USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 48
USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 48
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At the first communion, Nov. 4, 1855, thirty-nine persons communed, of whom ten were heads of families.
Rev. B. M. Schmucker's pastorate continued until 1862, when he accepted a call to St. John's Church, Easton, Pa. Its activity was exercised more especi- ally in such labors as are incident to the welfare of a new congregation,-the ingathering of members and the raising of means, in both of which directions the minutes of the church show a steady progress, as also in benevolent contributions and orderly government.
In October, 1862, an election was held for pastor, resulting in the choice of Rev. J. F. Fahs, who was accordingly called to take charge, at a salary of five hundred dollars and a free residence. Rev. Fahs took up his duties in the spring of 1863, and continued the effort previously made to liquidate the debt which pressed heavily upon the church. We find accord- ingly that in 1864 at a congregational meeting it was reported that subscriptions had been obtained cover- ing the debt (about eight thousand dollars), and that in order to meet current expenses the pew-rents should be raised twenty-five per cent. and the pastor's salary be increased to one thousand dollars,-all of which was received with devout thankfulness on the part of those present.
As from the very organization the subject of benefi- cence had been kept steadily in view, we find in 1869 the congregation taking systematic steps towards se- curing from every member a proper contribution |
towards the benevolent objects of the church at large. This attitude has been maintained by varying methods up to the present time, resulting in very satisfactory gatherings in proportion to the member- ship of the church. During the same year the con- gregation so altered its constitution as to define more closely its relationship to the Pennsylvania Synod, in view of the divergent views arising in the church at large, and thus affirmed its union with the new gen- eral body which had been formed, the General Coun- cil, by those Synods which had abandoned the Gen- eral Synod. These changes were consummated at a congregational meeting held Jan. 5, 1870. During the year 1870 the long-agitated projects of enlarging the church edifice and of building a parsonage resulted in action whereby both were carried into effect. During the period of building the congregation wor- shiped in the court-house. During this same period a new organ was procured, carpets and cushions re- newed, and all needed improvements effected in the church edifice, all of which resulted in an indebted- ness exceeding ten thousand dollars, but recently liquidated, the cost of building, organ, and inciden- tals having amounted to twenty-two thousand seven hundred and twenty-two dollars.
July 15, 1872, Rev. J. F. Fahs, having received a call to Akron, Ohio, tendered his resignation, which was accepted, to take place the following October. In June, 1873, after various efforts to obtain a pastor had resulted in inability to select one who would serve, or who was acceptable to all concerned, the congregation elected Rev. Reuben Hill, of Roches- ter, N. Y. He, however, declined the call, because of the duties resting upon him in connection with his work. After another season of inability to choose, another election was ordered in February, 1874, and carnest requests made to Rev. Hill to recon- sider his refusal. This strenuous effort succeeded, and the acceptance followed. Rev. Hill took charge i of the congregation in the spring of 1874, and is still the pastor. The financial storm which subsequently swept over the country, the divided condition of the congregation, and the debt resting upon the church, were all causes which taxed pastoral activity to the utmost. During the years, however, which inter- vened between his coming and the present, all these difficulties have been met and overcome. The debt has been paid, and some three thousand dollars in addition raised and expended npon the beautifying of the church, the membership has been united and increased, and the congregation is in a most prosper- ons condition. The communicant membership is about four hundred and fifty, while a large and flourishing Sunday-school of four hundred members is connected with the church. St. John's is the ap- pointed place of worship for the students of Muhlen- berg College, who attend there especially on Sunday mornings.
St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church (Ridge
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
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road and Chew Street) .- In the year 1858 St. Paul's congregation established a mission Sunday-school in the rapidly-growing eastern portion of Allentown, separated from the older wards of the eity by the Jordan and the adjacent meadows. The school was conducted by the older teachers of St. Paul's Sunday- school, and eventually grew into the organization of St. Peter's. The first steps taken towards this organ- ization were on Feb. 26, 1866, when a meeting of the Lutherans in this section of the city and in Hanover township, across the Lehigh River, was called for this purpose. This meeting was held in the publie sehool- house of the First Ward. Various Lutheran pastors were present,-Revs. Mennig, Brobst, and Fahs con- ducting the services and addressing those present. These services in the school-house were continued on Tuesday evenings by these pastors until the newly- organized congregation secured regular pastoral ser- vices.
