Barbara Heinemann Landmann

Background

Barbara Heinemann Landmann was born on the 11th of January,1795 in Leitersweiler, Alsace. Landmann’s parents were poor and insisted early that she find employment to aid the family’s finances.

Career

At the age of nine, Barbara Landmann began working in a nearby woolen factory and later took a job as a maid at an inn. In the summer of 1817, when she was 22, she was suddenly seized by a feeling of inexplicable sorrow. Pondering its meaning, she realized that she "did not know God." Unable to work, Barbara Landmann returned home and began a period of spiritual searching that culminated in a vision.

Religion

The Inspirationists were then in the midst of a "reawakening" triggered by the appearance of a new divinely inspired instrument. This instrument prophesied that Barbara Landmann would receive the "gift of inspiration," and soon thereafter she began to deliver inspiring testimonies.

Membership

Barbara Heinemann affiliated with the Community of True Inspiration, a separatist Pietist sect that had been founded in 1714 in Hessen, Germany. One of the distinguishing beliefs of the Inspirationists was that God’s will continued to be revealed through Werkzeuge (instruments), as in the days of the prophets.

• Barbara Heinemann was the group’s Werkzeug.

  Separatist Pietist sect , Hessen

  1817 - 1821

• Ebenezer Society , Buffalo

  1823 - 1849

• 

  In 1855 the Ebenezer Society relocated to Iowa and renamed itself the Amana Society.

  Amana Society , Iowa

  1855 - 1883

Connections

Barbara Landmann was married and didn't have children.

Father:

Peter Heinemann

Spouse:

George Landmann

Friend:

Christian Metz

Since women did not serve as elders or on the governing council, Barbara Landmann’s influence did not extend to temporal issues but was limited to spiritual concerns. Occasionally, she needed support from Metz, as when friction developed between her and one of the ranking elders, likely stemming from the old issues of her class and her.

References

• Hudson, D., Bergman, M., & Horton, L. (Eds.) The biographical dictionary of Iowa
  2009