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To write a narrative or history of passing events as they transpire from time to time is an easy task. The mater[i]al is then at hand and is only to be put in sentences embelished with language to gratify the taste of both writer and readers.
To put into writing what transpired more than five generations ago is a more difficult undertaking, especially when records and traditional facts are meager and few. It then becomes necessary to collect from all available sources information that throws light on the subject, and by collation ascertain which and what of the material is of the greater weight and reliability. This was found to be the case in the compilation of this work. It had been the wish of some of the members of the St. John's Reformed Church in Lower Heidelberg township, Berks county, Penna. (better known as Hain's Church), to have a history published giving in detail a description of the formation, struggles and growth of the congregation. An attempt of the same is hereby offered to the reading public.
In the year 1891 Mr. Michael Ruth, an aged member of the congregation, made a suggestion that some one should take care of the old church records, so that they would not be lost. It was then remarked that Mr. Adam G. Lerch was the proper person for this task. This induced Mr. Lerch to make translations of the same, so that the coming generations could read them. Then later Dr. James I. Good.
"We, the undersigned, whose ancestors lie buried in the graveyard of the Hain's Reformed Church, Berks county, Pennsylvania, do, out of respect to their memory, present this Church Register to its consistory, so that the early church records may be translated into it by Adam G. Lerch, and thus preserved. May 9, 1896.
| Ancestors | Donors |
|---|---|
| Conrad Eckert Captain in the Revolutionary War | James I. Good Rebecca Eckert Stetson George B. Eckert William E. Good Susan E. Benson David E. Benson |
Ruth-Ludwig | James Rick |
| Henry Hain | S. Agnes Otis |
| Henry, Daniel, John, Jacob Hain | Clara L. Hain Zieber |
| George, Casper, Joseph, Benjamin and Harriet Hain | Daniel B. D. Beaver" |
We have not given any references showing the sources of our information, because a great many pages would have been marred by numerous repetitions, but we would express our gratitude, appreciation and indebtedness to the consistory of the Church and to the members of the congregation in their aid in the work; to the Reformed Church Record, Rev. I.M. Beaver, Editor, and the men in his establishment; William S. Delp, Dr. Jas. I. Good, Rev. William Hinke, H. Harold Kershner, Rev. Thomas H. Krick, Edward E. Hafer, Harry E. Miller and The Reading Eagle.
The history of St. John's Reformed Church of Lower Heidelberg township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, is the history of the people of that part of the country in those early pioneer days and brings to light the life and character of the people of Eastern Pennsylvania. They were men of good morals, pure character, honest and upright in their dealings, whose word was as good as their note, with strong and hardy bodies endured to hardship, ever willing to suffer deprivation for the cause of justice, of resolute determination and zealous devotion to the God whom they worshipped. These people came from a country where war and strife held supremacy for centuries, and where no one was safe from molestation.
"Brains," says Machiavelli, "are of three generations—those that understand for themselves, those that understand when another shows them, and those that understand neither of themselves nor by the showing of another." The people that came to this country were of the first class. Such men you cannot enslave; you can put them in bondage, but, their minds will ever remain unfettered. If it were not for the latter two classes, humanity could not be made the tools and servants of unscrupulous and tyrannical despots and be hurled against each other in war to their own destruction, and those escaping the ravages of the murderous hand made to restore the devastated land and pay the taxes. For centuries the common people were oppressed by war, but especially when the Thirty Years War broke out; the conflicting armies swept over Germany and the Netherlands like a devastating fire, fighting solely for plunder, and men became like legions of bends unchained from hell When the war ended in 1648, by the Treaty of Westphalia, civilization was almost blotted out.
After coming out of all this strife, deprivation and suffering it is but natural that the earliest settlers should endeavor to organize a home rule or government that would meet with their long deferred hopes. With such underlying thoughts and feelings in the hearts of the men, this community was established, a place for good government and pure religion. These very thoughts and motives produced a Thomas Jefferson, a George Washington, and a William Penn, and many others, the founders of our free institutions, and the separation of the State and the Church and the education of the children, for in the country where our people came from the Church and the State were one, a great evil in the minds of our forefathers; hence whenever the State or any organized body tried to bring things back to the old system it met with the greatest opposition, and the people that belonged to the Tory party called them all sorts of names, ridiculed them and spoke of their language in derision, but our people remembered the sufferings, the trials and all the wrong that had been perpetrated under the guise of religion and those who said they were divinely ordained to rule over them. Several of the American colonies, following the example of England, established Churches supported by the State, but the Revolution, which severed the relations between the colonies and the mother country, put an end to these establishments. The State Church was repealed in New York in 1777, in Virginia in 1785, in New Hampshire and Connecticut in 1818, and in Massachusetts in 1833.
