The Rev. Gotthilf Birkmann was the second and fourth pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Fedor, Texas (1876-1879 and 1882-1922). He was an irrepressible force in the life of the early Texas Lutheran church. For a detailed account of his life, I wholeheartedly recommend that you read Worthy of Double Honor, the Rev. G. Birkmann, D.D. by Ray Martens.
This blog is designed to be a repositiory of the articles and letters he wrote during his lifetime that pertain to the Wendish and Texas Lutheran experience. Most were published in the Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt of Giddings, Texas and then later other Giddings newspapers about life among the Wends and Germans of early Lee County as they were translated by his grandson Ray Martens. Some of these translations have appeared in Worthy of Double Honor and are reprinted with permission of Concordia University Press through David Zersen. Ohers have never been seen elsewhere in translated form.
In addition to being published in the Giddings Deutsches
Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Gotthilf Birkmann, May 19, 1944
Fedor & Birkmann’s Ministry
- A Brief History of the First Fifty Years of Trinity Lutheran Church, Fedor, Texas
- April 1926 – Church Historical Memoirs of Pastor Emeritus G. Birkmann
- July 1930 – Pioneer Days of an Old Texas Pastor
- April 2, 1931 – Reminiscences of My Arrival and First Years at Fedor 1876-1879
- October 29, 1931 – St. James Lutheran Church, Lexington, Texas
- April 21, 1932 – Memories of My First Time in Fedor
- April 28, 1932 – Memories of My First Years in Texas, Part II and III
- 1933-1935 – Early Days at Fedor
- January 5, 1933 – Memories of an Old Pastor at the Turn of the Year
- February 2, 1933 – Yes, It Certainly Was Pleasant in Fedor
- August 10,
1933 & September 14, 1933 – Rev. Birkmann Reports His Experiences in Dallas More Than Fifty Years Ago - October 6, 1933 – Reminiscences of Fifty-Seven Years Ago
- October 24, 1935 – Visitations in Texas from 1863 to 1879
- October 26, 1933 – A Second Trip to the Winklers in The Grove, Coryell County, Fifty Year Ago
- December 7, 1933 – Give Thanks to the Lord, For He Is Good, and His Mercy Endures Forever
- September 27, 1934 – Memories of Experiences in Fedor in 1883
- December 19, 1935 – Memories of Christmas Eve in Fedor Many Years Ago
- March 5, 1936 – Something About Illness and Visiting the Sick
- May 20, 1937 – The Lord Breaks and Restores, He Wounds and Heals
- August 12, 1937 – My First Ride to Serbin, Texas
- September 30, 1937 – The Feast Day of St Michael, the Archangel – September 29
- May 12, 1938 – We Are Here as Pilgrims, Our Homeland is Above
- June 9, 1938 – A Confirmation in Shiner Texas, 1889
- September 22, 1938 – Something About a Congregation’s Constitution and Meetings
- February 2, 1939 – We Rode With Each Other
- July 6, 1939 – Your Sons Will Come From Afar, Part 1
- July 13, 1939 – Your Sons Will Come From Afar, Part 2
- October 5, 1939 – From the First Years of the Congregation in Fedor, Texas, 1870-1875
Lutheran Church History
- January 1928 – The Beginning of Home Missions in Texas
- June 9, 1928 – Salem’s Ev. Lutheran Church at Brandon, Texas
May, 1931 – Synodical Convention in St. Louis, 1884July, 1931 – An Outline of the History of the Texas District- May 6, 1932 – Rev. Birkmann Writes of Lutheran Church Schools in Lee County, 1876-1932
- June 3, 1932 – The Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Churches in Lee County, Texas
- July 14, 1932 – My First Trip to Austin
- October 28, 1937 – Reformation Festival, Sunday, October 31
- November 22, 1934 – The Assignment of Candidates for the Preaching and Teaching Ministries at the Seminary of the Missouri Synod in St. Louis 45 Years Ago
- October 1, 1936 – Memories of Congregations in Earlier Times I
- October 8, 1936 – Memories of Congregations in Earlier Times II
- October 15, 1936 – The Remarkable Growth of the Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and
Other States in Texas During the Years 1886 to 1896 - March 17, 1938 – Sixty Years Ago
- August 28, 1938 – Memories of a Visitation Trip I Made in the Fall of 1893
- May 11, 1939 – Missouri Synod Congregations in Illinois About to Celebrate Their Centennials
- October 30, 1939 – The Beginning of Our Mission Work in China Through Missionary Arndt Twenty-five Years Ago
- January – June 1940 – Memories [History of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in Texas]
Lutheran Church District and Synodical Conventions
- November 14, 1928 – The Synodical Convention of the Southern District in Houston
