USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Lebanon > Old Salem in Lebanon : a history of the congregation and town > Part 12
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Dr. H. H. Roedel, ** a son-in-law of Rev. Ruth- rauff, in the History of the East Pennsylvania Synod, page 166, makes the statement that horse-racing, gambling, and drinking to excess were practices not infrequently indulged in by members of the Lebanon community, who claimed positions in the
*Written by a friend of Rev. Ruthrauff in the Evangelical Review for January, 1858.
** To whom I am indebted for a number of facts in this connection, and in connection with the life of Dr. Lochman, and who has kindly placed pictures of these two men at my disposal.
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church as officers, and that when Rev. Ruthrauff re- fused to install such officers, the strife began. On the other hand it is said that the methods adopted by the pastor were altogether antagonistic to the Church Constitution and to the teaching of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, to which the Church was committed, and that in calling on mem- bers in the congregation and the Sunday-school to offer prayer extempore and in introducing the ideas of conversion prevalent in the Methodist Church, the pastor was not faithful to the Consti- tution which he signed. The pastor, whom his fa- ther-in-law, Dr. Lochman, already had forseen as a very determined antagonist of those with whom he could not agree, was opposed by elderly men equally determined. Among these latter were old George Reinoehl, Michael Braun, Adam Ritscher, Levi Uhler, David Vogt, Israel Embich, Daniel and Andrew Embich and Henry Hoffman. For a time there were two Church Councils and two janitors. Troubles of a similar nature were arising at this time in the Hill Church, of which Rev. Ruthrauff was pastor also, and the excitement was very great. Finally the doors of Salem Church were locked on the pastor, and barricaded, and he was unable to hold service. On the 17th of February, 1844, an election was held to ascertain whether Rev. Jon- athan Ruthrauff shall be the pastor of this congre- gation in the future or not, and it was decided by a vote of 122 to I that he should not so remain. Meantime the party in favor of the pastor com-
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OLD SALEM CHURCH
posed of a large number of the young and active material of the church, had withdrawn, and on the 14th of March, 1844, had secured incorporation of "The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Borough of Lebanon and its vicinity," by an Act of Legislature. This was the beginning of the Zion church. The lot on Ninth street was bought and the original edifice was erected there at a cost of over twelve thousand dollars .*
Rev. Ruthrauff was residing in the parsonage, and was compelled to vacate the same by law. Prior to the disturbance Rev. Ruthrauff had been a
*Among the persons prominent in the new movement were Jacob B. Weidman, George W. Klein, John Weidman, Edward A. Uhler, An- thony S. Ely, Henry Derr, Andrew Reinoehl, Levi Uhler, William Ritscher, George Waltz, Henry Zimmerman, John Siegrist, John G. Snavely, Abraham Shenk, Jacob Swartz, Jonas Mohr, John Lowry, David Fox, John Reinoehl, Abraham Hostetter, Michael Lauser, Jos- eph Zimmerman, Junior, Andrew Fasnacht, Charles Fox, Levi Schools, Henry S. Zimmerman, Henry Rohland, William Derr, Leonard Zimmer- man, George Derr, John Fox, Senior, Orth Light, George Smith, Ju- nior, Cyrus Zimmerman, Henry Karmany, Cyrus Doebler, John Ditz, John Artz, William Smith, Henry Lowry, George Brooks, Henry Em- rick, Charles Brotherline, John Stains, Edward L. Shulze, George Shott, G. S., Frederick Embich, Frederick Beckley, Joseph Dailey, Jona- than Walter, Cornwall, Joseph Weaver, William Coleman, John P. Sanderson, Christian Henry, Jonathan Ruthrauff, Christian Snavely, John Uhler, Cyrus K. Snavely, Levi Kline, John Fees, Jacob Roedel, Henry Hixenheiser, John Heim, Joseph Zimmerman, Israel Karch, Henry Rise, Peter Zimmerman, Emanuel Bentz, Jacob Mohr, George Fauber, Jacob Garde, Peter Shott, Peter Fauber, Henry Fauber, Henry B. Oves, Lantz Hitz, Benjamin Moore, John H. Fox, Charles Reinoehl, Peter Strickler, Augustus Reinoehl, John George, Jacob Stoever, Henry Hau- ser, Joseph Stoever, Conrad Keim, John McCloud, Michael Wagner, Michael Hoffman, David Karmany, Adam Rise, Junior, William Rein- oehl, Michael Zimmerman, Samuel Lutz, John Phraner, Jacob Miller, Simon U. George, George Frysinger, John H. Elliotdein, John Shott, Gottleib Kreider, Joseph H. Uhler, and George Snaveley, Conrad R. Shindle, Peter Hess.
