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Concordia - New York Connection

 
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:33 pm    Post subject: Concordia - New York Connection Reply with quote

(Originally posted January 9, 2009)

It may seem unusual to have a website about Concordia run from upstate New York State. There is, however, a connection between Concordia and NY. That involves Rev. Adolf Franke.



People may recall Rev. Franke as a student of C. F. W. Walther and the first ordained pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Concordia. Pastor Franke became part of the Frerking family when he married Doris "Friederike" Frerking, the head of one of the 10 Frerking tribes in the Concordia area. (Two of the 13 children of Johann and Dorothee, namely Juergen and Catharine, apparently stayed in Germany. A third son, Heinrich, died on the way to California in search for gold.)

Rev. Franke was active in the formation of the Missouri Synod, or the Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio, und andern Staaten as it was originally known. While at St. Paul’s, he attended the second synodical convention held at Trinity, St. Louis in 1848. After serving St. Paul’s for four years, Pastor Franke accepted a call to First Trinity Lutheran Church, Tonawanda, NY (a suburb of Buffalo). First Trinity was one of the original “mother” congregations that formed the Missouri Synod in 1847. While St. Paul’s Concordia had not yet matured to the point of being one of the founding congregations of the synod, it can claim that its pastor later served one of these mother churches.

The harsh winters in the Buffalo area did not agree with Pastor Franke, so he returned to relatives in Concordia in 1853 in order to recuperate. Then, after serving a second term as pastor of St. Paul’s, he eventually moved to Addison, Illinois. While in Addison, he served as president of the teachers prep school (moved there from Ft. Wayne, Indiana) until he finally retired.
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