History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 131

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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We now come to the Revolutionary period, and the condition of the German Reformed Churches that clustered in and about Philadelphia at that time.

Harbaugh, in "The Fathers of the Reformed Church," upon authority of Jonas Detwiler, of Mont- gomery County, states that John H. Weikel was pas- tor at Boehm's, Whitpaine, and other churches in the northwestern part of Philadelphia County (now Montgomery County) from 1776 to 1781. At the commencement of the Revolutionary war he preached a sermon from Ecclesiastes iv. 13,-" Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king who will be no more admonished," which so angered his con- gregation that he soon resigned.

In 1784, upon the 28th of March, Rev. John Her- man Winkhaus received a call from the Whitpaine congregations at Bochm's and Wentz's churches, and the churches at the Trappe and Worcester. He was a native of Altena, in Prussian Westphalia, born Nov. 26, 1758, and educated at the Latin school at Limburg and the University of Duisburg, in Cleves. He remained in charge until April 9, 1787, when, receiving a call from Philadelphia, he resigned. For

two years the churches at Whitpaine, Worcester, and Trappe had no pastor. Rev. Philip Reinholdt Pauli succeeded in 1789, and served till 1793, preaching in Whitpaine, and in Boehm's and Wentz's churches. He was succeeded by Rev. Nicholas Pomp, who was in charge from 1794 to 1797,-he being, at the time, also minister at Falkner's Swamp and Goshenhop- pen. In 1796, Rev. Lebricht Frederick Herman took charge of these congregations as a supply, holding the position about six months. He was born in the prin- cipality of Anhalt Cothen, Oct. 9, 1761. He was educated at the Orphans' House at Halle and at the university in that city. From 1782 to 1785 he was assistant preacher at Bremen, and was then called by the deputies of the Synod of Holland to go to Penn- sylvania to assist in supplying the great destitution which existed in the German Reformed Church. He was ordained to that work in February, 1786, with Rev. Mr. Troldenier. He arrived in August, 1786, and was called to the congregations of Easton, Plain- field, Dryland, and Greenwich, N. J. Four years afterward he had a call to Germantown Church, where he remained twelve years. Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, son of Rev. John Conrad Helfenstein, preached in this district from 1796 to 1799, and was followed in 1799 and 1780 by Rev. Thomas Pomp. About 1783 Rev. Nicholas Pomp accepted a call to Baltimore (from Falkner's Swamp). Rev. Frederick Dallicker (name derived from De la Cour) died while pastor at | Falkner's, Jan. 15, 1799. Rev. Lebricht F. Her- man assumed charge of that church and also the one at Frankford, in 1800, and preached many years in the tall hour-glass-shaped pulpit perched in one corner of the square building there. Rev. Mr. Faber's successor at Great Swamp was Rev. Frederick Van- dersloot, who resigned in 1786, after seven years' ser- vice, and Mr. Faber was recalled and acted till his death, Nov. 2, 1788.

The Germantown Church, in 1775 in Rev. Mr. Hel- fenstein's charge, passed under the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Dubbendorf May 17, 1777. He had left the chaplaincy of a Hessian regiment. He afterward preached at Lykens Valley. Rev. John C. Helfen- stein was recalled to Germantown, and died in 1790, leaving five sons, three of whom were ministers. Dr. Helmuth and Dr. Dallicker preached funeral ser- mons. Dr. Hermann, as noted, was his successor. During 1793 Gen. Washington and his family at- tended this quaint, low, stone church in Germantown. Ministers from here generally supplied the Frankford Church for some time after the death of Rev. Chris- tian F. Foehring, in 1779. In 1787 the Frankford congregation was incorporated, and Rev. Philip R. Pauli was made exhorter though not yet ordained. This church was used by the Americans as a prison. Lately, in the journal of a Hessian officer, discovered in Hesse-Cassel, was found an entry under date of 1777, stating that he was in the battle of Trenton and captured, and he says that " they were imprisoned for

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a time in a church of a little village called Frankford, above Philadelphia."

