Jody Winston May 1, 2005

Waisenfarm Jody Winston May 1, 2005

Sermon Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 On Good Friday, March 21, 1845, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels founded the city of New Braunfels, Texas.2 During the next few months, German settlers arrived in New Braunfels to start a new life in Texas.3 The prince, along with the business venture that he represented, planned to provide the settlement on the banks of the Comal Springs not only with supplies needed for everyday life but also with spiritual leaders.4, 5 For the Protestant Germans, the business venture hired Pastor Ervendberg who had arrived in the United States around 1836 and who had married a fellow German immigrant in 1838.6 Pastor Ervendberg was very familiar to the German community in Texas. He had held the first recorded German church service in Houston three days before Christmass in 1839 and he continued to lead worship in Houston for about one year before moving near La Grange. In this area of Texas for the next four years, Pastor Ervendberg either founded or served congregations in Blumenthal, Indus1

Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3. 2 Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/ articles/view/NN/hen2.html, April 2005). 3 In fact, the society’s goal was to establish a new Germany. Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/AA/ ufa1.html, April 2005). 4 Handbook of Texas Online. 5 Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/ articles/view/EE/fer4.html, April 2005). 6 Ibid.

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try,7 Cat Springs, Biegel,8 La Grange, and Columbus.9 In keeping with his agreement with the prince, Pastor Ervendberg traveled in 1844 along with the main group of the German settlers from the Texas coast at Indianola to New Braunfels.10 When the group finally arrived in New Braunfels, the Protestant settlers established the First Protestant Church on October 15, 1845 and they called Pastor Ervendberg as their first pastor.11 The coming months did not bode well for this new settlement.12 The trials and tribulations for the immigrants started almost immediately upon their arrival on the banks of the Comal Springs.13 They needed to build housing and this most basic task seemed to be out of the reach of many of the new Texans. Food also needed to be obtained and once again, this too often proved to be a difficult activity for many of the families. Basic sanitary conditions also needed to be looked after but this need was often overlooked by the new community. All of these problems were compounded by poor weather along with the flooding of both the Comal Springs and the Guadalupe River. A large number of the settlers in New Braunfels died in 1846 due to these and other problems. The church records at First Protestant indicate that 348 of their members died that year while other researchers put the number at over 500.14, 15 These deaths left sixty orphans in the community.16 Friends and relatives took 7

Industry is the oldest German settlement in Texas Handbook of Texas Online, (http: //www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/II/hli4.html, April 2005). 8 This town has been underwater since 1975 due to the man made reservoir that was constructed by the Lower Colorado River Authority. Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tsha. utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/hvb60.html, April 2005). 9 Handbook of Texas Online. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Iris Shuford, Chap. Maternal Ancestors In “The Seven Timmermann Sisters: A Legend in Their Time”, (Flexi Shuford Printing, 1976), p. 18. 13 There seems to be little or no agreement between the researchers on why the immigrants died. Some articles indicate the deaths were due to the conditions on the ship, others think the deaths occurred due to mosquito born illnesses contracted on the Texas coast, other still think the deaths were due to an unidentified epidemic. 14 Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Godd, Chap. Tragedy In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”, (Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994), p. 21. 15 Chester William and Ethel Hander Geue, A New Land Beckoned, (Waco, TX: Texian Press, 1966), p. 12. 16 Gregory and Godd, A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995, p. 21.

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the majority of these children into their families but nineteen children were never claimed.17 Pastor Ervendberg, his wife, and three other men decided to raise these nineteen orphans who needed a place to live, food to eat, and an education.18 These children lived in tents from 1846 until the orphanage was incorporated in 1848.19 The company became officially known as the Western Texas Orphan Asylum, which was the first orphanage in the state of Texas.20, 21, 22 The children along with the Ervendbergs in 1848, moved out to 150 acres of land that the corporation was given on the Guadalupe River near Gruene.23 These children, like any other children, needed to eat but due to their numbers, it seemed that the Ervendbergs always had to cook food. One person recalled that they needed to make twenty loaves of bread every day.24 Thanks to Pastor Ervendberg’s interest in agriculture, the farm almost became self supporting and provided the orphans with cotton, wood, silk, wheat, and other necessities.25, 26 Pastor Ervendberg and his wife taught the children the normal classes of the day; in addition, they taugh housekeeping to the girls and agriculture to boys.27, 28, 29 In 1850, the Western Texas Orphan Asylum was re-chartered as the Western Texas State University and students were offered education at the elementary, Latin School, and High School levels.30 The amazing part of this story is not how the settlers took almost three months 17

Gregory and Godd, A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995, p. 21. 18 Handbook of Texas Online, (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/ articles/view/NN/ynn1.html, April 2005). 19 Shuford, p. 18. 20 Handbook of Texas Online. 21 Shuford, p. 13. 22 Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Godd, Chap. Waisenhaus In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”, (Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994), p. 23. 23 Handbook of Texas Online. 24 Shuford, p. 23. 25 Ibid. 26 Handbook of Texas Online. 27 Handbook of Texas Online. 28 Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Godd, Chap. New Wied In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”, (Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994), p. 27-28. 29 Handbook of Texas Online. 30 Gregory and Godd, A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995, p. 28.

