A brief history of Batz’s Church

http://www.unitedevangelicalucc.org/index.html


In response to a large influx of people immigrating from Germany and settling in the Canton area of Baltimore, Maryland, it became necessary to consider organizing a church. So it was, that on September 14, 1873, a church was organized as Zion Evangelical. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to the German United Evangelical Church, and remained so until 1937 when the word German was dropped. The board of trustees, as they were called at that time, were Reverend Dr. Andrew Schwartz (Pastor), William Zimmerman (President), John A. Schwartz (Secretary), John Ulrich (Treasurer), George Norris, Henry Guenther, Louis Kiefer, Henry Moll, H.L. Boeschee, Samual Nitzel, Charles J. Spruth, M.F. Reinhardt, R. Winkellmann.

On September 17, 1873, another meeting was held in which the decision to build a sanctuary was resolved. On October 5th the contract was awarded to E. W. Robinson and 104 feet of ground was leased on South East Avenue. The church was completed on April 12, 1874 and dedicated to the “Service of God”. Christian education was a major feature of the church’s early history and in 1876, pioneered one of the first Protestant Sunday schools in the United States.

Early service were conducted in German and the second service in English. However, in 1894, and out of concern of the inclusion of persons of German background into the life of the new country, Pastor Menzel began to confirm members of the church using the English language. The church's history has been one of victory over adversity and deep commitment to mission work.


In 1885 the first parsonage was dedicated. Always concerned with beauty, in 1915 stained glass art windows were installed in the church. The ladies aid, now called women’s organization, presented the painting of “Christ walking the Galilean Sea” which has since been replaced by a beautiful 5’ by 10’ oak carving of the last supper. In 1917 the tower and clock were removed from the old church, saved and placed on the new church. In 1992 the mechanical clock mechanism was replaced and is now controlled by a computer which is programmed to toll its message of security and God’s omnipresence every hour, as well as at the beginning of each Sunday service. The bells can be, and are, rung manually anytime the Lord’s Prayer is said in the church.

In 1927, the church became affiliated with the Evangelical Synod of North America. At about this time, the church became interested in service to the youth of the community and built a Boy’s Brigade in 1930 and the first daily vacation Bible school in 1935. In 1936 ground breaking for the church school took place, and in 1937 the cornerstone for the present parsonage was laid. In those days, the church had a Sunday school enrollment of 500 or more and confirmation classes of 100 or more each year. More space was needed. In 1957 a new sanctuary, the one in use now, was built and dedicated “To the glory of God”.


United Evangelical became part of the United Church of Christ when a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Churches and the Congregational Church took place in 1957. This merger led to the change in the name of the church to United Evangelical United Church of Christ shortly thereafter. The church, at one time, had a wide range of social and spiritual activities that serve not only the members of the church, but the community as at large. The many activities provided were often in communion with other churches in the Canton area.

The United Evangelical Church is a member of the Chesapeake Association and Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ. It can be said without doubt, “The church has a rich heritage in both religious traditions and service to the Canton-Highlandtown community”. The members are inheritors of great historical achievements.

Translating the name Bauernfeind

The name Bauernfeind was conferred upon our ancestors who were imperial knights that fought in the peasant revolts in the Middle Ages. As such, our ancestors were of noble blood (probably lower nobility). These noble knights were called the Raubritter.

Bauernfeind literally means: An enemy to the peasants or peasant foe. Or more specifically: enemy of the rebels.

We don't know what Christoph's occupation was before immigrating to America. He eventually settled upon dairy farming, and he had a farm in Canton, MD. In the 1870s, Canton was a rural section of Baltimore. He seems to have come into dairy work through his father-in-law. After his untimely death, his wife, Sabina, continued to run the farm until it seems to have been bought by the city, incorporated, and developed as a residential area.

Surnames in Bavaria

Bavaria is one of the oldest and most expansive of the German states. After the 12th century, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and names that were derived from occupations were particularly common in this region.

In the medieval period, very few people were literate and scribes often recorded names as they sounded rather than according to uniform spelling rules. As a result of the multitude of local dialects in Germany, it was entirely possible that a name would even change between father and son. Additionally, the German language was divided into the linguistically distinct dialects of High and Low German. High German has become the standard modem German language, whereas Low German is linguistically closer to Dutch. Many German surnames may be recognized as belonging to a particular region by their suffixes. It was also common in Germany to add phrases to a name, in order to express something about a person's place of origin, religious background, or character. Thus, German surnames are distinguished by scores of regional spelling variations.

