Fatherland. They, too, sought to escape from political and economical
conditions that had rested like an incubus upon a divided country for
centuries. But they brought with them a spirit of Christian aspiration
and the ripe fruit of a traditional Christian culture which became a
priceless contribution to our own church life. They were men and women
from all corners of Germany, who had come under the inspiration of the
religious awakening to which reference has already been made. They
became leading workers in our congregations and Christian enterprises.
We, whose privilege it was to minister to them, knew well that we were
only reaping where others far away and long ago had sown.
The inability of the Lutheran Church to supply an adequate ministry for
this vast immigrant population left the way open also for other
Protestant churches to do mission work among the lapsed members of our
communion.
A number of churches were established where services in the beginning
were held in the German or Scandinavian languages. Through Sunday
Schools and other agencies many Lutheran children were gathered into
their congregations where they and their children are now useful and
honored members of the church. A goodly number of eminent ministers in
various non-Lutheran Protestant churches of this city are the children
or grandchildren of Lutheran parents.
[illustration: "Carl F. E. Stohlmann, D.D."]
With this general outlook over the period, let us take up the thread of
our story.
On the death of the elder Geissenhainer in 1838, Karl Stohlmann, a
native of Schaumburg Lippe, was called from Erie, Pennsylvania, to be
his successor. For thirty years the pastor of the Walker Street Church
was an important figure among the Lutherans of this city. The scope of
this book will not permit an adequate account of his labors. He died on
Sunday morning, May 3d, 1868, just as his congregation was entering a
larger house of worship at the corner of Broome and Elizabeth Streets.
Dr. Geissenhainer, Jr., retired from the English work of St. Matthew's
Church in 1840 and organized a German congregation, St. Paul's, on the
west side, which he served as pastor until his death in 1879 in the 82d
year of his age.
On the East Side, Trinity was organized in 1843, St. Mark's in 1847, St.
Peter's in 1862, Immanuel, in Yorkville, in 1863, and St. John's in
Harlem in 1864. On the West Side St. Luke's was established in 1850, St.
John's in 1855 and St. Paul's in Harlem in 1864. The first Swedish
congregation, Gustavus Adolphus, was organized in 1865.
Within the present limits of Brooklyn six German and one English
churches were established during this period. On the territory of each
of the other boroughs, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, two German churches
came into being.
After the Revolution of 1848 in Germany, immigration to America
increased by leaps and bounds, and within the time under review New York
was referred to as the fourth German city in the world. But the Germans,
as we have seen, did not all go to church. The existing churches, it is
true, were well filled, but a large proportion of the population, torn
from the stable environment of their homeland life, and transplanted
into the new conditions of a crowded city, failed to respond to the
claims of their ancestral religion.
In our church polity there was no adequate provision for the needs of
such an immense and ever expanding population. Now and then a
broadminded pastor would encourage the planting of a church in some
needy field, but too often the establishment of a new mission was looked
upon as an encroachment on the parochial rights of the older
congregation. At this point in the congregational polity of our church
the absence of a directing mind and a unifying force was sorely felt.
The condition of immigrants at the port of New York was for many years a
public scandal. In 1847 the State of New York appointed Commissioners of
Immigration. Under the Act of March 3, 1891, the Commissioner was
appointed by the Federal Government.
Before this was done, the helpless immigrants were the prey of countless
vampires, chiefly in the form of "runners," agents of boarding houses
and transportation companies. These pirates of the land exacted a heavy
toll from all foreigners who ventured to enter our city by way of the
steerage.
[illustration: "Pastor Wilhelm H. Berkemeier"]
In 1864 Robert Neumann, who had been a co-laborer with Gutzlaff, a
pioneer missionary in China, established an Immigrant Mission at Castle
Garden and succeeded in awakening an interest in this cause.
A few years later, in the subsequent period, the churches took up the
question of providing for the needs of the immigrants.
The Deutsches Emigrantenhaus was incorporated in 1871. Pastor Wilhelm
Heinrich Berkemeier became the first housefather. His unflagging zeal
gave strong support to a much-needed work of love. His venerable
personality was a benediction to his contemporaries.
