TLHP 43 “Our Synod is Evangelical-Lutheran"- Early Laity WELS Perspectives Part II

Image: Three generations of Franks and Kerlers in Greenfield 1889.

"I prefer America," one German Lutheran immigrant wrote. Letters of German Lutheran immigrants in 19th century America give under-analyzed perspectives of lay members and their views of church establishment and denominational selection.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Lutheran History podcast. This is the second episode where we look at and analyze the Frank Kaler letter collection. Last time we talked about the background of this primary source collection and its great value for understanding this mid 19th century transitional phase of Lutheran immigration, he asked the question of what caused the Frank killers by and large to join the Wisconsin Synod, at least those who lived in Wisconsin? It's a rather interesting question, because they think it looks at this period of church history from a perspective that is not often analyzed. And it's not really possible to analyze it. But that's what makes this wealth of information so valuable. Last episode, we talked more about the history, geography how this collection had been collected, assembled, and how a few people a few historians have looked at it and maybe gleaned some other aspects out of it. But shockingly, even the church historians, the few that did look at this did not really fully analyze or incorporate this material into the story of the history, we're looking at him in the Wisconsin Senate or the broader context at large. So last time, we talked a bit about the context of of immigration, founding synod's, and really how these immigrant families came across a totally foreign religious landscape when they came to America. It wasn't just that they had moved geographically to a whole new country, whole new land, a whole new culture, a lot of the familiar things about religion as they had experienced was totally different. So we see a lot of the challenges in the last episode and how they made that transition, we're going to continue to see that we talked about the issues of Lutheran identity as well, how they distinguish themselves from other Lutherans or how they try to define their own Lutheran beliefs. We'll look more at some of those aspects in today's episode as well. So hopefully, that served as a quick review of what we talked about last time or encouragement to listen to the previous episode, if you have not done so already. But now we'll quickly get back into the main subject matter of what can we get out of this letter collection. So as we, as I analyzed the Frank killer letters over the last couple of years, I found that there is a theme of filling religious needs. And this is selecting a pastor and usually with the pastor of the pastor's Synod wasn't so much that synods had such a large identity at this point, perhaps other than maybe a negative identity we talked about that old Lutheran identity was not a very positive one for the Frank carolers. And whether that was coming from more of a Missouri Senate or a grab house Senate, or I should say buffalo Senate perspective, they're still trying to maybe avoid that just from the reputation or their personal experiences with it. But otherwise, they're still looking for a Lutheran Synod. And we'll talk about how that plays out. So we have an example of Matilda Hakuna to Veronica and Regina caroler, a letter in 1850. So really the first or second year of being here in America. This is what Matilda noted. She said, quote, delightful activity has sprung up among the farmers recently concerning church and school. A roomy school house was built last summer and a teacher was called for three months. The past three months were at a standstill. But with the new year the school will begin again. Under the leadership of a German woman. However, only English will be used for the time being. Church services are being held in the schoolhouse every third Sunday. And you know by whom? A Swabian and Omer. So a man from home, who was hired as city pastor for half a year, his first two deliveries here in the woods met with approval. Say what you will. Swabia is the nicest land and the Swabians are the most good natured folk one can find. Yesterday, the minister spent the afternoon with us and quote so there are a lot of things we can pick out from that letter. For me, hit close to home obviously being already a Wisconsin Synod pastor from Wisconsin, this was already a pretty close subject, but she is writing from Sheboygan County which is my home county in Wisconsin. So I haven't really done a lot of digging to see exactly which congregation, she would have been in there were several older Lutheran congregations from at least the 1860s. And perhaps earlier, I think she may actually have been close to where my my home congregation was located. So perhaps there's even a personal connection there. But all that aside, there's some other interesting things beyond just the geographic proximity to where I grew up. We also see in this letter, a priority among German Lutherans for both a church and a school. And this is all within their first year of a rival. So we talked a lot last time, about all the things these immigrants have to sort out being an immigrant anywhere at any time, you have a lot of things you got to figure out and get established in a new home. But being a pioneer immigrant, on the on the frontier, more or less is kind of a double whammy. Because you have to deal with the lack of infrastructure of every kind, you have to worry about building your own homes and buildings and institutions and, and all that stuff. So the fact that they are building their own church and school, on top of everything else shows it was a major priority for them. It's also interesting that is sometimes is the historical case, and perhaps is oftentimes the over emphasized aspect in histories. At the church, the Lutheran church and school of these immigrants was not meant to be a vehicle or a vessel for simply preserving their native lands, language and culture. It's interesting that they insisted that English is the only language in that school. So the German language is not the cause for having their own church and their own school. In fact, English, at least for the school is kind of the purpose of the school, at least for the children. Something else stood out to me was the very short temporary calls and temporary calls still happen today. But it seems to be the normal case, teacher for just a third of the year pastored for half of a year. And one wonders is this just because of availability, do they not have enough money, they they wouldn't know if they would still exist as a congregation. A whole year from now. It seems based on the context from the previous letters we looked at last time, that there's probably a trial basis for these teachers and pastors. You noted how Matilda said how they liked this pastors first two sermons, but kind of implying we'll see how the rest of the sermons go throughout this the rest of this period. can also note that there's a multi parish setup, and there's a preaching rotation here, this pastor, a Suebi, and from Fabien, I guess, in German, from the city of olm. As she noted, his his background, his German geography, and his origins, this guy who's unnamed in this letter is only serving them on every third Sunday. So that implies that he's at a circuit, he's preaching at other stations. This reflects the severe shortage of trained pastors that for many decades dominated the discussions