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 « NOV 6 1925 
 
 
 
 
 The Wittenberg Bu 
 
 VoleXXllo Springfield, Ohio, May-11,1925 No. 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE BERKENMEYER LIBRARY 
 
 A Two Hundred Years’ Old Church 
 Library Found at Wittenberg College 
 
 BY PROFESSOR JOHN O. EVJEN, Ph.D. 
 
 Hamma Divinity School 
 
 PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY WITTENBERG COLLEGE 
 
 Entered at the Postoffice at Springfield, Ohio, as second-class matter 
 under Act of August 12, 1912. 
 
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THE BERKENMEYER LIBRARY—A TWO HUN- 
 DRED YEARS’ OLD CHURCH LIBRARY FOUND 
 AT WITTENBERG COLLEGE. 
 
 BY PROFESSOR JOHN O. EVJEN, PH.D. 
 
 The earliest library of which any record survives in the 
 annals of New York was a polyglot collection of books 
 and manuscripts owned by Jonas Bronck, who died in 
 New Amsterdam, or New York, in 1643. He had studied 
 theology in the University of Copenhagen, and was either 
 a Dane or a Norwegian. I have sketched his life and 
 listed his library in my “Scandinavian Immigrants in 
 New York, 1630-1674,” (pp. 167-181). Some of his books 
 were in Dutch, German, and Latin, but most of them in 
 Dano-Norwegian: in all, about forty-five books, a re- 
 spectable collection for any minister three hundred years 
 ago. All traces of this library in which were many Lu- 
 theran books have disappeared. 
 
 In 1725 another polyglot library was brought to our 
 country, by Rev. Wilhelm Christopher Berkenmeyer. It 
 consisted, in the main, of works on Lutheran theology, in 
 German, Latin, and Dutch. Strangely enough this li- 
 brary, intended for Lutherans in the Hudson Valley, New 
 York, was to find its way to the Ohio Valley, and become 
 the property of Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 For a century at least this library was the church li- 
 brary of the Lutheran Church at Loonenburg (now 
 Athens), New York. 
 
 It has been thought that this collection of books, known 
 as the Berkenmeyer library, consisted of about one hun- 
 dred volumes, and that only the remnant of it came to 
 Wittenberg College. The surprising fact, however, is 
 that it consisted of at least 367 volumes, and that 225 of 
 them are in the library of Wittenberg College, where 
 
2 
 
 they have recently emerged from oblivion by being iden- 
 tified and ‘‘assembled”’ from thousands of other books. 
 
 The history of this library begins with the arrival of 
 Berkenmeyer at New York, exactly two hundred years 
 ago. He had been called by the Lutheran Consistory in 
 Amsterdam to take charge of Dutch Lutheran congrega- 
 tions along the Hudson, in New York, a territory for- 
 merly served by Rev. Justus Falckner. He was ex- 
 amined by the consistory, May 24, 1725, and ordained on 
 the day following. After having collected considerable 
 money and a library, a gift from Lutherans in Europe to 
 the people he was to serve as a pastor, Berkenmeyer left 
 Europe, arriving at New York September 22, 1725. 
 
 He took charge of all the Dutch Lutheran churches 
 along the Hudson and of some of the German. He had 
 congregations at New York, Hackensack, Uylekil, New- 
 ton, Rhinebeck, Albany, Schenectady, Coxsackie, Scho- 
 harie, Loonenburg, and ministered to them till 1731. In 
 order to do the work most effectively, he spent six months 
 of the year, the winter months, in the northern part of 
 his field of work; the remaining months in the south, 
 about New York. 
 
 Loonenburg became his favorite center, and later his 
 home. The Dutch Lutherans at this place built a parson- 
 age for him in 1727, the same year in which he married 
 Benigna Sybilla, the eldest daughter of Rev. Joshua 
 Kocherthal, who had come to America in 1708 and served 
 Lutheran churches till 1719. In 1731 Berkenmeyer 
 made Loonenburg his permanent home, resigning from 
 the southern charge. 
 
