Friday, July 17, 2026

It is the 17th of July 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

We’ve got a Friday doozy for you… as I finish up VBS, games, and rec with the smallest kids… they weren’t interested in the story of John Christopher Hartwick… but I have a feeling you will be.

 

John Christopher Hartwick is one of these relatively obscure German Lutherans who found their way to the New World in the early 1700s with the massive influx of Germans- many of whom were fleeing the Palatinate, constant war, and famine.

 

An older article on Hartwick calls him one of “the earliest and most important German pioneers of New York State”. I think he’s fascinating on account of his Utopian dreams (which seem endemic to upstate New York). We don’t know much about Hartwick save that he studied at Halle, was ordained in London as a missionary to the Palatines abroad, and made his way to the Hudson Valley and Rhinebeck, outside of Poughkeepsie, by 1746. He was a traveling missionary and earned the nickname “the Migrating Bachelor” (he was finally married in 1796, at age 80).

 

From early on, he sought to obtain the deeds from local Indian tribes in the Otsego Lake region. There he determined to build a utopia on a 24,000-acre piece of land- a kind of “German City of God” that was later given the name “New Jerusalem”.

 

In order to settle in this New Jerusalem, all residents had to agree to:

1. Acknowledge Hardwick or his substitute as pastor, teacher, and spiritual counselor
2. To behave himself
3. To attend Divine Service (a liturgical Lutheran service)
4. To aid in building and repairing church and school houses
5. To keep children in school and to have them either prepare for confirmation if baptized, and if not, to have them eventually baptized

 

[it is interesting that while they must attend a Lutheran service, they needn’t necessarily be Lutherans]

 

Suffice it to say, Hartwick’s New Jerusalem did not succeed. In 1785, a bordering tract of land- this one about 40,000 acres came into the hands of William Cooper. Cooper was a shrewd (if not perhaps corrupt) businessman, and he soon filled his less-than-Utopian villages. Hartwick decided to employ Cooper to help develop his own land, albeit under the old requirements.

 

Cooper aggressively filled Hartwick’s acres- but without abiding by the old rules. A legal squabble ensued, but by then Cooper had also become the local judge. Cooper would become more famous, perhaps on account of his son- James Fenimore Cooper of Last of the Mohicans fame… then again, the land swallowed up by Cooper would soon go by a new name- Cooper’s Town- or Cooperstown- the legendary land where Baseball was said to have been invented and now the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Hartwick would die on this, the 17th of July in 1796. He had been warned by his lawyers that his will was irregular, and it led to a series of events, such as his body being constantly dug up and reinterred. He had wanted to give his money to start a Lutheran school and seminary. However, he had made the beneficiary of his will: “Jesus Christ the son of God and man”.

 

After legal squabbling, which included discovering that only 3,000 acres of the 24,000 belonged to him and that another Lutheran minister (Henry Muhlenberg) had taken half of his remaining 30,000 for a financial venture. A seminary was founded in 1797, and Hartwick Seminary- the first Lutheran seminary in America would be in existence until 1927, when it merged with another college and became a 4 year college in nearby Oneonta. Hartwick College, no longer religiously affiliated, continues in existence to this day- it was attended by both AEW’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman and the guy that did the Dilbert cartoons.

 

John Christopher Hartwick- an important, if not completely successful, early German immigrant and Lutheran pastor- founder of the first Lutheran seminary in America- and swindled by the man after whom Cooperstown is named. Born in 1714, he was 82 years old when he died on this, the 17th of July in 1796.

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 6:

13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 17th of July 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who doesn’t need a New Jerusalem- he’s got Random Lake- and ideas about an agreement for everyone there to sign… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who has taught most grades now… and thinks the Kindergarteners might be the best… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.