History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 133

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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The small churches in the vicinity of Philadelphia also grew, but slowly. St. Peter's, at Barren Hill, twelve miles from the city, was a direct outcome of the Germantown difficulties just described. There had been a stone school-house there in 1759, where ser- vices were often held. In 1761 the church was built. It cost, before roofed, five hundred pounds, and twelve hundred pounds when finished. An attempt to pay the debt by a lottery failed, and an effort to raise the funds in England and Germany fared no better. in order to secure the creditors, the Swedish provost, Dr. Wrangel, Dr. Muhlenberg, and Henry Keppelle ing to upward of one thousand dollars. The credi- tors were not immediately pressing, but the congre- gation did not even pay the interest, and at length the sureties were called on. The first means of re- munerating them was one hundred pounds, donated by the king of England. As a further means of in- creasing the interest of this congregation in the set- tlement of its debts, the church, school, and lot were transferred to the German Lutheran congregation, but it was considered parochial to St. Michael's. A short time afterward the Count of Roedelschein, of Germany, died, and left by his will thirteen thousand gnilders to the German Lutherans of Pennsylvania, three thousand of which were directed to be specially paid to discharge the debt of the Barren Hill Church.

The pastors of the churches in Germantown preached here. After 1769, Daniel Schroeter, "from the Uni- versity at Philadelphia," took charge of this church, but soon went to Manheim, near Lancaster, and Mr.

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Moller, a theological student, became his successor. joined the patriots, and their property was not spared Among the names on the early tombstones here are Mitchell, Hilkner, Bisbing, Kolp, Lentz, Freas, Wampall, Bartle, Dager, Fie, Russell, Haas, Hitner, Streeper, Sneyder, Schlatter, Staley, Hagey, Steer, Harman, Hallman, Rex, Faust, Tompson, Clay, Cress-

man, Gillman, Woolf, Stull, Kats, and Scheets. A German Lutheran Church was built in Lower Merion township in the year 1769, at the intersection of cross- roads half a mile east of Athensville, near the Dela- ware County line. It received the attention of various Lutheran ministers. The most common names on the | in the cemetery here. when the contest raged fiercely tombstones here are West, Lainhoof, Knox, Kugler, Marten, Dolby, Calflesh, Sheaf, Pechen, Miller, Goodman, Litzenburg, Smith, Wagner, Fis, Super, Bittle, Latch, Epright, Fimple, Paget, Hammill, Sibly, Zell, Nagle, Hoffman, Mayer, Creekbom, Knowl, Horn, Trexler, and Ott. There was also a Lutheran Church at Frankford in which John Fred- erick Schmidt preached about 1769. Another at Whitpaine was also served by him.

In 1773, on the eve of the war, the need of home- trained ministers urged the Lutherans to establish a seminary. For the maintenance of this school a number of Lutherans agreed to associate themselves into a body to be called " A Society for the Promo- tion of Christianity and all Useful Knowledge among the Germans in America." It was to consist of twenty- four members, who were to contribute ten pounds each, with foreign patrons and honorary associates. The studies were to be of the higher sciences, English law, medicine, and theology. The first meeting of this society was held on February 9, 1773, the twenty- four members having been then obtained. The con- trol of the institution was intrusted to the Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg and Mr. Keppele, directors; Dr. Kunze and Mr. Kuhl, associate directors; Rev. Henry Muhlenberg and another thereafter to be elected, in- spectors. On the 15th of February the school com- menced with five scholars. Mr. Leps taught Latin that year, but was ordained in 1774, and took a church in New York. The seminary managed to keep alive until 1778, but was then abandoned. When we stop to consider the immense amount of missionary labor that the few ministers then in Pennsylvania had to perform, it will seem a marvel that they ever under- took this enterprise. The population was very much unsettled, ever moving farther west. Dr. Muhlenberg wrote home that in five years half of his congrega- tion had changed. Besides this, roads and bridle- paths were extremely bad, or entirely lacking, and Indian difficulties were not unusual. Rev. Mr. Kurtz, in his narrative, says that July 2, 1757, the life- less bodies of no less than seven of his church mem- bers, murdered the night before by Indians, were brought to the church and lay before the pulpit till the funeral services the next day.