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REV. JONATHAN RUTHRAUFF
very active and faithful pastor, and his sermons were always distinguished by great spiritual fervor. Be- tween 1837 and 1840 he had confirmed Catherine Alleman, Lucetta Kraus, William Fauber, John and William Focht, Andrew Reinoehl, and Jere- miah Strayer, together with many others. In 184I 15I persons communed, and in the fall of 1840 and 1841 he had an English communion for the first time, in which about 100 persons participated but their names are not given in the Church Record.
As we look at these thrilling times after a lapse over a half a century, we feel how difficult it is to say just the right thing in regard to them in a few words penned on the spur of the moment. Old Salem may be glad that she has preserved her doctrinal integrity inviolate, and may learn how necessary it is to have due regard to the language and other interests of the rising generation. Zion has been obliged to learn that the older a congrega- tion grows the more difficult does it become to re- move every taint of wickedness and worldliness from the offices of the church and to exclude all the worldly-minded from church membership. Pastor Ruthrauff was in ill health for some years and af- ter he had suffered greatly, and had been disabled from the active duties of the ministry, he died on the 23d of July, 1850. There were 18 ministers present at his funeral.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SECOND PASTORATE OF DR. ERNST .- THE OR- GANIZATION OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.
Interior of Old Salem up to 1848.
T HE people of Old Salem, in their trouble, request- ed Father Ernst to re- assume charge of the congrega- tion. He did this in 1844. One of the first steps taken was on June 4th at a meeting of the Council to appoint a committee "to establish a Sunday-school in our congregation." The members of this commit- tee were George Shott, Matthew Gilbert, John Marquat, Emanuel Meily, Jacob Lanz, George Reinoehl, Sr., Michael Beckley and Adam Ritscher. A Lutheran Sunday-school had been held in Bene- ficial Hall on Tenth street in the morning and a Reformed Sunday-school in the afternoon. Many scholars attended both schools. The new Sunday- school was organized in 1845, Levi Uhler becoming the first superintendent. Mr. Uhler was also the organist and leader of singing in the congregation and took an active part in all its affairs. The infant school was organized in 1849 by the wife of Dr. Ernst. Miss Catherine Ely (now Mrs. Toblias Reinoehl) was the assistant superintendent. When
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DR. ERNST'S SECOND PASTORATE
Mrs. Ernst left Lebanon in the Fall of 1849, Mrs. Reinoehl became the Superintendent of the Infant Department.
In 1847 the old Constitution of the church was again amended and was reprinted in 1849. The re- prints of this Constitution, which are very accessi- ble, contain a full list of the male members of the congregation in 1848 and 1849. Their number runs up to 199. In 1848 and 1848 an extensive remod- eling of the church took place. The exterior of the building was enlarged on the west, two stories were put into the structure. The vestibule was placed on the western side, although it was originally in- tended to place the latter on the Eighth street side. Below, the building was divided into a Lecture room and a Sunday-school room, and an Infant-school room was then also partitioned off. The Build- ing Committee consisted of Michael Beckley, Jacob Reinoehl, David Hoffman, and Israel Embich. The contractors were Franklin Walter and Jonathan Barto. The price paid for the renovation was $2350. There are two elaborate sets of specifications still in existence. The picture at the head of this chapter will give the reader a fair idea of the interior of the church before the remodeling took place. There was a gallery on three sides. The organ was in the west gallery. The entrances were on Willow street. The pulpit was on the broad north side of the church, on a high post with a sounding board above. The altar was the old style square, sur- rounded by the small, high, square railing.
