In the early months of 2024, I had the joy of getting to know two of my fellow parishioners in my congregation in southern California through the mutual acquaintance of one of my history students. Without the intervention of that one student, I may not have known Mr. and Mrs. Mark Howell, and by extension, I would have never known the story of the Reverend Frederick ‘Fritz’ Reddin and his wife Luise (neé Schoenemann). Likewise, Mrs. Lauri Howell would have never gotten to know her Grandpa Reddin—affectionately known to her and her family members as ‘Olo’—had she not learned from the student of my ability to read old German handwriting. Fritz died during Lauri’s infancy, so all she knew of her ‘Olo’ came from the stories of her parents and from her interactions with her ‘very German’ grandmother Luise, who died during Lauri’s childhood. Many decades later, all Lauri had of her grandfather was the oral tradition passed on to her by relatives and a bundle of letters written by Reddin in Wisconsin to Luise in Nebraska during their courtship over the course of 1913 and 1914. The contents of this correspondence remained completely inaccessible to Lauri as Fritz wrote to Luise in the unique German-language cursive system known as Kurrentschrift, used in the German-speaking world until the 1930s. Although Lauri is proficient in the German language, the letters might as well have been written in hieroglyphics or cuneiform. It unfortunately requires the knowledge of a specialist to unlock this classic form of German handwriting.
Lauri Howell’s problem encapsulated a great misfortune for the Lutheran church in North America that so much of its history is inaccessible due to the double barriers of language and handwriting. The transition from the use of German to the use of English by American Lutherans about a century ago effectively barred those of us living in the English-language present from the knowledge of our ancestors. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of those who lived through that transition, we did not lose our legacy and traditions in the realms of theology and hymnody. The work of bringing some of the great German-language works of Lutheranism into English continues. A knowledge of the German language is all one needs to translate printed works, but this is not the case with the letters left behind by our ancestors. Without a knowledge of the handwriting, we will lose our history. Theological tomes tell us what our forefathers believed and thought on certain doctrinal issues, but handwritten letters give us a picture into how they lived out that faith in the day-to-day struggles of their time. Our synodical archives and private collections of correspondence contain a veritable treasury of how our Lutheran forebearers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries addressed the issues of their day. In short, we can turn the historian’s task to their correspondence and learn how they put doctrine into practice. In the case of Fritz’s letters to Luise, through a little bit of cross-referencing with publicly available records and papers contained in the archives of the Wisconsin Synod, we can get a glimpse of Christian culture in 1913.
Rev. Fritz Reddin served for a brief stint as a pastor in the Wisconsin Synod before marrying Luise, moving to California, and turning to a second career in keeping an orange orchard in northern Los Angeles County. According to the family oral tradition, Reddin intended to remain in the pastoral ministry upon his move to California, but his poor command of English left him unable to serve in an area with a limited number of German-speaking congregations. Born in Vehlen, Germany in 1884, Reddin spent the first twenty years of his life in his homeland before first traveling to the United States at age 20 on board the S.S. Pretoria with his friend Gotthilf Bradtke. At Ellis Island the two men declared they were traveling to the residence of a certain Fred Hilka of Beloit, Wisconsin.2 Reddin returned to Germany and lived in Bremen before coming back to the United States in 1905 to spend time in Philadelphia.3 Spending the first two decades of his life speaking only German no doubt hamstrung his English language ability, but it proved sufficient for him to navigate life in the states. By 1910, he and Bradtke were enrolled as students at the Wisconsin Synod seminary in Wauwatosa, where all instruction occurred in German. Reddin and Bradtke’s command of English apparently satisfied the 1910 US Census official, who marked them down as proficient in English.4 Nevertheless, the question remains whether Reddin could preach in English. In the age of World War I, he certainly experienced his share of anti-German hatred. In 1918, he enrolled in the Kearney Normal School (the future University of Nebraska at Kearney), where he received a letter of recommendation from the president attesting to Reddin’s good character.5 It seems he enrolled at Kearney to show his willingness to assimilate into American society, but it was not enough to convince California’s immigration officials. His application for US citizenship in 1929 was denied on the grounds of ‘loyalty unsatisfactory’.6 Those two words frustratingly leave the question open as to why? Was it Reddin’s command of English that was ‘unsatisfactory’ or did he harbor sentiments that could be interpreted as German nationalism or loyalty to the Kaiser? Whatever the reason, he convinced immigration officials in 1938 that it was no longer a fact and attained US citizenship at the age of 54.7