During the Revolutionary war the Lutheran Churches suffered greatly. Many of their members

by the British. At Germantown they plundered Rev. Mr. Schmidt's house, and forced him to leave with many of his parishioners. The church was also in- jured, and the organ was destroyed. It is said that during the Revolution this church was used for a bat- tery by British troops, soldiers being quartered in the building. At one time they were dislodged by a charge of Americans coming from Mount Airy. Maj. James Witherspoon, of the New Jersey Brigade, who fell in the battle of Germantown Oct. 4, 1777, was buried

on that day. Mr. Schmidt returned and acted as pastor till 1786. Rev. Mr. Weinland was his suc- cessor for three years, when he accepted a call to New Providence, in which trust he afterward died. Mr. Weinland came from Roemhild, and was the last ordained German Lutheran minister sent to America by the University of Halle. In 1790, Rev. Frederick D. Schaefer, at the age of twenty-seven years, was elected minister. The parish over which these ministers ruled embraced the Frankford, Nice- town, Whitpaine, Rising Sun, the Ridge, and Barren Hill congregations. The church at Germantown, which in 1770 had one hundred and seventy persons partaking of the Lord's Supper, and thirty-nine cate- chumens confirmed, was not so large again until after the Revolution. In 1786 the church was in- corporated. The Barren Hill Church also suffered during the Revolution. It was occupied by the con- tending armies as a battery and stable. It received much injury, and after the enemy left Pennsylvania it was found full of dirt and rubbish, and greatly in- jured. Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, in his journal of date Nov. 4, 1777, says of St. Peter's that it was used as a stable for horses by a part of the American army encamped in the vicinity. Lafayette used this church as a point of observation in May, 1778. St. Michael's, in Philadelphia, and Zion Churches ( Revs. Muhlenberg and Kunze, pastors) suffered during the war. The pastors left when the British came in, and Zion Church was made a hospital. It cost the con- gregation one thousand three hundred pounds for repairs, and Sept. 22, 1782, the building was re- consecrated. St. Michael's was used as a garrison church, and occupied by British chaplains, the few Lutherans left using it in the afternoons. Rev. H. Muhlenberg went to Lancaster in 1779, and Dr. Hel- muth1 was his successor. Rev. M. Kunze went to New York in 1784. For a while Dr. Helmuth had both churches on his hands, but Rev. John F. Schmidt was called to Zion. In 1780 the Legislature

1 Helmuth was one of the last of the twelve ministers who were sent over from Halle before the Revolution. Ho died in 1-25, in the eigh- tieth year of his age. While in Philadelphia he www appointed pro- fessor of German and the Oriental languages in the Voiversity of Peun. sylvania. In 1785, with Dr. Schmidt, he estal ishe l'a seminary for candidates for the church, a school maintained for more than twenty years.

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revived and reaffirmed the charter granted by the Penns in 1765, but a special enactment provided for non-election of officers in the church during British occupancy. On Oct. 10, 1790, the great organ was opened in Zion Church, being the largest and best instrument then in America. It was built by David Tannenberg, who was self-taught in this branch of mechanism. The frame was twenty-four feet front, eight feet deep, and twenty-seven feet high. The divisions consisted of five turrets and four frames, of two stories, except the side turrets, which, on account of the large pipes, were only one story in height. In the front there were one hundred metal pipes, and in the body there were two thousand pipes, with five sets of keys. St. Michael's had its organ repaired and the church rededicated in 1791. Zion Church lost no less than six hundred and twenty-five mem- bers of its congregation by the yellow fever in 1793.

Dec. 26, 1794, the vestry-room of Zion Church, in the tower, took fire, and the whole building was soon destroyed. Scarcely anything was saved except a few pipes from the organ. This fire was caused by putting hot wood-ashes into a box. Offers were at once made by other congregations, tendering their buildings for worship. Christ (Episcopal) Church made such an offer, also the German Reformed Church, on Race Street, near Fourth, which was most convenient. Soon after a lot south of the church, and now fronting on Loxley's Court, was bought for three thousand five hundred pounds, and a school- honse subsequently erected thereon. The walls were strong, and the work of rebuilding was commenced. The tower was raised higher than before, the interior fixtures replaced, and in November, 1796, the church was reconsecrated.

In Zion Church the ceremonies of commemoration of the death of Washington took place December, 1799, and in the succeeding year the ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Pennsylvania. In 1817 the third centennial jubilee of the Reformation by Martin Luther was celebrated in Zion Church. It was intended to be something more than a mere Lu- theran demonstration, and the design was to bring to- gether representatives of all Protestant sects. Among the ministers present were Bishop White, of the Prot- . estant Episcopal Church, and Rev. Dr. Alexander, of Princeton.

