Sunday Special: Victor Brugge & Gordonville, MO

From time to time, I google members of the family tree.  I found the following references to Victor Brugge (son of Martin Brueggeman) about his time in Missouri.  Who would have thought we could learn about his chicken purchase!

From the Southeast Missourian:

June 29, 1924

The Rev. Victor Brugge is installed as pastor at Christ Lutheran Church at Gordonville: in charge of at installation service is Rev. E.H. Melzer, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. He comes to this area Texas where he had been doing missionary work.

September 22, 1924

Rev. Victor Brugge and  Rev. Cal Walther attended a conference in Jackson  Thursday.   Rev. Brugge has purchased 150 white leghorn chickens.

Oct 11, 1924

Don't forget you can click on this to make
large so you can read easier.

June 12, 1927

The Rev. Victor Brugge, pastor of Lutheran church at Gordonville, has accepted call to pastorate of Lutheran church at Memphis, Tenn., of which his late father was pastor until short time ago; Brugge was released by Gordonville congregation at meeting last Sunday.

Selma's Diary: Her vacation to Zanesville this week in 1918

Reading this, I can picture Selma on her journey to Zanesville and how excited she must have been to returning to Zanesville and to spend time with old friends and her beloved sister, Emma.


Saturday:

I left for Zanesville, I was overflowing with happiness at the prospect of going back to the little town, which I have not seen for nearly a year.  Linda walked to the station with me, and carried my "truck", which was very kind of her.  I do not know how she carried it so far.  My ticket to Canton was 59 cents, it seemed a long time before I arrived to Canton, and in Canton I had a wait of about two hours.  From Canton to Zanesville cost me $2.75, I arrived in Zanesville about 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  There were a few changes that I had noticed but not many.  I was a little disappointed when nobody was there at the station, when my train pulled in, for I was thinking that my cousin Victor would be there.  I boarded a street car, the fares were now a nickel straight, ask for transfer for the Greenwood car line.  The town seemed very quiet to me to my surprise for this was Saturday.  I formerly when I lived there I always thought the streets to be very crowded on Saturday.  When I was coming from the Greenwood car line, I saw running out of the house to meet me, she told me to stay at her house all night, and that I should bring my clothes to her house, which I did.

I could not wait until I arrived at Emma's house.....

Sunday:

...Victor preached the same sermon he had preached in Akron, but the Zanesville congregation gave him $15.00, he had also preached an early morning sermon in German.  Emma had a splendid dinner, and the whole family of Schmids were over, and they also stayed for supper, we played cards in the afternoon, but it was not a very interesting game...After supper we all went down the street for they had a big doings about the Third Liberty Loan, all there was down the street were lots of people and I can see that in Akron.

1910 Census Johann Martin Brueggeman

To continue our review of the 1910 Census, I looked at the youngest Brueggemann sibling,  Martin.  He was 40 at the time of the census and they were living in Memphis at 204 Washington Street.  This is the address of Trinity Lutheran Church.  I wonder if the parsonage was on the property.
His children were all still at home, Victor (14), Otis (12) and Arno (7).


It was a working class neighborhood as all the residents on this census form were renters.  It wasn't a German neighborhood.  The residents had all kinds of occupations:  Hair dresser, book keeper, traveling salesman, optician, teacher, doctor's assistant.  Many of the women worked outside the home. 

Family Picture Friday: Victor Brugge and friend

This was in Selma's pictures.  She talked in her diary from this time about Victor making a trip to Ohio to preach.  This picture was labeled"August 30, 1918 Victor and Monroe Miertsluin.

 

Sunday Special: Stella Reinhardt

• 
  

  • Stella Kunigunde Reinhardt was the daughter of Sophie (Clamor's daughter) and Rev. John Reinhardt.  She moved from her home in Pensacola FL to Memphis to be the secretary for Rev. Martin Brueggemann (her uncle) and then worked for his son, Rev.Victor Brugge (her cousin) at Trinity Church. She never married and retired to Florida.
    