among Lutherans and both sides of the Atlantic, beginning already in the late 1830s, really mid 1830s And, and would go on for a long time, there's just a shortage of pastors, you're going to have to share pastors or be stretched thin, or maybe only have services once a month, until a more permanent pastor could be found. So we also have a letter now from Sophie Frank to Matilda, Frank 1852, two years later, and she says this, tell our dear father, who is a pastor in Germany, still that he must come here, as all Germans in the whole county are saving their children to be baptized. Count Psalms, already has to to be baptized. His mother in law was very religious, finds it terrible that the children are not baptized, and he comforts her with the prospect of a father's arrival. So of course, there are interesting things about that we can comment on to why do they need a pastor if it's such an emergency? There's definitely some tradition audio for a Christian freedom, good order issues that would be discussed. I would suspect that most even confessional Lutherans today I would say if it's necessity, you don't even have a pastor. Yet that baptism would be something you want to do is set as a household kind of an emergency thing. You don't need a pastor to make a baptism valid. But there are a lot of other considerations going on there. So you see this need for pastors. We also have a letter now from John caroler to a friend in Germany, same year 1852 You know, it's this am I last letter I wrote to you that Pastor Dulles was to be our minister. But his trial sermon, which contains so much hatefulness toward people of other beliefs cause general displeasure and he was no longer wanted. Our congregation has now joined the Senate of meal Heiser, which has sent us an excellent preacher. Caster from Magdeburg alternate. Tilly has early services on Kilburn road every two weeks. So now our church affairs are in a desirable condition. So just a pause there. Veronica caroler already had the letter we looked at last time when she noted the same thing that this pastor Dalits, which she kind of liked, honestly, as the pastor said, so many harsh things against the reformed members within their own congregation within their own community that turned people off from him. So here, her father lodge on caroler is writing a little more. Or her father I should say, John Keller is writing a little more bluntly saying, this pastor is preaching outright hatefulness towards people of other beliefs, not a question against beliefs themselves. So if that's true, that's a true situation. You can see why that caused, quote unquote general displeasure, but also very interesting note that their trial sermons today I would think most confessional Lutherans would probably frown on the idea of, of trial sermons that kind of works against the call systems that we have in place for the sake of decency in good order. But they weren't part of the Senate yet. They were trying to see first which pastor would be a good shepherd for them and then associate with it with the Senate that the pastor was associated with. Now, Pastor Dalits, had been present at one of the early meetings of the Wisconsin Senate, but I think it was in 1851. But that same year, he joined the Missouri Senate instead. So he's the Missouri Senate pastor. So John caroler, one of the heads of the households, heads of families, and in Greenfield is now with his congregation and his immediate family drawn to a slightly different direction to Senator meal Heiser, and they get pastor caster who comes up a couple times his name is Conrad caster. And, as I know, a couple of Pastor casters in the Wisconsin Synod today, I have no idea if they're descended from the sky. But it's interesting that that same name has passed has been passed on perhaps earliest comes up again. So give you a brief context and information on the first German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin were easily called the Synod of mill Heiser. And the first organizational meeting took place in late 1849 in Milwaukee. The Constitution was later adopted the next year in 1850. At Granville, so even though there were some preliminary meetings and agreements, everyone knew there was going to be a Wisconsin Synod most likely already in 1849. There wasn't really made official until 1850s. That's why the 175th anniversary of the Senate will be celebrated in 2025, not 2024. Now a lot of people have tried to analyze and take make some conclusions about the Senate based on this constitution at its founding, they kind of focus on one general topic, because that is the context of the day, at least in the decades after this. This was really the the question about the Wisconsin sentence identity, although there were other aspects to it, of course, but the constitution did require subscription to the unaltered Augsburg confession, and quote, the rest of the Evangelical Lutheran Church's confessions. It also stated that the fundamental doctrines of holy writ, Holy Scripture, the Bible are essentially and correctly contained. Now some people may look at that and see somewhat qualified subscription may be similar to the language used by the Senate's that are generally in the General Synod. I guess, pun intended there. But other people say, you know, that that maybe is looking at a little too strictly. There have been some quotes from Neil Heiser that make it pretty clear. his number one priority, his top. Focus as a pastor, as a Lutheran as a president of the Senate, is not to be very clearly and very robustly confessional. He sees it as a positive he doesn't really have a hatred or dislike for any teachings in the Lutheran confessions, is basically saying though, to put it in more modern terms, that's not what we're all about. We're not all about our confessional identity. And we see that now. Very similar to some of the attitudes of those members at the church in Greenville. If you go back to our last episode, so it really makes sense why these people joined you'll Heiser Senate Yes, we are. confessional Lutheran. So the sense that we subscribe to the Lutheran confessions, we want this. But that isn't going to be what we lead with in every interaction with with other people. They have a different approach to confessional ism. And this has been talked about at large. In most of the the general histories of the Senate, this is really what gets a lot of attention. And it probably deserves to be looked at again, especially now in light of how this matches some of the attitudes of a lot of the laity in local congregations. Now, this early Wisconsin Synod, made up was made up of only five pastors, serving 18 congregations. And I'm not sure if I should check the notes again to see if that was 18 officially founded in organized congregations, or was that including preaching stations, maybe there were more preaching stations, I wouldn't be surprised if these were just the formal congregations that five pastors were serving, and they maybe were even visiting other locations as well. Like I said, this is the frontier era, especially in Wisconsin for settlement and immigration, communities, towns, cities, villages are literally popping up everywhere, sometimes overnight, very quickly. And everything is just now beginning for all kinds of aspects of life in this area. So things are gonna grow and move very quickly. And rather than, like the Senate is doing today, proactively researching where they're growing population centers trying to find well, maybe we can find some core families to start a