In the course of the years eight Lutheran Immigrant Houses and Seamen's
Missions have been established at this port and are doing effective
Christian work.
Toward the close of this period, in 1864, a seed was planted on the
Wartburg near Mount Vernon which has grown to be a great tree.
Peter Moller, a wealthy layman, had met with a great sorrow in the death
of his son. He was planning to expend a large sum for a monument in
memory of this son, when Dr. Passavant, an eminent worker in behalf of
invalids and orphans, called upon him, perhaps with the hope of
obtaining a contribution for some of his numerous charities. To him Mr.
Moller confided his purpose. It did not take long to outline the plan of
a nobler memorial than the proposed shaft in Greenwood. With $30,000 a
hundred acres of land were bought and a house of mercy was established
which for fifty years has been a blessing not only to the orphans who
have been sheltered and trained there, but also to the churches of New
York that have been privileged to contribute to its support.
Its first housefather was George Carl Holls, one of the brethren of
Wichern's Rauhe Haus near Hamburg. In 1886 he was succeeded by Pastor
Gottlieb Conrad Berkemeier, who with the help of his wife, Susette
Kraeling, has brought the institution to a position of great prosperity
and usefulness.
[illustration: "The Wartburg at Mount Vernon"]
In the Nineteenth Century
1866-1900
Three factors combined to make this period eventful in our history:
confessionalism, immigration and the transportation facilities that led
to a Greater New York.
At the close of the Civil War we had 24 Lutheran churches on the
territory now included in Greater New York. Two of these were English
and the rest were German. At the close of the century the record stood:
Yiddish, 1; English, 17; Scandinavian, 19; German and German-English,
60.
The tide of confessionalism which had been rising in Europe for half a
century touched America in the forties and reached a high water mark
during the period under review. The question of subscription to the
symbols of the Book of Concord became the chief subject of discussion
among our theologians.
In 1866 a number of pastors and churches, under the leadership of Pastor
Steimle, severed their connection with the Ministerium for confessional
reasons. They formed a new synod which adopted all the Confessions and
took a firm stand in opposition to membership in secret societies.
The "Steimle" Synod, as it was usually called, disbanded in 1872, its
members going, some to the Missouri Synod, others to the Ministerium.
Their organ, the Lutherisches Kirchenblatt, was merged with the
Lutherischer Herold.
Pastor Steimle died in 1880. He was a devout man, a rugged personality,
beloved by his people and esteemed by his colleagues. His congregation
in Brooklyn, now served by the pastors Kraeling, father and son, is one
of the strong churches of the city.
One of the early members of the congregation, whose support meant much
for his pastor, was Jacob Goedel. He subsequently returned to Germany
and spent his latter years in the city of Koeln on the Rhine.
In 1888 I spent a memorable week in Koeln. The history of the city
antedates the Christian era. Its cathedral is a fane of wonderful
beauty. In the Reformation Koeln joined the Lutheran forces and for
eighty years two of its archbishops were Lutheran pastors. The
"Consultation" of Archbishop Hermann is one of the liturgies of the
Lutheran Church. It played a prominent part in the construction of the
Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Owing to political jealousies among the
Protestants, the fortunes of war restored the city and the cathedral to
the Catholics. Until recent times Protestantism was an almost negligible
force in Koeln. At the time of my visit the Protestant Churches were
very efficient in all kinds of religious and social work and had an
influence in the City Council out of all proportion to their numbers.
Inquiring into the reason of this change I was told that it was largely
owing to the labors of a man by the name of Jacob Goedel who had come to
them from America and had introduced American methods of church work
into Koeln.
[illustration: "Gottlob Frederick Krotel, D.D., LL.D."]