    
    

Guest Post for Sunday Special by David Reinhardt

David Reinhardt provided the additional info on Rev. Victor Brugge.  Thank you David for sharing this with us:

Victor Brugge was the minister in Memphis where Aunt Stella Reinhardt worked for many years.  He shortened his name to Brugge.  Victor was in Gordonville, Missouri when his father died.  Victor was called as successor to his father.  He was installed July 3, 1927 by Rev. Paul Koenig of Holy Cross in St. Louis.  The text was, "Even as I am sent, so send I you."

 

From the 75th anniversary book, "Through the death of Rev. Martin J. Brueggemann, the mantle passed from father to son, in Trinity congregation.  Prior to coming to Trinity in the capacity of its pastor, Rev. Brugge served as missionary in Clarksville, Texas, and later as pastor of Christ Church, Gordonville, Missouri.  Rev. Brugge was not only confirmed, united in marriage, and ordained as a minister, at Trinity's altar, but a short time after his father's death, in the plan of God's unfathomable wisdom, was installed as Trinity's pastor.  Under his able leadership the congregation has grown steadily larger, until now it is frequently a difficult task conveniently to place all of those who are in attendance.  On the day of Trinity's Seventy-Fifth Anniversary, the solemn prayer is offered that it may please God to sustain our pastor in all his undertakings, and to preserve him unto us.  We pray also that God's Word and Luther's Doctrine remain with us to the end of time."  Theo. J. Doepke

 

Rev. Victor L. Brugge, who retired last Sunday after 29 years of pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, died unexpectedly at his home at 262 N. Avalon at 6 a.m. today.  He was 61.

 

The highly aggressive, popular pastor, who divoted all of his energies to the church thruout his life, worked long hours even after his health began to fail three years ago.  He was a leading figure in the community, familiar to thousands outside his denomination by virtue of his radio and television appearances and  vital personality.  He traveled widely, and was influential in having the networks sign up the Lutheran Hour, one of the major church programs in the country.  An excellent public relations man, he easily won people to his viewpoint.

 

There was never any thought but that he would succeed his father, the late Rev. Martin Brueggemann, as a Lutheran minister.  He was born in Manila, Iowa, and his family moved to Memphis during his early boyhood.  After attending the old Market Street School, he worked two years as a railroad clerk and then entered St. John's Academy to study for the ministry.  Next he entered Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, where his graduation picture hung next to that of his dad's.  Trinity Parish helped pay for his school expenses.  He met the balance by trucking express in St. Louis.  He completed the nine-year course in eight years and was ordained by his father in 1920 at the age of 25.

 

His first pastorate was at Clarksville, Texas, and he rode his circuit on the plains on a mule.  Those days brought him many a chuckle, "I'm proud to say I never missed an appointment on that mule." he said.  He became pastor of Trinity Church in 1927, the year his father died.

 

He married a Memphis girl, Miss Mynette Keller, who survives.  The three Brueggemann brothers, aided by their father, had their name abbreviated by the court to Brugge. 

 

For nearly 30 years he was on the committee of public relations for the Western District of the church.   He also was district chairman for Valparaiso University in Indiana for that period.  He was service pastor for the Lutherans in the Navy at Millington.  He was chairman of an interdenominational subcommittee on Community Service to the Armed Forces, which annually urged Memphians to extend the hospitality of their homes to serviceman and women over the holidays.

 

The church at 210 Washington was the oldest Lutheran church in Memphis, having been founded in 1855, and he and his father built a strong membership from a congregation that survived the yellow fever epidemic and Civil War.  He was active in the Lions Club for many years.  Besides his wife, he leaves two sons, Vernon and Warren, in the wholesale candy business in memphis in the firm of Purity Products; two daughters, Mrs. Sam Watson and Miss Ellen Jeanne ; two brothers, Arnold and Otis of Memphis and five grandchildren.