congregation. These guys are mostly reacting to, okay, there's a new group of Lutheran German Lutheran immigrants just got off the boat, and they settled here and another group is settling there, and we want to make sure that they are served by pastors. Now, some comment about the name of the Synod. The first German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin today is just called the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. So we kept even today, 175 years later, almost the same identifiers, even the name Wisconsin, even though there's been a merger of several old historic Midwest synods, even though of as we talked about, in one of her more recent episodes, how the goal was to be in every state already, around 50 years ago. That was the stated goal. So why are we keeping the name Wisconsin I think a lot of that is part of our historic identity. But we did drop two of the original parts of the citizens name, that would be the first and the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin, the German part maybe that's self evident, of course, it was primarily, almost exclusively German speaking Lutherans serving other German speaking Lutherans. And as I pointed out, they had their hands full there is more than enough ministry and admission opportunity there. Of course, that's going to change his immigration patterns shift dramatically by the 1900s, that it's we're going to see a drop off in German immigration. But of course, the Americanization the integration of several generations of these immigrants, that also focus on other groups of people will make that whole German thing both unpopular and unnecessary, in many people's views in minds. But what about that other part, the first German Evangelical Lutheran Synod? Well, to put it bluntly, the Wisconsin Synod was not the first German Lutheran Synod to establish itself or have a presence in Wisconsin, the Missouri Senate already had some of the founding congregations in its 1847 organization were in Wisconsin, in fact, the oldest Wisconsin Lutheran Synod, that I mean, the first Lutheran congregation in Wisconsin, was part of the Missouri Synod already dating from the 1830s from their founding, also, the buffalo Synod was officially including the name Wisconsin and its description. It's I can't think of the whole title off the top of my head, but the the Synod of the old Lutheran immigrants of Prussia, located in New York and Wisconsin or something to that effect was their Senate name. So, Wisconsin, I think, even at best is that at third place has been organized in establishing a distinct presence in the state of Wisconsin. So how did these people in the Frank killer letter collection view their Senate? Well, we actually have an interesting And really the only example of a pasture to pasture letter in this collection. Pastor Conrad Kester, at the request of the Frank family members in the carolers, living in southeastern Wisconsin, wrote a letter to the Frank patriarch, Pastor Frank, Pastor Frank still living in Germany. He's saying, as as noted in the Senate reports, we have many more congregations and we have pastors and he says, I can find you just one little congregation that you could serve. And as you get close to kind of retiring, an old age kind of a, an easy situation for you. And I don't know, just thinking of all the struggles in the transitions. I don't know if any of these congregations was a super easy for anyone, but he's still trying to get pastor Frank to come over. And I don't think we'll talk about it later. But I'll just say it now the pastor Frank, although he wanted to come to America, probably more so just to be with his his children and now new grandchildren that were being born. He eventually did not end up going. He had a lot of needs of his own local congregation he needed to serve and his wife had ailing health. But this is what Pastor Castro wrote to pastor Frank, and in this letter, he describes the Wisconsin Senate. He says, our Wisconsin Synod is an Evangelical Lutheran one, not the so called Old Lutheran, you must be acquainted with the quarrels of the various confessions. For the church newspapers are full of them. As I have been informed, you're definitely Lutheran, but not so exclusive. So pastor Kester, here is both describing the Wisconsin Synod. We are evangelical, we are Lutheran, but not all Lutheran. And I think that's the attitude about a Lutheran identity, and the rigidness that and maybe even conflict focused that it is, and that's what he's talking about. The newspapers are full of these conflicts and quarrels. It's very combative. But he says to pastor Frank, I informed you're definitely Lutheran but not so exclusive. This probably, is a nod to the unionism thing. So we aren't Lutheran but we're willing to work with and maybe even include and worship with people of other denominations other confessions. So when Pastor Castro says our Synod is an Evangelical Lutheran one, that whole word evangelical is such a loaded term, it may mean several things. The original term evangelical was sort of what the protestants in Germany, like to call themselves, we're Evangelical, we're focused on the gospel. That's what the word really means. Of course, today, being an evangelical in America has its own specific identity. Yes, it's Christian, but it's a certain kind of Christian. And you can expect certain things from it. And even today, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is not trying to signal that, hey, we are just like, the evangelicals in America, we're really trying to line up with them. And just back in, though, in the day of the Senate's founding, the question is, were they using the word evangelical because of the gospel focus in the mission? I believe that's kind of the normal narrative I hear today, or was it a subtle signal that we're Lutheran, but we are evangelical in a general Protestant sense. And that's what the official German term for the church union was. We aren't Lutheran. We aren't reformed. We are Avon galas, we are evangelical. So that's how the United Protestants would describe themselves as evangelical. So that is kind of a riddle that I think some more history has to be done on what exactly did this early church of the Wisconsin Synod mean by saying we are Evangelical Lutheran, these letters, give us some clue. And this this letter from Pastor caster, does that as well. You're definitely Lutheran, but not so exclusive. So he's contrasting himself with the old Lutherans in America and perhaps in Germany, as well. Get another example of the confessional ism of the Frank Caylor family. We see it in the marriage between August Frank August Frank and Veronica Caylor. In 1852. So they had a prenuptial agreement. So before they got married, they signed kind of a contract and agreement. And whenever you say prenup today, the only thing I think of and maybe that's what most of you think of is the fact that they're willing to have an agreement on how to split their finances or how to proceed. If and when they decide to call off the marriage and get divorced, which is something Christians don't do or at least it's not a Christian thing to do to plan for breaking off a marriage that is supposed to be forever. So that's not what's going on here. The marriage agreement Article One says this is The two engaged ones promised each other conjugal love and faithfulness. And if God should bless them with children, to have them instructed and raised in the Evangelical Lutheran religion, Augsburg confession and quote, man, I'm almost jealous