- March 1, 1934 – Letter to the Editor, Huffsmith, Texas, February 24, 1934 [about various conventions and conferences]
- April 26, 1934 – Something About the Pastor/Teacher Conference In Rose Hill, Harris Co., Texas, Held Three Weeks Ago
- June 11, 1936 – Earlier District Conventions in Serbin, Texas
- June 18, 1936 – Earlier District Conventions in Serbin, Texas (Continuation of the article about district conventions)
- March 4, 1937 – Memories of the Convention in Warda,
February, 1892 - June 24, 1937 – My Memories of the Convention of the Western District of the Missouri Synod in St. Louis in 1876
- January 27, 1938 – Some Memories of my Attendance at the Convention of the Synod’s General Convention in Milwaukee in 1890
Lutheran Pastor/Teacher Conferences in Texas
- July 5, 1934 – Memories of Pastor/Teacher Conferences in Earlier Times
- July 12, 1934 – Memories of Pastor/Teacher Conferences in Earlier Times, Continuation
- July 26, 1934 – Memories of Pastor/Teacher Conferences at an Earlier Time, Second Continuation
- August 9, 1934 – Memories of Conferences in Earlier Times, Third Continuation
- August 30, 1934 – Memories of Conferences in Earlier Times, Fourth Continuation
- November 8, 1934 – Memories of Earlier Conferences, Fifth Continuation
- [Sixth Continuation Missing]
- January 10, 1935 – Memories of Earlier Conferences in Texas, Seventh Continuation
- [Eighth Continuation Missing]
- June 6, 1935 – Memories of Earlier Conferences, Ninth Continuation
- April 2, 1936 – Memories of Earlier Conferences, Continuation
- April 9, 1936 – Memories of Earlier Conferences, Continuation
Other Lutheran Church Conferences and Gatherings
- March 28, 1935 – My Visit to the Synodical Conference in 1888
- January 23, 1936 – The First Conference in Thorndale, Texas, 1897
- January 21, 1937 – Granting a Request [The Postoak or Southern Texas District Conference]
People
- 1884/1929 – About the Life and Work of the Sainted Johann Kilian, Formerly Pastor in Serbin, Texas
- February 18, 1931 – Heinrich Nehrling, Teacher and Friend of Nature
- August 13, 1931 – Golden Wedding Anniversaries When I Was in Fedor
- December 24, 1931 – The Rev. C. L. Geyer, Deceased
March, 1892, in Serbin, Texas - March 23, 1932 – In Memory of Former Pastor Hermann T. Kilian, in Serbin, Texas
- March 31, 1932 – From the Lutheran Witness
- August 19, 1932 – Partial List of Giddings People As I Knew Them 50 Years Ago
- February 23, 1933 – Teacher Gerhard Kilian in Serbin, Lee County, Texas
- August 24, 1933 – Pastor Jacob Kaspar is Dead
- October 26, 1933 – A Second Trip to the Winklers in The Grove, Coryell County, Fifty Year Ago
- January 25, 1934 – Rev. Friedrich Wunderlich
- January 24, 1935 – The Rev. Oswald Lugenheim, 1859-1934
- February 14, 1935 – Herman Urban died in Fedor
- June 27, 1935 – Memories of Missouri Synod Pastors Called from Texas to Nebraska
- July 7, 1935 – Letter to the Editor About the Wunderlichs
- November 14, 1935 – Memories of Rev. C. W. Rische
- August 26, 1937 – Letter to the Editor
- December 9, 1937 – Obituary for Anna Louise Kilian
- October 20, 1938 – Memories of the Rev. A. W. Kramer, Who Died in 1920
- February 2, 1939 – We Rode With Each Other
- October 30, 1939 – The Beginning of Our Mission Work in China Through Missionary Arndt Twenty-five Years Ago
The Wends
Sermons
Miscellaneous
- Things I Enjoyed Collecting in Nature
- June 28, 1931 – Congratulations… [to Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Wartburg, Illinois]
- September 24, 1931 – What Our Children Gather in Forest and Field
- September 1, 1932 – Letter from Hufsmith, Texas
- September 2, 1932 – Rev. Birkmann Writes an Interesting Article
- May 31, 1934 – My Visit to My Brother-in-law, John Falke, in Copperas Cove 42 Years Ago
- May 9, 1935 – Letter to the Editor
- August 22, 1935 – My Trip to Colorado and Nebraska in 1906
- November 19, 1936 – Something About Presidential Elections in Times Long Ago
- April 15, 1937 – My 1869 Summer Vacation
- November 25, 1937 – About Thanksgiving Day
- December 23, 1937 – Christmas Memories
- February 2, 1938 – After the Conclusion of the 1890 Convention in Milwaukee I Traveled Across Lake Michigan to Michigan
- April 14, 1938 – We Enjoyed Singing at Our College in Fort Wayne
- June 7, 1938 – My Vacation in Ohio, 1871
- August 4, 1938 – Waiting for the Robert E. Lee
- November 17, 1938 – Memories From My Childhood
- December 22, 1938 – My Christmas Vacation as a Student, 1874
- April 13, 1939 – More About My Childhood – Farm Experience
- June 15, 1939 – Memories
- August 31, 1939 – Memories of My First School Years in Illinois