 

National Funeral Home is in charge.

Sunday Special: Rev. Victor Brugge (Brueggemann)

This is kind of Part 2 to last week's post about Rev. Martin Brueggemann.  His eldest son, Victor Ludwig Ottamar (born 1895) also became a Pastor and succeed his father at Trinity in Memphis.

I think he may require more than one post. If you remember from his father's post, he and his brothers changed their name from Brueggemann to Brugge.

 Again from Trinity's Website, a great history of his tenure. 

At the time of Pastor Brueggemann's death, Trinity called his oldest son Victor, who had also entered the ministry and was the pastor of a rural congregation in Gordonville Missouri, to be their next pastor. Pastor Brugge was a young, dynamic preacher who became immensely popular in the community. He was also a gifted speaker and became a favorite of reporters looking for a snappy quote to round out their story. His Christian influence was felt throughout the community by his numerous contacts with businessmen, politicians, and civic leaders.

He wrote a daily newspaper column, and in 1932 began preaching the gospel over the radio, and later by television. In 1935, the congregation granted him a leave of absence to help with the development of the fledgling The Lutheran Hour. The Lutheran Hour continues on the air today, making it the world's oldest continually broadcast Christ-centered radio program.
Under Pastor Brugge’s leadership, youth work flourished, a Men’s Club and a Couple’s Club were organized. The women’s groups and the Adult Bible Class continued their spectacular growth. Church membership now exceeded 600.

During World War II, when many of Trinity’s youth served in the armed forces, of which only three gave their lives, the church organized the Service Club and worked diligently with the Institutional Chaplin, W.C.Krueger, to provide spiritual care for service personnel in the Memphis area. In 1944, 86 members of the armed forces communed at Trinity’s alter. During those war years, members of Trinity became involved in ministering to a community of displaced Latvians that had been established in the Senatobia, Mississippi area.

Also that year, Trinity and her pastor, along with Rev. Vernon Koerper, helped erect a new building for a thriving black school, ably run by Ms. Emma A. Smith. In 1949, the congregation helped build a Lutheran Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi. For some years, Trinity had lent its facilities to an integrated group of hearing-impaired Lutherans, and in 1950 when the church added a new education building, a new Chapel for the Deaf was included.

Throughout most of Pastor Brugge’s ministry, two Sunday morning services were held, along with Bible Classes and Sunday School and often Vespers (evening worship services). The gospel message was also delivered at Millington Naval Base, at railway stations in Memphis, and at civic gatherings. By the grace of God, these were years of great activity and of reaching out beyond the congregation itself. Devotions by the pastor and the choir which had started on radio, were telecast weekly on WMC-TV in the late forties.

About this time, Trinity played a vital role in establishing sister congregations in Jackson, Tennessee and Blythville, Arkansas.

Major renovations were made in preparation for the 1955 Centennial Anniversary. The interior was completely refinished. An educational building was constructed in the area once occupied by the parsonage with Sunday School classrooms and church offices. The most welcome addition was the small elevator installed to serve the elderly and handicapped. Since 1888, Trinity’s sanctuary has been located on the second floor. Ten years later, more space was added for classrooms and a chapel for the congregation of hearing impaired Lutherans.

Led by Pastor Brugge, the congregation raised its voice in hymns of praise for a century of gracious blessing and pledged to look to the future in faith.

In 1940, and again in 1953, Pastor Brugge became gravely ill, each time for almost a year. During these times, seminary students and vicars such as Edwin Coyner, George Plvan, Luther Kriefall and Walter Harms shouldered the responsibilities. Then in 1957, after another extended illness, The Lord called Pastor Brugge home on Thanksgiving Day. Vicar Harms served until Pastor Paul Martens accepted Trinity’s call in August of 1957.

It sounds like he was an amazing man.  I look forward to learning more about him.