Part II, Chapter XVI — Reconstruction (1900-02)
The re-election of the Board of Foreign Missions at the Chicago Convention of the General Council, in 1899/ was an expression of willingness on the part of the Council to give the Board an opportunity during the next two years to cope with the unfortunate conditions in the Mission and to demon- strate its abihty to bring order out of chaos.^
To reinforce its greatly depleted force of missionaries' the Board, in 1900, called two new men and two woman mis- sionaries, and finally yielded to the repeated requests of Dr. Edman to be returned as a missionary to India.
The Rev. Gomer B. Matthews was called by the Board of Foreign Missions while he was a senior in the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was commissioned and sent out in August, 1900, and reached the field in India in October, that year. A few months after his arrival his health failed, and in a letter under date of May 31, 1901, he informed the Board that he would leave India the next day. The Board terminated its relation with him on June i, 1901. The Rev. Ernst WilHam Neudoerffer, the nineteenth foreign missionary of the General Council, was born in Brazil, South
' Before the next convention of the General Council the following changes in membership took place: Rev. J. L. Sibole resigned and Rev. S. A. Ziegenfuss was elected in his place; Rev. F. W. Weiskotten died and Rev. R. Bielinski was elected to fill the unexpired term.
2 It was during this period that the Board began mission work in the island of Porto Rico. The original motion to make this beginning was made by the Rev. William Ashmead SchaefTer, D. D., on February 16, 1899; and the first missionaries, the Rev. H. F. Richards and B. F. Hankey, sailed from New York for Porto Rico on October 23d, that year. Inasmuch as this book deals only with the history of the mission work in India, and inasmuch as the General Coun- cil, in 1901, created a separate Board to administer the affairs of the Porto Rico Mission, we omit every reference to that Mission in these pages.
^ Only the following missionaries remained in India: Dr. Schmidt, Isaacson, Arps, Holler, Miss Schade and Miss Sadtler.
Ernst Neudoerffer Oscar L. Larson Karl L. Wulters Olaus O. Eckardt Frederick VV. VVackernagel August F. A. Neudoerffer
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA
Agatha Tatcil Mrs. Oscar \'. Werner Mary S. Borthwick Mrs. Krnst Xeudoerffer
SiGRID KsBERHN KmII.Y r.. \\'kISKi>1 lEN Hedgwig Wahlberg Mrs. John H. IIarpster
\\'ONrKX MISSIOX.MUES
RECONSTRUCTION (190O-02) 33 America, while his father was a missionary in that country. The date of his birth is November 5, 1877. His father is now the pastor of congregations in and around Neustadt, Ontario, Canada, where he has served for many years. His mother's maiden name was Barbara Spohn. After having been gradu- ated from Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, Rochester, N. Y., he entered the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1897, and was graduated in 1900. While still a student in the senior class he received and accepted the call to go to India. He was ordained on June 17, 1900, in his father's church at Neustadt, Ontario, at a convention of the Canada Synod. He received his commission, together with Miss Emily L. Weiskotten and Miss Martha Strempfer, at a service held in St. James' German Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, September 2, 1900, and formed one of the missionary party which sailed two days later from New York City on the steamship "Deutschland."
When Miss Charlotte Swenson, on account of ill health, left Rajahmundry in April, 1900, the zenana work which she had developed was left in charge of Miss Kate Sadtler, whom Miss Dagmar Schmidt voluntarily assisted. Miss Agnes I. Schade's furlough was overdue. The situation, therefore, looked quite as ominous for the women's work as for the dis- trict evangelistic w^ork. The Board at this crisis published an appeal for additional woman missionaries, and almost imme- diately Miss Emily Weiskotten and Miss Martha Strempfer volunteered to go to India as missionaries. Both were called on July 30, 1900, and were commissioned, as already noted, on September 2d, that year. This commissioning service was unique and interesting from more than one point of view. All of the new missionaries were children of Lutheran pastors : the Rev. E. Neudoerflfer, a son of the Rev. E. Neudoerfifer, Sr., of Canada; Miss Martha Strempfer, a daughter of the Rev. J. Strempfer, then of Toledo, O., and Miss Emily L. Weiskotten, a daughter of the Rev. Frederick W. Weiskotten of Philadelphia. Moreover, at the same service the Rev. Mr. Weiskotten, the pastor of the congregation, was publicly commissioned and sent out by the Board of Foreign Missions, of which he was a leading member/ to "investigate the work of the missionaries and carry out the order of the resolution adopted by the General Council." The following letter of instruction was given to the Rev. Mr. Weiskotten
"The Board of Foreign Missions of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America has appointed the Rev. F. W. Weiskotten to visit our mission field in India, in order to gain a clear insight into its condi- tions, workings and necessities, and to devise, in conjunction with our missionaries, plans and means by which pending questions may be settled, difficulties removed, and, by a harmonious working together, the prosperity of the field under the blessing of the Lord may be enhanced.
