Reminiscences of Rev. Harry C. Welp

It's been awhile since I've written anything and I put the following information together for my Aunt Vera.  The words are almost exclusively my grandfathers, I did make a few edits.

Reminiscences of Rev. Harry C. Welp

Edited by Joel S. Russell

            My father, Henry J. Welp, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 26^th, 1858.  When he was four his parents moved to Washington County, Illinois.  His boyhood days were spent in Hoyleton where he attended Trinity Lutheran School.  He served as a stable boy for Pastor Kattein who encouraged him to attend the Evangelical Lutheran Teachers Seminary in Addison, Illinois.  He entered this Seminary in 1876 and graduated in 1881.       

On April 10, 1882 he married Regina Twenhafel, at the time of their marriage the two together did not weight 200 pounds.

In 1883 my father accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Frohna, Missouri to serve as Principal of the church’s Christian Day School.  He served Trinity’s congregation as teacher, organist, and choir director for 52 years until his retirement in 1933.

He was of a quite nature, earnest, dedicated, and faithful to his life’s work as a servant of his Lord; devoted to his wife and family.  He was known for his skill in growing varieties of flowers.  His biographical sketch appears in the “History of Southeast Missouri, 1888.  We quote from this sketch:  “Prof. J. H. Welp is a man of culture and has been very successful as an educator.  He is a close student and has a library of useful books by which he can gratify his taste for reading.”

My mother, Regina, nee Twenhafel, was born Jan. 29, 1860 at Venedy, lllinois.  Her parents were Henry Johann and Marie, nee Eckert, Twenhafel.  Her father operated a General Merchandise Store in Venedy.  He died in 1867.

            My mother received her education in St. Salvator Lutheran School in Venedy.  All subjects were taught in the German language.  Mother spoke a fluent High German, the official language of Germany.  The German spoken in the countries of N. Germany was at that time the German spoken by most of the people in Venedy and surrounding regions.  When writing letters she used not the Latin letters, but the original German letters.  During my years at College and Seminary she wrote regularly, using the original German lettering.  Later in life she did acquire the use of the English language, but used it only when necessary.

            Mother had Christian parents who brought up their children in the Christian faith.  My mother loved her Savior and showed this love in her life.  She was a loyal helpmate to her husband during the 60 years of their married life.  The Lord blessed their marriage with nine children, three sons and six daughters.  The bringing up of the children rested chiefly on mother’s shoulders.  The Lord gave her health, strength, patience, and wisdom for this task.

            At the head of a list of mother’s characteristics I would place her devout Christian character.  Any one who met her soon found out that she was a Christian.  But this did not keep her from being cheerful and often humorous.  At our 5^th wedding anniversary, she and Papa, and Theresia visited us at Campbell Hill.  Whenever they came to visit us, mother brought canned goods, coffee cake, etc.  On this particular occasion she brought a cake, a replica of a lamb.  She insisted that I cut the cake.  I did, but discovered that the cake was made of sawdust.  Everybody had a big laugh.  Her birthday was a day to celebrate.  Usually some 20 – 30 ladies came to the party.  She enjoyed this.  She would prepare a delicious meal, home made baked goods, coffee cake, etc. was served.  I remember well the “Platz Kuchen” and “Calla Lilies”.  The ladies would have a gay time, the talked and laughed all afternoon.

            In 1933 my parents moved to St. Louis, MO.  50 years they had lived in Frohna, Missouri, a town of 150 people.  They lived at 4716 San Francisco Avenue in St. Louis.  Here they spent the evening of their life.  Their daughter, Theresia, lived with them and was a great help and comfort in their declining years.  Their children who lived in or near St. Louis called upon them frequently.   Friends from Frohna, where they had lived for 53 years, cheered them by their visits.

