USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > New Hanover > The Lutheran Church in New Hanover, (Falckner swamp) Montgomery County, Penna. Part XXII. of a narrative and critical prepared at the request of the Pennsylvania-German society > Part 4
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cluded in general terms. For without question Lancaster, Strasburg, Earlingtown (New Holland) Heidelberg (St. Daniel's), probably Heidelberg (Schaefferstown), Mose- lem, Rockland, Oley Hills, and possibly Albany, New York, and some others were served by pastors belonging to synod. Reading, Berks Co., may not yet have been ad- mitted. At this time apparently thirty or more congrega- tions stood together.
Bringing these united congregations into one ecclesias- tical organization, a synod, was the most important and far-reaching step yet taken. It gave cohesion to the hith- erto disjointed elements, and enabled the pastors, as well as their congregations, to pursue one common course along one common line of action.
Although it seems to have differed in many respects from synods of today, its organization was a long stride forward. Up to this time, with the exception of the three congregations uniting in the call to Mühlenberg, every con- gregation had acted for itself. It was in this disjointed condition, every one doing as to him seemed best, that the greatest danger lay. It was the source of greatest diffi- culty in gathering the members of the Lutheran Church into congregations. Very frequently congregations brought together under the insidious influences of so-called inde- pendency, when gathered, were not Lutheran, but a nonde- script combination of beliefs and unbeliefs. It was this spirit and tendency which gave Kraft, Andrea and others of that stripe their foothold, and furnished Zinzendorf the means for plaguing the church.
At first the synod actually was nothing but an association of ministers, laboring together unitedly to secure the best interests of the church. The lay representatives of the congregations were really not members of it. They only
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
JELAPROTI
ECCLESIASTICAL SEAL OF THE UNITED CONGREGATIONS OF PHILADELPHIA, PROVIDENCE AND NEW HANOVER.
USED BY MUHLENBERG.
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The United Congregations.
came to the place of meeting to present the needs and de- sires of their congregations to and through some pastor, generally their own, and upon occasion being courteously invited to do so, to lay before the organization the re- quests and desires of the congregation represented by them.
It was not until 1794, forty-six years after the first or- ganization and six years after the death of its founder, that the lay representatives of the congregations were ac- corded a voice and a vote upon the floor of the body. Every one can readily see that it was after a representa- tive government had been fully established in this coun- try, and that it was plainly an effort to adapt the manage- ment of the affairs of the church to the altered condition of affairs-a free church in a free country.
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CHAPTER IV.
THE PASTORS WHO HAVE SERVED THIS CHURCH.
Those before Mühlenberg. Mühlenberg and His Helpers. Mühlenberg's Successors.
E do not deem it necessary to say much about the tradition that a minister had been ordained by the Swedes for these people in 1703. For if it is sup- posed to apply to the ordination of Justus Falckner, who was so ordained at Wicaco, it is clearly a mistake. He left this vicinity immediately after his ordination, removing to New York and preaching his first sermon as pas- tor there on the Sunday there- after. From that field he never came back to New Hanover. If it is supposed to refer to Daniel Falckner it is just as far off the mark. He was an ordained minister before that time. Dr. Schmauk sug- gests that it might be intended for his installation. While there may be no clear proof of that, it would apparently be the only solution consistent with the facts.
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Pastors who have Served this Church.
Why he devoted himself to secular pursuits, either in connection with his duties as a minister or to the utter neglect of the same, as some seem to think, we cannot say, nor do we deem that at all necessary to the purposes of this history.
But to show that these statements are not without foun- dation, it may be well to refer to some assertions made by Dr. Sachse in his "German Pietists," pp. 319 et seq.
The title of the Frankfort Land Company to the Manatawney tract of 22,000 acres, confirmed October 25, 1701, [which ?] is supposed to have been settled by Germans as early as 1700, by emigrants who came over with Daniel Falckner upon his return. The development of this tract, a part of which still bears his name " Falckner's Swamp," occupied much of the time and energy of the German Mystic, and as a result he gradually lost his interest in Germantown civil affairs, as well as in the commun- ity he had been instrumental in establishing on the Wissahickon.