Dr. Caspar Deitrich Weyberg, to whom allusion has been made as taking charge of the Race Street Church, Philadelphia, when the Revolution began, was a true patriot, acted as chaplain for the Conti- nentals, stayed in the city when the British entered, and even preached the doctrines of freedom to the Hessian soldiers in their own language. He was causing many desertions when the British put him in prison, and turned his church into a hospital. May 5, 1779, he speaks in a letter of beginning again to preach, but in the school-house. The first sermon which Dr. Weyberg preached after being liberated from prison, was from the text, Psalms lxxix., " Oh, God! the heathen are come into thy inheritance. Thy holy temple have they defiled." Dr. Weyberg died Aug. 21, 1790, and was buried by the side of his predecessor, Mr. Steiner, in the German Reformed graveyard, in the Northeast (now Franklin) Square. Dr. Weyberg was succeeded in the Race Street Church by Rev. John Herman Winkhaus, who preached his introductory sermon at Philadelphia Church, Sept. 26, 1790, only a month after Dr. Wey- berg's death. He remained in charge for a short time over three years, when yellow fever, caught while in his ministrations, cansed his death at the age of thirty-four. Samuel Weyberg, Jr., supplied the pulpit for a short time. Rev. Dr. William Hendel assumed the pastorate Feb. 9, 1794. He was a native of the Palatinate, and had been preaching in the Tul- peliocken region since 1769, at times supplying no less than nine congregations, and doing thoroughly pioneer work. The arduous labors of the yellow fever season of 1798 proved too much for the venerable clergyman, and he died of the epidemic September 29th. Dr. Helmuth, of the German Lutheran Church, preached the funeral sermon.

The formation of Montgomery County out of the upper portion of Philadelphia County, by an act of Assembly passed on the 10th of September, 1784, takes from our consideration the history of the Ger- man Reformed Churches situated within the new county. There were in 1800 in this district churches at Whitpaine and Wentz's, and the churches at the Trappe, Worcester, Falkner's Swamp, Great Swamp, and at Old and New Goshenhoppen. There only re- mained of the German Reformed Churches in Philadel- phia the First Church, in Race Street, below Fourth, the church at Germantown, and the church at Frank- ford. The death of the Rev. Dr. William Hendel by the yellow fever (1798) left the Philadelphia Church six months without a settled pastor. On the 14th of January, 1799, the congregation elected Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, D.D. He was promised a salary of three hundred pounds and a parsonage. Mr. Helfenstein was the son of Rev. John Christian Albert Helfen- stein, who for several years was the minister of the German Reformed congregation in Germantown and

elsewhere. His mother was a native of Philadelphia, and her maiden name was Kircher. Samuel was born at Germantown on the 17th of April, 1775, and was educated by the Synod to which his father had be- Jonged. His oratorical powers were of a high order, and he was a leader among his ministerial brethren. Rev. David Van Horne, in his "History of the Re- formed Church in Philadelphia," thus describes the church built in 1772, in which Rev. Mr. Helfenstein preached :

" It was ninety feet long on Race Street, with large double doors Dear either end, having at their tops a very heavy ornamented coping. A low brick wall, covered with flat stones, ran along the sidewalk in front, upon which was an iron railing or fence, with gates located at the few steps fronting either entrance. The building was of brick, with here and there & brick burned black and glazed, set in the wall by way of ornamentetion. Between the doors in front were two windows, with corresponding ones in the second story for lighting the gallery. The east gable, on Sterling Alley, had two windows below, with e large cen- tral one in the second story and a large circular one in the attic. The width of the building was sixty-five feet, and its height was forty-two feet. In the rear were two doors, corresponding to those in front, be- tween which was located a high pulpit with ite spiral staircase, and a sounding-board projecting over the head of the speaker. Directly op- posite, in the front gallery, was the organ, where the choir was stationed to sing the German hymns and chorals. The ceiling was high and arched, the gallery broad and firmly set, and the pewa above and below deeply set, in the old-fashioned style."

On the same lot was the school-house, built in 1753. In 1793 it was torn down to make way for a larger structure in the rear of the church, which building has served the purposes of education ever since, and is still standing. The first Sunday-school was opened by this congregation on the 14th of April, 1806, with forty scholars. In the earlier history of the church, the schoolmaster and the sexton resided in this build- ing, the schoolmaster being also the organist. During Dr. Helfenstein's time he had about thirty students studying under his direction for the ministry.

About the beginning of the century a new question began to call for a settlement. The English-speaking members of the congregation desired sermons in Eng- lish. Dr. Helfenstein was conservative on this point. In April, 1804, a consistory resolution to call a meet- ing to consider the question was lost through some informality. In 1805 the Synod was petitioned to pass a resolution recommending that preaching in the Eng- lish language be allowed every third Sabbath for the | " benefit of those who do not understand the German." On the 9th of July, 1805, this motion was offered before the consistory,-

" Resolved, That, as the board of corporation of the Race Street |'hurch, and in conformity to the wish of Synod, we will introduce the English language foto our servicee before the congregation shall be destroyed through strife."