"After taking these things into consideration, we can understand why Thomas Paine, in 1776, published a pamphlet entitled Common Sense, in which he maintained the cause of the colonies against the mother country. The success and influence of this publication were extraordinary and it won for him the friendship of Washington, Franklin and other distinguished American leaders.
Thomas Jefferson said that every man had two countries, his own and France and the Netherlands, from which he learned many of the ideas which became part of the Constitution of the United States. In the Declaration of Independence, Church and State are separated and the rights of the individual man established.
But long before the Declaration of Independence was written those principles were deeply written into the hearts of the men that came to the Lebanon valley and laid the foundation of what is now Hain's Reformed Church, or was then known as the Cacoosing Church of Heidelberg township. The origin of the birth of the Constitution is found in France, Holland and the Netherlands, which have been the battleground of the world for centuries and which aroused such intense opposition to the Church and State being one and the State the ruler of both, and where- the rulers claimed divine origin, denying the rights of the common people. This is the reason that Jews and Roman Catholics were excluded from holding public office; because they could never divorce their religion from public affairs and the government, and thus they were not considered safe as rulers in a country where free institutions prevailed.
By a careful study of the conditions existing at the time those sturdy pioneers made their appearance in the section of territory east of the Tulpehocken region to the Cacoosing creek and made their abode in what is now the fertile Lebanon valley; the reader must remember that the Cacoosing territory was directly east of Wernersville, that is the watershed into the Cacoosing creek, the eastern part of the Lebanon valley, and extended west as far as Cornwall, to the Quito Pahillo and to the South Mountain, eastern part of Heidelberg township and a small part of Spring township; the central part comprised the territory extending westward to the Tulpehocken watershed, and the western part of what was then Heidelberg, to Tulpehocken region, likely as far as the Mill creek.
The section known as Heidelberg, Berks County, formerly, Lancaster county, was settled by immigrants who left the Palatinate in Germany about the year 1707-9. They first went to London in response to the invitation of Queen Anne, who had seen their destitute condition in the Fatherland. About the year 1710 a number of the Palatinates came to Schoharie, Ulster county, New York.
Owing to the cruel treatment received at the hands of Governor Hunter, and having heard of the unoccupied lands in Swatara and Tulpehocken in Pennsylvania, they left Schoharie and traveled in a southwestern direction through the forest till they reached the Susquehanna river, where they made rafts, loaded them with their families and some household goods, floated down the river to the mouth of the Swatara Creek; thence they worked their way up till they reached a fertile spot on the Tulpehocken creek, where they settled amidst the Indians in the spring 1723. The cattle they drove by land. There were thirty-three families of them at Tulpehocken in 1728.
In 1729 there was an important accession. Among these were the Holms, Fischers, Lauers, Anspachs, Batdorfs, Spichers, Christs, Cadermans, Noacres, Lebenguths and the Weisers. Some of these families remained in the Tulpehocken section, while some moved eastward to Womelsdorf, and still others farther eastward to what was known as the Cacoosie section, among whom where the Hains, Fischers, Spohns and Laucks.
Thus the causes that led them to brave the tempests of the Atlantic, the trials and suffering they had to endure at the hands of those in whom they had entrusted their weal and woe; in their defective title to the lands at Schoharie, New York, and eviction out of their homes; their journey through an unbroken wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and savage Indians; their floating down the Susquehanna river on primitive rafts, and on disembarking having nothing before them but again a vast wilderness and the canopy of the heavens; their tedious and weary journey to the place which was to become their abode; the labor, the trials and hardships they had to undergo in conquering the forests and the wilderness to make the land arable and bring about the productiveness of the soil. No wonder that those became a peculiar or separate people, of different thought and mind, than such as had not passed through such fiery furnaces or ordeals of adversities as they had. On the other hand, we have those of the Palatines who came direct from their mother country to the eastern part of the province of Pennsylvania and settled in this section at a later time, who for the sake of religious liberty sought a home where they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience without hindrance or molestation.
The recorded history of our Church in Pennsylvania begins with the year 1720. There is but a single document which goes back to that early date. It is the petition of the Reformed people in Montgomery county, presented to the classis of Amsterdam, requesting that body to consent to the ordination of John Philip Boehm. Writing of Rev. Boehm they thus refer to the first German Reformed services in Pennsylvania: "Shortly after his arrival (in 1720) some of the neighbors established a religious meeting, in which the said John Philip Boehm, as reader, maintained the ministry of the Word to the best of his ability and to the great satisfaction of the people, for five years, without receiving any compensation." In the year 1725 the people succeeded at last in persuading Boehm to assume all the duties and responsibilities of the ministerial office. After long hesitation he finally yielded to their urgent request, and on October 15, 1725, he celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time at Falkner Swamp, and organized the first German Reformed congregation in Pennsylvania. If we are to accept any date as the birthday of our Church in Pennsylvania, it ought certainly to be October 15, 1725.
