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 ZION CHURCH 
 
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 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 Cornell University Library 
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 History of Zion Church of the city of Ba 
 
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A HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 ZION CHURCH OF THE CITY 
 OF BALTIMORE 
 
 1755-1897 
 
 PUBLISHED IN COMMEMORATION OF ITS 
 
 SESQUI-CENTENNIAL, 
 
 OCTOBER 15, 1905 
 
 BY 
 
 Pastor JULIUS HOFMANN 
 
 C. W. SCHNEIDEREIXH & SoNS, Printers 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 1905 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 To possess its annals in an accessible form has long been the 
 desire of Zion Congregation. Its sesqui-centennial affords the 
 welcome opportunity for the fulfillment of this wish. 
 
 This publication, in its first part, gives a translation of the 
 documentary material extant, which is chiefly contained in a 
 volume compiled before the year 1814. Part second is a survey 
 of the history of the congregation down to the death of Pastor 
 Scheib. 
 
 Throughout the preparation of this volume I have had the 
 assistance of my friend, Dr. William Kurrelmeyer, to whom I 
 here take opportunity to express my gratitude. 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Baltimore, Mr, October 15, 1905. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029461484 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 I. Early Accounts of the History of the Congregation, Trans- 
 lated FROM THE Archives : 
 
 A. First account, probably by Dr. Wiesenthal 9 
 
 B. Contributors to the Building Fund (1806) 31 
 
 C. Second account, by Pastor Kurtz (1813) 34 
 
 D. Miscellaneous documents : 
 
 1. Specification of the construction of Zion Church (1808) . . 38 
 
 2. First Constitution of the congregation (1769) 40 
 
 E. The crisis of 1830: 
 
 1. Letter to Pastor Uhlhorn 44 
 
 2. Statement of the vestry 46 
 
 3. Attempt to have elders and deacons ordained 46 
 
 4. Address to the members 47 
 
 II. Retrospect 5° 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Hallesche Nachrichten, American Reprint. 
 
 Memorial volume of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Hartwick Semi- 
 nary, held August 21, 1866. Albany: Joel Munsell, 1867. 
 
 T. E. ScHMAUK, A History of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania. 
 Vol. I. Philadelphia, 1903. 
 
 J. NicuM, Geschichte des evangelisch-lutherischen Ministeriums vom 
 Staate New York, 1888. 
 
 H. E. Jacobs and J. A. W. Haas, The Lutheran Cyclopedia. New York, 
 1899. 
 
 H. E. Jacobs, A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the 
 United States. New York, 1902. 
 
 E. J. Wolf, The Lutherans in America, 1890. 
 
 Franz Loher, Deutsche in Amerika, 1847, The Lutheran Observer, Vol. I. 
 
 Karl Gerok, Jugenderinnerungen, iSgo. 
 
 S. S. Schmucker, a. M., The Intellectual and Moral Glories of the 
 Christian Temple. A Synodical Discourse. Preached October. 17, in 
 the Lutheran Church, Middletown, Md. Published, Baltimore, 1824. 
 
 S. S. Schmucker, D. D., Retrospect of Lutheranism in the United States. 
 A Discourse. Baltimore, 1841. 
 
 John G. Morris, Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry. Baltimore, 1878. 
 
 John G. Morris, Life reminiscences of an old Lutheran minister. Phila- 
 delphia, 1896. 
 
 Scharf, Chronicles of Baltimore. Baltimore, 1874. 
 
 E. F. CoRDELL, M. D. I. Charles Frederick Wiesenthal, medicinse prac- 
 ticus, the father of the medical profession of Baltimore, 1900. 
 2. Dr. Heinrich or Henry Keerl, of Baltimore, the " Hessian Surgeon,'' 
 1905. 
 
 H. ScHEiB, Geschichte unsrer Kirche bis zum Jahre 1835. Vortrag, 
 gehalten 1888. 
 
I. EARLY ACCOUNTS OF THE HISTORY 
 OF THE CONGREGATION 
 
 (Translated From The Archives) 
 
 A.— FIRST ACCOUNT. 
 
 While the following account is anonymous, a comparison of the hand- 
 writing with that of letters of Dr. Wiesenthal makes it probable that 
 this is the work of this prominent member of the early congregation. The 
 letters referred to being in English, while the present account is in 
 German script, a definite conclusion cannot be reached. 
 
 A FEW years after the city of Baltimore was laid out, several 
 German families betook themselves thither to live, of which 
 Mr. Vitus Hartweg, harness-maker, was the very first. They 
 were mostly of our Lutheran confession. And although after 
 awhile more of both Lutherans and Reformed gathered there, they 
 were too few to establish a congregation. Therefore the members 
 of both confessions had for their edification to put up with ser- 
 mons of itinerant preachers, often of bad reputation and conduct, 
 until at last the congregation had so far increased, that a preacher, 
 for little money, came six or eight times a year from Pennsylva- 
 nia to this town and performed both preaching and administration 
 of Holy Supper. 
 
 These devotional meetings, in commendable harmony, were for 
 some years held in the English church, until baleful envy, or I do 
 not know what, caused the interdiction of further use of the 
 church, whereupon there had to be considered means by which 
 worship could be continued. 
 
 The first regularly officiating pastor was the Rev. Mr. Johann 
 Georg Eager, who for three consecutive years came down from 
 Pennsylvania six times a year, administering the spiritual func- 
 tions in preaching and sacraments, and enjoying from this not 
 more than five pounds per year. This was next to nothing in- 
 
deed, as a reward for the painstaking of a spiritual guide. The 
 congregation, however, consisting only of eleven persons and the 
 majority of them having no superfluous means, the good man was 
 satisfied with it until the journey of over sixty miles became 
 too arduous for him and he accepted another call. 
 
 After Mr. Eager had left our congregation, the same on July 
 9, 1758, was committed to the Rev. Johann Caspar Kirchner, who 
 had given sufficient proof both of his character and also of the 
 fact that he had already had charge of a congregation as ordained 
 pastor. He likewise promised to come down every sixth week 
 from Pennsylvania, where he preached to several smaller con- 
 gregations, and to preach and administer Holy Communion, for 
 which the congregation was to give him six pounds, Pennsylvania 
 gold, for nine months. After that period he was to begin a new 
 year with his other congregations, and also, provided his services 
 were satisfactory, with this congregation. 
 
 Each congregation, the Lutheran and the Reformed, intended 
 to erect a church of its own, but being too weak as yet, they 
 proposed a union-meeting to consider such an important under- 
 taking. The harmony prevailing up to this time between the two 
 congregations inspired us with great hopes, that,united both might 
 accomplish that which to them singly seemed impossible. 
 
 In this meeting, after different considerations, it was unani- 
 mously resolved: 
 
 1. To buy a tract of land in common for a church and a grave- 
 yard. 
 
 2. To build a common church for both. 
 
 3. There being as yet no preacher residing in town any itin- 
 erant minister of either confession should be welcome to preach ; 
 if, however, things should proceed so fas as 
 
 4. The engagement of a separate preacher for each who, resid- 
 ing in the town would officiate every Sunday, then one would 
 have to preach in the morning and the other in the afternoon, 
 alternating every Sunday. 
 
 5. If, however, both congregations should increase to such an 
 extent that the church would be too small, they should agree to 
 sell church and grave-yard one to the other, the congregation 
 which retained the church building paying back to the other con- 
 gregation an amount equal to its contribution towards the buying 
 and erection of the church and to other expenses. 
 
 10 
 
This proposition was accepted by both, and it was moved to 
 agitate the purchase of a lot on a hill near the old bridge, the 
 property of Herr Alexander Lawson, merchant, of this city. 
 Four gentlemen, two of each congregation, were selected to ar- 
 range with Herr Lawson, viz., on the Lutheran side, Herr Moritz 
 
 Worschler; schoolmaster, of this city, and Mr. ; on the 
 
 Reformed side, Mr. Lorsch, innkeeper, and Mr. Conrad Schmit, 
 contractor, of this city. The latter, pretending to have great in- 
 fluence with Herr Lawson, while actually he only worked for 
 him, took it upon himself to bring the matter before him and to 
 make him predisposed to favorable terms, in order that the dele- 
 gation of four should better know how to act. 
 
 According to this agreement they assembled. The Lutheran 
 deputation, however, heard with great surprise through Mr. 
 Conrad Schmit that after an interview about the land Herr Law- 
 son had stated that he would sell the same to the Reformed, the 
 Lutherans to have no share in it. This was a hard declaration 
 indeed, apparently suggested by a special feeling against our 
 congregation. It caused, as is easily understood, much deliber- 
 ation among us, for in the first place we could not see why Herr 
 Lawson should not take Lutheran money just as well as that of 
 the -Reformed ; as the land was in reality in the market. Sec- 
 ondly, it seemed to us a rather crude way to talk for a man of 
 his standing and conduct, knowing that he was a sensible, polite, 
 and well-raised man. We, therefore, did not know what to make 
 of it, until Mr. Conrad Schmit added that he himself (on account 
 of his deeper insight into the matter) thought the union would 
 cause conflict. 
 
 This seemed to explain the matter a little. We began to fear 
 a Jesuit's trick. But we decided to judge with charity this time 
 and to watch further developments, for the uncharitable opinion 
 of one or two persons could not be ascribed to a whole con- 
 gregation. 
 
 But soon the matter was placed beyond doubt. It happened 
 that the Reformed preacher Herr Loshie asked Herr Richard 
 Croxal for a lot on the hill to build there a German church. The 
 latter at once was so generous as to give one without pay for 
 that purpose. Now the murder was out, for the Reformed gentle- 
 men all of a sudden declared openly that this land was given to 
 them alone, they having asked for it, and that they did not care 
 
for the union any longer. Thus we poor, simple, credulous 
 Lutherans had, as in other cases, to go away with a flea in the 
 ear. 
 
 This could not happen without some of our hotheads flaring up ; 
 Mr. Jacob Rach especially was much stirred up. He took his 
 yard-stick and walked out to the iron foundry where Herr Croxal 
 lived, two miles from here. He asked him whether it was to the 
 Reformed alone that he had given the land, and informed him of 
 the state of affairs, which excluded the Lutherans entirely,. To 
 that Herr Croxal openly answered, he had given the land to the 
 German inhabitants in general, having supposed that they all were 
 of but one religion. But as things had turned out that way he 
 promised to let the Lutherans have half of the value of said prop- 
 erty. And really he paid us £7, i. e., the value of half the lot, as 
 soon as we had bought our own land. 
 
 Although great and laudable service had been rendered to us 
 through Mr. Rach, yet we could not in all things approve of the 
 zeal of our brother. He had said to Herr Croxal, whom he knew 
 to confess the Catholic religion, that the Reformed in the Heidel- 
 berg catechism called the Catholics idolaters, which also meant 
 him, Herr Croxal. The intention of Mr. Rach was doubtless to 
 prejudice Herr Croxal against the Reformed. Yet he did not 
 know that this man, although a Catholic, was a man of good sense ; 
 which clearly proves that not all Catholics are as bad as they are 
 often depicted. Howbeit we have to overlook these hot expres- 
 sions, caused by the intrigues and the double-dealing conduct of 
 the Reformed. 
 
 As soon as they had the piece of land and we had entered upon 
 negotiations about it, they were beating about the bush, proposing 
 to us that we should buy a lot abutting on theirs, thus being in 
 a way still united. Yet we were to fence off our lot from theirs. 
 This proposition seemed to us too subtle, nor could we in our 
 innocence understand how this would look like a union, and why 
 we might not as well be a hundred miles away from them. Thus 
 the whole scheme of union came to an end. One scabbed sheep 
 will often mar the whole flock. 
 
 Now we decided to test our own strength, and notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that we were much weaker than the Reformed, we 
 agreed to buy a piece of ground for a church and grave-yard. 
 It was resolved to ask Herr Lawson for the very same property 
 
which had been proposed when the plan of amalgamation was in 
 its first stages. This time, however, we did not care to make use 
 of a Reformed agent, but deputed Herr Moritz Worschler, 
 schoolmaster; Mr. Wilhelm Hackel, silversmith; Mr. Caspar 
 Grassmuck, Mr. Michael Tielfenbach, and Carl Fried. Wiesen- 
 thal, medicincB pracHcus. These were requested to make a con- 
 tract with Herr Lawson. 
 
 It was necessary, however, to ask this man first whether he 
 would sell this property to the Lutherans. As he answered at 
 once in the affirmative, the committee took the liberty to inform 
 him that the Reformed gentlemen had assured us that previously 
 he had not wanted us to have any part of the land, not even in 
 common with the Reformed, as is described in detail above. All 
 this Herr Lawson, much surprised, fully denied; and thus the 
 hidden intrigue of some of the Reformed members was revealed. 
 We saw with regret that there were people who could even begin 
 their divine service with envy and hatred, and that the old saying 
 came again to pass : Where a church for worship is built, there 
 the devil builds a chapel. 
 
 Now the land we desired for the church being in the rear 
 of five lots, Herr Lawson was disinclined to divide the same. 
 We, therefore, had to agree to take these five lots together, and 
 at last made a bargain to buy all five for ;£300 Maryland 
 
 gold, or £ Pennsylvania gold. Accordingly we divided the 
 
 whole lot into six parts, the first of them being the lot selected 
 previously for the church building. From the front of this lot 
 we cut off a portion for an approach to the church. The re- 
 maining five lots were laid out in accordance with the plan of the 
 town, and the following members promised to buy them, viz. : 
 Carl Fr. Wiesenthal the first lot, No. 119, for £75; Mr. Conrad 
 Conrad the second. No. 120, for £81, Mr. Caspar Grassmuck, 
 No. 121, for £38; Mr. Hackel, No. 122, for £38; Herr Worschler, 
 No. 123, for £38. The church lot thus was made as cheap as 
 possible, '£30. 
 
 With this scheme the aforesaid gentlemen went to Herr Law- 
 son, taking with them Mr. Michael Tieffenbach as elder of the 
 church and Mr. Hartweg, harnessmaker, and Mr. Daniel Barnetz 
 as representatives of the congregation. The contract was then 
 made. Herr Lawson promised to give each one an individual 
 deed after the amount for his particular parcel had been paid. 
 
 13 
 
With reference to the church lot, however, he made the restric- 
 tion that a family-vault was to be built for himself, for which he 
 agreed to give £36 Maryland gold, to be paid out of the interest. 
 The congregation, however, was to build the same. 
 
 Here the date 1^62 is entered on the margin. 
 
 Thus they parceled out the land according to the above-de- 
 scribed plan. The largest parcel, that of the congregation, was 
 a bargain, but those who took the lots, out of regard for the 
 congregation, paid the more. 
 
 Herr Pastor Kirchner continued to preach every sixth week. 
 Now the time came when we were to begin the work of erecting 
 the church wherein to have our meetings. As we were small in 
 number and of but average means no large building could arise. 
 Wisely we had to cut our coat according to our cloth, and 
 erected only a wooden building which we would consider a school- 
 house until our revenues would allow us to build the church 
 proper. 
 
 As agreed upon, the vault for Herr Lawson's family was be- 
 gun. It had been stipulated to make it feet in length, and 
 
 feet in breadth, and feet in height. The vault was com- 
 pleted. Herr Lawson had meanwhile died, and had been laid to 
 rest 13 miles from here in an old family vault near a furnace 
 where he had previously lived, and where some of his children 
 were entombed. His son who, as the heir, now took hold of 
 things, saw to it that each of the interested parties got his deed as 
 agreed upon. The church lot, however, was still unpaid for ; 
 and to their glory, be it known to posterity, our members al- 
 though weak and few in number, still with much zeal endeav- 
 ored to provide everything necessary for the erection of the 
 church, and with concerted efforts began to build and in a short 
 time completed the work. Accordingly, we had a church of our 
 own without being exposed to further vexatious tricks which 
 always would have molested us. 
 
 Our Herr Pastor Kirchner having received a call to Pennsyl- 
 vania where he could improve his material welfare, he would have 
 been too far away to attend to our congregation, and we there- 
 fore had to give Herr Pfarrer Brager charge of the congrega- 
 tion, and he performed the ministerial duties to us although he 
 was high in years, and the fatigue of the journey was very great. 
 
