Zion

A small group of the first settlers in the Fredericksburg area was of Lutheran faith. Their first religious leader was to be a minister invited by Mr. Schumacher. The man by the name of Schneider, who had lived in Victoria, TX appeared to be a Methodist. The minister must have been really convincing. Despite the fact that there were no Methodists in the colony, he encouraged the settlers to organize a Methodist congregation there (1849). 

 

The Lutherans taught their kids religion at their homes until 1850 when the first Lutheran ministers came to Texas. A year later, more missionaries arrived. In December of that year, the first Lutheran Synod took place in Houston, TX.

The Lutherans of the Fredericksburg colony applied to the Synod and asked for a religious leader. As a result of that, a missionary from San Antonio came to Gillespie County in August 1852. His name was Rev. Ziezelmann. 

The Lutheran congregation at that time consisted of six families. Soon, others joined them.

13 January 1853 - Zion Lutheran Church - the first Lutheran church of Gillespie County - was organized by 15 families and their spiritual leader Pastor Ziezelman.  The first church elders were G Roehrig, W Reider, D Rode, and FW Schumacher.

A site on which the church building would be constructed was chosen and a lot was purchased from Mr. Jacob Harth was purchased for $45. The members of the congregation (which grew to 28 families) and the pastor worked on the construction site. To obtain money for the building materials, they hauled corn and sweet potatoes to the market situated 300 miles away, by the ocean coast.

Not long after the construction was completed, Rev. Ziezelmann and his bride celebrated their wedding in the new-built church on 1 January 1855.

The very first parsonage built by the church was a two-room log cabin. 1878 - the cabin was replaced with a stone house. 1922 - the parsonage was enlarged and rebuilt.

The early pastors of the Zion church, besides Rev. Ziezelmann, were Rev. Bohnenberger, Schumacher (during the times of the Civil War), Holzinger, Gossweiler, Merz, Weiss, Fiedler, Glatzle (served for 27 years), and FA Bracher (since 1917).

Rev. Fiedler has already been mentioned in the previous post. I am going to write here about other ministers of Zion, too.

Source: "German Pioneers in Texas; A Brief History of Their Hardships, Struggles, and Achievements" compiled by Don H Briggs, Gillespie County Edition, Press of the Fredericksburg Publishing Co., 1925.

Photos: Zion Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, TX. Perfect skies and great weather in the forecast for the week  (taken April 2021).