He then refers to Pastor Sandel's account of his visit to Manatawney, in company with Daniel Falckner, in the fall of 1704, in which he says he assisted Falckner at the church service on Sunday, October 15.
One of the first things he did in the new settlement was to organize a congregation, build a church, and hold service accord- ing to the Lutheran ritual. This humble structure, a mere rude log cabin, without any attempt at ornamentation or architectural beauty, with its sparse congregation and enthusiastic preacher, has the distinction of being the first regular German Lutheran church and organized congregation in the western world. It served the congregation until 1721, when a more pretentious building was erected, also of logs.
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Dr. Schmauk seems to have shared the same view. He says, p. 127,
On the return trip to Pennsylvania in 1700 Daniel Falckner is supposed to have brought over with him the Germans who lo- cated in the Swamp and constituted the first permanent Lutheran congregation in the Province. These Germans must have left England on May 25, 1700, and arrived in Philadelphia during the first days of August. They settled on the tract of the Frankfort Land Company in that same year.
Dr. Sachse then quotes from the Halle Reports, that
It is quite possible that some Germans were already settled here before 1700 and that the Swedish pastors in attending to their own people discovered them and brought them to Falckner's atten- tion. . . . With Rudman, whose ecclesiastical dominion as Provost extended to Douglasville, trying to learn German, and the Falck- ners attending Swedish services to set a good example to the Ger- mans, and with the two new tracts contiguous, it is natural that Daniel Falckner should at once busy himself to organize a con- gregation in his own settlement.
That Daniel Falckner was regarded as the pastor of this region is shown by the statement in Eric Tobias Björck's "De plantatione," which was published in 173 1 to the effect that the Manatawny region was named after "Pastor Falckner," a view which Acrelius shares. The "Gemein- schaftliche's Schreiben" of 1754 mentions Falckner, " with Henkel and Stoever, as pastors who had been active in Pennsylvania in the period under discussion. This tra- dition must have referred to Daniel Falckner and to his work at Falckner's Swamp." Dr. Schmauk then refers to the fact that only of late years people have been made aware that this was the field of Daniel Falckner's activity
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Pastors who have Served this Church.
and that Justus Falckner's labors as pastor were confined to New York.
But we must not overlook some statements made by all the writers already quoted. Nearly all of these statements imply that, for a period of fifty years or more before 1700, German immigrants had been arriving singly and in small squads and settling in various portions of Pennsylvania. How else could we account for the settlements in Oley prior to that time? How else could we explain the fact that German names appear as taxables in some of those districts, years before the time generally assigned as the time of the organization of this congregation? What be- came of the fifty-four German families who came with the Swedish immigration of 1638, of which Dr. Schmauk tells us? Unless we mean to admit that these people had fallen back into absolute heathenism, they must have had occasional services and there must have been efforts at the organization of churches at Falckner's Swamp and at Oley, the two points at which the larger number of these people were found; we might safely say the great bulk of them. May not that have been the reason that Gerhardt Henkel, when he wanted to reach those people, settled at Colebrook- dale ? 3 This was only a few miles from Hill (Oley) Church and hardly more than six or seven miles from New Han- over-perhaps even less, possibly at Boyertown or Bech- telsville, or a point between the two. None of these points is more than six miles from New Hanover. Beside all this we must not forget that in two generations fifty-four families would have become several hundred. And while there is no statement, either traditional or documentary, of which we have any knowledge, that Germans had settled in this section and that they were looked after by the Swed- ish pastors on the Delaware, we do know that the coloniza-
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tion then undertaken ( 1638 et seq.) was religious, and Lu- theran. It was an effort of the great Chancellor Oxen- stiern to carry out the plans of his Great Chief Gustavus Adolphus. The men who established that colony cer- tainly looked after the spiritual interests of all whom they sent to the new world.1
Between the pastorate of Falckner and that of Gerhardt Henkel there is a period of about nine years unaccounted for. And while there may be no positive proof of the fact the statements of Rev. Daniel Falckner might readily lead to the conclusion that the Swedish pastors interested themselves in these people and provided them with occa- sional services. In fact, the statement of Rev. Falckner as to the interest which he and his brother took in the study of Swedish, and Provost Rudman's agreement to supply German services, might cause us to conclude that he (Rud- man) took care that the congregation was provided with German services when they did not have a native pastor, and that Sandel did the same. Would it be too much to suppose that Rudman looked after them even before Falck- ner became their pastor ?