 In fact the charge was too large for one man. When 
 Berkenmeyer preached north, the Lutherans in and about 
 New York were deprived of the care to which their num- 
 ber and surroundings entitled them. A self-constituted 
 preacher, Van Dieren, a tailor by trade, was continually 
 stirring up trouble for Berkenmeyer, challenging his 
 spirituality and creating dissensions. The Dutch Re- 
 formed asserted themselves by forbidding the teaching 
 of Luther’s catechism to children of Lutheran parents 
 
3 
 
 who could not maintain separate schools. The Dutch 
 Reformed Church also prohibited the use of Lutheran 
 liturgy at the cemetery, a fact which invited the Luth- 
 erans to bury their dead in the cemetery of the Church 
 of England. Moreover, the northern charge was itself 
 more than large enough for one pastor. 
 
 Berkenmeyer lived from 1731 till his death, 1751, at’ 
 Loonenburg, where he preached and did most of his 
 studying in later life, surrounded by his large and unique 
 library. He was born, 1681 or 1686, at Bodenteich in 
 the duchy of Lueneburg, Germany. At first sight it 
 would appear that the name Loonenburg is derived from 
 that of Lueneburg. But Loonenburg got its name from 
 Jan van Loon, who had emigrated from Liege, Belgium. 
 Van Loon was a Walloon Catholic, who in 1678, with 
 Pieter Boise, a Frenchman, bought a tract of land west 
 of the Hudson River. The former owners were Captain 
 Johannes Clute and two other men. Clute was from 
 Niirnberg, Germany. He had come to New York in 1656 
 and acquired the land from Governor General Richard 
 Nicolls in 1667 (my “Scandinavian Immigrants in New 
 York, 1630-1674,” p. 405). The land thus changed hands, 
 from Protestants to Catholics. But it was to store the 
 Berkenmeyer library and be the birthplace of a very 
 wonderful manuscript of 392 folio pages, written by 
 Berkenmeyer, and now in possession of the Lutheran 
 Historical Society, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The 
 New York State Library, at Albany, has made a photo- 
 static copy of the entire manuscript. 
 
 I may say that my contact with this manuscript, in 
 1908, brought about the rediscovery of the Berkenmeyer 
 library at Wittenberg College. Nothing but an intimate 
 acquaintanceship with Berkenmeyer’s handwriting could 
 have furnished the cue for the discovery. I had spent 
 many a day copying parts of this interesting manuscript, 
 whose challenging handwriting alternated in calling 
 forth happiness and feelings bordering on despair. I 
 carried away such impressions of the Loonenburg pas- 
 
4A 
 
 tor’s chirography that I was sure I could never forget it, 
 and would recognize it anywhere. 
 
 From Grdabner’s scholarly work Geschichte der Luth- 
 erischen Kirche in America, 1892, I knew that Berken- 
 meyer must have had a library of more than ordinary in- 
 terest. Grdbner states that Berkenmeyer on his arrival 
 at New York in 1725 had brought along 101 volumes: 
 twenty folios, fifty-two quartos, twenty-three octavos and 
 six duodecimos; that among these works were Calovius’ 
 Biblia Illustrata, Balduin’s Commentary on Saint Paul’s 
 Epistles, Dedekenn’s Consilia, siizelsemann, de auxiiiis 
 gratiae, and the systema of Brochmand (a Vanish theo- 
 logian). The very same information is given in Dr. H. 
 EK. Jacobs’ A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
 in the United States (1899), with the fitting comment 
 that this library would be beyond the capacity not only 
 of most of the congregations, but even most of the pas- 
 tors of the present day. The books are “ponderous even 
 to a scholar.’”’ As to the present whereabouts and pres- 
 ent size of the library, Dr. Jacobs ventures no informa- 
 tion beyond the careful statement that “the remnants of 
 this library are said to be in Wittenberg College.”’ 
 
 Shortly after entering on my work in Hamma Divinity 
 School, last year, I found in the reading room of the Col- 
 lege Library a large volume by Martin Bucer, published 
 1536, which contained the autograph of Johan Christian 
 Leps, who about the time of the Revolutionary War was 
 pastor of the Lutheran Church at Loonenburg, New 
 York. I was familiar with his complex, artistic signa- 
 ture, even had a facsimile of his handwriting in my home. 
 On showing this to the library authorities and comment- 
 ing on Leps’ work at Loonenburg and Philadelphia, I was 
 told that a part of the library of Berkenmeyer of Loonen- 
 burg was supposed to be in the Wittenberg College Li- 
 brary, but that nobody had succeeded in finding it. 
 
 My curiosity was aroused. For the time being, my in- 
 terest centered in finding what was supposed to be the 
 remnant of that one-hundred volume library. 
 