March 13, 1866, the resolution was taken to pur- chase building lots and settle upon a location at the corner where the church now is. Five hundred dol- lars was the sum paid for the property. July 3d of the same year the name of the church was decided upon and agreed to.
About this time Rev. K. Schlenker took charge of the congregation in connection with congregations in Catasauqua and South Bethlehem, but remained in this field only about nine months, after which he was called to Wilkesbarre. His successor was Rev. J. J. Zentner, who took charge in July, 1867. The following August (29th) it was resolved to build a briek edifiee for church purposes. In September a constitution was adopted for the government of the church, and on the 22d the corner-stone of the new building was laid. After the building had been roofed in, temporary windows were arranged, and the serviees were held thereupon in this unfinished state of affairs, the seats, in great part, being but rough boards. April 1, 1868, Rev. Zentner resigned, and Rev. S. K. Brobst consented to act as his successor. Sept. 6, 1868, the church building, which had now been fully completed, was dedicated to the sacred uses of public worship. It was now found that the cost of building had reached nearly three thousand dollars. Rev. Brobst remained pastor for nearly nine years, and under his administration a considerable degree of prosperity followed. There was no wealth to rely upon, no large population to draw from, and no great degree of increase to be expected. As wages fluctuated or employment was slack, the effects were felt at once, and often severely. Debt, the usual pen- ance of new organizations, pressed upon St. Peter's, and without the fostering care and generous labors of Rev. Brobst the life of St. Peter's could hardly have been prolonged through the diseases of its childhood.
During 1869 the pastor presented St. Peter's with a church bell, and Mr. Charles Richter gave them a communion set. During this year an English mis-
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sion Sunday-sehool received permission to meet in the church, which has continued its efforts up to the present time, and under the efficient superintendenee of Professor Davis Garber, of Muhlenberg College, has been largely attended and extremely useful. Its sessions are in the morning before the church service.
In 1870 (January 30th) a Church Beneficial So- eicty was established to aid the worthy poor of the congregation. This society is still in a flourishing condition, and has done in an unostentatious way many deeds of mercy and consolation during its four- teen years of existence. During the same year a pipe- organ was procured, and the female members of the church organized into an association for home mission work and general benefieence. In 1875 a house and lot were purchased for parsonage purposes, at a cost of one thousand dollars. Dec. 23, 1876, Rev. S. K. Brobst, who had during all these years, almost from the very beginning, cared for the congregation with great de- votion and self-denial, passed quietly away from the scene of his earthly toils. His career and identifica- tion with this church warrant some more extensive noting than such an article ean give.
Samuel Kistler Brobst was born of one of the oldest " Pennsylvania Dutch" families, whose ancestor mi- grated to America in 1700 or earlier. He was born Nov. 16, 1822. From youth upwards of sickly frame, consumptive, weak, he was always busy, restless, ac- tive, striving to promote the interests of the Lutheran Church. His early training was at Cannonsburg, Pa., where he came under the influence of Dr. Brown, of Jefferson College, while working at his trade, at the Allentown Academy, at Marshall College, Mercers- burg, and at Washington College, Washington, Pa. Having decided to study theology and become a preacher of God's Word, his attention and interest were drawn so largely toward Sunday-school work that, especially as his physical condition unfitted him for continuous preaching, he gradually was drawn into the work of publishing and editing literature and periodicals to further this cause. He located at Allen- town, Pa., and devoted himself to the people of his own stock, and to the advocacy of the teachings of the Lutheran Church. In 1847 he published the Jugend Freund, a Sunday-school paper, which reached a large circulation ; in 1853, a Lutheran Almanac ; in 1858, the Lutherische Zeitschrift, a weekly church paper ; in 1868, a theological monthly, subsequently abandoned. Ile also was the proprietor of a book- . store for the sale of church literature of all sorts. His publications and periodicals were in the German lan- guage, to which he himself was devoted, and of which he was ever a warm advocate. He was active in varions church enterprises, into which he entered always with great warmth and zeal, frequently pro- moting their origin by his own earnestness of purpose and warmth of advocacy. He was thus among the founders of Muhlenberg College, the Theological Sem- i inary of the Lutheran Church at Philadelphia, the
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Emigrant Mission at New York, etc. His powers reached far more towards the inceptive impulse in these works than the subsequent management and guidance. With the powers be-towed upon him he endeavored with all fidelity to work while he was able, and in whatever direction he found opportunity. St. Peter's was the only congregation of which he had ever taken charge. It was thus only towards the close of his career that he attained the goal for which he set out in early life, and from which his other projects of usefulness and his bodily infirmities so long diverted him.
