Thanks to Fred Eggers, I can take a day off from researching and writing a new blog post today because he once again has written one for us. This one is another one that demonstrates Fred’s great knowledge of the history of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. Fred was ready to have this published yesterday on the anniversary of the highlighted couple, but Denise does our Friday blog posts. Fred agreed to have this post published a day late. I am always grateful for Fred’s contributions to our blog.

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Franz Friedrich Weck was the second teacher at Salem Lutheran School in what is now Farrar.  We will study everything that we know about him.  Yesterday would have been his 162nd wedding anniversary.  He was married to Caroline Sophia “Lina” Bücks on July 10, 1864, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Saint Louis by Pastor Adolf Claus, who served at that congregation from 1855 to 1874.  We can see the Missouri record and a transcription of the church record for that marriage.

I could not find many records for Caroline, but the transcriptions of the Bethlehem records do include the baptism record for a nephew and the burial records for her brother and his wife.  Note that all records seem to have a problem with her surname.

I also could not find any records of Weck’s birth or early life on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.com.  There are several records that give his birth date as February 10, 1830.  Records also tell us that he came from Meerane, Saxony, which is between Altenburg and Zwickau.  This is a photo of St. Marten Church in Meerane.

The earliest record that we have for Franz Weck is that he was a member of the first graduating class in 1862 from Pastor Friedrich Brunn’s Proseminary in Steeden, Hesse-Nassau.  Here is a brief description of the institution, a drawing of its building, and a list of the 1862 graduates.  A “P” behind a name indicates Pastors and an “L” indicates Lehrer (Teacher).

Der Lutheraner, the official newspaper of the Lutheran Church of Missouri and other states, published several articles including letters from Pastor Brunn reporting on the activities of the institution and in anticipation of the “Sendlings” coming to America.  I have included a couple of excerpts from these articles.

Der Lutheraner Volume 18, St. Louis, Mo. August 6, 1862, No. 26. Page 205

“Actual help is also being provided so abundantly that we will be able to cover the travel expenses for the sending out of the mission without any difficulty, of our ten Sendlings (Missionaries) will get together.”

Der Lutheraner Volume 19, St. Louis, Mon. September 3, 1862, No. 1. Page 5

“Pastor Brunn has written to us and Prof. Cramer again under July 25. We cannot refrain from quoting from his letter, which abounds in the most cheerful news.  So it is with a very happy heart that I have given the travelers all the orders to prepare for the sea voyage on August 1. I hope that, with the exception of one or two, who have been granted a delay by their passports, they will all leave at the right time.  But now I must describe the details in more detail. The following come to you: 1. Mertens from Pomerania, 2. Ledebur from Rogasen in Posen, 3. Schmidt from Hessen, 4. Georg Brügmann from Lüneburg, 5. Julius Friedrich from Silesia, 6. Friedr. Pennekamp from Elberfeld, 7. Tobias Rösch from Gorlitz (a Württemberger), 8. Franz Weck from Meerane in Saxony, 9. Johannes Karrer from Bayern, 10. Eulenfeld, also from Bayern, II. Hörnicke from Potsdam, 12. Mohr from Württemberg, 13. H. Brockmann from Hannover.” After Pastor Brunn has characterized each of the named in more detail, he continues: “So these are our emigrants. Not true, a rich great blessing of God, which by God’s abundant grace we may bring to you? Praise be to God, who blesses our little work so richly and makes us worthy to do this work for Him. It is truly only His mercy that pours such an abundance of blessings into our laps. May He then make all who come over to you a real blessing for our Lutheran Church in America!”

Franz Weck and some of his fellow graduates came to the United States aboard the Bark Stella arriving in New York on September 15, 1862.  We can display portions of the passenger lists for their journey.

The next record that I found for Weck was his registration for the draft.  It listed him as a teacher living on Manchester Road in St. Louis.  I thought that he may have been a teacher at St. Paul Lutheran School in DesPeres, which is located on Manchester Road, but a check of their records did not list him there.  A thorough search of Der Lutheraner from 1862 to 1864 did find two mentions of Lehrer Weck submitting contributions for the Immanuel District and from the Schulgemeinde (School Congregation) at Rock Springs.  Further research found that the Immanuel Congregation established a school in the southwest part of St. Louis between what is now Forest Park and The Hill neighborhood.

We next find Weck teaching at Trinity in Cape Girardeau beginning in 1865.  The Pastor at Trinity while Weck was there was Rev. Erhard Riedel, who was a son-in-law of Pastor Gruber of Paitzdorf (Uniontown).  Riedel had previously served at Dissen (Friedheim) from 1854 to 1858 and for a little over a year at Paitzdorf after Gruber’s retirement until he came to Trinity in November 1859.

During his time in Cape Girardeau, Teacher Weck and Caroline became the parents of their first two children, Franz Erhrard born on March 26, 1867, and Emma Johanna Adelheid born on February 20, 1868.  We can show the transcriptions of their baptism records from the Trinity church records.  Note that Franz Erhard’s sponsors were Pastor Erhard and Franz Hartel, who appears to be the other teacher at Trinity at that time.

Salem’s centennial history published in 1959 tells us that Teacher Weck served that congregation from 1868 to 1872.  The history of Grace, Paitzdorf (Uniontown) congregation tells us that he served both congregations during that time.  The 1870 Federal Census is the only one in which Weck is found.  He is listed with his wife and their two children that were born in Cape Girardeau.  He lived in what is now the village of Farrar, four dwellings from one of Salem’s founders, Zacharias Melhorn. Salem’s property at that time was only two acres and the property that it added later was from the Melhorn farm.  Weck taught at Salem during a time when the congregation experienced rapid growth as 18 families from Lamstedt, Scheeßel, and surrounding areas in Hanover emigrated to the community.

Two more children were born to the Weck’s while at Salem, Klara Auguste Amalie, born August 10, 1870, and Johannes Edward, born January 5, 1872.  Sadly, Klara died on June 20, 1871.  We can show those records from the Salem church book.

It is likely that Weck taught at Holy Cross in Wartburg, Monroe County, Illinois, from 1872 to 1874.  His name does not appear in the Holy Cross history book narrative or in the list of teachers that served the congregation.  However, he is listed as a teacher in the Lutheran Kalendar for 1875.  The information for these directories was compiled in one year and published in the next.  The entry is difficult to read in the photo I took at Concordia Historical Institute several years ago.  It reads “Weck, J., care of H. Kaufmann, Renault P. O., Monroe Co., Ill.”.

Holy Cross Pastors and Teachers

The Holy Cross records do tell us that the Weck’s had two more children while they were there, Therese M. Fredericke, born March 11, 1874, and Johann Wilhelm Franz, born July 11, 1875.  Unfortunately, there are no more records found for them, including the 1880 census, so it is likely that they died as infants.

Franz Friedrich Weck died of nervenfieber (typhoid fever) on November 8, 1875.  His death record is recorded in the records of Holy Cross.  Der Lutheraner published a Death Notice written by his Pastor, Johann Nachtigall which is interpreted to read, “Death Notice – On November 8th, the teacher Herr Friedrich F. Weck passed away—blessed in the Lord, as we confidently hope in God—at the age of 45 years and 8 months.  He leaves behind a widow and three young children. – J. Nachtigall.”  I believe that this confirms that Weck taught at Holy Cross in Wartburg. 

Teacher Weck came to America and taught for around twelve years in five congregations, all within around 120 miles of each other.  You have to wonder how many lives he touched in those short years and how many more he would have touched if he was not taken from us at such a young age.