaries of many denominations. "Infant Baptism and Salvation " appeared in 1861. In this year also Dr. Bomberger began to edit a translation of "Herzog's Encyclo- pædia," himself preparing one-half the translations, and carried it through nearly six volumes of the original. But the German translation having far ex- ceeded the limits proposed for it, the publishers were not prepared to complete the work, and it was sus- pended. In 1866 appeared the " Revised Liturgy," a history and criticism of the ritualistic movement in the Reformed Church. "Reformed not Ritualistic," a reply to Dr. Nevin's " Vindication," was published in 1867, and by its vigorous and well-nigh exhaustive treatment of the subject at once designated its author as a natural champion of the Reformed in its histori- cal sense. In 1868 the Reformed Church Monthly, a popular religious and theological journal, was founded and continued for nine years, during which Dr. Bomberger served as editor and furnished more than three-fourths of the articles.

As early as the Synod of Norristown, in 1849, Dr. Bomberger was appointed one of a committee in- trusted with the task of preparing a Reformed Liturgy on the basis of the various liturgies of the Reformed Churches, and especially of the old Palati- nate Liturgy used by the early ministers of the Reformed Church in this country. It was not long, however, until a majority of the committee were

of the opinion that the old Reformed Liturgy would not admit of such modifications as the wants of the time demanded. The committee nevertheless recom- mended a translation of the Palatinate Liturgy as the best result then attainable. But the Synod refused to enter upon this plan, and instructed the committee to proceed with the preparation of a liturgy. The Synod of Baltimore in 1852 provided that the work should proceed on the basis of the liturgical worship of the primative church, while special reference should be made to the Palatinate and other Reformed Liturgies of the sixteenth century. In 1857 a " Pro- visional Liturgy " submitted by the members of the committee was allowed, but received no formal sanc- tion. It was at once seen that there were in it two different systems of worship, the one containing a set of forms in the old Reformed style, and the other an altar liturgy, with responses and elements of a ritual- istic character.

The diverse liturgical systems of the "Provisional Liturgy " having frustrated its purpose, and the desire for a liturgy cast in one mould having increased, the Synod of Easton resolved upon a revision. The former committee was intrusted with the work. Upon its reassembling, a prolonged controversy regarding the principles of revision having arisen, Dr. Bomberger stoutly defended Reformed customs and traditions. The question was referred for decision to the Synod of Chambersburg the following year, Dr. J. W. Nevin preparing the majority report and Dr. Bomberger that of the minority. The Synod continued the com- mittee, and the majority, no longer respecting the earlier rules of the Synod, pursued their work in ac- cordance with their own liturgical views, and finally submitted the whole work to the Synod of York in October, 1866, and a few weeks later to the General Synod of Dayton. The latter body, by a small ma- jority, allowed the use of this "Revised Liturgy," but did not indorse it. In Dr. Bomberger's tract, "The Revised Liturgy," the seriousness of the situation is delineated. He proposed, as a remedy, to modify the Provisional Liturgy; but all phrases of doubtful im- port or contrary to pure doctrine should be changed. Notwithstanding these just and temperate proposi- tions, the extreme liturgical party were in no mood to grant any concessions. Dr. Nevin, in his tract, "Vindication of Revised Liturgy," violently assailed the position of Dr. Bomberger, and songht to fasten the stigma of schismatics upon the adherents of Re- formed doctrine in its purity. This called forth Dr. Bomberger's "Reformed not Ritualistic," in which the whole matter in dispute was succinctly stated and an elaborate defense of Reformed doctrine and custom presented. For the calm and dignified manner in which the nature and extent of the innovations were discussed, and for the wealth of historical and doc- trinal matter brought to light, Dr. Bomberger merits the lasting gratitude of the Reformed Church. From this time forward be applied himself with additional

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zeal to the defense of what he regarded Reformed usage and doctrine. The Reformed Church Monthly, with Dr. Bomberger as editor and principal writer, was established in Jannary, 1868, and was supported as the theological exponent of the evangelical wing of the church. This periodieal rendered incalculable service to the Reformed Church by its exposure of the aim and tendency of the new theology. Early in 1869, Dr. Bomberger was called to the presidency of Ursinus College, located at Collegeville, Montgomery Co., an institution founded by members and friends of the Reformed Church. At this institution, which imparts instruction on the basis of Christianity and with chief regard to religious ends, he has found ample opportunity for a wide field of usefulness and for making his influence as a scholar and educator widely and permanently felt. Believing that the higher branches of education in particular should be pursued in full harmony with evangelical Protestant principles, he has been heartily supported by the friends of education in general and by the evangelical or auti-ritualistic (sometimes inaccurately called Low Church) portion of the Reformed Church. Under his presideney of Ursinus College, including a theo- logical department, not a few young men have come under his educational influence, while a number of these have entered the ministry. In addition to his duties as president and professor of ethics and intel- lectual science and theology, he served as pastor of St. Luke's Reformed Church, at Trappe, Montgomery ! Co., until October, 1883.