 14 
 
But we also had visits from itinerant preachers. Especially to 
 be mentioned is a preacher who had served in the army of the 
 late war as chaplain under General Amherst. He was a man 
 of " very good attainments," and obviously of exemplary conduct. 
 This preacher, by the name of Hartweg, remained with us for a 
 short while and preached to everybody's satisfaction. However, 
 he loved a roaming manner of life and did not care to stay long 
 with one congregation. He said plainly that he was wilHng to 
 stay as long as he should see that he was of use, but did not want 
 to be bound by a contract and to remain anywhere against his 
 will and conviction. Several times he came hither, remaining 
 some weeks and even months, but mostly went to Virginia, where 
 he was well esteemed by Lord Fairfax, and lived there. 
 
 The lot on which this church building is built, is upon a hill 
 rising very steeply and is somewhat inconvenient for old people. 
 If, however, a church with a steeple should be built upon it, it 
 cannot help being seen from afar and will make a fine appear- 
 ance. For the time being it could not at all be compared with the 
 temple of Solomon, except for our ardent zeal which made it pos- 
 sible that within a short time we could gather there for service. 
 
 We had visits from several preachers. Among them Herr 
 Pastor Hornel, a Swede by birth, who had formerly presided over 
 the Swedish church, and lately over the German church at York, 
 where, however, they were not satisfied with him. He did not 
 speak a pure German. His sermons were, therefore, not so agree- 
 able and intelligible. Besides, he was a " hard " Lutheran as to 
 every paragraph of the Augsburg confession. 
 
 Herr Hartwig, who passed through here again, spent a whole 
 winter with us preaching. He showed us that he was already 
 well versed in the English language, preaching at times in Eng- 
 lish. He also had many English hearers. But one could see at 
 once that he was German. However well he intended to do 
 things, yet the shibboleth was there. 
 
 Herr Pastor Kirchner again returned from Pennsylvania and 
 bought himself a plantation in the Barrens. He again took care 
 of our congregation, until he decided to join it definitely. Be- 
 cause for several years he had well ministered to our congrega- 
 tion and well conducted himself, we agreed to take him as full 
 pastor and to allow him a salary, which in view of our small 
 numbers was considerable, and was proportionate to the sum 
 
 IS 
 
which we had previously paid him when he preached 
 
 every sixth week. He now preached every Sunday and received 
 £50 per year, a sum, to be sure, small enough for a spiritual 
 guide. He could hardly eat his fill. Yea, we have found him at 
 times eating his bread with tears. He was poor, which made 
 him shy and despondent. But he was thoroughly honest and 
 attended to his sacredotal office with dignity and without hypoc- 
 risy, as befits a minister. And though he was poor, he strictly 
 observed his duties, punishing fearlessly the vices which came to 
 his knowledge, and instead of making enemies for him this only 
 increased his authority, and he received now and then favors 
 from friends who were convinced of his sincerity. 
 
 We had, therefore, our own church and our own preacher, ne- 
 cessitating the legal organization of a congregation. Everything 
 up to this date was indeed well attended to, but mostly by men 
 who were eagerly engaged in the cause, Mr. Worschler, as school- 
 master, attending to most of the affairs. He collected the little 
 money subscribed for the preacher. But now the business being 
 more complicated elders and deacons were added. 
 
 The service being conducted that way for some years and the 
 congregation increasing every year, Herr Pastor Kirchner now 
 deemed it necessary to draw up certain rules to form a regular 
 constitution. This constitution, consisting of fifteen articles, he 
 inserted into the present book, towards the end. These articles 
 the whole congregation professed, and subscribed to with their 
 own hands. They form the basis of our church government. 
 Herr Go. Lindenberger, Doctor C. W. Wiesenthal, Mr. Jo. 
 Schrein, Mr. Will. Hackle, Mr. Wm. Loveley, and Mr. Morris 
 Worschler were the first elders elected in accordance with this 
 constitution, together with Messrs. Jacob Brown and Fred. Kohl, 
 who were added as deacons. 
 
 We had been writing our bills on slips of paper and thus kept 
 our accounts, when we proceeded to buying ledgers, where every- 
 thing was duly accounted for, especially because our congrega- 
 tion grew day by day. Church dues were recorded, the accounts 
 .examined and balanced every year. 
 
 Already at this stage we had a desire to increase, if possible, 
 the efficiency of our school. It is an incontestable fact that 
 a good school education lays the foundation to our future hap^ 
 piness. Through it the minds of the children are led to virtue 
 
 16 
 
and learning, which enables them to be useful to themselves 
 and to the world. But we were too young for such an undertak- 
 ing. It takes men of intelligence to realize the importance of such 
 an undertaking, men that are fully convinced that money spent 
 for that purpose is very useful indeed. The means of most of 
 our members were too limited as yet, not allowing them to save 
 much. This suggested to us the idea of organizing a lottery. 
 After much talk Mr. Worschler outlined a scheme. 
 
 But all things in this world are subject to change and destruc- 
 tion of our best intentions ; in the same way our intentions were 
 frustrated, before they were executed. Herr Worschler got into 
 the company of some. of the Reformed congregation, to whom he 
 showed the plan and for a mess of pottage was persuaded to let 
 them have the benefit of the same. They did not lose an hour in 
 putting the plan to work and succeeded in realizing a heavy sum 
 of money for their church. After we had found it out it was 
 too late for us to undertake anything of the kind. All we had 
 to do was to look on with dry mouth and forget our grief. 
 
 One could not know whether this was done purposely or acci- 
 dentally. But one may think that dares not speak, and those 
 whose plans were thus thwarted, could not help being very much 
 aggrieved over it and rather thought that it had not been done 
 without premeditation. 
 
 At last the congregation succeeded in collecting so much money 
 that the church lot and the interest thereon could be paid. Mr. 
 Go. Lindenberger and C. Wiesenthal were selected to attend to 
 these things and straighten them out. Accordingly Mr. Linden- 
 berger saw to the collection of the money subscribed, C. Wiesen- 
 thal saw to the deed, in order that it might be drawn to the best 
 interests of the congregation. 
 
 The latter had after all somewhat increased, so that we were 
 able not only to pay for the land, but also justified in hoping that 
 with a steady increase the congregation would become quite large. 
 This made it necessary to have everything well attended to lest, 
 through carelessness, much harm be done. 
 
 Dr. Wiesenthal in drawing the deed judged that by the natural 
 increase of ovir congregation its numbers would soon b^ doubled, 
 and daily experience taught us that our children almost entirely 
 learned and understood the English language quicker and bet- 
 ter than our German tongue, and even in the case of many 
 
 17 
 
there was reason to fear that the language would be lost entirely 
 and the religion with it. Now to build a church for the propaga- 
 tion of our Lutheran religion for our children and children's 
 children was our chief aim. It was, therefore, our duty to see, 
 that in case this should happen, there would be no ill-considered 
 clauses in the deed, by which our children would be subjected to 
 unnecessary litigation and might even lose their share in the 
 church. He therefore thought it safest and most prudent not to 
 mention any language at all in the deed, but only the religion, 
 considering that in case a German church were expressly men- 
 tioned therein, there might be some who without any special love 
 for religion and inclined to quarrel, might deny the right of using 
 the English language to those who needed it for their edification 
 under the pretext that it had been stipulated that it was to be a 
 German church, even if there were only ten Germans. Herr 
 Lindenberger, to whom the Doctor first broached the matter, 
 agreed fully to it, and thought it was so reasonable and convinc- 
 ing that no one could have the least thing against it. But when 
 he came to the schoolmaster, Mr. Worschler, he had a hundred 
 things to say against it. But one thing was sufficient and cre- 
 ated a complete uproar : that it was a German church and should 
 remain such. 
 
 Dr. Wiesenthal had so fully realized the condition at the very 
 beginning that the question arose: if this happens now for the 
 mere sake of a deed, what will happen in case it should actually 
 be necessary? And this was a clear and true instance that an 
 opinion, originating from stubbornness, once held by people will 
 infatuate them and make them forego a vital interest, not con- 
 sidering that their actions have bearing upon posterity. 
 
 Several blank pages intervene. 
 
 Mr. Harrison having dug away the greater part of the church 
 hill and the church itself being out of repair, most of the mem- 
 bers gathered and decided to tear down the old building, to sell 
 the lumber to the highest bidder, and to build a brick schoolhouse 
 which should be used as a church until the growth of the congre- 
 gation would necessitate a regular church. 
 
 To begin the building a number of members assembled to de- 
 liberate. It was moved that before undertaking the construction 
 
 i8 
 
of the house we should adopt a regular constitution which was 
 to be arranged so that everything should be done in due order 
 and without discord. As each congregation consists of members, 
 and as the majority of the members decides all things, it is neces- 
 sary to know who are members and, therefore, are entitled to 
 vote. Accordingly, the deed of our church property contains the 
 stipulation that only those should be regarded as members and 
 have a vote who have attended our Lutheran services for at least 
 one )'ear, and who confess the same, who contribute to the ex- 
 penses of the church in proportion to their means, and who give 
 willingly their share towards the support of the preacher and 
 keep the peace. 
 
 Now as to the consequences of that unhappy quarrel which had 
 disturbed the peace of our congregation up to this time, it was 
 pretty near over. But Mr. Lindenberger and Wiesenthal com- 
 plained that they were ill repaid for their trouble, care, and zeal, 
 and that suspicion was thrown on them, as if they had intended, 
 by underhand means, to suppress the German language in the 
 church and introduce the English language for it ; in one word, 
 to make our church English. This suspicion was taken for a 
 reality, and the report of it was spread in other German colonies, 
 viz., Philadelphia, Lancaster, York Town, and elsewhere, to the 
 great disadvantage of the integrity of the two men in question, 
 which indeed every man has to keep unblemished. Therefore, both 
 resigned their office as elders and could not associate with the con- 
 gregation any longer imless they were exonerated by the congre- 
 gation of these charges in a " general amnesty," or on the other 
 hand, after regular inquiry, they should be found unworthy of the 
 office of elder. 
 
 In order that everything might be done in due order, it was 
 deemed best that the seven men to whom the church property was 
 entrusted and who consequently represented the congregation 
 should meet and draft a constitution, viz. : Mr. Wiesenthal, Go. 
 Ernst Lindenberger, Moritz Worschler, Willm Hackle, Willm 
 Lovely, Joh. Schrim, and Jacob Eichelberger, together with the 
 two elected deacons: W. Fred Cole and Jacob Brown. The old 
 constitution was to be revised and improved, and care was to be 
 taken that it should duly be observed. After suitable articles 
 were drawn up, they should be brought before the brethren of 
 
 19 
 
the same faith, who by affixing their signatures, would become 
 members of the congregation. 
 
 By a differ ent hand: 
 
 To put an end to the aforesaid quarrel we the undersigned and 
 the other elders of the congregation have according to our duty 
 fully investigated matters and do not find the slightest founda- 
 tion for the above charges against Mstr Lindenberger and Mstr 
 Wiesenthal. We according to our conscience and belief find them 
 not guilty. 
 
 Elders : Johannes Schrimm 
 Wilhelm Hackel 
 Wilhelm Loble 
 Deacon: Friedrich Kohl 
 March 23d 1772 
 
 After an interval of several blank leaves a third hand sets in: 
 
 On Sunday Misericordias Domini of the 1786th year the fol- 
 lowing were elected in public meeting by a majority of the votes: 
 
 Elders: Johannes Lepold, Engelhard Jaiser, Carl Garts, Jo- 
 hannes Breidenbach, Friedrich Kohl, Peter Frick, Johannes 
 Schrimm, and Carl Schwartz. 
 
 Deacons: Philipp Wehner and Friedrich Reinhart, together 
 with the two deacons yet in office for this year, viz. : Georg Rei- 
 necker and Peter Machenheimer. 
 
 On March 21 of the same year the vestry, consisting of afore- 
 said elders and deacons, unanimously voted that from now on 
 two of the aforesaid elders, in accordance with the rules given be- 
 low, and four men of the congregation should be placed on the 
 list of candidates by the congregation, and out of these six per- 
 sons two new elders should be elected. 
 
 For the ist year: Johannes Lepold and Engelhard Jaiser. 
 " " 2d " Carl Garts and Johannes Breidenbach. 
 " " 3d " Friedrich Kohl and Peter Frick. 
 " " 4th " Johannes Schrimm and Carl Schwartz. 
 
 Second Constitution (1773). 
 After am intermission of ten pages we read: 
 Articles for the government of the Evangelical Lutheran Con- 
 gregation in Baltimore Town in Maryland, unanimously agreed 
 
upon for the present time until' in the future a more detailed con- 
 stitution shall be adopted. August 5, 1773. 
 
 1. Whereas, Christian order in all congregations requires many functions 
 which the regular teachers and preachers can not take upon themselves 
 without disadvantage to their office, it is proper that in addition to the five 
 elders already in office three other good men of good faith and an upright 
 conversation should be elected by the votes of a majority of the members 
 in good standing of our Evangelical High German Church of this town, 
 and that they be presented publicly and sworn in, and their names written 
 in the church book. 
 
 These shall consider it their duty both to have a commendable and edify- 
 ing conversation themselves and to administer the duties incumbent upon 
 them and the offices entrusted to them zealously and faithfully; and to be 
 willing helpers, to assist most sedulously the regular pastor and teacher in 
 the salutary ministration of his office. 
 
 Out of these eight also a treasurer, i e. collector and bookkeeper of the 
 revenues of the congregation, shall be elected. He shall give to the others 
 the required bond and shall never keep over 10 or 15 pounds in hand. 
 
 2. From now on every year several new deacons shall be elected in 
 place of those retiring after two years' service, and in case one should 
 refuse to accept voluntarily this burdensome office he should compensate 
 the congregation by a considerable fine. The treasurer and 4 deacons 
 annually, at a certain time, shall give account of their books to the 
 trustees and elders as deputies of the congregation. The state of these 
 books shall be publicly announced to the congregation, and thus suspicion 
 and calumny will be avoided everywhere. Furthermore, these present rules 
 shall be read to the congregation once a year and new members shall sub- 
 scribe to the same. 
 
 3. In all cases where an important matter is to be decided upon, and for 
 which the presence of the whole congregation is deemed necessary, the 
 latter, when summoned by the regular teacher, shall make its appearance 
 duly and willingly. 
 
 4. All important and lawful complaints arising in the congregation, 
 either against the preacher, an elder, a trustee and deacon, or against any 
 member must not be dragged about in the town or in the country, nor 
 indeed be spread out among strangers, but for the sake of order the elders 
 should be notified in charity and modesty. These, together with the regu- 
 lar teacher, are entitled and obliged to investigate the matter and to 
 adjust the difficulties with kindness and in peace, in order to preserve the 
 best peace and welfare of the congregation. 
 
 All members must see to it that peace and concord, so necessary to the 
 church, are carefully preserved. Accordingly, no one without grave re- 
 sponsibility on his part should withdraw from it on account of some short- 
 comings or abuses that creep into the church as into all societies, nor on 
 account of certain faults or deficiencies of one or the other member; in 
 order that all disorder and disruption be avoided and remedied. 
 
 6. Neither a single member nor several members are allowed to make 
 
changes of their own accord, or to suspend the old rules. All laws of 
 the church and all rules are made with the assent of the regular teacher 
 by two-thirds of the elders, trustees, and deacons, carefully and conscien- 
 tiously, being attorneys of the congregation. 
 
 7. All members of the congregation who, in accordance with the terms 
 of the deed, want to have rights in the church and its property, the 
 church-yard, and other privileges, must voluntarily pay proportional dues 
 towards the maintenance and support of the church, rightly and honestly. 
 
 8. At all public services the ordinary offering — as it is customary with 
 all our evangelical congregations in North America — shall be collected by 
 the elders during the singing of the hymn after the sermon, and be 
 counted afterwards, and the amount entered in a special book and 
 handed over to the treasurer. 
 
 9. For the burial of strangers in our church-yard not less than 30 shill. 
 specie shall be paid. In case of poor co-religionists a reduction may be 
 granted. 
 
 10. Each member shall in due time advise the pastor concerning the 
 baptism of children, burial of the dead, and participation in the Holy 
 Communion, in order that the Teacher may be enabled fully to perform 
 his duties and in order to settle all quarrels peacefully and in time. 
 
 11. All gross sinners who by public shame and vices would give offense 
 shall be dealt with in mercy and earnestness according to the teachings of 
 Christ (Matth. V and VI). The same shall, for the time being, be ex- 
 cluded by the pastor from Holy Communion and sponsorship until they 
 show repentance, betterment, and reconciliation with the congregation. 
 
