Wilhelm Christoph Berkenmeyer

Background

Wilhelm Berkenmeyer was born in 1686 at Bodenteich, Germany in the then Duchy of Lüneburg. He was the son of Jürgen Berckenmeyer and Anna Engel Rühden Pöppelbaum.

Education

Wilhelm studied at the Protestant University at Altdorf under a Dr. Christoph Sonntag and graduated in 1712.

Career

Wilhelm was living in Hamburg in May 1724 when the Lutheran Consistorium of Amsterdam inquired whether he would receive ordination and go to New York to succeed the late Justus Falckner as pastor of the Lutherans on Manhattan Island and in its vicinity. At first he demurred; but falling dangerously ill he resolved that if his life were spared he would go. On May 24, 1725, he was ordained at Amsterdam and proceeded to England to take ship for America.

Toil and trouble were the customary lot of the colonial Lutheran ministers; in Berkenmeyer's case the trouble began ahead of time while he was still at Cowes in the Isle of Wight. There a letter was forwarded to him from the church council in New York, stating that they had already chosen a "God-fearing and able man" as pastor. Berkenmeyer, however, did not turn back. On his arrival, September 22, 1725, he called together the council, presented his credentials, made a brief speech, and was thereafter master of the situation.

The interloper, Dieren by name, was a Pietistically inclined tailor with an uncontrolled impulse to clamber into unoccupied pulpits. He was unordained, uneducated, and theologically so ambidextrous that he could be either Lutheran or Reformed as the situation required. To a man like Berkenmeyer, with his solid learning, staunch orthodoxy, and high conception of the ministerial office, no one could have been more offensive, but he was by no means rid of him. Berkenmeyer had to minister to several congregations in New Jersey, to others scattered along the Hudson Valley as far north as Albany, and even to one or two along the Mohawk. Opportunities for an agile wolf to intrude into the fold were numerous, and Dieren availed himself of them whenever he got a chance.

On June 29, 1729, Berkenmeyer consecrated a new church, Trinity, in New York. In 1731 he divided his immense parish in two and, leaving the southern half to Michael Christian Knoll, made his home thereafter at Loonenburg, now Athens, New York, whence he made regular visits to congregations at other points. On August 20, 1735, at Raritan, New Jersey, he presided over a special meeting of three clergymen and nine laymen; this meeting has been described as the first Lutheran synod in America. Until 1743 he was the only regularly called and ordained Lutheran minister in upper New York.

Berkenmeyer preached in Dutch, German, and English, and corresponded in Latin with the Swedish clergymen on the Delaware. He was consequently openly hostile toward Johann Christoph Hartwig, writing several pamphlets against him as he did against Dieren, and somewhat aloof in his attitude toward Mühlenberg, who called on him in New York once in 1750 and was courteously received. With his own congregations he was popular in spite of a certain gruffness of manner. Like his parishioners he kept African-American slaves, but he gave conscientious attention to their spiritual welfare. He was last mentioned on August 25, 1751, when he baptized two children, although himself sick unto death.

Achievements

• Wilhelm Berkenmeyer was a well-known Lutheran clergyman from Athens, New York, who presided over the first Lutheran synod in America.

Works

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  • Willem Christoffel Berkenmeyers bedienaars des Heyligen Euangeliums van de Nederduytsche Gemeente te Nieuw-York, Albanie en daar ontrent, insgelyks ... der Palatynen by Quassayk (Dutch Edition)

    (The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)

Religion

Wilhelm Berkenmeyer was a member of the Lutheran Church. He was a bitter opponent of Calvinism and of Pietism within the Lutheran Church.

Connections

On October 25, 1727, Berkenmeyer married Benigna Sibylla, eldest daughter of the late Josua von Kocherthal.

Father:

Jürgen Berckenmeyer

Mother:

Anna Engel Rühden Pöppelbaum.

Spouse:

Benigna Sibylla Berkenmeyer