Stephan concluded this reflection on Joshua 22 by saying that he wants them to know that his sternness and paternity are connected. He has a duty before God to lead them in the right direction. He reiterated he did not want to govern; but he did not want to be ruled by others either. He asked them to understand that he was only doing his duty. He asked them not to cause him any trouble for he said to them he carried the symbol of the sacrament of the Lord Jesus on his body. He said he cannot remain silent and when he talks in an earnest manner it is for the overall good of everyone. Then he ended this study session saying that “God gives grace at the end of the year. All the standards of measurement will be based on your situation.”
The next notation from the Guenther diary comes from the New Year.
A storm prevented the service on January 6, 1839; however, the passengers enjoyed the sight of the Santo Domingo coastline.
On January 12, 1839, witnessed an unfortunate scene which had its backwash in New Orleans and brought discredit and expense to the Society. Albrecht Schnabel, the ten year old son of Dr. Carl Schnabel, had stolen three watches and then thrown them into the ocean. A jury, composed of deacons of the congregation, found him guilty of this theft and ordered the application of from eight to ten lashes on his back with a leather belt. All the children were ordered on deck not to see the coastline and mountain of Cuba but to witness this punishment.
Dr. Schnabel had appealed to Pastor Stephan to prevent this public disgrace, but Stephan refused to interfere, and he now had another deadly enemy awaiting an opportunity for revenge.6
On January 13, a storm prevented the public worship service on deck. Toward evening of this Sunday, the Olbers entered the Bay of Mexico (Gulf of Mexico).
Guenther’s diary continues the story of nearing New Orleans:
On Sunday, January 20, 1839, close to 5 p.m. in the afternoon, the Olbers dropped anchor in New Orleans, and the long and difficult sea journey had reached its end. The ship’s community had to remain on the Olbers another five days although they were allowed to visit the city. With inner horror they say how in this land the unfortunate slaves were sold to the highest bidder like pieces of goods. Only on the following Saturday, January 26, the Mississippi river steamer, Selma, dropped anchor next to the Olbers, and now the emigrants exchanged the modest environment of the German said ship for the beautiful rooms of one of the biggest of the swimming palaces of that time. This transfer of the passengers and their luggage also took several days so that the Selma departed on Thursday, January 31, 1839, upstream to St. Louis where the passengers of the Copernicus, Johann Georg, and the Republik, had gone ahead on the steam boats Rienzi, Clyde and Knickerbocker.
By now the emigrants-turned-immigrants were waiting desperately for news from the Amalia. During this time Pastor O. H. Walther composed a poem that observed their prayerful wait. Pastor Loeber composed yet another hymn to bring comfort to anxious people who were praying for the safe arrival of those who were still at sea. The Society members sang this hymn as they prayed for the safe journey of the passengers aboard the Amalia.
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, the ship has not come,
The Ship named Amalia is missing!
When wilt Thou, O Pilot, convoy her back home
From the storms that are howling and hissing?
Have we, Lord, been favored thy mercies to share?
Was their ship too small for Thy kindness and care?
Lord Jesus, come, still all our yearning,
And hasten Amalia’s returning!
I granted her prayer for kindness and care.
She was not too small for the tempest and squall.
My love went with her a-sailing
My power and presence prevailing.
My sheep, neither hopeless nor craven,
Were led to a beautiful haven.
It was not until they arrived in St. Louis that they would know for sure that the Amalia, with her fifty-nine passengers, had sunk at sea during the same fierce storm in the North Sea.7
NOTES
1 Carl Eduard Vehse, The Stephanite Emigration to America: With Documentation, trans. Rudolph Fiehler (1840; Tuscon: M. R. Winkler, 1975), 6. Vehse mentions in his diary that the storm was so vicious at times that the cabins’ candles were ordered extinguished due to the heavy pitch and roll of the ship. He says at times Stephan could be heard saying “Darkness! Oh, Darkness.” He comments that Stephan was seasick for three weeks and vomiting gall.
2 P F. Hanewinkel, “Hanewinkel Notes,” Saxon Collection (St. Louis: Concordia Historical Institute), 15. These notes were gathered in Germany by Hanewinkel for Prof. Dau, a teacher at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
3 Koepchen, “Conference Notes,” trans. Axel Reitzig (unpublished ms., Stephan Family Archives, 1934), 58–59.
4 Koepchen, “Conference Notes,” 1. The quote by Koepchen is actually from Vehse’s book, The Stephanite Emigration to America, 9.
5 Vehse, The Stephanite Emigration to America, 58.
6 Vehse, The Stephanite Emigration to America, 59.
7 Vehse, The Stephanite Emigration to America, 55–61.
Part V
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA
17
Establishing Governance
Even though the diaries of the voyage on the Olbers told of the bishop’s election, there is no detail in them about the complexities and intrigue that led up to and accompanied the voting. Discord broke out within the Society. Although dissension arose over money issues before, now as the ship entered the Bay of New Orleans, all the fears and anxieties about the future seemed to focus again on the Credit Fund.