"As the representative of the Board Rev. Weiskotten is authorized to confer with our missionaries and co-workers, severally and in meetings called by him. He may decide questions before them, give instructions and settle disputed points.
"He is to examine into the financial system and into documents and books belonging thereto, and also into the accounts of any member of the Mission who keeps such accounts.
"He is to examine the school system of the Mission as to appointments of teachers, plans of instruction, location of buildings, etc., and is empowered to make changes, if consid- ered desirable by him; the same with reference to the indus- trial interests of the Mission.
"He is to visit the different stations of our field and ac- quaint himself, as far as possible, with their conditions and wants.
"He will also give our brethren opportunity to make sug- gestions as to improvements in our Rules and Regulations.
"Finally, we commit to his discretionary action whatever seems to be necessary without being specified in the foregoing, whilst the Board has the assurance that our brother under- takes such an important and responsible task with an eye ^ He had been a member of the Board since October, 1881, and editor of the "Missionsbote" since December, 1889.
RECONSTRUCTION (190O-02) 333 single to the blessed cause of Christ and the saving of souls, and with a loving heart to the brethren in particular.
"We trust they will honor in him the authority of the Board, receive him with confidence and brotherly affection and work with him in Christian harmony, so that all they do may redound to the glory of God and to a lasting blessing to the Mission.
By Order of the Board,
H. Grahn, President,
A. Oettiiiger, Enghsh Secretary.
Philadelphia, August 30, 1900.
Inspector Weiskotten and his party of missionaries started from New York on September 4, 1900. They were enthu- siastically welcomed at Rajahmundry on October 20th. Dr. Edman, who had joined the party, at once took charge of the Tallapudi district, and the four new missionaries began the study of Telugu. The Inspector spent thirty-six days in the Mission and, among other things, ordained C. James to the office of the holy ministry, the ordained missionaries assisting in the service. Having finished his work of inspec- tion, he left India about December ist, and started on his homeward way; but soon after leaving Marseilles, France, a port at which the ship called, he died at sea on December 15th, and his body was committed to the waters of the Mediter- ranean. "At home were loving hearts awaiting his return and an anxious Board expecting great results from the journey on which it had sent him. Imagine, then, the shock they all sus- tained when on the last day of December, 1900, the news reached them that, two weeks before, he had departed this life and his body had been consigned to a watery grave. The expectations of the Board were all dashed to the ground." "The time of his sojourn in India was too short," the Board acknowledged in its report to the General Council, "and the work in hand too vast for him to engage in any lengthy corre- spondence, and consequently his letters to the Board were few and brief, fully expecting, as we all understood, to give, on his return, a full and detailed account of all he had seen and done. One thing, nevertheless, he did. ... In consultation with the missionaries he prepared a revised form of the Rules and Regulations. . . . Apart from these, little was found that could assist the Board in its work or relieve the situation on the field."!
In connection with the visit of the Rev. Mr. Weiskotten to the Mission the Board learned of the desirability of having the titles of all the properties of the Mission held by the Trustees of the General Council for the Board, which was as yet an unincorporated body, instead of by the individual missionaries, as had been customary; and the Rev. H. E. Isaacson, on July 12, 1901, was duly appointed the attorney in India to take charge of the matter of obtaining the legal transfer of titles. A list of properties in the Mission thus transferred appeared in the report of the Board of Foreign Missions to the General Council in 1901. Considerable difficulty, however, was encountered in the transfer of the titles of some of the property held by Dr. Schmidt, and years elapsed before this matter, which developed into an unpleasant controversy, was finally and satisfactorily settled.
Arps left Dowlaishwaram on furlough in March, and Miss Schade left Rajahmundry on furlough in May, 1901. Both appeared before the Board and reported concerning their re- spective departments of work and the Mission as a whole; and both were directed to attend the convention of the General Council at Lima, O., at which a thorough investiga- tion of the affairs of the Mission was anticipated.