The supply of their spiritual wants by Rev. Hesselius, 1720-23 and by Rev. Gabriel Falk, 1735-42, when they were without a pastor of their own nationality, indicates that this congregation was cared for by the Swedish pastors at Molatton, sometimes by those at Wicaco and possibly in earlier periods from the lower Delaware. Certainly their relations were most friendly, and it is very probable that most of the Swedish pastors were able to speak Ger- man. Some of the names might indicate that they were of German extraction, e. g., Falk, Hesselius, Rudman.
1 Cf. A Brief History of the Colony of New Sweden, Proceedings of Pennsylvania-German Society, Vol. VIII.
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Pastors who have Served this Church.
We think we would be perfectly safe, therefore, in say- ing that Rev. Daniel Falckner was the organizer and founder of this congregation, if it did not already exist before he came there. While it might not be possible to point to any definite record stating the fact, the circum- stances of the case seem to indicate this. At the same time, it may be altogether possible that his brother Justus Falckner, while still a student, aided him in his work, preaching at times and aiding him in looking after the spir- itual interests of the people.
After this first pastorate of Daniel Falckner, with a possible supply of their wants by Rudman and Sandel, two Swedish pastors, Rev. Gerhardt Henkel settled among these people. According to a statement of Rev. John Casper Stoever, sr., he (Henkel) had spent the first year in this country, 1716, in his (Stoever's) congregation in Virginia. Thence he came northward and settled in this section. Although there is some uncertainty in regard to his relations to this church, it is certain that a part of the time he resided in Colebrookdale, where his son-in- law, Valentine Geiger, had land. One of his sons also resided there. About 1717 he commenced to serve this congregation. Then for some reason or other he gave it up for a few years, during which time (1720-23) it was served by Rev. Samuel Hesselius, the first resident pastor at Molatton. Then apparently Rev. Henkel resumed his relations to this church, which he seems to have maintained until his death, which is said to have occurred about 1728-30.
This brings us to the time when the two Stoevers, father and son, arrived in America, September, 1728. That they settled somewhere in this vicinity is generally conceded. In fact we think no question was raised as to John Cas-
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per Stoever, jr.'s activities in this section. That he spent his time here and in Lancaster County (although not yet ordained), at least some of it in this neighborhood, until he made Lancaster County his permanent residence in the fall of 1733, we think has never been questioned. But where was the father? We are told he was called to Vir- ginia early in 1733. Where was he called from? Now in the absence of all evidence to the contrary would it not be natural to suppose that eastern Pennsylvania was his home at the time of the call to Virginia? All the indica- cations point that way. The ship's list says he was an ordained minister and the son was a theological student. Would it then seem far fetched if we were to suppose that Rev. J. C. Stoever, sr., officiated as pastor of this entire section and that his son, the "Studiosus," acted as his vicar, preaching and upon occasion possibly baptizing children? If that should seem out of the ordinary to some of us, it might be well to remember that that was a very common practice fifty to sixty years ago. Then a young man studying for the ministry would be sent to a vacant field. He would not only preach and catechize, but he would baptize. Any one looking over the minutes of Synod of that period will find numerous instances in which men would report baptisms almost an entire year before they were licensed. Rev. H. M. Mühlenberg's assistants (helpers) did the same. We are not discussing the propriety of the thing, but simply stating facts.
The statements of the Halle Reports on the subject are far from satisfactory. After stating that Rev. J. C. Schulze, who had become pastor in the fall of 1732, in the fall of 1733 went to Europe together with the dele- gates Weissiger and Schoener, to seek aid in Germany, it adds:
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Pastors who have Served this Church.
Before this he had ordained Joh. Casp. Stoever, at the Trappe. He, with a relative, who was a namesake and who removed to Vir- ginia, came to this country in 1728. The former served Philadel- phia, Providence, and probably also New Hanover, but moved to New Holland, Lancaster Co., in the fall of that year.