By then, Reddin had not served in a parish for 24 years (he may have done some pulpit supply but this is unknown ), been married for just as long, had three children, began a successful career as an orange grower in Glendora, and even owned an oil well in Long Beach. When Reddin graduated alongside his best friend, Gotthilf Bradtke, from the Wauwatosa seminary in 1912, he had no vision of this future, although he entertained the thought that Luise might be a part of it. Somewhere between his final trip to America in 1905 and his graduation in 1912, he travelled to Nebraska where he spent some time with the family of Christian and Luise Schoenemann in small community of Buffalo in Dawson County. While there, Reddin met their daughter Luise, who was a year his junior. At some point, the two struck up a correspondence of which the first surviving letter is dated June 30, 1913, after Reddin had been ordained at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Brodhead, Wisconsin. If they had been corresponding before that date, Luise did not decide to keep his letters. Reddin was not as meticulous a record keeper as Luise and consequently Luise’s replies are not extant. Fortunately, we have Reddin’s letters, which contain a rich insight into the thoughts of a young pastor and into how his congregation rallied to support him in his struggles.
Indeed, Reddin had many struggles ahead of him. Upon graduating from the Wauwatosa seminary in June 1912, he was assigned to serve as the pastor of the German-speaking congregations of St. Peter’s Brodhead and St. Paul’s in Sylvester. St. Peters had just been constituted and held its first divine service in July. It did not have its own building and met in the homes of members until it later started using the sanctuary of the Norwegian Lutheran church.8 Before taking up his assignment, Reddin seems to have been struck with crippling headaches. Whether or not he experienced these while at seminary is unknown, but by August they had reached the point that he sought medical help. His doctor diagnosed him with a shattered nervous system and recommended that he rest until October. The cause of the headaches is not given, although judging by the diagnosis the cause could have been panic attacks. A genetic condition or allergies could also have been to blame. Regardless of the headaches’ cause, Reddin could not take up his call as originally scheduled. In the meantime, a seminary student filled the pulpit, and Reddin rested at the home of his newly married and newly ordained friend, Gotthilf Bradtke, in Alma.9
The rest did its work and by the end of September, Reddin felt ready to take up his post, and on October 13 he was duly ordained at St. Peter’s by Rev. Bradtke.10 However, by March 1913, the headaches had returned, and Reddin asked President Bergemann of the Wisconsin Synod for medical leave and for someone to cover the pulpit. After three months of rest and repeated requests from his parishioners, Reddin took up his post again.11 (Reddin may have traveled to Nebraska during this time, although this is unknown.) One week after notifying President Bergemann of this decision, Reddin sent his first letter to Luise in reply to a letter from her. It was short, as he found himself swamped with his duties, making visits to as many parishioners as possible while enduring temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Part of the reason for his visits was damage control, as Reddin noted, ‘the devil first has had his game.’ During his absence, a relative spread the rumor that Reddin cited his health as a pretext and left Brodhead in order to avoid paying back a debt. Now that he returned Reddin had to ‘bear all patiently’ and restore ‘the old order in my congregation’ all while continuing to meet his parishioners in their ongoing spiritual needs. Reddin still suffered from his headaches, noting his health in Nebraska was much better than in Wisconsin.12
He chose to bear his headaches patiently, but they caused him much misery and anxiety. If these were caused by panic attacks, the headaches created a feedback loop of anxiety that would only cause more. In August, Reddin confessed to Luise, ‘I came to the conclusion that unless something changes, I will have to give up my ministry for a while. I really do not like doing it, but you cannot imagine the fear with which I step up to the pulpit. I always fear that my headaches could suddenly strike one day.’ The heat, humidity, and mosquitos did little to help him as they sabotaged his sleep, forcing him to sit in the cellar all night for relief. The sleepless nights only gave him more time to ponder on ‘what kind of spirit sits in his congregations.’13 Naturally, being simultaneously afflicted with such misery and with a growing infatuation with Luise, Reddin’s thoughts turned to Nebraska as his natural escape, especially when his greatest fear struck on Sunday, August 3. As Reddin delivered his sermon at St. Peter’s, he suddenly went blind and lost his balance. He clung to the pulpit to stay upright until the episode passed, telling Luise that how he felt was indescribable other than that he wished for death. Once the headache ended, Reddin carried on but was only able to read his sermon (his normal practice was to memorize it).14 With this worst fear now realized and the ever-occurring headaches, the prospect of preaching now filled Reddin with terror.15