Both Zion and St. Michael's paid attention to educational matters. The lot granted in 1763 by the Penns, on the south side of Vine, east of Eighth, was supplemented by purchases, in 1776, of an adjoining lot for about two thousand five hundred dollars; and by a succession of grants and purchases the whole square, bounded by Race, Vine, Franklin, and Eighth Streets, finally became the property of Zion and St. Michael's congregations. Portions of the ground were reserved for school uses, but a space, ex- tending from Franklin to Eighth, was kept as a bury- ing-ground, and used for that purpose during many

years. In 1787 a school for poor children was opened by Zion congregation, for which the Legislature gave one thousand acres of land. A society for aiding the poor was also established in February, 1790. In 1789, to these churches, which had been educating eighty poor children, the Legislature granted, for the main- tenance of a school, five thousand acres of land in Tioga County. In 1794 the Zion congregation erected a school-house in the Northern Liberties, on a lot at the corner of Second and Brown Streets, which had been purchased some time previous. The establish- ment of the public-school system and the multiplica- tion of secular schools gradually did away with the system of church instruction.

Zion's first Sabbath-school was organized May 17, 1804, by a widow, Mrs. Anna Cruse, who began with six children. Another class was commenced in April, 1805, at the Northern Liberties school-house, corner of Brown and St. John Streets.

As early as 1796, when the troubles between the German and the English parties began to take dangerous form, these well-endowed churches were about to establish a large school, with five teachers, where both English and German should be taught. The school of Zion Church contained two hundred scholars and forty teachers before 1804. The four day-schools of the churches numbered two hundred and fifty pupils. It was during Dr. Schmidt's admin- istration, in 1802, that the pro-English agitation began among the younger Lutherans. The first trial of strength was Feb. 14, 1803, and the advocates of the German language won, also in 1804, and again in 1805, the latter time by a majority of thirty-four members of the corporation.

Upon this triumph they offered the English party the entire use of St. Michael's Church and the burial- place belonging there, as well as the use of the school- house in Cherry Street, and the privilege of burying in the other ground of St. Michael and Zion, to such of the English-speaking members as had relatives interred there. This was made upon condition that the new congregation should assume and pay one- third of the debt of the two churches, which was then six thousand eight hundred and thirty-one dollars, but the English party refused, and renewed the con- test in 1806. On that occasion the most strenuous efforts were put forth, so that nearly fourteen hundred votes were polled. The Germans won by a majority of about one hundred and thirty. The English party then went out in a body, carried off with them fully one-half of the members of the congregation, and formed St. John's Church. Dr. Schmidt survived this misfortune six years. He died May 16, 1812, at the age of sixty-six years, forty-three of which had been spent iu the service of the churches at German- town and Philadelphia. Dr. Helmuth delivered an affecting sermon. Before the death of Pastor Schmidt, on account of failing health, the congregation had elected as pastor Frederick D. Schaefer of St. Michael's,

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Germantown. When he entered upon his duties new trouble was impending. The secession of the advo- cates of English preaching in 1806 had taken away the younger members. But in about eight years another party arose, which demanded alternate Eng- lish and German preaching. The request was resisted, as had been the movement in 1806. In the early period of these controversies the English-speaking members of the congregation formed an association called the St. Michael's Society, the object of which was to " unite the members of the German Lutheran congregation by having divine service performed in the church in the English as well as in the German language." This society prepared a paper entitled "Observations Addressed to the Congregation upon the Subject of Preaching only German, and the Con- sequent Decline of the Congregation." A copy of this address was sent to every Lutheran, and a meet- ing was called for Sept. 26, 1815. The place appointed was the school-room of the church in Cherry Street, above Fourth; but when the persons intending to hold the meeting resorted to that place, they found the room already filled with the German party, and they were crowded out. This was repeated, until the meeting was abandoned. A meeting of the German party was held in the Northern Liberties in Decem- ber, 1815. Frederick Eberle was chairman. Christian Manhart said,-

"Brethren, they want to steal our property, to rob our churches. They have associated themselves into a society. Their articles were that they take Irishmed. Freuchmen, Englishmen, and even black men, into their churches. We shall oppose them with all our bodily strength."

John Donneck said that " blood should flow in the churches before English should be introduced."