At the same time when Boehm was organizing his first congregations and assuming all the rights of a minister, the Reformed people began to congregate in another section. It is an interesting fact, which ought to be emphasized, that almost contemporaneously and yet independently, the beginning, was made in two distinct places, namely, in the Schuylkill Valley by Boehm and in the Conestoga Valley by Conrad Tempelman. The latter began unknown to Boehm and independent of him in 1725, the birthyear of our Church. They were both pious laymen, both were urged to undertake the work by their neighbors and friends, and both were instrumental in gathering many congregations and in saving the Reformed Church from the danger of sectarianism, which threatened to crush out her existence.
The first definite reference we have to Hain's or Cacusi Church is found in the report of John Philip Boehm to the Classis or Coetus of Amsterdam January 14, 1739. After referring to difficulties which existed at Oley he continues: "The minister of this congregation can also supply the place which is called Cacusi, where (as I hear) likewise a conslderab1e congregation has gathered. This place is about seven or eight miles from the centre in Oley. (Goetschi has also presumed for some time to serve this congregation with the means of grace.) At Falkner Swamp, White Marsh, Oley and Philadelphia, and also in the neighboring places, there is as yet nothing. Services are held with great inconveniences in houses and barns, except at Cacusi, near Oley, where, (as I hear) they have built a log church for their use. Now concerning the last point, how the congregations are supplied with schoolmasters and precentors, there is as far as I know nobody with fixed position."
In the same report Rev. Boehm reports how the churches of Pennsylvania may be combined and in the most convenient and useful way be served by six ministers. "At Oley the same condition prevails, and perhaps a suitable place may still be found from which Cacusi and Maxatawny may be served."
Minutes of Coetus, pages 12, 13, and 16.
Pennsylvania was flooded at that time by all kinds of sects—Quakers and Mennonites, Dunkers and Seventh Day Baptists, Inspirationalists and Separatists, Hermits and Newborn. Moreover, we are informed by Spangenberg, the biographer of Zinzendorf, that "many thousands of these people, were so indifferent toward religion that it had become proverbial to say of a man who did not care for God or His Word, that he had the Pennsylvania religion."
This deplorable condition is very strikingly set forth in a letter of Boehm to the Classis of Amsterdam, dated November 12, 1730, in which he says: "By these dangerous sects an appalling number of people have been led astray, yea, even married people have been separated. The two main heretics, who have been driven away from all places (C. Beissel and Michael Wohlfohrt) live at Canastoka and Falknerschwam. Meanwhile it must be feared that if they are not opposed, many poor people will be led astray by them. We hear continually of such who here or there have gone over to them, to our great astonishment, even of some Reformed people."
It was this activity and missionary enterprise, especially of the Dunkers, described at length in the Ephrata Chronicle, which led the Reformed people to rally around their leaders with the determination to stem" if possible, the flood of sectarianism, which was sweeping over the land.
They realized that the thing for them to do was to erect a Church for the glory of God, where they might worship God and have His divine blessing and enjoy the freedom for which they had been struggling for centuries. Therefore, by their united efforts, these various sects were prevented from coming into the territory of this congregation.
Grotius, who was well informed as to the conditions of Europe, says that a hundred thousand heretics were put to death in the Netherlands under the edicts of Charles V. Such was the religious record of this people. They were divided into seventeen provinces; this explains the numerous sects found in eastern Pennsylvania, as each province united under their faith because the old form of government was largely destroyed.
When the Reformation first broke out, the Reformers of the Low Countries inclined to the theology of Luther. But in time they took up with the teachings of Calvin, and Calvinism in all its fullness was adopted as the creed of the Reformed Church. It is to this doctrine that the free countries owe their liberty, and the United States are the first fruition.
It was the Reformed Church of Holland which first planted Presbyterianism in the new world. Subsequently, many adherents of the Reformed faith emigrated to America. Those from the Continent, while retaining the general epithet of the Reformed, prefixed adjectives to indicate their origin; hence the Dutch Reformed, the French Reformed, and the German Reformed Churches; scattered representatives of the Swiss Reformed also were not wanting. From 1730 to 1792 the German Reformed churches, mostly derived from the Palatinate, placed themselves under the Classis of Amsterdam. To Amsterdam, indeed, all the American Churches that were of Continental origin turned for men and money.
The Reformed Church in the United States, while it recognizes all evangelical Christians as brethren, has been noted for conservatism in doctrine, or else this congregation could not have been true to its doctrine for a period of some twenty years without a regular minister; this proves that the early settlers were well grounded in their faith. The elders and deacons are chosen only for two years, although they may be re-elected; but the elder retains the honor of his office for life, and may at any time, although not in the Consistory, become a delegate to the Synods of the Church. The acting may call together all former elders as a Great Consistory for consultation on important matters. Such a meeting was held at the Cacoosing Church, August 29, 1743. The same is found in Dr. Good's History of the Reformed Church in the United States, page 240.