of their pre marriage agreement. I don't know if we do that anymore if anyone really does that, but at least it's a conversation that, of course Lutherans, and any Christian really needs to have with their future spouse, kids are probably likely going to happen. For most married couples, at least it's something to consider having children What are you going to do? If and when if God should bless you, as they stated with children? Obviously, the primary responsibility of parents to their children is to raise them up right, not just taking care of their physical needs, but their spiritual needs, as well. And they address that we will raise them and have them instructed, they need to be taught in our Christian faith, specifically, evangelical Lutheranism. Augsburg confession. So very confessional, a very explicit and yeah, maybe we should think about having these conversations in such a way. Some more but that's me just making this about the present, but I was just impressed by that. But overall, it shows they were very confessional, I think is the main point. So August, Frank wrote to his parents, I said, I've delivered father's letter to my father in law, so pastor Frank in Germany to John Kaler senior, and have the friendliest greetings and compliments to send you. He is an extremely honest and upright man in religion, he is zealously devoted to strictly orthodox Lutheranism. Our dear father, if he were here would surely agree and converse with him easily, since he has much knowledge and as a very educated man. Okay, so these two letters written from almost exactly the same time as that description of, of leaving behind the old Lutheran pastor Dalits, who join the Missouri Senate and gravitating And now joining mule Blazers Senator than one of the pastor's cast her describing the Wisconsin Senate, we see that maybe things aren't as, as they've been so easily over simplified by in Wisconsin Synod church histories. The common narrative, I would say it's pretty much a myth at this point that I hear repeated by people who have a general idea of of Wisconsin Synod history but haven't really read the sources. Let's say well, Wisconsin Synod used to be on confessional or they weren't really confessional. It didn't care about the confessions. And then it's the old Lutherans like Walther came in to to save the day. We'll talk about that more hopefully, if I get pastor preying on for the second part of his his two volumes on church fellowship. That's clearly not the case. These people are describing themselves and describing each other to others as being confessional Lutherans. So it's a little more complicated is what I'm trying to get at here. Strictly orthodox Lutheran Church is the way Auguste Franck described his father in law to his own father, say, and you'd get along with him. So being definitely Lutheran, but not so exclusive. I think we're having a discussion about doctrine and practice. So the old Lutherans and these Evangelical Lutheran in the Wisconsin Synod, I would say, for the most part, are agreeing on the doctrine, but it's the practice of having your interactions with other Christians, the whole fellowship aspect, the unionism aspect, that's where they're really disagreeing, how do you go about being a confessional and Orthodox and Augsburg confession, kind of Lutheran. So that's something that Peter brainy, really takes up with his book. So having come to a better understanding of the position, the mindset of the Wisconsin senate is varied. And it may be conflicting and inconsistent as it may be appears at times. That's where they're coming from, at least both in public documents and our private letters, just telling people how they see it, describing their faith and their religion and the religion of their fellow people. So very valuable insights. Move away from that. And now just describe what we get from these letters, the pastor's role in these early years in the Wisconsin Senate, and this is primarily could now going to be the perspective of the lay people. How did they see their pastors, what did they see that they needed or wanted from their pastors and how do they interact with them? We get an example now from part of the Michigan group, a pastor Frank in Germany is writing to his son in law and daughter, William and Sophie. She says God has watched over you and has given you and your daughter and life and health and it's given grace that your Matilda be baptized, is quite touching. Let your little one is among the little Indians in the baptismal Balkan Bethany. And through the heathens this great truth has come true that we are all brothers and sisters and quote. So it turns out that the Bethany mission, which had been somewhat the brainchild of Wilhelm Leya, a little fuzzy and all the details on that connection, but some of the old German Lutheran colonies immigrants had been sent to Michigan and they they settled in that general Saginaw area, a Frankenmuth is probably the most famous of those settlements, but there are many others in the general area. So there was a mission to the Chippewa as they recalled her the Ojibwe Native Americans, and now the missionary to those people is also serving the local German immigrants who didn't emigrate as part of those confessional Lutheran colonies. He's also serving the broader population. So very interesting to see that connection with other aspects of Lutheran history. In 1855, this is Pastor eg H. Meisler. He came down again from the mission to baptize another daughter, Marie. So this is something that was going on for several years. Now we get a description of a wedding. How did the people here see and interact with their pastor for a wedding Henry Frank is writing to Matilda Frank, in 1853. He wrote, quote, we drove in sunshine to the church two miles away to Greenfield at 10 o'clock. The first Wagan were August who's driving Veronica, My Bride and I passed her cast her father, Matilda, Edward and Herman were the second we took Veronica's accordion, which she plays well from the wagon and carried it into the church to accompany the singing. The pastor had a nice marriage sermon, whose text we had chosen. Psalm 124 verse eight. So real quick note here, he says, accordion but the translators, the transcribers, the editors, someone noted that they actually have Veronica's, quote unquote, accordion, but it's actually not an accordion. It's called a feast harmonica, which is really a portable read Oregon. So they had a portable read Oregon that one of the lay members, Veronica, who comes up quite a bit in these letters had and she kept it at her home, though, and then they brought it to church to play. So the house Oregon, is brought into church for at least this wedding service. I don't know if what was used for a regular Sunday morning service. But at least for this wedding, so I just thought that was kind of fascinating. How many of you pack up your Oregon in the backseat of your minivan and take it to church to play. I'm sure some of our mission congregations maybe have musicians or others I'm sure if you have different instruments other than the Oregon at least, that you're packing up and taking with you but very different situation. But here we see the role of the pastor. Of course, taking part in marriages is an essential part of of life, to have a pastor and to have marriage. We also see a description of the pastor's role at a funeral. John Caylor wrote to the parents of deceased man I think it was a man who was working at his farm this was back a little bit earlier in the timeline before they had