The vote upon this was a tie, Dr. Helfenstein voting in the negative. "A proposition followed," says Rev. David Van Horne, " from the party wishing English services for compromise ; but all efforts for an ami- cable arrangement failed. Finding that there was no hope of receiving any consideration in their desires, the English party went off, dividing the congregation

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almost equally, and taking fully one-half of the mem- bers." This occurred in the year 1806 ; and the sub- sequent progress of the seceders belongs to the history of the Dutch Reformed Church, hereafter to be given. The remainder of the church clung to the German, and they had a season of enjoyment of that language for eight or ten years. A new English party then sprung up in the congregation. Like those who had gone before them, they demanded that some of the services should be held in English, and their elders resisted stoutly. The question was carried into the church elections, but the English party was in the minority. In 1817 the board of corporation, being German adherents, became suspicious that Mr. Hel- fenstein was inclined to help the English innovators, and without any notice of complaint or citation dis- missed him from the pastorate. The next Sabbath he took his stand before the altar, and gave an account of what the board had done. After this he withdrew, without attempting to hold religious service, his state- ment having created for him much sympathy. The board then closed the church, and a lawsuit was com- menced, which ended in the Supreme Court issuing a mandamus, compelling the board to open the church doors. On the Sunday after this judgment was ren- dered, Mr. Helfenstein re-entered the pulpit. Upon this, the leader of the German party rose and said, "Come, my brethren ! this is not our minister ;" upon which the German party left the church en masse. This sudden event did not entirely change the char- acter of the preaching in the old church. The use of the German language was still continued, but the English was also introduced. The two tongues were used alternately in the services, and so continued until after 1825.

The members of the Race Street congregation, who withdrew in September, 1817, organized themselves under the title of the German Reformed Church of the Northern Liberties,-afterward the Independ- ent German Reformed Church of the Northern Liberties. They opened their meetings in the old Commissioners' Hall of the Northern Liberties, on Third Street, above Buttonwood, and organized with sixty seven members, but were mostly poor in this world's goods. On the 29th of December, 1818, they called as pastor Rev. Frederick William Vandersloot, a native of Dessau, Germany, born Nov. 11, 1773. He had come to America in 1801. was licensed to preach in 1802, and ordained in 1803.

They purchased a lot of ground on the west side of St. Jolin Street, between Tammany and Green. The corner-stone was laid May 8, 1819, and a plain brick church put up, the dimensions of which were sixty by fifty-five feet. In December, 1820, they petitioned the Legislature for authority to set up a lottery by which seven thousand dollars might be realized for church purposes, but it was denied.

and afterward, returning to Pennsylvania, preached in York County till his death, in 1831. He was a fine linguist, composed many hymns and poems, and was gifted with good musical talents. When Mr. Vander- sloot resigned his Philadelphia pastorate, Rev. Henry Bibighaus became his successor. Bibighaus was son of a Bucks County farmer, who engaged in business, taught school, became an organist, and after reaching middle age studied theology under Dr. Helfenstein, Sr., and was ordained in October, 1824.

There was a school-house in the Northern Liberties about the year 1800 which was alternately supplied by pastors of the German Reformned and the.Lutheran Churches. There was also a school-house in Kensing- ton similarly occupied by alternate services. Van Horne says,-

"Both of these school-houses were supplied with the pulpit, were under the special control, and were the property, of the two churches, the Reformed owning the oue in Kensington."

Rev. Mr. Herman, who was preaching in German- town in 1800, gave up the use of the English in the pulpit in that year, and therefore accepted a call from the churches at the Swamp and Pottstown, and also afterward supplied congregations in Chester, Mont- gomery, and Berks Counties. His wife was Mary Johann, daughter of Daniel Fiedt. They educated five sons for the ministry. He died in 1848, aged eighty-seven. After a short interregnum the Ger- mantown Church was permanently supplied by Rev. J. W. Runkel, and he preached in English and Ger- man after March 1, 1802. Mr. Runkel was born at Oberengelheim in 1749, came to America at the age of fifteen, entered the ministry, and engaged in wide- spread and highly-successful missionary work for years throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsyl- vania. In 1805 he accepted a call in New York City, but in 1812 returned to Germantown to spend his de- clining years, preaching only at times, until, in 1815, he received a call from the churches at Gettysburg, Pa., and Taneytown and Emmittsburg, Md. In 1819 he confined his services to the Gettysburg Church, which he served for seven years, after which, being well stricken in age, he withdrew from active service Nov. 5, 1832, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was one of those typical evangelists of the fron- tier, and his endurance, energy, and enthusiasm were marvelous.