In order to avoid neglecting any part of divine truth, ministers are required to explain the system of doctrine contained in the Heidelberg Catechism to the youth. The system presents the fact and the cause of man's misery, the method of redemption and the gratitude which is due to God therefor, constructed on such a basis and emphasizing the comforts to be derived from all the great facts of Christianity, the Heidelberg Catechism is one to which evangelical Christians of all creeds could subscribe.
The difficulties that encompassed the work of establishing this organization had appeared well nigh insurmountable when Boehm and Weiss began their labor among them. The Germans were poor, and had brought with them from their fatherland their doctrines. Unfamiliar with the language of their adopted country, they were slow to adopt the methods of their neighbors, and in later days a change in language, accompanied by dissension and conflict, is not surprising. These difficulties, however were eventually overcome, as the remarkable growth of the Church shows.
The territory called Tulpehocken was not confined to the present limits of Tulpehocken and Upper Tulpehocken, but embraced all the land along the Tulpehocken creek and up to the Blue Mountains except Bera and a few other townships west of the Schuylkill. The place in which most of the historical events transpired are now comprehended in Heidelberg, Marion, Tulpehocken and Bethel. The most important meetings and conference took place at Conrad Weiser's farm.
The settlers spread rapidly over the country and, since part of the now Lebanon valley was looked upon as a promised land and was one of the most noted places in the county at this time for the fertility of the soil and its desirableness for a habitation, it was natural for the Palatines to have a strong inclination to settle there.
The Indians never brought charges of fraud and dishonesty against the Palatines, and the German always treated the Indians with strict adherence to honesty and never took advantage of them, and for this reason there is no record of an Indian massacre in this section, which speaks remarkably well for the early settlers and their peaceable disposition.
The secretary produced a number of deeds, in one of which Sassoonan signed a release of "all the land situated between the two rivers, Delaware and the Susquehanna, from Duck creek (in Delaware) to the mountains on this side of the Lechay (Lehigh)." This territory was again covered by a deed given in 1732.
"Sassoonan (Allumapees) said that the land beyond these bounds had never been paid for, that they reached no further than a few miles beyond Oley, but that their lands on the Tulpehocken were seated by the Christians."
"Mr. Logan (the secretary) answered that he understood at the time the deed was drawn and since that Lechay hills or mountains stretched away from a little below Lechay or fork of the Delaware to those hills on the Susquehanna that lie about ten miles above Paxton. Mr. Farmer said those hills passed from Lechay a few miles above Oley, and reached no further, and that Tulpehocken lands lie beyond them."
It was at length conceded that the land in Tulpehocken still belonged to the Indians and it was at once conceded that the Palatines would not have settled without the consent or invitation of some man who held a position in the Provincial Council. After a number of animated speeches to discover on whom lay the responsibility of inviting the Palatines to settle on land still in the possession of the Delaware, James Logan, a member of Council, said that he was aware that Palatines had settled there and how they came there he was about to disclose. He then presented a petition directed to His Excellency William Keith, Baronet Governor of Pennsylvania, and signed by thirty-three families. The petition is as follows:
"That your petitioners are natives of Germany. About fifteen years ago they were by the great goodness and royal bounty of her late Majesty Queen Anne, relieved from the hardships which they then suffered in Europe and were transported into the colony of New York, where they settled. But their families increasing and being in that government confined to the scanty allowance of ten acres of land to each family, whereon they could not well subsist. Your petitioners being informed of the kind reception which their countrymen usually met with in the province of Pennsylvania, and hoping with what substance they had, acquire larger settlements in the province, did last year leave their settlements in New York government and came with their families into this province, where upon their arrival they applied themselves to His Excellency, the Governor, who of his great goodness permitted them to inhabit upon Tulpehocken creek, on condition that they should make full satisfaction to the proprietor or his agents for such lands as should be allotted to them when they were ready to receive the same. And now your petitioners, understanding that some gentlemen, agents of the proprietor, have ample powers to dispose of lands in this province. And we, your petitioners, being willing and ready to purchase, do humbly beseech your Excellency and Council to recommend us to the favorable usage of the proprietor's agents, that upon paying the usual prices for lands at such distance from Philadelphia we may have sufficient rights and titles made to us for such land as we have occasion to buy. And we humbly beg leave to inform your Excellency and Council that there are fifty families more who, if they be admitted upon the same conditions, are desirous to come and settle with us. We hope for your favorable answer to this, our humble request, and as in duty bound shall ever pray."
In 1723 thirty-three families of the Germans, having been sorely pressed and wronged, firstly by the Dutch and then by the English, and then finally deprived of their lands and other possessions in Schoharie county, New York, came to Pennsylvania by the Susquehanna and Swatara. They settled near Tulpehocken, about 50 miles west of the Schuylkill.
