History of Nebraska - Chapter 34-C



Page 765 (continued)

EPISCOPAL CHURCH
BY JAMES M. WOOLWORTH

   In 1856 several churchmen in Omaha addressed to Bishop Lee of Iowa an 
earnest request to visit them with reference to form-

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ing a parish here. The bishop deputed the Rev. Edward W. Peet, rector of 
St. Paul's, Des Moines, to this errand. Soon after Easter in that year Dr. 
Peet undertook the journey from his home, reaching Council Bluffs on 
Saturday, the 12th of April. During the next week he came over the river 
and visited the church people. On the evening of Saturday he met eight or 
ten gentlemen, who, with his advice, organized a parish under the name of 
Trinity Church, adopting articles of parochial association and selecting a 
vestry. Plans were discussed for the purchase of a lot for a church and 
for securing a priest at an early day. On Sunday morning Dr. Peet preached 
in the territorial government house on Ninth street between Farnam and 
Douglas, but which has been destroyed. The room was crowded and interest 
in the enterprise was general.

   At that time Kansas and Nebraska were within the jurisdiction of Bishop 
Kemper. In 1835 this venerable man was, by the General Convention of the 
Episcopal Church in the United States, elected a bishop to exercise 
jurisdiction in Missouri and Indiana. Afterwards, when dioceses were 
formed in those states and the new regions in the Northwest were, one 
after another, settled, his jurisdiction was extended to them 
successively, until in 1856 the two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, 
were the remnant of the vast domain over which he had held sway. Hearing 
of Dr. Peet's visit to Omaha and its results, Bishop Kemper felt the old 
fires of missionary zeal burn within him, and he soon started from his 
home in Wisconsin for the new lands. On his way hither he met Bishop Lee 
at Des Moines, and the two arrived here on Friday, the 11th of July. On 
Sunday, that being the eighth Sunday after Trinity, services were held in 
the government building. In the morning the prayers were read by the Rev. 
Mr. Irish of St. Joseph, Missouri, and the ante-communion service by 
Bishop Kemper, at whose invitation Bishop Lee preached. Bishop Kemper 
preached in the afternoon. Shortly afterward Bishop Kemper resigned his 
missionary jurisdiction, and Nebraska was placed in the episcopal care of 
Bishop Lee; he continued to exercise jurisdiction until the General 
Convention in 1859. During this time there were three priests and three 
parishes in Nebraska, namely, the Rev. George W. Watson, rector of 
Trinity, Omaha; the Rev. Eli Adams, rector of St. Mary's, Nebraska City; 
and the Rev. Dr. Stephen C. Massock of Arago. The first church edifice in 
the state was St. Mary's, Nebraska City. It was a beautiful church, 
situated in a very romantic spot in the valley between what was then 
Nebraska City and Kearney City. A lovely stream of pure water flowed by it 
and a bit of wood enfolded it in rural solitude. It was long since removed 
from that spot to the town, and now forms a part of the present St. Mary's.

   In 1859 the General Convention met at Richmond, Virginia, and elected 
the Rev. Joseph C. Talbot, rector of St. Paul's, Indianapolis, missionary 
bishop of the Northwest, with jurisdiction over what is now Nebraska, the 
two Dakotas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Nevada -- a total of 
750,000 square miles. He came to Nebraska in 1860. In 1865 he was 
translated from the mission to Indiana. The most important part of his 
work that remains visible to the human eye is Brownell Hall, the only 
college for girls in Nebraska. In 1861 he purchased six acres in Saratoga, 
now North Omaha, on which was a good building designed and for a short 
time used as a hotel. He agreed to pay $3,500 for the property and went 
cast to collect the money. A daughter of Bishop Brownell gave part of the 
money, on account of which Bishop Talbot gave it its name. Some further 
money was raised to put the building in repair, and it was furnished by 
people living in Omaha. From the first the school was well supported, and 
although the most careful economy was necessary it was of a good order.

   Bishop Talbot left eight clergymen in the service. Besides these Dr. 
Massock was on the roll, but he had become disabled and had retired to 
Covington, Kentucky.

   The General Convention of 1865 divided the jurisdiction of the 
Northwest into three, one

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of which was Nebraska and Dakota, to the episcopate of which Bishop 
Clarkson was elected. He was consecrated in his parish church of St. 
James, Chicago, on the 15th of November and began his service the 
following spring. He purchased Bishop Talbot's home, a tract of forty 
acres a little out of Nebraska City, and lived there about a year. He then 
converted the house and property into a school, under the name of Talbot 
Hall, and removed to Omaha.

   The first three years of Bishop Clarkson's episcopate were three years 
of rapid growth. From his consecration in 1865 to the organization of the 
diocese in 1868, the number of active clergy went up from eight to 
sixteen. At the latter date there were ten candidates for orders, 700 
communicants, property of the estimated value of $123,000, and three 
church schools.

   At the expiration of that time the missionary jurisdiction was 
organized as a diocese, and the council placed it under the full charge of 
Bishop Clarkson. Two years afterward it elected him bishop of Nebraska. 
Practically this action did not change his work, but it did change his 
status. As missionary bishop he could, on his election to the episcopate 
of any other diocese, have been translated thereto. As bishop of Nebraska 
this was not permissible. Now he was irrevocably bound to Nebraska for 
life. He continued missionary bishop of Dakota, and afterward Niobrara was 
added to his jurisdiction, with the care of the Indians in southern 
Dakota. In a few years he was relieved of that care by the election of 
Bishop Hare. He held jurisdiction in Dakota until the convention of 1883.

   When the diocese was organized the bishop reported three church 
schools. One was St. James Hall at Fremont, for which quite a large 
building was erected, and the school was opened and conducted for a period 
with a measure of success. But when the Rev. Mr. Dake, who had the 
enterprise in charge, resigned the parish at Fremont it languished, and 
after a brief period was abandoned. Bishop Clarkson was no farther 
responsible for the enterprise or committed to it than by his desire for 
its success and the encouragement he gave to Mr. Dake.

   Another of the educational institutions in which the bishop was very 
much more interested, and to which he gave his best efforts, was Nebraska 
College. When he first came here, as has been stated, he purchased from 
his predecessor a tract of forty acres of. land not far from Nebraska City 
and made his home there for a year, when he devoted the property to a 
boys' school, which he called Talbot Hall. Afterwards the school was 
erected into a college, and in connection with it plans for a divinity 
school were formed. It seeming desirable to reach a larger number of day 
scholars, the school was removed into the town and carried on for a period 
with varied success. Considerable debts were contracted, the location of 
the school became somewhat inaccessible from other parts so that its 
patronage was local, and it was reduced to its former condition of a boys' 
school, and at last, after the death of Bishop Clarkson, was abandoned. 
Property was purchased in Nebraska City for a divinity school, and several 
candidates for orders were instructed at the college. The original plan 
contemplated an institution of which the Rev. Dr. Oliver was to be the 
dean. Other instruction was to be given by clergy of the diocese. After 
the bishop's death Dr. Oliver removed from Nebraska City, and it seemed 
impracticable to sustain the institution, the property was sold and the 
proceeds invested, the income of which is applied to theological education.

   Brownell Hall has had a more happy history. In 1868 it was removed from 
Saratoga to eligible lots in Omaha, upon which a building reasonably 
satisfactory for the purpose was erected. During Bishop Clarkson's 
episcopate the school saw some very dark days, and only his buoyant spirit 
and firm resolution saved it, on more occasions than one, from the fate 
which has often overtaken unendowed church schools, During the last years 
of his life his desire was a new site and a larger building for the Hall. 
He felt that that was

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the work which remained for him to do. He made many and great efforts to 
obtain the neccessary funds for the purpose. He was unsuccessful, and his 
failure was a great grief. After his death, quite unexpectedly, the 
difficulties in the way disappeared. In 1887 a new and substantial brick 
structure was built. It is admirably adapted for the purpose and provides 
for 100 boarders, and a large number of day scholars. The Hall suffered 
severely from the depression of 1892 and the following year, and was 
closed for a year, when it was reopened under a new management. It is now 
very prosperous -- under a very efficient principal and corps of teachers, 
its rooms are full, its curriculum extended, and its future progress 
assured. Could the good bishop's eyes look upon the institution now he 
would rejoice that what was denied to him was given to another to 
accomplish.

   Hardly was Bishop Clarkson settled in his new home at Omaha before he 
began to feel that sense of isolation of which many bishops have 
complained who have not had a church of their own nor an altar at which 
they had the right to serve. He was peculiarly sensitive in this way, for 
he loved more than all else close relations with his people. Trinity 
Church was, in proportion to the resources and population of the city, 
large and prosperous; it had an eligible site, a simple but sufficient 
wooden church, and an interested congregation. The circumstances seemed to 
favor a connection between it and the bishop. At his instance, and with 
ready assent of the authorities of the parish, on the 4th of March, 1868, 
an agreement was concluded to the effect that the bishop should have his 
seat in the chancel, direct the ritual, preach when in the city, use the 
church for all episcopal offices and functions, and have a certain part in 
the selection of a rector in case of vacancy. This was the beginning of 
the framing of the cathedral system in Nebraska. It was simple and 
tentative, but it was for the time satisfactory to all concerned.

   The church was afterward burned, and a temporary building put in its 
place. In 1872 the bishop and vestry began to look forward to a new and 
permanent church, and it seemed opportune to establish their relations 
more certainly. He then brought forward a plan of cathedral organization, 
the general idea of which was his; in some detalis as he worked them out 
he took the advice of others. He submitted it to the vestry, which gladly 
approved it, and then presented it to, the diocesan council, which 
unanimously adopted a canon embodying it.

   The organization is diocesan rather than local. This appears from its 
name, which is the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese of Nebraska. Its 
members are almost all diocesan officers. Its functions are almost 
entirely diocesan. It is the board of missions, the trustee of the funds 
and property of the church, the visitor of the schools, the administrator 
of the institutions of charity, and is competent to receive the care of 
other activities. The diocesan character of the system further appears 
from the fact that the church and the chapter could at any time be 
dissevered and the latter remain almost as complete as before in its 
personnel and objects. While the system is maintained the parish enjoys 
the advantages of the bishop's interest and services, and displays in its 
church the episcopal office in, various and impressive functions. There 
are in our country cathedrals formed on other plans. Some are bishop's 
churches, in which he is sole and active authority. There are others with 
organizations not unlike those of England, and a local chapter composed of 
a dean, canons, and other officers. In certain conditions Bishop 
Clarkson's scheme is satisfactory; at least under his mild rule it was 
both satisfactory and efficient. It has received the approval of many 
other bishops, and has been adopted by several dioceses and jurisdictions. 
There are defects in it which will be mentioned hereafter.

   On the evening of May 25, 1880, the cornerstone of the cathedral was 
laid. It was a great event for the church. Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, 
Bishop Vail of Kansas, Bishop Hare of Niobrara, Bishop Garrett of Northern 
Texas, and Bishop Spaulding of Colorado

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responded to Bishop Clarkson's invitation to assist in the ceremonies. 
There was a large attendance of the clergy of this and other dioceses. 
Crowds thronged the grounds and the streets about. A procession which 
formed on Seventeenth street, led by a band from Fort Omaha and two 
military companies, and long drawn out by members of the vestries, the 
clergy, and the bishops, marched through the multitude to the site. Bishop 
Clarkson laid the stone with the usual ceremonies. The procession reformed 
and proceeded to the chapel where Bishop Whipple preached. The impressive 
feature was the general interest of the people in the event. The whole 
city, the clergy and people of all Christian denominations, and citizens 
without regard to religious relation, entered into the occasion with 
enthusiasm.