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OLD SALEM CHURCH
Lebanon was growing in churches at thistime. Be- tween 1846 and 1848, the old stone United Breth- ren Church on North Ninth street, and the Mora- vian Church on Tenth street were erected, and the Roman Catholic Church was enlarged. The Per- severance Fire Company was organized in 1849.
On the 6th of June, 1849, the 102d meeting of the Synod was held in Lebanon, and Rev. Dr. Ernst was elected President of the body. On the Fourth of July of that year, the Sunday-school held a celebration in Light's woods, near the Lebanon furnaces, and here Jacob Shindel read the Decla- ration of Independence and Dr. Ernst made a short address. On the first day of September the community was startled to hear that the old pas- tor was dead. His funeral was one of the largest ever held in Lebanon, and went in procession around Cumberland and Ninth streets to the church. Dr. Ernst was a graduate of Princeton and had been married twice. It was the second Mrs. Ernst that our older people knew so well.
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CHAPTER XXXII.
THE ARRIVAL OF REV. G. F. KROTEL.
W HEN Synod met in Lebanon in June of 1849, everybody was captivated by the address of a young preacher from Phil- adelphia, named G. F. Krotel. It was very na- tural, therefore, that he should be thought of at once on the death of Father Ernst. The following description of his call and entrance upon the pas- torate and of his "Principal Man," old George Reinoehl, written by Dr. Krotel himself for print many years ago is so full of grace and life that it cannot be improved on as a description of the state of affairs in Lebanon then :
"I distinctly remember my impression of him. A venerable friend in the ministry received a letter, inquiring after me, in regard to a vacancy in the congregation of which Father George was the prin- cipal man. I was young then, and read that letter over and over again; it was a very simple, earnest letter, signed by Father George. It made a most pleasing impression upon my friend and myself, and I already pictured the outward appearance of the writer to myself. The letter was evidently written by a man of education, and good common sense. I agreed to visit the charge. It was my first important journey, one that might exert a
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lasting influence upon my future life. I had often heard of the town to which I was going, and it seemed the very pinnacle of honor to be invited thither. After a weary ride I arrived, and soon found myself hospitably at home in comfortable quarters, not, however, in the house of Father George .... The morning came and in an hour more the bell would summon me to church. The rain, too, poured down in torrents, and I did not expect many hearers. Father George was ex- pected to come before church to escort me thither. I had expected to see a man whose dress and out- ward demeanor were, what men are pleased to call 'those of a gentleman;' for you know that by bad education we are easily led to look for gentle hearts and manners under a genteel outside, al- though the two are not inseparable. My principal man was aged some seventy years; he wore an old suit that had not the fashionable color, not the fashionable cut, but had evidently been made when I was a baby. His hat was broader at top than near the rim, he wore thick, heavy boots. He had an old cotton umbrella under his arm, which I did not consider needful at all, for his hat and coat would not have been injured by the most violent rain, nor permitted any to reach his skin. He wore a very large pair of colored spectacles, which at first concealed his eyes. He greeted me with an old- fashioned bow, and a vice-like grasp of the hand, and entered at once into conversation. As I looked
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REV. G. F. KROTEL ARRIVES