 12. These short rules and regulations for the church may in the future, 
 of course, be changed, improved, and augmented according to new condi- 
 tions, conscientiously and prudently, as divine grace and providence will 
 show and teach us. 
 
 We have pledged ourselves to this discipline and to the following arti- 
 cles, of our own accord, with our hand and signature in Christian good 
 faith, viz. : 
 
 An X indicates the names of those- few who did not sign their names 
 themselves, but simply made their mark. 
 
 Carl Fr. Wiesenthal Georg Gartner 
 
 Wilhelm Loble Joh. Leonh. Jacoby 
 
 Moritz Worschler Christian Frolich 
 
 Geo. Lindenberger Johannes Delcher 
 
 Johannes Schrimm X Philip Grace 
 
 Jacob Braun Carl August Kirst 
 
 Jacob Eichelberger Carl Gottlob Schwartz 
 
 Lorens Steller Hans Georg Dietmann 
 
 XVitus Hartweg Heinrich Augustin 
 
 Carl Gertz Valdin Schneider 
 
 Joseph Miller Jacob Schneider 
 
 John Phile Joh. Willh. Ranch 
 
 Gabriel Liwyn Joh. Fried. Kies 
 
 Jorg Loble Adam Rohrbach 
 
Michel Hattinger 
 
 Joh. Christoph Grundig 
 
 Joh. Maclienheimer 
 
 Peter Machenheimer 
 
 Christoph Wunder 
 
 Johannes Paul 
 XPhilip Berndhausel 
 
 Mich. Eltrerbach 
 
 Daniel Berniz 
 
 Georg Thoel 
 
 Michael Schreyack 
 
 Johannes Schronck 
 
 Johannes Kiiffer 
 
 John J. Myer 
 
 Heinrich Simund 
 
 Engelhard Yeiser 
 
 Johannes Leypold 
 
 Frantz Friedr. Betz 
 
 Erasmus Uhler 
 
 John Tinges 
 
 Christoph Raborg 
 
 Daniel Bender 
 
 Adam Gantz 
 
 Leonhard Karg 
 
 Peter Frick 
 
 Philip Wohner 
 
 Friedrich Wille 
 
 Andreas Hertzog 
 
 Johannes Bock 
 
 Adam Kremmer 
 
 Johannes Breitenbach 
 
 Michael Krosh 
 
 Adam Booss 
 
 Michel Hattinger 
 
 Gottfried Kohl 
 XNicholas Haller 
 
 Gg. Thomas Walckersdorfer 
 
 Fridrich Alter 
 
 Christian Pauly 
 XWilhelm Clauer 
 
 Heinrich Ziegler 
 
 Peter Schmidt 
 XMathias Rauh 
 Xjacob Mayer 
 
 Georg Frank 
 
 George Reinicker 
 
 Peter Littig 
 
 Johannes Haan 
 
 Matthausz Miiller 
 
 Michael Krebs 
 
 Christi Bachman 
 
 Georg Reisinger 
 
 Henry Doyel 
 
 Adam Clackner 
 X Phillip Doyel 
 
 Andreas Eckel 
 
 Jacob Neumann 
 
 Georg Leitner 
 
 Theobalt Klein 
 XLudwig Stotz 
 
 Jerg Reichli 
 XJeremias Ehne 
 
 William Rayberg 
 
 Thomas Tool 
 
 Johannes Schrim Jr. 
 
 Johannes Lauer 
 
 Bory Jentz 
 
 Johann Reiff 
 
 Jacob Nusser 
 
 Martin Bandel 
 
 Dewalt Kremer 
 
 Georg Dowig 
 
 Martin Sommer 
 
 Heinrich Schultze 
 
 Valentin Breidenbach 
 
 George Cole 
 
 Heinrich Juchhardt 
 
 Andreas Erppolt 
 
 John Cole 
 
 Abram Franck 
 
 Andreas Schattli 
 
 Michael Schorr 
 
 Conrad Bauer 
 
 Adam Breitemaler 
 
 Johan Alter 
 
 Johann Rock 
 
 Joh. Gorg Eberhard 
 
 Joh. Georg Nieppert 
 X Leonhard Tassler 
 XAndreas Knauer 
 
 Johannes Beck 
 
 Philib Herman 
 XWilhelm Bauer 
 
 Henrich Zimerman 
 X.Michael Nuchterlein 
 XMartin Bauer 
 
 23 
 
Jacob Griinwald XHenry Gantz 
 
 Friedrich Hoflich XMichael Ernst 
 Friedrich Klein Andrew Bloch 
 
 Johannes Staub R. Dunn 
 
 Solomon Helms Signs for his wife. 
 
 Jakob Bloch Andreas Hoffman 
 
 Christian Myers Friedrich Shaffer 
 
 William Chaplin Joh. Martin Bandell 
 
 Henry Wineman James Davidson 
 
 George Levely Signs for liis wife. 
 
 Samuel Mayer Jacob Dieter 
 
 Henry Harschman Charles Snyder 
 
 Again several blank pages intervene. The following is by the 
 first hand: 
 
 Declaration. 
 
 Whereas all negociations concerning the reestablishment of 
 peace in the congregation were in vain and whereas on account 
 of the great diversity of minds and their complaints and ideas 
 the desired reunion can not so easily be brought about : those that 
 have taken no part in the cause of the split and do not recognize 
 that there is anything of right in the complaints against their pas- 
 tor Herr Gerock, but rather are satisfied with him in every way, 
 do voluntarily endorse him by subscribing their names. And 
 whereas they continue to hold services regularly and whereas they 
 are in possession of the church which even many of them helped 
 to found, and have, according to its statutes, observed friendship, 
 these constitute the real congregation. 
 
 And as all the elders in a body have resigned, thus leaving the 
 congregation without true and duly elected elders, they judge it 
 to be their duty to elect the necessary elders and deacons, in order 
 to reorganize the church government. Therefore all who have 
 not yet, by signing the articles of the church, joined the congre- 
 gation are requested to sign the same as soon as possible. We 
 also can not omit to give through this a solemn fraternal invita- 
 tion to all peace-loving former members of the church to reenter 
 the congregation, which we have all the more reason to expect as 
 we have shown due attention to all just propositions. Those 
 however who have discord, quarrel and ill will as their motto, we 
 hope shall never come back to us anymore, unless they show a 
 peaceful attitude towards the congregation in word and deed. 
 
 Accordingly, March i8, 1787, the congregation was requested 
 
 24 
 

 
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 ^'■^ 
 
 
 
 J/tJ»i> »>, -■¥*'r • 
 
 l%-<r'' l;'/'^^-:^ 
 
 ,.^'v'-cw 
 
 S /'» '' - ^' 
 
 
 -^/t-'-^T. 
 
 
 , -'•■-■ < -' 
 
 ^-' ■!:&'"/ 
 
 m 
 
 PAGE FROM CONSTITUTION OF 1773. 
 
to elect six elders and two deacons. Dr. Wiesenthal, Mr. Tinges, 
 Mr. Jacob Brown, Mr. Lattich, Mr. Gans, and Mr. Breitenbach 
 were elected elders, and Mr. Meyer and Go. Levely deacons, and 
 presented to the congregation as is customary. The Rev. Herr 
 Pastor Gerock was again called to the ministry. Thus this con- 
 gregation, although small, was once more duly organized; and 
 we do not doubt that it will grow large with God's protection and 
 blessing. 
 
 We had hardly placed our church affairs on a sure footing when 
 a way was opened to do away with the hostilities among the mem- 
 bers and to pave the way for peace. For in most cases a little 
 patience and good sense is all that is necessary to accomplish this. 
 It happened that a conference between the Rev. Herr Dan. Kurtz 
 and Herr Dr. Wiesenthal revealed that a reunion could take place. 
 The two men, who were heartily in favor of it, took the work in 
 their hands and quickly restored general peace. 
 
 It was resolved to hold service on Easter day again with the 
 whole congregation. And it seemed to be necessary as our small 
 congregation all of a sudden received again the other congrega- 
 tion that an entire reorganization should take place and that 
 elders should be elected by the whole congregation. The afore- 
 said elders conceded this with their well-considered prudence and 
 decided to hold their office until in a short while, after two or three 
 months, they would be convinced that we were in earnest about 
 our reconciliation, and that peace was safe, without any further 
 suspicion. Then with great pleasure they would submit their 
 office to a new general election. 
 
 The following explanation and expansion of our church stat- 
 utes have been agreed upon by the congregation and have been 
 pledged to by signature, whereby the old subscribers are to be re- 
 garded as having also signed these new rules. 
 
 I. As our congregation has increased for some years to such a 
 degree, that we from want of sufficient space, had to add another 
 building to hold service there for a short time to the school- 
 house where we had held service hitherto ; and as with the growth 
 of the congregation discord might arise on account of the want of 
 a regular constitution, it has been deemed very necessary to go 
 over our old church articles and to improve same according to the 
 needs of our times. Accordingly, it being necessary to know who 
 is a member and none being a member and still less is enjoying 
 
 26 
 
the privileges of the church who has not duly affixed his name 
 to it, and who does not submit to the rules and regulations, all 
 those who want to vote as members and to elect or be elected 
 elders and deacons must sign their names in the church-book in 
 presence of the congregation or elders or pastors. 
 
 2. Whoever intends to sign as a member must have lived here 
 at least one year, must not have refused to pay his dues, and must 
 by peaceful conduct have shown himself to be a worthy member. 
 
 3. If complaints arise against the pastor, the elders, the trustees, 
 or members of the congregation about any of our church affairs, 
 religious opinions, or bad conduct, such complaints as is stated in 
 the articles, shall be announced in the meeting of the elders in due 
 modesty. They then shall summon the accused to his defence and 
 shall try to reform the guilty person by means of serious admoni- 
 tion or exclude the same from the congregation. In general all 
 differences shall be settled in like manner by the vestry, and any- 
 one who violates this law and who in order to take revenge tries 
 to disturb the congregation which once for all has entrusted all 
 these things to the vestry, shall be regarded as a disturber of the 
 peace and a quarrelsome man, and be reprimanded as such and 
 excluded until he shall have mended his ways. 
 
 4. The constitution shall be read publicly once a year to make it 
 known to everyone, that no one may plead ignorance of the law. 
 No one, whether pastor, elder, deacon, or member of the congre- 
 gation shall be allowed to contravene it, but all things are to be 
 investigated in the regular church council and are to be decided 
 according to the rules by at least two-thirds of the votes. But if 
 it should be necessary to change certain things according to cir- 
 cumstances, the same shall be well deliberated by the whole vestry 
 and after investigation shall be acted upon with the help of the 
 most experienced members or by calling together the whole con- 
 gregation. 
 
 5. As there are no records of children baptized, which fact may 
 prove to be of disadvantage, a regular book shall be kept and care- 
 fully preserved in the future in which all children which are 
 brought to be baptized in the congregation shall be duly regis- 
 tered ; likewise all marriages and burials. This shall be announced 
 to the congregation, in order that they, either from certain memory 
 or from notes in their books at home, if it pleases them, may have 
 the names written down in a regular register for everlasting mem- 
 
 27 
 
ory to minimize the damage that may arise from it or rather to 
 prevent it. 
 
 To establish the reunion of the congregation the following 
 plan has been suggested : 
 
 As it happens that the actual pastor, the Rev. Herr Gerock, 
 who for some time has been at the head of the congregation as its 
 spiritual guide, now in approaching age cannot attend to his 
 office in every respect as the growing congregation desires and 
 demands, the vestry shall have the right to accept a younger 
 preacher and to associate him with the old gentleman to help him 
 in his office. Especially the afternoon sermon and the instruction 
 of the catechumens shall be assigned to him. The old gentleman 
 as first preacher has the morning sermon regularly, but the young 
 preacher must consent upon occasion to hold now and then also a 
 morning service. Confirmation, however, is administered jointly 
 according to the use and stipulation of the Augsburg confession 
 with consecration by laying on of hands by both preachers, as it 
 is customary in other churches. Likewise the Holy Supper is ad- 
 ministered jointly by both ; the old gentleman offering the bread, 
 the second preacher the chalice. Also in private matters, such as 
 marriages, baptism, visitation of the sick, or burials no distinction 
 shall be made, it being the duty of each one to perform these as 
 called upon. 
 
 But as in general preachers should by virtue of their office offer 
 to the congregation a model of composedness, meekness, and 
 humility, both preachers are expected to behave in sincere broth- 
 erly concord one to the other and to show themselves worthy of 
 that respect and honor to which they are entitled by their high 
 office by carefully avoiding every offence. These two preachers 
 accepted are, viz. : Pastor Johann Siegfried Gerock and Pastor 
 Daniel Kurtz. 
 
 The congregation and the hearers on the other side not only 
 shall show due respect to their present two reverend preachers, 
 and look at same as servants of God, but also shall endeavor wil- 
 lingly to assign, to collect, and to hand to them the necessary 
 means of livelihood and shall in all things so conduct themselves 
 that they may attend to their office with joy and not with sighs. 
 
 The elders who receive all money thus collected shall divide the 
 same so that the salaries for both the preachers are fair and just. 
 They are the guardians of the congregation and as such they have 
 
 28 
 
to see that all discord is prevented, and duty requires them to ad- 
 monish those members which are, or might become, unwilling or 
 negligent, to submit to necessary order and treat everything ac- 
 cording to the signed articles. 
 
 All this is to be considered a solemn treaty which forms the 
 basis not only of a friendly reunion of the entire congregation 
 but also for the preservation of lasting harmony and of the future 
 government of the church. Experience has taught us how bad 
 and dangerous are the consequences, if this necessary harmony is 
 once interrupted. 
 
 Therefore, each and everyone who by signature assents to this 
 plan and thus joins the congregation shall endeavor to live up to 
 it most strictly, and especially so the elders. If, however, it 
 should happen unexpectedly that someone opposes them or shoul4 
 use unnecessary and trifling objections and thus should destroy 
 again this salutary plan, the same, if all persuasion and admoni- 
 tion shall not avail, shall not be considered as members of this 
 congregation any longer except he realizes his wrongdoing and 
 becomes reconciled with us. 
 
 Accordingly both pastors, the Rev. Gerock and Dan. Kurtz, 
 have carefully considered the foregoing and consent to it with 
 heart and hand, of which their own signatures are witness, exhort- 
 ing the congregation to follow their example. 
 
 Baltimore Town, 3d of April in the year of Christ 1787 
 
 Johann Siegfried Gerock 
 J. Daniel Kurtz 
 in presence of 
 
 Charles Wiesenthal 
 Peter Frick. 
 
 29 
 
SIGNATURES TO DECLARATION. 
 
B.— CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BUILDING FUND (1806). 
 
 Baltimore, Sept. 15th, 1806. 
 
 For a long time it has been the desire of the vestry of the Luth- 
 eran congregation to build a new church, the present church not 
 offering sufficient space. As every member of this congregation 
 will easily realize the necessity of a new church edifice, the vestry 
 again appeals to the liberality of the members, their willingness 
 to help having been proved on previous occasions. 
 
 Donations from other friends of church institutions will be ac- 
 cepted with thanks and with the prayer that God may bless them 
 abundantly in return. If this building should be begun the sub- 
 scriptions may be paid in four instalments. 
 The names of the subscribers. 
 
 The * marks insertions or corrections by Pastor Kurts. 
 
