1907

Pastor Walter Frederick, 31, conducting services. The following are from the pastor's notes(1)

This evening we entertained the young people of the congregation at the parsonage. There were 23 besides our family. Phonograph music was the special order.

This afternoon I officiated at the funeral of Mr. Hiram Canine (colored). Mr. Canine was in very poor health and was being cared for by his son George. Last Friday night George went away and remained until Saturday. On his return he found his father dead. All five children were present at the funeral. He was buried in a little plot for colored people on the farm of Mr. A. D. Lasher. Text 1 Cor 15:55a ["O death, were is thy victory?"]

Debt on parsonage completely paid, 2 years 7 months after building committee had been appointed. Last service in Shultis' Corners for the year. These services are held in the winter months. They are an open-hearted and cordial people.

(During the winter season, Pastor Frederick conducted midweek cottage services for 26 worshippers to the community at Shultis Corners [the intersection of current Route 212 and Glasco Turnpike east of Woodstock; see the map], an "open-hearted and cordial people.")

Here are the pastor's notes for June 20:

Buried Mrs. David Berkine, oldest member of the church and oldest resident of Woodstock.

Union service [of Lutheran, Reformed, and Methodist congregations] in the M E [Methodist Episcopal] Church in the interest of the anti-saloon league.

The new church building was illuminated by a large, ornate chandelier hanging in the center of the chapel. It was balanced by a counterweight. Miss Florence Peper recalls helping her mother light the circle of kerosene lamps. The chandelier was pulled down with a long hook and the task took about ten minutes.

The congregation paid its full quota in advance to the synod annually and made other contributions. Dr. Marion J. Kline, general secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod, while visiting Woodstock for his summer vacation, remarked that he knew of only one other church in the synod that had done this.(3)

The mortgage for the new parsonage was paid during this year. (To see an enlargement of the building, click the picture.) Pastor Frederick recorded the following in one of the church books:(4)

Today I went to Saugerties to deposit some money into the bank and pay our note. We are now entirely out of debt for our new parsonage. It is only 2 years and 7 months since the building Com. was appointed. Surely this is a wonderful record. There are some things of minor importance yet to be done which will soon be reached if nothing happens. When these are accomplished we will have a property of which we may feel well satisfied. Let us thank God and reconsecrate ourselves to his service.

With all this property free from debt, this little congregation can rejoice in a church home and parsonage not surpassed and possibly not equaled by any other congregation of the same size in the Synod.

Mrs. Mary Helen Wolven Lasher, 62, led church services on several occasions in the absence of Pastor Frederick.

The Bible School was flourishing.

Former (and ousted) Pastor Isaiah J. Delo was recognized at the annual meeting of the Hartwick Synod as being the oldest ordained member of the synod. He voted at that meeting in favor of the merger of three synods to form the Synod of New York the following year.

Above is a postcard view of looking up Mill Hill Road in the earliest years of the twentieth century. Our church is in the distance on the left of the road, the parsonage on the right. (To enlarge the view, click it.) There is no Joyous Lake or Denny's or CVS (Grand Union), no Woodstock Meats, Catskill Mountain Pizza, or Cumberland Farms to interrupt the view.

• ← Preceding year on the church
• Next year on the church →

This is a placeholder for information on our region during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(5)

• ← Preceding year on the region
• Next year on the region →

Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) was President. The newly elected 60th Congress was in session. A dollar in that year would be worth $20.90 in 2006 for most consumable products.

Immigrants from the British Isles and western Europe (especially Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany)--the so-called "Old Immigrants," most of them boasting a comparatively high level of literacy and accustomed to some level of representative government, who were either Protestant (most of them) or Catholic, were arriving during this decade at an average annual rate of 106,900. The "New Immigrants," those from southern and eastern Europe (especially Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia), largely illiterate and impoverished, who tended to be either Catholic, Orthodox, or Jewish and who had little experience with representative government, were arriving at an annual rate of 578,900--five and a half times as much as the Old Immigrants' rate, more than a threefold proportionate increase from a decade earlier and more than a threefold increase in raw numbers. The New Immigrants huddled together in large cities, such as New York City and Chicago.

In Monongah, WV, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred in December: 362 men and boys (out of 380 working that day) were killed, leaving 250 widows and more than a thousand children without support.

This is a placeholder for information on the United States during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(6)

• ← Preceding year on the U.S.
• Next year on the U.S. →

This is a placeholder for information on the world at large during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(7)

• ← Preceding year on the world
• Next year on the world →