more closely upon his face, I considered it one of the most benevolent that I had ever seen. His eyes sparkled with the light of intelligence and good na- ture, and before I went to church, I felt as if I had known him for years. I preached to a very full house : the Lord blessed me with strength, and the people invited me with one voice to become their pastor: no one was more urgent than my old friend. Suffice it to say, I went home, reflected, consented, and with my wife,-my whole family then,-removed to my sphere of action. And now I had abundant opportunity to become acquainted with my principal man. He was, and had been sole leader of the large congregation; he had been an officer of the church for forty years, with very brief intervals; he had been tried in times of very serious difficulty, and was not found wanting. Although a man of no education, and no fluency of speech, he, by his prudence, his natural sagacity, honesty, and true Lutheran firmness, had guided the vessel through the storm with a strong hand, and had gained the confidence of his brethren more than
ever. And so it was now. I saw him very fre- quently, almost daily, during my first weeks and months. He was not rich, but had enough to sup- port him and his wife, who was as worthy as him- self. He would frequently speak his mind on my sermons, and gave me excellent paternal advice and encouragement. Whatever was to be done, Father George was called upon; any repairs about the par- sonage, he was the man: in the meetings of the
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OLD SALEM CHURCH
Council, he was the leader, not with set speeches, for he could not make one, but by his honest, ster- ling, good sense, which he brought forth with many gesticulations. He never forced his measures, but always listened to the opinions of his brethren, and was the first to acknowledge his errors. I never knew him to quarrel with any man; he received ev- erything with the placidity of a patriarch. When any dissatisfaction was perceptible among men or women in the congregation, he would go in his old-fashioned way, and have a patriarchal talk with them, and never without success. Although be- longing to the past generation, and not imbued with the progressive spirit of the age, he was al- ways ready to encourge every good undertaking, however new, and was in this respect the youngest old man I ever saw. He was a staunch Lutheran of the old school, and had reason for the faith that was in him. He read his Bible faithfully, and the works of our old divines, especially Luther, whose rich and hearty saying fell from his lips with pecu- liar action."
When the new pastor arrived crowds flocked to hear him preach. Both his sermons and his mag- nificent voice have not been forgotten to this day. He confirmed an extraordinarily large class of cat- echumens, among whom were John and Samuel Fies, George Gassert, Solomon Smith, Michael Ro- land, John Stanley, William Biecher, Henry Em- bich, Tobias Reinoehl, Jacob Shindel, and many others .* In 1853, Dr. Krotel resigned here
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REV. G. F. KROTEL ARRIVES
to become pastor of Trinity church, Lancaster. The regret was universal. One who came home from service on the morning when he preached his fare- well sermon reported: "The pastor is weeping, and the whole congregation."
*In Father Ernst's day and the time preceding, the girl catechumens always wore white dresses and white caps, and assembled in Mrs. Hess' house, across Willow street, to proceed in procession to the church. Up to Dr. Krotel's time the cape were still worn, but at that time their use was discontinued.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
PASTORS HOFFMAN AND HENRY F. MILLER.
RAJ HS MILLER Ond WIFE 1050 -04
T HE successor of Dr. Kro- tel at Lebanon was Rev. John S. Hoffman, who delivered his introductory sermon on August 31, 1853. He was a tall man, verging toward middle age, retiring and studious in his habits. The chief external event during his pastorate was the pur- chase of our large, deep-toned bell.
B. W. Schmauk, who had become pastor of Zion Church, Lancaster, was invited to preach a trial sermon "in both languages," but declined, and on October 28th, 1854, Rev. Henry S. Miller, of Nor- ristown, was unanimously elected pastor of the con- gregation.
Both Rev. Miller and his wife were of a very de- cided type of character. Mrs. Miller especially was exceedingly active in all public work. Many of our members went to her school. When Rev. Miller and wife arrived, Peter Ege was the Superintendent of the Sunday-school, and A. H. Embich the assis- tant, while Miss Margaret Ralston (now Mrs. Schools) was Superintendent of the Infant Depart- ment. In 1855, Mrs. Miller became Superintend- ent of the Infant Department.
