ST. MATTHEW'S GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

HUDSON,

  COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK

By Captain Franklin Ellis¹⁴⁶

¹⁸⁷⁸

    The first service preceding the organization of this church was held at the city hall on Sunday, Feb. 7, 1869, by the Rev. A. E. Frey, then pastor of St. John's church at Ghent.  Two weeks later the same clergyman held another service in the same hall, and on this occasion the organization of the church was effected.

     It was soon after incorporated under the above name, the first officers being Rev. A. E. Frey, pastor; John Menick, Friedrich Maisenbacher, elders; Herman Dernell, Magnus Herbs, August Schreiber, Sr., trustees.

     In August, 1870, Pastor Frey resigned his office, and in March, 1871, the charge of the congregation was assumed by the Rev. C. J. Renz, the present pastor.

     In May, 1870, a lot, fifty by one hundred and twenty feet, on State street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, was purchased for eight hundred dollars, on which, in 1873, the present church edifice was erected at a cost of nearly thirteen thousand dollars, and was dedicated on the first Sunday in Advent, by the pastor, assisted by Revs. P. Eirich, of Albany, Ch. Wiegel, of Rome, N. Y., and Friedrich Stutz, of Rondout.

    The present officers of the church are the Rev. C. J. Renz, pastor; Samuel Klein and Herman Durnell, elders; George Heiser, Chr. Klein, Henry Boxberg, and Friedrich Berg, trustees; Gustav Meissner, secretary.

     Connected with the church is a Sabbath-school, organized in 1874.