Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-10-20
WILL CELEBRATE
LAYING OF STONE.
ST. PAUL'S GERMAN LUTHERAN
TO OBSERVE TWENTIETH AN.
NIvERsARY OF EVENT

TO Be a Day of Thanksgiving and
Praise-History of the Growth of the
Congregation and the Church-Ex-
tensive Preparations Made.
On next Sunday the congregation of
the st. Paul's German Lutheran church
OF this city will celebate the twentieth
anniversary of the laying Of the corner
stone of the church building. At the
semi-annual meeting of the congrega.
lion held July 1, it was decided to
make the Gay one of thanksgiving and
praise; day with the motto, Hitherto
hath the Lord helped u.s." Extensive
preparations have been made to make
the day Il great success.
In anticipation of the event the
church building has been repainted
and the interior of the church has been
redecorated, recarpeted and in every
way beautified New art windows
have also been installed and the par
sonage, standing next to the church,
has been painted.
The German Lutheran CONGREGATIONS
at Hedrick and at Oskaloosa have been
invited to attend and cordial invita-
ton is extended to the public. Rev.
l.. Seehase, of Clinton, and Rev. F. w.
Landdeck, of Hedrick, have been Sc
cured as speakers for the day. and all
OF the services will be accompanied by
special music by the choirs of the
Hedrick, Oskaloosa and Ottumwa
churches,
The services in the morning at 10:30
o'clock will be held In commemorate
ton of the twentieth anniversary of
the laying of the cornerstone and will
be entirely in the German language
with Jubilee sermon by the Rev. L.
Seehase Of Clinton. A collection will
be taken for the superannuated minis
tiers OF the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
OF Iowa and other states.
Dinner to all, guests and members Of
the church, will be served in the base
ment by the "Frauen-Verein."
In the afternoon at 2:30 o'clock
there will be service entirely in the
English language This will be in the
form Of "mission-fest" with mis-.
sion sermon by the Rev. F. w. Land
deck of Hedrick. A free-will offering
will be taken for the mission work,
which the synod carries on among the
Germans in almost all the states. Sup
per will be served again in the base
ment of the church.
At 1880 o'clock in the evening SER
vice will commence. 1t will be In the
German language with Rev. Seehase
as the speaker.
History of the Church.
Tho ,,4l,a.
who came t. Ottumwa was Rev.
MT. .Endersa That was before the six
ties. In 1862 the German Lutheran
Synod OF Iowa and other states sent
as a missionary the now venerable
Rev. Paul Bredow, then young man.
In his Erinnerungen" (reminiscenses)
he has the following to say as to his
activity In and about Ottumwa:
Late in 1862 the president of our
synod advised me to take charge of
our work in southeastern Iowa.
started on my journey from German
town, Wis, to small city by the
name of Ottumwa, in Wapello county.
/ covered the distance of $50 miles by
horse and buggy in about fourteen
days. made Ottumwa my headquar-
tiers and held services at seven differ.
ent places in five different counties.
Z MY field covered about $50 miles in di.
ameter and only two places could be
reached by rail- The seven places
were: Blakesburg and Eddyville In
Wapello county; Soap Creek and
Bloomfield in Davis county; Martins.
burg (now Hedrick) in Keokuk coun.
ty; Fremont in Mahaska county, and
Kilburn in Van Buren, county. My
salary was $3.50 per annum had to
preach three times each Sunday and
several times during the week. But
by the grace of God I had a strong
constitution and | generally rose at 4
o'clock in the morning for private
study. At Ottumwa, the geographical
center of my activity, the services
were held at first in the court house
In which also my installation was held
by Rev. M. Burk of Germanville. The
attendance was between forty and fifty
persons. We were, however, soon en-
abled to rent hall in which we held
our services. After few weeks
was about to organize a congregation
when on account of certain paragraph
in the constitution a goodly humble,
withdrew SO that after one year only
about six families were left. Through
the kindness of the Leibfarth family
was enabled to remain in my field Of
labor until the spring of 1864 when
received an urgent call to Dubuque
which I accepted"
Others Supply Field.
After Rev. Bredow had left, the
field was supplied by different men who
did not reside here. Among them are
found names like the following: Lee
debur, Rehwoldt, Hart, Liable, Meyer
Leupp, but especially Rev. r. A. PTS
ter, now at Pennington. Finally in
1886, on August 26, permanent organ
ization was effected by the Rev. E
Buehrer, of State Center. He presid
ed at the meeting while N. Hansen
then a candidate, acted as recording
secretary. There were but five char
ter members, viz: Friedrich Hermann
Berthold Hermann, Michael Maurer, 10
ham Pesnau, Christine Leibfarth.