   On November 5, 1883, the cathedral was consecrated. It. was the 
consummation of the work which had sorely taxed the patience, zeal, and 
ability of all concerned. It was a very happy day. Bishops Sweatman of 
Toronto, Canada, Garrett of Northern Texas, Hare of Niobrara, and Burgess 
of Quincy came to rejoice with Bishop Clarkson. There were large numbers 
of clergy from this and other dioceses and of other denominations. Bishop 
Clarkson was the celebrant, Bishop Burgess, epistoler, Bishop Sweatman, 
gospeler, and Bishop Garrett, preacher. In the evening Bishop Sweatman 
preached.

   Again the civic character of the cathedral was emphasized. The presence 
of officers of the nation, state, and city, and of the army testified to 
it. The clergy of other denominations showed their sympathy by a large 
attendance.

   It may seem that this sketch has fallen from the general history which 
concerns us here to local topics. This cathedral belongs to the diocese as 
well as to those who worship at its altar. The parochial authorities have 
again and again, by grants and solemn muniments, confirmed the diocesan 
character of the church. As such they have been called upon to bear a 
larger share of the diocesan burdens, and with more than generous spirit 
have answered the call. Besides, in the works of construction and 
embellishment of this sacred edifice, large aid was given by the bishop 
and his friends because it is a cthedral rather than a parish church. It 
is therefore, a diocesan institution and has a place of its own on this 
account.

   In 1881 the bishop bought the lot near the cathedral for a child's 
hospital. There was a little one-story wooden dwelling there which he 
opened for children, having secured the services of a sister from the 
Bishop Potter Memorial House in Philadelphia. Nothing could be more 
humble. Two years afterward the present building was erected. The 
institution from the first was aided by generous benefactions of several 
members of a family devotedly attached to the bishop, and by gifts from 
other good people. This charity which undertakes the pitiful care of 
little ones was most like himself -- it was the efflorescence of his 
heart. Its name will carry his memory to other generations.

   Mindful of the fact that the church sent him here to be a missionary, 
Bishop Clarkson realized that his task was to go about everywhere, into 
every town, village, arid hamlet, and even to the solitary settler on the 
public domain, carrying with him the Gospel, dispensing the blessings of 
the sacraments, teaching the doctrines of the church, giving Christian 
nurture to children, comfort to the sick, and help to the wayward. This 
duty rested on him always; he never cast it off. The Church, the Master 
bound it on his shoulders, and he bowed down under the load. There were 
journeys from his home to farthest points in his jurisdiction, hundreds of 
miles sometimes, traveled by wagon. When he came here no railroads had 
been built, nor until a few years before he died could most of his 
stations be reached by rail. Often he went the long weary way to help a 
single one of his clergy living almost in solitude, and almost as often to 
look after the people who had lost their missionary. He did not stay in a 
town where was a parish and work that might go on of itself without him, 
of which, indeed, there were not many. He went to the little mis-

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sions and to places where a mission might be started. He held services and 
preached in dwelling-houses, and schoolhouses and courthouses, and houses 
of worship of Christians of other names. Always, everywhere, to a handful 
as to a multitude, he preached with the same mellifluous eloquence, the 
same persuasive tones, the same high thought, and with what effect upon 
the sensibilities, convictions and life, some can never forget.

   But he had one very discouraging experience. When Bishop Clarkson came 
here the Missouri river was the sole avenue of trade and communication, 
and all the towns were planted along its borders. Accordingly, the work of 
the bishop was to build churches in this region, and to gather the people 
into them. Hardly was this well begun before railroads penetrated the 
west -- the Union Pacific first, the Burlington next, and the others soon 
afterward. This destroyed commerce on the river, and the towns along it 
soon began to fall into decay, and with them the churches. New towns 
sprang up in the interior, to which the faith had to be carried. The work 
of planting had to be begun again as if never done before.

   In 1868, when the diocese was organized, the churches at Brownville, 
Peru, Bellevue, Fort Calhoun, and Decatur each had a measure of strength. 
In 1885, when the bishop died they had become almost extinct. Even 
Nebraska City and Plattsmouth at that date were not able to go alone. 
Between the two dates, towns on the Union Pacific had sprung up, and in 
the South Platte were Lincoln, Beatrice, and Hastings. Beginnings had to 
be made again, missions planted, people gathered, and churches built. None 
had strength to help the general work and most called on the bishop for 
aid.

   And thus it happened that the diocese had two beginnings, two periods 
of pioneer work, the work in the last aided not at all by what had been 
done in the first. The loss of what was done in the early part of his 
episcopate gave Bishop Clarkson's work an appearance of results below his 
expectations, and in his last days he had a sense of failure. But few knew 
that a cloud rested on his spirit; his words were cheery and he called his 
people and clergy on to new endeavors.

   The bishop did not count the cost of what he did, or measure the gains 
he made. It was no matter to him that his means were very small, that he 
reached very few souls, and gained very uncertain results. He did not 
complain of any of his clergy who lacked persistence and shifted from 
place to place, and from this diocese to another. He was always saying 
that no bishop ever had so devoted a body of clergy. He was not 
discouraged by the inertness and want of sympathy of the people among whom 
he went in and out. To him the diocese was a splendid domain, full of 
great possibilities. So far was he from making little of his field he 
magnified it greatly. His buoyant spirit carried him always beyond the 
means and gains which commonplace men count trivial. He rejoiced in what 
he had to do as if it were the largest and most conspicuous work any 
bishop ever undertook.

   At the general convention of 1883 Bishop Clarkson resigned the 
jurisdiction of Dakota. From that time he was to devote himself wholly to 
his duties as the diocesan of Nebraska. We may take this as the dividing 
point in our history. Before that time we were altogether a missionary 
diocese, receiving Episcopal service from the general church, doing little 
for our own missions, and depending largely on the church in the East. But 
now churchmen took upon themselves their own burdens. They were made to 
understand that most of what should be done must be done by themselves.

   Bishop Clarkson died on March 10, 1884. The homage of the people to his 
memory was profound. During the funeral, at the request of the mayor, 
business in the city was suspended. Crowds lined the way as he was borne 
to the cathedral, and reverently uncovered as the cortege passed by. The 
officers of the city and the state and the people gathered to this sacred 
place.

   Bishop Worthington was consecrated in his parish church of St. John, in 
Detroit, on St.

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Matthias's Day, 1885. During the interregnum the church here had hardly 
held its own. A rigid trial of her strength at that time disclosed 
weakness almost everywhere and there came to many a sense of impotency. 
But the dawn of a new day had begun to break, even before the first 
bishop's death. His eye caught the rays, but it was not to see the full 
light. If he could only have lived to see the bright morning! The 
population of the state was about 400,000. It soon became 1,250,000. Omaha 
has added 100,000 to her people, and many towns have increased in equal 
proportion. The growth of the church followed with equal steps. In the 
western part new towns sprang up, and the call for the church was 
imperative. The new bishop was almost as much a pioneer as the old one. 
The work was pressed with great vigor; every place was occupied; wherever 
a new town appeared in the vast domain, the church came at once with her 
offices and benedictions; and so it was that both by the growth of the 
population and the energy in ministering to it the development of work 
outran all ability to do it. It soon appeared that all Bishop Worthington 
could do did not answer the demand upon him.

   At the council in 1890 a resolution was passed memorializing the 
General Convention, which was to meet in the following October, to set off 
the western part of the state as a missionary jurisdiction. The memorial 
at first met in the general convention a disinclination to do it. But as 
the interesting facts of the case were made known by statements and 
appeals to individual members, to committees, and the two houses, an 
enthusiasm was aroused, opposition was swept away, and in the house of 
deputies and the house of bishops, successively, the action prayed for was 
granted by almost unanimous votes. The Rev. Anson R. Graves of Minneapolis 
was elected missionary bishop of the Platte. He was consecrated in his own 
church, and at once entered upon his mission. The event has justified the 
action of the diocese and the general convention.

   In every item of statistics, except the value of church property, the 
missionary jurisdiction makes a better showing today than did the diocese 
at its organization. The growth has been remarkable, and this, too, while 
the whole territory has severely suffered from exceptional depression. The 
humble, quiet, patient, day-by-day labors of Bishop Graves and his clergy 
have told upon the people, who have been unable to resist the persuasions 
of such devotion, persistence, and urgency.

   During Bishop Worthington's episcopate a step has been taken in the 
development of the cathedral system. Bishop Clarkson recognized defect in 
it, and at times contemplated remedies, but delayed action which he feared 
would cause friction. That system superimposed the cathedral upon the 
parish, and rested in voluntary agreement of the bishop and the vestry, 
and was without legal sanction. It was by the grace and consent of the 
parish that the place, office, and functions of the bishop and chapter 
were recognized. This insecurity, not practically felt in the days of 
Bishop Clarkson, was likely to appear during another's administration.

   In 1885 the legislature of the state passed an act permitting action on 
the part of the vestry by which the corporate name was changed from that 
of the Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church to that of the Bishop and 
Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. It was further provided that the bishop 
should be a member and president of the vestry; that he should have his 
seat in the choir; should direct the ritual and at his pleasure preach; 
use it for all episcopal acts and functions and have large part in the 
selection of the dean and resident canons. Some further changes in the 
development of the system were made not material to our present purposes.

   The abandonment of Nebraska College by Bishop Worthington and the 
trustees was deeply regretted. Another school for boys was the subject of 
constant discussion and in 1889 several gentlemen of Lincoln undertook to 
provide grounds and buildings for it. They secured an eligible site on 
which they erected a building admirably fitted for the purpose, with plans 
for other halls when they

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should become necessary. The entire expenditure was over $60,000. At first 
the purpose was to commit the care and administration of the institution 
directly to the authorities of the diocese, but this was found 
impracticable, and so it was placed in the charge of a board of trustees 
with the bishop as visitor. It was, however, devoted to education of youth 
under the influences of the church by a fundamental declaration to that 
effect in the documents of its organization. Under the name of the 
Worthington Military Academy it was opened September 15, 1892, with an 
attendance of thirty-eight pupils. The buildings were burned June 1, 1898, 
and the school abandoned.

   Bishop Worthington's administration covers about ten years.

   In the see city, including South Omaha, nine churches and chapels, 
three rectories, and one guild house have been built of the value of $180,
000. Elsewhere in the present diocese twenty-nine churches and eight 
rectories have been built, increasing the value of church property about 
$140,000, in Brownell Hall, $140,000, in the Bishop Clarkson Memorial 
Hospital over $25,000, in the Worthington School over $60,000 have been 
acquired. Bishop Worthington consecrated twenty-six churches in the 
territory under his jurisdiction. The funds of the diocese have been 
increased as follows: The Episcopal fund, $5,000; the aged and infirm 
clergy fund, $2,000; the John S. Minor fund, $10,000. A hospital endowment 
fund has been commenced and amounts to about $33,000. The total increase 
of all church property is $578,000, being over $70,000 per annum.

   The bishop ordained twelve deacons and sixteen priests, being nineteen 
individuals, of whom the majority have received their training as students 
of the diocese. The number of communicants, baptisms, and confirmations, 
and the aggregate offerings have multiplied many-fold.

   In 1888 Bishop Worthington experienced very serious heart trouble. When 
prosecuting his visitations of the diocese he suffered severely from 
attacks which were painful and sometimes disabled him from meeting his 
appointments. After struggling against the disease for a long time and 
finding the symptoms progressing rather than abating, he consulted an 
eminent physician in New York, who strongly advised a protracted cessation 
of work and a removal from the high altitudes of the diocese to sea 
levels. Acting on the advice of his physician, the bishop addressed a 
communication to the diocesan council of 1889 asking for a coadjutor who 
should relieve him from the arduous labors of his office. In this letter 
he proposed to surrender, to whomever should be elected as coadjutator 
bishop, all that belongs to the Episcopal supervision and administration 
of the diocese, save the admission of clergymen to service in the diocese, 
the care and direction of candidates for holy orders and their ordination, 
the consecration of churches that had been built or were at that time 
proposed, confirmations at the cathedral when he desired to administer 
that ordinance, and also retaining his relations to the diocesan 
institutions and funds. He also proposed the surrender all of his salary 
but $600. He submitted to the council a certificate of his physician 
respecting his infirmity.