In December, 1815, a meeting of the corporation of the church was held, and a letter, signed by Dr. Michael Leib, champion of the English-preaching party, was sent to George Honey, the president. They met in the vestry-room of the church, and when the petition was to be presented a large num- ber of the German party attempted to prevent its reading. The German party also prepared a peti- tion, which was very strong in its expressions. The following is a translation :

" To the Honorable Corporation of St. Michael's und Zion's Congregation in and near Philadelphia :

" We, the undersigned, members of the German Evangelical Lutheren congregation in and near Philadelphia, herewith give an honorable cer- poration to kuow our liveliest displeasure on the inconsiderate under- taking of introducing a strange language in our churches.

" At a time when our beloved congregation tasted the deepest reet, when the worthy German gospel was preached ameng ne with peculiar energy and power, when not only an increase of the number of our con- gregational members, but a powerful spiritual awakening, particularly among our youth, appeared to manifest itself, exactly at that time it is ventured on to sow the seeds of discord, of disturbance, and of destruc- tion.

"We declare ourselves briefly by this opportunity, and only aver to an honorable corporation that we are determined, as we have alen firmly bound ourselves before God, and solemnly before each other, to defend with our bodies and lives our German divine worship against every attack, and to oppose with all our power the introduction of a strange language in our churchee.

"To this end we herewith apply to an honorable . poration, and to yon, fathers and brothers particularly, who, in this respect, cherish similar feelings with ourselves, whe, with ue, prefer divine service in German to the English, and pray you assiduously, in virtue of your onthe before Ged and our whole congregatieu, to guard our exclusive privileges and the welfare of our whole union, su that the tempter may not succeed in destroying our beautiful German establishment.

" We pray yon, dear fathers and brothers, to direct a steady eye te the character of our church, according to which, in important occurrences, et leset two-thirds of the corporation and congregation ate required before any innovation can be brought about.

" We pray you, dear fathers and brothers, agreeably to e resolution of the corporation, not again to let it be brought to an election whether the English divine service shall be introduced in our German churches or not.

"We pray you, dear fathers and brothers, for the suppression of a pernicions example, by repealing a resolution which permits the mem- bers of the corporation to speak in a strange language when the honor- able church council is assembled on business of the congregation; such an example hath, in our view, the most baneful consequences.

"We further pray you to make such arrangements that the op- ponents of the German language and German divine worship may never be permitted to meet in our school-house for the attainment of their hase views, because we ourselves would thereby give them the meane in hand for our destruction.

" We pray you, dear fathers and brothers, for the sake of the ashes of our ancestors, who gave their wealth-yea, their blood-to build ne German churches, thereby to enable us to enjoy the blessings of the German gospel ; we pray you for the sake of the peace of our congre- gation, for the sake of the innocent hearte whe, under present circum- stances, suffer the deepest sorrow ; we pray you for the sake of the German Lutheran order; yea, we pray you for the sake of Jesus Christ enr Saviour, to comply with our prayers. And, finally, be assured that we will, with all our powers, yea, with body and life, support you, dear fathers and brothers, in all such measures that may tend to the welfare, the advancement, and to the perfecting of our German divine service.

" Experience teaches us that if we give up the breadth of a finger of our property, of our exclusive rights and privileges, that we are then near our destruction. In that event we shall beceme the object of laughter of every civilized nation.

"We are, with esteem and devotion, on honorable church councils, sincere brothers, etc.

[BEAL.]

NAMES. " The above is a true translation from the original hereto annexed. Witness my hand and scal, Jan. 12, 1816.

" JOHN GOODMAN, Notary Public. " Itesiding in the Northern Liberties, " County of Philadelphia."

The controversy culminated in the indictment of the whole German party, which, being found in the mayor's court, was taken by certiorari to the Supreme Court, before Judge Yeates, in July, 1816. The de- fendants were Fred. Eberle, Fred. Buckhalter, John P. Krocker, Charles Gunther, Fred. Bennecker, Adam Risinger, John Seyfert, Matthias Scheurman, Theo- bald Schmidt, George Weinman, Conrad Weckerle. David Schuh, John Donneck, Michael Knorr, Wil- liam Yager, Christian L. Manhart, Jacob Link, John Dankworth, Christian Reish, John Schlag, John Cruse, Henry Dohnert, Christian F. Cruse, Jacob Chur, Jr., Gottlieb Schwartz, F. A. Schneider, John Chur, Henry M. Maxheimer, Fred. Hoeckley, Fred. Fricke, John William Berg, Charles Lex, Valentine Flegler, Henry Flegler, Frederick Schwikhart, Chris- tian Jahns, Jacob Endress, John Seifert, Matthew Scheurman, David Scheurman, Jacob Scheurman, Henry Schweir, Casper Pickles, John Bournman, Jacob Chur, Christinn G. Schmidt, John George Dau, Jacob Eberle, John Schultz, William Weyman, John

