USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Lebanon > Old Salem in Lebanon : a history of the congregation and town > Part 9
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Mr. Uhler aided the government in a civil capac- ity. Both the Province of Pennsylvania and the Continental Congress were in the greatest finan- cial stress from the years '79 on. The Continental
*Who, though Reformed, had the Lutheran pastor baptize some of his children.
** Whose wife was a regular communicant at Salem.
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Currency continued to sink steadily in value. The army was not only without money, but without clothing and provisions, and it became necessary to lay taxes on those who owned property at home, for the conduct of operations in the field, and Mr. Uhler was one of the men appointed to do the work for Lebanon. It was exceedingly unpleas- ant, especially in the case of persons who were out of sympathy with the war, and many must have been the complaints and hard words showered down by those who had no comprehension or con- cern for the general necessity. In this spirit the Hebron chronicler writes, September 16th, 1779: "Adam Orth, Kucher and Uhler go about writing up people's property to tax them," and again on June 13, 1781, "The taking of property for tax has begun again."
A little later Mr. Uhler was in the thick of the battle which Lebanon county made against being united with Dauphin when it was discovered that the county-seat would be located in the extreme western corner of the new county.
Soon after the Revolution the people living in the Lebanon Valley and in fact all those north of the Cornwall Hills, wished and asked for the erec- tion of a new county because of the inconvenience of attending the courts in Lancaster and of having their business transacted so far away. In 1782 they sent petitions to the Assembly to this effect. But when it was discovered that the Assembly was de- termined to locate the new county-seat just as far
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away from Lebanon as Lancaster was, there was great excitement among the people. Remon- strances were sent to the Assembly from Lebanon, Heidelberg and Bethel townships. In 1783 Chris- topher Uhler was elected one of the County Com- missioners of Lancaster county. The County Com- missioners "declined to assess and levy any Monies on the Inhabitants for the purpose of building a Court House and Prison at a Place so inconveni- ent, as the Commissioners and Assessors are well ac- quainted of the General Dissatisfaction of the In- habitants of the said County to pay any such As- sessments."*
It was hoped that the new county-seat of Dau- phin would after all in the end be removed to Leb- anon. But the assembly was inflexible. Among the questions raised was whether Christopher Uh- ler, whose residence on the division of the county of Lancaster, was disqualified thereby, from acting as a Commissioner for the county of Lan- caster. On September 15th, 1785, Wm. Brad- ford, law-judge, of Philadelphia, handed down an opinion "that the residence of the said Christopher Uhler is no legal cause to remove him from his of- fice." ** Mr. Uhler, as County Commissioner bought the lot opposite the Salem church, on Eighth street, on which the Bowman house is now built, as County Commissioner and to be used for
*Memorial to the President of the Supreme Council of Pennsylvania signed by all the inhabitants of Lebanon, Heidelberg and Bethel town- ships.
** A copy of Judge Bradford's opinion is before the writer.
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county purposes. The agitation did not cease when the Assembly compelled the Commissioners to levy taxes for Dauphin, and finally culminated in the erection of Lebanon county in the following cen- tury.
Mr. Uhler was baptized,* confirmed and mar- ried by Rev. Caspar Stoever. He was a regular communicant member of our church under Rev. Kurtz, and was the delegate of the congregation to the meeting of Synod at Philadelphia in 1795. From 1794 to 1796 he was an elder of the congre- gation, and was the treasurer of the congregation from 1794 until 1804. When we remember that Mr. Uhler was both chairman of the Building Com- mittee of our congregation when the present edi- fice was built and master builder, and also treas- urer of the congregation we see what great service he performed and what large responsibility he car- ried for its sake.
Before the Salem structure was begun he had a valuable experience in the erection of the present Tabor Reformed church, of which he was the car- penter and builder. This fine structure was begun in June, 1792, but was not dedicated until May 8, 1796, at which time our own building was al- ready begun. Mr. Uhler's bill for the Reformed structure was £762, 13s., 7d., and the stone ma- sons' was £436, os, Id. All the bills summed up the amount of £1338, 3s., 6d .**
*March 25, 1741.
** History of Tabor Reformed Church," pp. 31 and 32.
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CHAPTER XXI.
HOW YOUNG GEORGE LOCHMANN GOT TO LEBANON.
