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Swiss American Historical Society Review

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Authors

Fran Horn

Keywords

German United Evangelical Church, German-Speaking, Protestants, Immigrants, Prussia

Abstract

In 1846 the congregation "The German United Evangelical Church of Addison, DuPage County, Illinois," which had no denominational affiliation but sought to include all German-speaking Protestants and any other believers in its fold, built the first church and parsonage, with Francis Hoffmann their first pastor. Most its members hailed from the village of Schale in the district of Tecklenburg in Hanover, then part of Prussia. Y~t in the summer of 1847 the Lutheran minister C. A. T. Selle of Chicago initiated the expulsion of all non-Lutherans from the congregation which was completed by 1848. By the end of 1848, therefore, the families that had been ejected from the now purely Lutheran Church made plans to build their own church which they called St. John's United Evangelical Church of Addison, DuPage County, Illinois. There was competition between the northerners and the southerners about where to build the church. The northerners won out by raising the most money. But this did not appear to cause a breach. The people who lived along the Des Plaines River cut down huge oaks for lumber. Free-will offerings were collected and totaled $119.00 and by the Fall of 1849 plans for the church were complete.

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