pastor Kester. It was still pastor do let's, he wrote, quote, the Minister of our church was away. So I went to another city and asked a minister named Dalits to deliver the funeral sermon, the whole neighborhood attended and was astonished at the nice service at the grave. four verses of the hem, Jesus made sure to fence or sung, the address at the grave was so gripping that most likely no one at the cemetery left untouched. will note that this is a comfort of the time that a good death, quote unquote a good death was an essential part of antebellum society. It was just part of the culture where you wanted to assure everyone that if their loved one died while they were away that they had a good death, good funeral, their last moments here on earth were a peaceful ushering into the new life. The death process, as painful as it may be, as often as it happened, of course, in people's lives, was kind of a moment to remark upon. So kind of the opposite of today, where we really hide death, even funerals are more about a celebration of life than addressing death itself. Cremation, in a way, you know, is the opposite of having that open casket funeral. I know. It's just not as expensive and that's a reason why a lot of people do that. But in the past, you had visitations. You had wakes, who'd be able to see the body and really grieve and get that mourning process out there. And we see this still being part of the culture. I don't think it really mattered too much whether you were an English speaking Yankee or a German of immigrant death and in the mid 1800s, just was a slightly different process with with the funeral. Now we get a letter from Henry Frank to his parents living in Germany from 1855. He gives another description. This one's probably the most moving section. I personally read. Saturday, February 10. After giving a fatherly kiss to the little one little Henry Auguste Frank, I left in the best mood to get pastor Castor for the baptism, I returned at him at five in the evening, happy to be able to find all my little one. But instead of a healthy child about to be baptized, I found a sick, dying one. It all started in the afternoon. And God took him that night, around 10:15am. Around eight o'clock, Pastor Castro advised us to have him baptized. And he was not alone with holy water, but with the tears of all who stood around. I sent Andreas into the city to announce the death on Monday, by man, my worker mid August just to see with Veronica Herman, and the children are about to get the sled to come for the baptism, you can imagine their shock, we submit to the will of the one who knows what is best for us. Fair Well, I just see this as personally, as a father very moving moment. And how fortunate it was that they were in the habit of doing home baptisms, hey, a pastor come over, and let's have a baptism. This is a wonderful thing for us to do. Let's do it as soon as possible. And yet He came just hours before that the child passed away, but what a comfort that they had, and that baptism for for their child. So we see here the tradition of having well, and it's still, of course, the way it's done today have the pastor to the baptism, but interestingly, they do it in the home. And we see this as a pattern where I would say the more standard the more traditional form of baptism is to have it take place as part of the public worship service. Of course, it still happens other ways today. We also see the pastor's role in these sliders as a spiritual Shepherd and advisor. Pastor caster had noted his connection with the elder Frank sons in Wisconsin, and he concurs with their desire to have their father come and emigrate to Wisconsin to serve as a pastor among them. He says it this way. I already mentioned this a little bit, but he describes the need for pastors in general, a pastor caster writes, there's still a shortage of good shepherds and spiritual advisors. There are enough hirelings you could serve the congregation in Greenfield with Word and Sacrament. It is a congregation of 30 families in a neat little church, I have enough to do and it would turn this congregation over to you, a shepherd who has become grey in the service of the Lord, to lead in the pastures of life, it would not be a burden to you, and would give you only joy. So that's the description of the pastor's role. Now we get to see just through observation as the letter writers describe their life and the church, their religious activity, we also get a fair picture of the layup T's role. So earlier in the timeline, here we see John Keller senior write already in 1850. He describes his Church activity to a friend he writes, our church life has also taken care of formerly we drove to the city for church, but this summer and Evangelical Church, Augsburg confession is to be built here and a half hour away. I have participated in this so that our wishes in that direction will also be fulfilled. Henry Frank wrote to his parents a few years later, quote, regarding church, we have founded a small evangelical congregation, Father caroler, being the president of the board. Everyone helped sacrifice to have a minister who lives 10 miles from here comes every two weeks to preach. The congregation pays him only $60 a year. But we'll raise the salary later. The distance is a little hard for our pastor Custer and he would like to have a substitute. We thought of our dear father, but without trying to persuade you to take steps to obtain this position. If you come to us, we will do all we can to make your life as pleasant as possible. So back in 2021, when I first made this presentation, I looked up what$60 A year was of course inflation has gone up in the last two years, but still just the purchasing power. How much could you buy today was $60 came out two years ago to $3,415. So$3,500 a year as the salary is a little low, but of course knows he's coming just every two weeks. So there's another congregation that is likely supporting him, but I hope they're also not paying him just a $60 because that's a pretty modest salary. Now we have a letter from August Frank in Have a walkie who is at Grace downtown, as it's called today is describing how they interact with his congregation. He wrote, quote, after meal he's received$2 worth of sugar and coffee from us for New Year's present in the schoolmaster $2. The church pew for my family costs$6.25 This year, and the unexpected collections and contributions amounted to $10 a year. So about $20 a year goes for the church. Yes, one mines changes tremendously. For in Germany, I would not have given so much for this purpose. But as a father of a family, I realized that the church cannot exist without support, that the state cannot exist without religion, and quote, so we see analysis kind of five years, well, really four years into the immigration. And August, Frank is noticing there's a tremendous change of mind. There was unthinkable to pay nearly anything for church at all, you're not really paying for it, you might just give a donation for maybe someone in need. Or maybe you would collect a mission offering for some special mission that your church is doing out of the ordinary, but to support the church. Now, it's interesting that they are charging a pure price. But I guess that's the idea of finding a way to regulate it or standardize the cost of the church is well just pictured as you're paying for your seat. Maybe that's how people are able to wrap their minds around other presidents there. But giving quite a bit to the church each year in Milwaukee $20 a year in 1854, is