1794- 1812
George Lochman
A S early as 1792, after some years of private mention, the desirability of fur- nishing Lebanon with a new pastor was brought formally before the Synod. The body met at Lancaster on the 3d of June. On the 5th, letters refer- ring to Lebanon were read and it was resolved that as soon as a suitable opportunity offered to transfer Rev. Mr. Wil- liam Kurtz, the congregation shall be free to extend a call to another preacher; that, in the meantime, the congregations which have no preacher be served as much as circumstances per- mit by the neighboring preachers. From the tenor of this resolution it would seem that at least one of the reasons why Rev. Kurtz could not handle matters in Lebanon was because his health was too delicate to attend to the outlying congregations, including the Hill church and Manheim.
Evidently nothing was done for a whole year and when Synod met in Philadelphia in 1793, let- ters were again on hand from Lebanon, the Berg- kirche, and Manheim, in which they requested that they be furnished with a preacher. Synod then re-
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solved "That Candidate Dill shall visit the congre- gations, and that he be proposed to them as their preacher."* Candidate Dill ** handed in a sermon and favorable testimonials at this meeting of Syn- od, but whether he ever appeared at Lebanon or not, or why he was not chosen is not known to the writer. However by the time another year rolled around and another June arrived, the Synod meet- ing at Reading, found that Rev. Kurtz* had re- moved from Lebanon, and that there is "a call from Lebanon, Bergkirche, Campelestadt and Ziegel- kirche for Mr. Lochman." ** After this the papers relating to this and other calls were duly considered;
*Document. Hist. p. 262.
** He had come over from Germany prior to 1791.
*The Synodical roll reads "Wilhelm Kurtz, from Jonestown."
** The following, found unexpectedly, is the only document of the Leb- anon people to Mr. Lochmann, known to be in existence:
APPEAL AND LETTER TO MR. LOCHMANN WRITTEN FROM LEBANON.
Esteemed friend :- With the bearer of this, Tobias Stoever will deliver to you an appeal from four congregations as you will plainly per- ceive; we have written to the congregation of Bindnagel's church that, if they wish to join themselves to us, that they shall institute an elec- tion for a Preacher and also notify us as soon as possible as to how much they can contribute to his yearly support, you have left us know by word of mouth before him that you will stand by us as their and our preacher, you will also see in a letter which Mr. Stoever brings to them and which you have already before this sent to us that it is signed by different ones of your best members in which they have left us know that they are willing to contribute twenty-four or twenty-five pounds to the Preacher's support.
This affair cannot be arranged immediately because Harner's time will not expire until next August as you wished. You will kindly send to us a short form of your letter written to the Ministerium, with Mr. Stoever.
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on June 18th it was resolved that Candidate Loch- man "be orally examined by the Ministerium this afternoon from 3 to 3.30."* The next day the Ministerium appointed "George Lochman for the congregations in Lebanon, Campelestadt, the Bergkirche and the Ziegelkirche .**
This was on the 18th of June. After making prep- arations for several weeks, Candidate Lochman arrived here on August Ist, and preached his Intro- ductory Sermon on the 4th of August, 1794 .* Now the pastor was here under whom the congregation was to develop from swaddling clothes and uncer- tain youth into full-fledged maturity and strength. Though much had been done under Pastor Kurtz, and the growth in membership had been great, and the congregation had brought out a number of sturdy and able leaders, it was under Pastor Loch- man that the actual enlargement and establishment of Salem, in external matters, took place, and the scale of operations was set then for the next half- century. It was a great epoch with Salem. Before we examine it, let us look at the man who came, no doubt dusty and tired, to the little town on that Ist of August, 1794. While attending catecheti- cal instructions his answers to the questions put to him caused his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Helmuth, to ask him to study for the ministry. He studied the-
Johann Rothraff was examined from 4.00 to 4.30 on the same day.
** Joh. Rothraff received a license as catechist for congregations in York county at the same time. "Documentary History," p. 273.
*"Den Isten Augst 94 kam ich hieher und den 3ten Augst hielt ich meine Antrittspredigt hier." G. Lochman. Salem Record, p. 2.
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ology under Dr. Helmuth, was licensed to preach by the Ministerium in 1794, as we have seen, and came at once to Lebanon. After serving in Leb- anon for twenty-one years, in 1815 he was elected pastor of the Lutheran church at Harrisburg. In 1819 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His constitution gave way prematurely because of the over-abundance of work connected with his pas- toral charge, and he died on July 26th, 1825, in the fifty-third year of his age.