In 1855 Salem church purchased the release from ground rent on church and parsonage from Adam
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PASTORS HOFFMAN AND MILLER
Grittinger. In this same year, we believe, the Rev. A. Abel came to town and made the first be- ginnings of an Episcopal church here, and the fol- lowing year the Roman Catholic church purchased its burial plot on East Chestnut St. In 1858 the Moravian church was destroyed by a disastrous fire. In 1859 the Salem congregation finally acted in its pressing need of a cemetery and bought the property on East Chestnut St. and laid it out in lots. The cornerstone of the St. John's Reformed church was laid, and the building dedicated in 1860, Rev. Henry Harbaugh, the gifted Pennsylvania- German poet, becoming first pastor.
The clouds of the great civil war now hung over the horizon and on the 18th of April, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired on. A war meeting was held in the court house six days thereafter. Throughout the long struggle Lebanon was conspicuously loyal to the Union. Many of the men of Old Salem, in- cluding her Sunday-school Superintendent, and her organist and leader of choir,* were away in the army.
In 1858 Jacob Shindel had been Superintendent of the Sunday-school. In '59 he was succeeded by Charles Meily, and in '61 by A. H. Embich. In '62 John Reinoehl became Superintendent of the School, and has remained so ever since. In the early part of 1864 Father Miller resigned and re- moved to Phoenixville .*
*John Stanley, who was leader of the 93d Regiment-now the Perse- verance-Band.
*During the last few years of his life he became helpless and finally was totally blind.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE FIRST PASTORATE OF REV. B. W. SCHMAUK.
I [T was a bright day in the last week of June when a tall, slim, rather youthful man, with quick step and buoyant look in his clear, thoughtful eye arrived in Lebanon.
Mr. Schmauk, who was born in Philadelphia, and had been educated in his uncle's school there, and was a graduate of the Philadelphia High School, and who had studied theology under the Rev. Dr. W. J. Mann, had been in the ministry for just eleven years. He was installed on the first of July, 1864. Among the leading members of the congregation at this time were old Samuel Reinoehl, George Hoffman, Henry Siegrist, Michael Brown, H. T. Hoffman, and D. T. Werner. Mr. Henry Em- bich, now the sexton, was then the organist of the congregation .* A young man by the name of C.
"He is deeply interested in the Church's history, and from his model of the building as it stood prior to 1848, our cut of the same has been drawn.
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REV. B. W. SCHMAUK
Pulpit and Chancel of Salem Church.
R. Lantz, who had just returned from the war, settled in Lebanon and began teach- ing school. Before long he entered the Sunday school of Salem and taught a class there. Becoming a member of the choir he remained in it for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury and was its leader for nearly fifteen years. He was also secre- tary of the Church council for about twenty-five years. Shortly after Mr. Schmauk arrived, the Church was entirely remodeled. The galleries were lower- ed, the whole arrangement of pulpit and altar was changed, and the arch in the rear of the pulpit with the picture of the Resurrection in the back ground was added. In 1866 old widow Yensel, whose hus- band had been the sexton of the Church, was found dead one morning in her kitchen. Her hus- band in 1850 had willed that the congregation should come into possession of about an acre of ground on the east side of Eighth Street, from where the house of Charles H. Killinger now is down to the creek. Unfortunately the property was sold several years afterward by the Congrega- tion for a comparatively small sum of money. At this time Rev. Schmauk made a vigorous effort to resuscitate the parochial school of the Congrega- tion, and secured an organist and teacher, a native German by the name of Hugo Lenare. Miss Kate
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OLD SALEM CHURCH
:
Zweitzig was the Superintendent of the Infant School and remained so during the whole pastorate. Miss Theresa F. Schmauk was Asst. Superintend't. In 1867 the congregation was regularly incorpor- ated, A. Stanley Ulrich, Esq., being the attorney. The Congregation celebrated the 150th Jubilee of the Reformation, and the pastor and members raised quite a large sum as a Jubilee Offering for the Seminary and College. A few years later George H. Reinoehl gave $1,000 to found a schol- arship in Muhlenberg College, and A. Stanley Ulrich, Esq., for many years a trustee of the insti- tution, gave a similar sum. Other smaller sums were also given for the same purpose. Both Adol- phus and George Reinoehl now were taking that active part, the one as the advocate of progress and the other as the financier of the congregation which they continued to assume up to the time of their death. This year the congregation decided to build a new and more modern parsonage. It sold 28 feet on the north side of the parsonage lot to John Weimer for $2,500.00 and awarded a contract to Esaias Gingrich and others for the erection of a new three story double brick building to be finish- ed October Ist, 1869. The cost of the parsonage was about $6,000.00. Two years earlier, in 1867 several churches were built in close proximity to the Salem structure and much fear was expressed at the time lest the sound of the voices in singing and
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REV. B. W. SCHMAUK
preaching in one or other of the churches might in- terfere with each other.
