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  Copyright © 2008 by Lexington Books

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  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Stephan, Philip G., 1935–

  In pursuit of religious freedom : Bishop Martin Stephan’s journey / Philip G. Stephan.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  9781461633631

  1. Stephan, Martin, 1777-1846. 2. Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod-Bishops—Biography. 3. Lutherans—Missouri—History—19th century. 4. Saxons—Missouri—History—19th century. 5. Missouri—Church history—19th century. I. Title.

  BX8080.S73725S74 2008

  284.1092—dc22

  [B]

  2007052138

  Printed in the United States of America

  The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Foreword

  Preface

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  I - SUNRISE

  1 - Landing in the New World

  2 - Saxon Emigration Society Origins

  3 - Ancestral Roots and the Reformation

  4 - Stephans and the Underground Church

  5 - The University Years

  II - SUNSHINE AND GROWTH

  6 - Martin Stephan’s Family and Early Ministry

  7 - Martin Stephan as Preacher

  8 - Martin Stephan as Pastoral Counselor

  9 - Martin Stephan as Defender of the Faith

  III - NOON HEAT AND CONFLICT

  10 - Condition of the German Lutheran Church

  11 - Disputes with the Saxon State Church

  12 - Legal Charges Filed, 1837

  13 - More Legal Charges and House Arrest, 1838

  IV - EXODUS

  14 - Final Preparations

  15 - Farewell and Delay

  16 - Journey at Sea

  Part V - ARRIVAL IN AMERICA

  17 - Establishing Governance

  18 - Dissension Grows

  19 - Settling In

  20 - Establishing a New Home

  21 - The Press Rears Its Head

  VI - DEPOSING A BISHOP

  22 - Rogate Sunday Sermon and Its Aftermath

  23 - Pastors Plan and Execute the Deposition

  24 - The Deposition Process

  25 - The Saxon Colony Struggles

  26 - Emerging Leadership and C. F. W. Walther’s Legacy

  VII - SUNSET

  27 - The Bishop’s Family in Germany

  28 - Stephan in Exile

  29 - Martin in His Own Words

  30 - Justice Delayed

  31 - Martin Stephan’s Last Days

  VIII - Afterglow

  32 - View from the Twenty-first Century

  33 - Bishop Martin Stephan’s Legacy

  Appendix A - Brief Outline of the Emigration Code

  Appendix B - Code for the Credit Fund of the Lutheran “Gesellschaft” Emigrating with Herr Pastor Stephan to the United States of North America

  Appendix C - Traveling Regulations for the Lutheran “Gesellschaft” Emigrating with Herr Pastor Stephan to the United States of North America

  Appendix D - Regulations for Settlement of the Lutheran “Gesellschaft” Emigrating with Herr Pastor Stephan to the United States of North America

  Appendix E - Martin Stephan’s Investiture as Bishop on Board the Olbers, January 14, 1839

  Appendix F - Excerpts of the “Exulanten–Lieder auf dem Meere,” Songs of Exiles on the Sea, by O. H. Walther

  Bibliography

  Index

  About the Author

  Foreword

  In early November 1838, five ships carrying emigrants from Saxony, Germany, sailed from Bremerhaven to America to set up a religious community in the New World. One of the ships, with its passengers, was lost at sea. The remaining four arrived in New Orleans in January 1839. From there the group went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and then bought land in Perry County, Missouri, some ninety miles southeast of St. Louis. There this congregation of confessional Lutherans settled under the leadership of Martin Stephan, whom they had elected bishop in New Orleans. Thus began what is today the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).

  The story of the beginning of the “Missouri Synod” and its first leader deserves a renewed look simply because that church is the second largest Lutheran Church body in America. Philip Stephan, the great-great-grandson of Martin Stephan, gives us that look through the lens of his great-great-grandfather’s life and work.

  Martin Stephan has not fared well in the literature. Missouri Synod writers, with some exceptions, have tended to focus the story on the failings of the first and, as it turns out, the only bishop the Synod has ever had. Stephan’s character has been vilified and his failings, two in particular, are recounted—again and again. The first is his alleged womanizing, the second the misuse of his power. The first is fairly well documented; the second was quite possibly a ploy to get rid of him.

  In this book Philip Stephan attempts to set the record straight by delving into the theological, social, ethnic and family background of his forebear. It is a contextual narrative that he presents. The author does not gloss over the moral weaknesses of Martin, nor is he defensive about them. On the other hand, his research has brought out heretofore unknown (or at least unpublicized) life and theology.

  For example, the story of Stephan’s abrupt expulsion from the community, as the author tells it, throws quite a different light on both Stephan and his detractors than the commonly accepted interpretation of this rather sordid event. Thus, the book is not only informative, it is also corrective.