Four of the members of the Emigration lay leadership agitated for a greater share in the leadership. Three of these four men were members of the ten-man Planning Committee who had worked passionately on this risky project for nearly three years. Vehse, the fourth lay member, joined the leadership just six months before sailing. Although they followed and respected Stephan, brothers-in-law Adolph Marbach and Eduard Vehse declared during Stephan’s legal troubles in Germany that they were emigrating with or without him. Of the other two, Gustav Jaeckel and Heinrich F. Fischer, a merchant, little is known except their involvement in the emigration project since its inception.
Adolph Marbach was the Society’s attorney and was Stephan’s personal attorney. He chartered the ships in Bremen along with G. H. Loeber and H. F. Fischer. He acted as counsel to Walther in the Schubert kidnapping episode. He was a member of the land commission. And sadly his three-year-old son was among the casualties at sea. Eduard Vehse, an attorney as well as the curator at the Saxon Archives, helped house the Schubert children, yet later remarked that the event cast a “very dark shadow” over the Society. Although he respected Stephan’s preaching, he accused the pastor of laziness for not conducting public services and preaching aboard ship. Although he was late in joining the Society, he was the first person to deposit money into the Credit Fund, and he served as the first manager of the fund. These men held decision-making positions and definitely felt a great ownership in the whole adventure.
While still aboard the Olbers, Adolf Marbach, joined by the bookkeeper of the Credit Fund, H. F. Fischer, attempted to assume the debts of those people who borrowed from the Credit Fund. He wanted control of the fund because he was fearful of bankruptcy. Marbach wanted the debtors responsible to him, and he would see to it that the debtors would pay or work off their debts. Stephan objected to Marbach’s scheme, believing mightily that those with no income or resources should receive assistance from Society members who could afford the voyage and who wanted to earn interest on their money invested in the Credit Fund. This fund allowed the poor to borrow at 10 percent interest and paid 8 percent to those who invested in it. It was a win-win for everyone as long as the Credit Fund was solvent. Stephan viewed Marbach’s demand to become the receiver, placing the debtors under his personal control, as a blatant, unethical move to enhance his own fortune. Not only was Marbach’s demand to take over th
e debts of the fund contrary to the Credit Fund regulations, but Stephan understood such a move would lead to divisions, between leadership and management and between debtors and creditors. As far as Stephan was concerned, Marbach’s desire to take over the debtor account threatened the unity of the Society and created disharmony and quarreling about expenses and a declining balance in the fund.
Most important, in Stephan’s view, this takeover of the Credit Fund was an outright exploitation of the people in the community who were indebted to the Credit Fund. Stephan was not only outraged at the possible break in the management team, but he was also alarmed by the breach in his relationship with Marbach, one of his most trusted advisors, legal consultant, and friend. Stephan spoke a firm “no” to Marbach’s power move in order to keep the Society intact. He also saw Marbach’s plan as an unjust move to separate the control of the civic leadership from his spiritual leadership.1
Marbach did not give up. He made another attempt to gain control of the fiscal affairs of the Society. Having failed to take over the debtors’ funds, Marbach convinced Vehse, H. F. Fischer, and Jaeckel to join him in calling for a clear division of the spiritual and secular powers and the transfer of the secular powers to him. This would enable him to place the debtor emigrants under his control and influence the whole Credit Fund, thus gaining control of the Society’s entire finances. Stephan’s response to Marbach’s suggestion was that “Marbach was far too young and inexperienced to handle such a responsibility.”2 Although Marbach claimed that the civil and spiritual powers needed to be separated, it was stated in the codes that this would take place when they Society was finally settled.
Pastor Stephan realized, while still in the Bay of New Orleans, that clear authority needed to be established in the community. Throughout the journey, the group was governed by the Emigration Codes, developed in Dresden and agreed to by all members long before anyone had boarded a ship. This document is astonishingly detailed. There are five documents comprising the codes. The first is the Brief Outline of the Codes containing a summary of all the following codes and regulations. The Credit Fund Code, the Traveling Regulations, and the Regulations for the Settlement and the Code for the Civil Community follow the summary outline of the codes. The planners considered every aspect of the trip from the care of baggage to relationships with the ships’ crews and the journey up the Mississippi. In addition to the very important Credit Fund, the codes defined administration of the community while on their journey and the establishment of civic and ecclesiastical order once they secured a permanent home. Paragraph 1 of the Traveling Regulations, for example, is explicit: “They [Traveling Regulations of the Emigration Code] become inoperative as soon as settlement has been effected and the Community Code is introduced.” In other words, the codes remained operative until permanent settlement was achieved.
Paragraph 3 of these Traveling Regulations spells out the joint spiritual and secular authority:
The chief management of all affairs of the entire Gesellschaft shall be exercised by its primate, who accordingly will combine in his person the supreme authority in spiritual and civil matters. All arrangements for worship will emanate exclusively from him until ... permanent settlement has been effected ... Should a second, third, and fourth ship be chartered ... a clergyman shall also be appointed to the supreme leadership in spiritual and civil matters of the persons on these ships.