3. PAUL'S ANNVILLE
0
On Christmas afternoon, 1866, Rev. Schmauk began preaching to the scattered General Council Lu- therans in Annville. A new con- gregation was organized there by him on February 29th, 1869, and a brick church edifice was erected and dedicated that same year. Rev. Schmauk's pastoral care at this time extended over a number of Congregations. He preach- ed at Myerstown, Jonestown, Palmyra, Cornwall, and Annville. Already in the Fall of 1864 he be- gan to preach, as father Miller had occasionally done, in the School-house between the Hills behind the Cornwall anthracite furnace, and from that time on held services there every four weeks in the after- noon as regularly as possible. He began to suffer from throat trouble, and in 1876 resigned the Salem Congregation and took charge of the new St. Michael's Church at Allentown.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE PASTORATE OF REV. G. H. TRABERT, D.D.
O N the 25th of January, 1877, the Rev. George H. Trabert from Elizabeth- town took charge of the Salem Congregation. He was very ac- tive as pastor, aggressive in secur- ing new material for the Congrega- tion, and interested in the out-of- door avocations of the town and country people. He at once organized a Young People's Society, and took steps to develope and enlarge the Sunday School. A Senior department was added to the Sunday school, and Mrs. Trabert became the Superintendent of the Infant Depart- ment. A very sad event of their pastorate was the loss of four children who were buried in one week at a time when diphtheria was prevalent in the com- munity. While they resided at the parsonage the new brown stone Roman Catholic Church was con- secrated, and in 1879 and 1880 St. Luke's Episco- pal Church was erected, largely through the instru- mentality of Mr. Robert H. Coleman, who had as- sumed charge of his own affairs shortly before this time and was expecting to develop Lebanon into a large industrial community. Rev. Trabert was
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REV. G. H. TRABERT, D.D.
called to care for the English Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and resigned the Salem charge on the first of March, 1883.
Rev. W. G. Laitzle, a retired pastor who was re- siding in Lebanon at the time took charge of the Congregation in the interim, holding services and performing the necessary ministerial acts. He con- tinued to be a member of the congregation until his death in July, 1894. Rev. B. F. Apple, of Stone Church, was elected as the successor of Rev. Tra- bert, but declined the call.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PASTORATE OF REVS. B. W. AND T. E. SCHMAUK.
O N the first Sunday in July, 1883, Revs. B. W. and T. E. Schmauk preached their introductory ser- mons in Salem. Immediately thereafter the Church was closed and remodeled. It stood windowless and doorless for weeks. The cedar shingles on the steeple were found to be in good condition and hard as a rock. They had been imported from Europe and presented to the Church one hundred years ago and had been in the weather for that time. The roof was covered with tin. The windows and doors were enlarged and the lower floor was sunk two feet. The high sandstone steps and railings on the exterior were re- moved. The inner walls were replastered and the ceilings frescoed. The old box pews were made less clumsy. The floor was covered with five hun- dred yards of Brussels carpet presented by the Mite Society. Stained glass windows were introduced and a new building 30x36 feet was erected for the use of the infant school. The building committee comprised the following members: George Gas- sert, George H. Reinoehl, C. W. Carmany, H. T. Hoffman, and Solomon Stine, together with the trustees David Steckbeck, Henry Louser and David
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