14. Walburg, Texas, St. Peter Lutheran Church, 1890's

The Texas-Swiss community of the 1890’s and early 1900’s

The 100^th Anniversary book of

St. Peter Lutheran Church, Walburg TX

Another year, Roy (always on the lookout for clues for me) brought to my attention a particular church history book – the church where Gottlieb and Ida were married in 1895.    St. Peter Lutheran Church of Walburg TX had been established in 1889.  One hundred years later, in 1989, St. Peter Lutheran Church published a history book, to commemorate the church's 100^th anniversary.  Roy lent me his copy to read.   This marvelous history was an eye-opener!   

The records of the church revealed many events for the Treuthardt family.    All three Treuthardt children who immigrated to Texas, Will, Ida and Arnold, had been married at St. Peter Lutheran Church, and most of their children were baptized there.     Friedrich Treuthardt and his wife Anna were mentioned several times as Baptismal sponsors to various infants.   It was discovered that Friedrich had died on the 5^th wedding anniversary of Arnold and Louise Treuthardt.

One can perceive here the strong network among Swiss families.    Interrelationships among Treuthardts, Bouffards and Ischys leaped from the pages.   For instance, the Krieg children had two Aunt Louise Treuthardts.    They were identified here, one Louise Ischy married to Will, and the other Louise Bouffard married to Arnold.   Families and friends!   Names and dates!     With the information from the St. Peter history, my Treuthardt study was fortified with marriages, starting with Will Treuthardt and Louise Ischy’s marriage in 1891, baptisms, confirmations and deaths, including Friedrich's.   

Walburg is quite a distance from Georgetown, over ten miles.   How could it be that Georgetown residents were attached to the Walburg church?   

This question was partially addressed in three sources which I found then and in future years, in which obscure reference was made to “the Georgetown congregation.”   The Walburg church record tells that special services were held in Georgetown for awhile, lead first by Pastor Collmann (who confirmed Ida in 1893), and then by the scholarly and faithful Lutheran pastor John Mgebroff, who spoke German but also was fluent in French. 

[He is one of my favorite Lutheran missionaries to Texas!   He was especially influential in recording the Lutheran church history of Texas, 50 years after the first missionary was sent to Texas.   In 1997 I met and interviewed Pastor John Mgebroff’s son Pastor Fred Mgebroff at Clifton TX, shortly before Fred's death that same year.   The second Pastor Mgebroff identified his father and mother in Aunt Anna’s Baptism picture of 1897.]       

The three references to the Georgetown congregation that I found were as follows:

1)  a brief mention in the St. Peter history; 

2)  Ida’s confirmation certificate; 

3)  Georgetown listed as “a preaching station” in a 50-year history of the Lutheran church in Texas written by Pastor Mgebroff.    

This information seems to have been forgotten today. 

However, Marguerite Treuthardt Whitehead confirmed to me that the Lutherans met in Georgetown.   I believe they worshiped in the Presbyterian church basement.    When the Lutheran pastors no longer served Georgetown (probably after Pastor Mgebroff's short term), then there was no longer a Lutheran presence in Georgetown.    I would not overlook the possibility that the services were conducted in French some of the time, since so many of the Swiss-Texans spoke only French.   Pastor Mgebroff, from the Black Sea area of Europe and the son of a merchant, knew many languages.