Johann Heinrich BROCKMANN

Rev. John Brockmann

20 Jan 1904

http://www.watertownhistory.org/Articles/Brockmann_John.htm

The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Chicago: Western Historical Company. 1879.

Birth: Feb. 8, 1833

Death: Jan. 20, 1884

Weiland Pastor at St. Mark's Ev. Lutheran.

Burial:

Lutheran Cemetery

Watertown

Dodge County

Wisconsin, USA

REV. JOHN H. BROCKMANN, Pastor of the German Evangelical

Lutheran Church of Watertown and vicinity; born in Hanover Feb. 8,

1833; educated in Europe; ordained to the Christian ministry in Germany

in 1861; came to America in 1862; he preached at Ahnapee, Wis., four

years, afterward two years at Mosel, Sheboygan Co.; in 1868, he went to

Fort Atkinson, where he remained until he came to Watertown, in

January, 1875. Mr. Brockmann married Sophia Scheele Oct. 3, 1862;

she was born in Germany. They have three children – Johanna,

Theodore and Paul.

Rev. John H. Brockmann, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Watertown and vicinity; born in Hanover February 8, 1833; educated in Europe; ordained to the Christian ministry in Germany in 1861; came to America in 1862.

He preached at Ahnapee, Wis., four years, afterward two years at Mosel, Sheboygan Co.; in 1868, he went to Fort Atkinson, where he remained until he came to Watertown, in January, 1875. Mr. Brockmann married Sophia Scheele Oct. 3, 1862; she was born in Germany. They had three children: Johanna, Theodore and Paul.

From Memorial and Genealogical Record of Dodge and Jefferson Counties, Wisconsin, publ.

1894 - Page 50-51

REV. JOHN H. BROCKMANN. For many years this worthy gentleman has ministered to the

spiritual wants of his fellow-man and his career has been honorable, useful and upright. He was

born in Bergen, Hanover, Germany, February 8, 1833, a son of Henry BROCKMANN, who was

born in the same place July 2, 1802, and became a cabinet maker and joiner by trade. His wife,

Sophia BRANDT, was also born in the Province of Hanover, December 24, 1802, a daughter of

George BRANDT, who was a well-educated man and a soldier by calling. To Henry

BROCKMANN (who died in 1876) and his wife a family of eight children were given: Fred, who

died at the age of twenty-six years; John H, Ernst, Louisa, Dorothea, Henrietta, and Fredericka.

The mother of these children was called from this life in 1882. In the town in which he was born

John H. BROCKMANN was reared and the principal part of his literary education was secured in

the Mission Institute of Hermannsburg, Hanover, and there he was fitted for the life of a

missionary, graduating in 1861. In the fall of the following year, after a voyage of three weeks, he

landed in the City of New York, and after a stay of three weeks in Watertown, Wis., was sent to

Ahnapee, Wis., where he continued his labors as a minister of the Gospel for about four years, at

the end of which time he was called to Mosel, thence to Fort Atkinson, and in January 1875, took

charge of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, of Watertown. This congregation was first organized as

"German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, of Watertown and vicinity" October 22, 1854, and in

1887 changed its name to "Evangelical Lutheran St. Mark's Congregation." The first church was

built in 1855 for about $4,000 and in 1887-88 a nice, large church building was elected at a cost

of $25,000 and dedicated September 9, 1888. When first organized there were about twenty-five

male members, and now there are about 360 - about 1600 souls in all.

A parochial school was founded as early as 1855. In 1864 the congregation erected a

schoolhouse of two recitation rooms and a residence of the principal, which school in 1874 was

enlarged to four rooms and has now four teachers and four classes.

Mr. BROCKMANN is an active worker in the vineyard of his Master, has made himself familiar

with the various phases of life to which his parishioners are born and reared; hence he is in

peculiar sympathy with them and well qualified to be the leader of his flock. He was married

October 2, 1862, in the land of his birth and sailed with his young bride, Sophia SCHEELE, who

was born in the same place as himself, for America, on the16th of October. Her father, Henry

SCHEELE, was a gardener by occupation, and the maiden name of her mother was Sophia

MEINECKE. To Mr. and Mrs. BROCKMANN three children have been given: Johanna S.,

Theodore P. and Paul T. Mr. BROCKMANN was many years a member of the board of trustees

of Northwestern University and since he has held the position two substantial buildings have been

added to the university. He is a worthy man and is highly respected.

To be fair, the Hermannsburg position on their men and their work was not official disregard, but simply an unintentional comparison to the heathen work for which the mission house had originally been founded. Considering the challenges, the Harms brothers gave astounding consideration to the need in America, yet hesitated to make it equal with the heathen mission. One cannot, however, fault them when looking at some of the statistics for Hermannsburg’s contribution to Lutheranism in America. In 1867 Hermannsburg sent 11 missionaries to America, 8 were sent the next year, 16 in 1869 and 14 in 1870. At a mission festival in 1873 Theodore Harms reported, “In America we now have a large number of brothers; if I can make an estimate, might be 50 or 60. They are highly regarded, thank God, and cause Hermannsburg no shame. Also they work under God’s blessing.” Beyond reports as these, over the course of the years many Hermannsburgers who had difficulties in heathen missions were reassigned to America, among them Johannes Brockman, who in 1864 left Africa and joined the Wisconsin Synod. It is also interesting to note that, based on statistics reported previously, Hermannsburg had about the same number of men in Africa in 1892 that it had in America already in 1873! And need there yet be a concern about the quality of these men sent to America, as somehow inferior to those in Africa? Often times a human judgment of “inferiority” is nothing other than an acknowledgement that one individual has what it takes to step toe-to-toe with a challenging job nobody else wants. More than that, with full confidence in the Lord of the church and his ability to put the right men in the right place even despite the misplaced sincerity of human intervention, Dr. Mueller notes,

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