At the General Synod of Lancaster, in 1878, a " Peace Movement " was inaugurated, which has brought the liturgical controversy in the Reformed Church to a close. A new " Directory of Worship " is in process of adoption, which omits the objection- able features, and Dr. Bomberger has suspended his publie opposition to the advocacy of so-called im- proved doctrines, which is still carried on in different periodicals by some ministers of his church.

During the summer of 1884 he made a brief tour through Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Ger- many, paying special attention to the historical places of the Reformed Church. He took a conspicuous part in the debates of the Alliance of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System, at its sessions in Belfast, Ireland, in the month of June. Since returning he has delivered, with great accept- anee, in different parts of the State, a number of lectures and sermons, based on his observations abroad.

Dr. Bomberger has been twice married. By his first wife, Marion E. Huston, of Mercersburg, he has four daughters and one son; by his second, Julia Aymar Wight, of Philadelphia, three sons.

REV. HENRY W. SUPER, D.D., vice-president of Ursinus College, was.born in Baltimore, Md., De- cember 31, 1824. He was the son of John Super, for many years a resident of that city, who fought in the 1

battle of North Point, September 12, 1814, when Baltimore was assailed by the British uuder General Ross. The chief brunt of that battle fell upon the Twenty-seventh Regiment, to which he belonged. By the loss of his father at an early age the subject of this sketch was left without the parental help so necessary at that period of life, and with very limited education was placed in the counting-house of C. W. Karthaus, a prominent shipping firm of the city, succeeding that of Peter A. Karthaus, a wealthy firm dating back to the Revolution, but ruined by the devastation caused by the Berlin and Milan Decrees of Napoleou. The "French spoliation claims" of that firm have lin- gered from that period to the present, aud though many enforts have been made to get bills through Congress to pay them, not until the present year (1885) has a bill received the sanction of both Houses of Congress.

The experience of four years in the counting- house, though of great benefit in teaching method and business habits, could not quell the longing for higher education and a professional life. Having connected himself with the First Reformed Church of Baltimore in 1840, he resolved to devote himself to the Christian ministry. Without help, other than that saved from his clerkship, he started for college, and managed to take a full course, aided in part by teaching during vacations.

Entering Marshall College, Pennsylvania, in 1844, he continued his studies without interruption until his gradnation, in 1849. He then entered the Theologi- eal Seminary. During the following year he pro- ceeded South, traveling through several Southern States, and finally locating in Memphis, Tenn., where he established a classical academy, the only one at that time in the town, and probably the first estab- lished in that city. Intent upon entering the min- istry, he returued North, but on the way paid a visit to Tiffin, Ohio. Here he was urged at once to locate in the West, and with this in view attended a meeting of the Maumee Classis, covering territory now oc- cupied by the Tiffin Classis. He was examined by a committee, consisting of Revs. J. H. Good, Hiram Shaull and Reuben Good, at the house of Elder Heilman, on Honey Creek. The examination proving satisfactory, the license was granted. The services connected with the granting of this license were held in Mt. Pisgah Church, Seneca County, Ohio, on Sun- day, April 27, 1851.

Without waiting for a call in the West, he returned to Mercersburg, Pa., and completed his theological course. He soon received a eall to Waynesboro'. His introductory sermon was preached in that charge on Sunday, November 23, 1851. Received very kindly, by this people, he remained with them about ten years, interrupted, however, for a time by illness in 1854, when he resigned the charge, but was again recalled on the restoration of his health in the fol- lowing year. This charge was on the border-line of

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Maryland, and during the war was exposed to raids and other military movements, which caused great anxiety and disquietude.

Receiving å call to the English Reformed congre- gation of Greensburg, Pa., he removed to that place in April, 1862, and remained until April, 1865. Finding that the work of the ministry was detrimental to his health, he now resolved to devote himself to the work of education.

Receiving an offer from the Keystone State Normal School to become the professor of mathematics in that institution, he accepted it, and began his duties in

history. About the same time he received the degree of D.D. from Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio.

In addition to pulpit efforts, Dr. Super has con- tributed articles and essays to reviews, magazines and papers. Some of his addresses to the students of Ursinus College have also been deemed worthy of publication, and at their request have appeared in pamphlet form.