Our new pastor had a finished classical education. He was very industrious as a pastor. He was un- ostentatious in his deportment, humane and char- itable in his disposition, and more than ordinarily persuasive as a preacher. His spirit was pietisti- cally inclined and his sermons were calculated to arouse a conviction of sin and a desire for redemp- tion in the heart of the hearer. They were generally short, and subdivided into a number of points. There was a childlike simplicity about his charac- ter which quickly won its way to the heart of his people. The people liked him. His language was plain and direct, and never ornamental. In later years he carried a gold-headed cane, and was al- ways a pattern of neatness in his dress, a gentleman of the old school in his manner, bowing politely to all he met. He scarcely ever passed a person for whom he had not a smile and a kind word. In his judgment of others he leaned to the side of mercy. He brought up a large family and all of them be- came consistent members of the Church.
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Young Lochman was not yet twenty-one years of age when he arrived. He remained a mere li- censed candidate of the Ministerium until the year 1800, when he finally was ordained. He was born in Philadelphia,* and was a graduate of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. His parents were poor but honest Germans. At school he attracted the atten- tion of his teachers at once.
*December 2, 1778.
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CHAPTER XXII.
THE BUILDING OF SALEM CHURCH.
W ITH a popular and enthusiastic min- ister, a fine build- ing block, a flour- ishing week-day school,* experi- enced and pro- gressive trustees, with the daily sight of the ad- vancing walls of the handsome new Reformed struc- ture, and with its own log building greatly in need of repairs, the con- gregation was in high spirit for ag- gressive work, and it was inevitable that she should decide to build. There were many questions to be decided before the first step in building could be actually taken. "Shall we build on the
* "Mr. Lochman has a fine school in Lebanon." Minutes of Synod, 1795. "Doc. Hist., p. 279.
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corner of the alley, as the Reformed are doing, and on the old site, or shall we take the corner of the two streets?" "Shall the building be of wood or stone?" "Shall it be altogether independent of the old structure?" "How large shall it be?" "Shall the style of building be cheap or costly." To most of these questions there was but one answer. The building must be for the future. It must be larger than any other building in Lebanon* and of the most substantial material and workmanship possi- ble. We do not know who planned the church, but there is a grace in the proportion, and a sim- plicity and majesty* in the Colonial style adopted, that can hardly be excelled. The stone work does not show its elaborateness as well as it did a hun- dred years ago, but the strength of the walls is so great that when alterations in the walls must be made, ordinary tools will not suffice to tear them down. In 1883 it was necessary to blast out the stone work in the hall, where improvements were to be introduced.
Before proceeding to describe the erection of the building, it will be well to know what Pastor Loch- man himself says as to the congregation to which he had come, in his Minutes in the Record Book: "In the year 1794, on the First of August, I, George Lochman, came here as preacher to Leb- anon; and on the third of August, I preached my
*The Reformed Church, then building, was 42 x 62. The Salem building was made 66 x 50. It is now 50 x 80.
*Originally the building had no basement. It was all a single story.
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installation sermon. I found about the following organization in the Congregation. The Trustees were Michael Rieder, Philip Fernsler, Jacob Stiev, and Samuel Meily. The Elders were, Conrad Fas- nacht, and Christopher Uhler. The Deacons were Martin Yensel, and Abraham Doebler. The Treas- urer was Christopher Uhler. The number of those supporting the Congregation was about 65. On second Christmas Day, the congregation's regular time for election and setling of accounts, votes were taken for Elders and Deacons and Conrad Reinoel was elected as Elder and Peter Shindel as Deacon. They were installed in the beginning of 1795.
"In the year 1795 on Second Christmas Day it was resolved by the members of the Congregation 'That from this time and in the future two new Dea- . cons shall be elected annually.'
"In the year 1796 the Elders were Conrad Rein- oel, and John Shnee, the Deacons Peter Shindel, Frederick Embich, and George Shott."
In the Spring of 1795 Pastor Lochman was at Synod and Christopher Uhler was with him as del- egate of the Lebanon congregation. Shortly after- ward the Building Committee must have been elect- ed. The following were its members, Christopher E. Uhler, Philip Fernsler, Conrad Hofman and Pe- ter Miller.