After the death of Rev. Brobst, Rev. G. F. Gardner, the present pastor, was elected, and, having been in- stalled in May, entered upon his work and residence the following July (1877). Already, in the spring of 1877, it had been resolved to build a two-story brick school-house on the lot in the rear of the church building. The corner-stone was laid in June, and the building dedicated October 7th. October 15th a parochial school was opened therein, and the Sunday- school services transferred to it. The congregation was incorporated March 18, 1878; its present mem- bership is about two hundred and fifty communicants, and its Sunday-school consists of the same number of teachers and scholars. During this four hundredth year (1883) of Luther's birth, St. Peter's has shown its vitality and activity by erecting before its church building a Luther monument of white bronze, dedi- cated with appropriate ceremonies on Luther's birth- day, November 10th.
St. Michael's Evangelical Lutheran Church (corner of Ninth and Turner Streets) .- At various times the need had been felt for the establishment of a new congregation in the northwestern part of the city ; but various causes hindered any definite pro- gress in this direction until the dissensions as to doc- trine and church life in old St. Paul's set loose a num- ber of persons anxious to find a new church home conducted after their wishes and predilections. The first formal step towards a new church had already been taken Jan. 25, 1875, when at a meeting of the Fourth Ward Mission Society the project of building a church somewhere in the Fourth Ward was seri- ously taken in hand. At this meeting Rev. R. Hill presided, and John Nieum acted as secretary. The attendance was made up largely of former members of St. Paul's. On February 8th an excentive com- mittee was appointed, consisting of Rev. Hill, Sam- uel J. Brobst, Mrs. Mary Eisenhard, Franklin Sieger, J. Sanders, and Edwin Kramlich. Another com- mittee was raised to gather in funds.
From this time on divine services were held by the various Lutheran pastors of the city belonging to the Pennsylvania Ministerium. After January, 1876, these services were conducted in the chapel of Salem's Reformed Church, upon the corner of Chew and Eighth Streets. At this time one hundred and twenty- three communicants were connected with the new en-
terprise. In May the resolution carried to secure lots upon the corner of Turner and Ninth Streets, organ- ize into a congregation, and build a church edifice. May 25th ( Ascension day) the name of St. Michael was selected, and the membership was found to be one hundred and thirty-three. Officers were elected and inducted into office, May 28th, by Rev. W. Rath. These officers were: Elders, Abner A. Wind, George Ludwig, Samuel Roth ; Deacons, Charles Gehringer, Addison Wind, Henry Ludwig, Amandus Kuhns, Charles Dresher, and Reuben Lichhenwalner. June 12, 1876, a building committee was chosen, consisting of Edwin Kramlich, Walter J. Grim, and Charles Ludwig. In August a charter was obtained, at which time the membership had increased to two hundred. The ground having been broken for the church edifice in July, the corner-stone was laid August 13th, upon which occasion Revs. Groh, Schmauk, Lehman, W. Rath, and Muhlenberg officiated, assisted by other visiting and resident pastors. The plan of the build- ing contemplated a handsome edifice, and was taken from that of the Lutheran Churches at Bethlehem, Pa.
September 2d, Rev. B. W. Schmauk, of Lebanon, Pa., was elected pastor, and subsequently accepted the call. Meanwhile the work of building and fur- nishing went on with commendable vigor and liber- ality upon the part of contractors and congregation. December 3d the basement was ready for occupancy, and was consecrated. May 6, 1877, the church proper was consecrated, upon which occasion discourses were delivered by Rev. Dr. Mann, Rev. Dr. G. F. Krotel, Rev. J. B. Rath, and others, In order that this might take place, an especial offer to furnish the main audi- ence-room with pews was made by Jesse Grim, at whose expense this was accordingly done. About this time a large bell, weighing over fourteen hundred pounds, was obtained. The cost of the edifice was over fourteen thousand dollars, and the price of the lot four thousand.