In April, 1878, Dr. Super was married to Mrs. Sarah H. Detwiler, daughter of the late Francis Hob- son, of Limerick township, and sister of Frank M. Hobson, of Collegeville.

that position in April, 1867, remaining there until he received a call to Ursinus College in 1870.

Freeland Seminary had been a high school of many years' standing, sending from its walls many business and professional men. To increase its usefulness and elevate its standard of education it was resolved to apply for a charter granting the full privileges of a college. This was granted in 1869, and the institution was opened in its new form in September, 1870. The services of Professor Super were secured for the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy. Subse- quently the theological department was opened, and in this he oceupied the position of professor of church

J. SHELLY WEINBERGER, A.M .- A few miles north- west of Quakertown, in the township of Milford and the county of Bucks, stand three Mennonite meeting- houses within a radius of less than a mile, and no others within a range of several miles. The country is a fine open level, and is still known as the "Swamp." Fifty years ago the citizens of the place almost exclusively held the religious faith of the Mennonites, and on the Presidential election cast their ballots for the Whig candidate. The school-house was attached to the meeting-house, and the most ad- vanced in scholarship was generally called on to be- come the schoolmaster. The true genius of the Penn-

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sylvania Germans was well displayed in this locality. The inhabitants were farmers, with the exception of a few mechanics and store-keepers, and were early noted for sobriety, industry, non-resistance and shunning of debt. Not to pay one's debts was considered a marked disgrace, and to sue, unrighteous. The dic- tates of conscience were regarded far more binding than statute law. Their over-cautious habits, how- ever, prevented them from taking the initiative in any new enterprise, and the fact that a thing was new was thought sufficient ground for its rejection. Hence their slow progress in their early history. Amidst

of home training is the wholesome chastisement given him by his mother, who, in her old age, has as distinct a recollection of it as he has. Young Weinberger was educated in the common schools as they were con- ducted forty-five years ago.

When seventeen years of age he joined the church of his parents. In addition to subscribing to the creed he promised to obey the regulations of the church and to preach ifthe lot would fall on him. Bishop John H. Oberholtzer was the district school-teacher. His increasing parish labors divided his time unfavorably for discharging the duties of either office. When

of Shelly Weinberger

surroundings and associations of this kind lived the Weinberger family in humble style, having the Bible, hymn-book, prayer-book and a few printed sermons for a library. Joseph Weinberger's grandparents emigrated from the borders of the Rhine, in Germany, to this country. He was married to Mary Shelly, and to them were born four daughters and one son,-John Shelly Weinberger, named after his maternal grand- father, John Shelly. Joseph Weinberger could read and write German, was esteemed for his correct habits and resoluteness, and died in the eighty-first year of his age, while his mother had become almost a centenarian. The first remembrance that the son has

young Weinberger was nineteen years of age the bishop asked him to succeed him as teacher. The local director proposed to make it easy by requiring but a partial examination and allowing the novice to attend a term at boarding-school before the district school would commence. Meanwhile his brother-in- law, Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker, principal of Freeland Seminary, was paying the family a social visit, and was nrging the young man by all means to accept the proposition. That was the turning-point of his future career. The attendance of one term at a sem- inary gave no little weight to the young teacher's standing in the estimation of the community, and he

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succeeded far above his own expectations, especially in discipline. Having completed the winter session, he drew his pay and went to Freeland Seminary for two terms during the summer, the directors not requiring him to come home to attend examination, as he had given satisfaction the previous winter. When twenty-one years of age he resolved to take a collegiate course and make teaching his profession. The resolution was strong, but the funds were wanting. Rev. Daniel Weiser offered to provide the means if young Weinberger would become a Reformed clergy- man. His brother-in-law proposed to loan him all the money to insure an independent course. After the father became fully acquainted with the strong reso- lution of his son he resolved to furnish half the sum required and take notes for the other half. The way now was clear, and he concluded to prepare for Yale College, where his classical teachers, Wayne Mac- Veagh and William L. Williamson, had lately gradu- ated. Two years' studying, besides teaching and acting as prefeet in Freeland Seminary for board, amidst many discouragements, regrets and mortifica- tions, was regarded sufficient preparation for entering an Eastern college.

In the second week of September, 1855, John Hun- ter Worrall, a senior, Joseph Alonzo Chistman, a junior, Henry Royer, a sophomore, and J. Shelly Weinberger, an applicant for admission, all of Mont- gomery County, started for Yale College. In the evening they found lodging at the Florence Hotel, in the great metropolis, and on the following noon ar- rived at the "City of Elms."

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 97

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534