William Fisher was one of this company and settled in Heidelberg township. He married Gertrude Elizabeth Hain, daughter of George Hain. Peter, son of William Fisher, married Abigail Heckert (afterwards Eckert), and the son Henry married Susannah Ruth on January 4, 1781, and died in Huntingdon, Pa., in 1821.
Peter Fisher and his son Peter were privates in the Revolutionary war, in the company of Capt. John Ludwig (1780), while Henry Fisher served as a private in 1776, in the company of Captain Henry Christ.
Henry Fisher emigrated from Heidelberg to Oley (Berks) in 1791; married to Sarah daughter of Jacob V.R. Hunter.
Louis resolved to attack the Confederates, with no other purpose but to destroy them, hence he hurried a large army into their country and laid waste the entire country. Among the places reduced to ruins were the historic town of Heidelberg and a number of smaller towns. Even fruit trees, vines and crops were destroyed, and a hundred thousand peasants were rendered homeless. This gives us an idea of the terrible suffering and poverty of the people that came to the New World to seek shelter and a place where they might enjoy freedom without persecution from religious fanatics.
From the day of King Saul, when the people cried out, "Let us have a king!" kings were regarded as being the appointed rulers from God to govern the people. This theory was held as regards kings and the Papacy. According to this theory, they were to take care of the people as a father takes care of his family and provides for them; and under no circumstances is it right for them to rebel against his authority, any more than for children to rise against their father. The king is responsible to God alone, and to God the people, quietly submissive, must leave the avenging of all their wrongs.
Kings are the ministers of God. "The throne of a king is not the throne of man, but the throne of God himself." "The person of a king is sacred, and it is sacrilege to harm them." The same applies to the Papacy. By the misdeeds of kings and Popes the people gradually learned by their deeds that they were not appointed of God, but simply the machination of unscrupulous men. And thus we have the great struggle between the rulers and the people; out of it came the Reformation and all wars pertaining thereto, which pauperized the people, devastated the land and turned the world into a field of carnage.
The great Protestant communions finally broke up into a larger number of denominations, or Churches, each holding to some minor point of doctrine, or adhering to some form of worship disregarded by the other. The contentions between the different sects were sharp and bitter, like that in the days of the Apostle Paul. One said, "I am of Luther;" another said, "I am of Calvin," and another said, "I am of Zwingli," and so of all the sects that had adherents among the people.
From the foregoing historical facts explains the divergence and especially different trend of the people that came in the Tulpehocken region and those coming in the Cacoosing region, the former being allied to the Germans while the latter came from the Palatines and Dutch, and that for a century this part of the Church did not receive any recognition by the Coetus.
The forming of the congregations and the erecting of houses of worship at this early period was indeed a hardship, and services were held generally at private houses until a nucleus was obtained leading to a congregation.
The Reformed Church then had only a few ministers, and those adhering to the Reformed faith were scattered over a great extent of territory, with no roads communicating or making places accessible other than trails or only partly opened roads through dense forests. It thus is very plain that those isolated settlements could not have regular services, but only at some stated time, once or twice a year at the most, be visited by one of the few ministers located in eastern Pennsylvania; such was, without any doubt, the situation of this congregation.
From 1730 to 1757, during which time it had no regular pastor for any length of time, services were likely conducted by some layman. The following names do appear in those early times:
John Conrad Tempelman was born at Weinheim, in the Palatinate, and baptized March 22 1692. (In those early times, as a rule, no record is kept of the birth, but only of the time of baptism.) He was the son of Henry Templeman, a miller by trade. He was married September 22, 1717, to Anna Maria Barth. He came to America between the years 1721 and 1725; the exact time is not known. He was a parochial school teacher and started many a Church and parochial school.
He lived near Lebanon, and began preaching about the same time that Boehm did, namely, in 1725. Tempelman thus describes the first beginnings of his work in a letter sent to the Holland deputies, February 13, 1733: "This Church took its origin in the year 1725, at Chanestoka with a small gathering here and there in houses, with the reading of a sermon and with singing and prayer, according to the German Reformed Church order, upon all Sundays and holidays." He also says that on account of the lack of ministers they were without the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper: Tempelman was very watchful against sects, and his congregations were very much united.
As the two founders of the German Reformed Church, Boehm and Tempelman, were laymen, it brings into prominence the thought that the Reformed Church owes a debt to the laity. She should, therefore, give prominence to them in their work, and not to suppress them. (This idea of the laity ruling is characteristic of the people of this section of Berks county and Lehigh county.) This origin of the Reformed Church through the laity gives a special emphasis to the idea that the ministry is not a separate class appointed to do some other work than the laity. All of God's people are priests. "Ye are a holy priesthood," says the Apostle Peter, and the watchword of the Reformation was the priesthood of all believers. Our Church in Pennsylvania owes its origin to the pious laymen.