May 30, 1877, the congregation was formally re- ceived into connection with the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, Its subsequent ca- reer has been that of steady and quiet increase, of activity among old and young towards the liquidation of indebtedness, of social organization among its younger members for self-improvement and aid in church work. The services in church have been en- tirely in the German language, while in its schools English has been used as well as German. At varions times lectures have been delivered before the " Young People's Society," and various literary and musical entertainments given.
In April, 1883, Rev. B. W. Schmauk, the only pas- tor the church had as yet had, received a very pressing call to return to the scene of his former labors at Leb- anon. This call, after much consideration, he ac- cepted, and accordingly resigning charge of St. Mi- chael's, June 17, 1883, parted from his congregation.
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
Rev. G. F. Spieker, of Kutztown, Pa., was subse- quently elected to fill the vacaney thus created. He was installed into office October, 1883. It was also decided to introduce English services in the evening, for the sake of the younger members, about this same period. The membership of St. Michael's was re- ported in May, 1883, at five hundred and fifty com- municants, its Sunday-schools as containing five hun- dred and eighty teachers and scholars. Thus, while the youngest of the Lutheran Churches of Allentown, St. Michael's is by no means the least, but has the proportions of an elder sister already.
Zion's Reformed Church.1-The early history of this congregation is synchronous with the early history of Allentown. From the recorded list of the latter's first settlers we discover that a majority of these were of Swiss and Palatinate extraction, and therefore either actually or traditionally of the Re- formed faith. Be this as it may, we know that Allen- town was founded A.D. 1762, and that in the same year a building of logs was erected for religious and school purposes. This first church was doubtless the joint property of the Reformed and Lutheran denomi- nations. It was situated in the rear of the lot upon which Zion's Reformed Church now stands.
It would appear that for some time previous to and after the erection of this log building many of the Reformed people in and around Allentown were members of the Egypt and Salisbury (originally Schmaltzgass) congregation. The Egypt congregation had been founded in 1733 by the Rev. J. Henry Goetschius, of Zurich, Switzerland, and may properly be regarded as the mother of the church in Allentown. But it is a well-established fact that the beginning of the year 1765 found Zion's Reformed congregation fully organized and under the pastoral care of the Rev. J. Daniel Gross, D.D. In the " Kirchen Proto- collum," kept by Dr. Gross, the first entry is dated Feb. 27, A.D. 1765, and on the 9th of December fol- lowing the annual settlement and examination into the finances of the congregation was held. At this meeting, according to the printed account in the hands of the writer, there were present " the pastor, Johannes Daniel Gross, and the elders and deacons, Thomas Hunsicker, Jacob Mohr, Johannes Griesemer, David Deshler, and Peter Roth."
Zion's congregation has good reason to feel proud of its first pastor, Rev. J. Daniel Gross (or Gros), D.D. The latter orthography was by him preferred, and by it also he is known in literary history. Ile was born in the Palatinate, Germany, A.D. 1737, and died at Canajoharie, N. Y., May 25, 1812. From 1765 to 1770 he was pastor of the churches of Allentown, Egypt, Schlossers (now Union), and Jordan. In 1770
he took charge of the churches at Saucon and Spring- field. In 1772-73 he removed to Sehoharie, N. Y., and soon afterwards became pastor of the Reformed Church, on Forsyth Street, New York. From 1784 to 1795 he was professor of German in Columbia College, and from 1787 to 1795 of moral philosophy in the same institution. In 1795 he published an octavo volume entitled "Natural Principles of Rectitude," which was long used as a text-book in American colleges. He himself had been the pupil of the celebrated Kern, and sustained the relation of tutor to the dis- tinguished and accomplished Rev. Dr. Milledoler. He also directed the classical and theologieal studies of the Rev. William Hendel, D.D., a name well known in Reforined history. Dr. Gros was evidently a man of more than ordinary culture and attainments.