 Peter Frick 
 
 Erasmus Uhler 
 
 Georg Dowig 
 
 Heinrich Schroder 
 
 Repold and Waesche 
 
 Friedrich Hammer 
 
 Fried. Konig 
 
 Karl Bohn 
 
 Albert Seekamp 
 
 Johanti Leypold 
 
 Pet. Arn. Karthaus 
 
 Conr. Schultz 
 
 Joh. Hauptmann 
 
 And. Xoch 
 
 Johann *Cunrod 
 
 Joh. Machenheimer 
 
 Schultze *ConsulvonPreussen 
 
 F. Hoppe 
 
 Wilh. Raborg 
 
 Salomon Heims 
 
 Conr. Eiselin 
 
 Ludwig Brantz 
 
 Dav. Bixler 
 
 Joh. Ilgenfitz 
 
 August Fegtmeyer ' 
 
 Joh.-Hein. Ewaldt 
 
 Carsten Neuhaus 
 
 August Schwatke 
 
 Jac. Geissendorfer 
 
 Ernst Fauth 
 Heinrich Winter 
 Johann Stierly 
 Georg A. *Leuersachs 
 Briesinger 
 Heinr. Altvater 
 Wilh. Schertel 
 Johann Steinbeck 
 Joh. Schornberger 
 Joh. Fried. Gebhardt 
 Heinr. Hauptmann 
 Chr. Rindt 
 Heinr. Rindt 
 Abrah. Kniipp 
 Ludwig Reppert 
 Fried. Brauer 
 Georg *Reppert 
 Jacob Reppert ' 
 Mich. Schorr 
 Joh. E. Alhausen 
 Wilh. Justus Alhausen 
 Joh. Merfeld 
 Jac. Lubstine 
 Joh. Mich. Dosch 
 Christoph Miiller 
 Georg Schnauber 
 Cath. Filly 
 J. H. Saumenig 
 Theobald Faust 
 
 31 
 
Herrmann Neimeyer 
 Fried Crafft 
 Heinr. Schaumberg 
 Joh. Theod. Kail 
 Joh. Hourner 
 Diederich Wolf 
 Wilhelm Keilholz 
 Conr. Reinecker 
 Christian Capito 
 Johann Ries 
 Peter Sauerwein 
 Philip Horn 
 James Zwisler 
 Philip *Itzge 
 Georg Reinecker 
 Heinrich Keerl ' 
 J. C. Rau 
 Joh. Mattais 
 Joseph Schmid 
 Heinr. Fouse 
 Andr. Glock 
 Jak. Diel 
 Thorn. Henning 
 Benj. Henning 
 Herm. Fricke 
 Carl G. Borstler 
 Ludwig Fegtmeyer 
 Phil. Akkermann 
 Valentine Waggener 
 Joh. Ad. Knott 
 Nik. Hoffmann 
 Pet. Bensen 
 Ludw. Lambert 
 Joh. Heyl 
 Jak. Hoffmann 
 Christian Stever 
 Joh. Fischhach 
 H. A. Wilms 
 Jak. Gelleg 
 Wendel Michael 
 Fried. Kumraer 
 Eva Robison 
 
 Carl Diehl 
 
 Phil. German, Junior 
 Peter Maurer 
 Antonius Grovermann 
 Gg. Warner 
 Joh. Allbright 
 Maria Allbright 
 Wilh. Krebs 
 Mich. Warner 
 Fried. Eiselen 
 Ignat. Stever 
 Heinr. Nagel 
 
 Christoph Heinr. Augustinus 
 Gg. Rohrbach 
 Peter Wigant 
 Conr. Schrot 
 Nik. Emich 
 Gg. Capito 
 Cath. Hoss 
 Ludw. Michael 
 Gg. Kaylor 
 
 Joh. Fried. Bensemann 
 Sam. Ford 
 F. Wisotzky 
 Math. Hufnagel 
 Joh. Christoph Kaminsky 
 Fried. Haubert 
 Jak. Schott 
 Math. Herrmann 
 Daniel Wagener 
 Phil. Schwarzauer 
 Carl Schroter 
 Carl Morneweck 
 Fried. Leypold 
 Joh. Sch*run 
 *Bernhard Struthoff 
 Dav. Friedrich 
 Sabina Graff 
 Georg Mayer 
 Doroth. Bayley 
 Doroth. Forleng 
 Joh. Keller 
 
 " He was Surgeon in Von Rail's regiment, and was made prisoner in 
 the battle which followed Washington's crossing of the Delaware. Being 
 an officer he was paroled, and later settled in Baltimore. In the Maryland 
 Journal of August, 1789, he advertises the sale of medicines and instru- 
 ments at the " Sign of the Golden Swan, upper end of Market street, near 
 Congress Hall," i e. near Sharp street. 
 
 32 
 
Fried. Stremmel 
 Salomon Aulberts 
 Cath. Milteberger 
 Joh. Knodt 
 Cath. Pech*in 
 Aug. Zeuner 
 Carl J. Meyer 
 Heinr. Dukehart 
 Joh. Howser 
 Casp. Fahs 
 Pet. Strubuk 
 Valentin Drawbach 
 Georg Benner 
 Philip Jetler 
 Mart. Sommer 
 Joh. *Hoss 
 Heinr. Scheithauer 
 Zacharias Tensfeld 
 Casp. Schmid 
 Joh. Steinfarth 
 *Johann Everson 
 Daniel Wallander 
 Joh. M. Studenstein 
 Wilh. Warner 
 Elis. Barney 
 Joh. Breitenbach 
 Christian Meyers 
 Georg Lightner 
 Jacob *Seitz 
 Georg Neippert 
 Georg Ackerrnann 
 Jakob Mddinger 
 Valentin Delscher 
 Conr. Reili 
 Joh. Dobler 
 Conr. Grafe 
 Jakob Glaser 
 Martin Bauer 
 Andr. Block 
 Georg Cole 
 Cath. Cole 
 Joh. Than 
 And. Westrom 
 Daniel Richer 
 Jakob WoUinger 
 Heinr. Ziegler 
 Joh. *Ziegler 
 Augustin Schutt 
 
 Heinrich Bauer 
 
 Dan. Pauly 
 
 Heinr. Willey 
 
 Maria Willey 
 
 Fried. Mann 
 
 Wilhelmine Griepenkerl 
 
 Sophia Hoburg 
 
 Daniel Dieffendorfer 
 
 Joshua Howard 
 
 Joh. Br. Rusk 
 
 Cachrin Rusk 
 
 Joh. Keller 
 
 Jak. Schinmik 
 
 Michael Hattinger 
 
 Nikol. Elgert 
 
 Joh. Peters Witwe 
 
 Carl Formann 
 
 Georg Daft 
 *Witwe *Philip Schmith 
 
 Ehrcnfried Nokler 
 
 Dominik Frenk 
 
 Johann Supper 
 
 Ludwig Kandelhardt 
 *Catharina Armstrong 
 
 Miiller 
 
 Mrs. Bandel 
 
 Joh. P. Strobel 
 
 Joh. Schneider 
 
 Wilh. *Etschberger 
 
 C. Diederich Klocke 
 
 Adam Boss 
 
 Joh. Fried. *Nix 
 
 Gg. Bandel 
 
 Philip Allbright 
 
 C. Machenheimer 
 Christina Delser 
 Mich. Kipplinger 
 Georg Pauly 
 Elis. Schneider 
 Cath. Claridge 
 Bernh. Weber 
 
 D. Gisler 
 
 Jak. Laudenschlager 
 Jakob Eberhardt 
 Joh. Fischbeck 
 Heinr. B 
 Christian Horn 
 Jak. Bayfeld 
 
 33 
 
Philip Myers Fried. Brock 
 
 Joh. Fusselbach H. H. Hackmann 
 
 Gg. Bandel C. F. Kalkmann 
 
 Jak. Horn H. Heidelbach 
 
 Joh. Leightner Gg. C. Miiller 
 
 Mich, Leightner F. W. Brune 
 
 Elisab. Brown Diederich Herold 
 
 Kasp. Weber Chr. Kaufmann 
 
 Fried. C. Graf Christ. Weisshambel 
 
 Christian Mayer Joh. Wiggard 
 
 Simon Becker Cath. Hildebrand 
 
 Fried. Prill Fried. Grebe' 
 
 Jak. Miller David Horn 
 
 Martin Kraber Jak. Small 
 
 Fried. Brendel Wright & Price 
 
 Heinrich Bockle Nikol. Link 
 
 Labes & *Compagnie Jak. Amigh 
 
 C— SECOND ACCOUNT BY PASTOR KURTZ (1813). 
 
 In 181J Pastor Kurtz compiled a resume of the history of the 
 congregation which was published in the Evcmgelisches Magazin 
 unter der Aufsicht der Deutschen Evangelisch-Lutherischen Sy- 
 node, 5. Band, erstes Stilck. Fur die Monate Oktober, November 
 und December, 1813. pp. 18-21. (Published in Philadelphia.) 
 
 The printed account and the follozving manuscript account 
 which agree ahnost verbatim, both show the erroneous spelling, 
 " Kurz," and can therefore not be the direct work of the author. 
 
 Historical Account of the Origin and Growth of the 
 Lutheran Congregation in Baltimore. 
 
 Not quite fifty years have elapsed since this congregation com- 
 pleted a regular organization. Ever since its foundation, there 
 have been Lutherans in the city. Small in number and poor with 
 respect to temporal goods, they could not for a long time form a 
 regular congregation. Proof of this is contained in documents 
 extant, which indicate that in the time shortly before the year 
 1758 the little flock did not consist of more than eleven persons. 
 Nevertheless, these few were very eager to preserve the faith of 
 their fathers and to be edified therein. They accordingly agreed 
 to ask Rev. Joh. Gg. Eager, then residing in York Town, to preach 
 
 34 
 
at certain intervals in this town and to administer Holy Com- 
 munion. His visits however, on account of the distance, could 
 not number more than six per year. Service was then probably 
 held in some private house, for any room of moderate size could 
 easily hold the small flock. 
 
 In 1758 Rev. Eager accepted a position farther away in Penn- 
 sylvania, whence he could not visit this congregation any longer. 
 Pastor Caspar Kirchner followed him, serving the congregation 
 as it had been done before, by preaching every sixth week. 
 
 Up to about 1762 the congregation did not have a special edifice 
 for its services. To be sure, efforts had already been made some 
 years before to buy a piece of land and to build a church thereon. 
 But there were obstacles, making impracticable the good under- 
 taking of our ancestors, and indeed without any fault of theirs. 
 Thus, in those times things were in straits. Patience and priva- 
 tions were the lot of our fathers. Would that our contemporaries 
 would remember these and similar sorrowful days of their fore- 
 fathers, and thank the Lord in humility of the heart, if they in the 
 actual wealth of their congregations can worship their God in 
 well-constructed beautiful temples. 
 
 After much waiting and many disagreeable experiences the con- 
 gregation succeeded in buying a tract of land in 1762. Without 
 delay, with united efforts, a wooden building, i. e., our first church 
 arose. The good-will and the eflfectiveness with which the plan 
 was carried out are still to the honor and credit of our ancestors 
 and deservedly we quote from the documents extant : 
 
 " And to their glory, be it known to posterity, our members 
 although weak and few in number, still with much zeal en- 
 deavored to provide everything necessary for the erection of the 
 church, and with concerted efforts began to build and in a short 
 time completed the work. Accordingly, we had a new church, 
 etc." 
 
 In the first account as well as in the article in the Evang. Luth. Magazine 
 we read a church of our own. There are besides this other differences 
 between the account as given in the print and in the present manuscript : 
 e. g., in the preceding paragraph after the sentence ending with the word 
 arose, the printed account adds : in this building church service and school 
 were held for a period of about II years. Similarly, in the paragraph 
 beginning : In 1769, the print reads : signed by 40 persons, and a few lines 
 below, the reading of the manuscript: about 1773, is manifestly incorrect 
 (ums^ins) whereas the print has correctly: in the year 1773. Finally, 
 
 35 
 
towards the end of the following paragraph the manuscript reads : enlarged 
 annex, where the print has the present participle : enlarging. Other verbal 
 differences need not be mentioned in detail. 
 
 About 1763 Rev. Kirchner who had served our congregation for 
 five years accepted a call in Pennsylvania too distant to serve this 
 congregation. Again, therefore, Rev. Eager was requested to 
 come, and he visited the congregation in the manner above de- 
 scribed. His second term, however, did not last longer than three 
 years. In 1765 Pastor Kirchner followed him in a second term. He 
 in the same way attended to the congregation from the neighbor- 
 hood for some years, until he moved hither, having. been called as 
 permanent preacher. The time of his calling cannot be given 
 exactly, but it is certain that already before the year 1770 he 
 served the congregation as regular pastor. From this it' follows 
 that it is not more than forty-five years that the congregation 
 has been regularly ministered to by standing preachers. 
 
 In 1769 Rev. Kirchner wrote our first constitution, signed by 
 forty members. From that time, i. e., not longer than forty-five 
 years the organization of this congregation is to be dated. About 
 1773, after Rev. Kirchner had served the congregation for three 
 years as regular pastor, the Great Shepherd and Lord over life 
 and death called him to yonder better world. By his death the 
 congregation lost a man who did his duty conscientiously, with- 
 out fear of men, in teaching, exhortation, and punishment, and 
 who by an exemplary life, adorned by love and uprightness, was 
 a model to his flock. 
 
 The second regular preacher, Pastor Joh. Siegfried Gerock, 
 was called by the congregation in 1773. During his pastorate he 
 endeavored to give a firmer organization to the congregation. 
 To that end, in 1773, he revised the former constitution, which 
 now was signed by 147 persons. The rapid growth of the con- 
 gregation at this time made necessary the erection of a larger 
 House of God. The wooden house, therefore, was torn down 
 and a brick building was erected in its place, offering sufficient 
 space for the congregation at that time. After twelve years, in 
 1785, this house also could not hold the much-increased congre- 
 gation. It had to be enlarged by an addition which was con- 
 siderably larger than the house itself had been. When this en- 
 larged annex was dedicated, Pastor Daniel Kurz was here on a 
 visit. He preached at that occasion and was called in the same 
 
 36 
 
year as second preacher and assistant. Pastor Gerock, who was 
 then very weak and feeble, consented to this call. Upon Pastor 
 Gerock's death he became regular preacher, serving the congrega- 
 tion down to the present. 
 
 In 1789 Herr Pastor Nikolaus Kurz moved to Baltimore to live 
 with his son. He at various times edified the congregation with 
 his unctuous sermons. His memory is blessed by many. He 
 died in 1794, as Senior ministerii Lutherani. 
 
 Because the congregation kept on growing considerably for 
 the last twenty years, in 1808 they were compelled to build a 
 regular church instead of the former enlarged building. The 
 church has 99 feet length and 75 feet breadth and is one of the 
 handsomest and most spacious houses of worship of the city. 
 Besides, the congregation, in the following years, built a parson- 
 age, a house for the schoolmaster, and a second schoolhouse, and 
 for the accommodation of its members possesses two grave-yards, 
 one at the eastern and one at the western end of the city. 
 
 Though passion for innovation and love of the English lan- 
 guage have in these latter )'ears caused a disruption in the con- 
 gregation, yet it still flourishes and probably will remain a Ger- 
 man congregation for a long time to come. 
 
 As a brief survey of the ministers, the succession in which 
 they followed, and the time they served, we add the following: 
 
 Rev. Joh. Georg Bager, the first time visiting pastor up to the 
 year 1758. The duration of his service cannot be determined. 
 
 Pastor Johann Caspar Kirchner, 17^8-1763. The duration of 
 his service as visiting preacher is five years. 
 
 Rev. Bager for the second time, 1763- 1765. Likewise visiting 
 preacher for two years. 
 
 Pastor Kirchner, 1765-1773, for a second time. His service 
 lasted seven years, i. e., four years as visiting and three as resi- 
 dent pastor. 
 
 Pastor J. Siegfried Gerock, 1773-1787, thirteen years of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Pastor Daniel Kurz succeeded him, who, counting the time 
 when he was called as assistant and second pastor and assistant 
 to Pastor Gerock, has served the congregation from 1785 to the 
 present time. 
 
 Note : This " Historical account of the origin and growth 
 of the Baltimore congregation " was- written in 1813 and was pub- 
 
 37 
 
lished verbally in the Evangelical Lutheran Magazine and agree- 
 able to a resolution of the honorable vestry was embodied into 
 these archives of the church. 
 
 Bai.timobe, June 27, 1814. 
 
 D.— MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 
 
 I. Specification of the Construction of our Zion Church 
 IN the Year 1808. 
 
 Expenses : $ cts. 
 
 Boards, shingles, etc 5002.77 
 
 2638 bushels lime 99I-I7 
 
 Carpenter 8728.11 
 
 Masonry 2547.04 
 
 246 rods 11^ feet of stone 394-8o 
 
 Stones for steps i3-00 
 
 685,094 bricks of different kinds 4808.45 
 
 Plasterer 531-79 
 
 Ropes 381.00 
 
 Sand 357-94 
 
 Stone-cutter 942.59 
 
 Timber for scaffold, 396 pieces 237.68 
 
 Blacksmith 633.42 
 
 Nails and all kinds of hardware 516.44 
 
 Glazer and painter 726.42 
 
 Different jobs 63.1.94 
 
 For moving the organ from the old into the new 
 
 church 238.05 
 
 Carving at the organ 48.50 
 
 Oil to paint the church 55- 18 
 
 Curtains and one box of candles 31-04 
 
 Glass from Herr Fries 266.50 
 
 Beams, copper, lead, etc 36.80 
 
 Whitelead, brushes, beams, carts, beverages, etc. . . . 57-69 
 
 28,250.69 
 For the ground whereon the church stands was paid 8,600.00 
 
 Total 36,750.69 
 
 38 
 
/'■ 
 
 
 n 
 
 f!'^. 
 
