The Stork family in the Lutheran church

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THE

Contents

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Theophilus Stork, D. D., 29

Charles A. Stork, D. D., 128

Chapter I

BIRTH — rARENTAGE — SCHOOL AND UNIYEKSITY LIFE — MINISTRY.

WHEN the intelligent son of a venerated father, after a visit to the scenes of his birth and boyhood a few years subsequent to his father's death, says, " I was unable to secure a single book or manuscript, or even an autograph, and I am left without the simplest relic of my father," the biographer is compelled to depend exclusively upon tradition for facts, the reports of cotemporaries, which are often exaggerated or perverted, the records of the churches which he served, the proceedings of the synod of which he was a member, or it may be some fragmentary document from the hand of the subject of his memoir, which has escaped the destruction of all his other writings.

This unfortunately is the case with the subject of this brief biography. There is nothing extant from his own hand relating to his life, except an imperfect manuscript detailing some incidents of his career, most of which are included in Dr. Bernheim's book on the German Settlements and the Lutherans in the Carolinas. All my information is derived from this admirable work, from Professor Stoever's Sketch in the Evangelical Review, Vol. viii,pp. 398-104, Sprague's Annals of the American Lutheran Pulpit, New York, 1869, which is almost entirely a reproduction of Professor Stoever's article. Besides these, I have some letters of gentlemen who knew Mr. Stork, or who lived within the limits of his pastoral district, and have known his character from report. All these combined furnish scant material for an extended biography, but we may be sure of their authenticity.

According to his own manuscript journal, quoted by the Evangelical Review, Vol. viii. pp. 308-404, and by Bernheim (p. 312), Charles Augustus Gottlieb Stork (originally Storcli), was born in lielmstsedt. Duchy of Brunswick, on June 16th, 1764. His father's name was George Friederich Storch, a merchant in that city, and his mother's name was Von Asseburg. The father afforded the son all the best educational advantages of the day. Helmstgedt being a university town, furnished the best possible opportunities of instruction, and it was no doubt owing in great part to his early training, that he subsequently attained to such high proficiency as a linguist and theologian, which is attributed to him by all who knew him.

The pious parents were solicitous not only for the intellectual education of their son, but more especially for his religious culture. They lived in the time when the influences of Spener and Francke and their school of pietism flourished in its original purity, and their godly lives were conformed to the genuine gospel standard.

No wonder that under such parental teaching and pious example, their cherished son at • an early period became deeply impressed with religious truth. The devoted pastor and professor of theology in the university, Rev. Mr. Velthusen, had special charge of the boy in his catechetical class, and at the age of fifteen he was confirmed, agreeably to the custom at that time universally prevalent in the Lutheran Church. This Avas in 1779.

About this time he was promoted from the parish school to a place in the high school, where he remained as a pupil for three years. At the end of that time. Professor Windeberg, the director of that institution, pronounced him fully qualified for admission into the university, which he entered in 1782. In his fragmentary journal as quoted by Bernheim, p. 312, he speaks of " having devoted himself three years to theological sciences," which shows that he had previously determined to serve God in the ministry.

Many of the most promising young men of those days, and also of the present, after having finished their university course, and having no other position as preachers or teachers, eagerly accept places as private tutors in respectable and wealthy families, until they are advanced to more lucrative positions. Indeed, many of these poor young men continue to serve in that capacity for years because they find no other means of support. Hence, not a few of them cease to be young men before they are appointed as pastors or professors, or secure other employment.

In 1785, young Stork was recommended by Rev.

Velthusen to the tutorship of a young nobleman, Von Hadenberg, whom he taught for a year until his removal from Helmstaedt, " whereupon," says the journal, " I became the teacher of Mr. Friese's children, a merchant near Bremen." Here he remained two years.

We know nothing whatever of his life during his scholastic and university career, and must be content with the bare outline presented above.