The development of surnames in Germany occurred much later than in Italy, Britain, or France. During the Middle Ages, the practice of adopting hereditary surnames began in southern areas and gradually spread northward. The first hereditary surnames in German-speaking regions were found in the second half of the 12th century when the nobility began to call themselves after their ancestral seats. Among the citizens, surnames were not adopted until the 14th century and did not become stabilized, universal, or fixed in form from one generation to another until the 18th century, when Emperor Joseph 11 decreed that all people throughout the Empire were to assume surnames.

The great European flow of migration to North America, which began in the middle of the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, was particularly attractive to those from Bavaria who wished to escape either poverty or religious persecution. For many Bavarian farmers, the chance to own one's own land proved to be a major incentive. The process of the widespread colonization of the United States began in 1650, when many immigrants from Germany settled in pockets in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California. In Canada, German settlement centered around Ontario and the Prairie provinces.

The Name Bauernfeind

A Study by Johann R. Bauernfeind, Munich

Whoever attempts to literally "translate" the Name necessarily comes to the wrong conclusion that our ancestors must have acted hostilely toward the farmers. What is closer to the truth, as this essay suspects, is that the origin (of our Name) dates to the time of the farmer-wars.

In the various Name-Encyclopedias under "B", one simply reads: Paurnfeindt, Pauernfeind, Bauernfeind, Bauemfeind is a principal-name [Obername] for a knight and also robber-barons.

The first designation [i.e. a knight] deals specifically with our ancestors, for the first to bear our name was Friedrich Pauernfeind der Kemnater [of Kemnat]. As the fief-holder of the former Castle Rosenberg [Rose-mountain. This castle is E-SE of Regensburg] he surely belonged to the fighting nobility. His name was given to our entire House. Considerating the fact that his father Heinrich Kemnater and these brothers Conrad and Johann Kemnater stood in the service of the German emperor and Bohemian king Charles IV (in Bohemia Charles I) who had enacted in the 13th century a so-called land-peace-law [Landfriedensgesetz] against the Robber-barons [Raubritterei], it can be said that our House was not one of these Robber-barons [Raubrittereil].

So the question is raised: Why did some knights call themselves Pauemfeind?

The answer is probably found in the social climate of the time. A large part of the lesser nobility were originally like the unfree (serfed) farmers, however they climbed their way up as nobility who derived their titles from being in the king's service [Dienst-adel] in the military [Waffen-] and civil service [Beamtendienst]--thus they became eneoffed [lehensfähig]. So they lived like many of the old nobility whose Houses descended from their castles, building the first line in the defense, which initially, at most, were very meager defenses. Sometimes it might have been that a powerful farmer lived securely on his farm just as a member of the lesser nobility lived in his castle. With the crusade-call of Pope Urban II in 1095 to Clermont a continuous number of crusaders were made knights, often the local nobility [Ortsadel] from the surrounding area knew exactly how many descended only from that member. On their way to Jerusalem the crusaders came into contact with foreign cultures and upon their return home they brought back unfamiliar goods and customs, which had the consequence: that one who spoke as a man of world was thought of by the native population during his lifetime and even generations later to still be called Bauern-Feind [farmers' enemy], i.e. not a farmer.

At the time when knighthood [Rittertusm] was declining some members of the knighthood sustained themselves through Robber-barony [Raubritterei]. It became common to generalize the enemy [der Gegner] as acting in this manner, and so the public assumed that all the knights (and the name Bauemfeind) conducted this evil activity.

Comment: As research on the family was ascertained, originally there were different members of noble families called "Pauemfeind". In the most instances only a single person had this over-name [Übernamen], which did not pass onto his descendants. Today there are at least three families living with a similar name, as well as a Bauemfeind; others in the family's ancestry can be verified either through the church register or through Heraldry.

1880 Census

The earliest record I have come across for Christoph Bauernfeind is the 1880 U. S. Census.

