Rev. Francis J. Schneider's German Evangelical Congregation in New York

Rev. Francis J. Schneider arrived in New York sometime during or before 1869 with his wife, Cecelia, and their two sons,¹ and immediately set to work. He was a Protestant minister unconnected to any established church. He lived and worked amongst the burgeoning German population of the city. Rev. Schneider pastored a small church in the Bronx for a short while, and worked for a newspaper, before settling on his career as "The Marrying Parson."² He married and baptized whomever came to him, his only stipulation being that there were no legal impediments.

Besides performing his freelance ceremonies, Rev. Schneider founded a congregation. Where they met is unknown. How long the congregation lasted is also unknown. There were, however, a total of 70 members. Many of his congregants were baptized, confirmed, and/or married by Schneider.
The date of the congregation's founding is not known, neither is how long it lasted. It was probably begun in the early to mid 1870s and lasted at least until 1900, as evidenced by notations of various events which are found on the periphery of several pages. of the charter. Whether the group stayed together after their pastor retired and returned to Germany is another unanswered question.

The charter outlines the independence of the congregation in that it is completely without dogma, and, in fact eschews dogma and any alignment with established churches. It encourages its members to think for themselves and to share their insights with each other. Genealogically, the charter is valuable as it provides names, dates, addresses, and sometimes relationships, of the members, all in their own handwriting. This charter may be accessed at the NYG&B Library and copies of the manuscript may be obtained through the Library's photocopy service.

- LM

The Charter

God wishes that all men come to the conclusion of the truth, so that all men may be helped. Therefore we serve God, when we ourselves strive towards truth and share our insights with others. We can practice this service to God for ourselves alone or together with other men. A striving together with other men towards truth, however, leads far more quickly to the goal, than when we begin for ourselves alone.

For that reason we have come together to pursue this goal, and to this end have constituted ourselves as a congregation: "German Evangelical Congregation in New York."

1. The congregation holds as a goal the cultivation of true upright [i.e., moral] behavior, in other words, the striving towards that condition, in which man does his duty with clear consciousness and out of free will.

2. The congregation "rules itself," and stands independent of any so-called church regiment

3. The congregation evaluates one according to one's moral values.

4. The holy right of every man to express his convictions is not challenged by the congregation; on the contrary, it considers it its duty, to remove error from the path of scientific proof and [and to do so] in a worthwhile way.

5. The congregation holds to biblical truths as long as scholarship does not make the opposing viewpoint obvious.

6. The congregation recognizes only freely given contributions towards any defrayal of possible expenses.

7. The office of the preacher [i.e., pastor], which is filled by the ordained cleric F.J. Schneider, is an unpaid position.

New York, in the State of New York, America

The Congregation

1. 1870 Federal Census, New York, New York, 17th Wd, 24th Dist, p. 4

2. See The New York Researcher, vol. 16, no. 4, Fall 2005 for additional information.

Translated and transcribed by Richard Haberstroh, AG, CG, and Lauren Maehrlein

Originally published in The New York Researcher, Winter 2006

© 2011 The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society

All rights reserved.