A number of pious young ministers of the Spener- Francke school of Lutheranism had come over to this country as missionaries as early as 1733. The missionary spirit is the natural outgrowth of the revival of true religion.

In that day, the personal sacrifice of a voyage to America and of mission labors among the scattered Germans here, and the discomforts and perils of the enterprise, were far greater than a similar expedition to India or to the Sandwich Islands at the present time. The vigorous faith, Christian heroism, holy zeal and self-denying efforts which characterized our earlier ministers from Germany are deserving of all gratitude and admiration. No one can read the narrative of their toils, or contemplate the character of their piety, without instruction and profit. They were indeed devoted men, whose precious memory will be cherished by the pious throughout all time.

Young Stork, in his journal, as quoted by Bernheim, further says, " Having remained there (at Mr. Friese's) two years, I received the call and order from Rev. Velthusen to go as pastor to North Carolina ; whereupon I was examined and ordained to the ministry and journeyed in May, 1788, from Germany, and arrived in America (Baltimore) about the end of June of the same year."

A petition from a number of members of the Lutheran Church in North Carolina had been received, accompanied by a communication from the Rev. Adolphus Nussman, who had been sent as a missionary to this country in 1733, and who had, for several years, been laboring in great poverty, earnestly imploring that additional help might be furnished to relieve the prevailing spiritual destitution. The request was forwarded to Rev. Velthusen, and his attention was immediately directed to Mr. Stork as a person eminently fitted to engage in such an enterprise. The young man, after due reflection, expressed a willingness to go, and at once made arrangements for his departure, at the same time receiving from his Sovereign a written assurance that if, for any reason, he might choose to return, he should still retain his claim to promotion in the fatherland. Young candidates for the pastoral ofiice at that day received appointments to parishes only when vacancies were made by death or promotion, and then only, in most cases, in proportion to their time of service as teachers or vicars ; but they lost this privilege by voluntary expatriation, and hence our young candidate judiciously secured himself against the forfeiture of this claim.

As a candidate for the sacred office he was then examined by order of the Duke, who was of course the civil head of the Church as well as of the Duchy. This examination was conducted by five professors, who it is fair to presume were somewhat more rigid and thorough than our examiners are of the present day.

He passed the ordeal creditably, which, as Velthusen says, was conducted in the strictest manner, and was ordained as a minister to North Carolina by his pastor, Velthusen, who had all along been his kind friend and generous benefactor. Thus, he was selected for this field as a minister before he was ordained or even examined. The practice of the Church in some, if not in all the Provinces and States of Germany, was not to ordain a man who had not received a call to some specific field of labor, and I think this would be found to be the Apostolic practice. Our custom in this country is somewhat different. Most of our Synods license candidates to preach and perform all the ministerial functions, and subsequent ordination confers no additional power, only entitling the candidate to a few unimportant additional privileges, and hence it is an empty ceremony. The Liceyise system was introduced into our Synods by these very fathers, who were trained under a system entirely different at home, but it was adopted here as a safeguard against the ordination of men of doubtful character or qualification in the early period of the Church in this country, but I think that danger need be no longer apprehended.

As has been stated, he arrived in Baltimore on June 27, 1788, and received from the brethren there a most cordial welcome. This must have been during the pastorship of Rev. Gotlieb Gerock, in Baltimore, but his name is not mentioned in Mr. Stork's report.

CHAELES AUGUSTUS GOTTLIEB STORK. 13

He remained in Baltimore about six weeks, and then he passed on towards his future field of labor. He traveled to Charleston by sea, and there purchased a horse, and, by an inland route, reached Pastor Nussman's residence in North Carolina in the month of September.

