OUR EARLY PASTORS

Part I: 1899- 1908

William Steinbicker, Henry Freimuth and C. F. Tiemann

During our first twenty-five years, eight different pastors served Holy Trinity.  Not a great deal is known about these individuals, but the little we know is interesting.

William H. Steinbicker and Holy Trinity hold many combined “firsts”.  He is our first pastor and we are his first congregation.  He is also the only pastor to take as his wife a member of the congregation.  In 1901 he married Elise Luning, a member of Holy Trinity and the daughter of a council member. 

Steinbicker was born in Lipstadt, Germany on February 2, 1874, received his BA from Muhlenberg College in 1896 and graduated from Mt. Airy Seminary (now the TLSP) in 1899. His first service here was held on June 18, 1899.  By the end of the year he had performed four baptisms, one marriage and one funnel.  He preached seventy-five sermons (thirty in German), made 138 pastoral calls and attended thirty-four meetings by the end of 1899.

He received a call from another congregation in September of 1900 and submitted a letter of resignation to the council.  Council meet on September seventeenth to discuss his resignation and concluded, “…the Pastor had nothing to complain of, everything being satisfactory, only that he had a call from another congregation and did not wish to decide the matter, so he left it for the Church Council to decide …” Council voted not to accept his resignation.  They may have been correct, as he did not accept the call.

However he again resigned in late 1901 and at the November council meeting his resignation was accepted.  From Holy Trinity he went on to serve at Incarnation in Brooklyn (1901-1910), and then St. Mark’s in South Bethlehem, Pa (1910-1912), followed by Ascension back in Brooklyn (1912-1914).  From 1914-1919 he was serving as a field missionary on Long Island, he then accepted a call to St. Luke’s in Farmingdale (1919-1927).  We loose track of him after 1927, but we are hoping that St. Luke’s will be able to tell us where he went when he left there.

Much of the time Pastor Steinbicker served at Holy Trinity witnessed a great deal of effort being spent by council trying to purchase land and take title to a church building.  At the October 1901 council meeting it was “moved and seconded that the council recommend to the congregation to withdraw from the New York Ministerium in order to join in the formation of a new synod.”  The motion was carried.  It is unknown how pastor felt about this and if it had anything to do with his resignation.  He did return to Holy Trinity at least once.  In January 1924 he attended a Congregational Dinner at Holy Trinity and spoke about how the congregation had changed.

Sometime in March of 1902 another student from Mt. Airy, H.C. Freimuth preached at Holy Trinity.  What he said, or how he structured his call service is unknown but someone or some small group felt he was not following the proper Lutheran line.  At the March 14, 1902 special council meeting it was “Resolved that in as much Student H.C. Freimuth is accused of not conducting morning and vesper services according to the Church book of the Evan Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity – RVC [we] deem it our duty to inform the Faculty of Mt. Airy Seminary, that it is a falsehood, and not the truth – That Student H.C. Fremuth has conducted the services as they have always been conducted.”  Henry Freimuth was called (subject to ordination) by a vote of 11 to 1.  By sometime in June Pastor Fremuth was preaching at Holy Trinity. 

It was during this time the church building was moved to northeast corner of Lincoln & Park.  Holy Trinity experienced a modest gain in size and financial stability during this time period. 

At a September twenty-first 1905 special congregational meeting Pastor Freimuth officially announced that he was accepting a call to Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Liberty, New York.  As we now know he would not be the only pastor from Holy Trinity to serve in the Liberty area.  We have a copy of his registration letter and he states three reasons.  He saw this new call as God’s wish, a change in climate would reverse a decline in his health and he was now married and had a child.  His registration was accepted with regret.  Some time later he served at First Church in Waterbury, Conn.  He also attended the January 1924 Congregational Dinner along with Pastor Steinbicker.

We know very little about our third pastor, C.F. Tiemann.  He was attending council meetings as early as December 1905 and resigned at the January 1908 council meeting.  A motion was made at the council meeting held a month before his resignation that a committee of two people be appointed to visit with the Conference President “…to find ways and means in regard to the welfare of this Congregation.”  It is not known if they were referring to Pastor Tiemann’s impending resignation (if they indeed know about it) or some other troubles and if those troubles contributed to Pastor Tiemann’s leaving Holy Trinity.