   The council acceded to his request, expressing in most affectionate 
terms the sympathy of its members and profound regret at the dissolution 
of the happy relations between the bishop and the diocese.

   Thereupon, the council proceeded to the choice of a coadjutor-bishop 
and upon the first ballot, by a decided majority of the clergy and lay 
delegates, the Rev. Arthur L. Williams, rector of Christ Church, Chicago, 
was elected. This action was duly confirmed by the bishop and standing 
committee of the several dioceses. The consecration of the bishop-elect 
took place at the cathedral in Omaha on the 18th day of October, 1899, the 
bishops participating in the ceremony being Bishop Worthington, 
consecrator; Bishop Spalding of Colorado, Bishop Graves of Laramie, Bishop 
Morrison of Iowa, and Bishop Edsall of Minnesota, the presenting

Page 773

bishops; Bishops Nickolson of Milwaukee, Atwell of West Missouri, and 
Millspaugh assisting.

   Bishop Williams at once entered upon his work and has prosecuted the 
same with vigor and success.


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF MISSOURI, OHIO, AND OTHER STATES
BY E. ECKHARDT

   In the year 1839 the pioneers of this synod, having found it impossible 
to secure freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their 
conscience without interference of the civil authorities of Saxony, 
Germany, emigrated from their native country in search of religious 
liberty, and settled in Perry county, Missouri, where they at once gave 
evidence of their intention to build up an American Lutheran church 
independent of any foreign church body by founding, in the course of the 
first year of their residence in this country, an institution for the 
training of pastors for Lutheran congregations in the United States. 
Though isolated and alone at first, they soon came in touch with Lutherans 
of a strictly confessional type who were scattered though-out a number of 
other states. One of the principal means of establishing connections with 
these was the church paper, Der Lutheran, which their great theologian, 
Dr. C. F. Walther, began to publish in 1844.

   The community of faith and of interests existing between these various 
churches suggested the organizing of a common church body. And in 1847, at 
a meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of 
Missouri, Ohio, and other states was organized by twelve pastors and 
sixteen congregations. Today this synod numbers more than 2800 pastors and 
3300 congregations, while the total number of baptized members exceeds one 
million. The entire body is divided into twenty-two districts, of which 
the Nebraska district is one.

   The Missouri Synod first began work in Nebraska in 1868. The first 
congregation in this state affiliated with it is Immanuel Lutheran Church, 
on Rock Creek, near Beemer, Cuming county. Nineteen settlers of that 
vicinity requested the Rev. J. Buenger, at that time president of the 
western district of the Missouri Synod, to supply them with a minister. 
President Buenger acceded to their request and sent them the Rev. A. W. 
Frese, who had but recently been graduated from the theological seminary. 
In the meantime, a man residing near Beemer had offered to teach school, 
and many of the settlers had availed themselves of his services. When Mr. 
Frese arrived in the early part of February, 1868, only five of the 
original nineteen were still willing to receive him as their pastor. He 
was told that these were unable to give him even the most meager necessary 
salary; however, they were willing to bear the expense of his return trip. 
While the affairs were in this state, Mr. Frese was asked to officiate at 
the funeral of a Christian woman, and the funeral sermon so stirred the 
hearts of the people that a renewed effort resulted in securing pledges of 
support of the pastor from twenty-four -- instead of the original 
nineteen -- heads of families. Accordingly Immanuel Church was organized 
on February 16, 1868. A few weeks later, the congregation bought a tract 
of forty acres on which they erected a parsonage 20x26. In 1871, a church 
edifice was built, School was taught in a farm house by the pastor since 
1869. Mr. Frese served this church until 1881, when he was succeeded by 
the Rev. M. Adam. The present pastor, the Rev. M. Leimer, has had charge 
of the congregation since 1891. The rapid growth of the congregation 
necessitated the erection of a new church edifice in 1887.

   The Rev. Mr. Frese also preached in Madison, Stanton, Burt, and Dixon 
counties, and in all these places flourishing congregations soon sprang 
into existence.

   News of Mr. Frese's activities at Beemer soon reached several Lutherans 
residing near Hooper and two of their number were sent to him to ask him 
to preach the Gospel also at Hooper. Their request found ready compliance, 
and on April 26, 1868, Mr. Frese preached his first sermon near Hooper. The

Page 774

Lutherans of Hooper, in conjunction with several Lutherans of Arlington, 
extended a call to the Rev. E. J. Frese, the Rev. A. W. Frese's brother, 
who accepted the call and was installed as pastor at Hooper on July 11, 
1869.

   At West Point and at Norfolk congregations were organized in 1871. In 
Omaha Lutheran services were conducted occasionally before 1870. A call 
was extended to the Rev. F. Kuegele, a recent theological graduate, who, 
after a short pastorate at this place accepted a call from a congregation 
at Cumberland, Maryland, whereupon the Rev. J. Hilgendorf was chosen 
pastor and installed as such on September 9, 1871. The first Lutheran 
church was formed here with thirteen voting members. Five years later, the 
Rev. Mr. Hilgendorf resigned on account of ill health, the vacancy thus 
created being filled by the Rev. J. Strasen. Two years later, the Rev. E. 
J. Frese of Hooper, was called. He served this church about thirty-six 
years. At the present time, there are four congregations of the Missouri 
Synod in Omaha. From this place the work was extended to Papillion and 
Bennington.

   Just a few words concerning the history of the Missouri Synod's work in 
southern Nebraska. The oldest church in southern Nebraska is the one at 
Middle Creek, seven miles east of Seward. Here the Rev. Theodore Gruber 
began to preach to a few Lutherans on November 14, 1870. The first 
services were conducted in a public school house. In 1873 a stone church 
was erected; and though this has given place to a large frame church, the 
building is still generally referred to by the public as the "Stone 
Church."

   The Rev. Gruber also extended his activities to Marysville, Stevens 
Creek, Malcolm, Waco, Hampton, and Seward.

   At Marysville, Lutherans had begun to settle as early as the latter 
part of the sixties. They gathered regularly every Sunday at the home of 
F. Hartman to have a sermon read to them. In 1870, the Rev. F. Kuecele 
visited this settlement and organized a church with nineteen voting 
members, which was served by the Rev. Mr. Gruber of Middle Creek until 
they had a minister of their own. Here the Rev. Tr. Haessler labored from 
1878. Services were held in the homes of the members until 1874, when the 
first church building was erected, for which the building material had to 
be hauled fifty miles.

   Through a correspondence in a paper the attention of some Lutherans in 
Wisconsin was directed to Thayer county, and a number of them settled 
there in 1874. The Rev. J. Kern began to preach to them, first in their 
homes. and then in a public schoolhouse. On December 6, 1874, a 
congregation of seven voting members was organized. The Rev. R. Biederrnan 
was elected pastor in 1876. The first church was built in 1878, and a new 
and larger structure was erected in 1899. From this congregation have 
sprung Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Kiowa (1880), St. Peter's at Deshler, 
and Immanuel near Deshler.

   Until this time, Nebraska had belonged to the western district of the 
Missouri Synod, which comprised Missouri and the western states. But as 
the churches in this state increased in number, they formed a district of 
their own, the Nebraska district. The first convention of this district 
was held near Hooper in 1882. Its total membership at that time was thirty-
one pastors and forty-nine churches, embracing 1,249 voting members. The 
Rev. J. Hilgendorf was elected president and continued to hold this office 
for eighteen years. He was succeeded by the Rev. C. H. Becker of Seward, 
who served in this capacity for fifteen years. Since 1915, the Rev. C. F. 
Brommer of Hampton is president. The first secretary of the district, the 
Rev. J. Meyer, held office for thirty-three years, and was succeeded in 
1915 by the Rev. F. Seesko of Omaha. O. E. Bernecker of Seward acted as 
treasurer from 1900 to 1913. The present treasurer is Prof. A. Schuelke, 
of Seward.

   The following statistics for 1917 show the growth of the districts: 
Pastors, 180; churches, 232; missions, 64; baptized members 48,654; 
communicant members, 28,800; voting members, 7,817. During this year the

Page 775

district collected $114,000 for missionary and benevolent purposes.

   From the very beginning, the Lutheran church has insisted upon 
maintaining parochial schools. Why do we not send all our children only to 
the public schools? We are all agreed that the public school is a 
necessary institution, for whose maintenance we gladly pay our taxes and 
whose healthy development we stand ready to promote to the best of our 
ability. Moreover, we have always vigorously opposed every effort to 
divert part of the public school funds to the support of parochial 
schools, even though in some school districts we have educated more 
children than the public schools. Why, then, do we go to the expense of 
maintaining, from our own funds, parochial schools? Because we Lutherans 
believe we are doing the church, the country, and the children a 
service -- that we are performing a duty which God has imposed upon us -- 
in training and developing not only the minds of the children to the best 
of our ability but in remembering their immortal souls as well. We believe 
it to be our solemn duty to give our children an opportunity of daily 
hearing and learning the Word of God, and to train them early in the ways 
of God. However, such religious training cannot be offered by the public 
schools. To attempt to introduce religious instruction into the public 
schools would be to strike at the very foundation of our sweetest American 
liberties. It would mean the beginning of the end of the present ideal 
condition of the complete and absolute separation of church and state, and 
would, therefore be contrary to the best traditions of true Americanism 
and bound to lead to the same religious tyranny which drove our fathers 
out of Europe. Neither do we believe that the Sunday School, however 
valuable as a means for missionary purposes it may be, can supply the 
religious needs of the child; for, with the best teachers, one hour's 
instruction per week in the Word of God is just as inadequate as one 
lesson a week in arithmetic would be. Hence, we maintain parochial 
schools. Our object is not to oppose the public schools; much less is it 
to perpetuate a foreign language, or foreignism in any form. Our only 
purpose is to provide daily religious instruction for our children. In 
order, however, to do our duty in this respect without harm to our 
children's secular training, it becomes necessary to add the secular 
branches to the curriculum, and to impart knowledge of the three "Rs" 
also. And experience has shown that, as a whole, our schools do not lag 
behind the public schools in their attainments in secular instruction. 
Thus, at the World's Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 1893, the 
parochial schools of the Missouri Synod were awarded the blue ribbon.

   In 1917, the Nebraska district of the Missouri Synod had 175 parochial 
schools, in which 5,510 pupils were being instructed by 106 pastors, 70 
male, and 13 female teachers. As to the language used in the schools, 
investigations made by the state council showed that, even before we 
entered the war, not a single parochial school of the Missouri Synod in 
this state was teaching the secular branches by any other medium than that 
of the American language. And while, up to that time, the German language 
had been taught as a subject, and had also been used as a medium in 
religious instruction, in most of our schools, it has since then been 
entirely eliminated from all our schools.

   For the purpose of training efficient teachers for our parochial 
schools, the Missouri Synod maintains two teachers' seminaries, one of 
which is located at Seward, Nebraska.


THE LUTHERAN SEMINARY AT SEWARD, NEBRASKA

   The year 1894 was a year of hardship for Nebraska, for there was a crop 
failure, due to a severe drought. Nevertheless, during this year, a twenty-
acre tract of land at Seward was purchased with the intention of founding 
a teachers' seminary. Members of St. John's Lutheran Church at Seward gave 
much financial aid for the purchase of the land, a part of which was 
divided into lots, and sold, the proceeds being added to the building 
fund. The erection of the first building of the institution was begun that 
very summer. When the con-

Page 776

vention of the Nebraska district at Hampton adjourned on August 28, 1894, 
many of the delegates went home by way of Seward in order to witness the 
laying of the corner stone, upon which occasion the Rev. Prof. A. Graebner 
of St. Louis, Missouri, and the Rev. F. Frincke of Lincoln, Nebraska, 
officiated. The building was completed by the Nebraska district without 
any financial assistance from the general body. The Rev. Geo. Weller of 
Maryville having been called as professor the building was dedicated, Mr. 
Weller inducted into office, and the institution opened, on November 18, 
1894. In 1895, the first president's residence was built. In 1906, the 
present service building was completed, and the following year the 
administration building was dedicated. The music building was dedicated on 
January 18, 1914. Last year, preliminary to the incorporation of the 
institution, the appraisers appointed by the county court valued the 
property of the institution at $150,000. Owing to losses an account of the 
war, the total enrollment in the fall of 1918 had decreased to 109. The 
faculty of the present time consists of the following: The Rev. F. W. C. 
Jesse, president; the Rev. Geo. Weller, the Rev. A. Schuelke, the Rev. P. 
Rueter, Prof. V. Stricter, Prof. K. Haase, Prof. H. B. Fehner, Prof. J. T. 
Link, the Rev. M. H. Ilse, and Miss M. Haase.