With these episodes repeating themselves, Reddin knew he would not be able to sustain his ministry. So why did he endure the misery of his headaches? Throughout the correspondence, it becomes very clear that Reddin deeply cared about his parishioners and their physical and spiritual well-being, and he knew it was irresponsible for him to abandon the congregation as he would have to give an account before the throne of God.16 He did have his own anxieties about what parishioners would say, but he realized that people ’will say what they want.’ What concerned him more was the idea of leaving his sheep without a shepherd. The synod would have sent students from the seminary to preach on Sundays, but as Reddin noted, ‘the preaching of students is also not good for the congregation.’ There would be no one there to care for the parishioners the other six days of the week. Hence, Reddin resolved to help them find another pastor.17 However, he dared not tell the congregation of his internal struggles and his resolutions, especially if he did not have a successor pastor lined up for them. He feared such news could kill the congregation, especially as it was still overcoming its initial turmoil.18 Moreover, his sheep needed a shepherd to protect them from the wolves. The Methodists in town were trying ‘everything to pull members out of our churches to them.’19
In the meantime, Reddin found himself under duress as his relatives demanded he repay his debts. Furthermore, he had to navigate the politics of a dual parish. Naturally, some members of the country church of Sylvester complained that Reddin did not visit them enough. Moreover, parishioners could not understand how he spent his time, as many did not realize the amount of time he spent writing sermons. Reddin discovered that some believed pastors learned all of their sermons at the seminary. Others thought Reddin just improvised at the pulpit. He found solace in seeing his friend Bradtke, in Luise’s letters, and in daydreams of moving to Texas with Luise.20 The latter became much more of a pull away from the congregation as time passed. In a letter on October 20, Reddin proposed marriage to Luise, which she accepted. Luise and Bradtke were not the only ones who sought to encourage Reddin. His parishioners cared about him, too, and wanted to keep him there. Knowing his struggles with the sermons, they floated a number of solutions to him such as to have a student read the sermons until his health recovered or that he just read the sermons while refraining from a strenuous delivery.21
Nevertheless, Reddin still experienced headaches from time to time, although not as frequently as he did over the summer. When stuck by a headache, he was left bedridden for hours.22 Reddin hoped to be in Nebraska by Christmas as in October he had found a potential successor in the person of Carl Friedrich Baerwald, a recently graduated seminarian who was still without a call. Then Reddin learned that this may not be possible as the seminary faculty had concerns about Baerwald’s candidacy for ordination.23
Baerwald had been in the class behind Reddin and Bradtke at Wauwatosa and was slated to graduate in 1913. While attending the seminary, Baerwald had been engaged to be married to a young woman by the name of Miss Schoenike, and for some reason, he broke off the engagement. This action was seen as just short of divorce, and Schoenike and her family filed a complaint against Baerwald to the seminary as he prepared to sit for his final exams in June. With such a serious accusation, the three professors of the seminary had to investigate the matter before they could approve of Baerwald’s candidacy for the office of the ministry. In the meantime, Baerwald, who no doubt felt wronged by a vengeful ex-fiancée, attempted to take matters into his own hands and use Reddin’s situation as an easy path into the ministry, presenting the synod with a fait accompli.24 It seems Baerwald did not fully explain his situation to Reddin, as Reddin seemed to become aware of some of the matter after speaking with his supervisor at a conference in November.25
Reddin still hoped that Baerwald could resolve the issue. In the meantime, he dutifully and carefully prepared his sermons for his parishioners, and his congregations rallied around him, especially as the Christmas season drew near. Many of the parishioners were farmers, and Reddin found himself never having to pay for food and was often at a loss with what to do with the excess. He found great joy in preparing the children for the Christmas celebrations.26 Although his parishioners wanted the celebrations to be to a high standard, they complained about his desire for them to put in the appropriate level of effort. While this mentally exhausted him, travelling in the snow between the two parishes physically exhausted him, but he found ‘fresh courage’ every time he received a letter from Luise. His fiancée also gave him the mental escape of planning for their wedding and purchasing Christmas gifts.27
While running the congregations presented their day-to-day difficulties, Christmas gave Reddin’s parishioners a chance to show their love and support for their pastor. On St. Stephen’s Day, He wrote to Luise recounting the gifts he received:
‘From the congregation of Brodhead, I received 12 dollars and from Sylvester, 8 dollars. After that, from various congregants: one watch chain, a pair of mittens, two night shirts, a tie, a pair of suspenders, a tie clip, and a pair of cufflinks, and then after a variety of knick-knacks, including a large supply of snacks with which I could maintain a large family.’