They were grateful to the Lord for his guidance and protection.  They often remarked that neither had been compelled to spend time in a hospital for surgery or other ailments.  With the help of God and his promise, “I will be with you always, “; they lived a peaceful and quiet life until the Lord called them out of this life into the home prepared for God’s children.  The Lord called my mother on October 30^th, 1942 after a brief illness.  My father was summoned out of this life by his Lord on October 27^th, 1951.  He had reached the age of 93 years

            Trinity Lutheran Church at Frohna supported a Christian Day School.  All the children of school age attended this two room school.  My father was a teacher and principal of the school.  At the age of six years I was enrolled as a pupil of this school, and graduated eight years later.  In the fall of 1911 I entered St. Paul’s College[1] in Concordia, Missouri.  My desire was, with the help of God, to prepare myself for the Holy Ministry.  In 1917 I graduated from St. Paul’s College, ready to continue my studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

            Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, had an enrollment of nearly 600 students.  These were taught by eleven professors.  My graduation class numbered 84 graduates.  My ‘vicarage’ was served in St. John Lutheran Church at Baldwin, Illinois in 1919 and 1920.  My duties were teaching the Christian Day School grades 1 through 8; leading youth work in the congregation, assisting the Pastor with preaching, and performing other pastoral duties.  During the summer of my vicarage, I worked at Indianapolis, Indiana at Stutz Automobile Factory.  The company built one car per week.   It was while at Indianapolis I met my dear wife Alma.

After my graduation from the Seminary in 1921, I accepted a call to St. Peter Lutheran Church at Campbell Hill, Illinois.  Campbell Hill’s population at that time was 250 people.  The town was not connected with an electric power line, had no improved streets leading into the town.   Four members of the congregation owned an automobile.  Four churches served the community in and around Campbell Hill with the Word of God.  There was one Southern Baptist Church, on Presbyterian Church and two Lutheran Churches, one LCMS and one LCA.

Living conditions were primitive.  Most people who needed a hospital had to travel about 100 miles to St. Louis for such care.  The congregation I was to serve had a membership of about 120 souls.  Most of the people spoke only the German language.  This was the language spoken and used in the church services.  For several years this language was used in teaching religion in the Christian Day School. 

World War I brought many changes; one of these was the use of the German language.  When America declared war against Germany in 1917 many communities throughout America experienced trying times.  A spirit of hatred developed against the German speaking people.  Such was the case in the communities surrounding Campbell Hill.  “Mobs” were formed who wanted the German Language outlawed in all public places, such as, churches, Christian Schools, and business places.  Even private homes were entered and given notice to no longer use the German language.  The transition from the German language to the use of the English language brought on disunity among the membership of St. Peter’s congregation.  Rev. Ernst Hitzeman, who faithfully served the congregation for 10 years, initially refused the change to English.  It was only after a ‘mob’ threatened to tar and feather him that he agreed[2].  For the sake of peace in the communities it was deemed wise to discontinue the use of the German language in the church services for the time being.  The Christian Day school was closed.    Shortly afterward, in 1919, Rev. Hitzeman accepted a call to another congregation.  After some time the Rev. E. Scharlemann accepted a call to St. Peter, but he remained only 18 months.  The rift in the congregation was not healed.

On June 26^th, 1921 I was ordained and installed as Pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Congregation by the Rev. J. Lohrman of Baldwin, Illinois.  Pastor Haertling of Christ Lutheran Church, Jacob, Illinois assisted at the ordination and installation.  My parents and my sister, Theresia, from Frohna attended the service.  They had waited ten years for the day when I would be ready to enter the work of the holy ministry.  The service was well attended.  On that day I also baptized a small child, my first baptism as Pastor of the congregation.  On the following Sunday I preached my first sermon as Pastor and that afternoon I conducted my first funeral service.  On Labor Day, 1921 the Christian Day school, which had been closed for several years, was reopened with an enrollment of 18 pupils.  All eight grades were taught, with the Pastor as teacher.

October 12, 1921 will always remain a special day in my life.  Alma and I were married in Alma’s home in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Because of the distance between Indianapolis and Campbell Hill, most of the necessary preparations for the wedding were left in Alma’s hands.  Present at the wedding were all of Alma’s family, her aunts, uncles, cousins and some friends.  Also present were my sister Ella and her daughter, and my sister Eugenia and her husband and son.  The members of the Semper Idem Club, of which Alma was a member, watched the wedding proceedings from the porch of Alma’s mother’s house.  Rev. E. Zimmerman officiated and Walt’s wife Edna played the wedding march.  Walt gave the bride away and Alma’s sitster Edna was her bridesmaid.  My brother Erich was best man, and my niece Erna Hussmann was the flower girl.  Our first night together we spent at the Sheridan Hotel on Meridian Street in Indianapolis.