[image caption: LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL AND BUSINESS COLLEGE]

LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL AND BUSINESS COLLEGE, DESHLER, NEBRASKA

   Complaint has been made that the Lutheran church neglects the higher 
education of its youth. But this charge is false. The Missouri Synod has 
fifteen educational institutions with property valued at $2,250,000. The 
Lutheran High School at Deshler was built and dedicated in 1913. The value 
of this building is $50,000. There is a teaching force of six professors. 
During the year 1917 more than one hundred students were enrolled.


ORPHANAGE AND HOME FINDING SOCIETY, FREMONT, NEBRASKA

   The Rev. P. Graef, second pastor of our church at Fremont, was the 
founder of this orphanage. He described the origin of this institution to 
a friend as follows: "Childless ourselves, we were hardly half a year at 
Fremont when two requests came to us urging us to adopt orphans, and at 
the same time a letter was received from a pastor, a widower, asking us in 
case of his death to provide for, and bring up, his two little daughters 
for Christ's sake. After considering the matter for some time, I finally 
came to the decision to establish a Lutheran orphanage at Fremont. I laid 
my plans before my congregation on March 7, 1892. They decided to support 
them and offered a sum of money for this purpose

Page 777

and elected a committee which should take the matters in hand." Until the 
orphanage was completed, Mr. Graef's residence served as a home for the 
children. The corner-stone for the orphanage was laid in the fall of 1892, 
and on June 25, 1893, the building was dedicated. Many congregations of 
the Nebraska district contributed freely to the support of this 
institution. About fourteen of the surrounding congregations formed the 
"Lutheran Orphans' Home Society of Nebraska."

   Later, this Orphans' Home Society was changed into a Home Finding 
Society. In 1896 the Rev. Mr. Graef reported forty-eight children in the 
orphanage. Only three children could be admitted during this year, while 
forty-six had to be turned away because of lack of room. Fourteen years 
later, in 1910, in a single year, fifty-two children were received and 
provided with homes in Christian families. Since the organization, 517 
children have been received. The congregations of the Nebraska district 
annually contribute about $3,500 toward the maintenance of this 
institution. The following have served as superintendents: Rev. P. Graef, 
1892-1897; Rev. Nammacher, 1899; Mr. Trapp, 1900; Rev. A. Leuthaeuser, 
1910; Rev. G. Wolter, 1915. J. F. Gnuse since 1915. The first president of 
this society was the Rev. J. Hilgendorf. He was succeeded in 1909 by the 
Rev. M. Adam, of Omaha. As secretaries, the following reverend gentlemen 
have served successively: G. Kuehnert of Omaha, F. Giese of Blair, E. 
Eckhardt of Blair, H. Hallerberg of Arlington, and F. Daberkow, of Cedar 
Bluffs, who is holding office now. On June 25, 1917, the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the institution was celebrated, the Rev. A. Schlechte of 
Chicago, Illinois, the Rev. C. H. Becker of Seward, Nebraska, and the Rev. 
Prof. H. Stoeppelwerth of Winfield, Kansas, officiating.


LUTHERAN HOSPITAL AT YORK, NEBRASKA

   The need of a hospital at York having often been pointed out by the 
physicians and business men of that city, the Lutherans of York and 
vicinity set about to supply this need. The "Lutheran Hospital Association 
of York, Seward, Hamilton, and Other Counties" was organized in June, 
1914. A private building was used temporarily as a hospital. In 1915 a 
hospital building which is modern in every respect was completed. It is 
located in the northern part of the city. At present it is continually 
over-crowded, and an extension has been planned. In connection with the 
hospital a training school for nurses with a three years' course is 
conducted. This school is accredited with the state.


LUTHERAN HOSPITAL AT BEATRICE, NEBRASKA

   In June, 1913, the hospital of the United Brethren at Beatrice was 
bought by the Lutherans of that region, and on October 7th of the same 
year the "Lutheran Hospital Society of Beatrice" was formed and took 
charge of the institution, This society is composed of about one hundred 
members. Since there was accommodation for only thirty patients, the 
society resolved to build a new modern hospital, for which the corner-
stone was laid on September 15, 1918. This building is to cost about $150,
000. The money was collected from the neighboring Lutheran congregations. 
Officers of this hospital society are: The Rev. A. Kollmann, Beatrice, 
president; the Rev. P. Matuschka, Plymouth, secretary; the Rev. K. Kurth, 
Beatrice, chaplain; Miss Ida Gerding, superintendent; Miss Catharine 
Nielsen, assistant superintendent; Messrs. H. Dieckmann, H. Schewe, and C. 
K. Nispel.


WAR ACTIVITIES

   In conclusion, let us not forget that the Lutherans of Nebraska have, 
during the late war, shown their love and devotion to the country which 
offered them asylum when religious oppression drove them from the old 
world. They have contributed freely to the Red Cross. They have bought 
liberty bonds to the amount of about $4,000,000, and war savings stamps to 
the amount of about $2,000,000, 1058 of their sons have gone forth to 
battle for the cause of freedom, and forty-eight of these have given their 
lives in order that America's flag might continue to wave in unsullied 
beauty.

Page 778

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS

   The beginning of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Nebraska dates 
back into the '60s only. In 1865, Solomon Meyers and family located in 
Decatur, Burt county, and started a store. Mr. Meyers and his neighbor, a 
Mr. Harlow, were the first seventh-day Sabbath-keepers in Nebraska. Public 
meetings were held by Solomon Meyers for two or three years in 
schoolhouses near Decatur, but no ministerial help was received until in 
1868 Elder Bartlett came across the river from the Iowa Conference and 
held meetings with Mr. Meyers in that neighborhood.

[image caption: DECATUR SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH]

   In the summer of 1869, Elder Geo. I. Butler, who was later president of 
the General Conference, and Elder R. M. Kilgore organized, or partly 
organized, the first church of Seventh-day Adventists in Nebraska near 
Decatur. It was not, however, until 1873 that the church was fully 
organized and officered, and not until 1877 that the first church building 
was erected out in the hills about half way between Tekamah and Decatur, 
which building is still in use. This has been a strong church in the 
Nebraska Conference, having raised several efficient ministers from 
boyhood in its membership, besides four who have spent several years in 
foreign fields.

   On May 23, 1875, Elder C. L. Boyd organized the second church of 
Seventh-day Adventists in Nebraska at Seward. At this time the Sabbath-
keepers in Nebraska were so few and scattered that the state was 
administered as a mission field of the Iowa Conference. Four ministers, 
one of them one of the first presidents of the Nebraska Conference, came 
from among the members of the Seward church, This was Elder A. J. Cudney 
who later sailed from a Pacific port for a missionary cruise among the 
islands of the Pacific, and who, with all members of his crew, was never 
heard from again; the ship presumably having been lost in a storm. Elder 
C. L. Boyd, who organized the Seward church, was elected as the first 
president of the Nebraska Conference of Seventh-day Adventists when it was 
organized in 1878.

   The third Seventh-day Adventist church in Nebraska was organized in 
Fremont in April, 1877, and in 1883 the church which is still used was 
built at that place. Owing to its central location at that time, Fremont 
was chosen as the location of the Conference Tract Society through which 
the denominational literature was handled. Miss Samantha Whitis, who 
afterwards spent several years in India as a missionary, was elected in 
1882 as the first tract society secretary, and handled this work 
efficiently for some time. Just a year from the date of organizing the 
Fremont church, the Beaver City church, called at that time the Richmond 
church, was organized in the southwestern part of the state. The 
membership of this church has always been largely farmers and the church 
building which was built in 1893 was located five miles due south of 
Beaver City in the country.

   The four churches mentioned in this brief sketch have always been 
strong, healthy churches and each of them has furnished workers from the 
ranks of the members to carry forward their beliefs. From these humble 
beginnings, the work of this denomination has spread to all parts of 
Nebraska and at present, owing to its central location, geographically 
speaking, this state holds some of the largest institutions of a general 
nature in this denomination. The conference of churches which was 
organized in 1878 now

Page 779

includes fifty-one congregations, with two thousand four hundred and forty-
two members. There are ninety-seven Sabbath schools, with two thousand 
five hundred and ten members enrolled. Twenty-five of the Churches conduct 
church schools, enrolling about three hundred children, besides over four 
hundred students attending Union College at College View, near Lincoln. 
The offerings to missions for the year 1918 averaged over thirteen dollars 
per member throughout the conference.

   At the annual session of the General Conference in Battle Creek, 
Michigan, in October 1889, it was decided to establish a college under the 
auspices of the denomination at some point between the Mississippi river 
and the Rocky mountains. The locating committee, after looking at many 
sites, determined upon the city of Lincoln as the location for the new 
school which was afterward named Union College. The citizens of Lincoln 
and vicinity donated three hundred acres of land about four miles 
southeast of the state capital. April 10, 1890, ground was broken for the 
main college building and the 3rd of May the first stone was laid. There 
were many difficulties in the way, but all were overcome and the college 
building, with two large dormitories and power house, was ready for 
dedication September 14, 1891.

   In the lean financial years that followed, the young institution had a 
hard struggle for existence and there was a slowly increasing burden of 
inbebtedness hanging over the institution until in 1916 a special campaign 
was inaugurated to liquidate the debts of the college, and in the spring 
of 1917 an indebtedness of over seventy-five thousand dollars having been 
cleared tip, the college observed its jubilee ceremony.

   Union College now enrolls between four and five hundred students each 
year, has a teaching force of thirty-two, and property valued at three 
hundred thousand dollars. The institution offers regular college work and 
also a theological course leading to the degree of bachelor of arts. 
Shorter courses offered are: academy, oratory, commerce, academic normal, 
music, advanced normal, and medical preparatory. Union college has an 
excellent record as a training school for missionaries, more than two 
hundred of its former students being in foreign lands as missionaries and 
nearly two thousand of its students in all being directly engaged in the 
work of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

   A little city of over two thousand inhabitants has sprung up around the 
college which was planted on the bare hill-tops about twenty-seven years 
ago, and it is a matter of interest that the original survey for the 
Nebraska City branch of the Burlington railroad passed

[image caption: BEAVER CITY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH]

directly through the spot later excavated for the basement of the college 
building. This survey was later abandoned on account of heavy grades and 
Lincoln was approached by a more circuitous, but more easily engineered, 
route.

   The Nebraska Sanitarium, a large hospital and nurses' training school, 
is also located in College View, near Lincoln, its main building being on 
the Union College campus. This institution employs hydropathic and 
therapeutic methods of treatment, largely, and benefits several thousand 
patients each year. It has a capacity of over one hundred guests and 
maintains a three year training school for nurses where about fifty nurses 
are continually in training for this line of philanthropic work. Another 
similar sanitarium with about half the capacity of the College View 
institution is located at Hastings, both of these institutions

Page 780

being owned by the Nebraska Conference. The combined value of these 
sanitariums approximates a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

   At the present time, 1919, an academy is being built at Shelton which, 
when completed, will represent an investment of about seventy-five 
thousand dollars and will accommodate about one hundred fifty students. It 
is planned to have this building ready for occupancy by the fall of 1919. 
The main building is two hundred and four feet long and forty feet wide, 
and is located on a fertile eighty-acre farm in the Wood River valley near 
the city of Shelton.