Census Place: Canton, Baltimore, MD


Chris, Husband, Male, Married, White, Age 59, Born in GERM
Sabina, Wife, Female, Married, White, Age 39, Born in GERM
Peter, Son, Male, Single, White, Age 11, Born in MD
John, Son, Male, Single, White, Age 9, Born in MD
Willie, Son, Male, Single, White, Age 6, Born in MD

Ancestry of the Name "Bauernfeind"

Ancestry of the Name Bauernfeind
From Hermann Bauernfeind's Homepage

Hugo of Trimberg: "The Renner" [The Racehorse] (a moral poem written in Middle-High German, originating at the end of the 13th century in St. Gangolf near Bamberg)

The poem was written by Hugo of TRIMBERG presumably in 1290 in St. Gangolf near Bamberg. It is a reservoir for Family and name-researchers.

Quotation:
... und manic ander boesewiht,
Geburnvint und Galgenswengel,
Lasterbalc und Rüdenbengel

and manic different villainous,
peasant foe and gallows
burdensome brat & male dog-rascals

The name Bauernfeind appears here as "GEBURNVINT," and in the footnote with deviations of "Pawrnfeynt", "Pawrveint", and also "Gebure vient"

The farmer was also called around this time "gebaur," and also "gebur"; one still finds this today in surnames like Gebauer and Neugebauer.

The surname mentioned by Hugo Trimberger is still largely encounted today in Franconia. Trimberger lived in St. Gangolf near Bamberg.

Attempting an interpretation of the name in "DER SPRACHDIENST, Jg. XXXV ('91), H. 5

Bauer(n)feind is an Upper-German or Middle-German Übername [overall-name], that was common in Munich, Nuremberg, Regensburgm, Vienna, and especially in Plauen (occurred 63 times) around 1930; it was often found in Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Berlin, Frankfurt on the Main, Cologne, Leipzig, Chemnitz, and Dresden. This wide distribution indicates that Bauernfeind could not solely be an Übername in the narrow sense of 'Feind des Bauern' [enemy of the famer]; for this Bauer [farmer], mhd. bur, gebur, Ackersmann [field-man], Dorfgenosse [village-comrade], Nachbar [neighbor], Mitbewohner' [fellow occupant] +--feind, mhd. Viant, vient, vint, veint, ahd. fiant, got, fijands (zu fijan, hassen'), "Gegner aus Abneigung, Haß" [adversaries out of aversion, hate]. It may be that in particular cases an Übername has been assumed for knights [Ritter], robber-barons [Raubritter], and their bodyguards [Trabanten], which is apparent regarding: Heintz von Redwitz, who is called Bauemfeind (15th century). To a large extent Bauernfeind originated in high- and middle-German countrysides as a Übername for soldiers [Soldaten], brush-hands [Reisige], farmhands [Knechte], and servants [Diener], who by order of their lords proceeded to be severe and hard against the farmers and because of their incursion received this name. The mercenary-name [Söldnername] Bauernfeind is covered by the role of the Matz Bawrenfeind, who is one of the four soldiers who appears in Johann Pomarius' "Votum Jephtae" (Magdeburg 1574). As a mercenary-name, Bauer'nfeind could be found widely-dispersed since the 14th century and would then become an established surname.

Oldest references: Frenczl Pawernfeint of 1360 in Iglauer's city register; Anderlinus Pawerenveint in 1363, Heinczlinus Pawrenfeint in 1397 in the pass-book of Znaim; Tile Burfient in 1383 citizen [Bürger] of Sandau; Albertus dictus Pawerfint in 1390 in Ttschaslau, Paulus Pawrenfeint in 1409 in Prague; Conrad Paurenfeint in 1414 a forest ranger [Förster] in Cadolzburg; Hans Purenvyend in 1419 citizen of Ravensburg; Endres Bawerfeint der Kürschner [the fur trader] in 1443 in Coburg; Hannus Gebouwer vynd in 1388 in Liegnitz; Jörg Pawrenfeind, coach builder [Wagner]. 1495 in Weißenburg/Bayern, Burfindt van Munster 1547 mercenary [Söldner] in Peine; Weygel Bawemfeind 1554: Caspar and Niclas Bauernfeindt 1563 in Bersrod (Gießen). (20542 Wie)

Bauernfeind Coat of Arms & History Reborn

AOL informed me that Hometown will be closing as of Oct. 31, so I needed to set up a new place for my Bauernfeind Coat of Arms & History website. I think a blog would be better choice.

Okay, Bauernfeinds, now you can add info to the site!