It sometimes is supposed that in olden times con- tracts were made very loosely and things went more at haphazard than is the case in our own better- educated century. This Building Committee was
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very exact. Not only were all the bills preserved (in book-form and constituting an almost complete set of receipts) but important contracts were very care- fully drawn up. On the IIth of November, 1795, the committee entered into "Articles of Agree- ment" duly signed and sealed with William Wil- son, mason, who was to be paid in gold or silver money "to erect, complete and finish in a substan- tial Workmanship manner all the mason stone work of the edifice aforesaid, which shall be of the fol- lowing dimensions: The length thereof shall be fifty-six feet and the depth or width fifty feet, and of such height and thickness as the trustees nom- inated and appointed by the Lutheran congregation for the erecting of the edifice, as a majority, shall reasonably order and direct . . . and moreover the Front shall be good and compleat Front Work- manship and to be finished at the time limited." The Building Committee bound itself to furnish the iimestones delivered in good time, and Wilson is to find himself, and all assistants and tools, except two wheelbarrows, to be furnished by the committee. The terms are seven shillings of gold or silver for every perch as customarily measured; fioo on set- ting the first ties of windows, fioo when the gable ends are topped, £100 nine months thereafter, and soon as the whole Plaistering and Pointing is fully compleated the remainder shall be paid to the said William Wilson. Wilson further agrees to assist in setting up the first Lime Kiln needed for the pur- pose and binds himself in £800 pounds if he fail to
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perform all this truly and faithfully, by Dec. I, 1795 .*
Work quickly began in earnest. The members were full of enthusiasm. The contract allowed them to furnish the materials, and many of them came from afar with their big wagons to help to haul the stones, lime and sand to the building. Such members as old George Shott were especially active in thus furnishing teams and labor free of expense to the building Committee.
By the beginning of June, 1796, everything was ready for the laying of the corner-stone. Let us hear Pastor Lochmann himself speak of this event:
"In this year on the 8th of June the corner-stone of our new Church was laid in a solemn manner; On which occasion pastor Shulze preached in the morning, Mr. Hendel in the afternoon, and Mr. Flegel in the evening. The document that was read and laid in the corner-stone was the following :
IN THE NAME OF THE TRIUNE GOD!
"We the members of the German Evangelical Lu- theran Congregation of Lebanon, Dauphin County Pennsylvania, herewith make public: That our Congregation through the Grace of God is organ- ized in the following manner at this time :- The Preacher is: John George Lochman A. M. The
*The original articles of agreement beautifully written on a folio of linen paper and duly sealed, and in a good state of preservation, were discovered a few weeks ago by the Misses Uhler of Meadow Bank, among Christopher Uhler's papers, and presented to the congregation.
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Trustees are: Michael Rieder, Philip Fernsler, Jacob Stiev, Samuel Meily. The Elders are: Conrad Reinoel, John Shnee. The Deacons are : Peter Shindel, Frederick Embich, George Shott. The number of heads of family in the Congregation are about eighty. The members of the building Committee, to whom the work of erecting a church was entrusted, are Christopher E. Uhler, Philip Fernsler, Conrad Hofman and Peter Miller. This is our organization, but at the same time we heart- ily wish in addition that our congregation the long- er it lives, the more it may increase, not only in numbers, but also in Godliness and in true rever- ence for the Triune God.
"Therefore and for this purpose we have resolved to build a fitting house or Church for the holding of public worship, and hereby declare before God and man that the Church which under the gracious as- sistance of God shall be built upon this corner-stone shall be consecrated to the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; That she is and shall remain an Evangelical-Lutheran Church, according to the teaching of the Apostles and Prophets, in which Jesus Christ is the corner-stone, and according to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
"Done at Lebanon, the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and ninety-six.
"P. S. At the same time a metal plate was laid in the stone, on which the following was inscribed : "This corner stone was solemnly laid today, the eighth of June, seventeen ninety-six by the Honor-
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able Pastors Emanuel Shulze, William Kurtz, and George Lochman, and upon the same there shall be built by the Grace of God a German Lutheran Church, by the name of Salem Church."*
It would have been very interesting to examine the original subscription list for the payment of this large church about to be built. Through some happy chance there has been preserved and is before me now a list of such subscribers who had only paid partial installments of the amounts subscribed and who were thus still to account to the treasury. There are 105 names on the list, which unfortunate- ly has no date. The sums still due range from £15 to 2 shillings .* But bills began to come in as quickly as the subscriptions. Already in Decem- ber, '95, a number of purchases of powder were made from Peter Gloninger, presumably for the purpose of blasting stone in the quarries in the foundation excavations. By the third of February
*Translated from old church record.