Tempelman's eyesight became defective in the later years of his life, on account of which he was no longer able to serve his congregations. In 1760 he is reported as blind. He died about 1761. He was buried about four miles southeast of Lebanon at a place called Tempelman's Hill, near which he used to live.
He was born at Berne, Switzerland, a son of Hans Joachin Guldin and Anna Maria Koch; he was baptized April 8, 1664. He was educated at Berne, entering the University there in 1679, and became a Swiss Pietist. In 1710 he came to America, having with him his wife and four children. He was the first Reformed minister in Pennsylvania. He died December 31, 1745.
There is no record of his birth or parentage. All that we know is that he served the Church as a pious layman. (They had services regularly by a school teacher named Francis Layenberger, whose faithfulness Boehm praises.)
John Philip Boehm was the son of Rev. Philip Lewis Boehm; he was born at Hochstadt, and was baptized there November 25, 1683. He was a school teacher at Worms from 1708 to 1715. He came to America about 1725, and the records show that he organized a number of congregations.
He was ordained to the holy ministry on Sunday afternoon, November 23, 1739. He died April 29, 1749.
Maurice Goetschi (Rev.) was born in 1686 and became a minister in 1710. He and his son came to America May 29, 1735, landing at Philadelphia. On the day of their arrival the father died, and on June 2 he was buried in the churchyard of the principal Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. His son John Henry was born in 1718. Goetschi, even before his ordination, left Pennsylvania and went, October, 1740, to Long Island, where the congregations had given him a call.
He was born at Muhlhausen, in southwestern Germany. The date of his birth is uncertain, either September 20, 1716, or May 28, 1719. He came to Philadelphia in the latter part of May, 1742. He took the oath of allegiance on May 28, 1742. The last years of his life he spent on a farm near Wolf's Church, York county, where he died in 1781 and was buried there.
He was one of the most interesting persons at that time. He was the most important because of the work he did. He soon became a leading spirit among the Moravians. As far as ability and leadership were concerned he would have made a far better superintendent of the Reformed than Bechtel did. Indeed, he virtually did that work, for Bechtel was a comparatively quiet and non-aggressive man, while Lischy was bright, aggressive and self-asserting. What progress was made among the Reformed by the Moravians was made mainly through Lischy's efforts. Lischy, by traveling around the country, gave Boehm no end of trouble. Indeed, his very qualities for leadership ultimately made the Moravians suspicious of him that he was not entirely sincere in his adherence to them. From the very first he threw himself heartily into the movement. He had hardly landed in America when he accompanied Zinzendorf on a journey (July 24 - August 2, 1742) to the Delaware Indians in the Minnisink Mountains, They returned by way of Lehigh Gap, through Allemaengel in Lehigh county, to Tulpehocken. When Zinzendorf was at Tulpehocken the Lutherans protested against the Moravians taking their Church, August 11, 1742, in a pamphlet called "The Tulpehocken Confusion." (There were also some Reformed in the confusion there protesting against the Moravians.) In December Zinzendorf, while passing through Warwick township, Lancaster county (now Lititz) was asked by persons there to send them a minister. He sent Lischy to Muddy Creek and Kissel's Farm, where Lischy's preaching produced a great awakening. He was ordained at Philadelphia, January, 1743, by David Nitschman. On March 1, 1743, he published his Declaration of his Intention. Its object was to reveal his theological views and also his aim in preaching the gospel. It shows his adherence to the articles of the Berne Synod, and is also Moravian in its gross idea of Christ's wounds. It is followed by a testimonial signed by too many to have their names published. It closes with a hymn of Lischy's. He at once begins his missionary trips among the Reformed to gain them from Boehm to the Congregation of the Spirit. On Thursday before Easter he organized the Muddy Creek congregation on the basis of Bechtel's Catechism and the articles of the Berne Synod, and he baptized there, 1743-4. On April 10 he was in the Coventry district of Chester county, west of the Schuylkill, where the Reformed congregation called him, and a constitution was drawn up on May 19, 1743. On August 29 of that year we find him in Heidelberg township, Berks county, at the Cacusi Church. There a great meeting was held of the Reformed elders from twelve congregations. They were Cacusi, Berne, Heidelberg (probably in Lebanon county), Cocalico, Donegal, Upper Swatara, Blue Mountain, Muddy Creek, Vincent and Schuylkill, and White Oaks. Here it was charged that he was a follower of Zinzendorf, and not a Reformed, and also that he had not been properly ordained. In reply he told the story of his life, and showed the certificate of his ordination. The Reformed were thoroughly satisfied with him and unanimously called him as their pastor. Indeed, they were so well satisfied with him that they published a leaflet signed by themselves, in which they declare that they will brand anyone who attacked Lischy as a liar and a fraud, and a disturber of the peace.