 
 
 ";c^„ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 J^ 
 
 FIRST PAGE OF CONSTITUTION OF 1769. 
 
2. First Constitution of the Church (1769). 
 
 At the close of the book there we find the first constitution of 
 the church together zvith the signatures of the members, J4 in 
 number. 
 
 Brief Constitution of the Evangelical-Lutheran Congre- 
 gation AT Baltimore-Town, as it was Deemed Neces- 
 sary at the Time and was Drawn Up. June id, 1769. 
 
 In the name of the Most Holy Trinit)' 
 Amen! 
 
 God's ordinance and the nature of pubHc worship which Chris- 
 tians confess reqviire good laws for the church to govern both 
 teachers and hearers. Whenever these do not exist, the service 
 of God can neither be duly held, nor can it be turned by the 
 hearers to their welfare and their union with Christ. General 
 edification and betterment of the Christian congregation is doubt- 
 less the only aim of our service of God, which cannot possibly be 
 reached without Christian order. As all members are obliged 
 to edify their own souls as well as those of the others and to pre- 
 fer always the welfare of the whole congregation to their own 
 advantage, they must pledge themselves to observe and preserve 
 a godly order and discipline. 
 
 In our Evangelical Lutheran church of this town considerable 
 disorder and neglect of the public service has been noticed. It 
 is therefore necessary to remedy and to prevent to some extent 
 this evil and all evils of the future and all threatening abuses. 
 Considering this, the following rules and regulations are pre- 
 scribed as a short church order, carefully deliberated upon and 
 accepted by the congregation and intended for everlasting 
 observance : 
 
 I. As Christian order requires many functions which cannot 
 be demanded of the regular preacher without injviry to his office, 
 it is necessary that there should be elected from the members of 
 the congregation three or four men, i. e., as' many as shall be 
 deemed necessary and worthy at the time, and who are of good 
 faith and unblemished conversation, to serve as permanent elders, 
 as long as they shall continue of an upright conversation. Their 
 names are to be entered upon the church register. It shall be 
 their duty to strive after an edifying conversation and to attend 
 
 40 
 
to the functions entrusted to them with zeal and faithfuhiess, 
 and to be helpers to the preacher in the wholesome administration 
 of his office. 
 
 II. Order requires that every year two deacons and trustees 
 be elected by the congregation. No member has the right to re- 
 fuse to accept such office — not even the deacons in office, if re- 
 elected — except in case of insurmountable obstacles. These shall 
 have supervision over church order and discipline and over the 
 members of the congregation and their conduct. They shall 
 provide carefully the necessaries of life of the preacher and shall 
 see to the preservation of public worship, and be faithful therein. 
 
 III. It is proper that the deacons who have well served should 
 be publicly discharged of their office and that those newly elected 
 should be publicly presented to the congregation, and be reminded 
 by the minister of their duties, the faithful and conscientious ful- 
 fillment of which they shall promise by answering yea ! 
 
 IV. Once a year on a fixed day the minister shall call the meet- 
 ing of the congregation according to the desire of the elders. 
 The congregation is obliged to appear at the place destined for 
 the meeting to examine the accounts of the church. 
 
 V. Both deacons shall for the sake of order give account to the 
 elders in presence of the congregation. These accounts shall 
 annually be entered in a book and be read by the preacher in 
 church. 
 
 VI. In all cases where there is anything to be brought before 
 the congregation, a motion or a complaint, the congregation shall 
 appear at the time and place which the preacher sets and an- 
 nounces. 
 
 VII. All complaints arising in the congregation, either against 
 the preacher or the elders, or the deacons in office, or against a 
 member of the congregation, shall for the sake of order be re- 
 ported to the elders in love and modesty. These, after consul- 
 tation and with the consent of the preacher are entitled and obliged 
 to investigate the same and to settle all discord in kindness. 
 
 VIII. All members of the congregation must see to it that 
 peace and harmony shall be carefully preserved. Accordingly, 
 no member shall be allowed to separate from church and congre- 
 gation without grave responsibility and to sever his connection 
 with it on account of some defect or abuse that may have crept 
 into the church as into any society, or on account of certain 
 
 41 
 
deficiences which one or the other member may show, in order 
 that all disorder and discord be prevented in the congregation. 
 
 IX. No member of the church shall be allowed to make new 
 rules on his own accord or to change the old rules or to abrogate 
 them without the knowledge or consent of the congregation. 
 
 X. All members of the congregation shall, for the sake of 
 equity, consider themselves obliged to pay quarterly the money 
 subscribed by them as part of the salary of the minister, to avoid 
 causing the minister unnecessary and unjust work. To that end 
 it shall always be duly announced by one of the deacons on the 
 last Sunday of the quarter after the service, in order that every- 
 one may be able to prepare himself. Every Christian should 
 duly consider the rule observed by St. Paul with the Corinthian 
 congregation, I. Cor. ix, 5-7, and should obey it, in order that 
 he may do everything necessary for the maintenance of the 
 preacher and the service of the church, not with compulsion, or 
 with avarice and unwillingly, but voluntarily, cheerfully, heartily, 
 and for the sake of God's love, for the Lord loveth a cheerful 
 giver. 
 
 XL It shall be the duty of the deacons to collect the Sunday 
 offering every Sunday and holiday at the morning service. No 
 member shall neglect to do good and to communicate, consider- 
 ing that every mite will well be repaid. 
 
 XII. It has been decided for the benefit of the congregation 
 that each and everyone who wants to be buried in our grave- 
 yard and to that end has a grave dug shall pay to either of the 
 two elders for a person of 12 years the amount of 2s. 6d. and 
 above the age of 12 years 3s. 6d. In order that everything be 
 done in good order, a grave shall not be opened until it is an- 
 nounced to the schoolmaster or one of the deacons that they may 
 know and record the person who shall pay for the grave and 
 show the place where the grave is to be made. 
 
 XIII. It is for the sake of order very necessary that all mem- 
 bers who intend to take Holy Communion in due time and at the 
 proper place at least one day before confession, shall give their 
 names to the regular preacher ; these names should be written 
 down and the persons be reminded of the importance of their 
 intention. Their conduct and Christian character shall be in- 
 quired into. Their number shall be announced after the sermon. 
 Those, however, who live in hatred and enmity with others or 
 
 42 
 
have anything against their neighbors shall appear one week be- 
 fore in order that the parties may be reconciled either by them- 
 selves or in the presence of the preacher or, where it is neces- 
 sary, also in the presence of the two deacons in proper time and 
 in Christian spirit. 
 
 XIV. Those who through gross and shameful sins give offence 
 to the Christian congregation shall be excluded from Holy Sup- 
 per until they publicly do penance and promise to make peace 
 with the congregation, in order that all scandal be removed and 
 the other members may learn to fear such sins and to guard them- 
 selves against them. 
 
 XV. The minister in office shall enter in the church record the 
 time, the year, and the day of those born, baptized, and buried, 
 and shall announce the number of them on New Year's day. 
 
 Now, all those that do not agree with these articles, and sepa- 
 rate from public worship and from the congregation shall not be 
 considered as members of the congregation, and shall be de- 
 prived of all rights and privileges of our church, and of all use 
 of the Holy Sacraments, nor shall to their disgrace burial in our 
 church-yard be accorded to them. 
 
 All members of the congregation have herewith pledged them- 
 selves to the faithful keeping and to lasting observance of these 
 articles, and have subscribed to the same with their own hands. 
 June loth, 1769, Baltimore Town. 
 
 All names that reappear in the constitution of 1773 have been 
 marked thus (V). 
 
 C. F. WiesenthalV Willhelm RauchV 
 
 Georg Ernst LindenbergerV Peter Striehbod 
 Christian Diel Friedrich Kiiss 
 
 Willhelm Heckel Jacob Brown V 
 
 Wilhelm LobleV (Braun in 1773) 
 
 Jorg LobleV Dan. Albr. Dank 
 
 Johannes SchrimmV Tobias Kemmer 
 
 Philip LittigV Joseph MillerV 
 
 Andreas Rochting Johannes Breitenbach 
 
 Heinrich Blechroth Engelhardt Yaiser 
 
 Johannes Hahn Peter Trombohr 
 
 Friedrich Kohl Georg Fass 
 
 Mich. EltrerbachV Nicolaus Heyner 
 
 Johannes SchrandV Mathas Brechtle 
 
 43 
 
Johann Georg Herrmann Ludwig Werdenberger 
 
 Wilhelm Schwarz Moritz WorschlerV 
 
 Johannes Herrmann Samuel Messersmith 
 
 Feydel Rock Johannes Fiirst 
 
 E.— THE CRISIS OF 1830. 
 I. Letter to Pastor Uhlhorn. 
 
 The unanimous approval which your sermons in our church 
 have evoked has created the general desire in our congregation, 
 that we be edified also in the future by your sermons as regular 
 second pastor. The congregation has communicated this desire 
 to the vestry in a memorial with many signatures of members 
 and those who are not members of our congregation. The vestry 
 has acquiesced in this desire, and in a conference with our pastor, 
 the Rev. Dr. Kurtz, it has had the pleasure to hear that on ac- 
 count of the love and esteem which he feels for your character 
 and learning, he gladly consents to serve our congregation to- 
 gether with you, and he agrees in the just wish of the congrega- 
 tion to cooperate with you in our congregation for the glory of the 
 kingdom of God and Jesus. 
 
 Consequently, as the above-related development of our affairs 
 has revealed to us the cooperative help of divine providence 
 which, as we hope and desire, intends to give to our congregation 
 in your person a teacher after the heart of God, we have, in ac- 
 cordance with the laws of our congregation decided to call you 
 as regular second pastor of our congregation with a yearly salary 
 of $ . 
 
 While your acceptance of this call would be most agreeable to 
 us, in itself, still we would no less be pleased, if by your presence 
 the burden of work on the shoulders of our generally esteemed 
 pastor Dr. Kurtz should be lessened, thus in view of his past ser- 
 vices to this congregation rendering agreeable the approaching 
 days of his old age. The latter point is in all kindness added to 
 the articles of your installation by vestry and congregation. 
 
 Hoping that our wish may be granted and that we shall see you 
 soon in our midst, we sign with hearty compliments and sincere 
 reverence. 
 
 44 
 
The vestry of the Lutheran congregation of this city. 
 i6th of Dec. 1822. 
 
 Herr Dr. Kurtz, President. 
 Trustees : 
 
 Peter Frick 
 
 Johann Ries 
 
 PhiHp Horn 
 
 Christian Capito 
 
 Elders : 
 Herr Heinrich Altvater 
 
 Peter Sauerwein 
 
 Caspar Fass 
 
 Jacob Glaser 
 
 Peter Johnson 
 
 Heinrich Trump 
 
 Philip Muth 
 
 Deacons : 
 
 Christian Ran 
 
 Fried. Weigand- 
 
 • Klein 
 
 Seller 
 
 It was moved and seconded that the members of the vestry 
 should decide by vote whether or not Herr Pastor Uhlhorn should 
 be appointed second German pastor. 
 
 Pro. Contra. 
 
 Herr Peter Sauerwein John Reese 
 
 Heinr. Altvater Fred. Dresel 
 
 Philip Muth There is added in the hand- 
 
 Christian Capito writing of Dr. Kurtz: 
 
 Peter Johnson jj^^g ^j^jy ^ majority voted for this 
 
 Caspar Fass proposition, and not two-thirds as the 
 
 Signatures : constitution would require. 
 
 Philip Horn 
 Johann Christian Rau 
 Daniel Wiegand 
 Friedrich Klein 
 
 AS 
 
2. Statement of the Vestry. 
 
 ... As not only both elections held by our brethren were 
 against the order existing for many years, but also false rumors 
 against us have been spread in the congregation, cunning and 
 force being used besides and partiality by the young pastor — the 
 consequences could only be as they, to our regret, have too often 
 turned out : disturbance of love and harmony — hatred, discord, 
 and quarrel. The peaceful party in disgust does not attend the 
 services, those who appear are disturbed in their worship, seeing 
 at their side persons who are trying to suppress them ; others 
 have been forced to leave the congregation entirely. And Holy 
 Communion is a profanation if people who come to take it hate 
 one another instead of loving, and others who stay away for 
 their conscience sake are deprived of their edification. 
 
 Considering the way in which the vestry and the president have 
 been abused by gross invectives, and how people even at the pub- 
 lic service by speaking against the preacher in the congregation 
 can so entirely forget that they are not in a drinking house but 
 in God's house, and at the very altar in face of the whole congre- 
 gation offend honest old members of the vestry — one must think 
 of ways and means by which such a disgrace may be checked. . . . 
 
 3. Unsuccessful Plan to have our Elders and Deacons 
 Ordained by the Rev. Dr. Kurtz. 
 
 As our duly elected vestry was not ordained according to usage 
 on the afternoon of the same Sunday on which the election was 
 held, our vestry requested Dr. Kurtz to ordain those elected on 
 the afternoon of the following Sunday. But again a member of 
 the opposition stepped to the altar, followed by others, and pro- 
 tested against the ordination. Some also from our side stepped 
 forward to defend themselves. The congregation, i. e., the men 
 gathered around the altar, whereby a kind of tumult arose, and 
 consequently Dr. Kurtz was compelled to desist from the ordina- 
 tion lest further harm be done. In this way for two years eight 
 members elected after the laws of the church have been prevented 
 from entering the existing vestry, which now consists only of one 
 elder and five trustees, while the unfaithful with their newly 
 elected and ordained number eleven, and decline to recognize those 
 elected on our side ; against which we protested and still protest, 
 
 46 
 
our old rights and laws being violated to the vitmost detriment of 
 the congregation. 
 
 It is the same condition that caused us to call two consecutive 
 meetings and to adopt resolutions which only endeavor to restore 
 peace in our congregation. These resolutions likewise have been 
 communicated to our brethren. 
 
 4. Address to the Members. 
 
 There are in addition some ten loose sheets which have refer- 
 ence to the history of the congregation. They read as follows: 
 
 Baltimore, June i, 1830. 
 To the members of the German-Lutheran congregation of this 
 city: 
 
 The pitiful condition of continued quarrel in our congrega- 
 tion forces us, the undersigned members of the vestry, to do what 
 we rather would have left undone — i. e., to make known in print 
 to our brethren the truth about the causes of the disturbances in 
 our congregation, and about what has been done to meet the 
 occasion. We feel ourselves obliged to do this, because oral ac- 
 counts are apt to spread untruth, misleading easily even the truth- 
 loving, though they are inclined to judge according to truth; and 
 because we want our brethren to see that we have not acted hastily 
 nor in any way harshly, but well considering the actual circum- 
 stances of the congregation. In short, that we are only defend- 
 ing the existing laws of the congregation. 
 
 The causes for the disturbances are : 
 
 1. The elections of elders and deacons, which in 1829 and 
 1830 were held contrary to law by a part of the vestry and of the 
 congregation. 
 
 2. The manner of ordaining those thus elected. But before 
 this is told in detail, it is necessary to show how the elections 
 were held for over forty years, in order that it may appear, how 
 the opposition party has departed from the old order of things. 
 
 Order of Election in Former Years. 
 
 For more than forty years the vestry had the right of nomi- 
 nating the candidates for the yearly election. As every year two 
 elders and two deacons were elected, the vestry in a meeting called 
 expressly for that purpose, almost two weeks before the election, 
 nominated among themselves at least a double number (that is 
 
 47 
 
at least eight) the names of which were pubhcly announced to 
 the congregation, the Sunday previous to the election. This early 
 publication served the purpose of allowing a member who after 
 being proposed either could or would not serve to have his name 
 taken from the list ; or if there were sufficiently substantiated ob- 
 jections against a person as being unfit for the vestry, the name 
 should be left out by decision of the president, and after being 
 replaced by another name, the new list should be printed. Yet 
 it should be remarked that it did not depend at all upon the free 
 arbitrary will of the president whom he would choose from the 
 congregation to fill the vacancy on the ticket, but he had to take, 
 and did take in cases of that kind, that person from the list of 
 candidates who was next in number of votes received, for the 
 vestry usually proposed ten to twelve members out of which the 
 above eight were chosen. 
 