Furthermore, his parishioners now knew of his intention to leave and begged him to stay.28 While his letters to Luise stopped mentioning the headaches, they still occurred. In the meantime, Baerwald assured Reddin that his matter with the seminary had been cleared. A week later, Reddin wrote to President Bergemann asking that he, upon the advice of his doctor, take a year of medical leave so he could travel south for his health and that Baerwald was willing to take up his post.29 At this point, Reddin, the congregations, and Baerwald were prepared to make this happen. Reddin planned to preach his farewell sermon on January 11 and then take off to his bride-to-be in Nebraska.30
However, Bergemann put these plans on hold. Baerwald had not been clear with Reddin about his status with the seminary and the synod at large. On January 5, 1914 Bergemann replied to Reddin that he could not approve of Baerwald, as the seminary faculty still had their concerns, and in his follow-up letter on the 8th, he advised Reddin not to disclose the details to the congregations. Nevertheless, Bergemann knew that he had a crisis to resolve. He was personally aware of Reddin’s ailments and that it made his ministry unsustainable. He also knew that the congregations needed a new pastor who could be a stabilizing force. Baerwald would have fit well in the congregations as he was born and raised in Wisconsin to German immigrants, but Bergemann could not risk placing a man into the office who might be embroiled in scandal. Here, he trusted the advice of his friend, John Schaller, president of the Wauwatosa seminary in doing his due diligence.31
In the meantime, Reddin now had to choose between ‘Love and Duty.’ He relayed President Bergemann’s message in a congregational meeting on January 11, and the congregation resolved that Reddin should remain until Baerwald could come. Reddin asked for a day to consider and spent a sleepless night beseeching God for His guidance. He ultimately found peace in the verse, ‘Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.’ Asking Luise to forgive him for not coming, Reddin resolved to stay with the congregation until the new pastor could come. He felt at peace with the decision, and his parishioners felt relief. Many felt pressured by the Methodists in town, who were attempting to exploit Reddin’s imminent departure by claiming that the Lutheran pastor was willingly forsaking his congregation for his own personal gain. Moreover, a scandal involving a relationship between a young woman of the congregation and a man in the city was coming into the light, and her family rejoiced that they had a pastor to help them through the matter. Furthermore, Reddin took on leading confirmation classes for eight youths. For her part, Luise supported her fiancé’s decision and did her part from Nebraska to encourage Reddin in carrying on his ministry. Likewise, Bergemann and Schaller also sent letters of encouragement to Reddin to endure until they could sort out Baerwald’s affairs.32
While Reddin taught classes, visited sick parishioners, and travelled through subzero temperatures, John Schaller and his colleagues, J.P. Koehler and August Pieper, worked from their end in Wauwatosa to put things aright regarding Baerwald’s eligibility for the ministry. Rather than cover up the matter in the hopes of gaining an expedient solution for Brodhead and Sylvester, they worked with Baerwald to clear his conscience and were transparent with the congregations about the situation. Baerwald had to demonstrate to them that he was truly repentant regarding his affront to Miss Schoenike and her family. Even though the Schoenike family rebuffed all of his attempts to reconcile, the seminary faculty determined that Baerwald had shown true repentance. However, Schaller did find it necessary to reprimand Baerwald for his less than honest conduct towards Reddin and the congregations. The process allowed for Baerwald to receive the seminary’s approval to take up the post, removing a potential point of scandal from Baerwald’s candidacy. Secondly, Schaller wrote a letter to the parishes of Brodhead and Sylvester fully explaining the matter so that if the congregations chose to call Baerwald, they would do so with full knowledge, and that way they could not hold this matter against the seminary nor Baerwald.33