Mr. Stork, immediately after his arrival, was elected pastor of three congregations — one in Salisbury, where he took up his abode, and the others known by the name of the Organ Church, where he commenced his labors on October 26, 1788, and the Pine Church. He also soon commenced regular service in what was called the Irish Settlement. As the years passed on, he established other congregations in Rowan, Lincoln, and Cabarrus counties. Here he spent his days in a constant routine of most diligent and self-denying labor. He was repeatedly invited to occupy other fields, and some of them among the most eligible within the bounds of the denomination ; but he declined them all, in view of the great want of ministers in the region in which he had planted himself. He lived in Salisbury seventeen years, and was privileged to witness the most gratifying results from his labors. During the first two years of his residence in this place, he was domesticated in the house of Louis Beard, whose daughter, Christina, he married on the 14th of January, 1T90. They had eleven children, not one of whom is now living.

Once during his pastoral life he made a visit to the North, which in those days was a long and wearisome journey, and attended the meeting of the Synod of Pennsylvania, " to strengthen himself," as the record says, " to renewed exertion in the service of his Divine Master."

The Rev. Mr. A. Nussman, who had been settled for some years in North Carolina, and who hospitably received Mr. Stork, thus writes to Eev. Abbot Velthusen on November 12, 1788, which was only about six weeks after Stork's arrival : " Mr. Stork's sickness gave me much uneasiness and sorrow, for I love him on account of his learning, piety, temperament, and social qualities. . . . All persons who see and hear him love and honor him. I>ut God has helped us ; Rev. Stork is restored again, and may God preserve his health in future, so that whether I live or die, my expectations concerning him may be realized."*

A report was sent to the Helmstaedt Mission Society the following year (1789), from which Dr. Velthusen makes the following extract :

"Kev. Stork, as well as Mr. Rosclien, is satisfied in the midst of the congregations. * * * He praises the people, who treat him with love and respect and sui^jily him with the necessaries of life. * * * His congregation is building a house for him, and have oifered him a loan for purchasing a plantation, without which one can not succeed there. He still lives in Salisbury, where an academy has been established in which there are some students, who receive instruction in Hebrew from him. In addition to that, he has also established a small German school. * * * He expects to confirm about fifty young persons next harvest season. ' '

In a report from Mr. Roschen, who had preceded Mr. Stork in North Carolina a short time, but who returned ^Bernheim, 328. lb. 330.

to Germany about the year 1800, there is recorded a little incident -which deserves mention as being creditable to the character of the preaching in that district. He says : " Rev. Stork recently passed by the court house in Salisbury at the time a man was suffering the penalty of some crime by standing in the pillory. A German called us to stop awhile and see how the America s punish rogues and thieves. Upon my asking him, ' The criminal is surely not a German ?' I received the gratifying reply, ' Never has a German stood in the pillory in Salisbury ; nor has ever a German been hung in this place.'"*

Mr. Stork suffered from alarming depression of spirits, which accompanied him in a greater or less degree of severity all his life. Mr. Roschen in this same letter remarks : " At first Stork in his hypochondria looked upon all things in a false light ; besides, his arrival in America Avas unpropitious (that is, he was confined to bed soon after his arrival in North Carolina). Now he speaks differently. We all preach in black clothes and neck-cloth, but mostly without a gown, and often in our overcoats during bad weather in winter."

There is a singular proceeding reported in Dr. Bernhcim's book, p. 338, in which Mr. Stork and four other German Lutheran pastors participated, and that was the ordination of a man to the Protestant Episcopal ministry. The ordination certificate is still extant, signed by five Lutheran ministers, in which it is expressly stated that •'R. J. Miller is hereby declared to be ordained to ' ad-

*BeiDlieim, 332.

minister y^ sacraments and to have y" care of souls, he always being obliged to obey y^ rules, ordinances and customs of y" Christian Society, called y^ Protestant Episcopal Church in America !'"

These men gave their reasons on the reverse side of this certificate why they had ordained a man who was a member of the Episcopal church as a minister of that denomination. These reasons should be made known for a more unecclesiastical and un-Lutheran transaction is not to be encountered.