Rev. F. W. Vandersloot supplied the pulpit from 1811 to 1813, and was succeeded in 1814 by Rev. Cas- par Wack. He is believed to have been the first German Reformed minister in the United States who preached in English, Though for a number of years his services were in German, he was required by his residence in the country to keep up his English edu- cation. Mr. Wack remained at Germantown, preach- ing quite as much in English as in German, until 1826, attending also to the church at White Marsh.

In March, 1824, Rev. Mr. Vandersloot accepted a call to Virginia, preaching in several counties there, ' He subsequently supplied the church at Pikeland,

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Chester Co., and died at Trappe, July 19, 1839, aged eighty-seven.

The history of the German Reformed Church at Frankford during the few years more in which it ad- hered to that communion is substantially that of the church at Germantown. Rev. Mr. Runkel preached every fourth Sabbath in the German language, at other times in English. He settled with the officers of the church, on the 13th of November, 1805, for three and a half years' services at the rate of one hundred dollars per annum. What was called the Church Company, composed of Abraham Duffield, John W. Clellan, and others, leased the German Re- formed Church at Frankford, Feb. 13, 1803, for three years, time to expire on the first Sunday in April, 1806. The German Reformed had possession on the fourth Sunday, but at other times the services were by ministers of other Protestant sects in the English language. The last election for officers of the Ger- man Reformed Church was held Jan. 5, 1807, and the following were elected: President, John Rohrer; Sec- retary and Treasurer. George Castor ; Trustee, Joseph Dearman ; Elder, Caleb Earle; Deacon, John Meyers; Sexton, George Rohrer. These officers petitioned the Presbytery of Philadelphia in April, of the same year, for a supply in the pulpit, which ultimately led to the incorporation of the members of the German Reformed Church of Frankford on the 9th of April, 1808, as the Frankford Presbyterian Church of Frank- ford, in the township of Oxford and county of Phila- delphia.

The Reformed Church of the United States, or German Reformed, have the following church organ- izations in this city in 1884:

English .- Reformed Church Publication Board, 907 Arch Street. Rev. Charles G. Fisher, superintendent.

First Church, Tenth and Wallace Streets. Rev. D. Van Horne, D.D. Christ Church, Green Street, below Sixteenth. Rev. James Crawford. Grace, sonthenst corner Tenth and Dauphin Streets, Rev. A. B. Stoner. Heidelberg, Nineteenth and Oxford Streets, Rev. James I. Good. St. John, Haverford Avenue, above Fortieth Street. Rev. John P. Stein. Trinity, Seventh Street, north of Oxford. Rev. D. Ernest Klopp, D D. German -Bethlehem, Norris and Blair Streets, Rev. John G. Neuber. Emanuel, Thirty-eighth and Baring Streets. Rev. John Kuelling, D.D. Emanuel, Bridesburg. Rev. William F. Forster.

Salem, Fairmount Avenue, below Fourth Street. Rev F. W. Berlemann. St. John Chapel, Ontario and Tulip Streets, John G. Neuber.

St. Luke, Twenty-sixth Street and Girard Avenue. Rev. W. Walenata. St. Mark, Fifth Street, above Huntingdon. Rev. G. A. Scheer.

St. Paul, southeast corner Seventeenth and Fitzwater Streets. Rev. A. E. Dahlman.

Zion, Sixth Street, above Girard Avenue. Rev. Nicholas Gehr, D.D.

THE DUTCH REFORMED.

The first Dutch pastor, Rev. Everasdus Bogardus, sent to America, reached New York about 1627, and on his return to Holland, in 1647, was lost at sea. John and Samuel Megapolensis succeeded him. In 1738 some of the Dutch Reformed ministers in New York proposed having an association of clergy, called the Coetus, which was done in 1738. In 1754 the effort to develop this body into a regular Classis nar- rowly failed of success. In 1771, under the noted

Rev. J. H. Livingston, the Dutch Reformed Church in America was divided into five Classes with a yearly General Synod. The first preaching in Eng- lish in this church was that of Rev. Dr. Laidlie, of Scotland, in 1764. The last Dutch sermon was preached in New York in 1804. The doctrines of the church are now, as always, Presbyterian.