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to travel from the coast to New Braunfels nor is it how the congregation at First Protestant was founded but instead the astonishing part of the story is how the quickly the community came together and took care of the orphans when the community itself had been decimated by death. It is difficult to obtain accurate population numbers for New Braunfels during 1845 and 1846, but most records place the number at 300 to 400 immigrants by the summer of 1845.31 If the population numbers include women and children and the death count from First Protestant is also correct then the entire settlement was almost wiped out in 1846. And if the numbers only include men, then close to half of the population was killed in 1846. No matter what ratio you prefer, you will have to admit it took a concerted effort from the community to raise these sixty orphans during these difficult years. This concern about orphans seems to be universal in humans. Maybe we feel the need to take care of those children who have no one to turn to because we know in some part what it is like to be an orphan. Who has not seen or heard about a child that was not accepted because they did not fit in? Who has not felt isolated from others even though the room was full of people? Who has not experienced the feeling of loneliness as if no one cared if you even existed? God has spoken two words into our existence about orphans. The first word is care. God reminds us that He is in control of creation and this care and concern for the entire world includes the orphans. God expects all of the orphans to be protected and if they are not, God clearly tells us that we will be punished.32 The second word is abolishing. God wants to completely rid the world of all orphans through the radical plan of adopting every human that will have God as a Father.33 These two words may be combined into one word, love. God loves everyone so much that God does not want anyone to be without a family here in time or when we live with God outside of time.34 Unfortunately, we do not always hear God’s word of love. Sometimes we often do not find the time to take care of those children without parents and we also do not give our love to those who feel like they are all alone in the world. One simple measure of this lack of time can been seen on the Department of Family and Protective Services Website, which listed 645 individual children that were ready to be adopted in the state along with 200 families that were to be adopted together.35 Many of these children have been waiting an extremely long time for 31

Handbook of Texas Online. Exodus 22:19-21; Hosea 14:3; Malachi 3:5. 33 John 14:18. 34 John 3:16-17. 35 http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/About_ 32

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a new family, which will love them. These numbers of course do not count the unwanted children who were killed during their abortion. Others of us refuse to let God take us into His family. We feel that we know more than God does thus we refuse to listen to our Father who truly loves us. For those of us who are in God’s family, there are some of us that do not follow the family’s rules. We forget that if we love God, we must follow His commandments.36 In other words, God’s grace accepts us as we are but when we are in God’s family, God’s rules apply. God provides us with two visible signs of His love for us in a family: Baptism and Communion. In Baptism, we are adopted into God’s family and in this new family we will never be without someone who will take care of us. We can see this adoption in the Sacrament of Baptism. First, the biological family gives control of the individual over to the Church. The primary relationship for the one who is being baptized is longer with their family but with the Church. Next, the Church assigns the congregation its mission: the role of the parent. These two portions of the sacrament clearly show us that we are adopted into God’s family. In Holy Communion, we are not adopted into God’s family but instead we are fed as family. For when we dine together at Christ’s Table, we experience our good God who provides for us like a father. He has given us a “foretaste” of the great meal that we will all join in, with Him, in Heaven. He has given us “our daily bread” so that we can go out into the world and do our Father’s will. God also has given us one non-visible blessing: Heaven. Today, many people think the only things that will be in Heaven are God, His angels, and the believers. The ancient Church never taught this since they believed that Jesus came to save the entire world.37 They took His promise seriously that He will make all things new and create a new Heaven and a new earth.38 Thus, they literally believed that everything would be saved: people, their families, the government, and the corporations. We, along with all of the orphans, will have the ability to experience our families without all of the problems caused by sin and evil because even our families will be saved by Jesus. God’s love for us will never end. He will not leave us orphaned.39 Regrettably, human often break their promises to each other and cause their own children to become orphans. In the early part of the 1850s, Pastor Ervendberg had an affair at the orphanage Adoption_and_Foster_Care/default.asp 36 John 14:15, 21. 37 John 3:16. 38 Revelation of John 21:1-5. 39 John 14:18.

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with one of the young girl students.40 After the news broke and scandalized New Braunfels, then the fourth largest city in the state, Ervendberg publicly asked his wife for forgiveness.41, 42 She forgave him. In the fall of 1855, Ervendberg asked his wife and their three daughters to go ahead of him and their two sons into another state so that the family could start a new life.43 A few weeks later instead of going to his wife, Ervendberg ran away to Mexico City with the girl who was now seventeen and his two sons.44 The new life that we are called to is not to run away from our family into a foreign country. God has not told us to join the French Foreign Legion. Instead, God has given us a different task. God wants us to stay here in this place. We are to work with God so that no one will be without a family either here in time or when we join Christ with the rest of the believers in the greatest feast of all time. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

References Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/NN/hen2.html, April 2005. s.v. “New Braunfels, TX”. Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/AA/ufa1.html, April 2005. s.v. “Adelsverein”. Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/EE/fer4.html, April 2005. s.v. “Ervendberg, Louis Cachand”. Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/II/hli4.html, April 2005. s.v. “Industry, TX”. 40

Handbook of Texas Online. Ibid. 42 Handbook of Texas Online. 43 Handbook of Texas Online. 44 Ibid. 41

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Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/BB/hvb60.html, April 2005. s.v. “Biegel, TX”. Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/ online/articles/view/NN/ynn1.html, April 2005. s.v. “New Wied”. Gregory, Rosemarie Leissner and Myra Lee Adams Godd. Chap. Tragedy In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”. Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994, p. 21. . Chap. Waisenhaus In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”. Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994, p. 23. . Chap. New Wied In “A Journey In Faith, The History of First Protestant Church, New Braunfels, Texas 1844 - 1995”. Nortex Press, Austin, TX, 1994, pp. 27–31. Shuford, Iris. Chap. Maternal Ancestors In “The Seven Timmermann Sisters: A Legend in Their Time”. Flexi Shuford Printing, 1976, pp. 13–40. William, Chester and Ethel Hander Geue. A New Land Beckoned. Waco, TX: Texian Press, 1966.

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