 The Election in 1829. 
 
 Election was held by president and vestry in the order described 
 above. Neither president nor -any member can be blamed, if 
 three of the vestry who now are against us were absent at the 
 meeting which was announced and in spite of the absence of the 
 three had still a quorum. Besides, the names of the candidates 
 of the vestry were publicly announced a week before election, dur- 
 ing which time due protest against any member and changes by 
 the president could have been made. 
 
 This was not done, however, but 
 
 (a) Without the vestry knowing it, tickets were printed show- 
 ing (with one exception) other names than the ticket of the 
 vestry. 
 
 (b) There were only four names on that ticket instead of 
 eight, whereby the people were deprived of the right of voting, 
 being forced to take those that were dictated on the ticket. 
 
 (c) The members were treacherously informed that the ticket 
 contained names of persons by whose aid the English language 
 should be introduced into the congregation. Thus, they tried to 
 throw suspicion on the vestry's ticket and to smuggle in the ille- 
 gal ticket by saying : " If thou art in favor of German, take our 
 ticket!" 
 
 A double election ensued. Vestry and president were defeated, 
 the majority of votes going to the other side. 
 
 48 
 
Ordination of Elders and Deacons in 1829. 
 
 The result of this irregular election caused the vestry to pro- 
 test to the second pastor, Rev. Uhlhorn, against the ordination of 
 the deacons and elders on the opposite side, in order that the 
 vestry might previously deliberate and decide upon the quarrel 
 on hand. But this protest was not heeded. One member of the 
 vestry of the other side, Herr von Hollen, stepped forward, de- 
 manding the ordination, which demand Rev. Uhlhorn complied 
 with and performed the ordination. 
 
 The Election in 1830. 
 
 This year, likewise, a ticket according to the rules was nomi- 
 nated by the vestry and the vestry of the opposition was invited. 
 But no one appeared. The election was not announced by a 
 pastor, but by Herr von Hollen in the church the Sunday before. 
 
 The ticket of the opposition differed from that of the year be- 
 fore by having not four but eight names. But it was noticed by 
 eye-witnesses that four names were already stricken off before the 
 tickets were put in the hands of the people. If this be true, the 
 ticket virtually is the same as in the previous year. The result 
 was: 68 votes for president and vestry, 135 for the opposition. 
 
 Ordination of 1830. 
 
 The vestry in a written notice signed by three of its members 
 requested Rev. Uhlhorn to ordain the members elected by this 
 side. But Herr von Hollen again stepped forward and said, that 
 he had the promise of the president that the members on his side 
 should be ordained. This request was agreed to, but those elected 
 from our side were not ordained. 
 
 Here endeth the narration of the causes of the disturbances in 
 our congregation. 
 
 The narrator has nothing to say about the moral and Christian 
 or about the immoral and unchristian value of those taking part 
 in all these things. He rather leaves it to the judgment and the 
 feeling of the reader. 
 
 Memorandum by another hand: 
 
 Here ought to be added the disturbance in the afternoon ser- 
 vice of Sunday-before-last. 
 
 49 
 
II. RETROSPECT 
 
 AMONG the many churches that have sprung up in our midst, 
 too often of ephemeral growth, Zion Church stands forth 
 in unimpaired vigor, like a house founded upon a rock. The 
 spiritual home of the great influx of German immigration of the 
 nineteenth century, its history has been marked by a steady, grad- 
 ual realization of its mission among our German population and 
 the community at large. 
 
 In the year 1755, Pastor Johann Georg Eager began his pastor- 
 ate with the Lutheran congregation in Baltimore. Originally 
 pastor at Simmern, Rhenish Prussia, he had emigrated to this 
 country in 1752. At Philadelphia, where he landed, he was re- 
 ceived by the Lutherans, who installed him as pastor of a charge 
 in Lebanon county. There he served a number of congregations. 
 The field of his labors, however, extended from New York to 
 Baltimore. In addition to his regular congregations, he served, 
 on his travels, the scattered Lutherans in this region. For a 
 period of three years he came to Baltimore, visiting the local 
 congregation every two months. The first meeting-place of the 
 German Protestants was the English Church. When the privi- 
 lege of further gathering there was denied them, they assembled 
 in a room at a private house. The congregation numbered but 
 eleven members, most of them artisans, who, having just begun 
 the struggle for existence in the new country, had as yet accu- 
 mulated very little of this world's goods. Pastor Bager's salary 
 accordingly was but five pounds per year. Contrast with this the 
 demand of Pastor Naesmann of Philadelphia, who expected five 
 pounds for every visit from that city to Lancaster. 
 
 In 1758 Pastor Eager was compelled to give up the congrega- 
 tion, having moved farther back into the country. In the same 
 year Pastor Johann Caspar Kirchner took his place. Like his 
 predecessor he had been ordained in Germany. He came down 
 from York county every sixth week. His character and the 
 faithful administration of his spiritiual functions must have en- 
 deared him to the congregation, for, after he had left them to 
 
 so 
 
TOMBSTONE OF PASTOR BAGER. 
 
accept a call farther north, they called him back and he became 
 their first resident minister. In the interval between his first 
 and second pastorate, Johann Georg Eager had consented to serve 
 the congregation once more ; in the true spirit of those Lutheran 
 pastors of pioneer times, whose zeal in gathering the scattered 
 sheep is not equalled by the busybodyness in vogue at the present 
 day. He served the Baltimore congregation until he took up his 
 abode in York. In the neighborhood of' York he died, A. D. 
 1791. 
 
 In these years other ministers visited the congregation, the 
 town of Baltimore lying on the great road from Georgia to 
 New York. First among them was Johann Christoph Hartwig, 
 who had landed in this country in 1747. During the French and 
 Indian War he was chaplain under General Amherst, and after 
 the war he travelled south and thus came also Baltimore. He 
 was of a restless disposition, which carried him north as far as 
 Maine. In 1750 he bought a tract of land from the Mohawk 
 Indians, which eventually furnished the bulk of the endowment 
 of Hartwick Seminary, founded in 1812. He was well esteemed 
 by Lord Fairfax of Virginia, whom he visited again and again. 
 It must have been these visits which brought him to Baltimore, 
 where, however, he did not remain long at any one time, the rov- 
 ing preacher not caring to be bound by a contract. 
 
 At the fiftieth anniversary of Hartwick Seminary a memorial 
 volume was issued with interesting biographical material concern- 
 ing Pastor Hartwig : 
 
 " It is said — I know not on what authority — that he came 
 to this country in early life, in the capacity of chaplain to a 
 German regiment, in the service of England, during what is 
 commonly known as the French War. But if his autobiog- 
 raphy, contained in his last will and testament may be re- 
 garded as authentic history, he came here not as the guide 
 and teacher of warriors under the auspices of Mars ; but 
 rather as a simple missionary under the banner of the cross, 
 to instruct his destitute countrymen in the knowledge of the 
 truth and to lead their feet into the paths of peace. As 
 this account of his curriculum as he calls it, is brief, and 
 withal gives us some idea of the character of the inhabitants 
 of this valley at the period of its settlement, I cannot forbear 
 to quote it : ' My name,' so runs the record, is ' Johannes 
 
Christophorus Hartwig, which the English, according to 
 their dialect, pronounce and write Hardwick, a native of the 
 dukedom of Saxe-Gotha, in the province of Thuringia, in 
 Germany, sent hither, a missionary preacher of the gospel, 
 upon petition and call of some palatine congregations in the 
 counties of Albany and Dutchess ; but meeting with much 
 opposition from a neighboring minister, I was at last, when 
 I had not a half-dozen pounds from my congregations, obliged 
 to leave them. I then had successive calls from Pennsylva- 
 nia, Maryland, Virginia, and New England which I served 
 faithfully. The last was from New York, to which I re- 
 turned from Virginia after the last peace was concluded with 
 England, and stayed there upon my own cost and charges, 
 preaching to the evangelical congregations. After that I 
 went and visited my old congregations, and such others in 
 the then county of Albany as were destitute, and at the same 
 time looked after my estate, which I had formerly destined 
 for an evangelical congregation of Germans, but in part 
 occupied by New England emigrants, professing themselves 
 either of none, or different, religions, principally anabaptists 
 or rather antibaptists, for they are mostly unbaptized.' " 
 
 At the beginning of this quotation we again meet with a denial 
 of the statement that Pastor Hartwig served as chaplain in the 
 army. The writer of the First Account in the archives of our 
 congregation, however, creates the impression of personal ac- 
 quaintance with Hartwig, so that we are inclined to believe his 
 testimony in preference to other reports. At another place we 
 find further information concerning our pastor: 
 
 " He did not pass his days in listless inactivity, for we 
 hear of him everywhere, wandering hither and thither, 
 with characteristic restlessness, and with no certain dwelling 
 place ; but nevertheless always endeavoring to minister to the 
 necessities of his countrymen and to feed them with the 
 bread and the water of life. Now, we find him serving the 
 congregation at Trappe for six months ; and then for three 
 Sundays in the German Reformed Church at Philadelphia, 
 on his own responsibility inviting those to hear him preach 
 who were standing idle in the Market-place. In 1762, we 
 find him at Frederick, Maryland, where the congregation 
 
 53 
 
offered him a call, and entered into a formal contract obli- 
 gating themselves to give him an adequate support; but 
 even while having the call under consideration, he capri- 
 ciously leaves them for a time, persuaded that another people 
 had a stronger claim upon his services. In 1768, we find 
 him again at Frederick taking spiritual oversight of the 
 congregation, but it is only for the space of eight months, 
 when he journeys into Virginia, and assumes the charge of 
 the churches at Winchester and its vicinity in the valley of 
 the Shenandoah. In 1774, he is pastor of the scattered 
 Lutherans in Boston, Mass., and in July of the same year he 
 is holding forth in Waldoborough near Great Bay, on the 
 sterile coasts of what is now the state of Maine. But it 
 is impossible, at this late day, to trace him in all his wan- 
 derings. Suffice it to say, that while he was a good and 
 conscientious man, and faithful to his convictions of duty, 
 his unfortunate peculiarities interfered with his usefulness, 
 and prevented his remaining for any considerable period a 
 pastor anywhere ; and, besides, it seemed as if the spirit of 
 the wandering Jew had taken full possession of him, for in 
 no case did obligations, however strong, bind him to the 
 same people longer than six months, or at most a year." 
 
 During the same period Rev. Nicholas Hornell, a Swede, who 
 had been in Philadelphia with Provost Wrangel and Pastor 
 Miihlenberg, visited Baltimore. 
 
 Pastor Kirchner, at the beginning of his second pastorate, had 
 lived at the Barrens, in the neighborhood of Baltimore. He now 
 moved to the city, devoting his entire energies to the congrega- 
 tion. His pastorate will be forever remembered for the erection 
 of the first church building, which, however, was only made pos- 
 sible by separation from the Reformed congregation. Up to this 
 time both confessions had worshipped together, but the harmony 
 existing hitherto was succeeded by an estrangement, due to mis- 
 understandings and intrigues. In the negotiations leading up to 
 the purchase of land for the church. Dr. Wiesenthal, a practicing 
 physician, and Moritz Worschler, the schoolmaster, took a promi- 
 nent part on the side of the Lutherans. The forrher, being of a 
 learned profession, was doubtless a most valuable addition to the 
 membership of the church. 
 
 Charles Frederick Wiesenthal, medicince practicus, " the father 
 
DR. C. F. WIESENTHAL. 
 
of the medical profession of Baltimore," played a most remark- 
 able role during the Revolutionary War. In 1775 he had been 
 made a member of the Committee of Observation of Baltimore 
 county, and superintendent of the manufacture of saltpetre for 
 the state, and in 1776 he was commissioned by the Council as 
 Surgeon-Major of the First Maryland Battalion. 
 
 He was president and physician to the German Society (1784). 
 
 He established the first medical school in Baltimore. 
 
 We have a most interesting insight into his life from the let- 
 ters which he wrote to his son Andrew, which well deserve pub- 
 lication. 
 
 The new building was only a wooden structure, and was in- 
 tended to serve the double purpose of schoolhouse and church 
 until the congregation should be able to build a church proper. 
 The annalist modestly declines a comparison with Solomon's 
 Temple, but lauds the energy and enthusiasm of the congrega- 
 tion, which promised i bright future. The salary of the preacher 
 had already been increased to 50 pounds a year. 
 
 The second achievement of Pastor Kirchner was the constitu- 
 tion of 1769, by which the organization of the church was 
 initiated. 
 
 The first elders elected subsequent to the adoption of this 
 constitution were the following: G. Lindenberger, Dr. Wiesen- 
 thal, J. Schrimm, W. Hackle, W. Loveley, and M. Worschler. 
 The deacons were J. Brown and F. Kohl. 
 
 A regular system of bookkeeping was now also introduced. 
 Previously the accounts had been written on loose sheets. The 
 congregation thus being organized, the beginning was made of a 
 parochial school, " for virtue and learning are the means by 
 which the children are enabled to be useful to themselves and to 
 the world." The original plan of raising the money necessary 
 for the school by a lottery was frustrated. They had to have re- 
 course to other means. 
 
 The first serious internal trouble arose about that one question 
 which always menaces the quiet progress of our German congre- 
 gations, namely that of language. Dr. Wiesenthal, together with 
 G. Lindenberger, anticipated the time when their descendants 
 would find it difficult, if not impossible, to worship in the German 
 language. Therefore, they did not wish to have inserted in the 
 deeds an express statement concerning the language to be used 
 
 56 
 
in the church, thus leaving the question open for future settle- 
 ment. The opposition, however, considered this an act of felony, 
 as it was " a German congregation." The discord grew apace, 
 and as the pillars of the church were involved, it threatened the 
 very existence of the congregation. As usual, force from with- 
 out helped to overcome the internal trouble. The owner of the 
 lot adjoining the church had in the course of time dug away 
 the greater portion of the hill on which the church with its little 
 steeple stood. The structure was apparently doomed, and the 
 congregation was forced to unite in providing for a new building. 
 The meeting for this purpose could not be called unless harmony 
 should be restored. Four members of the vestry, therefore, drew 
 up a paper reinstating the two members who had resigned. This 
 declaration was practically a treaty of peace, and the new edifice 
 saw the congregation united once more in concord and harmony. 
 
 In 1769 the congregation through Dr. Wiesenthal made an 
 inquiry about Pastor Krug, whom the Baltimore congregation 
 desired as pastor. 
 
 About 1773 Pastor Kirchner died. He had set an example 
 of righteousness and charity to the congregation entrusted to his 
 care. 
 
 In the same year Pastor Johann Siegfried Gerock came to the 
 church from New York. This worthy member of the family of 
 Gerocks had left the Fatherland in 1752, in compliance with a 
 petition sent to the Wiirttemberg Consistory by the congregation 
 at Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 " In the eighteenth century a bishop, M. Johann Sigfried 
 Gerok, is mentioned in a Wiirttemberg Magister's register. 
 The archives of the consistory at Stuttgart say about him: 
 Quum evangelici in America septentrionali in oppido Lancas- 
 ter et in ilia Pensilvanise regione ministrum evangelii a 
 ducali consistorio petiissent et M. Gerok per litteras explo- 
 ratus prolubium animi sui declarasset, hie vocatus est et die 
 30. Mai, 1572, in consistorio ordinatus. Subscripsit libris 
 symbolicis et ex fisco ecclesiastico at iter sublevandum accepit 
 200 florenos, salvo etiam regressu in patriam.'' 
 
 In Lancaster he took charge of Trinity Church and soon ad- 
 vanced to the foremost rank of the Lutherans of his time. With 
 Joh. Geo. Eager and Johann Nikolaus Kurtz, though not a mem- 
 
ber of the inner circle of the Halle pastors, he stands next to the 
 powerful figure of Miihlenberg. He likewise had been in New 
 York, at the same Christ Church where Pastor Eager had 
 preached. It is with difficulty that we can picture to ourselves 
 the laboriousness of the task of these men, in view of the fact 
 that all these distances had to be covered on horseback, and that 
 the farmers had to be called together from their outlying homes. 
 A pleasing glimpse of the ministerial life of the time is ob- 
 tained from the account of Miihlenberg himself. Rev. Gerock 
 preached a German sermon at a synod held in 1760 at the village 
 of New Providence, then the place of Miihlenberg's residence, and 
 now called Trap, while the excellent Provost Wrangel, of the 
 Swedish Church, had delivered an English discourse in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 " After the close of public worship all the ministers con- 
 vened at my house, and held a biblical colloquy (colloquium 
 biblicum) on the essential characteristics of general repent- 
 ance, faith, and godliness ; in which they endeavored to 
 benefit each other according to the grace given them, by com- 
 municating the results of their own experience and self- 
 examination, so that it was a cheering and delightful season. 
 The residue of the evening was spent in singing spiritual 
 hymns and Psalms and in conversation about the spiritual 
 condition of our churches ; and so short did the time appear, 
 that it was three o'clock in the morning before we retired to 
 rest. Oh, how delightful it is when ministers, standing aloof 
 from all political party contests, seek to please their Lord 
 and Master, Jesus Christ, and have at heart the welfare of 
 their churches and the souls entrusted to their care ; and are 
 willing rather to suffer reproach with the people of God, than 
 choose the treasures of Egypt." Translation by Schniucker. 
 