Paragraph 7 of the Brief Outline stipulates the binding agreement to “raise all church and community expenditures” with each to “contribute in proportion to his means.” Financial support from the Credit Fund for church activities was part of the deal. (See Appendixes A–D for the full text of the Emigration Codes.)
Nearing the end of the storm-ridden, emotionally and physically exhausting voyage, leadership issues naturally cropped up. The Traveling Regulations were about to expire. Stephan knew that for months other pastors had been in charge of three boatloads of people. Suddenly Marbach wanted control of the treasury. A power vacuum loomed if he didn’t quickly consolidate authority.
After Marbach’s request to divide control, Stephan decided to hold the election for bishop before the group settled at St. Louis. He conferred with O. H. Walther and his personal secretary, theological candidate Julius Brohm, asking them to prepare for an election of delegates by the Society starting with the passengers on the Olbers. These delegates offered Pastor Stephan the position of bishop only if it were an election by majority vote. This plan was prepared already in Dresden, and it was to be implemented either in St. Louis or at the final site of their new home.
Gotthold Guenther’s diary, written at sea, says of the episcopal election, “Already in Germany, Stephan had recommended the Episcopal constitution as the most beneficial, but had also declared very determinedly that this was only a human church order.”3 This recommendation, accepted in meetings in Germany, meant that the Society decided early on that they would be governed by a bishop and some sort of legislative group.
Stephan also discussed with his lawyer Vehse his proposal to vote for bishop before landing: “It is necessary that I land on American soil as a bishop. You know that I entertain no sinister motives, so I shall not say a word about that. Everything would go awry if I were not to take this step.”4 Vehse admitted to Stephan that some kind of strong leadership would be necessary in this loosely knit colony, and then he hesitantly joined in Stephan’s request. At Vehse’s reminder that this election now might be construed as a move toward a dictatorship, Pastor Stephan assured him that when they landed and had settled all financial and civil matters, he would give the administration of the so called secular duties to the appropriate deputies.
Pastor Stephan’s request for the election as they arrived in New Orleans was not exceptional, because the Traveling Regulations stipulated in paragraph 3 that if there are three or four ships sailing then “after election of the primate, a clergyman shall also be appointed to the supreme leadership in spiritual and civil matters of the person on these ships.” A primate in ecclesiastical language is the head of the Church commonly known as bishop. Stephan’s direction to Walther to begin the election process could be construed as late in happening, and now it was imperative to stop the splintering of leadership. Pastor O. H. Walther prepared the documents by which the clergy and lay members on the Olbers, and eventually the other three ships, offered Pastor Stephan the Episcopal office.5
Stephan sensed that a fledgling group would fail without a clear, strong leadership, with a history of working together. It was crucial to the survival of this Society that they continue the management of the group as planned until they landed at their new home. Using his intuitive “people” knowledge and his leadership skills, Stephan took the lead and continued to guide this emergent little church to America. He dreamed this dream for decades and was determined to see it through without any fracture in the community.
Toward that goal of keeping the Society together, on the evening of January 15,1839, as confirmed in several of the emigrants’ diaries, the voting members of the Society representing the Olbers gathered on main deck for the purpose of electing a top leader of their Society. Gotthold Guenther’s diary describes it well:
On January 14, 1839, pastor Walther announced the election of bishop on the next day. For this purpose, the members who were declared entitled to vote, women and under-age children were exempted, assembled the following evening. Pastor Walther then introduced the action in a speech. He tried to describe that a spiritual leader was going to be needed in the future, how he had convinced himself ahead of time that the community only wanted to have their favorite wish come true if their much admired leader, Pastor Stephan, were to take on the high office, and that it really did not require a vote because there was only one opinion, etc. However, caution advised this form because otherwise this honorable man might not accept this office if he were not elected to it unanimously. He therefore implored the community to start the election of twelve deputies and to authorize them
to unite their requests with his in order to persuade Pastor Stephan to accept the office of spiritual leader. The following twelve delegates were elected on the afternoon of January 16,1839, to elect a bishop. There were C. Vehse, A. Marbach, G. Jaeckel, F. Barthel, C. Hofmann, G. Pfau, J. Hellwig, A. Haecker, J. Gube, J. Stoerzel, C. Nitzschke, and J. Hoehne Sr.
The deputies’ election was held first on January 16. The deputies then announced the election results to Pastor Stephan. The note in the diary indicates that Stephan was reluctant to accept at first and only after some hesitation accepted the election to the office of bishop.
This meeting took place as the Olbers lay temporarily anchored in the bay of New Orleans, still five days out from the city. Pastor O .H. Walther spoke to the members and explained the necessity of electing Pastor Stephan to the office of bishop. On January 16, twelve lay delegates, elected from the voting members of the passengers on the Others, went to Stephan and declared that they joined with the pastors on board to request that he become their bishop. Stephan accepted their election.
Koepchen noted that all on board understood that this election to the bishopric gave Stephan a valid call as pastor of a congregation, and it included administrative control of all secular and spiritual matters. It was also understood by all that this election of the passengers of the Olbers needed to be confirmed by all the other members of the Society who preceded them to St. Louis.6
In Pursuit of Religious Freedom: Bishop Martin Stephan's Journey Page 19