The main topic of discussion at the Lima Convention of the General Council was the difficulties in which the India Mission was involved and which had aroused a great deal of dissatis- faction with the administration of affairs both in the Mission and in the Board. The report of the Board of Foreign Mis- After the death of the Rev. Mr. Weiskotten an " F. W. Weiskotten Memorial Fund " was suggested by his family and congregation, and, in 1905 , contributions for such a fund began to flow into the treasury of the Board. Up to the present time (1914) two thousand dollars have been raised and invested; but the fund is intended to reach the sum of ten thousand dollars, the interest of which is to be devoted to the education of native workers.
RECONSTRUCTION (19OO-02) 335 sions was referred to a special committee^ which was author- ized to go over the whole matter, hear the missionaries on fur- lough and any complaints or representations that any member of the General Council might desire to make, and propose a plan of action which would unravel the tangled skein of mission difficulties.
After reviewing the peculiar difficulties of the Mission the committee submitted the following recommendations which the General Council adopted:
''Even though it should involve increased expense the Board is advised to seek the services of a man of experience and standing in the Church, who would be wilHng and able to labor in our Mission for a term of years. He should be a man of such wisdom and tact that, although not put over his fel- low-workers, his example would soothe the present irritation and his experience would inform the Board and the Church.
"It is imperative that more missionaries be sent into the field and that they should be men and women from our own churches and speaking our own tongue. "The Board is directed to recall the Senior missionary, Rev. H. C. Schmidt, D. D. "We advise that in the election of the new Board of Foreign Missions one-half of those nominated and elected shall be new men.
"The committee has noted with satisfaction and thanks- giving that the contributions to Foreign Missions during the past two years have reached the amount of $50,000. The care of a distant Mission, the direction and maintenance of 125 workers, the supervision of various stations, have occupied the diligence of the Board; and when to this is added the discouragements to which reference has been made, the Board deserves our sympathy. The work of Foreign Missions should engage our sincere interest. We 1 The committee consisted of the Rev. Edward T. Horn, D. D., chairman; the Revs. J. A. W. Haas, D. D., G. W. Mechling, D. D., C. A. Evald, D. D., E. Belfour, D. D., M. L. Wagner, Prof. C. W. Foss, Ph.D., J. Boyd Duff, Esq., Messrs. Wm. Hengerer, James M. Snyder, I. G. Romig, L. W. Kaufmann. Another committee, to which that part of the report which related to the Porto Rico work was referred, recommended a separate Board for that work, and its recommendation was adopted by the Coxincil.
336 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL hope for God's blessing upon our Mission in India. We, therefore, commend it to the prayerful co-operation of our churches."
It may be noted that the number of Christians in the Mission had risen to 6159 at the close of the year 1900, and that there had been no less than 1157 baptisms during the years 1899 and 1900. The number of out-stations was 210, and, in 120 of these, schools were being conducted, attended by 3500 children. The blessing of God was, therefore, evi- dent, despite the chaotic condition of the administration in India and the disagreements between the Board and some of its missionaries.
The new "members of the Board elected by the General Council for four years were: the Revs. Edward T. Horn, D. D., and C. E. Slaett and Messrs. Samuel C. Seiple, M. D., James M. Snyder and James Dangler:—For two years: the Revs. Prof. Henry E. Jacobs, D. D., and J. J. Heischmann, D. D., and Philip S. Zieber, Esq. Those re-elected for four years were: the Revs. Edward E. Sibole, D. D., and R. C. G. Biehnski, and Wilham H. Staake, Esq.:—For two years: the Revs. William A. Schaeffer, D. D., Carl A. Blomgren, Ph.D., and Ernest R. Cassaday, and Messrs. Conrad Itter and Albert Oettinger. These met on October 31, 1901, and re- organized by electing the following officers: the Rev. Prof. Henry E.Jacobs, D. D., President; the Rev. Wm. A. Schaef- fer, D. D., Coriesponding Secretary; Mr. Albert Oettinger, English Recording Secretary; Mr. Conrad Itter, German Recording Secretary. Mr. Oettinger resigned in June, 1902, and Mr. James M. Snyder succeeded him as Enghsh Record- ing Secretary. Mr. Staake who by virtue of his office as treasurer of the General Council had served as treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions for a period of twenty-five years, resigned both as treasurer and member of the Board, Mr. Philip S. Zieber succeeding him as treasurer and Mr. WiUiam F. Monroe as member of the Board. Dr. Grahn, the retiring President, was made business manager of the "Missionsbote," and the Rev. E. R. Cassaday was continued as business manager of "The Foreign Missionary." The
RECONSTRUCTION (1900-02) 337 Rev. R. Bielinski who had succeeded the Rev. F. W. Weiskotten as editor of the "Missionsbote," was re-elected to that position, and the Rev. E. E. Sibole, D. D., who had been the editor of "The Foreign Missionary" since 1893, was continued in that ofhce.