equivalent to about$626.20 21. So again, the purchasing power, I don't know what that would do today with inflation, but it's about 600. And so dollars, so he's giving his offerings, but $600 a year depending on now in 1857, almost a decade after immigration, Henry Frank is still writing to his family members about church obviously still an important thing to everyone involved and he goes into some detail. He writes down a bit about our church conditions about what you do your father have asked me several times. Our congregation consists of 50 families who pay as much as they're able, the minimum is $2. Father Keller pays the maximum $12 And I ate I give about $20 a year to the church and collections and Christmas present for the minister, Regina gave $25 on our wedding day. The annual income for the church amounts to $150, a year of which pastor Kester, who preaches every two weeks gets 70 other fees are voluntary. This truly poor pay for administer the churches, evangelical Protestant. Although reformed, Lutheran and offshoots are all part of the congregation quarrels result, ending with one or the other leaving. We had long disputes because of the wafers and the bread. Every three years five members are elected elders, who among themselves elected president, secretary and treasurer. Father, Kaler has been president president since 1854. And a treasurer. We have decided to buy two acres to build a parsonage father signed up for$200 and I for 50, which the congregation will pay back at 7%. Mr. Kaster, the pastor made the modest request of $200 a year. And it is a wonder how we can live on that. I subscribe to two secular and one Christian newspaper, The New York stats citing the grace and the Milwaukee week, and Waukee weekly and the Lutetia Herald from New York. So just a note here, if Frank's accounting is correct, it is clear that the Frank family and the tailors gave significantly more to the congregation than the average family. So that's just a note for the historian who's looking at this, that this is the above average family, so maybe they're talking about religion bit more, because they care about a bit more, maybe they just have a more profitable business, and they're able to afford more. That would take a little more analyzing to see that. So this letter, obviously shows again, the confessional issues. You say you're Lutheran, but this letter actually says we are evangelical Protestant, which is really saying we are, you know, a union congregation, not a Lutheran congregation. So you get different people even in the same family unit, the same family group, describing their own congregation in different ways. And it's no doubt as this letter describes their quarrels and squabbles over a lot of important things. It turns out, you can't really have it both ways. You can't say we are definitely Lutheran, but not so exclusive. Eventually, you're going to have to put your doctrine into practice and in some ways it may be cause making a little firmer, I stand on some issues, especially as seen in this letter. The evidence is that a lot of the discussions and disagreements, the heated disagreements were over communion, which as we said in the last episode, this was the main tension point, one of the main conflict points between the reformed and Lutheran for centuries. And this is the issue that the old Lutherans had with the union Church, the merger of reformed and Lutheran into one organization, in many of the countries that make up modern day Germany and these issues came across the Atlantic. It turns out getting along with your neighbor, who you may rely on these frontier conditions in America, maybe would induce some people to make some religious compromises, but they're going to have to figure out what they're doing. And we'll see later, throughout the history of the Wisconsin Synod, these people realized, okay, if we are definitely Lutheran doctrine and practice are going to have to be a little more uniform in this regard. So they did become more Lutheran, obviously, over time, but it's more of the problems caused the reaction rather than starting off with a certain definition. Okay, switching gears here we have another letter from Henry Frank 1862, written a little over a year after immigration had already begun. He wrote, quote, Edward and his wife brought the minister after church. After the meal, the table was converted into an altar, and the children were baptized. The pastor didn't give a baptism sermon, but baptized according to the order of service as you didn't care and back. It was cute when little Emily Ernst daughter, at least 16 months old, answered the usual questions with a very loud, yes. Ernest was so very happy about the child prosody that he positively sparked. Pastor Yohannes Killian remained with her lively group for several hours, you can be quite cheerful, it is not straight laced as so many pastors are, in quote. So just to note here, the typical Lutheran liturgy for baptism would ask the parents, the sponsors and the congregation, if they promised to raise the child in the Word of God and to see the child's spiritual welfare. Other liturgies even have renouncing of the devil. And the parents would do that on behalf of the child at a child baptism. So those are the questions that the little child is also participating in as a as a younger member of the Christian family there. And now we see very briefly mentioned, there's another pastor and the senior pastor Millhauser, a pastor caster, and now it looks like they did get their own pastor pastor Killian, he's interesting of note, he would later serve as the chaplain of the 26 Wisconsin infantry regiment in the Civil War. As far as I know, he would be the only Wisconsin Synod pastor to serve as the chaplain, Civil War regiment. So that might be a topic I'll dig into later because that sounds rather interesting, but he just pops up here, and happens to be a more friendly pastor than a straight laced pastor. Kind of interesting how people still describe their pastors and these kinds of terms today. So now, we will wrap up our presentation, with some examples of people didn't quite fit the mold of being Lutheran in any way or trying to create Lutheran structures or have a Christian establishment in the frontier as they tried to, quote unquote, civilized their new environments. And then we'll conclude with some conclusions and final observations. We have a letter from John Kaler Jr, to his sister from 1851. So John Caylor, senior is very zealous as his son in law described him to, to his father in law he's, he's an orthodox Lutheran, he cares about this very much. He is providing for the needs of the congregation. He is the congregation president and Greenfield, he was giving a lot in donations. He was involved in calling pastors, even when they didn't have a congregation, but just do funerals and such. So very religious, very active. And we see most of his children follow their father's example, except for John Jr. He wrote a letter to his sister that it's one of the longest letters in the collection, and it's just a rambling letter of a young man. It's full of profanity, making excuses for himself justifying himself of he's isolating himself he's just full of unforgiveness for he doesn't really respect his father's direction or correction or discipline trying to get him to act as it were, or conduct himself in a certain way. It just comes across to me as being rather self centered young man. Really whining to his sister. He had a falling out with his father, and he wrote his inconsiderate