In 1867 another synodical split took place. The New York Ministerium
separated from the General Synod on confessional grounds and took part
in the organization of the General Council. Thereupon most of the
English-speaking members, occupying a milder confessional basis, left
the Ministerium, formed the Synod of New York and united with the
General Synod.*
*The author's connection with the work in New York began about this
time. After graduation at Yale College in 1865, he found employment in a
New York library, and soon after matriculated as a student in Union
Theological Seminary. The needs of Protestant Germans on the East Side
attracted him into mission work which resulted in the formation of a
congregation of which he took pastoral charge upon his ordination by the
Synod of New York, October 19th, 1868.
The lines of three synodical bodies, General Council. [sic] General
Synod and Synodical Conference, that is "Missouri," were now distinctly
drawn and for the rest of the century the relations of Lutheran
ministers and churches were sharply defined. Ministers were kept busy
in explaining the differences, but it is to be feared that some of the
laymen did not always understand.
In 1868 members of St. James Church, who sympathized with the attitude
of the General Council in favor of a stricter confessional basis,
organized a new English congregation, Holy Trinity, of which Dr. Krotel
became the first pastor. Dr. Wedekind was called to St. James. Both men,
pastors of English congregations, had come from Germany in their early
youth, were educated in American schools and were thoroughly acquainted
with American institutions. For a generation these two men, each in his
own sphere, on opposite sides of a high synodical fence, contributed
much to the growth and progress of the churches in this city.
Immigration from Lutheran lands continued to increase and reached its
high water mark in this period.
Prior to 1867 there were few Swedes in New York. In 1870 they numbered
less than 3,000. The immigrants were chiefly farmers who settled in the
West. In 1883 large numbers began to come from the cities of Sweden and
these settled in the cities of the East. In 1900 the census credited
New York with 29,000 Swedes. In 1910, including the children, there were
57,464, of which 56,766 were Protestants.
The first Swedish Lutheran church was organized in 1865 by Pastor
Andreen who had been sent here for this purpose by the Augustana Synod.
Among the first trustees was Captain John Ericsson, the inventor of
the Monitor. Its first pastor was Axel Waetter, a cultured minister of
the Swedish National Church.
At present there are fourteen Swedish Lutheran churches in New York
reporting a membership of 8,626 souls.
An Immigrant House in Manhattan, a Home for the Aged and an Orphans'
Home in Brooklyn, and Upsala College in Kenilworth, N. J., represent
the institutional work of the Swedish Lutherans.
To Pastor Lauritz Larsen I am indebted for the following sketch of our
Norwegian churches:
"The Norwegians have always been a sea-faring people and a people
looking for fields of labor all over the World. The real immigration
begins about 1849, but there were Scandinavians on Manhattan Island in
the Sixteenth Century. The Bronx is named after a Danish farmer, Jonas
Bronck.
"I believe that the first Norwegian Lutheran Church in New York was
organized by Lauritz Larsen, then Norwegian Professor in Theology at
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who stopped here for a while on his way
to and from Norway in the early sixties. The first resident pastor was
Ole Juul, who came to New York in 1866 and labored here until 1876,
when he was succeeded by Pastor Everson, who was actively engaged as
pastor in New York and Brooklyn from 1873, until 1917, when failing
health compelled him to retire.
"At present, the Norwegian Lutheran churches of Greater New York are
carrying on an active and aggressive work. Their total membership is not
as large as it might be. Partly because the Norwegians coming here from
the State Church do not at once realize the importance or necessity of
becoming members of local congregations, but have the idea that as long
as they attend services, have their children baptized and confirmed, and
so forth, they are members of the church. The report of the membership
of the churches is therefore, hardly a correct indication of the number
of people reached or even the strength of the Norwegian Lutherans in the
Metropolis.
"The language question is one of great difficulty. Many of our people
live, as it were, with one foot in Norway and one in America; and are
thinking of returning to the old country at some time or other. There is
also a constant influx of new people from Norway which makes it
imperative to have Norwegian services constantly. On the other hand, the
young people are rapidly Americanized and prefer to use the language of
the country, which necessitates English work, and where this demand is
made, the young people are, generally speaking, quite loyal to their
church, but it is no easy matter to satisfy both elements and to keep
the old and the young together in the same church.