The Board, thus reorganized, set itself resolutely to solve the problem of reconstruction. It began by notifying the Senior Missionary, the Rev. H. C. Schmidt, D. D., of the action of the General Council recalling him. It appointed the Rev. H. E. Isaacson Treasurer in India in the stead of Dr. Schmidt, and the Rev. E. Neudoerffer temporary manager in charge of the Boys' Boarding School.^ All books, papers, accounts, moneys and properties were ordered to be trans- ferred to Mr. Isaacson by August i, 1902, in order that Dr. Schmidt might leave India as soon as possible after that date. Nine hundred dollars were sent to defray the travelling expenses of Dr. and Mrs. Schmidt and their daughter Dagmar to the United States.
While the Board interpreted the recall of Dr. Schmidt as a summons to withdraw from the field and return to America for the further consideration of his case. Dr. Schmidt interpreted it as a dismissal, arbitrarily and unjustly ordered by the General Council, without any formal charges brought against him and without giving him the least opportunity to state his side of the case. He demanded a trial in India before an im- partial tribunal; but the Board replied that the only course it could pursue was to insist upon his leaving the field and coming to America, assuring him that every opportunity would be given him here to present his side of the case. He declined, however, to come to the United States. After the return of Miss Schade from furlough Dr. Woerner gave all her time and attention to the beginning of the medical work. A Dispensary was opened on March 26, 1902, in Bazaar Street, Rajahmundry, in a rented house. The signboard over the door of this house read: "A. E. L. Mission Dispensary for Women and Children. Open daily from 8 to 10 A. M." The attendance from the opening day to the
' The name Seminary had been dropped as a misnomer.
338 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL first of July, that year, was 1914; and during that period Dr. Woerner made 138 house visits.
On February 20, 1902, a part of Halkett's Garden, on the road from Rajahmundry to Dowlaishwaram, containing eight acres, surrounded by a substantial stone wall and including a bungalow, was purchased as the site of the proposed hospital, the Board having previously cabled its acceptance of the terms of purchase. The price paid for this site was Rs. 13,000, or $4500, which, with the exception of less than $500, was de- frayed by contributions of $2000 each, from the Women's Missionary Society of the Pennsylvania Ministerium and the Women's Missionary Society of the Swedish Augustana Synod. These two societies and that of the New York and New England Synod began at this time to contribute $125 each, annually, toward the equipment and expenses of the medical work. The bungalow on the premises was fitted up as a residence for the medical missionary and was called "The Medical Home."
On Sunday, March 2, 1902, P. V. Ratnam was ordained in St. Paul's Charch, Rajahmundry, by the order of the Board. The Rev. Ernst Neudoerffer conducted the Telugu service. The Rev. E. Edman, M. D., preached the sermon and performed the act of ordination.
As soon as Neudoerffer took charge of the Boys' Boarding School in Rajahmundry, he aimed to raise its standard to that of a High School and succeeded in doing so on April i, 1902. The school was recognized by the educational department of the government as a High School in September, that year. When Neudoerffer, by order of the Board, handed over the school to his successor, Fichthorn, there were 120 pupils en- rolled in the High School department, and 194 in the Primary and Lower Secondary departments.^
While negotiations with Dr. Schmidt were pending, the Board secured the services of a tried and experienced missionary to direct the work of reconstruction at Rajahmundry. ^ The Lower Secondary Department corresponds approximately to the Grammar School in the United States.
RECONSTRUCTION (19OO-02) 339 The Rev. J. H. Harpster, D. D., brother-in-law of the Rev. Prof. H. E. Jacobs, D. D., a foreign missionary of the General Synod, who had served in its Mission in India from 1872 to 1876, and again from 1893 to 1901, happened to be in the United States on furlough, and the attention of the Board was called to him as a most suitable man to entrust with the reorganization of the General Council's Mission. "It was not, however, an easy matter to secure his consent and that of the Board he was serving, as it interfered with plans that had been formed, called for many sacrifices on his part, and offered a most uninviting prospect in a field so thoroughly confused and discordant." After a committee of the Board had made a presentation of its extreme need to the Board of the General Synod in Baltimore, they most cordially consented to arrange to have Dr. Harpster give his services to the Rajahmundry Mission for a period of not less than three years.