The receipt of Schaller’s letter at the end of February caused much ‘unpleasantness’ in the congregations. Reddin could only scribble a few lines to Luise as the repeated meetings with congregational leaders wore him down. However, the letter had the desired effect of forcing the congregation to grapple with the issue, and, if the congregations decided to continue extending the call to Baerwald, they could do so with clear consciences. The process dragged itself out longer than Reddin would have liked. He would have much rather taken his medical leave and traveled to his fiancée. He found solace in the commiseration of his friend Bradtke, who found himself leading a congregation recently embroiled in the scandalous handling of finances by certain congregational leaders.34 Schaller’s letter to Baerwald also helped push the man to finish doing his due diligence in clearing his name with the seminary faculty, and by March, Baerwald gained the faculty’s approval. He would take over for Reddin on Palm Sunday.35
Full of relief, Reddin could take up his leave of absence and travel to Nebraska having endured through the pain of his headaches, which had made preaching very difficult. As he prepared to hand the congregation off to Baerwald, he reflected to Luise:
‘Your father was right in his letter in one way. I did not stay here because the synod wants it. I have stayed here in my place for the sake of the people. I have really kind and good people in my congregation, but there are also those who make life hard for me (but more of that later), and I wanted to maintain the good reputation that I had received. I wanted to presume to be nothing but a good shepherd.’
Reddin sent his last letter to Luise on March 20, 1914. On March 29, he preached his farewell sermon and, on the next day, caught the train to Nebraska. He and Luise were married on June 12, 1914. He had successfully led his congregations through several crises and placed them in hands of Rev. Baerwald, who shepherded the churches for the next four years. By the end of Baerwald’s tenure, St. Peter’s Brodhead was able to purchase its own building and become a self-sustaining congregation. Baerwald, himself, took a call to Zion Lutheran (WELS) in Leeds, Wisconsin, where he remained until 1924, when he resigned from the ministry. He then became a tradesman and an active leader in the local LCMS congregation. St. Peter’s Brodhead still continues as a WELS congregation in 2025.37
As for Reddin, he still held out the possibility of returning to the pastoral office, but even a year after living with his bride in Nebraska, he found the headaches remained. His last letter in the Wisconsin Synod archive is dated June 2, 1915, in which he asked President Bergemann to extend his leave for the remainder of the year.38 Bergemann replied granting Reddin further leave and wishing him a ‘speedy and complete recovery.’39 From there, life took the turns that Reddin never expected, ultimately leading him to growing oranges in South California. He never resigned from the ministry and turned his training to being a good shepherd of his growing household, as he and Luise were blessed with three children.
His training in the seminary and time in the parish were not all for naught, as they prepared Reddin for what lay ahead. As a man who deeply imbibed Christian doctrine and thought about how to put it into practice, he lived out Christian culture until his death from hypertension at the age of 69 in 1953. Aside from leading his family in the faith and participating in his congregation, he would use the wealth given to him to serve his neighbors near and far, especially when the Second World War put many in need. When his Japanese-American neighbors and fellow Christians, the Goyas, were sent off to internment camps, he and Luise watched over and worked their property until the Goyas returned. Thanks to the Reddins, the Goyas were one of the few internees who were able to reclaim their property. Likewise, Fritz and Luise leveraged their Germanness and wealth as a means to support destitute German families and churches after the war, sending money, clothing, and food for several years. Thus, Fritz Reddin sought throughout his life to carry out the lessons instilled into him at the Wauwatosa seminary to care for Christ’s flock wherever he may be with whatever tools the Lord gave him.
