SAXON IMMIGRANTS BRING LUTHERAN FAITH TO PERRY COUNTY

The Saxon immigration to Missouri in 1839 made the communities of Altenburg and Frohna in Perry County major tourist attractions for Lutherans, especially those in the states who belong to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Many LCMS church groups have toured these sites and continue to do so.

The LCMS was founded in Chicago in 1847 and some of the immigrants from Saxony in Germany helped organize it, but the rich heritage that remains in the Altenburg and Frohna area stems from the beginning of Concordia Seminary.

"The Saxon immigrants left Germany because the government was telling them how to worship," said Edgar Dreyer, a historian of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. "They left for their religious freedom."

The immigrants took the Mississippi River up to St. Louis from New Orleans and from there sailed down to Perry County by boat after sending people to look for land. They landed in what is now Wittenberg.

"When they arrived in Wittenberg, there was one log cabin and Martin Stephan, their leader, took that," said Dreyer. "The rest built lean-tos out of tree branches. Eventually, they built cabins. Many died because there was a lot of sickness and because it was hard to find food."

Most of the immigrants were not farmers, said Dreyer. Many were tradespeople who didn't know how to farm, he said.

"Some wanted to go back to Germany, but many of them didn't have enough money to get back," said Dreyer. "They thought God was punishing them, that it was God's will that all of this was happening to them. They were losing their faith. The Rev. Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther showed them they were wrong and helped them get back on track."

Other communities had been established before the immigrants arrived. The nearby Brazeau community had already been settled by the English and they were Presbyterian.

"The people from Brazeau took food to the German immigrants and on one occasion, one farmer brought a family a puppy along with other supplies," said Dorothy Weinhold, a local historian of Brazeau. "Even though the people from the Brazeau community were Presbyterian, they were willing to help the Lutheran immigrants."

Within the first year, Walther, along with other candidates, built a cabin that was to be a school, in Dresden, near Altenburg. The school opened on Dec. 9, 1839, with seven to 11 students at first. This was the beginning of the Concordia Seminary, which is now in St. Louis.

Today, many organizations of Lutheran churches of the LCMS, such as Lutheran Youth Fellowship and Aid Association for Lutherans, visit Altenburg because it was part of the beginning of their church's history.

Students from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis also visit Altenburg to discover their roots and to see the first building that was used as the seminary.

Some of these seminarians are invited to preach Sunday sermons in the local Lutheran churches of Altenburg and Frohna.