The Synod of the West

About the Book

In the mid 19th century many Germans migrated to the Midwestern United States. Many of them were influenced by the Reformation as well as the theology of John Calvin. When many of them settled in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, Adrian Van Vliet, a minister of First Presbyterian Church in Dubuque, Iowa made it his mission to train ministers for these new immigrants. Out of this effort came the University of Dubuque and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. A second result was the banding together of 85 churches who formed the German speaking Synod of the West under the authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). For nearly 47 years these churches reached out to the new immigrants and acted as an agent of change to not only evangelize them but also to introduce them into the American way of life and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) This is the story of that 47 year journey, from 1912 – 1959. Layout and Photographs by Jean E. Straatmeyer

About the Author

H. Gene Straatmeyer received a B.A. degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD in 1957, a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in 1959 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Iliff School of Theology in 1975. His long history with the Synod of the West began when he was a child. His maternal great grandparents were charter members of the Turner County First Presbyterian Church and his paternal grandparents were charter members of Salem Presbyterian Church, both rural churches located in the East Friesland settlement surrounding Lennox, South Dakota, where he grew up in the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church. These churches were all German Presbyterian congregations and members of the Synod of the West. Upon graduation from seminary, his first two parishes were former Synod of the West congregations. He is married to Jean Plucker Straatmeyer, whose paternal great grandparents, Menne and Engle Plucker, gave the land for the Germantown Presbyterian Church and whose maternal great grandfather, Phillip Witte, was the first pastor of that Synod of the West congregation near Lennox.