In a letter to Dr. A^elthusen, dated Salisbury, February^ 25, 1803, Mr. Stork describes his condition:

''It is now nearly three years tliat I live in very sad circumstances ; not only have I snftered during this time from various severe attacks of sickness, which brought me near to death, but likewise from an apparently incurable disease of the eyes, which seems to baffle all medical skill, and makes it impossible for me either to read or write. I aiTi, however, quite restored from my sickness of last fall, a disease similar to yellow fever, and which rages in this vicinity with great mortality ; I now feel tolerably strong and my eyes are somewliat better ; nevertheless according to the physician I need not expect any permanent rchtoration of my health in this climate I still serve my old congregations, and I continue to preach the doctrines of Jesus Christ, the crucified, in simplicity, and have happily experi enced the power of grace upon myself and others. The prevalence of infidelity, the contempt of the best of all religions, its usages and servants, the increase of irreligion and crime, as remarked, have occasioned me many sad hours. Nevertheless I have found consolation and courage in the thought

' So long as Christ protects His church, May hell its rage continue,

and I hold fast to my faith, convinced that truth and religion will at last mightily raise up their head and prevail."

On the subject of the extraordinary manifestations of 1800 and 1801, called revivals by many, and which created such a deep interest in the churches of the South and West in those days, Mr. Stork thus expresses himself in a letter to Dr. Yelthusen, February 25, 1803:

"By the side of this pestilence (infidelity) there prevails now, for over a year, a something, I knoAV not what to name it, and I should not like to ssi j fanaticism. Christians of every denomination assemble themselves in the forest, number four, six, and sometimes ten thousand persons ; they erect tents, sing and pray and preach day and night, for five or six or eight days. I have been an eye-witness to scenes, in such large assemblies, which I cannot explain. I beheld young and old, feeble and strong, white and black, in a word, people of every age, position and circumstances, as though they were struck by lightning, speechless and motionless, and when they had somewhat recovered, they could be heard shrieking bitterly and supplicating God for mercy and grace.

"After they had thus spent three and many of them even more hours, they rose up, praised God, and commenced to pray in such a manner as they never were wont to do, exhorting sinners to come to Jesus, etc., etc. Many of those who were thus exercised were iingodly persons before, and we can now discover a remarkable change in them. Even deists have been brought to confess Christ in this way. Thus the affair continues to this hour.

"Opinions are various in regard to it ; many, even ministers, denominate it the work of the devil ; others again would explain it in a natural way, or in accordance with some physical law ; whilst others look upon it as the work of God. Please, give me your opinion and explanation. The thing has occasioned me no little uneasiness. In our German congregations nothing of this kind has been manifested. The enclosed published accounts will be interesting to you ; the facts are similar to tliose which I myself have seen. The authors of these accounts are generally respectable men and worthy of belief."

The Synod of North Carolina was formed and held its first session in Salisbury on May 2, 1803 ; and Mr. Stork was elected first President, and was annually reelected whenever he could be present.

During the latter period of his life he removed to a farm ten miles south of Salisbury, where he resided the remnant of his days. The last six years of his life, however, physical infirmities prevented him from discharging his ministerial duties publicly, but he suffered in calm submission to the will of God, and by his perfect resignation and patience exhibited the sanctifying power of divine grace.

For nearly thirty-seven years he served the church faithfully, and his memory will be blessed. He will be honored as one of the fathers of the Lutheran Church in North Carolina, and the day of his departure, the 27th of March, 1831, was a day of sadness and mourning to all the community in which he lived. His illness continued for nine weeks, and he frequently gave to his family and visiting friends the assurance of his hope of eternal life.

The Rev. Paul Henkel, for many years contemporary with Mr. Stork, in writing of the churches in North Carolina, says, " In the vicinity of Salisbury, Rowan county, there are three strong Lutheran congregations, which have been served by Rev. Charles Stork for nearly twenty years ; but under many disadvantages, on account of the frequent and severe attacks of fever, which prostrated his energies, . . . and which apparently had several times brought him near to the grave. His numerous official duties lay often heavy upon him on account of his ill health, especially the administration of the Lord's Supper to 250 communicants at one time, so that his feeble powers of body were exhausted after having served all these people."*

The following inscription is engraved upon the tablet in the cemetery of Organ church, which marks the spot where this useful servant of the Lord was laid to rest : " Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Charles A. G. Storch, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; who was born on the 16th of June, A. D. 1764, and departed this life on the 2Tth day of March, 1831. Aged 66 years, 9 months, and 11 days."

