I really intended to write a new story for the blog today, but it did not take me long to determine that today was going to be one for me to share an old story. I always start my search for a new story by checking to see if anyone would be celebrating their 200th birthday. So, when I searched for an event that took place on July 24, 1825, I was immediately given the result of the person who is today’s birthday boy. I knew I could not resist telling his story, but the fact is that I have already written his story.
How could I ignore the fact that today is the bicentennial birthday of Franz Julius Biltz. After all, he was one of the members of the first class that attended the Log Cabin College in 1839. He graduated from that Log Cabin College, which became known as Concordia Seminary, Altenburg. He became the first called pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, a church whose records are found in our German Family Tree. He also later became the pastor in Concordia, Missouri and while there, established St. Paul’s Lutheran College. There is even a building on that campus called Biltz Hall nowadays. He also went on to be the President of the Western District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which is now called the Missouri District. Not only that, he met his bride on the land behind my barn. And let’s not forget that early in his life prior to making the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, he had become an orphan. After such a troubling childhood, he certainly went on to become one of the celebrated pioneers of the Lutheran Church in America.
I want to once again highlight another aspect of Franz Julius Biltz’s history. I think I may have to rename my 11 acre pasture the Marriage Meadow. The Log Cabin College was built on the land behind my barn in 1839 and was located there before it was moved into Altenburg in about 1842. That log cabin became breeding ground for romance. First of all, about a month before the Log Cabin College had its first day of school, Otto Herman Walther, C.F.W.’s brother, came down from St. Louis where he was the first pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, to marry Agne Buenger. The land on which the Log Cabin College was built belonged to Agnes’s mother, Christiane Buenger. Then, in 1842, Rev. C.F.W. Walther married Emilie Buenger, another one of Christiane’s daughters. That marriage reportedly took place at the Log Cabin College. Next, Theodore Brohm, one of the builders of the cabin as well as one of its first teachers, not only lived in the cabin during those first years, but fell in love with Johanna von Wurmb, whose cabin was also built on the Buenger land. Those two love birds married in 1843. If that wasn’t enough, Franz Julius Biltz had a classmate in that first class, Marie von Wurmb, who must have caught his eye. Marie was a daughter of Johanna von Wurmb, who after marrying Theodore Brohm, moved to New York City where Theodore had a call to become a pastor. After years of probable correspondence between Franz Julius and Marie, those two were married in 1849, after which Marie joined him as his wife in Friedheim. Perhaps Romance Range would be another appropriate name for my land.
I needed a photo for this post, so I managed to talk my bride into taking a trip behind my barn to prove my point.
Yes, there is still romance behind my barn. And I also know that our oldest granddaughter is coming to visit us later today along with her boyfriend. I highly approve of her boyfriend, so I might encourage them to spend some time behind the barn.
Happy Bicentennial Birthday, Rev. Franz Julius Biltz!