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 26th,
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 5th 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 30th, 1942 after a brief illness. My father was summoned out of this life by
his Lord on October 27th,
1951 . He had reached the age
of 93 years
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 26th, 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.
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.
[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 20th,
1992 at the age of 94 years, 6 months and 10days. Alma passed away on July 25th, 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.
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.
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.