In 1770 Zion's congregation secured the permission of Governor Penn to collect funds for the purpose of ereeting a new church building, and the following year called the Rev. Abraham Blumer to the pastorate. On the 25th of June, 1773, the corner-stone for this second church was formally laid. From the minutes of the congregation it appears that Peter Rhoads was treasurer, and that Johannes Griesemer, Nicholas Fuchs, Johannes Miller, and Michael Kolb constituted the building committee. This second building was the exclusive property of the Reformed congregation. (The Lutherans probably continued to worship in the old log building until the erection of their own church.) This new Reformed Church was of stone, and involved an expenditure of about five hundred pounds sterling. The largest single contribution was fifteen pounds, the smallest two pence. James Preston contracted for the masonry, and received for the same forty-three pounds and his boarding. The carpentry was awarded to Johannes Miller and Jacob Mickley. They received one hundred and thirty-seven pounds, but were required to board themselves. These faets, though trivial in themselves, serve to show the value of money in those early days, two years before the declaration of independence.
Rev. Abraham Blumer, the second pastor of Zion's Reformed Church, was a man highly respected by the ministry, and enjoyed the fullest confidence of his people. He was born in Graps, Switzerland, Dec. 25, 1736, and died on his farm near the Jordan Church, Lehigh Co., April 23, 1822. After thorough training in a Latin school, he pursued his studies in the Gym- nasium at Basel, and was ordained to the ministry on the 8th of June, 1756. From 1757 to 1766 he served as chaplain of a Swiss regiment in the Sardin- ian service. In 1770 the Synods of South and North Holland sent him to Pennsylvania, and from 1771 to 1801 he labored as pastor of the Allentown, Jordan, Schlossers, and Egypt congregations. From 1801 to the end of his life he lived in comparative retirement, old age and failing strength compelling him to aban- don all active ministerial duties.
Pastor Blumer was a thoroughly cultured gentle-
! Compiled by the pastor, Rev. Edwin A. Gernant. Sources : Henry's " History of Lehigh County ;" " Records of Zion's Reformed Church from Pastors Gross to Strassburger;" files of the Friedensbote ; " Recol- lections and Researches of the Rev. Professor J. H. Dubbs, D. D .; " and Harhangh's " Fathers of the Reformed Church."
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
man. His career in Europe made him familiar with several modern languages. A letter in which he de- elined a eall to the pastorate of the Freneh Reformed Church of New York City is still extant. The pro- toeol, or church records, as kept by him are models of serupulous neatness. During Father Blumer's ministry at Allentown occurred the episode concern- ing the famous liberty bell and the bells of Christ Church, Philadelphia. This is a matter of national interest, fully proven, and deserves far more attention than has hitherto been accorded it.
These bells were the pride of the Philadelphians, and upon the approach of the British forces in 1777 it was generally feared that they might be seized and transmuted into artillery. Aeeordingly, one morning it was discovered that the bells were missing, and for a while it was supposed that they had been buried or sunk in the Delaware. But they had been loaded on wagons and hauled away. They were finally taken to Allentown and hidden under the floor of Zion's Reformed Church, the stone building above described, and which occupied the site of the present church. In the " Bethlehem Diary" the then resident Mora- vian bishop records the arrival of the bells at Beth- lehem, the faet that there one of the wagons broke down, and that after its repairing the truly interesting procession pursued its way to Allentown. The bells remained in seeure concealment beneath the floor of Zion's Reformed Church until after the Revolutionary war, when they were severally returned to Indepen- dence Hall and Christ Church, Philadelphia.
The descendants of Father Blumer are still numer- ous and respectable. Two of them are to-day men- bers of the same church in Allentown over which he presided as pastor for a period of thirty years and three months.
In 1801 the Rev. John Gobreeht became the regu- larly elected successor of Mr. Blumer. Father Go- brecht was a sou of the Rev. John Christopher Go- brecht, and was born in Lancaster County, Dec. 10, 1773. He studied under the Rev. Drs. Melsheimer, Stoeck, and Hendel, and in the year above mentioned took charge of the Allentown, Egypt, Jordan, and Union congregations, He is said to have been of a peculiarly mild and affectionate disposition, and was greatly beloved by all who knew him. "His resi- dence was near the Egypt Church, ou a farm. He was accustomed to spend most of his leisure time in study and meditation." He was twice married, -- the first time to Hannah Troxel, and after her death to a Widow Hall. He died on the 5th of March, 1831, in North Whitehall township, and is buried at the Egypt Church.
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