  Arthur Preisinger, Ph.D.a

  Preface

  As our family gathered around the supper table many years ago, my father, a Lutheran pastor, introduced his four children to our great-great-grandfather Martin Stephan, first Lutheran bishop in America. We heard an amazing tale evoking mixed feelings of triumph and tragedy. At successive family gatherings, the story of Bishop Martin Stephan would be discussed in greater or less detail with lots of passion, enthusiasm, wonder, and pain, leaving me with a lively curiosity to know more about this man.

  Although some of these conversations seemed to concentrate on negative details, on other occasions some family members managed to see the positive side of Martin Stephan’s accomplishments. One of these reflections is that if he had not come to America, more than likely we would not be here either. This positive respect revealed more of Stephan’s unique character.

  Over the years many different ideas were expressed about how the Martin Stephan story might be told. The ideas for a book were tossed around and theme suggestions for the book ranged from defending the man’s actions to pointing out the injustices that occurred especially at the latter part of his life. This biography is intended to do neither.

  As the years passed since that dinne
r table introduction, I discovered numerous bits and pieces of information that fueled my desire to learn more about this man who was the progenitor of five generations of Lutheran pastors. A little information can be a dangerous thing. So, I began an intensive hunt for new information to round out the story.

  Since no one had written about the person of Martin Stephan, particularly noting his family roots, formative years, and education, this part of the story needed some telling. Records about his ancestry contain rich details not previously used in Saxon Emigration stories. In exploring family histories and genealogical records, I discovered information in the archives of the Czech Republic in Opava that helped flesh out Martin Stephan’s roots. Two trips to Stramberg, Czech Republic, helped me get a feel for the fourteenth-century town, the town square, and the house in which Martin Stephan was born. A trip to Dresden revealed the neighborhood of the church where Martin Stephan served as pastor, the city then still under reconstruction after the bombing of the city and resulting firestorm during World War II.

  Rev. William Koepchen, colleague in ministry in New York and roommate at Concordia College Ft. Wayne, Indiana, began writing a biography of Stephan in the early 1930s with the urging and help of Rev. Theodore M. Stephan, called Theo, grandson of Martin III. Theo stated in a letter to Paul Stephan that both men wanted to “set the record straight” and “stop the slander.” Theo gathered a great deal of family history in the 1920s while a U.S. consul general in Annenberg, Germany. Both the Stephan family and Concordia Historical Institute owned copies of the Koepchen manuscript, Koepchen’s other manuscript, “Brief Conference Notes,” came to the family through Theo Stephan. Koepchen and Theo Stephan were collaborating with Professor W. H. T. Dau of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, on a 1938 centennial celebration edition of the Saxon Emigration. However, William Koepchen died in 1935 before the book was completed.

  Additional information about Stephan was produced by the efforts of Professor Dau, who had enlisted the assistance of P. F. Hanewinkel to transcribe handwritten notes from various German sources such as the Saxon Archives and the Dresden Court records. Known as the “Hanewinkel Notes” at the Concordia Historical Institute (CHI), they had apparently been passed along to Dr. Ludwig Fuerbringer, and after his death they were donated to CHI. These records came to light as Walter O. Forster’s Zion on the Mississippi went to press in 1953.

  Kurt Spillner transcribed into German many Dresden court proceedings pertaining to Martin Stephan and sent them to the CHI in 1986. Such documents were translated into English for the first time by John Conrads and were key in setting the context of many of the church-state conflicts involving Stephan.

  Martin Stephan’s two-volume work of sermons titled in German Der Christliche Glaube was a real find in my father’s library. These sermons, which covered an entire church year, had never been translated into English. I selected sermons Martin preached in 1824. They are key representative homilies of major church year festivals, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. These sermons bring his theology and hope-filled preaching into the clear light of day without reliance on hearsay.

  The new material helped me to get to know my controversial but real ancestor. This biography, which is the first full version of Stephan’s life, presents his story especially from his own writings and the words of those who knew him. The issues which were raised around Martin Stephan’s leadership and his personal life in Germany and in Missouri are still very much alive today. The unfinished business of the Stephan biography regarding ministry, authority in the church, and a graceful approach to the human condition remain the spiritual challenges of the twenty-first century.

  Acknowledgements

  One amazing thing leapt out of these pages as I was writing. When reading acknowledgements in other authors’ books one gets a sense of how many people help with ideas, format, editing, and so on, but until you’ve written a book yourself you have no idea the number of friends and the amount of thought they gave on the way to the publisher. Someone once said that it takes a village to raise children. So does the production of a biography such as this one. Here are but a few of those that assisted with this book.

  So here goes ... I might omit thanking someone, and there are some folks that I have never met or known who gave help with this project.

  First of all to my wife, friend, and partner goes my love and deep affection for her endless patience when I was absorbed in the writing of this work. Her commonsense comments were most important especially when I shared with her some of the parts of the Martin Stephan story that were difficult to write. She knows his history now as well as anyone.