Dr. Harpster was called by the Board on March 6, 1902, to be the "Temporary Director" of the Rajahmundry Mis- sion. He accepted this call and entered upon his work on April I St. During the spring and summer he visited a num- ber of synodical and other conventions, besides a large number of congregations, and delivered addresses in the interest of foreign missions. He was eminently successful as a speaker and everyv/here aroused increased interest in the cause of christianizing the heathen. He met with the Board and aided in the administrative work in the home-land. In consultation with him, as well as with Miss Schade before her return to India in November, 1901,^ the Board went over the Revision of the Rules and Regulations, which had been made in India daring the visit of the Rev. F. W. Weiskotten; and they were adopted by the Board in their final form and printed in August, with the understanding that they were to go into effect on the arrival of the "Temporary Director" on the field. "Whatever temporary authority of an extraordinary character was committed to Dr. Harpster was in- ^ Miss Schade reached Rajahmundry again on December 18, 1901, after a furlough of only seven and one-half months.
, 340 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL tended only to prepare the way for reconstructing the entire administration in accordance with the revised rules." "The chief change made by these Rules in the administration in India was to transfer the responsibility for decision from the Mission Council to an Executive Committee, composed of a chairman, appointed by the Board, one member for every seven ordained missionaries or fraction of that number in the field, elected by the missionaries, and representatives of zenana sisters in the same proportion."
Among other changes made by the new Board was the abolition of the ofiEice of Missionary Superintendent on June i 1902, "since its maintenance was found to involve the ex- penditure of about 10 per cent, of the income of the treasury, and its duties were not really those of superintendence, but almost exclusively those of collections and the diffusion of information among a very limited number of congregations. In dispensing with the office the Board duly recognized the zeal and fidelity with which for nearly ten years, excepting two interruptions, the Rev. J. Telleen, D. D., had discharged its duties."
Several new missionaries were called in 1902, to accompany Dr. Harpster to India and assist him in the work of recon- struction. The first one called was the Rev. Andrew S. Fich- thorn, who was born at Lewistown, Pa., in 1859. He was a graduate of Pennsylvania College of Gettysburg, Pa., and of the Theological Seminary of the same place. He taught the classical languages at Carthage College, 111., for a short time and served brief pastorates at Lutherville, Md., Cairo, Pa., and Allegheny, Pa. On June i, 1894, he became pastor of Trinity Church, Norristown, Pa.
The second one called was Miss Hedwig Wahlberg, a trained nurse from Chicago, who was sent out with special reference to the hospital and medical work. She left America early in August, in order to visit her home in Sweden before pro- ceeding to India.
The third one called was Miss Susan E. Monroe, of Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, who offered her services to the Board as a woman missionary to labor under the Rules but to provide
RECONSTRUCTION (19OO-C2) 34 for her own travelling expenses and support. Her offer was most gratefully accepted.
The fourth one called was the Rev. F. W. Wackernagel, the eldest son of the Rev. Prof. William Wackernagel, D. D. of Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., who had been graduated from that college and from the Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and for five years had served a congregation at Millersville, Pa. Trinity Church, Lancaster, Pa., pledged itself to provide for his support.
All of the outgoing missionaries, with the exception of Miss Wahlberg, were commissioned at an impressive service in St. Mark's EngHsh Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, on October 14, 1902. "In the morning there was a full service with communion and a sermon by the Rev. Prof. A. Spaeth, D. D. In the evening, with an audience crowding the church, addresses were made by the departing missionaries, Revs. Harpster, Fichthorn and Wackernagel, and the President of the Board, the Rev. Prof. H. E. Jacobs, D. D., with a few words from the Rev. G. Sholl, D. D., Secretary of the Board of the General Synod, who had been sent as its representa- tive to testify to its interest and sympathy in our work." Two days later the whole party sailed from New York. At Naples they were joined by Miss Wahlberg and the Rev. and Mrs. Arps, who had left their son and daughter in Germany to receive an education. Rajahmundry was reached on Christmas Day, 1902. Dr. Harpster carried with him a letter of instructions, which, after defining his position and duties as the special agent of the Board and the appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee in India, called for the reorganization of the Mis- sion under the new Rules as soon as convenient after his arrival at Rajahmundry, and charged him with an inspection of all the departments of the work of the Mission.^ Dr. Harpster's mission was an exceedingly delicate and difficult one, and he fulfilled it as a faithful servant of the Board and the General Council. He rendered our Telugu Mission a great and lasting service.
^ See General Council Minutes, 1903, pages 38-40.