SCHWENKFELDERS

The Schwenkfelders are a denomination whose ancestors were spiritual descendants of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489—1561). German-speaking Silesian Schwenkfelders immigrated to Pennsylva­nia in six waves of migration between 1731 and 1737.

Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig was a Silesian nobleman. A participant in the Protestant movement, his views differed from Martin Luther’s on the questions of the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Schwenck- feld rejected both transubstantiation (the consecrated bread and wine transformed into the body and blood of Christ) and consubstantiation (body and blood of Christ exist in the consecrated bread and wine) interpretations of the sacramental el­ements.

During his exile he published many vol­umes defending his religious point of view and taught small groups in private homes. Although he had a large following, Schwenckfeld never advocated the organi­zation of a new church.

After Schwenckfeld’s death, his follow­ers, who called themselves Confessors of the Glory of Christ, were numerous in Ulm and Silesia, but dwindled until only a small number remained in the Harpers- dorf/Liegnitz area of lower Silesia at the close of the seventeenth century. Despite the 1555 Treaty of Augsburg and the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which recognized only Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed churches as official religions, these Schwenkfelders lived at relative peace with their Catholic and Lutheran neighbors. There were occasional incidents of persecu­tion, but a major, persistent thrust to con­vert them to Catholicism by a Jesuit mis­sion drove most of them out of Silesia in 1726. Initially these refugees found bene­factors in Saxony, first at Gorlitz and then at Herrnhut and Berthelsdorf, villages under the jurisdiction of Nicholas Ludwig, Count of Zinzendorf (1700—1760). How­ever, a decree in 1732 forbade Zinzendorf to harbor the refugees on his lands. Having decided to emigrate to Pennsylvania, the Schwenkfelders traveled by foot and boat through Saxony to Holland, where they embarked upon a ship to Pennsylvania.

On September 22, 1734, the major group of Schwenkfelders landed in Philadelphia after nearly three months in transit from Haarlem, Holland. Most of these Schwenkfelders established farms in present-day Montgomery, Berks, and Lehigh counties, although a few remained closer to Philadelphia in Chestnut Hill.

The Viehweg ("cowpath") monument was erected in the 1860s to honor some two hundred ancestors of the Schwenkfelders buried along the cowpath outside of Harpersdorf (now Twardocice, Poland). The ancestors had been forbidden Christian burial in the local church cemetery. Interment in this dumping ground or “potter's field” was a symbol of disgrace to the families of the deceased. (Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center)

worshiping in a church and felt no need to erect such buildings. In these early days worship and religious training of young people took place in members’ homes. George Weiss (1687—1740) became their spiritual leader as the exodus from Saxony began, and he continued in that position until his death. Balthasar Hoffmann (1687—1775), who had been assisting Weiss, then took the leadership position. Both men rode a circuit to conduct wor­ship and catechize young people. They also solemnized marriages and funerals. Once Balthasar Hoffmann retired in 1750, Christopher Schultz (1718—1789), assisted by Christopher Kriebel (1724—1800) and Christopher Hoffmann (1727—1804), ad­ministered to the Schwenkfelder popula­tion, which had grown and was wide­spread. Gradually the Schwenkfelders organized themselves as a church, adopting a church governance in 1782 and dividing the area into an Upper District and a Lower District. The first structure for wor­ship was a log house built in Hosensack in 1790. Eventually there were six meeting houses, the last erected in Lower Salford in 1869. A Sunday school mission began in Philadelphia in 1895 and grew into the First Schwenkfelder Church, built in 1898. The Norristown congregation was orga­nized in 1904, and the Lansdale church was established in 1916. In 1911 a new church facility was built in Palm, Pennsylvania, as a consolidation of three meeting houses in the Upper District.

Secular and religious education has al­ways been important to the Schwenkfelder community. In Silesia and Saxony children were taught at home, not in schools, be­cause of religious sensitivities. At that time a few boys, who later became community leaders, came under the tutelage of edu­cated Schwenkfelders. Abraham Wagner’s mentor was the Schwenkfelder physician Melchior Heebner, and Christopher Schultz’s mentor was George Weiss. Par­ents saw to their children’s religious educa­tion. Possibly in Saxony, but certainly in Pennsylvania, the religious education of young people, including such basic skills as reading and writing, became a major re­sponsibility of the spiritual leaders. Soon Pennsylvania Schwenkfelders recognized the need for more formalized education and commenced organizing a school sys­tem. Subscribed by thirty house fathers, two schools opened in the fall of 1764. School was often taught at a Schwenkfelder home, sometimes at meeting houses. Be­ginning with the Free Schools Act of 1834 Schwenkfelder schools, which had been open to children of all faiths, were aban­doned, as the state promised all Pennsylva­nia children an education at public ex­pense. Early Schwenkfelder schools were, at least in part, bilingual schools, as the materials and languages of instruction were both English and German. Because public schools were not teaching German, the lan­guage of the Schwenkfelder worship and church materials, Sunday schools were soon established to preserve the German language in the church and at home. Ger­man as the language of worship and reli­gious instruction began to waver about 1880 and faded out in the 1920s. In 1891 the Schwenkfelder Church established a private school for its children and other community children. This school was called Perkiomen School (since 1916), the successor of the Perkiomen Seminary (1875 to about 1916). In 2004 the Perkiomen School was still under the juris­diction of the Schwenkfelder Church.