 The basement of the library seemed to have the rich- 
 
-_ 
 
 a 
 
 est display in pigskin bindings, which, with thousands of 
 other books of lesser demand, like patent reports, older 
 editions of reference works and of textbooks, were wait- 
 ing for better quarters in the new library addition, which 
 was in process of completion. Here the preliminary at- 
 tacks were made, especially in the segregated sections of 
 Latin and German tomes. A few hours’ browsine 
 brought to light a handful of books containing the signa- 
 ture of Leps. This confirmed the supposition that at 
 least a few of the books at Loonenburg had found a re- 
 treat at Wittenberg. Was there much left of the ‘re- 
 mains’? And were the books recently discovered, really 
 books from Berkenmeyer’s library? Or had they be- 
 come the property of the Loonenburg church after his 
 death? A closer study of the books showed, in the mar- 
 gin, Berkenmeyer’s unmistakable handwriting. I was 
 on the right track. Of course, a number of “pigskins’’ 
 were eliminated having the signatures of Sprecher and 
 Schmucker, but no marginal notes. 
 
 In examining the preliminary selection of books con- 
 taining Berkenmeyer’s handwriting, I found that they 
 were marked with the letter L and a number; e. g. L69. 
 This meant book L, number 69. But had Leps or Berken- 
 meyer written this? Did L stand for Leps or Loonen- 
 burg or London, whose congregation of Lutherans had 
 given aid to the Lutherans in America? It could hardly 
 mean London, for no English books were in evidence. 
 The handwriting was decidedly that of Berkenmeyer, 
 though that of Leps would hardly differ from his when it 
 was a question of writing numbers. I soon found two 
 books in which were written: Ex Libris Bibliothecae 
 Loonenburgensis. That was a tentative settlement of 
 the matter. L stood for Loonenburg. 
 
 Leps, who as one of the successors of Berkenmeyer, 
 used the Berkenmeyer library, would occasionally put his 
 name in a book belonging to this collection. In 1782 he 
 gave one of its volumes to Rev. F. A. Walberg, who later 
 served congregations in one of the Southern States. In 
 this book Leps wrote the following: ‘Fredericus Augus- 
 
6 - 
 
 tus Walbergius Hic liber est Donatio a Domino Lepsio, 
 Pastore Luneburgensi, 1782. Omnia ad majorem Dei 
 gloriam.” If the little volume was ever accepted by 
 Walberg, it found its way back to the Loonenburg li- 
 brary. Berkenmeyer, however, never wrote his name in 
 any of the books in the Loonenburg Church library. He 
 had them in trust, they were not his property. Hence 
 his careful observation of what must have been his prin- 
 ciple not to write his name especially in books held in 
 trust, though he also seems to have followed this princi- 
 ple, perhaps for other reasons, in not writing his name 
 even in books that were his personal property. He did, 
 however, write comments in the margin, and list on the 
 flyleaf of a volume the titles, with the names of the au- 
 thors contained in such a volume. 
 
 In two instances we find “Br,” the abbreviation of his 
 name. This reserve no doubt was preferable to the 
 manner of expressing ownership, as it was done in two 
 books in his library, which had once been owned by 
 others. One book, once the property of a Bruns, has this: 
 “Me sibi comparavit, Nicolaus Bruns ao 1680 d. 16 Au- 
 gusti.” Another, owned by Hannselmann has this: 
 “Comparavit me sibi Argentorati Ao 1670 Mense Junio, 
 Georgius Hannsel Mannus.” 
 
 I found 125 volumes marked L. The highest number 
 under this letter was 201 Accordingly, there were at 
 least 201 volumes in the original L-library. 
 
 It was soon discovered that the remnant was not con- 
 fined to the 125 volumes that had found their way to Wit- 
 tenberg College. There was another group, where each 
 volume had a number placed in the center of a capital O: 
 e. g. (483). The highest number in this group was 60; 
 there must therefore have been at least sixty volumes in 
 the O-group. There was also a third group, in which the 
 index letter was a small “‘n’”’; e. g., 106 n. There were 
 originally at least 106 volumes in the n-group. 
 