reproaches hurt me to the extent that I became enraged and made an extreme decision. So this guy is really not part of the family is not actively engaging or communicating with him. He's kind of writing this letter to his sister to explain why she's not going to seem around anymore. Or he's not really going to interact with his family. I just took one quote is still pretty long, but one quote from his rambling letter, and this man struggling with his religious identity, and America is in the immigration process is helping him process said, or at least it's causing him to rethink everything. He says this, take away a man's freedom, his convictions and leanings, and say that his doings are fantasies and his convictions, rationalism, and he will remain unhappy, no matter what his circumstances can it be counted as an ever for me that I still have young blood, and that I like to live in ideas, that I hate the formality of religion, and the foolish priesthood, that I have age of 28 would rather think and do what suits me best. I will let reason speak first and all things and then experience, feelings that hereditary customs never decided my actions in Germany, and will not do so in this free country, where not much sociability and pleasure are found, where just this freedom makes one forget everything else. So he's having a certain reaction to this freedom. And he's basically saying, I'm going to do whatever I want to do, you can stop me. He adds this. My final aim is only this to become wealthy, in order to make more easily, my life and the life of others happy, by reason knows only the cold side of life. And my actions are evidently patterned after that, my principles will never suffer under it. And in this I tried to be a Christian formality disputes and priestly glory, since I've seen it read so much about them are things which are useless, something with which the masses are dazzled for the advantage of a few honors seeking individuals leave our earthly Hall and this little Earth, what remains of all the talk these quarrels, and petty things. So he complains about hypocrisy among Christians, as has always been, and always will be, unfortunately, and the PYtest formality that he observed, so he has a different take on the old Lutherans but similar, he doesn't like them. He doesn't like pious ism, but more because it infringes on his personal freedom, rather for the general discord among the religious community. So in a way, he's somewhat like his his father, but for very different reasons in his regard for Pyatt histo, Lutherans. John Taylor does continue to write, quote, I have nothing against a suitable church service. I hate the dumb people who are free thinkers, as much as many are in Milwaukee, they believe nothing, not because of conviction, but because of a ping and quote. So kind of an odd way to reassure your sister that he hasn't totally got off the deep end, he hates other people, too, who aren't religious, kind of a negative way to try to prop himself up I, I really don't understand exactly where he's coming from, at least I can't empathize with it. But we do see that. Just because you're a German Lutheran, on paper in Germany, and you came to America, you certainly didn't automatically join the church, even if the rest of your family became active and engaged members. We see this reflected in the Lutheran understanding of the difference between the visible Church and the invisible church. This guy maybe was part of a visible church before, but he doesn't really want to be part of it. So he has really been harsh and critical. It sounds like he wants to try to be a Christian, but only after his reason, has led him to believe what he wants to believe after he has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do. And his chief aim, he says is to make a lot of money. And that's how he thinks he'll be a good Christian because then with all his money he can make himself and perhaps some other people happy as well. So nothing new under the sun. This attitude existed long before America offered its version of freedom. And it still, of course, continues to be around today. So now we have a letter from Augusta Frank. So she's the matriarch of the Frank family. Her husband is the pastor still in Germany, and she's still staying with him by his side. So she's concerned about her relatives in Michigan, the Wisconsin family relatives, by and large are very active in their churches, they're organizing churches and all that but the Michigan Frank families, they had the missionary come over and baptize their children. But other than that, we don't really see as much activity in religious life or being part of a congregation. Shouldn't regular worship and so on. So Augusta Frank is writing to her daughters and her son in laws and her grandchildren, she's reading out of concern. She writes, quote, If you will write once that you have been in this or that church, but never a word, I hope you've not forgotten how to pray. We like to hear that Edward and Auguste shoot so many deer, and that Henry cooks such good coffee and feeds pigs and chickens. But we would also like to know which church you attend, you must not be offended, it is meant well. So we have Edward bark is the son in law, one of the son in laws, who lives in Saginaw. He's writing to other German relatives in 1860. His letters are, as his mother in law's letter indicated, is primarily focused on agriculture, and hunting. And he's really interested in local and national politics. His letters are often critical of his old Lutheran neighbors. But he is gives evidence he's connected with some kind of church. But he gets more into detail about the politics, he's active in politics, he is part of the Freemasons, which would indicate he's not going to be part of an old Lutheran congregation anytime soon. And he's a member of the German American Association. And he wrote this, and he uses dated language, just I probably should have said that earlier. I'm just reading his direct quote here. He says the number of converted Redskins cannot increase because most of them have left the area. When I think of how money is squeezed out of the people in Germany for missions, and see how it is wasted here. I become more embittered against them than I was. I do not know to what organization the mission belongs, but I'm for really convinced that they are throwing their money away. Mr. Missler, the missionary is a dear man, but he cannot change anything. There's also no lack of American missionaries who accomplish more than the Germans when do the Indians prefer the company of the French, which undoubtedly has its historical basis and quote, so I'll fill in the historical spots here that Edward Park wasn't able to fill. So this was the kind of the Laya missionary colonies and their their Indian Mission that got started in the 1840s. But by now this is now officially part of what is today the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. So this is a Missouri Synod, missionary and Missouri Synod mission. Interestingly enough, I had ancestors on one side of my family who are part of this, both the Franken moves, immigration and the mission work. One of them was a missionary. So he's kind of bad mouthing my family here, but he won't take it personally. He says he's upset because they're wasting money of the poor peasants in Germany, how they're collecting missing offerings and how it's being wasted here. And that just makes him embittered against this kind of religion. His idea of waste isn't that the missionaries or the missions are