A local newspaper, in noticing his death, says : "The deep and unrestrained emotions of the assembly of his spiritual children at the grave of their departed friend evinced the magnitude of their loss and the extent of his worth."

He was a man of learning as well as of piety, as most of our earlier ministers were who received their education in Germany. He had the reputation of being a superior linguist, and besides being familiar with Hebrew, Greek and Latin, as all University-bred men were presumed to be, it is said that he spoke five or six languages.

It is also said that his library was valuable, embracing quite a number of celebrated German authors, whose theological works were usually written in Latin. The report was that he had bequeathed many of them to our Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, of which he was

*Berulieira, 367.

20 THE STORK FAMILY IB THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.

elected one of the first directors, and in the prosperity of which he had always showed the deepest interest. The most of his books, however, are in the possession of the College at Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina.

Among the many interesting incidents of his pastoral life, the following deserves mention: "During a communion season in the spring of 1821, when a large class of catechumens, numbering 77 persons, were confirmed, their aged pastor being present, but too feeble" to stand during the ceremony, called all his catechumens to him, and gave them and the other members and friends of the church his last farewell. So affecting was the scene that the wliole of that vast assembly was moved to tears, and lonor has been remembered the serious lesson which their aged pastor addressed to them at the time, whilst he held out his hand to each and gave them his parting blessing. He had introduced the Eev. D. Scherer as his sucessor, and who on this occasion administered the Sacrament."*

No one ever questioned the genuineness of his piety or the sincerity of his actions. Stern in his integrity, exemplary in his deportment, he awakened respect. The world acknowledged him to be an honest man, and paid to him as such its tribute of regard. He was a pious, humble Christian ; cheerful, yet devout ; zealous, without bigotry or fanaticism ; sprightly, without levity; grave, without moroseness ; a model of meekness and of every Christian virtue. No blemish ever sullied his conduct, no stain can tarnish the fair name he has left behind him.f

*Beriibeira, 445.

fProf. Stoever, Ev. Rev., vol. viii., 403.

LETTERS,

From some Gentlemen, relating to Mr. Stork. — The first two are taken from Sprague's "American Lutheran Pulpit."

LETTER FROM REV. THEOP. STORK D. D. TO DR. SPRAGUE.

Baltimore Jan. 20, 1862.

Bear Brother : I regret exceedingly that it is not iu my power to furnish you witli such i)ersonal recollections of my father, as would be worthy of him, or of tlie work in which you propose to incorporate them. I was but a boy when he died. Shortly after his death, I came North and have not since been associated with any of the family. Before I was old enough to take special interest in my father's library, it was distributed x)artlyat least, among poor ministers at the South. Some ten years ago, I went South with a view of finding some of the books and manuscripts which had belonged to him, but was unable to secure a single one, not even an autograph. I am ashamed to make this acknowledgment, but it is a fact, and one over which I have no control. My exile from home in my boyhood, and the early departure of my brothers and sisters, have left me without the simplest relic of my father. So far as I can now recall him, he was tall, erect, of robust constitution, and had a real German face, with a mild, benevolent expression. He was regarded as one of the most learned and eloquent of the early German missionaries. He was said to be a remarkable linguist. I remember that Dr. Wilson, a Presbyterian clergyman from Mecklenburg county, used often to visit him, and they sometimes, to vary the scene a little, conversed in Greek. My father could speak some five or six languages fluently. He was eminently devoted to the great work of the ministry. But devoted as his whole life had been to Christ, he lamented, in his old age, that he had done so little for the souls purchased with a Saviour's blood. I am yours truly in the Lord,

T. Stork. 2*

FROM THE REV. D. P. ROSENMILLER TO DR. SPRAGUE.