 The Church library at Loonenburg must therefore have 
 contained at least (201 + 60 + 106) 367 volumes. About 
 225 of these, or 60 percent, are in the Wittenberg Col- 
 
7 
 
 lege library. Since this part at Wittenberg is more than 
 twice as large as the entire library brought to this coun- 
 try by Berkenmeyer in 1725, these questions may be 
 asked: 
 
 Is it not possible that some of these books may have 
 been bought for the Loonenburg library after the death 
 of Berkenmeyer, in 1751? Are there not some books in 
 the collection at Wittenberg which have never been in 
 the Loonenburg collection in New York? 
 
 To this we answer: The years of publication of the 
 books in the Loonenburg library, as found at Wittenberg, 
 range from 1592 to 1744. There is no evidence that 
 Berkenmeyer bought any books for the Loonenburg li- 
 brary after 1744, the year in which he made his will, 
 seven years before his death. Secondly, in a few books 
 not sorting under L, we read “H. Dobson, Athens”; or 
 plain “Athens.” Books marked (20) and 56n contain 
 the name of Stohlman, who in 1838 was called to the pas- 
 torate of St. Matthew’s German Lutheran Church, New 
 York. But they also contain marginal notes in Berken- 
 meyer’s handwriting. Besides, the very first book in the 
 O-group has the inscription “Ex Libris Bibliothecae 
 Loonenburgensis.”” Book 30n has the very same inscrip- 
 tion. The method of marking the books is uniform in 
 all of the three groups, the letters L. O. and n always ap- 
 pearing, with the book number following, at the bottom 
 of the inside cover facing the flyleaf or title page of the 
 volume, and always executed by the same hand. The 
 first leaf in every volume, with but few exceptions, con- 
 tains the titles of the books composing the volume—in 
 Berkenmeyer’s handwriting. His marginal notes are 
 conclusive, where other indices alone may not be convinc- 
 ing. 
 
 It is difficult to say what was determinative in dividing 
 the books into three groups. Since Balduin’s Com- 
 mentary on Paul’s Epistles is marked O and belongs to 
 the original lot.of books brought along by Berkenmeyer 
 in 1725, it would seem that O might stand for original or 
 old. But it does not stand for original; for, books pub- 
 
8 
 
 lished after 1725, including one published in 1741, belong 
 to the O group. The classification must have been made 
 between 1741 and 1744. And yet O does stand for old, 
 as assuredly as L stands for Loonenburg, which may be 
 seen from Berkenmeyer’s will of 1744. 
 
 An extract from this will was sent to me several weeks 
 after I had selected the 225 volumes at Wittenberg Col- 
 lege representing the Berkenmeyer library. In a sur- 
 prising manner it confirmed the correctness of the de- 
 ductions made. I had informed Mr. A. J. F. Van Laer, 
 Head of the Archivist Section, The University of the 
 State of New York, Albany, in January of this year, that 
 I had found the Berkenmeyer library. He was well ac- 
 quainted with the Berkenmeyer Manuscript, now at Get- 
 tysburg, and had caused to be made the photostatic copy 
 of it in Albany. In March this year Mr. Van Laer 
 thoughtfully sent me the extract from the will of Berk- 
 enmeyer, which clears up the whole difficulty as to the 
 meaning of L. O. n. 
 
 The extract from this will, dated September 11, 1744, 
 reads as follows: 
 
 “T leave to my dear and beloved wife, Benigna Sibylla 
 Berkenmeyer, all my whole personal estate...And espe- 
 cially all my Books marked M., except one in Folio, and 
 one in Quarto, for to sell the same, and the money to my 
 wife for maintenance. 
 
 “T leave to the Trustees of the Lutheran Church land, 
 Arent van Schayck, Jacob Hallenbeck, and Hans Han- 
 nesse Van Hoesen, my whole stock of Books, marked 
 Loon, New and O., and out of the books marked M. one in 
 Folio and three in Quarto. I leave the said stock of 
 Books to them as trustees and their successors, at all 
 times hereafter. In Trust only, for the use of the suc- 
 ceeding minister at Loonenburgh and his successors.” 
 
 Here is the authentic explanation of L,O andn. Here 
 we also learn of a group marked M, a class not at all rep- 
 resented at Wittenberg. The absence of the books in the 
 If. group is easily accounted for: they were Berken- 
 
9 
 
 meyer’s personal property. M. no doubt stands for 
 mine. 
 