   The work of the Seventh-day Adventists in Nebraska is carried forward 
from a central office located in College View. The churches comprising the 
conference have no settled pastors but the members who believe and 
practice the tithing system for the support of the Gospel ministry pay one-
tenth of their incomes into a general fund which enables the officers and 
executive committee of the conference to distribute the ministers among 
the churches where they will be able to give the most help and accomplish 
the most good. A

[image caption: UNION COLLEGE]

good percentage of this tithe fund, as well as large free-will offerings, 
are used in foreign mission work and there is hardly a church in the 
conference that has not seen at least one of its members leave for a 
foreign field.


GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
BY REV. SAMUEL BUERKUER

   The German Methodist church is a part of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, governed by the same discipline and rules, is generally known yet 
not so universally understood as it might be. While we have our separate 
churches, district and annual conferences, colleges, and different 
beneficent institutions, we have the same general superintendents, or 
bishops, the same General Conference support, the same missionary and 
education boards as the mother church. We have ten German conferences in 
America.

   The beginning of German Methodism dates back to the year 1835, when the 
founder, Dr. Wm. Nast, began to preach among the Germans in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, who were then without any spiritual guidance whatsoever. They were 
then fast imbibing rationalism.

Page 781

   The preaching of the Gospel to the people in their mother tongue meant 
not only much for the people in those days, but for the succeeding 
generations; meant much for the localities where the German Methodists 
have located and formed colonies or settlements; also has meant much for 
the mother church. The church from the beginning has insisted on genuine 
conversion, has aimed to instill a devotion and loyalty for the church and 
her teaching. These citizens have taken an active interest in the welfare 
of the community, educated their children, taken a pride in their family 
life. They have been thrifty, sober, and energetic. While the average 
individual church, on account of limitations has not been strong, most of 
the appointments are self-supporting.

   The beginnings in Nebraska were small indeed, as the Germans were few 
and scattered. The first missionary work was done from 1855 to 1857, Omaha 
and Nebraska City being starting points. From these centers the 
missionaries went westward preaching in private homes, mainly sod-houses; 
and under trees. Here and there small groups were gathered, being the 
nucleus out of which the congregations grew. Because of land being cheap, 
much of it $5.00 an acre and less, friends and relatives in the East and 
in the Fatherland, were urged and frequently assisted to come to these 
wide and fertile prairies to make their homes and seek their fortunes. So 
numerous settlements, especially in eastern Nebraska, were built up, the 
center of the social and religious life being the church. Our chief 
success has been in the country communities. Much attention has been given 
to Sunday school work and instructing the children in religious doctrine. 
Epworth Leagues are in almost every charge.

   Special features of German Methodism of former days were the annual 
camp-meetings. They were seasons of great awakening. They would last from 
five to eight days, were held out in the groves or under tents, people 
coming in lumber wagons for one hundred miles. Successful meeting places 
were Clatonia, Cremer, Osceola, and Sterling.

   Our people are liberal in their support of the church and all her 
benevolent institutions, of which the following statistics give evidence. 
These figures will bear comparison with those which show what the Nebraska 
Conference of the English-speaking Methodists in the same territory are 
doing.

   We gave for foreign missions per capita, $1.26; the Nebraska 
Conference, 44 cents; Home Missions, 72 cents; the Nebraska Conference, 29 
cents; Women's Foreign Mission Society, 54 cents; the Nebraska Conference, 
30 cents; district and city missions, 59 cents; the

[image caption: REV. CHARLES HARMS]

Nebraska Conference, 15 cents. For all benevolences we gave $10, the 
Nebraska Conference, $3.63; for ministerial support we gave $9.13, the 
Nebraska Conference $5.93.

   Among the names of the earliest missionaries in the state we find Rev. 
C. F. Langer, Jacob May, John Hanson, Sr., Geo. Schotz, J. P. Miller, H. 
Muelenbrock, August Micke, Chas. Heidel, Win. Fiegenbaum, C. Lanenstein, 
H. M. Menger, C. Pothast, J. G. Kost, J. Tanner.

   J. Tanner was a pioneer preacher and presiding elder, who left the 
impress of his personality and enthusiasm on the work in Nebraska and who 
was in unbroken active service fifty years. He is in the superannuated 
relation and now lives in Kansas City. Other men who have been prominent 
in the work of

Page 782

the state are Rev. C. Harms, Hy. Tiegenbaum, J. G. Leist, H. Burns and 
others.

   At times we have had two districts. At present we have one, the Lincoln 
district, Rev. Mather Herrmann being the district superintendent. There 
are thirty-seven preaching places, the ministers living in parsonages -- 
the properties of the church. The work in Nebraska is a part of the West 
German Conference. Lincoln, Clatonia, Papilion, and Eustis have 
entertained the annual confer-

[image caption: REV. HENRY FIEGENBAUM]

ence. The work is being carried on in both languages in most of the 
churches of the district.

   One of the princely men of German Methodism in Nebraska, who has been a 
preacher of righteousness in unbroken service for fifty years is Rev. 
Chas. Harms. He was born in Red Bud, Illinois, in 1845. Besides attending 
the public schools near Quincy, Illinois, he attended Central Wesleyan 
College at Warrenton, Missouri, one of the church schools of his church. 
Besides pastorals in Illinois, Kansas, and Kansas City and St. Joseph, 
Missouri, his main work has been in this state, where be has been pastor 
and presiding elder. He served as secretary of his conference for eleven 
years; was delegate to the General Conference in 1896. Having a knowledge 
of medicine aided him in his work in those days when physicians were few. 
He served the Lincoln church in three different pastorates, where now he 
has six daughters who are either teachers or attending school or doing 
office work, all active in the church he formerly so ably served. Two sons 
are physicians, one in active service as lieutenant in France. He is 
stationed at Eustis where he is serving one of the strongest churches of 
the denomination.

   Rev. Henry Fiegenbaum, for many years one of the leading and 
outstanding figures in the German work in the West, was born October 16, 
1821, in Ladbergen, Westfalen, Germany. He came to America with his 
parents in 1834. In St. Louis he soon came in contact with the Methodists 
and under their preaching was converted and joined the church, He married 
a Miss Kastenbund and for fifty years they lived happily together. in 1845 
he entered the ministry and was in active service for over forty-one 
years, twenty of which he was a presiding elder, preaching in Illinois, 
Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. He was a born leader, a powerful 
preacher in both English and German. He had but few school advantages, but 
was a wide reader and a good observer. Two brothers were also ministers. 
For fifteen years he was in the superannuated relation, yet in that time 
he preached over five hundred sermons. He died January 13, 1905, in St. 
Joseph, Missouri.


METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AMONG THE SWEDISH PEOPLE OF NEBRASKA
BY REV. GUSTAV ERICKSON

   The first Swedish settlers came to America as early as 1638, and 
settled in what is now the state of Delaware. They established churches 
and maintained their language for more than one hundred years. The King of 
Sweden, who had planned and also sustained this colony, sent the churches 
the ministers, who cared for the religious welfare of the col-

Page 783

ony. In the course of time they lost their identity and were amalgamated 
with other peoples, yet we find some persons today who profess to be 
descendants from families in this early Swedish colony. Some individuals 
have come from Sweden to America now and then ever since that early date; 
but any real emigration did not begin until 1845. The reasons for 
emigration were mainly two: first the prosecution by the clergy of the 
state church of Sweden against dissenters, and second, the reports from 
those who had already come to the United States, that this was a "land of 
promise" for all oppressed people. Here liberty was granted everybody to 
worship God according to the dictations of his own conscience, and the 
prospects for the poor people were good to earn a living; and even to 
become owners of land for farming. Hence, the people emigrated whether 
they belonged to the prosecuted sects or not.

   No true student of history would consciously leave out of account any 
force or movement which has given direction and quality to the inner and 
most important impulses and latent moods of a part of that great mulitude 
of which this nation is composed, and no impartial student would hesitate 
to give due credit to such a movement of influence regardless of its 
extensiveness and numbers. The strength of any movement should not be 
measured by the number of followers, but by the motives, ideals, and the 
passions that make them followers.

   Even before the emigration of 1845, Swedish sailors visited New York by 
the thousands every year, and the missionary society of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church had planned to do something for their spiritual welfare. 
The church had at this time among its preachers a man who had come from 
Sweden in 1821, who was converted in 1829 and ordained in 1835. His name 
was Olaf Gustav Hedstrom, and he was appointed for the Swedish mission to 
sailors and emigrants in New York harbor in 1845, and thus became the 
founder of Swedish Methodism. An old ship was purchaesd and fitted for a 
church and named "The Bethel-Ship," In this floating temple Hedstrom 
preached for twenty-two years, and thousands were converted to God. He had 
a younger brother, who also was a preacher, a member of the Central 
Illinois Conference, and under his leadership, as well as that of his 
brother in New York, Methodist churches among the Swedish people did soon 
spring into existence in Knox, Henry, and Mercer counties, Illinois, and 
from there the missionary work has extended through Iowa to Nebraska and 
further west.

   Between 1868 and 1875 the Swedish settlers poured into Nebraska. 
According to the

[image caption: REV. GUSTAV ERICKSON]

custom further east, they tried to form themselves in settlements or 
colonies, so as to be able to organize churches and have Swedish 
preachers. Such settlements were made near where the following towns are 
now located: Sutton, Oakland, Genoa, Stromsburg, Ong, Shickley, Axtell, 
Haldrege, Davey, Concord, and many other places. Many settled also in the 
larger cities, as Omaha and Lincoln, where they found work in the trades 
they had learnt, and where many Swedes had gained prominence in business 
and professional circles.

   Among these settlers were many Methodists from Illinois, Iowa, and 
further east, and some came direct from Sweden. Some of the Swedish 
Methodist preachers from the East made visits to Nebraska and preached now 
and then, and a presiding elder from

Page 784

Iowa, John Linn, organized some churches. He presented the need for 
missionary work among our people in the new country at the Central 
Illinois Conference, held at Moline, Illinois, in 1875, and Bishop E. R. 
Ames appointed the Rev. J. Burstrom for the Swedish work in Nebraska. He 
was given the whole state as his field of labor, and he had to move his 
family nearly five hundred miles from Vic-

[image caption: REV. OSCAR J. SWAN]

toria, Illinois, his former charge. He made his home in Sutton, Nebraska, 
but visited other settlements and preached the Gospel. He labored 
faithfully one year and was reappointed for his second year, but his 
health failed and in January, 1877, he was called to the eternal rest. He 
was a zealous and faithful man and his death was a great loss to the new 
mission. The work was carried on the remaining part of the conference year 
by a local preacher, who had come from Sweden in company with a number of 
emigrants.

   The first Swedish conference of the Methodist Episcopal church was 
organized in 1877 and was called the Northwest Swedish Conference. At its 
first session, held in Galesburg, Illinois, Bishop Jesse T. Peck 
presiding, two preachers were sent to Nebraska. Rev. Olin Swanson was 
appointed for West Hill, near Genoa and Oakland, and Rev. Oscar J. Swan 
was sent to Sutton circuit, which included Stromsburg. In 1878 another man 
was added to the list, namely Rev. John Bendix, who was appointed to 
Oakland circuit. Rev. Olin Swanson was then sent to Stromsburg and West 
Hill and 0. J. Swan to Sutton and Fillmore counties. The work in Sutton 
has since been moved to Saronville, where we find today a strong Swedish 
Methodist church.

   Forty-three years have now passed since the missionary work among the 
Swedish people of Nebraska was begun by the Methodist church, and today 
(1919) there are a number of strong churches in our state. In 1860 there 
were only seventy Swedes in Nebraska, born in Sweden, in 1870 there were 2,
352, in 1880 there were 10,164, and in 1890 the numbers had increased to 
28,364.