From a letter and report of the Rev. John Philip Boehm to the Classis of Amsterdam, May 19, 1743: "I was also informed by a certain trustworthy man that this man Lischy is said to have sworn by the throne of God, in the presence of certain people at Gaguschi (Cacusi), in Bern township, that he had nothing to do with the doctrine of the Herrnhuters. As a result he was admitted into the Reformed Church there, whereby much mischief has been caused among the members of that congregation. Again, Lischy preached in a private house in Bern township and said in his sermon: 'People should not worry. All men would be saved; none should be lost.' Whereupon George Heen (Hain) there at the above-mentioned Church called him to account soon afterwards, demanding that he should prove this from the Scriptures. 'Only rogues and thieves talked in this manner. On account of this (the word thief) he was cited (before a Justice) by a warrant of Conrad Weiser and bound over to the court at Lancaster."
Lischy hardly preached in the Cacusi Church after this incident.
In a letter of Boehm, written on March 30, 1740, he makes the following report about "Gaguschi" to the Classis of Amsterdam:
"Concerning the congregation at Gaguschi (Cacusi). I was there on the 8th of February (1740) and spoke with Jacob Rieser, who showed me the way to N. Riehm, a deacon, with whom I stayed over night. Next morning he went with me to John Kershner. I explained to them the affair as well as I could. *But I noticed more distrust than zeal for this good and beneficial cause. When I finally desired to know their will and opinion they answered that they would consider the case among themselves and come to me to Dolpehacken on the 10th or 11th (of February) and sign a paper. But, although I waited beyond the appointed time, yet they did not come."—Pres. Historical Journal, vol. 7, page 319.
*He was trying to induce them to subscribe a definite sum toward the support of a minister.
He was from Steichein, near Mayence, where he had been a school teacher. He came to America before 1744. He belonged to the independent class of so called ministers. He was unordained; he therefore never became a member of the Coetus. The last we hear of him is that he was in Oley in 1764.
John Henry Decker became pastor of the Cacusi Church in Berks county in 1751. He was pastor a second time, 1753-1755. As to the history of his life there is no record. He was independent.
The long and calamitous Thirty Years' War was the last great combat between Protestantism and Catholicism in Europe.. It is impossible to picture the wretched condition in which the Thirty Years' War left Germany. When the struggle began the population of the country was thirty millions; when it ended, twelve millions. Two thirds of the personal property had been destroyed. Many of the most flourishing cities were reduced to "mere shells." Vast districts lay waste without an inhabitant. The very soil in many regions had reverted to its primitive wilderness.
The people that came into this section firmly believed in the Heidelberg Catechism and were guided by its doctrine, and when anyone came in their midst of doubtful faith or doctrine they did not allow their teaching, and yet, in spite of it all, they were ever on the alert as to their liberty, so that no king or Pope should rule over them, or any form of government that did not come from the people. This was the cause of the Controversy between Boehm and Lischy, The former strictly adhered to the Church authority or the Coetus of Holland, while the latter did not hold himself subject to their teaching and authority, but stood aloof and belonged to the so-called independent preachers. Boehm complained that Lischy made him a great deal of trouble, in that he interfered with his work. It is reported that Lischy organized the Muddy Creek congregation on the basis of Bechtel's Catechism and the articles of the Berne Synod. It is true that Lischy was sustained at this meeting, but the members of St. John's (Hain's) Church, or Cacusi, never fell in with his views, nor did he serve them for any length of time. It must ever be said to the credit of this congregation that they ever remained true to the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism. This goes to prove how firmly they were grounded in the faith of the Reformed Church and her doctrine. Where is there another class of people that could hold on to the faith of their fathers for a generation without any Church organization, having only laymen as their teachers to guide them? This in itself is one of the most remarkable things in the history of this congregation.
We, the Chancellor of the Right Hon. Count and Lord Sir Wolfgang Ernstin, Count of Isenberg and Biedingen, our gracious Count and Lord, hereby acknowledge and make known that William Fisher, heretofore inhabitant, neighbor and subject of Langenselbol, Amts Bonnenburg, obediently informed us that he "has decided to depart and to emigrate to Pennsylvania, where he intends to settle. And at the same time humbly requests us to notify not only his honesty and integrity, but faithfully to attest that henceforth he owes no allegiance to his Excellency, the Count, as we should find by investigation, and as we would consider it our duty to bear witness to the truth and further the welfare of each and everyone.
To this seemly request to William Fisher we had to accede the more readily the better we have assured ourselves by authenticated reports that William Fisher has heretofore conducted himself to his Excellency, the Count, his counselors, officials, and toward each and everyone, that we can give to all good testimony in his behalf.