 The Berkenmeyer collection appears to have been do- 
 _ nated by the Lutheran Church at Athens to Wittenberg 
 about the time of the founding of the college. All of 
 these books were marked W (—Wittenberg) and it would 
 seem, belonged to the first 800 books the College had. 
 They have been well taken care of at the college, though 
 probably very litttle read. 
 
 The 225 volumes are in German, Latin and Dutch. 
 Most of them are in German, perhaps one fourth of them 
 in Latin, and a few in Dutch. Since many volumes con- 
 tain several works by the same or by different authors, 
 the number of separate works in the Berkenmeyer collec- 
 tion at Wittenberg is about 450, and the number of au- 
 thors over 200. Several volumes contain 2000 pages. A 
 book of 1000 pages is quite usual. Not counting doc- 
 toral dissertations and periodicals, the number of books 
 according to years of publication are as follows: Four 
 books are from the sixteenth century; seventeen, 1607 to 
 1625; twenty-five, 1626-1650; forty-two, 1651-1675; 
 forty-nine, 1676-1700; 157, 1707-1725; thirty-four, 1726- 
 1744. The titles are long and involved, often odd and 
 amusing; the index sometimes covers fifty pages, but the 
 index pages are never numbered. 
 
 The collection offers a rich variety as to content. The- 
 ‘ology has the monopoly, with dogmatics leading. Con- 
 troversial literature abounds. Many of the volumes are 
 written for or against Arndt and Spener. Much is edi- 
 ficational. Sermons ‘are numerous, especially funeral 
 sermons. Some books deal with the care of souls during 
 visitations of pestilence, of which there were not a few 
 in those times. A goodly number of volumes are on the- 
 oretical homiletics. There are textbooks on Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, German: grammars, rhetorics, diction- 
 aries. There are also textbooks—but at most two or 
 three for each subject—on logic, zodlogy, hygiene, astron- 
 omy, geography, physics. Political history is repre- 
 sented only in the form of chronicles. The works on 
 
10 
 
 pedagogy are of a religious popular order, practical, for 
 home as well as for school. 
 
 Among curiosities there are such books as Dr. Weiss- 
 bach’s volume on medicine and hygiene, of about 600 
 pages, 1722; a geography of 1200 pages, 1720; a Who’s 
 Who of royalty, 1730; a Traveler’s Guide of 600 pages, 
 corresponding to a modern Baedeker. By far the most 
 amusing work is a volume of 936 pages by a namesake 
 of the Loonenburg pastor, P. L. Berckenmeyer (Cfr. 
 Jacobs, p. 121) dealing with ‘‘remarkable things from 
 geography and history.” Its title is “Vermehrter Curi- 
 euser Antiqvarius.” The first edition was published in 
 1712; the fifth, which is in the Berkenmeyer library, in 
 1720. It is almost inconceivable that such a book, the 
 product of amazing credulity, could pass through more 
 than one edition. However, it is immensely entertain- 
 ing. Another very curious book is a volume by Elias 
 Pratorius (Chr. Hohburg), known as “universal syncre- 
 tist,”’ the book being a collection of Luther’s utterances 
 against war. 
 
 Berkenmeyer tried to keep a jour with the theology 
 and literature of his times. His library contained many 
 volumes of periodicals. He kept Auserlesene Theolo- 
 gische Bibliothek, Acta Historico Ecclesiastica; Ham- 
 burgische Ausziige aus neuen Biichern, Fortgesetzte 
 Sammlung von Alten und Neuen; Deutsche Acta Erudi- 
 torum; Das jetz-lebende Gelehrte Europa. He also re- 
 ceived at various times catalogues of books for sale at 
 auctions, listing about 2000 titles. In several of these 
 periodicals references are made to the contentions be- 
 tween Berkenmeyer and Van Dieren. They speak in the 
 highest terms of Berkenmeyer as a man and a preacher. 
 One of the numbers reviews at length, and commend- 
 ingly, the book which Berkenmeyer published in 1728 in 
 New York, in defense of his position. Unfortunately this 
 book, written in Dutch, is not at Wittenberg College. 
 
 Because of these learned periodicals, Berkenmeyer 
 could keep in touch with European thought. Essays on 
 prominent works in German, in English, French—even 
 
11 
 
 Norwegian came to his tavle: He was enabled to read a 
 long review of the works of Ludvig Holberg. He pos- 
 sessed theological works by Danes like Wandal, Bartho- 
 lin, Cellarius, Brochmand; had German translations of 
 English writers like Baxter and Jeremy Taylor; though 
 his notes show that he also read Baxter in the original; 
 he had in addition translations of French writers like 
 Amyraldus and Werenfels. 
 