On the day after the wedding we boarded a passenger train which took us to Union Station in St. Louis..  On arriving in St. Louis we had a delay or layover of several hours until our train to Wittenberg, Missouri left, but in due time it arrived.  It was a four hour trip from St. Louis to Wittenberg and then we had a seven mile trip from Wittenberg to Frohna.  The only way to get there was by horse and surrey.  Wittenberg was a small village, perhaps 100 people.  About two blocks from the railroad station was the only livery station in town.  We found it, but the owner was asleep when we arrived.  He was willing to take us to Frohna which was about an hours ride on the two horse drawn surrey.

We arrived at the home of my parents after midnight and all the doors in the house were locked.  We knocked, but no one answered.  On the north side of the house my father had built a trellis of light wood to place flowers.  He had take the flowers into the house for the winter, so this provided us a good place to get to the window.  Luckily the window was not locked and we had no trouble getting into the house.  All the bedrooms of the house were on the second floor, but there was a folding bed in the study, which also served as a piece of furniture.  One could easily open it to make a double bed quite comfortable.

When morning dawned, my father came down the steps and opened the door to the room where we were sleeping.  He saw us and quietly closed the door and hurried up the steps to tell mother that we were sleeping in the folding bed in the study.  It didn’t take long before things were stirring in the kitchen.  We got up to eat breakfast that consisted of fried eggs and country ham.  The conversation was carried on in the German language and Alma did a wonderful job answering the questions.  The German she had learned in the Christian Day School at home was put to use in the days to come.  During out visit the young people of Frohna gave us a reception.  Games were played in the yard and conversation was carried on in the German language.  One game Alma knew was “Drop the handkerchief”.  We had lots of fun and refreshments were served.

The following morning a boyhood friend of mine, Roland Schuessler, took us by horse drawn surrey to Wittenberg where we boarded a train to St. Louis.  There we were met by Mr. Fr. Schaak of Steeleville, Illinois who took us to Lammert’s wholesale house where we picked out furniture for our house in Campbell Hill.  At 3pm, the Accommodation of the G.M.O. took us to Campbell Hill.  We arrived in Campbell Hill at 8pm and it was dark.  Mr. Bentfeld, a member of the congregation, met us with a lantern in his hand to lead us to his house.  Here we stayed until our furniture arrived.  Usually a crowd would gather at the railroad station when the Accommodation would pass through town.  On this evening the crowd was especially large as the preacher and his wife were arriving.  We stepped from the train to go with Mr. Bentfeld, but Alma wanted to see whether her trunk would be unloaded.  All kinds of items such as empty milk cans, egg cartons, etc. were thrown from the baggage car.  Finally Alma’s trunk was thrown to the platform, missed it, and rolled to the ground with a bang.  All Alma could say was “Oh!  My cut glass vase, I’m sure it’s broken into pieces”.  Her mother had packed it and we later found that it was unbroken.

In 1937 the enrollment of St. Peter’s Christian Day School had grown to 59 pupils, by the grace of God.  These were the days of the so-called “over production of candidates in our Synod”.  More than 100 candidates, ready to serve the Lord in the holy ministry, stood idle in the field as they had no congregation to serve.  Our Country was in a deep depression and the Synod felt it was not financially able to establish new congregations.  Because the Christian Day School’s enrollment had exceeded 50 pupils the congregation decided to engage one of the candidates “idle in the field”.  Arnold Schneider of Lenzburg, Illinois was willing to head our appeal.  His monthly salary was $25 and room and board.  Arnold worked diligently and faithfully in our midst for eight months.  The Lord signally blessed his labors in our midst.  Later he became a missionary to Brazil, South America.