   The Methodist church has not less than six conferences organized among 
the Swedish speaking people in the United States. The Western Swedish 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church comprises Nebraska and also 
Iowa and Kansas. It was organized in Omaha in 1894, with Bishop Thomas 
Bowman as the presiding officer. Within the state of Nebraska there are at 
the time when this is written (1919) seventeen Swedish Methodist churches 
and fifteen parsonages representing together in value a sum of nearly $100,
000. These churches are located in the following places and served by the 
following pastors: Gustav Erickson, district superintendent; Axtell, Otto 
Chellberg; Concord, C. H. Lind; Davey, to be supplied; Genoa, O. J. 
Lundberg; Holdrege, A. W. Carlson; Keene, A. W. Lundeen; Lincoln and 
Havelock, John A. Carlson; Looking Glass, Gustav Malmquist; Oakland, 
Leonard Stromberg; Omaha, K. S. Norberg; Ong, Emil Malm-

Page 785

strom; St. Paul, O. W. Strombom; Saronville, Peter Munson; Shickley, Emil 
Malmstrom; Stromburg and Swede Plains, K. A. Stromberg; West Hill, O. J. 
Lundberg.

   In all the Swedish Methodist churches in the state the English language 
is used in the Sunday schools and also in the services held for the young 
people, and in most of the churches at least half of the preaching 
services are conducted in the language of our country. We are using 
Swedish only for the sake of "helping the older people who cannot fully 
understand English and also for the sake of being able to meet the 
immigrant from Sweden with the Gospel in the language he can understand. 
The Swedish Methodist people in Nebraska are fast being Americanized and 
are everywhere proving themselves to be loyal and patriotic citizens of 
the United States.


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF NEBRASKA
BY REV. R. A. WHITE

   The credit for the beginning of the work of the Lutheran church in 
Nebraska belongs to the Allegheny Synod -- one of the six synods in 
Pennsylvania, in connection with the General Synod. The Pittsburgh Synod 
of the same state became quite a home mission body, aiding, between 1845 
and 1867, no less than one hundred and twenty-three congregations. About 
the year 1857, the desirability of establishing mission work in the new 
territory of Nebraska had been called to the attention of the Pittsburgh 
Synod. But this body, having on hand all the missionary work it could 
successfully care for, requested the neighboring Allegheny Synod to take 
up the Nebraska work.


PIONEERS OF NEBRASKA WORK

   Accordingly, the Allegheny Synod, in its annual convention in October, 
1857, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, took the following action:

   Resolved, That the Allegheny Synod establish a mission in Omaha City, 
Nebraska territory.

   Resolved, That a committee of one be appointed to carry this into 
effect as soon as possible.

   Resolved, That the missionary be appointed by all the officers of this 
society, and the appropriation not to exceed $500.

   According to this action, on October 15, 1858, Rev. H. W. Kuhns was 
extended a call by the Allegheny Synod, as its missionary in Omaha. On 
November 2, 1858, Dr. Kuhns left his home in Pennsylvania, and started to 
his work in the great West. He

[image caption: REV. PETER MUNSON]

traveled by rail as far as railroads extended at that early day, and came 
up the Missouri river in a steamboat, arriving at Omaha, November 19th. He 
was the first Lutheran minister to locate in Nebraska, and likely the 
first to set foot on its soil. Omaha at that time was a village of about 
two hundred people. At once he began to look for Lutherans for a nucleus 
for a congregation. On Sunday, November 28, in the afternoon, he preached 
in the Methodist church to a fair congregation he had gathered. This was 
his first sermon in his first charge.

Page 786

   The next Sunday, December 5th, Dr. Kuhns again preached in the 
Methodist church, and organized a congregation with the name of "Immanuel 
Evangelical Lutheran Church," with nine members. The church council 
consisted of Daniel Redman, Uriah Bruner, Augustus Kountze, and Dr. 
Augustus Roeder. At the same meeting two persons were confirmed, and on 
the next Sunday two more were received. In 1860 two lots on Douglas street 
were purchased, on which a parsonage was built in 1861, and a church was 
dedicated on February 16, 1862. The congregation grew so rapidly that it 
assumed self-support in 1864.

   As Dr. Kuhns's commission was to Omaha and adjacent parts, his labors 
extended out over the territory of Nebraska, and into parts of Dakota, 
Wyoming, and Colorado territories. He preached in schoolhouses, town 
halls, private homes, wherever opportunity offered, traveling over the 
vast prairies, when he had to go by compass in the absence of roads, and 
fording streams where there were no bridges. When he left Omaha in 1871, 
there were few communities in the state that he had not visited.

   The following incident, told by himself, will illustrate the kind of 
work he often did: A letter from Pennsylvania informed him that the Stough 
boys were in Nebraska, and that he was to find them. Their address was 
Ponca. Not knowing where Ponca was he learned from the postmaster that it 
was in the northeast part of the territory among the Indians. One morning 
he started out on his pony to find Ponca. The first evening, he arrived at 
Tekamah, the second, at Dakota City, and the third day he started out over 
the pathless prairies to find Ponca. After wandering around until night 
came on, he lariated his pony on the grass, made a pillow of his saddle, 
and slept until morning. Looking around, he saw a stake on which was 
written "Broadway," on another "Trinity Square"... and on others names of 
streets, etc. He had actually staid over night in the town, which had 
arrived a little in advance of the houses. Down near the creek in the edge 
of the woods, were several log cabins, where he found the Stough boys. In 
one of these cabins the first Lutheran church of Ponca was organized.

   With many experiences of which the above is a sample, Dr. Kuhns 
prosecuted his work. At one time he had as many as twenty-five 
congregations and preaching stations under his care. The following are 
some of the places where he organized congregations, or did the pioneer 
work where churches were organized: Tekamah, West Point, Fontenelle, 
Dakota City, Ponca, Lincoln, Nebraska City, Grand Island, North Platte, 
and Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. The second church he built was at 
Dakota City, which is still standing. When he closed his work at Omaha, he 
had a membership of 250, which has become the Kountze Memorial Church with 
more than 2,400 confirmed members.

   Up to 1864 Dr. Kuhns had no one to assist in his ever increasing 
Nebraska work. That year a second pastor in the person of Rev. J. F. 
Kuhlman was sent out by the Allegheny Synod. He made a preliminary trip in 
June, preached in Immanuel Church, Omaha, went by stage to Fremont, and 
footed it to Fontenelle, nine miles distant, carrying his gripsack and 
wading through the Elkhorn river. Here he was entertained and helped in 
his work by the Hon. Henry Sprick, who became noted in both church and 
state. He visited two German settlements near Fontenelle, and went on 
horseback to West Point, where he found the town deserted with the 
exception of one shack and the remains of a sawmill. Returning to Omaha, 
he was taken by Dr. Kuhns to Dakota City in a buggy. This trip proved 
interesting and novel to Mr. Kuhlman, as the road led through the Indian 
reservation.

   After returning to Pennsylvania, Rev. J. F. Kuhlman concluded to accept 
the Allegheny Synod's appointment to Nebraska. He left his eastern home 
September 24, 1864, traveled from Pittsburgh on the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers to Hannibal, Missouri, thence to St. Joseph on the Hannibal and St.

Page 787

Joe Railroad, thence to Omaha by steamer on the Missouri river, arriving 
the last of October.

   At once he took charge at Fontenelle, perfecting the organization there 
and building a church. With great energy he extended his work to other 
parts. He organized congregations at Logan Creek, Tekamah, Salem in Dakota 
county, West Point, and two congregations in York county, which developed 
into the flourishing charge of Benedict. He perfected an organization in 
North Platte and did pioneer work in Columbus and other points where 
churches were afterward developed. Being a native German, but educated in 
America, he was equally at home in both languages. Hence the congregations 
he formed were partly English and partly German.

   In December 1864, Dr. S. Aughey, commissioned by the Allegheny Synod, 
came to Nebraska and located at Dakota City. He served this charge until 
1871. During this time he brought the work to self-support, developed a 
good congregation, and built the church at Ponca, twenty miles away. He 
resigned this charge to accept a place in the State University, as teacher 
of natural sciences. While Dr. Aughey was filling his place in the 
university at Lincoln, he went out on Sundays to the Pierce schoolhouse, 
and preached. This work resulted in the formation of the Lutheran church 
at Waverly, twelve miles northeast of the city.

   While Dr. Aughey did very much for his church in the West, and remained 
a member of it until his death, his natural field was in the university 
and college. He distinguished himself in the department of science. He was 
a born naturalist. When the state was mostly a vast prairie, he wrote a 
communication to the New York Tribune, in which be said that Nebraska 
would eventually become a part of the great corn-belt of the United 
States. He based this prediction on the fact that he had analyzed the soil 
and found it rich in corn-producing elements. All it needed was moisture, 
and it seemed to have plenty of that. An agricultural paper of the East 
ridiculed the idea that a corn-belt could ever exist away out in that 
"American desert." Dr. Aughey saw his prophecy abundantly fulfilled. At an 
early day he made geological surveys for the government in this and 
surrounding states.

   As the work in this new country was continually expanding, new men were 
necessary. In 1867 the Allegheny Synod sent out the Rev. Eli Huber to 
Nebraska City. He established a congregation and built a church in the 
city. In addition he developed two other points in the country. He 
supplemented his meager salary by teaching school, and was elected and 
served for a time as city superintendent of the schools of Nebraska City. 
After ten years of strenuous service, he accepted a call to the Messiah 
Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, leaving a strong, self-supporting charge. 
He served this congregation sixteen years. He afterward served as director 
of the General Synod Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

   In 1867 the Allegheny Synod sent out Rev. J. G. Groenmiller. He was 
commissioned to work at a point in Atchison county, Missouri. This county, 
being in the northwest corner of Missouri, was contiguous to Nebraska, and 
the field had been canvassed by Dr. H. W. Kuhns and Rev. J. F. Kuhlman. 
Dr. Groenmiller, finding this point unpromising, transferred his 
activities to Rockport, the county seat, and organized a congregation in 
1868, and built a church in 1869. He extended his work on to the Nebraska 
side of the Missouri river, and organized several congregations in 
Richardson county. For a while he made his headquarters at Falls City. 
Afterward he located at Hanover, Kansas, near the state line. Here, from a 
center, he extended his operations in various directions, and established 
churches at Greenleaf, Kansas, Lanham, and State Line. Though doing much 
work in English, most of it was in German, and resulted in establishing 
strong German congregations. He was nevertheless very much interested in 
English work, and remained a member of the English Synod of Nebraska after 
the German Synod was formed.

   These five men, Rev. H. W. Kuhns, D.D., Rev. J. F. Kuhlman, Rev. Dr. 
Aughey, Rev.

Page 788

Eli Huber, D.D., and Rev. J. G. Groenmiller, D.D., have very properly been 
regarded as the pioneers of the Nebraska Synod. They deserve to be 
remembered by those who are following in the trail they made. They did 
their work nobly in the face of difficulties the present generation know 
very little about.

   About the year 1870 a great change took place in home mission work. Up 
to this time each synod had done its own work of this kind independently, 
and there had been no uniform plan or concerted action among the synods of 
the General Synod. The General Synod, in 1869, at Washington, D. C., 
created a Home Mission Board, to unify the home mission work, and have 
general oversight of it. Each district synod transferred its missions and 
home mission money to this board. This brought all the missions of 
Nebraska under the supervision of the General Board, and the Allegheny 
Synod that had done so much work for Nebraska, from this time on did its 
work through the same agency.


ORGANIZATION AND PROGRESS OF THE NEBRASKA SYNOD

   About this time, the need of an organization on the Nebraska field was 
recognized. April 27, 1871, in response to a call for a convention to 
consider the matter of organizing a synod in Nebraska, the following 
General Synod Lutheran ministers met in Omaha: Rev. J. F. Kuhlman and Rev. 
Dr. S. Aughey, Dakota City; Rev. G. A. R. Buetow, Fontenelle; Rev. G. H. 
N. Peters and Rev. Ira C. Billman, Omaha.