Speaking of the elder Stoever, after stating that Joh. Casp. Stoever, sr., calls himself the first pastor of the con- gregation in Virginia it adds :
He took charge of the congregation in 1733. He also declares that the congregation has been without a pastor and without any services for sixteen years.
It also states that it is not known where J. C. Stoever, sr., resided from 1728-33, when he received the call to Vir- ginia. It even makes the queer suggestion that he too might have been ordained by Rev. J. C. Schultze. The Pennsylvania Archives show clearly that he had entered his name on the ship as an ordained minister. The brief autobiography of the son, J. C. Stoever, jr., makes the same assertion. We might also add as a matter throwing additional light on the activities of Rev. Gerhard Henkel, that the Halle Reports, quoting from a publication of the elder Stoever, says that he (G. H.) came to Virginia six- teen years before (in 1717) with the settlers. But he did not remain a long time. "He went to Pennsylvania, his original destination."
Note .- According to the short account of an Ev. Luth. German Con- gregation at Spotsilvania, Hanover, 1737, it was undoubtedly the younger Stoever who went to Virginia. The elder Stoever seems never to have gone to Virginia.
Now all this indicates very clearly that J. C. Stoever, sr., spent the first five years of his residence in America some-
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where outside of Virginia-apparently, we think, in Penn- sylvania, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Trappe, New Hanover, and other places. It also shows conclusively that J. C. Stoever, jr., was not ordained until his father was about to leave, or had just left for Virginia. We think we can readily understand why, under existing cir- cumstances, the father should not wish to ordain his own son. It might also be possible that the son was satisfied to remain without ordination, until he found that J. C. Schultze's trip to Europe and his father's removal to Vir- ginia would place him in a position very undesirable.
Yet all the circumstances would seem to indicate that the father might either have been present on the occasion, or having arranged all matters to his own satisfaction, had left shortly before. It is certain that the ordination as well as the marriage of John Casper Stoever, jr., took place April 8, 1733. This is his own statement. Certainly Rev. John Casper Stoever, sr., had not set out for Vir- ginia long before that time, if he had set out at all. It would not be surprising to find that the application of the young man had the endorsement of the father, and was made at the request, or call, of his own congregations, New Holland, Muddy Creek, Hill or Quitapohila as it was then called, Little Tulpehocken, Swatara, and possibly Lancas- ter and even Bieber Creek (Strasburg). He certainly had regular services, and what he considered regular congrega- tions at the first four of these points and probably at all of them. He was certainly regarded as the regularly ac- cepted pastor. To us it has for some time seemed natural to regard him as having been ordained for this parish, to which he removed a few months after his ordination, with the right and privilege of performing the various actus ministeriales in the congregations at Philadelphia, Trappe,
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New Hanover, Germantown and all the territory connected with them, during the absence of their own regular pastor in Europe.
Now without asserting that this was what occurred, for nothing definite is known, what would be more natural than that the father, about to start on that journey, and knowing that he might not see his son on earth again, should have accompanied him and Rev. Schultze to Muddy Creek, than which no more central point could have been found, to see that son ordained in the midst of his own people, and to be just as publicly married with the father's benediction ? It is certain, for the church record so states, that Rev. J. C. Schultze baptized children here, at Muddy Creek, either the week preceding or within the three weeks succeeding, during the month of April. Why should he have made that trip of forty miles or more to do what Stoever himself could have done, without making a special trip, a few days later ? Or why should he have interfered in Stoever's field afterwards ?
Besides all this was there ever any authority other than that of the "Tulpehocken Confusion " for the statement that he was ordained in a barn, or a tavern, at the Trappe ? The Halle Reports, in arguing the matter, continually refer to that partisan document and try to show that the ceremony took place in a barn and not in a tavern as alleged there. Now we humbly submit that it is not proven and should not be accepted as true upon so un- reliable an authority. For when good Christian people so far forget themselves and their principles that they become involved in open riot on the Lord's day within the temple of the Lord, they have no right to expect us to accept their statements as to any of the details, especially those derogatory to their opponents. This holds good as
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The Pennsylvania-German Society.
to both parties to that controversy and to any of a similar kind.
