priceless contribution to our own church life. They were men and women
from all corners of Germany, who had come under the inspiration of the
religious awakening to which reference has already been made. They
became leading workers in our congregations and Christian enterprises.
We, whose privilege it was to minister to them, knew well that we were
only reaping where others far away and long ago had sown.

The inability of the Lutheran Church to supply an adequate ministry for
this vast immigrant population left the way open also for other
Protestant churches to do mission work among the lapsed members of our
communion.

A number of churches were established where services in the beginning
were held in the German or Scandinavian languages. Through Sunday
Schools and other agencies many Lutheran children were gathered into
their congregations where they and their children are now useful and
honored members of the church. A goodly number of eminent ministers in
various non-Lutheran Protestant churches of this city are the children
or grandchildren of Lutheran parents.

[illustration: "Carl F. E. Stohlmann, D.D."]

With this general outlook over the period, let us take up the thread of
our story.

On the death of the elder Geissenhainer in 1838, Karl Stohlmann, a
native of Schaumburg Lippe, was called from Erie, Pennsylvania, to be
his successor. For thirty years the pastor of the Walker Street Church
was an important figure among the Lutherans of this city. The scope of
this book will not permit an adequate account of his labors. He died on