The Lutherans of New York - Their Story and Their Problems by George Wenner
page 28 of 160 (17%)
page 28 of 160 (17%)
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between the Dutch and the German congregations was occasionally
disturbed by a pamphletary warfare conducted by their respective pastors, Weygand and Gerock. Weygand died in 1770. He was succeeded by Hausihl (or Houseal, as he spelled his name in later years), a native of Heilbronn, who had served congregations in Maryland and in eastern Pennsylvania. Tradition reports that he was a brilliant preacher of distinguished appearance and of courtly manners. He succeeded in maintaining a large congregation. But a serious change was going on in the church in the matter of language. In spite of the secession in 1750 other Germans kept coming into the Broadway church to such an extent that they outnumbered the Dutch eight to one, and finally the use of the Dutch language in the Lutheran Church of New York came to an end. Houseal had the distinction of conducting the obsequies at the preparatory service on Saturday, November 30, 1771, and at the administration of the Lord's Supper on the following day. But the death of the Dutch language by no means put an end to the language difficulties of our Lutheran ancestors. In the midst of the original contestants a new set of combatants had sprung up in the persons of the children of both parties. These spoke neither Dutch nor German. They understood English only and demanded larger consideration of their needs. Events, however, were impending which soon gave the people something else to think about and caused a postponement of actual hostilities for another generation. |
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