We say these things because that whole document is nothing but a bitter attack upon J. C. Stoever for the pur- pose of defaming him and discrediting him, not only among his own people, but among all others. If any one thinks we use strong language, let him read that missive as well as the " broadside " against Rev. Lische, and he will be con- vinced that it is really a very mild statement of the matter.
The record of baptisms at Moselem, Oley (Hill), New Hanover and Stoever's own record would indicate that for several years he came back occasionally, at regular inter- vals, to hold services and to baptize the children. He may have done so for a time, even after Gabriel Falk, the next pastor, took charge. Falk apparently remained in charge a considerable time-from 1735-42 most of the time. During parts of 1738-39, possibly during the entire two years he was absent, in the south, in Carolina and Georgia. But after his return he seems to have resumed his relations to this congregation, for a time at least. But the fact that when Rev. H. M. Mühlenberg arrived, in November, 1742, a certain N. Schmidt claimed to be the pastor, shows that his relation to the congregation must not have been altogether cordial, and that the congregation did not desire it to be permanent. The statements of Rev. Dr. Kretschman concerning these matters in his " History of the Trappe Church " are a virtual repetition of the ac- counts of the Halle Reports.
THE PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SOCIETY.
PASTOR H. M. MUHLENBERG HOLDING SERVICES IN A BARN, WHILE THE TRAPPE CHURCH WAS BEING BUILT.
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Pastors who have Served this Church.
THE PASTORATE OF REV. H. MUHLENBERG AND HIS ASSISTANTS.
It will not be necessary to connect a sketch of the life of Mühlenberg with this history at this point. Yet since we are treating of one of his original congrega- tions, and certainly the old- est among them, we must recount some of the inci- dents of his busy and trying career, especially those most directly connected with this congregation.
We do not know that it has ever been distinctly stated why he selected New Providence (The Trappe) as his place of residence, although New Hanover was not only the oldest, but by far the strongest of the three united congregations, which called him. It may have been be- cause the Trappe was most centrally located, so that he could more readily reach the others. He may also have been influenced by the fact that it was at or quite near to the point where the two routes westward and northwest- ward diverged. The one followed the banks of the Schuylkill to Reading and thence to the west through the Lebanon valley. The other passed through the present Boyertown, also along the edge of the Oley Hills and by the "Hill" Church also to Reading. This latter road again diverged northward leading through the gap in the Lehigh Hills, at Long-swamp, to Allemaengel and over
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the Blue Mountains to the eastern section of Schuylkill County, at that time still a part of Berks.
Whatever may have been his purpose in locating there, these advantages were secured. With a few short inter- missions, that was the place of his residence from the time of his arrival in the fall of 1742 until the time of his death in 1787. But what wonderful changes had not these forty-five years wrought. From a few settlements along the Delaware and its immediate vicinity and a sparse popu- lation distributed between it and the Susquehanna, and a few straggling colonies northward along these streams, to a prosperous commonwealth, peopled along its eastern border almost to its northern boundary and westward almost to the limits of its territory in that direction. Its population had been doubled, trebled and possibly increased fourfold in his day. Beginning with three, and then four congregations, himself the sole pastor, their number had increased to from three to four score here in Pennsylvania, with others in New York and the distant South. Instead of three or four united congregations there were two synods, or conferences as they were sometimes named. Instead of a few dependent colonies, helpless and looking to Britain for protection, there was a young and vigorous nation admitted to the councils of the nations of the earth, -but we need not dwell on these things.
Before his arrival all seems to have been disorder and dire confusion. In fact this state of things did not cease at once upon his arrival. During the first weeks and months a certain aged and dilapidated minister named Valentine Kraft (Mühlenberg calls him " der alte Kraft "), tried to bar his way and impede his efforts by endeavoring to induce Rev. H. M. Mühlenberg to recognize him as a sort of ecclesiastical inspector and superior. Fortunately
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for Mühlenberg and his congregations the man's character seems to have been only too well known, so that his efforts were appreciated at their true value. Whether he was actually elected or called by any of the congregations may well be doubted.
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