Folks can’t agree on how to say it, but one of my earliest memories was picking up pecans from the tree outside my bedroom window when I was a kid. It was much safer than picking up peaches from the peach trees, too. The peach trees attracted yellow jackets and other such creatures that I …
The high pulpit at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Serbin is perfectly positioned for the delivery of a sermon. However, the height does come with some disadvantages. Moonyean Recks recently shared in a comment on a previous post featuring St. Paul Serbin that in 1970 her husband, the Rev. Ewald Recks, was delivering a sermon …
[Note: I wrote this after reading in a source that Kilian’s call was on May 25, 1854. However since then I’ve found the actual call document (you can see it online here https://forum.wendishresearch.org/viewthread.php?tid=2644) which is dated May 23. It could be that the original source was just incorrect, or it may be that Kilian officially …
Why Wendish Lutherans Moved to Sam Houston’s Texas Read More »
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” It was probably some time in the late seventies that I first noticed the painting hanging in the hallway of the church that my family attended when I …
This is the site of Bethany Lutheran Church of Green’s Creek, Texas. Bethany was located a few miles south of US 290 east of Giddings. Back in the late nineteenth century, the very energetic Rev. Gottfried Buchschacher of Warda began preaching nearby, and a congregation was established in 1895. The congregation doesn’t seem to have …
Looking for Historical Information About Bethany Lutheran Church of Green’s Creek, Texas Read More »
When I gave my Wendish Heritage presentation at St. Paul Thorndale’s LWML banquet a few weeks back we won a bag of Wendish noodles in the raffle. I’d been waiting for a good reason to make some (do you really need a good reason to make Wendish noodles?), but last night I got a hankering …
It must be Ray Spitzenberger’s It Must Be the Noodles book… Read More »
Pastor Killian often had his hands full with conflicts within his congregation over theology, language (German vs. Wendish), and of course, personal matters. Besides those, it seems that the English-speaking Texans in the area didn’t know what to make of the worship of the newcomers, or how to behave in church. The following rules, which …
“It is not permitted to comb or arrange the hair during the worship.” Read More »
On Saturday, while Margie and I were out at the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum in Serbin I picked up a copy of Ray Spitzenberger’s book, It Must Be the Noodles. Next weekend I’m flying out to South Carolina and I figured it would make for nice reading on the plane. Well, yesterday afternoon I got …
One hundred and fifty years ago, transportation in what is now Lee County, Texas (the county was established in 1874) was a bit more of a challenge than it is today. A number of Wendish folks had begun to settle around West Yegua (now Fedor), but still attended church in Serbin. If they had children …
The Rev. Gotthilf Birkmann had a secret that he kept from his parishioners at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Fedor. No, it wasn’t anything scandalous. Birkmann was born in rural Illinois on June 4, 1854. His father was a Lutheran pastor, and Birkmann followed him into the ministry. After graduating from Concordia Seminary in St. …