   Rev. J. F. Kuhlman was elected president and Ira C. Billman, secretary. 
After due deliberation the following action was unanimously taken:

   Resolved, That the ministers of the Evangelical Lutheran church of the 
General Synod, at once secure dismissal from the synod to which they 
respectively belong, for the purpose of organizing a synod in the bounds 
of their own territory.

   A meeting was appointed for September and a committee was appointed to 
draft a constitution.

   Accordingly, the same ministers, with the addition of Rev. J. G. 
Groenmiller and three lay delgates [sic], met in Omaha, September 1, 1871, 
and proceeded to organize the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Nebraska. Rev. 
J. F. Kuhlman was chosen president, Ira C. Billman, secretary, and John B. 
Detwiler, treasurer. Rev. Ira C. Billman presented the constitution of the 
Wittenberg Synod (Ohio), which, with a few changes was adopted. Rev. Eli 
Huber presented his letter of dismission, and was received as the first 
accession to the membership. Rev. A. G. R. Buetow was ordained at this 
convention. Of the original six that organized this synod, only one is 
living, Rev. J. F. Kuhlman, the first president. He resides at Pawnee City.

   The next convention was to have met at Dakota City in September, 1872. 
but as there was not a quorum, only two clerical members being present, 
the synod did not convene. There were four visiting ministers present: 
Rev. J. W. Goodlin, secretary of the Board of Home Missions; Rev. A. A. 
Trimper, agent of Carthage College, Carthage Illinois; Revs. Sparr and 
Reese from Iowa.

   The second convention met in Fontenelle, Washington county, June 11, 
1874, and it has met annually ever since.

   The history. of the Nebraska Synod may be divided into two periods -- 
the first extending to the year of 1891, during which time the German and 
English elements worked together; the second, extending to the present, 
during which time the English and German elements worked in separate 
synods.


PERIOD FIRST

   The new synod began to grow at once. Every convention would report an 
increase of ministers, churches, and members. By 1880 the clerical members 
had grown to twenty-four, churches to thirty, besides twenty preaching 
stations, and a communicant membership of more than 1,300. In another 
year, 1881, the number of ministers was twenty-seven, congregations thirty-
five, and communicant members 1784. By the year 1890, the clerical roll 
had grown to seventy-eight, churches to eighty-seven, preaching stations 
to thirty-eight, and

Page 789

a communicant membership of more than 4,000.

   The synod was about half German and half English. Some of the German 
ministers understood very little English, and most of the English 
ministers did not understand German. Some were equally efficient in both. 
Until 1891 both elements worked together in both languages. Each language 
had equal rights on the floor of the synod. There was an English secretary 
and a German secretary, so the procedings were recorded in both languages. 
The minutes were published partly in English copies for English 
congregations, and partly in German copies for German congregations. All 
reports had to be presented in both languages, and discussions and 
speeches could be in either language at the will of the speaker. Sermons 
were preached in the evening services, generally in both languages.

   The president needed at least three distinct qualifications -- he must 
have a good command of English, a good command of German, and he must be a 
good parliamentarian. As the term of office was limited it was not always 
easy to find a man for the place with all necessary qualities.

   While the synod was small this plan worked satisfactorily, But when it 
grew to be a

[image caption: SOD CHURCH OF NEBRASKA SYNOD]

large body, it became cumbersome, and change was desirable. In 1888 the 
German conference passed an action requesting the synod to grant German 
ministers the privilege of withdrawing from the synod and organizing a 
synod of their own to be in connection with the General Synod -- a 
peaceable separation. The English ministers were not favorable to a 
language division, but recognizing the fact that the synod was growing to 
be such a large body, that the question of entertainment was becoming 
difficult, they favored a division on territorial lines. Their plan was to 
divide into the eastern and western Nebraska Synods -- the dividing line 
to be the first guide meridian west. After a long discussion, at the 
convention at Rising City, in 1888, the Germans withdrew their request, 
and then the English element did not press their plan, so the matter was 
dropped for a time.

   However, the Germans insisted later on organizing a German synod, and 
the synod, in its annual convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1890, 
requested the German ministers to present the matter at the next session 
of the synod, and in case a majority thought it advisable to organize a 
German Synod, the Nebraska Synod would not oppose it. In accordance with 
this action, the German ministers, who desired to go into a German Synod, 
were

Page 790

granted letters of dismission. In 1891 the German Synod was organized, and 
since then the Nebraska Synod has been purely an English body.


PERIOD SECOND

   The territorial extent of the Nebraska Synod at first was beyond the 
bounds of the state, having congregations in Missouri, Kansas, South 
Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The congregations in Missouri, 
Kansas, and South Dakota were all German and went into the German Synod. 
In the same year, 1891, the Rocky Mountain Synod was organized, and the 
congregations in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico went into it. Since 
then the Nebraska Synod has been confined within the limits of the state.

   The organization of these synods reduced the membership of the Nebraska 
Synod down to near the two thousand mark. Nevertheless she has made a 
large growth. Many of her first churches have become large and 
flourishing. Old, primitive buildings have passed away, and new modern 
churches have taken their places. Among these we may mention West Point, 
Ponca, Lincoln, Hardy, Davenport, and Benedict. Some churches have been 
remodeled and enlarged and made more modern. Among these are Beatrice, 
Grand Island, and Nebraska City.

[image caption: NEBRASKA SYNOD IN SESSION]

   The most phenominal growth of any of the churches of the synod has been 
the Kountze Memorial of Omaha. This church was originally the Immanuel 
Church on Douglas street, built by Dr. Kuhns. It changed its location to 
Sixteenth and Harney streets in 1883, and as Augustus Kountze made a large 
donation toward the new church, the name was changed to Kountze Memorial. 
As business blocks had built up all around it, another change of location 
became necessary. During the pastorate of the Rev. J. E. Hummon, a new 
location was secured on Twenty-sixth and Farnam streets, and the present 
large, commodious, and churchly building was erected and dedicated in 
1904. Since then it has grown in membership until now it has, according to 
last report, 1,400 regular communicant members, and a total confirmed 
membership of 2,494. It has enrolled in Sunday school 760 scholars, and 
gave for benevolent purposes last year $8,939. This church has had a large 
growth under the pastorate of Dr. 0. D. Baltzly and his assistants, Revs. 
C. Franklin Koch and A. B. Shrader. Besides this large congregation there 
are six other churches in Omaha.

   At this writing, the congregation at North Platte is erecting a new 
church building that is to cost $60,000. They contemplate having

Page 791

it finished in time for the forty-sixth annual convention of the Nebraska 
Synod in October, 1919.

   The Nebraska Synod is much larger than when the German and Rocky 
Mountain congregations were separated from it. Today it has a membership 
of fifty-four ministers, fifty-six congregations, 8,969 confirmed members, 
and fifty-three Sunday schools with an enrollment of 6,306 scholars. Last 
year her total benevolences amounted to $26,060.

   The Nebraska Synod, with the two others that grew out of it, has 166 
ministers, 158 congregations and 21,957 confirmed members. They have 
church property valued at $1,410,940. At the last report they gave for 
benevolences $52,662.


AGENCIES BY WHICH THE CHURCHES HAVE BEEN GATHERED

   These have been various. Sometimes pastors have visited places outside 
of their own pastorates, and preached with the result of the formation of 
new congregations. The Synod at times has employed synodical missionaries. 
In the earlier history of the Synod, Rev. J. F. Kuhlman and Rev. J. C. 
Brodfuhrer were thus engaged, and did much good work. Rev. Conrad Huber 
served as traveling secretary, under the direction of a traveling 
secretary committee, appointed by the Synod, from 1887 to 1893. He did 
very much in developing new congregations, helping pastors, and 
strengthening weak places. At the present time Rev. W. T. Kahse is filling 
the place of synodical missionary under the direction of the home mission 
and church extension committee. Several new congregations owe their 
existence to his work.

   Almost identical with the history of the Synod has been the work of the 
Board of Home Missions, with headquarters at Baltimore, and the Board of 
Church Extension with headquarters at York, Pennsylvania. Most of the 
churches in Nebraska have been helped by these boards. Some owe their 
existence to them. When it is desirable to plant a church in any place, 
the Board of Home Missions helps to support the missionary, and the Board 
of Church Extension helps in building the church.

   The Board of Home Missions for many years had a western secretary to 
have general oversight of the missions on the western field. Dr. S. B. 
Barnitz, with headquarters at Des Moines, Iowa, filled this place from 
1881 to 1902, the time of his death. Nebraska was benefited very much by 
the work of this unusually talented man. The church was greatly extended 
by his energy. On the Pacific coast, the General Synod did not have a 
church until 1886. Now we have the strong growing California Synod. Hardly 
a church in the West that did not feel the influence of Dr. Barnitz, and 
especially the missions.

   Dr. L. P. Ludden, with headquarters at Lincoln, became his successor 
and served until his death, January 7, 1915. Dr. Ludden was a man of 
unusual executive ability. He threw all his energy into the home mission 
work. Wherever he went his presence was an inspiration and help. His 
advice and suggestions were always practical. Nebraska received its full 
measure of benefit from his work. Many of the western missions were given 
an additional impulse by his strong words.

   The Board of Church Extension likewise had its representatives on the 
western field. The first of these was Dr. J. N. Lenker, who had been 
successful in building up a home mission church in Grand Island. He served 
the board from 1886 to 1894. He was succeeded by Dr. H. L. Yarger, who 
served in this capacity until the two boards, home missions and church 
extension, were consolidated into one, with a home mission department and 
a church extension department, in 1915. He has since been at the head of 
the home mission department. Both these men did good service in helping 
new and weak congregations to get church buildings of their own. Nebraska 
was helped by their work.


MIDLAND COLLEGE

   This is a school of higher education, belonging to the Lutheran church, 
located at Atchison, Kansas. It was established by the board of education 
of the General Synod in

Page 792

1887. It is an accredited institution of learning, having a beautiful 
location, good brick buildings, full faculty, adequate equipment, 
coeducational, classical, literary, and select courses. While this college 
is not in the territory of Nebraska, yet the Nebraska Synod has been 
active in its maintenance. It has been liberally aided by the gifts of the 
Nebraska congregations, and a large part of its student body has come from 
the same.

   The Western Theological Seminary has existed with the college since its 
establishment in 1895. For a long time the two institutions occupied the 
same building. In the course of time the commodious home of ex-Senator J. 
J. Ingalls, adjoining the campus, was purchased. Since then the Western 
Seminary has occupied that building. Quite a large proportion of the 
ministers in the western field have received their training, in whole or 
in part, at Midland College and the Western Theological Seminary. The two 
are working together in harmony, in the great cause of Christian 
education. They are preparing many young persons, not alone for the 
ministry, but for other useful vocations.(1)


TABITHA HOME

   This home is located at Lincoln and is the only Lutheran institution of 
the General Synod in the state. Its purpose is to furnish a home for 
orphans and dependent aged. The founder was the Rev. Henry Heiner. In 1886 
he began a work that developed into a large institution. For eighteen 
years he was its superintendent. He maintained during this time a private 
home under a board of directors. Its support came by donations from the 
benevolently inclined, mostly in small amounts from many people. When Mr. 
Heiner left the home, November 1, 1905, he had collected and expended in 
the work $161,740.48, and had cared for 833 aged and infirm people, 1131 
orphan children, making a total of 1964 inmates; a great work in a short 
time. He left three buildings on the grounds, the largest of which 
contains ninety rooms. These great results were accomplished in the face 
of difficulties that would have baffled many other men.