 Pastor Gerock began his ministry among us with a renewal and 
 a revision of the constitution, now subscribed to by 147 persons. 
 We again meet with the names of many signers of the first con- 
 stitution. The great increase in the number of signers indicates 
 the growth of the congregation, which would soon require a 
 larger meeting-place. This was secured in 1785 by enlarging the 
 old building on Fish street, now Saratoga street. Little care 
 was taken to hide the patched-up character of the building. At 
 the dedication of the new house a young man, Johann Daniel 
 
 S8 
 
SACRED 
 TO THE MEMORy 
 
 of the 
 
 Rev. John Sigfried Gerock 
 "Who Departed t"his Life 
 October 25th, 1783 
 Aged 61 years. 
 The sweet remembrance of the Just 
 Shall flourish irtien He sleepsf in DuSt. 
 AND 
 Rosina Barbara Cerock. 
 "Who Departed this Life, 
 , April 25th, 1787 
 Aged 53 Years 
 Oh shades Rever'd this frail raetaorial take: 
 'lis all alas! a sorrowing child caninaJte 
 On tWs faint stone tomarlcher parent ' ^ vorth. 
 Aiid claim the Spot that holds the sainted Earth. 
 ALSO 
 Sigfried Henry Gerock. 
 Departed this Life 
 January- 8th 1775 
 Aged 16 years. 
 Angelas ieliold h'fmripe for Jays to come 
 AM call 'd Ijy God',s Conimand their IjrotheT home. 
 
 TOMBSTONE OF PASTOR GEROCK. 
 
Kurtz, delivered the sermon. In the same year (1785) he was 
 made second pastor, as Pastor Gerock was well up in years. It 
 seems that neither the articles of the church constitution, nor the 
 arrangements between the two pastors had provided for a clear 
 definition of their respective duties. A conflict ensued, the in- 
 fluence of which was felt in the life of the congregation. The 
 disposition of the two pastors, however, and the character of the 
 congregation made possible a satisfactory settlement of the diffi- 
 culties, and in 1787 a " Declaration " was signed which guaran- 
 teed the peace so urgently needed. In the same year Pastor 
 Gerock died. He was laid to rest iri the church-yard. A life 
 spent in the most zealous and devoted service of the Lord thus 
 came to an end. 
 
 Towards the close of the eighteenth century the German Evan- 
 gelical Church in Baltimore was firmly established. The church 
 register begins March, 1786. Its title-page, which was written by 
 Pastor Kurtz, shows scriptural quotations in Latin and Greek. 
 For the year 1787 there are recorded forty-five persons confirmed, 
 ranging in age from thirteen to thirty-one. Of these twenty- 
 four were male, and twenty-one female, three of the former being 
 married and four of the latter. 
 
 Thus reads the pastor's prayer written underneath: 
 
 " O arch-shepherd Jesus ! Bring all these souls to Thy flock, 
 and keep them therein unto eternal salvation, for the sake of 
 Thy death! This is the prayer of their teacher, Daniel Kurtz." 
 
 In 1800 there were 102 baptisms, loi burials, 64 marriages, 
 and 183 communicants. 
 
 The successor of Pastor Gerock, Johann Daniel Kurtz, was a 
 son of Johann Nikolaus Kurtz, whose father was the school- 
 master at Liitzellinden. Johann Nikolaus was educated at Gies- 
 sen, the Hessian university-town, and studied also at Halle. 
 While still a student at the latter place, he obeyed the summons 
 to go to America, which he felt to be the call of God. In 1745 
 he arrived at Philadelphia, and served various congregations in 
 Pennsylvania, being the first Lutheran minister examined and 
 ordained in America. He was closely connected with Miihlen- 
 berg, whose theological views he shared, and he participated in 
 all the trials and labors of the father of the Lutheran church in 
 America. 
 
 Johann Nikolaus had left the University of Halle before his 
 
 60 
 
studies were finished. He came to America as a Catechist. 
 Nevertheless, the foundation laid in the Fatherland was so broad 
 and deep that he was able to inculcate the same spirit in his son 
 Daniel, whose education he supervised. 
 
 No tribute more eloquent can be given to the German univer- 
 sity than that of the Rev. S. S. Schmucker in his synodical dis- 
 course, delivered in the second decade of the last century. He 
 says concerning the universities : 
 
 " It was by their intellectual superiority that they were 
 enabled to acquire and to retain such an astonishing influ- 
 ence over the mind of Europe, to break down the barriers 
 of superstition, and to restore to their pristine purity and 
 luster the doctrine of the gospel. Nay, it was this intel- 
 lectual greatness which raised Germany as a nation to so 
 high an elevation among the countries of the world. Is 
 Germany famous among the nations of the earth for the 
 equity of her laws, for the wisdom of her constitution, for 
 the humanity of her princes? Let her sons of oppression 
 answer who have been groaning for ages beneath the weight 
 of civil misrule — let our fathers answer who sought refuge 
 from oppression and hardship in the happy land which gave 
 us birth. How then is Germany known and revered? As 
 the abode of liberty? No, as the land of science, as the 
 cradle of the reformation, as the native soil of intellectual 
 greatness. Is she known as the land of Washington and 
 Franklin? No, but what country can vie with her as the 
 land of Michaelises, of Storrs, of Mosheims, of Carpzovs, of 
 Lysers, as the land of Gerhards, of Chemnitzes, of Melanch- 
 thons, of Luthers ! Would to God that in looking around 
 our own country, we could point you to some Wittenberg, 
 to some Helmstadt among us! Then also should we see 
 more of our men high in the offices of our country, guiding 
 the civil and political destinies of our land ; then also could 
 we direct you to more of those pious and faithful servants 
 of the Lord Jesus, who now minister among you, though 
 few in number, preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ." 
 The type of these Lutheran ministers is clearly distinguished 
 from their brethren in other denominations, and even after the 
 anglicizing of the Lutheran Church in America, they continued 
 to manifest the characteristic traits of the great German reformer. 
 
 6i 
 
Over against the narrowness of horizon and the clinging to 
 the letter of the law which we see in their contemporaries, they 
 believed in the gospel that embraces the world and in an educa- 
 tion which welcomes all that is human. In truth the Lutheran 
 parsonages were the incarnation of that spirit. The German 
 element in this country has had a perhaps unfelt but nevertheless 
 strong influence upon many spheres of our national life, and 
 nowhere has it been stronger than in church life. Its motto has 
 ever been: " All things are yotirs and ye are Christ's," and the 
 world about the preachers of this gospel has grown the better 
 for it. While thus these pastors, in their public and private life, 
 rendered most valuable service to our country, they, in no less 
 degree, proved to be the foremost exponents and preservers of 
 that which is good and unique in the German character. But 
 the records of their deeds, incalculable in their value as all things 
 spiritual, have been buried in the recesses of the archives, where 
 most of them have succumbed to the ravages of time and the 
 elements. It is the privilege and duty of this late generation 
 to put the light on a candle-stick. 
 
 Johann Daniel Kurtz was a genuine representative of this type, 
 the description of which will be completed by the following ac- 
 count, taken from the Chronicles of Baltimore: 
 
 " Soon after the Reformed Church, which was destroyed 
 by a flood, was rebuilt, in view of the difficulties and mis- 
 fortunes of the congregation, several of the neighboring min- 
 isters brought their congregations to the church on different 
 Sabbaths and after they had preached, took up collections. 
 Among them was Rev. Dr. Kurtz of the Lutheran Church, 
 who also offered prayer at the laying of the cornerstone on 
 Second street, 1796." 
 Here the spirit of harmony which prevailed between the va- 
 rious denominations at the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 is happily preluded. At the same time this statement serves to 
 correct the language of Dr. Morris : 
 
 " In 1827 English Lutheranism was not known, and the 
 people who talked about it judged us by the standard of 
 piety held by the German Church. I will not say there were 
 no good people in that church, but they were not demon- 
 strative in their piety. They did not mingle with other 
 Christians ; they manifested no interest in the religious ac- 
 
 62 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Js^. /vik /7f3 
 
 
 Jle^y, ScJiAaeiieK. 
 
 tJwit. 9. /soy. 
 
 Hick Colyiv. 
 
 ^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 PLAT OF CHURCH PROPERTY. 
 
tivities of the day; they were not recognized as a working, 
 Christian people. When we came bearing the same name, 
 we were estimated by the same rule, and of course we had 
 little sympathy until we became better known. In some 
 places we are suffering from the same cause to-day." 
 
 September 15, 1806, the congregation decided to build a new 
 church. Subscriptions were soHcited, and $12,559.60 was prom- 
 ised by 265 individuals. The lot on which the church was 
 erected was bought for $8600. This sum, together with that re- 
 quired for the erection of the building, far exceeded the amount 
 subscribed. From Fish street, i. e., the north corner of the 
 church-yard, towards what is now Saratoga street, the church 
 was transferred to its present location. The lot on Fish street 
 was sold in 1812. George Roerback was the architect. The size of 
 the new church, 99 feet by 75, at last corresponded to the num- 
 ber of the worshippers. It was dedicated on October 9, 1808. 
 It must have been then that the name of Zion Church was intro- 
 duced, for it appears on the program of the day. The designa- 
 tion of The Lutheran Church, however, reappears again and 
 again. The program in itself is very interesting from the fact 
 that it contains texts written for that occasion, in the classical 
 choral-meters. Its preface breathes joy over the completion of 
 the work, but nevertheless looks forward to a new task: the 
 education of the young in the spirit and in the language of the 
 congregation. 
 
 June 13, 1797, the Synod met at Baltimore, when the brother of 
 Dr. F. D. Geissenhainer, Heinrich A., was ordained. 
 
 In 1813 a Bible Society was formed, of which Pastor Kurtz 
 was corresponding secretary. In June, 1814, he was made presi- 
 dent of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which met at Easton, 
 Northampton county, Pa. 
 
 The second decade of the nineteenth century witnessed the 
 great revival of enthusiasm throughout the Lutheran world, 
 which found its most striking expression at the three hundredth 
 anniversary of the publication of the theses (October 31, 1517). 
 On this side of the ocean the most tangible proof of the strength- 
 ening of our church was the foundation of the General Synod, 
 October 22, 1820, at Hagerstown. In the previous year Pastor 
 G. Schober had come to Baltimore from the sister synod of North 
 Carolina, presumably to arrange for common action in the or- 
 
 64 
 
KIN WFIHtT NT 
 
 Deufsch Evangelhcli-LulJtemchen 
 
 ZIONS-KTRCIJE 
 
 TITLEPAGE OF PROGRAM, 1808. 
 
ganization of the greater body to be founded. The Rev. Dr. Kurtz 
 of Baltimore was called to the chair at the first meeting of the 
 General Synod, one of the Miihlenbergs acting as secretary. 
 
 The constitution of the General Synod was translated into Eng- 
 lish, and 250 copies were printed in English over against 500 
 copies in German. It opens as follows : 
 
 " Jesus Christ, the Supreme Head of His church having 
 prescribed no special Regulations concerning Church govern- 
 ment, and every sectional portion of the Church being left 
 at full liberty to make such regulations to that effect, as may 
 be most adapted to its situation and circumstances, there- 
 fore — Relying upon God our Father, in the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, under the guidance and direction of the 
 Holy Spirit in the Word of God, for the promotion of the 
 practice of Brotherly Love, to the furtherance of Christian 
 Concord, to the firm establishment and continuance of the 
 Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace — We, the Deputies 
 (synods) . . . for ourselves and our successors, do adopt 
 the following fundamental articles." 
 
 About the same time an English Lutheran Church was organ- 
 ized in Baltimore. It held its first business meeting on October 
 27, 1823. 
 
 As early as 1 81 5 Pastor Kurtz had an assistant. His nephew, 
 Benjamin Kurtz, came to Baltimore in this year, but left soon 
 after to accept a call in Hagerstown. Now, however, both con- 
 gregation and pastor realized that the calling of an assistant was 
 imperative. Johann Uhlhorn, a native of Bremen, was chosen, 
 in 1823. He was a man of great learning and of high culture, 
 possessing wonderful rhetorical and poetical gifts. 
 
 " He was endowed with an extraordinary, retentive mem- 
 ory. I have heard him repeat odes of Anacreon and other 
 Greek poets with perfect correctness, . . . could repeat a 
 long German hymn backwards after reading it several times 
 over. 
 
 " His powers of impromptu versification were wonderful. 
 I have heard him recite long series of good verses upon any 
 subject that may have come up, and on short extempore 
 couplets he was unsurpassed. 
 
 " His manner in the pulpit would be considered as rather 
 
 66 
 
PASTOR UHLHORN. 
 
overstrained at the present day, but, in his more moderate 
 mood, he was grand and impressive. 
 
 " I remember a public lecture on Action in Elocution by 
 some New England writer, which he illustrated by an ex- 
 ample which he had witnessed in Baltimore. One Sunday, 
 he remarked, happening to be in that city, he strayed into a 
 chyrch, attracted by the music. He soon discovered it was 
 a German church, and he did not understand one word of 
 the language. He concluded, however, to remain. He 
 then describes the manner of the preacher, and afterwards 
 inquired whether the subject of the sermon had not been 
 The Prodigal Son, which was the fact. He says, from the 
 manner and acting of the preacher, he could see the incon- 
 siderate young man leaving home, and the preacher acted out 
 his whole subsequent career, even to his return home, so 
 naturally, impressively, speakingly, that the scene could have 
 been no other than that of the Prodigal Son. I remember 
 showing the article to Uhlhorn, but he had too much good 
 sense to betray any feeling of gratified vanity." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. J. G. Morris, who sketched this portrait of his 
 colleague fifty years afterwards, had come to Baltimore to preach 
 his first sermon, December 17, 1826. He was received by the 
 pastors of Zion Church " with polite coldness, but they did noth- 
 ing to encourage my project, for the fact was that most of the 
 persons engaged in our enterprise had been members of their 
 congregation. . . . Some of their influential members opposed 
 us directly, but I had the satisfaction, not many years after, of 
 receiving some of these very men and their large families into my 
 church, where some of their descendants remain to this day as 
 most efficient members." But such defection of its members was 
 by no means the only trial which Zion Church suffered: by a 
 tragical repetition of history it once more witnessed the conflict 
 of the old with the young. The pastor was supported by one party, 
 the assistant by another. Two vestries were elected. The strug- 
 gle between the two factions seemed interminable, all the more 
 because the church was made the scene of their quarrels and 
 squabbles. The difficulties could not be settled, even by the adop- 
 tion of a new constitution in 1830. 
 
 Pastor Kurtz resigned his office in 1833, after a pastorate of 
 forty-six years. In the same year Benjamin Kurtz moved to 
 
 68 
 
) 4 ( 
 
 iikix : 5>at5 He bcfagtc ^ai^i m\ Q^lftm 7(iijiiift, 
 iiH y^[^l■( mifcre i^crm (Jin laiifcnt' acl)t (niiitm 
 iml) brci;f?iji Ki; cincr jufoli]c tcr ■:(lm^cifllllg bffa,».v 
 tcr ^Cifcmbty'^lctcn gd)altcncn QJcifaniindtng tfr 
 ^itgUctcr kfagtcr ©cuifint'C Ctatt (v.utc, mib 
 taf? bci) bcfjgtci' fo gclialtcufr ^^crfvtiniitdin;) lie 
 tcfagtc ©cntcinbc, Hnw imt> tafcltft foiv\fnNii 
 ^>lan tint) Uckrcinfimft in ©cmdfthcit tci- l^ci:- 
 fchrifteii bcfigtcr ^(ctcn untiahu : 
 Iftcr 7Crttfc(. 
 