"The Norwegians have been very active in Inner Mission and Social
Service work. As witness: the organization of the Norwegian Lutheran
Deaconesses' Home and Hospital about thirty years ago. This institution
has now grown to be the largest Norwegian charitable institution in the
country and has a splendidly equipped modern hospital and an excellent
Sisters' Home, which together represent a value of $500,000. It is not
owned by a church, but is owned and controlled by a corporation of
Norwegian Lutherans.
"The churches have directly been engaged in Inner Mission work for a
number of years, and now have three city missionaries constantly at
work. The institutions conducted by this branch of the service are the
Bethesda Rescue Mission at Woodhull St., Brooklyn, the Day Nursery at
46th St., Brooklyn, and an extensive industrial plant also in Brooklyn.
Besides the Inner Mission has purchased land on Staten Island and
erected a cottage there for a summer colony for poor children. The
Norwegians of New York have also built a modern Children's Home at
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. Although this is not owned by the church, but
by a corporation of Norwegians, its constitution provides that the
religious instruction should be based upon Luther's Small Catechism. The
Home is now taking care of sixty children, and is in charge of a
Deaconess from the local mother house mentioned above. A new Inner
Mission Agency was started two years ago when the late C. M. Eger
bequeathed a large sum of money for the establishment of the Old
People's Home in connection with Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. At
present it is located in his former home, 112 Pulaski Street, and will,
no doubt, be of great importance for our church work in the future."
The statistics of the Scandinavian churches are presented in part in
the following table. The figures of the first and second lines are
taken from the United States Census of 1910. They include the children
where one or both parents are of foreign descent. Those of the third
line are obtained by deducting 10 per cent. from the number of
Protestants, in the second line. The number of "souls," fourth line, is
the aggregate number of baptized persons, old or young, connected with
or related to the respective congregations.
Swedes Norwegians Danes Finns Total
1. Population 53,464 34,733 13,197 10,304 116,698
2. Protestants 56,766 33,344 11,996 10,304 112,410
3. Lutherans 51,090 30,010 10,797 9,274 101,171
4. Souls 8,365 10,433 950 2,540 22,288
5. Communicants 3,829 2,152 422 840 7,643
6. No. of Churches 13 12 3 3 31
Prior to 1871 Germans were a negligible quantity in the political
history of Europe. Divided into a multitude of tribes, with divergent
interests, for centuries they had no political standing and were the
football of the nations around them. From Louis XIV to the Corsican
invader, except during the reign of Frederick the Great, their history
was one of political incohesion and economic poverty.
Even in New York they were looked upon as aliens in the city which they
had helped to found and where in three centuries their sons had stood in
the forefront of the battle for freedom. The names of Jacob Leisler, of
the seventeenth century, Peter Zenger of the eighteenth century, Franz
Lieber and Karl Schurz of the nineteenth century are indelibly inscribed
among the champions of freedom in America. Yet fifty years ago "Dutch"
in New York had almost the same evaluation that "Sheeny" and "Dago" have
today.
In 1871 the divergent fragments of the German people, after many futile
experiments in their history, at last attained national unity. The
Germans of New York celebrated the event with a procession which made a
deep impression upon the city. From that day forward they were no longer
held below par in popular estimation. This became manifest in the
success of their efforts in the field of social and religious work.
Thirty German churches were added to the roll before the close of the
century.
The completion of the Elevated Lines in 1879 and the Brooklyn Bridge in
1883 changed the course of history for our Lutheran congregations. For
decades the ever-increasing hosts of immigrants had been interned in
unwholesome tenements on a narrow island. Now ways of escape were found.
Wide thoroughfares led in every direction. The churches in Brooklyn and
Bronx grew rapidly in numbers and in strength.
It was hard for those of us who still held the fort on Manhattan Island
to see the congregations we had gathered with painstaking effort
scattering in every direction, especially to lose the children and the
grandchildren of our faithful families. But when we saw them in the
comfortable homes and open spaces of the suburbs, who could wish them to
return to the hopeless atmosphere of the tenements? From this time
forward the churches of the surrounding boroughs grew rapidly, largely
at the expense, however, of the churches of Manhattan.