Silesian Schwenkfelders passed on their history and religious teachings in oral and manuscript form, printing being de­nied to them. In Pennsylvania they were unable to procure or provide sufficient copies of their writings for their commu­nity. In 1762 colonial printer Christoph Sauer (1721—1784) produced their first book, Neu-Eingerichtetes Gesang-Buch (A Newly Organized Songbook), a hymnal of 917 songs. This was followed by a cate­chism in 1763, and by 1771 they had written and arranged with Schwenkfelders in Silesia for the printing of a defense of their founder entitled Erlauterung fur Caspar Schwenckfeld (A Vindication of Caspar SchwenckfeldJ. By 1830 American Schwenkfelders had issued eleven volumes of doctrinal and devotional literature and continued to publish a variety of church- related materials throughout the nine­teenth and twentieth centuries. Founded in 1898, the Board of Publication with sup­port from the Schwenkfelder Church and Hartford Theological Seminary published between 1907 and 1961 a critical edition of the works of Caspar Schwenckfeld and his associates, the Corpus Schwenkfeldia- norum, with an editorial office in Wolfen- buttel, Germany. At this time a concerted effort was made in both Germany and Pennsylvania to preserve the manuscripts, books, papers, letters, diaries, ledgers, pho­tos, and other material objects of the Schwenkfelder tradition. At the conclusion of World War I, the editorial office was moved to Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, where these materials were deposited on the sec­ond floor of the Carnegie Library at the Perkiomen School. A new, separate library building was constructed in 1951 while the museum was maintained at the Carnegie site. Twenty-first-century descendants of the Silesian Schwenkfelders can learn about their German and colonial heritage in a remodeled and expanded structure, the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Cen­ter, dedicated in 2001. Connected with the preservation of these relics, a genealogical record of the Schwenkfelder families and their descendants was compiled in 1879, and greatly expanded in a 1923 edition.

Christian compassion and community outreach has always been a trait of the Schwenkfelders. As the Schwenkfelder em­igrants embarked for Philadelphia, they re­ceived a donation by the von Byuschanse brothers for the needs of the poorer Schwenkfelders upon arrival in Pennsylva­nia, establishing a charity fund. This gen­erosity and the funding of the passage by the Byuschanses was never forgotten. In 1771 and 1772 American Schwenkfelders wrote to friends in Harpersdorf and Probs- thayn, offering financial help to any Schwenkfelders in need. In his last will and testament the Schwenkfelder physician Abraham Wagner (1715—1763) deter­mined that one-third of his estate was to be distributed to poor and destitute persons without regard to denomination. Unex­pended funds from Wagner’s estate were folded into the Schwenkfelder Charity Fund in 1774, which still provides benefits to persons and families. In 1816 American Schwenkfelders sent a monetary gift to Gorlitz as a thanks offering for the protec­tion their ancestors had received. The money was for relief of Napoleonic War victims and destitute Schwenkfelders living in the area. Between 1946 and 1950 Schwenkfelders sent thousands of CARE packages to Silesian war refugees.

Since colonial times Schwenkfelders have been involved in public affairs. David Schultz (1717—1797) was a surveyor, scrivener, and arbitrator of land disputes. Christopher Schultz (1718—1789) raised funds to pay the home guards who de­fended the frontiers during the French and Indian War. He urged his fellow Schwenk- felders to donate money to the Friendly As­sociation to establish peace with the Indi­ans. During the Revolutionary War period he protested the Test Law of 1777, which required all white male inhabitants of Pennsylvania to take an oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania, renouncing an earlier pledge of loyalty to the king of England

and promising to inform authorities about any traitorous acts against the colonies. In 1779 he was appointed assessor of Here­ford Township. Although a pacifist denom­ination, one or two Schwenkfelders served in the Continental Army. In the Civil War, John F. Hartranft (1830—1889) was a gen­eral and earned a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Bull Run. At the end of the war he was in charge of the Old Capital Prison and the hanging of the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Between 1872 and 1879 he served as governor of Pennsylvania. Schwenkfelder descendant Richard S. Schweiker represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives (1960— 1969), the U.S. Senate (1969—1981), and returned to Washington, D.C., as secretary of health and human services from 1981 to1983.

Allen Viehmeyer

See also Cooperative for American Remittance to Europe/Council of Relief Agencies Licensed for Operation in Germany; Pietism; Pennsylvania; Sauer, Christoph

References and Further Reading

Erb, Peter C., ed. Schwenckfeld and Early Schwenkfeldianism: Papers Presented at the Colloquium on Schwenckfeld and the Schwenkfelders. Pennsburg, PA: Schwenkfelder Library, 1986.

------. Schwenkfelders in America: Papers Presented at the Colloquium on Schwenckfeld and the Schwenkfelders. Pennsburg, PA: Schwenkfelder Library, 1987.

Kriebel, Howard Wiegner. The Schwenckfelders in Pennsylvania, A Historical Sketch. Lancaster, PA: New Era Printing. Reprinted from Volume 13, Proceedings of the Pennsylvania- German Society, 1891, 1904.

Meschter, W. Kyrel. Twentieth Century Schwenkfelders: A Narrative History. Pennsburg, PA: The Schwenkfelder Library, 1984.

Moyer, Dennis K., ed. Fraktur Writings and Folk Art Drawings of the Schwenkfelder Library Collection. Pennsylvania German Society, vol. 31. Gen. ed. Willard W. Wetzel. Kutztown, PA: Centennial Printing, 1997.

Schultz, Selina Gerhard. A Course of Study in the Life and Teachings of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489—1561) and the History of the Schwenckfelder Religious Movement (1518-1964). Pennsburg, PA: Board of Publication of the

Schwenckfelder Church, 1964.

Weigelt, Horst. The Schwenkfelders in Silesia. Trans. Peter C. Erb. Pennsburg, PA: Schwenkfelder Library, 1985.