*On this list of subscribers we find John Philip Beck, Abraham Doeb- ler, Emanuel Meyly, Conrad Fasnacht, Martin Uhler, Henry Schantz, Jr., Lernat Embich, Benjamin Zerby, Christian Crider, Christopher Waltz, Adam Ritscher, Leonard and John Zimmerman, Martin Waltz, Henry Wagner Uhler, Frederick Yensel, John George, George Tromb, George Haas, James Reed, John Bucher, John Rohrer, John Gasser, Conrad Gerhart Uhler, Ludwig Shott (und noch aus for Gibel Front), Jacob Killian, Friedrich Stoever and George Trion (These two sub- scribed the largest amounts), Mathes Brauneol, Leonard Reinhart, Johannes Biebul, Jacob Groff, Thomas Bolls, George Reinoehl Jung, Philip Grinwalt, (alt), Adam Reitz, John Raiber, Henrich Imhoff, Philip Hautz, Jacob Folmer, Jr., Henrich Strohm, Thomas Atkinson, Christian Gasser, and George George. It would not be proper to give amounts, as those who paid the most cash down at the start would ap- pear to be doing less than the others.
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it became evident that a whole keg more of powder would be needed. By April, '96, (five weeks before the cornerstone laying) an agreement was made for ten thousand shingles,* and thirty pounds paid down in advance. On the same day eight boxes of glass, some white lead and other materials were bought from John and James Poultney in Philadel- phia. Already in January, '96, Joseph Kraus and Conrad Wittmeyer were paid for stone work, and Conrad Reinoehl for iron work for the building. William Mohr received £3 "for the water wagon." On July 30th Wilson was up to the windows with the wall, and received £150 pounds from Uhler. On Aug. 15, he received £25 pounds more. On Oct. 19, he received another £50 pounds and George Hess £12 for breaking stone in the quarry. By January, '97, the carpenters have been at work, for Peter Miller receives fio to pay Christopher Embich. On May 4th Wilson got another hun- dred Ibs., and in August still another payment is made, and 407 pounds of iron are bought from John Boughter. In October Jacob Embich receives pay for carpenter work. The Plastering has been un- der way by January. 6500 lathes were bought in one lot. The shingles were paid in May, and 5000 more shingles had been bought and paid for in '97, the plaster in June and paint in October. 34 books of gold leaf ** were bought, and in 1799 they were
*At 18s. 9d.
** The Treasurer's box still contains one of these books of gold leaf, with the gold in, as a souvenir of the building.
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obliged to have two shovels made for the church in January, presumably to keep the path clear of snow. By 1800 they were paying £5 Ios. interest on £50 lbs. loaned. In 1802 they are paying £29 Ibs. interest, and the whole cost is summed up as being £2585,5s,od.
While the building was going on Pastor Loch- man and his delegates had been faithful in attend- ance on Synod, Conrad Reinoehl being delegate in 1796 and Conrad Hoffman in 1797. They report- ed in 1796 that our weekday school had 40 schol- ars .* When our pastor and delegate went to Synod in '97, they went with instructions to invite the body to Lebanon in '98, when the new church would be finished. They went to Baltimore, and there they found that poor pastor Kurtz had gotten into dissension with some of his flock at Jonestown, and both parties requested an investi- gation. They had not an easy task to influence the Synod for Lebanon as Hagerstown, Md., also wished to have it in 1798. The Synod would not commit itself to either place at the opening of the session, but just before its close "it was decided that the Synodical Meeting for next year shall be held on the Festival of the Trinity, in Lebanon," ** Many jubilant and yet anxious hearts waited for Sunday, June 3d, 1798, to dawn. The Synod, 38 persons in all, was here. A great concourse of
*"Doc. Hist." p. 286.
** This no doubt settled the date of the dedication of the Lebanon church and is the reason why the Synodical and the Salem anniversaries always conflict with each other.
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people from miles around must have gathered. The building was the largest, outside of Lancaster and Harrisburg, in this part of the country. Soon after nine o'clock in the morning the clergy and delegates of the several churches met in the old log church at the alley and proceeded thence in procession to the new church to consecrate it.
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