His Excellency and we his chancellor decree that William Fisher owes us no allegiance, and permit to him to leave the county of Isenberg and to settle wherever he may desire.
We therefore request all high and low, according to their stations and dignity, obediently, submissively and subserviently and kindly, not only to give implicit belief to our testimony, that the above named William Fisher who comes from a place free from all infectious disease, be permitted to go free and unmolested by whomsoever met, and his long journey to give him all assistance, and preferment, which we shall ever be ready to reciprocate whenever the opportunity shall offer.
The ground for the erection of a church was given by George Hain or Hen.
George Hain, after whom the church was named, the donor of the land upon which the church was erected, died in the year 1746, as appears by an appraisement of his estate. The inventory was taken August 19, 1746, wherein mention is made of a certain tract of land on which the church stands, or out of which the church land was taken, which was valued and appraised at 10 pounds.
From the inventory and will we learn that the following children survived him: John Christ, Peter, George, Adam, Frederick, Henry, Casper (born in 1724 and died October 2, 1762, the father of seven children), Sibila, wife of Jacob Freymeyer; Elizabeth, wife of William Fisher.
In the church records of the Kocherthal colony, which are printed in the magazine "Ye Old Ulster," we find the following Hain record: "Baptized in Schoharie, June 6, 1716, Johann, born February 8, child of John George and Veronica Hohn. Sponsors, Johann Cast and Commissioner. August 18, Anna Elizabeth, born the tenth child of Michael and Magdalena Hoenigen. Sponsors, Johann Stahl and Elizabeth Duntzbachni."
The will of George Hen is on record in the court house in Philadelphia.
From the will and from other records we have the Christian name of George Hain's wife, Veronica, but do not know her family name.
In the name of the Holy Trinity, be it remembered that I, George Hen, of Lancaster county, yeoman, being of sound mind and memory and in good health, thanks be to God for these and all other of His mercies, and calling to mind the uncertainty of this transitory life, do make this my Last Will and Testament in name as follows: 1st. It is my will that all my just debts and funeral expenses be fully paid and satisfied. Secondly. It is my will that my beloved wife, Veronica, shall be and remain in possession of my whole estate as long as she remains my widow; but if she should intermarry, then she is to have her third only, according to law; and I do give and bequeath to my daughter, Anna Sibilla, one shilling sterling money of Great Britain; then I do give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth 150 acres of land situated on Bark Creek adjoining her husband's and William Fisher's land. Then I do give and devise and bequeath unto my son John Christ my tract of land lying on the other side of Runn of about 150 acres, this proviso and upon this execution only that he shall return and give back 30 acres of land which he comprised to have admeasured to him from land that was laid out and surveyed unto me; and if not complying with this proviso and condition, he, John Christ, shall no ways have the land so bequeathed unto him, but instead thereof shall have 5 shillings sterling money of Great Britain; the said tract of land so intended for him shall revert to my estate. Then I do give and bequeath unto my son Peter 1 shilling sterling money of Great Britain. Then I do give and bequeath unto my son John George 1 shilling sterling money of Great Britain. Then I do give and bequeath unto my son John Adam that tract of land of 200 acres which I bought of Martins Moreoser; and do give, devise and bequeath unto the said John Adam 50 acres of land situated and lying by or near the church. Then I do give, devise and bequeath unto my son John Frederick that plate of tract of land near Brunnen Kiln, consisting of 188 acres. Then I do give, devise and bequeath unto my son John Henry 100 acres of land which I bought of William Allen, and 100 acres of land at the upper end of the said tract which I took up from the proprietor, both lying and situated on Dry Creek near my dwelling house. Then I do give and bequeath unto my son John Casper the plantation where I live upon on Dry Creek, contains 200 acres, altogether with the buildings and improvements therein. Then I give, devise and bequeath unto my two last named John Henry and John Casper that tract of land adjoining William Allen's by the hill, containing 126 acres, to be equally used or divided between them; and I do hereby nominate and appoint my said beloved wife, Veronica, and Thomas Edwards, Esq., to be Executors of this my last Will and Testament; and I do hereby revoke all other and former Wills and Testaments by me made, and do declare this and no other to be my last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I, the said George Hen, have hereunto set my hand and seal this 17th day of November in the 16th year of his Majesty's Reign, A. D. 1743.
Signed, sealed and published and declared by George Hen to be his last will.
Witness: Joseph Croll, Wm. Burg, Alessa Crellms
Philadelphia. April 8, 1746.
Two witnesses appeared and swore that he was of sound mind.
Source: History of St. John's (Hain's) Reformed Church in Lower Heidelberg Township Berks County, Penna. by Rev. W.J. Kershner and Adam G. Lerch. Reading, PA: I.M. Beaver, Publisher, 1916, pp. 4-26.
Submitted by: Nancy.
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