Just like we find in the book of Revelation which brings the Bible to a conclusion, today’s blog ends with a New Jerusalem.

The story begins with Sophia Baunach being born in Germany on July 29, 1829.  She traveled to America on the Ella in 1853.  Sophia married Johannes Ludwig at the Uniontown church in 1854 with Rev. Gruber officiating.  Johannes had arrived here in 1844.  Here is their marriage record.

This couple settled in the Oak Ridge area and Johannes was a farmer.

At this point, I am going to make a side trip to the Civil War.  Johannes Ludwig registered for the draft during the Civil War, but I do not believe that he served.  However, Johannes bought his property in Oak Ridge from Robert O. McKnight in 1858.  Robert McKnight did serve in that war, and died during that war in 1863.  I was unable to find out how or where he died.  He is buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

Johannes Ludwig died in 1883.  His wife, Sophia, died in 1887.  They are both buried in a very small, but interesting cemetery.  That cemetery is the New Jerusalem Cemetery located between New Wells and Pocahontas, Missouri.  I have even heard that this cemetery is sometimes referred to as the Ludwig Cemetery.

Here are the gravestones of Johannes and Sophia.

There apparently was a New Jerusalem congregation which formed in the mid-1850’s in the New Wells area as a result of a rift among the Lutherans in the area.  The controversy centered around the doctrine of chiliasm.  That doctrine had to do with how the book of Revelation was interpreted.  The same controversy was going to split the congregation in Altenburg in 1857 and would cause the formation of Immanuel Lutheran which still exists there.  Rev. George Schiefferdecker was the pastor in Altenburg at the time, and he also had some influence in the New Wells congregation.  However, so did Rev. Christoph Loeber, who was the pastor in Frohna.  That controversy caused problems in the Perry/Cape County area for several years.