embezzling funds or throwing money away and squandering it. He's just saying it's pointless, because German missionaries are never going to be successful with Native Americans here. And he did have appointed, it's some degree that the mission did have to close down in Michigan, but that's because these Native Americans removed to Upstate Minnesota, but the Missouri Synod followed them there and continuing the mission work. And it was kind of shut down when some of the Indian Wars burned down the mission there. So yeah, there are definitely some challenges as far as this kind of mission work was concerned. But that is a whole other topic, but we do get his civilian lay perspective on it. He writes a little bit more about this mission, quote, The Bethany mission station has been moved to Chippewa River. Missionary Meisler, comes to Saginaw several times a year and baptize six children at one time at rosary this winter. The mission cannot and will not have great results. The old Lutheran congregations are still in existence. There are such ministers in Saginaw, Franklin loosed Frankenmuth trust Hilsa these four colonies organized by William Laya. He continues they still carry on their old foolishness, such as confession, acts of penance, etc. These congregations will become quite weak and another generation of this there are signs already. So while bark is correct about the old Lutherans Ojibwe mission, he made some incorrect claims about their beliefs and practices. Indeed, the old Lutheran heritage still remains a major feature in these communities. And through some of the lines you can trace through the Missouri Senate today. So JP Kaler. As I mentioned, in our last episode, noted the importance of this letter collection is said these letters tell us some things that would otherwise remain unknown. Well, what thing Does this letter collection show us that we could not find any other primary source material and therefore, it's not reflected any other history that doesn't deal with with the source material? Well, we see a lot of honest and private opinions about decisions and policies, such as how much to pay a pastor, how to decide whether to call a pastor, whether based on a sermon that he had preached or some other quality about him. We see lay opinions on their thoughts of the physical built beauty of church buildings, especially if they liked the big cities in New York or Chicago. When these people pass through. They're just impressed by the architecture. We also have see the lay person's perception of the pastoral office, we have descriptions of breaching, baptizing, conducting funerals and performing marriages. We see mentions of church schools, but interestingly enough, that's specifically catechism I guess the closest I've got to today was that prenuptial agreement saying our children will be raised in the instruction of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. So that would, of course include catechism but the process itself is not described in this letter Collection. These letters also give us a glimpse and a real good understanding at times of congregational life. We've seen Greenfield there were minimum and maximum annual offering requirements. We see examples of grace downtown, having people pay for church pews. I don't think they do that anymore. We also see repeated frequent examples of private home baptisms that seem to be the normal procedure. And we also get some insights that wouldn't be recorded in the minutes are fanatical reports of the intimate relationships with pastors examples of having pastor over for coffee and talking about how cheerful he was. And we see the customs of giving gifts to the pastors and the teachers, as well, sugar, coffee and so on. And we also get the lay perspectives on unionism, old Lutheranism, and so on all this other stuff that would likely not be very prominent in our understanding of this history. So in this letter collection, we see initially, how in the Wisconsin Synod communities of Lutherans or quote unquote evangelicals, even mixed reformed and German Lutheran immigrants formed congregations, focused primarily at a practical geographic area. We also see that rather than joining synods, based on their doctrinal positions, congregations often first focused on the individual pastor, and then joined the pastor's affiliated Senate. As we see in Henry Frank's letter to his parents from 1857. The laity were the ones who wrestled themselves with the issues of doctrine and practice in their congregations. Ultimately, they had the freedom or the responsibility to take clear theological stances as congregations. In other words, if every person took their pastors position on theology are a practice, there would have been no quarrels, right? If he just said, this is what we're going to do, they all would have said, Yes, pastor and done it. But that doesn't happen. At the same time, though, if these congregations didn't agree with the positions of the pastor, wherever Senate, they would find one that they could agree with. So it was a mutual understanding more or less. Between the congregation, the pastor and the Senate, they were generally at the same place on the same page, or at least, working within the same space where they can patiently go in the same direction. So in the Wisconsin Senate, we'll see both pastors and congregations moving in a more confessional direction during the 1850s, while still maintaining a distaste for the quote unquote, old Lutheranism. Now to step back into this world of the Franks, and killers would make many modern Lutherans look at some of these differences. Some of these aspects will come from simply being in a different culture at a different time, and a different place. But these differences are not just external or superficial. Just imagine being part of the Wisconsin Senate back in those days, where you had to deal with these issues of being evangelical Protestant, dealing with other denominations being part of your membership. There's a lot for us to consider from this. So even if it seems like there's not that much in common 175 years later that modern day Lutherans have with these people realize that you actually have a lot more in common with them. These are fellow human beings fellow Lutherans, fellow redeemed children of God sorted by the means of grace. We can walk with them and through them through their words through their letters, as they experienced births, baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals. We can relate to the joy they had at the wedding, and be touched by the emotions expressed it's the pain of the heartbreak of losing a child while at the same time holding on to the quiet baptismal hope and trust in the will of God. These are not the hype are stereotyped version of Germans without emotion, the emotion is there, it's maybe revealed a bit more in the private letters than then publicly. But it's there and so are the questions of faith. So this is where I'll, I'll kind of stop though making any modern connections. I'll leave that for others to to, to learn and to teach lessons. I would rather just stick to the History site at this point, although I did of course opinionate a little bit throughout this episode and and probably the last one to kind of hard not to because it is it is real life. It is history, but it's it's real faith being interacted with here. So if you have any questions or comments about this project, want to look at the source material, reach out to me. Of course, you can find us on our social media or support us on Patreon.