Lancaster, Pa., May 21, 1862.

My Dear Sir : My acquaintance with the Rev. Charles A. G. Stork, of Cabarrus county, N. C, commenced in the spring of 1829, and continued until his decease, in the early part of 1831. During that time he was in a feeble condition, and unable to leave home, or to engage in anything that required either bodily itr mental effort. His hospitable home was the favorite resort of many persons who honored and loved him as one of the excellent of the earth. He was living in the same community in which he had spent the whole of his active life ; and it was not strange that those who had so long been witnesses of his pure and elevated example, and sharers in the good which he had accomi>lished, should have delighted to bear their grateful testimony to his character and influence.

Mr. Stork had received an excellent education in Germany, and was especially a proficient in the learned languages; and his well selected library was a proof that he kept pace with the theological literature of his time. In person he was tall and well proportioned, and his countenance was exjiressive of great meekness and benevolence. In his conversation he showed himself discreet and thoughtful, and evinced a delicate regard for the feelings of others. In social life he was highly interesting and attractive, but always kept at a great remove from evei y thiug like unbecoming levity.

Several years previous to the commencement of my acquaintance with this excellent man, he had retired from all public duties, and the churches which he had served during his active ministry were under the charge of another pastor. The largest of his congregations were at Organ and St. John's churches. In my intercourse with his former parishioners, I often heard him spoken of as a very eloquent preaclier, and a kind-hearted and attentive pastor. I frequently heard them cite some of his favorite sentiments, among which I remember the following — "The Word of God is a beautiful flower ; but whilst the bee extracts honey from it, the spider draws from the same the most active poison."

CHARLES AUGUSTUS GOTTLIEB STORK. Zo

Mr, Stork informed me that the churches he served were not the ones allotted to him Avhen he was sent from Germany, He 'was designed for Lincoln county. But, after having endured a ■stormy voyage,* he arrived in the eastern part of the State — perhaps Guilford county — and thence communicated to his prospective churches the fact of his arrival, and asked them to send for him. The answer which he received was characterized by a freezing indifference. Perhaps it should have been excused, emanating, as it did, from a people who stood sadly in need of a missionary's labors ; but the feelings of the newly-arrived pastor were deeply wounded by it, and he became anxious for a field in which he might labor with better prospects of sympathy and of success. Cabarius county was accordingly assigned to him.

One peculiarity of Mr. Stork was his little knowledge of, and great indift'ereiice to, mere worldly matters. These he turned over to his faithful wife, in whose sagacity and prudence he had unbounded confidence. He had little or nothing of the spirit of worldly ambition. He never aspired to be a pastor in a, city, though his learning and eloquence would have qualified him for exercising his ministrj'^ in the most cultivated and refined communities. He was contented to remain a plain country j)arson, mingling in peace and love with a plain and truly good people, whom he conducted, by word and example, in the path which the Good Shepherd had pointed out.

During one of my visits at Mr. Stork's house, a well-dressed gentleman called upon him, and stated that he was a refugee from Portugal, and had been an adherent of Don Pedro, who claimed his right to the Portuguese throne. But the party of Don ^[iguel had been too powerful for him, and the adherents of Don Pedro were compelled to leave the country, suffering the confiscation of their property. Mr. Stork was much interested in the tale of the stranger, and besides asking him to dine, made a pecuniary contribution to his relief, to which I gladly added my mite. He asked the name of the placfe in which the stranger resided ; and when told that it was Montebello (Beau-

*By sea from Baltiuiove to Charleston wliere he hought a horse and rode to North Carolina —[J. G. M.]

tiful Mountain), he dwelt much on the beauty of the name, and also upon the cruelties practiced by the usuri^er, Don Miguel, When I was about to leave, he requested me to remind the Rev,