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helping to support the youth of the congregation. On April 12, 1874 Teacher Karutz was released to Pastor König's congregation in New York and on April 26, 1874 Teacher Bürger was recalled by Washington. On August 18, 1878 Teacher Allmeyer, who received an appointment from Chester, Ill., was allowed to leave and in his place Teacher Backner was appointed on September 2nd. During this time the Ladies' Society had commissioned the building of a steeple, which was now complete and on Palm Sunday 1879 the Young Men's Society presented the church with a bell as an Easter gift. The bell weighed 2,476 pounds and carried the inscription "Presented by the Lutheran Young Men's Association to the First Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church of Buffalo, N.Y., 1879." In the church record book, page 371, we find the following concerning the bell: "The new bell arrived here on April 4th, and on the same day the first efforts were made to hang it in the steeple. It was carried up to the third floor. On the morning of April 5th further work was done. As it was being hung in the loft a few minutes before 12 o'clock the rope suspended on the pulleys suddenly broke and the bell fell, smashing everything in its path until it reached the bottom but nobody was hurt and the bell was undamaged. In the afternoon the bell was extricated from the rubble under which it was buried and hung without further incident. At 6 PM it was rung for the first time." On the Sunday after Easter, April 20, 1879 Pastor Gross gave a sermon at the dedication of the bell, which appeared in print.
At a congregational meeting on October 31, 1880 Pastor Gross was released so he could accept the appointment of the Immanuel Church in Fort Wayne. Several meetings had previously been held to discuss his moving to Fort Wayne. On December 19, 1880 Pastor August Senne of Ottawa, Ontario was appointed and until his |
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arrival in February 1881 on Septuagesima Sunday, Pastor Michael of Eden, N.Y. and Pastor Justus Gram of Tonawanda served the congregation. On March 21, 1881 Teacher Backner received an appointment to the congregational school of Pastor Sauer in Fort Wayne and he was released from service to our congregation. On July 11, 1881 Teacher Fickenscher of Fort Smith, Ark, was appointed. In a congregational meeting held on January 29, 1883 Teacher Bürger declared that he wished to resign from his post in the congregational school on May 30; he remained at his post until his replacement, Teacher Rupprecht, arrived in September. Teacher Bürger's 25th anniversary of service to the Missouri Synod as a congregational school teacher was celebrated on May 30, 1883. On this occasion Pastor Weinbach delivered the sermon. On December 10, 1883 Miss Ziegler of Cleveland was appointed to take over the school's reinstated third class. On May 3, 1886 the congregation purchased a small piece of land behind the pastor and teachers' residence for use at a future date. On June 14, 1886 Teacher Rupprecht was called to serve in Zanesville, Ohio, and Teacher O. Lang of Erie, Pa. was appointed to take over the second class. On August 9, 1886 Miss Ziegler resigned from the post as teacher of the third class and Miss Griese of Cleveland was appointed in her place. When Miss Griese entered the bonds of Holy Matrimony with Teacher O. Lang, Miss Heid was appointed to the third class on June 6th.
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church interior was made welcoming with a new coat of paint.
At Easter time Miss Heid resigned her post as teacher of the third class and the sexton, Mr. Blanck also resigned his post so the congregation appointed Mr. Franz Karbaum teacher of the third class and sexton on May 17, 1889. The number of baptisms, marriages, funerals etc. could no longer be ascertained since earlier parish records of the eastern district had been forwarded to the Synod. We reported how our pastors had handled the records from March 1, 1852 on. With this data Pastor Diehlmann created a new church record and supplied the numbers from the earlier years. In the last 37 years up to June 30, 1889 there have been 2231 baptisms. 985 children have been confirmed, 523 couples have been married and 708 funerals have been performed. From the second Synodal Report of the voting clergy of the Synods from Missouri, Ohio and other States for the period January 1, 1847 to January 1, 1848 we find that there were 19 pastors and 30 congregations. There were 157 souls as members of the congregations. Over the course of the year 10 children were baptised and 2 were confirmed. There were 240 communicants, 7 couples were married and 4 funerals were held. The church and school were administered by Pastor E.M. Bürger. Ten years later (1857) Pastor Dulitz delivered in a parish report of the General Synods of Missouri, Ohio and other States the following numbers: there were 75 voting members; 32 baptisms were performed, 10 children were confirmed, 10 couples were married, 5 funerals were held and 402 persons had taken part in the holy sacrament of communion. In 1868 Pastor C. Gross gave the following report of his parish from January 1, 1867 to 1868: there were 900 souls, 200 voting members, 3 school classes, 272 students, 56 baptisms, 36 confirmations, 1076 communicants, |
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8 marriages, 24 funerals. At the beginning of its jubilee year the congregation consisted of about 1900 souls with 356 voting members.
On New Year's Day 1889 Pastor A. Senne reported to the congregation that in the previous year there had been 117 baptisms, 47 confirmations, 18 marriages and 46 funerals. The school consists of 245 children who are instructed in 3 classes by Teachers G.W. Fickenscher, Ossian Lang and Franz Karbaum. The committee members for the congregation in the anniversary year are Carl Becker, father of the poor; Heinrich Pötting, Gotthilf Gräser, C.F. Barthauer and Carl Busse. The Trustees are: Daniel Völker, President; Louis Reinsch, Secretary; Heinrich Fischer, Cashier of General Church Funds; Friedrich Burow, Cashier of the Building Fund; Robert Matthaes, Cashier of the Cemetery Fund; Carl Keitsch, Cashier of the Mission Fund; Herman Apel, Cashier of the Fund for the Poor. We may also take a look at the congregation's accounts, etc. and examine the parish records where the final figures are kept.
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Balance from 1887
Proceeds into the Fund in 1888 Borrowed from the Building Fund From the School Collection Box Through Sunday Collections From Tuition Hall Rental For Gas at Weddings From Bequests Total Income |
$ 402.21
1945.75 600.00 87.76 406.35 766.80 25.00 3.00 10.35 $4247.22 | |
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Aug. Senne |
Go on to Pages 35 - 39 .
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