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

Peter, Henry Luben, Peter Selfert, Philip Zehner, Christopher Bush, Amos Burman, Henry Miller, Philip Eberle, John Herpel, F. A. Gildner, Fred. Oberthaur, Charles Bartholoma, Charles Dominique, John Andrew Maurer, John Zehner, William Walter, John Miekeline, George Selfert, Melchior Wahl, John Moole, Nicholas Hartzell, Elias Frey, and George Mark. As to the last fourteen names the grand jury found "ignoramus," and they were not tried. The defendants were charged with conspiracy, on Dec. 26, 1815, to "acquire for themselves unjust and illegal authority and power in the said congrega- tion, and to distress, oppress, and aggrieve peaceful citizens of this commonwealth, also members of the said congregation," that they conspired to "prevent by force of arms the use of the English language in the worship of Almighty God." A very important part of the charge, on which great stress was laid in the evidence and in the arguments of counsel, was the allegation that defendants had "conspired with their bodies and lives to prevent the introduction of English," etc. The trial lasted for several days, and all the defendants on trial were convicted. An appli- cation to the Supreme Court in banc for a new trial was not successful. The defendants, however, were not punished, having received pardons from Gov- ernor Snyder.

The election for officers of the corporation in Janu- ary, 1816, was carried on with much warmth and with the general incidents of a secular contest. The Ger- man party was very violent, and succeeded, according to the returns, in electing their candidates. But this result was also contested in a proceeding before Judge Gibson at Nisi Prius, after the conspiracy case was dis- posed of. The proceeding was by quo warranto against George C. Woelper and seven others, and the jury found in favor of the commonwealth, which estab- lished that the defendants were illegally chosen. Motion to set aside this verdict was made, but it was refused. Notwithstanding that the English party triumphed by the law, their situation in the congre- gation was so unpleasant that they resolved to follow the example of St. John's congregation, and secede. They went ont about the end of 1817, and formed what was afterward known as St. Matthew's English Lutheran congregation.

We will now trace the history of these two revolt- ing bodies. Those who withdrew in 1806 adopted the title of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. They withdrew to the academy on Fourth Street, where, in October, they procured the services of Rev. Philip F. Mayer, a graduate of Columbia College. In 1808 they were incorporated. It had grown so fast that they purchased that year a large lot on Race Street, between Fifth and Sixth, running northward to Mulberry Alley. A portion of the lot extended out to Fifth Street, and included some of the old houses known as the "Fourteen Chimneys." The corner stone was laid March 9, 1808, by Rev. Philip

F. Mayer, in the presence of a large number of persons and clergymen, including Rev. Dr. Helmuth, of the German Lutheran Church; Bishop White and Messrs. Blackwell, Abercrombie, and Andrews, of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church ; Green, Janeway, and Potts, of the Presbyterian Church ; Stanghton and Smith, of the Baptist Church ; and McDowell, provost of the University. The building was sixty-eight feet by one hundred and sixty-eight feet. Frederick Graff drew the design for the front, and William Rush did the carving over the pulpit. The eagle which sustained the sounding-board was particularly admired. It has since been transferred to Indepen- dence Hall. The figure of the bird was perched over the keystone of the arch, and the sounding-board was suspended from its beak by a long chain. The pulpit was an octagonal box with winding stairs, the pews were high and stiff-backed. There were triple win- dows at the ends, besides plenty of side-windows. At that date it was the finest church in the city. The building committee consisted of John Goodman, Jr., Christlieb Bartling, Michael Fox, John Hay, Adam Eckfeldt, and John Greiner. The building was ded- icated in June, 1809. In 1820 a new organ was pro- cured. As soon as possible they built a school-house on Fifth, at the corner of Mulberry Alley. It was a rather ambitious institution, called "St. John's Lyceum." Here Professor James Cutbush, in 1812, gave lectures on chemistry, natural philosophy, and mineralogy, and the next year a larger building was constructed at the corner of Race and Chester Streets, but Professor Cutbush was called to a position at West Point, and the school proved a failure in other hands.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 133

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