In 1749, Rev. Klug attended a meeting of Ministerium of Pennsylvania. Though he was not connected with the Ministeriurn, he attended to pay his respects to his Lutheran brethren. On this occasion he lamented his loneliness and lack of opportunity for fraternal association. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the organizer of the Lutheran Church in America, had reservations about him. He did not agree with Klug's manner of living and his attitudes toward opportunity and learning. On the first point, Muhlenberg observed that Klug was a slave owner and had adopted the fine and easy living of the Established clergy. It is true that he rated well with his Anglican neighbors and he provided services for them in the absence of Anglican pastors. Muhlenberg was especially provoked that Klug had discontinued the German school.
Whatever Klug's shortcomings, let it be remembered that he went around the Massanutten (Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley) two or three times a year and kept the faith alive in the earliest Valley congregations. The Moravian Schnell wrote, "He is much praised," in reference to the lonely pioneers along the Shenandoah River. When Rev. Klug died in 1764, his body was interred beneath the Hebron chancel.
The elders of the church appealed to the Pennsylvania Ministerium for assistance in finding another pastor. This resulted in the appointment of Johannes Schwarbach as catechist and he served from 1764 until 1774. At this time he resigned, stating that the work load was too heavy for him. When he was initially appointed, he had not yet been ordained. This was done in 1766 so that there were two years in which he could only provide partial services.
For a short period of time, catechist Heinrich Moeller from Pennsylvania served the church. He was not yet married and his fiancee did not want to move to Virginia. When Moeller had an offer from a church in Pennsylvania, he took it. This left the church in the Robinson River Valley without a pastor again. Apparently, Moeller did organize the Baptismal Records into a more meaningful form. The evidence is that the church had Baptismal Gecords from 1750 (and perhaps earlier) which he organized in a book by families. This would have enabled him to understand the structure of the families better. He omitted the families who had moved out of the neighborhood.
Again, the elders appealed to the Ministerium for help. At this time, Muhlenberg, Sr., had a man, Jacob Franck, in Philadelphia who was proving troublesome to a church there. Muhlenberg called an emergency session of himself and his two sons, both ministers, and ordained Jacob Franck with the agreement that Franck would serve the "country church" in Virginia for three years.
(16 Mar 06)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.