of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 334-335
FIRST GERMAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Previous to any regular church organization, the members, who afterward established this congregation, held religious singing and prayer meetings in various localities, but soon became desirous of having some one to preach to them, and consequently called Rev. Paul Mais. Their services were held in the church of the English speaking people of the same denomination. After the sale of the church building in question, the Germans rented a room on Second street. The church was finally organized June 1, 1855, by a committee of the Presbytery of Cedar, Iowa, composed of Rev. A. Van Vliet, of Dubuque, Rev. Samuel Baird and Elder I. S. Horten, of Muscatine. Bernhard Naeve and Friedrich Hacker were then elected elders and John Schmidt and Ernst Kudobe were chosen deacons. At a meeting held March 30, 1857, by the congregation, Rev. Jacob. Kolb was elected the first regular pastor. The original members of the organization were Bernhard and Johana Naeve, F. Hacker and wife, Elizabeth Lowre, Heinrich Linke, John Schmidt and wife, Mary Reis, Wllhelmina Otto, Catharine Otto, William Jacob and wife, Ernest Kudobe, Mary Meis, George Schweinsberg and wife, Conrad G. Schweinsberg, Agatha Closer, Bernhard Kemper, Joseph and Margaret Looser, Johana Sywasink, and Elizabeth Briedenstein. At a meeting held May, 1857, it was decided to buy a lot and build a house of worship. To this end John Schmidt and F. Hacker were elected trustees. The church was incorporated by Rev. Jacob Kolb, Bernhard Kemper, John W. Sywasink, Henry Linke and Joseph Looser, July 3, 1857. The congregation came into possession, by trade, of the old Methodist church on Third street, which in 1876 they sold to the city, and built a church on Lucas street.
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