  Deep appreciation goes to Tom Carson, a very special friend and colleague over the years in campus ministry. During one of his visits to my home, he urged me in Nike style, “Phil you need to write this story of Martin Stephan. Just do it.”

  Luke Stephan deserves lots of praise for his help in finding documents that dispelled several myths and gossip about Martin Stephan. It was Luke who swelled our courage to tell the truth to those who thought Martin Stephan was a good target for foul jokes. Above all Luke unearthed the wonderful address by Pr. Stephen Wiest of Michigan who died in the year 2000, too early in his ministry and before I could thank him.

  Many thanks go to Luke’s brother Bob Stephan for his encouragement, financial contribution, and “atta boys” for the work of preserving family historical documents and books. I am grateful for Timothy Stephan’s financial and moral support.

  To my enthusiastic cousin Dick Stephan, deceased now, I owe much for his financial help and his support for gathering information about Martin Stephan with the family genealogy.

  I owe much thanks to my late sister Janice Lydia Torgerson for her careful and precise work on the family genealogy.

  Many thanks go to Dr. Naomi Stephan who assisted with the translation of several letters and court documents.

  The Koepchen family heirs deserve thanks for their permission to use two manuscripts of their grandfather, the Rev. William Koepchen, friend of Theo Stephan.

  Concordia Historical Institute is commended for giving me such cooperative help through their staff, particularly Dan Borkenhagen, in gathering documents for this book.

  If Theo Stephan were still alive I would thank him for his careful work not only in the family genealogy but in the history of the Saxon Emigration.

  John Conrads was a special gift to this project. He appeared in my life by way of an introduction of some friends. His help and enthusiastic spirit were instrumental in translating many documents. This project of translating original documents enabled me to find very important information especially from the legal documents from the Dresden Courts and the Martin Stephan book of Sermons. I appreciated his unflagging energy invested in giving many more hours in translating documents than we had agreed. His stories spurred me on to complete this work.

  My neighbors, Ivan and Jarmila Prikryl, formerly from the Czech Republic in the city of Olomouc, near Stramberg, whom I met serendipitously at a neighborhood gathering—I am pleased about their help in translating several Czech language documents and grateful for their friendship.

  There were four colleagues and friends whose time and suggestions were vital to this book. These people gave selflessly in serving as readers of rough drafts of the book manuscript. Thanks to Dr. Arthur Preisinger for his suggestions and for writing the foreword to this book; to Rev. Thomas Carson, Rev. Gene Brueggeman, and Dr. Harry Boyle, all of whom read early copy and made very helpful suggestions to shape this story.

  A special mention goes to Margot Wright, herself an author and former clergywoman, for reviewing this work at the invitation of the publisher and who gave selflessly in the final edit.

  Dr. Martin Marty, who invested much time giving specific suggestions on how to edit the manuscript, deserves my applause. He was not shy about warning me that reading his comments on the manuscript might be a rough ride. It was a rough ride and a necessary journey at that!

&
nbsp; Finally, to Donna Boyle, special friend over the years, there just aren’t enough right words to acknowledge her investment in this book. Many of her talents I did not comprehend fully until she started to work on this project. As a teacher of church history and English she guided this project in both areas and was not hesitant to watchfully make sure I got it right. Above all, she has worked for four years with little compensation way above and beyond anyone’s expectations. I am so indebted and grateful for her careful crafting and watchful criticism of every word. Frankly, this book would have never made it to the press without her untiring efforts.

  Introduction

  There are at least six or seven historical offerings about the Saxon Emigration of 1838. Most of the stories are rich in the heritage of these Lutherans from Saxony, a German province. Each book tells a similar story of the founders of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod from the perspective of these adventuresome people who came to Missouri from Dresden and its surrounding towns. However, no one has written in English the story of Martin Stephan, the pastor who led these Saxons to the New World. Since new information about his life has emerged since 1953, this story is written from the leader’s point of view. This book attempts to set foot in new territory by telling the life story of Martin Stephan, first Lutheran bishop in America.

  I

  SUNRISE

  1

  Landing in the New World

  When Bishop Martin Stephan stepped from a Mississippi stern-wheeler steamboat onto swampy Brazeau riverbank on April 29, 1839, he planted his feet in the land of his hopes and dreams. His treacherous passage was his first ocean voyage and a successful journey up to this point. Stephan headed the Emigration Society of Saxony from Dresden, Germany. After years of volunteer planning by friends and society members who researched relocation possibilities and made enormous financial sacrifices, they finally arrived in the New World. Their six-week mid-winter voyage across the stormy Atlantic was an enormous physical challenge for all five shiploads of people. Now they faced the huge task of clearing forests and building homes.