   In November, 1905, the institution was turned over to a new board of 
which Rev. S. Z. Batten was president, and soon after it went into the 
hands of another board with Rev. C. Rollin Sherck as president. Through 
the efforts of President Scherck, and with the consent of the original 
founder, it was taken over by a board of directors, with representatives 
from the Nebraska Synod, the German Nebraska Synod, the Kansas Synod, and 
the Wartburg Synod of Illinois, November 20, 1906. The next year, the 
General Synod, in its convention at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, adopted it as 
one of its charitable institutions. Since then it has been maintained by 
the Lutheran church, and is doing a great work in caring for helpless 
orphans and dependent aged people. Rev. E. Walter is the superintendent.

   The Nebraska Synod has taken a large part in the support of this home. 
Being located upon the territory of the Nebraska Synod, and the benefits 
coming largely to this state, the general feeling is that they should take 
an active part in its maintenance.


THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

   The Nebraska Synod is now a part of the United Lutheran Church in 
America. This body was formed by the union of three general bodies of the 
Lutheran church-the General Synod, the General Council, and the United 
Synod of the South. The organization of this larger body was brought to 
completion in New York City, November 14, 1918. The three uniting bodies 
will retain their organizations until property interests and other matters 
can be legally adjusted, and then they will go out of existence, and the 
United Lutheran church will be the general body of all. This union brings 
into one organization nearly 800,000 confirmed Lutherans, and more than a 
million baptized members.


LUTHERAN LOYALTY

   The Lutherans of Nebraska, and particularly those of the Nebraska 
Synod, were not 

(1. Since the above was written, the college and seminary have removed to 
Fremont, Nebraska.)

Page 793

lacking in patriotic activities during the conflict now happily ended. She 
has contributed thousands of her dollars to all war finances -- liberty 
bonds, war savings stamps, Red Cross, and Y.M.C.A. She has been liberal in 
the help of those made destitute on account of the war. Many of her sons 
went to the front, and many "paid the last full measure of devotion." The 
Lutheran church boasts of having had a larger number of boys in the 
service, in proportion to the size of her membership, than any other 
religious denomination.

   The national Lutheran commission for soldiers' and sailors' welfare, in 
which all synods and all nationalities of the church took a part, was 
organized. This organization was asked for $750,000 to be applied to the 
benefit of the boys in the service. The Lutherans in this country 
responded with more than $1,300,000. The churches in Nebraska were asked 
for $18,000. They responded with $29,883.84.

   The General Synod branch of the Lutheran church is by no means the 
largest part of the denomination. The Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians have 
their synods. The Missouri Synod, mostly German, is much the largest body. 
The joint Synod of Ohio and the German Iowa Synod have churches in 
Nebraska.

   The statistics of the Lutheran church in Nebraska, including all 
languages and all synods are, 476 ministers, 579 congregations, 64,221 
members, 2 theological seminaries, 1 college, 6 academies, 4 orphanages, 2 
homes for the aged, 1 deaconess home, 3 hospitals, and 1 home finding 
society.


METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
BY DAVID MARQUETTE, D.D.

   The 3d of June, 1854, is the date of the first official act by which-
the Methodist Episcopal church recognized and provided for the religious 
needs of the people of Nebraska; but as early as April 21, 1850, Rev. 
Harrison Pesson, who is still living at the advanced age of eighty-nine, 
and is now a superannuated member of the Nebraska conference, says that 
when passing through Nebraska with a colony of emigrants on their way to 
the Pacific coast, they camped over the Sabbath on the site where Omaha 
now stands, and he preached from Isa. 35:1.

   Dr. H. T. Davis in his book, Solitary Places Made Glad, says that a 
Methodist preacher by the name of Wm. Simpson preached on the site of 
Omaha as early as 1851.

   Mrs. John W. Barnes (since deceased), in a letter to the writer says 
that her father,

[image caption: DAVID MARQUETTE, D.D.]

Rev. W. D. Gage, preached a sermon at old Fort Kearney (now Nebraska 
City), in January, 1853. But these all antedated the permanent settlement 
of the country, the hearers in each case being passing emigrants or 
transient settlers.

   The event that makes the 3d of June the proper beginning of Nebraska 
Methodism was the appointment by Bishop Ames of Rev. W. H. Goode, D.D., to 
visit the territory, ascertain by personal observation the actual 
religious needs of the people, and to report to the bishops. This was four 
days after the Kansas-Nebraska bill, providing for the or-

Page 794

ganization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, became a law, and 
twenty-three days prior to the proclamation of the President declaring the 
Indian title extinguished and the country open for white settlement. Thus 
we see that the religious wants of the people were really anticipated by 
thus early appointing one of the wisest and strongest men of the church to 
perform this preliminary work. And the fact that this same Dr. Goode, 
after making his report of the preliminary observations, was immediately 
appointed superintendent of missions in this territory was a guaranty that 
the religious needs of the settlers would be met as fast as the 
settlements in the new territory should de-

[image caption: REV. HARRISON PRESSON First Methodist Episcopal minister 
to deliver a sermon within the present boundaries of Nebraska.]

mand. The promptness of this action on the part of the church authorities, 
and the character and spirit of the man appointed as the leader of the 
hosts, and the character and spirit of those who responded to his call for 
men to preach the Gospel in these frontier settlements, reveal those 
characteristic features of Methodism which led our great historian, 
Bancroft, to say:

   The Methodists were the pioneers of religion. The breath of liberty has 
wafted their message to the masses of the people; encouraged them to 
collect white and black in church or greensward for council in divine love 
and full assurance of faith, and carried their consolations and songs and 
prayers to the farthest cabins of the wilderness.

   The two features that have made the Methodist church preëminently the 
pioneer church are the authority of the bishops to draw on the entire 
church for a suitable man to be the leader, and the spirit of self-
sacrifice and devotion on the part of the ministry to guarantee that a 
sufficient number would promptly respond to the call of this leader to 
amply supply the demands of the work.

   On his appointment as superintendent of missions in Kansas and Nebraska 
on the 15th of September, 1854, Dr. Goode at once returned to the field 
and began the difficult task of supplying the work both in Kansas and 
Nebraska, as fast as the settlement of the country demanded. This sketch 
will naturally be confined to that part of his work which relates to 
Nebraska.

   While the necessary brevity of this sketch of the nearly fifty years of 
Methodist history in Nebraska will make it impossible to even mention the 
name of many a worthy worker, it is fitting that not only the names of 
those who came during the first years should be noted, but that their 
character and the conditions under which they wrought should be portrayed 
in some detail.

   The first man on the ground and to receive a formal appointment to a 
charge was Rev. W. D. Gage, who at the Missouri Conference in October, 
1854, was assigned to Nebraska City. It was the fortune of this hardy old 
pioneer to be the first in other things connected with the history of the 
state. Father Gage was the chaplain of the first Nebraska territorial 
legislature, Gage county being named after him in recognition of the fact. 
He also organized the first Methodist church in Nebraska, in 1855, at a 
point near Rock Bluffs, in Cass county, and was the first to lift the 
standard in other places.

   The next man to respond to the call was Isaac F. Collins, who, early in 
1855, was assigned to Omaha. Little is known of this modest but faithful 
pioneer, excepting that he was a man of some culture, resigning the 
principalship of a seminary that he might take his place on the frontier 
and give two or three years of his life to the work of planting the church 
in the new soil of Nebraska, and was willing to serve, suffer, and 
sacrifice for the Master.

   In the same winter of 1855, David Hart was assigned to an unorganized 
field lying be-

Page 795

tween the Nemahas. He was an Englishman, with the sturdy virtues of his 
race, and a preacher of more than ordinary ability, and for many years he 
rendered faithful and efficient service in important charges such as 
Omaha, Plattsmouth, and Beatrice.

   The fourth in the list of brave men who came to this hard field was 
Hiram Burch, who, after preaching some six months in Kansas and Missouri, 
was received on trial at the Iowa Conference in 1855, and appointed to 
Nebraska City. Brother Burch is among the very few of that devoted band of 
workers who joined the ranks during the '50s who are still living. He is 
at present a resident of Unversity Place, Nebraska. While his work has 
been occasionally interrupted by intervals of ill health, his plain, 
practical common sense, faithful work, and sound doctrinal preaching have 
been a valuable contribution to the achievements of Methodism in the 
state. It was he who built the first Methodist church ever erected and 
dedicated in Nebraska -- in 1856, at Nebraska City. He also first 
organized the Methodist church at Plattsmouth and at a number of other 
places.

   Among the first to appear on the field in Omaha was Moses F. Shinn. He 
had for many years been a prominent member of the Iowa Conference, and in 
1852 was appointed presiding elder of the Council Bluffs district, which 
probably was to include any work that might develop on the Nebraska side, 
if not otherwise provided for. He became a resident of Omaha probably in 
1854, and was the prime mover of the first educational enterprise 
projected in Nebraska, as noted later in this chapter.

   About this time the ranks were increased by the coming of J. M. 
Chivington, a man of good ability but of erratic conduct, and J. T. 
Cannon, a rugged, earnest frontiersman, who wrought efficiently for 
several years, when he was compelled to take a superannuated relation, and 
soon after went to his reward; and J. W. Taylor, a plain, unassuming, but 
faithful and efficient worker for many years. He died recently at his home 
in St. Joseph, Missouri.

   On the 23d day of October, 1856, the three of these Nebraska workers 
who were members of conference, together with enough of the same class in 
Kansas to make the entire number fifteen, were organized by Bishop Baker 
into the Kansas and Nebraska annual conference, which held its first 
session in a tent at Lawrence, Kansas. There were reported to this 
conference from the Nebraska portion one district, six organized charges, 
and 297 full members and probationers.

[image caption: REV. MOSES FRANKLIN SHINN]

   In 1857 three additional names are added to the list of workers, J. A. 
Wilson, H. A. Copeland, and D. H. May. Of the first two little is known, 
but the third was permitted to spend many useful years in laying the 
foundations of the church in Nebraska.

   In 1858 the little band was doubled in number by the accession of nine 
to the ranks. Three of these, Philo Gorton, J. R. Minard, and A. J. 
Dorsey, rendered a few years of faithful service and dropped out of the 
ranks. W. M. Smith, who was a preacher of more than ordinary ability, 
served as pastor of Omaha and Nebraska City, and was afterward presiding 
elder of the Omaha district, and then removed to Colorado. Jerome Spill-

Page 796

man was a great revivalist. Z. B. Turman, a hardy pioneer, gladly 
maintained his place on the frontier, serving faithfully on some of the 
hardest circuits. Martin Pritchard was permitted to put in nearly twenty 
years of efficient service both as pastor and presiding elder, was elected 
reserve delegate to the General Conference, and for four years occupied 
the responsible place of member of the general book committee, which has 
the oversight

[image caption: H. T. DAVIS, D.D.]

of the vast publishing interests of the church. Jacob Adriance, in 
addition to many years of valuable work in Nebraska, went in 1859 as a 
missionary to Colorado, where he was the first to plant Methodism in the 
city of Denver. After a few years he returned to Nebraska, where, as an 
honored superannuated member of the North Nebraska Conference, he now 
resides at Fremont, Nebraska, and with his devoted wife he is spending a 
happy old age, and waiting with hope for the summons of the Master they 
have loved and served so long. And last but not least is the honored name 
of H. T. Davis, D.D., who was permitted to give a longer period of active 
service to the church in Nebraska than any one else, having at the time of 
his superannuation in 1901 been forty-three consecutive years in the work. 
During that time he filled some of the most important pastorates, several 
terms as presiding elder, and three times he represented his conference in 
the General Conference. His good preaching and administrative ability, 
together with his saintly life and amiable traits of character, gave him 
success in all these relations, and made his service to the church of 
great value. He was the author of several books, among them Solitary 
Places Made Glad and The Way of Happiness. He died at his residence in 
Lincoln, Nebraska, September 18, 1903.

   In 1859 the working force was still further strengthened by the 
addition of T. M. Munhall, L. W. Smith, Isaac Chivington, and Jesse L. 
Fort. With the exception of Jesse L. Fort, these remained in the work in 
Nebraska but a short time. Though handicapped by ill health, Brother Fort 
gave many years of efficient work before he was finally