From 1881 to the close of the century Bronx added nine churches,
Richmond five, Brooklyn and Queens thirty-two to the roll. Manhattan, it
is true, also added eleven churches, but they were all above
Forty-second Street, most of them far uptown.
The tenth of November, 1883, was a red letter day in our calendar. It
was the quadricentennial of Luther's birthday. The preparations for the
celebration met with a hearty response in the city. The large dailies
gave much space to the occasion. Dr. Seiss delivered a memorable address
in Steinway Hall. Under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance a
distinguished company gathered in the Academy of Music and heard William
Taylor and Phillips Brooks deliver orations of majestic eloquence.
The celebration gave a marked impulse to our church work. Our
congregations increased in numbers and in influence. Its chief value was
in its efeet [sic] upon the young people. Hitherto they hardly
comprehended the significance of their church. Its services were
conducted in a language which they understood with difficulty. As they
grew up and established new homes in the suburbs where there were few
churches of their faith, they easily drifted out of their communion. A
great change came over them at this time. They began to take an active
interest in church questions and in church extension. As they followed
the inevitable trend to the suburbs they connected themselves with
churches of their faith or organized new ones and became active workers
in them. The remarkable increase of congregations in the entire
Metropolitan District was to a large extent owing to the impulse derived
from the quadricentennial of 1883.
When Lutherans of various churches and synods were thus brought together
there was one thing that puzzled them. They could not understand why
there should be so many kinds of Lutherans and why they should have so
little to do with one another. This feeling soon found expression in the
organization of societies of men interested in the larger mission of the
Church.
In 1883 the Martin Luther Society was organized by such laymen as Arnold
J. D. Wedemeyer, Jacob F. Miller, John H. Tietjen, Jacob A.
Geissenhainer, George P. Ockerhausen, Charles A. Schieren, John H.
Boschen and others, originally for the purpose of preparing a suitable
celebration of the Luther Quadricentennial. In this effort they were
successful. In addition to their local work in the interest of the
celebration they secured the erection of a bronze statue of Luther in
Washington.
But the chief reason for the organization of the Society was indicated
in a letter sent to the pastors and church councils of the Lutheran
churches of New York and vicinity which read in part as follows:
"In view of the efforts made all around us to bring about a closer and
more harmonious relation between the various Protestant denominations,
the Martin Luther Society of the City of New York respectfully begs you
to consider whether the time has not come to make an effort to bring
about, if not a union, at least a better understanding and more
fraternal intercourse between the Lutherans themselves. We all deplore
the divisions that separate us; we believe that the reasons for these
divisions are more imaginary than real, and we are persuaded that a free
and frank interchange of opinions will materially help to remove
whatever obstacles may be in the way.
"We surely recognize the fact that our Lutheran Church does not command
that influence or maintain that position in this city and vicinity which
its history, purity of doctrine and conservative policy entitles it to;
and we may be sure that just so long as our divisions continue, loss of
membership and prestige, increasing weakness, and final disaster, will
be our lot.
"Brethren, in unity is strength. Earnestly desiring to do what we can to
bring it about, we ask the pastors of our Church and their church
officers to take this important matter into consideration, and to take
steps to participate in a meeting in this behalf which the Martin Luther
Society proposes to hold on Tuesday evening, January 22d, 1889, in the
hall of the Academy of Medicine, No. 12 West 31st Street, in this city."
The annual banquet of the Martin Luther Society was an important
function. Distinguished speakers lifted high the banner of Lutheranism,
and good fellowship began to be cultivated among the representatives of
churches and synods hitherto unacquainted with each other. Nearly all of
its members have passed on and the Society is only a memory among a few
survivors of those who shared its genial hospitality and recall the
kindly fellowship of its meetings. The Martin Luther Society blazed the
trail for the wider path on which we are walking today, and it deserves
to be held in honored remembrance.