Produced by Prof. Kurt A. Bodling, Ganser Library, Millersville
University, Millersville, PA, USA
[Transcriber's note: A very few German names appeared in the originalwith umlauts. These have been transcribed as an "e". A few spellingerrors in the original are indicated with a "[sic]". The original usesitalics to indicate most of the German and Latin in the text, and all ofthe authors' names in the bibliography. Italics are transcribed with theunderscore character at the beginning and end. Footnotes in the originalare transcribed here in a paragraph immediately below the paragraph towhich the footnote is connected. The appendix contains a table that is102 characters wide.]
The Lutherans
of
New York
Their Story and Their Problems
BY
GEORGE U. WENNER, D.D., L.H.D.
Pastor of Christ Church
New YorkTHE PETERSFIELD PRESS819 East Nineteenth Street1918
Copyright, 1918
By GEORGE U. WENNER
TO
THE LUTHERANS OF NEW YORK
IN
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
May you bring forth fruit and may your fruit remain
Contents
Apology
Introduction
Their Story
In the Seventeenth Century—1648-1700
In the Eighteenth Century—1701-1750
In the Eighteenth Century—1751-1800
In the Nineteenth Century—1801-1838
In the Nineteenth Century—1839-1865
In the Nineteenth Century—1866-1900
In the Twentieth Century—1900-1918
Their Problems
The Problem of Synods
The Problem of Language
The Problem of Membership
The Problem of Religious Education
The Problem of Lapsed Lutherans
The Problem of Statistics
Epilogue
Appendix—The Churches; Deaconesses; Former Pastors; Sons of the
Churches; Institutions and Societies; Other Associations; Periodicals;
Book-stores; Bibliography; Index.
Illustrations
Frontispiece [Transcriber's note: a portrait of the author]
When New York Was Young
A Corner of Broad Street
New Amsterdam in 1640
In the Eighteenth Century
Trinity Church
Henry Melchior Muehlenberg
The Old Swamp Church
Frederick Muehlenberg
John Christopher Kunze
Kunze's Gravestone
Carl F. E. Stohlmann, D.D.
Pastor Wilhelm Heinrich Berkemeier
The Wartburg
G. F. Krotel, D.D., LL.D.
Augustus Charles Wedekind, D.D.
Pastor J. H. Sieker
Charles E. Weltner, D.D.
Apology
Lutherans are not foreigners in New York. Most of us it is true are new
comers. But with a single exception, that of the Dutch Reformed Church,
Lutherans were the first to plant the standard of the cross on Manhattan
Island.
The story of our church runs parallel with that of the city. Ourproblems are bound up with those of New York. Our neighbors ought to bebetter acquainted with us. We ought to be better acquainted with them.We have common tasks, and it would be well if we knew more of eachother's ways and aims.
New York is a cosmopolitan city. It is the gateway through which thenations are sending their children into the new world.
Lutherans are a cosmopolitan church. Our pastors minister to theirflocks in fifteen languages. No church has a greater obligation to "seekthe peace of t