 S^M^ftimovc" jjctiaunt unt bcPuinti fojii. 3ii tcr K-= 
 fa()tcri j?ircf)C fol! tue <.piCf:j]cn in (i'lylJiTl-cr 
 Sfrac(}C nki)t itUwiU, wM> ^cr ©Dttc^ticnft tcr 
 j\ird)c iinmcr in tcr ,T>cii:f.{\'!! ^^-raclu t>ct» 
 riclitct wcvtcn. 5Mcfc <iUmft\ tcr ll.'hfrciiifuitff, 
 wotnrct) hvS (Jnglif:^ tV^ff^'Si'" vntrtcu u^irt, 
 foil tcinci' TiWi^'^niiig luttcmicrfcn fcmu 
 2tcr 7(rtifc(. 
 S>ic SSmnitcn tiffcr jiirc(ic feiUn fcpn, (Jin 
 cpnffM ettt q^aftoren, >(cf}t ^('Ucftc nut :3ier 
 Sorffc!)cr. 55ic ^(clfctlen nut :Bcrftd)cr tec f^\u 
 (k nni{)vcnt tcf 5)ancr ifjre^ ^fnttcei, itctft tcm 
 ?^\\fm, mx tcm dltcrcn <paftor, tvcun nicfjt a(^^ 
 ciii q>(iflpr ift, fcacii ten j^irci}cnrat() tcr tcfagtcri 
 ,tirc()c (W.^i|p()cn ; ttnt tcr bcfagtc ^irdxnrrttfi 
 foH fci;n nnt ift ()icrm!t jn ^rufticji tcr bcfag^ 
 ten 5lirc()c cingcfclt ; wnt fit unt i()rc 91(ic(^ 
 
 PAGE OF CONSTITUTION OF 1830. 
 
Baltimore, to become editor of the Lutheran Observer. The 
 venerable head of the family, Pastor Johann Nikolaus Kurtz, the 
 Senior Ministerii, had taken up his abode with his son in 1789. 
 Seven years later he died, in his seventy-fourth year, and was 
 buried by the side of Pastor Gerock. 
 
 Pastor emeritus Daniel Kurtz, bitterly aggrieved at the course 
 of events in the congregation, became a worshipper with the Eng- 
 lish congregation. Hfe would frequently assent to what was said 
 there by an undertone : " Hem " with a falling inflection, as much 
 as to say : All right young man, go on. " He was the most blame- 
 less man I ever knew." The troubles in his church he bore " like 
 a Christian Martyr." Rev. Morris was almost daily at his bed- 
 side during his final illness. " He was fond of repeating some 
 of those grand old German hymns, which he would do until per- 
 fectly exhausted. He was a good man and full of the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 Pastor Uhlhorn died one year after the resignation of his pre- 
 decessor. He was buried in Bremen. Being closely identified 
 with the work of higher education in the city — he was professor of 
 Greek Literature at the University of Maryland, and had pub- 
 lished a German grammar — he would have been most qualified 
 to carry out the program of 1808 and to give the congregation a 
 parochial school worthy of the name, but death took him away 
 even before the first steps toward that end were taken. 
 
 An interregnum now ensued, for Pastors Domeier and Haes- 
 baert who were called, did not prove equal to the situation. The 
 troubles that had stirred the congregation for more than a de- 
 cade, still disturbed its peace. It was the good fortune of the 
 congregation that some one of its members heard of a young 
 theologian who had shortly before arrived in the city of New 
 York, Heinrich Scheib. He was invited to come to Baltimore 
 to preach in Zion Church. He at once realized the conditions 
 prevailing there. His determined will-power and his eloquence 
 soon created a party and a circle of devoted adherents around 
 him. The malcontents were to a large degree eliminated; the 
 last of them left in 1840. The synodical connection with the 
 Lutheran Church was dissolved. He was not, however, as was 
 said at the time and repeated afterwards, excluded from the 
 ministerium ; Heinrich Scheib and the congregation left the 
 synod of their own accord. His name appears but once in the 
 
 70 
 
"■w™*'*!* 
 
 SUM AMDEMKEK 
 
 A Tt 
 
 4en alten treuen Christ 
 
 den eifrigen. Lehrer derWarheit 
 
 deiii Tedlichert zartlicKea l^ter 
 
 NICOLAUS KURTZ 
 
 der 48 Jahr das Evangeliyra gepredigt 
 
 und In Baltimore den 12, May 1794 
 
 die Laufbahn vollendet hat. 
 Seines alters — — 73 Jahr 7 Monat 
 Setzen dis Denkmal seine hinterbliebene traurige 
 KINDER 
 Von redlichen die seinenWert erkeniien 
 Wird er der Redliche beweint 
 Und ehrfurchtsvoll wird ihn die nachwelt nefien 
 Den treuea KnecM des Herm. den Menschen fround,. 
 
 TOMBSTONE OF REV. NIKOLAUS KURTZ. 
 
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records of the New York ministerium with the note : " Excluded." 
 The only other reference to him in the literature of the church is 
 found in the Lutheran Cyclopedia : " The mother church was 
 alienated from the Lutheran Church and from synodical con- 
 nections through a rationalist pastor." In Scharf's Chronicles 
 of Baltimore the name of Scheib is found but twice. 
 
 Heinrich Scheib was born July 8, 1808, at Bacharach on the 
 Rhine. His father was a wine-grower. He received his early 
 education at the Gymnasium of Kreuznach. He studied theology 
 at Bonn, where he acquired that profound knowledge of the lit- 
 erature of the Bible and of the Reformation, which friend and 
 foe alike admired in him. From Bonn he went to Utrecht, hav- 
 ing received the Palatinate scholarship. There he became ac- 
 quainted with Dutch theology. The lectures at the university 
 were delivered in Latin. 
 
 Holland was to him only the stepping-stone to the new world ; 
 Christmas, 1834, he left Rotterdam and arrived in New York in 
 April of the following year. America, to him, was synonymous 
 with liberty ; Europe, then under the ban of Metternich, meant 
 oppression. Knowing that for a liberal theologian collision with 
 the authorities was inevitable in Prussia, he had resolved not to 
 return to his native land. In the new world, however, he did 
 not meet with a hearty welcome. The writer has often heard him 
 say how forsaken he felt in the strange land, and how he stood 
 in the streets like a wanderer lost in a vast forest, to whom the 
 dumb trees would not give an answer. God, however, was with 
 him. He sent him a friend in the person of Dr. Geissenhainer, 
 the venerable senior of the Lutheran clergy of New York, whose 
 kindness he ever cherished. 
 
 In the city which was to be his home for more than two gen- 
 erations, he stood isolated among the brethren of the cloth. And 
 yet to a man transplanted from his native soil into a strange 
 land intercourse with congenial spirits is of vital importance. 
 In the hearts of his parishioners, however, his teachings, 
 whether in church or school or daily life, found a most gratifying 
 response. The word was his mighty weapon, repulsing the at- 
 tacks of the foe, scourging the unwilling and slow, comforting 
 the mourning and uplifting the broken-hearted. With untiring 
 zeal he studied the masters of rhetoric, both secular and ecclesi- 
 
 72 
 
astic. But soon he discovered the field in which he was to reap 
 his richest harvest: the school. 
 
 At the opening of the first confirmation class only one-sixth of 
 the children knew how to read, the method in which they had 
 been instructed being that of the parochial school of the day, 
 memorizing the ordinary hymns and the catechism. In the 
 church-yard there stood a small two-story brick house with but 
 a single room on a floor. The upper room contained the school, 
 while the sexton and grave-digger with his family dwelt in the 
 room below. It was an oft-quoted pun of Pastor Scheib that 
 the man who buried the bodies lodged below, while the man who 
 buried the minds reigned above. Seventeen children sat in that 
 room, the only adornments of which were cob-webs. What a 
 marvelous advance from this misery to Zion School of 1870, 
 with more than 800 pupils, a splendid corps of teachers, and a 
 spacious building, where every facility was provided for the de- 
 velopment of body and mind. The theories of pedagogics were, 
 put into practice by one who was in a way a son of the age of the 
 Salzmanns and the Basedows and a contemporary of Herbart 
 and Diesterweg. He himself foresaw intuitively the incom- 
 parable value of that method which informs a pupil of an object 
 by placing that object before his eyes. The postulates of hygiene 
 were carried out in the most scrupulous manner. The center of 
 instruction was focussed upon natural science and history. A 
 model collection of anatomical, zoological, and physical objects 
 and a library of pedagogical literature formed part of the school's 
 equipment. Thus one might say that all the pedagogical stand- 
 ards which are at this late day recognized in the public instruc- 
 tion of our city, and which are carried out with such praise- 
 worthy consistency, were the guiding principles of the work in 
 Zion School as early as the middle of the last century. 
 
 The claim of being a pioneer school, however, does not rest' 
 merely upon this fact. Zion School was the first English-Ger- 
 man school in this country. It has created its type. If it is of 
 great interest to our country that the children in the first genera- 
 tion of its alien population should not only be assimilated, but in 
 a slow, organic process, should be assimilated gradually, then 
 the English-German school is indispensable. And indeed the 
 creator of this type deserves more than ordinary praise, for there 
 can be no doubt that a brutal rupture of the ties of tradition, 
 
 74 
 
PASTOR SCHEIE. 
 
customs, and language which bind the child to its parents and to 
 its forefathers, is bound to destroy the primitive cell of human 
 society: the family. It is the high office of both the German 
 church and the German school of this country to guarantee and 
 to preserve a state of mental life in the sphere of its influence, 
 where on the one side the unique traits of German culture and 
 nationality are not lost, while on the other side the characteristic 
 features of American civilization are welcomed in the forming of 
 a new race. In this way the Puritan type has been softened and 
 broadened by the influx of a new element, namely that of Ger- 
 man immigration, which outnumbers that of all other nation- 
 alities. 
 
 The school of Zion Church monopolized the sympathies of the 
 congregation and its pastor. It was strictly undenominational, 
 absolutely disapproving of religious instruction. The teachers 
 were selected irrespective of religious and political creed, pro- 
 fessional ability being the only criterion. The majority of them 
 were trained in the ideals of the German teachers' seminary. 
 They worked with that devotion which has made the German 
 schoolmaster famous, and in the lives of many of their pupils one 
 may still perceive the influence of their conscientious and faith- 
 ful obedience to duty. 
 
 To our German population the organization of the first English- 
 German school on November 21, 1836, will be forever memorable. 
 In 1848 the new German immigration began. Zion Church 
 was prepared to welcome the newcomers in a building which, 
 while it did not, to be sure, show the architectural beauty and 
 grandeur of the home churches, still in its severe simplicity sug- 
 gests the Fatherland. It is the present church, built, or rather 
 re-built, in 1840. The old church had been destroyed, almost 
 to its foundations, by fire : 
 
 " At about half-past three o'clock on Monday morning, 
 March 30, the inhabitants in the neighborhood of Gay street 
 were alarmed by the cry of fire. The flames at the time of 
 the alarm were breaking, through the roof and windows of 
 the workshop in the rear of Edwin S. Tarr's cabinet ware- 
 rooms in North Gay street next to the German Lutheran 
 Church. In a short time the roof of the church caught 
 fire from the intense heat, and the venerable edifice soon 
 became a heap of ruins. Owing to a heavy fall of rain, 
 
 76 
 
which prevailed during the whole time the fire was raging, 
 the fire did not extend. The church was built in 1808 and 
 cost $40,000. An organ valued at $1400 was destroyed." 
 
 This organ had been brought over from the old church on 
 Fish street. By the ruins of the church the pastor decided upon 
 the plan of re-construction, which was carried out without delay. 
 The first service in the new church was held in the same year. 
 
 In 1844 a new constitution was adopted, proving that at that 
 period the development of congregational life had reached a stage 
 where it could be fixed in laws and by-laws. This constitution 
 continued in force until 1892. 
 
 In 1847 a visitor from Germany, Franz Loher, saw Zion 
 School. He writes : " Here the first German- English school was 
 founded, which indeed was made a model institution." 
 
 The introduction of German into the public schools of our 
 city in 1873 soon reduced the number of pupils of Zion School 
 from 800 to less than half that number. This decrease continued 
 during the succeeding years, and finally, when all efforts to save 
 the school had failed, the board of directors decided to close it. 
 It must have been one of the saddest hours of the life of the 
 preacher-pedagogue to see the institution to which he had de- 
 voted his best energies fall a victim to the changed conditions 
 of time. 
 
 The anniversaries of the school and of the pastor became for 
 the congregation the occasion for the expression of its deep 
 gratitude to its spiritual guide. The pastor himself at these festi- 
 vals would draw masterful sketches of the past, contrasting it 
 now wittily, now proudly with the thrift and progress visible 
 even to the dullest eye. The fiftieth jubilee of the school brought 
 together a host of its alumni within the sacred walls of the church 
 that had given the school its name, and had guaranteed its ex- 
 istence for half a century. 
 
 At the fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries of his installation, 
 Pastor Heinrich Scheib was greeted by two generations which 
 had reaped the fruits of his labors. The noble enthusiasm of 
 which his soul was capable, and the inspiration with which his 
 words were endowed, would then stir the throngs which filled 
 the church. But the observer of the every-day life of Zion Church, 
 that is its Sunday services and the doings of its youth, could not 
 
 17 
 
help seeing that there existed a distressing discrepancy between 
 the festival occasions and the ordinary life. In the course of 
 time the outward life of the church and the inner life of the 
 family had become so complex that it required almost more than 
 the energy of a single individual to give every detail due atten- 
 tion, to adapt the church to modern ideas, and to band to- 
 gether those, who, shunning the example of the deserters, stood 
 faithfully in the ranks. Compared with the hundreds who 
 pledged their vows and took first communion at its altar, the num- 
 ber of members of the church was distressingly small. On the 
 church register there was an almost total absence of younger 
 members. As the old members were passing away rapidly, the 
 future of the congregation was at stake. Twice the congregation 
 engaged young preachers to assist the pastor, now far advanced 
 in age. They were unsuccessful, however. In the fall of 1889 
 the present pastor was called from Germany, landing here De- 
 cember 14, 1889. 
 
 Pastor Heinrich Scheib was made pastor emeritus on Novem- 
 ber 15, 1896. He died on the same date of the year following. 
 The obsequies were held in the church, the vestry, the congre- 
 gation, and a multitude of friends uniting to honor the dead. A 
 eulogy, containing a sketch of the life of Pastor Scheib, was 
 written by the pastor. At the first anniversary of his death the 
 congregation assembled once more to dedicate a monument which 
 they had erected on the burial lot of the family in Lorraine 
 Cemetery. 
 
 Requiescat in pace ! 
 
 79 
 
J -^4 
 
 8™ JULI 1808-15^11' N0V.1897. 
 
 TOMBSTONE OF PASTOR SCHEIB. 
 
Epilogue. 
 
 The nineteenth century opened with the revival of the Gospel 
 by Schleiermacher. With him both Rationalism and Pietism 
 became antiquated,- and wherever they reappear, they are but 
 the residue of a by-gone age. 
 
 In the course of the nineteenth century, through the labors of 
 the historians and the theologians, the interpretation of the Gos- 
 pel, which was God's gift to Martin Luther, was more deeply 
 understood and more extensively made the criterion of the criti- 
 cism of the literature and the dogma of the church. The Luth- 
 eran Church has gained new insight into the foundations of its 
 belief and has been inspired by new confidence in its mission. At 
 the present, more than ever, the Lutheran Church is able to 
 understand and to appreciate the motives that led to the Refor- 
 mation and moved the Reformers to give us those admirable docu- 
 ments among which the Augsburg Confession stands unexcelled. 
 
 The service also, both in its order and in its guiding principles 
 shows the tendency towards a closer conformity with that of the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. The character of secular 
 amusement has gradually vanished from the sacred Sunday hour, 
 and the discussion of the topics of the day has given place to a ser- 
 mon, which strives not so much to utter and to explain the doc- 
 trines of religion as to give religion itself. Sunday worship thus 
 has been made indispensable to the cultivation of spiritual life, 
 and the church plays an ever-increasing part in the life of its 
 members. 
 
 The German church has the great mission of bringing its faith- 
 ful into the vivifying contact with that genius, who in the Ger- 
 man language expounded his discovery of the moving forces in 
 the gospel. 
 
 Finis. 
 
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