Our entire ministry was spent as Pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Campbell Hill, Illinois.  During this time I served the Southern Illinois District on various Boards and Committees, Circuit Counselor, Secretary of the Board of Missions, Chairman of the Social Welfare Committee, Pastoral Advisor to LWML and LLL, District Vice President an President of the Southern Illinois District from 1947 to 1957.  I also served the General Synod on a number of special assignments and contributed some sermons to the “Concordia Pulpit”.  After having served as District President for 10 ½ years, I asked the Convention not to consider my name as a candidate for the presidency of the district for a fourth term.

In June 1969 I retired from the active ministry, and Alma and I moved to Sparta, Illinois.  I remained active in the work of the Lord by serving as guest speaker in the neighboring Lutheran congregations when the need arose.  In December 1972, the Lord guided us in making another change in our life.  Four of our children moved to Effingham, Illinois which prompted us to also move to Effingham.  Soon after moving to Effingham the Lakeland Nursing Center asked me to conduct worship services at the Center on Sunday morning.  For almost 10 years now[3] we have been conducting services at Lakeland on Sunday morning.  Alma and I are grateful to the Lord for granting us this opportunity to serve Him in this manner.  This service is a voluntary service.  The fact that Alma has been able to go with me to LNC regularly on Sunday morning has been an inspiration to me, and is deeply appreciated by the 60 to 70 residents who attend the services.

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[1]   St. Paul College followed the German gymnasium educational system that consisted of six years of classical education in preparation for Seminary studies.  This Vollgymansium would allow students to continue for two years after high school on the same campus.  Most then went directly to the four year Seminary in St. Louis to become pastors.

[2]   The story of the tarring and feathering took on a life of its own.  Rev. Baese of nearby West Point, Illinois heard the story and thought it prudent to protect himself and his family.  He took the night train to St. Louis the day he heard of the supposed tarring and feathering.  Within a day or two his wife had all their belonging packed on a wagon and she and the children followed him to St. Louis.  Of special note to this story, Rev. Baese was an accomplished artist, among his many talents, and he painted the altar painting at St. Peter’s in Campbell Hill as well as the altar paining at West Point.

[3]   This was written by Rev. Harry C. Welp in 1982 when he was 85 years old.  He and Alma lived in their own home and continued to visit and preach at Lakeland until he was 90 years old.  Rev. Welp passed away on February 20^th, 1992 at the age of 94 years, 6 months and 10days.  Alma passed away on July 25^th, 1996 at the age of 95 years, 10 months and 23 days. 

In reading his words, I was most surprised by a few stories that he left out.  These stories, that I heard growing up, stand out most in my mind.

In the late 1920s my grandfather and grandmother crossed the Mississippi River by ferry to visit with his family in Frohna, Missouri.  Upon their return, my grandfather's mother slipped some homemade wine in with my grandfather's things.  During the ferry crossing back across the river the bottles exploded and my grandfather was mortified that he, a clergyman, would be found with illicit alcohol.  This was during prohibition, no one on the ferry thought much of it, but they did have a good laugh.

During WWII two men in a black car arrived at the parsonage in Campbell Hill.  My grandmother was home, but my grandfather was at the church which was just across the street.  The men asked my grandmother where Pastor Welp could be found and she told them.  They then turned and asked if he spoke German.  This quickly put her on edge as she remembered what had happened in the area shortly after WWI when they had arrived and anti-German sentiment was high due to the war.  She told them that he did speak German and they proceeded to the church.   My grandmother waited anxiously as the men crossed the street to the church, she wasn't sure if the men might take her husband away.  In short order my grandfather returned and told her that they had opened a POW camp some miles south and were looking for a Pastor who could preach in German to the POWs.  My mother remembers the trips to Pomona where the POW camp was and waiting in the car while her father preached to the men.  He quickly found that most were from the Soviet Union and spoken Russian instead of German.  They were quite grateful to him and built an altar from wood for him.  After some time my grandfather came to the camp and found it deserted, the prisoners had been moved and the gates were locked.

In 1957 a category 5 tornado hit Campbell Hill.   I don't have many details right now, but I recall hearing that my grandfather went out quickly afterward checking on neighbors.  I recall he stayed some time with a woman who was buried beneath the rubble of her home.  He gave her encouragement as she waited for rescue workers to reach her.