Endnotes
1 The author would like to thank Lauri Howell, Mark Howell, and Susan Willems. Lauri Howell inspired this project by placing Fritz’s letters into my hands for the time it took me to transcribe and translate them. Mark Howell encouraged his wife to move forward with this project. Susan Willems of the Wisconsin Synod Archive kindly found the records I needed and scanned them for me.
2 “New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JFB5-C3X : Sun Aug 31 20:15:44 UTC 2025), Entry for Fritz Reddin and Fred Hilka, 6 March 1904. There is a discrepancy in publicly available documents regarding Fritz Reddin’s age. Immigration and census documents from the turn of the century list Fritz at an age that would place his birth in the 1870s. I chose the date 1884 date given on his two petitions for citizenship in California, as these petitions would have relied on official documentation rather than the verbal exchange of a German-speaker with an English-speaker.
3 “New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JFWC-W4Z : Sun Aug 31 21:59:41 UTC 2025), Entry for Fritz Reddin and G C Eisenbardt, 28 August 1905.
4 “United States, Census, 1910”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPK1-Z46 : Wed Aug 13 18:52:31 UTC 2025), Entry for Harry S Perkins and Grace L Perkins, 1910.
5 Reddin Papers: Letter of Recommendation by George Dick, 26 March 1918.
6 “California, Southern District Court (Central) Naturalization Index, 1915-1976”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KX3G-8PP : Fri Apr 04 00:43:28 UTC 2025), Entry for Fritz August Karl Reddin, 1929.
7 Reddin Papers: Fritz Reddin Certificate of Citizenship, Issued 18 November 1938; “California, Southern District Court (Central) Naturalization Index, 1915-1976”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KX3R-92R : Fri Apr 04 00:32:11 UTC 2025), Entry for Fritz August Karl Reddin, 1938.
8 Jim Heffner, “The History of St. Peter Lutheran Church,” Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Essay Archive; WELS Archive: St Peter Brodhead, WI, 75th Anniversary of St. Peter Ev. Lutheran Church, 1987.
9 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Reddin to Bergemann, 10 August 1912; Reddin to Bergemann, 27 September 1912.
10 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Reddin to Bergemann, 27 September 1912; Reddin to Bergemann, 13 October 1912; Bergemann to Reddin, 17 October 1912.
11 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Reddin to Bergemann, 23 June 1913.
12 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 30 June 1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 17 July 1913.
13 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 1 August 1913.
14 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 10 August 1913.
15 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 1 September 1913.
16 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 13 October 1913.
17 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 10 August 1913.
18 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 18 August 1913.
19 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 3 October 1913.
20 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 18 September 1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 13 October1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 14 February 1914.
21 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 20 October 1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 29 October 1913.
22 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 12 November 1913.
23 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 5 November 1913.
24 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 37, Schaller to Baerwald, 20 February 1914; Schaller to St. Peter Brodhead, 21 February 1914.
25 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 5 November 1913.
26 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 12 November 1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 19 November 1913.
27 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 6 December 1913; Reddin to Schoenemann, 17 December 1913.
28 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 26 December 1913.
29 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Reddin to Bergemann, 30 December 1913.
30 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 22 January 1914.
31 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Bergemann to Reddin, 5 January 1914; Bergemann to Reddin, 8 January 1914.
32 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 7 January 1914; Reddin to Schoenemann, 22 January 1914; Reddin to Schoenemann, 27 January 1914; Reddin to Schoenemann, 4 February 1914; WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 101, Reddin to Bergemann, 9 February 1914.
33 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 37, Schaller to Baerwald, 20 February 1914; Schaller to St. Peter Brodhead, 21 February 1914.
34 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 27 February 1914; Reddin to Schoenemann, 2 March 1914.
35 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 37, Baerwald to Bergemann, 17 March 1914.
36 Reddin Papers: Reddin to Schoenemann, 11 March 1914.
37 WELS Archive: Baerwald Biography; St Peter Brodhead, WI, 75th Anniversary of St. Peter Ev. Lutheran Church, 1987.
38 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 151, Reddin to Bergemann, 2 June 1915.
39 WELS Archive: Bergemann Collection, Box 151, Bergemann to Reddin, 15 June 1915.