In the previous division we alluded to the schism in the First Church of the German Reformed, in 1806, on the language question. The new organiza- tion developed into the first congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in Philadelphia or vicinity. It is probable that at the time of withdrawal they had no definite idea of establishment, whether they would become connected with some other denomina- tion than the Reformed, or whether they hoped to obtain from the superior authorities of the German Reformed Church the privileges which had been denied them by the members of their own congrega- tion. Their desires and hopes were evidently for a continuance of connection with the German Reformed Church. They adopted the title of the Second Re- formed Association, and obtained a room for meeting in that cradle of congregations, the academy, on Fourth Street, below Arch. According to the diary of Joseph Eastburn, he began to preach for them regularly on the third Sabbath in July, 1809, and gave his services to the congregation during the whole of the year, except when called by duty to the almshouse, the prison, and the hospitals, until the congregation obtained Rev. James K. Burch as regular preacher. The name was then changed, in January, 1810, to the Evangelical Reformed Congrega- tion of the city and vicinity of Philadelphia. On the 18th of January, 1810, the trustees addressed a letter to Joseph Eastburn, signed Philip Peltz, president, and Matthias Gebler, secretary, in which they ex- pressed their sincere thanks "for the many services you have rendered the congregation, and in being in- strumental [under God] of adding another church to the cause of Christ." They also inclosed one hun- dred dollars, saying that it was an inadequate ac- knowledgment, but all that they could then raise. He at once turned the amount over to the treasurer as a subscription toward a church building. Rev. Mr. Burch, their new pastor, had been a Presby- terian, and led the party that went out from the Third l'resbyterian Church, and organized the Fifth. The congregation grew rapidly, and on the 14th of April, 1810, Edward Pennington and wife conveyed to the Evangelical Reformed congregation two lots of ground on the west side of Crown Street, north of Race, bounded on the south by the Race Street lots. The whole front on Crown Street was one hundred and five feet ; one lot was eighty-seven and a half feet deep, the other one hundred and seventy-five feet deep. The corner-stone was laid May 27, 1810, and the church was dedicated June 28, 1811. It was of brick, eighty-five feet by sixty-two and a half feet, a

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substantial building, having its longest side on Crown Street. The pulpit stood on one of the sides, leaving the bulk of the congregation on either side of the preacher. The galleries were perched up midway between the floor and the ceiling. The ascent to the pulpit was by means of circular stairs.

Meanwhile the tendency was toward a uniou with the Dutch Reformed, and in February, 1813, the title of the church was changed from the Evangelical Reformed to the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. It was enrolled in the Classis of New Bruns- wick in April of that year, and was regularly organ- ized in May. Mr. Burch resigned, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. Jacob Broadhead, who was installed on the evening of Oet. 10, 1813. Rev. Jacob Broad- head had been one of the pastors of the Collegiate

Church, New York, was a graduate of Union College, tion might be revived, and held it for some years, during which time religious services there were irreg- ular.

class of 180I, and tutor in that college for three years, also pastor of the church at Rhinebeck be- tween 1804 and 1809. Ile retained charge of the First Philadelphia Church till 1836, and then re- turned to service in New York. He died in 1855, aged seventy-three.

The Second Reformed Dutch Church was known previously as the Tabernacle and Independent Taber- nacle, and afterward as the Seventh Presbyterian Church. The congregation bought two pieces of ground for burial purposes. The first was purchased of Henry Pratt, May 11, 1824, and was on the south side of Sassatras [ Race] Street, between Schuylkill Seventh [Sixteenth | and Schuylkill Eighth [ Fifteenth ] Streets. It had a front of eighty feet on Race Street and sixty feet on Cherry, and extended two hundred and ninety-two feet to the latter street. Another lot was purchased of Thomas Reeves, Jr., and wife, April 11, 1825. It was on the north side of Cherry Street, east of Tenth. It had a width of thirty-three feet on Cherry Street, and a depth of one hundred and forty- four feet. The College of Pharmacy is built on the northern portion of this lot.

The First Reformed Dutch Church, on Spring Gar- den, had its origin in religious meetings held in Penn Township Hall, at Garden [ now Eighth] and Button- wood Streets, which resulted in an association prob- ably in 1817. On the 27th of March, 1818, Abraham Warthman conveyed to the " First Reformed Dutch Church in the District of Spring Garden," a lot on the east side of Garden [Eighth] Street, between Pegg's Lane and Buttonwood Street. It was fifty feet front by one hundred and thirty-seven feet deep, sub- ject to a ground-rent of one hundred and seventy-five dollars. John Hyde on the same day conveyed the adjoining lot, which was fifty feet front and one hun- dred and forty feet deep, subject to one hundred and forty dollars ground-rent. Garden Street was in direct line with Eighth Street, and was considered to com- mence as a separate street at Callowhill Street. After- ward it was considered a portion of Eighth Street, and few persons now know that it was once discon-

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 131

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992