 Berkenmeyer preached in German, Dutch and English. 
 He wrote much in Latin, and used freely quotations in 
 Greek and Hebrew. He must have been a most diligent 
 student all his life. His books teem with references and 
 cross references in his own handwriting. The work he 
 studied most ardently seems to have been Baier’s Com- 
 pendium Positivae Theologiae, a voluminous book of 1050 
 pages. It is full of marginal notes in fine handwriting. 
 Where the margin did not offer sufficient space, Berken- 
 meyer pasted in small leaves of paper. The comments in 
 this book, which he likely used in his university days. 
 would cover a little volume by itself. His attachment to 
 Baier’s Compendium is further attested in a special in- 
 terleaved copy of the Compendium. The size of the for- 
 mer copy is 714 in. x 41% in. x 8 in.; the size of the lat- 
 ter is 714 in. x 614 in. x 514 in., 1700 pages. To this en- 
 larged copy Berkenmeyer carefully transcribed most of 
 the comments he had written in the smaller copy, and 
 added many new ones. Here, too, the notes are chiefly 
 in Latin, but now and then room is made for a quotation 
 in English, as on page 70. In the lesser volume the 
 handwriting is more on the vertical order, which Berken- 
 meyer only now and then relapses into, in the larger 
 book. No doubt some of the controversies in which he 
 was engaged, furnished motives for much of this writing. 
 
 One of the books in his library may be helpful in de- 
 termining the age of Berkenmeyer. It is supposed that 
 he was born in 1686. However, the book I refer to, a 
 gift to Berkenmeyer from J. J. Neudorf, puts the year at 
 1681, stating that Berkenmeyer was fifty-three years old 
 
12 
 
 in 1743. Neudorf pays his compliment to Berkenmeyer 
 as follows: 
 
 Viro plur. reverendo 
 H. C. Berchenmeyero 
 amico suo integerrimo 
 hunc libellum donat 
 Jo Joach Neudorf 
 Conv-Hamb. 
 Hamb. A C. 
 1734 417 
 Maji, ipso natali suo 53. 
 
 This dedication, giving even the day of the month, 
 would indicate that Neudorf was certain as to the birth 
 day and birth year of the man whom he honored with a 
 present. The fact that H is used instead of W as initial, 
 and that the surname is spelled differently has no signi- 
 ficance. But 1681 does not agree with Berkenmeyer’s 
 own statement made in 1744 and given on page 415 in 
 Grabner’s Geschichte der lutherischen Kirche in America. 
 We read here: “Immanuel Dormitorium Berkenmeyer- 
 anum Pio mortalitatis sensu praeparatum Anno Aetatis, 
 Bodendici in Ducatu Lunzburgensi coeptae LVIII.”’ This 
 makes Berkenmeyer fifty-eight years old in 1744. If we 
 read LXIII instead of LVIII, Berkenmeyer’s statement 
 will agree with the one of Neudorf. Graber reads 
 LVIII on the engraved plate, commemorating Berken- 
 meyer, of the Loonenburg church. No doubt his reading 
 is correct. But is it impossible that the original penned 
 by Berkenmeyer, has been misread by someone in the 
 transmission of the original, reading V instead of X? 
 What Berkenmeyer wrote in 1744 suggests a man of 
 sixty-three rather than fifty-eight. When he died, in 
 1751, Pensylvanische Nachrichten (p. 466) speaks of 
 him as “der alte Herr Pastor Berckenmeyer.” This, too, 
 suggests the age of seventy rather than sixty-five. How- 
 ever, the limited material at my command permits of but 
 a small margin in chosing between 1681 and 1686. 
 
13 
 
 In conclusion, let me give the names of the authors of 
 the books, about 450, contained in the 225 volumes of the 
 Berkenmeyer library now at Wittenberg. 
 
 Joh. Samuel Adam, Chr Altmann, Moyse Amyvraut, J. 
 Arnd, Joh. Avenarius. 
 
 Joh. Wilhelm Baier, Fr. Balduin, Casp. Bartholin, R. 
 Baxter, Cornelius Becker, M. Theodor Berger, P. L. 
 Berckenmeyer, Joachim Betkius, Chr. Got. Blumberg, 
 Joh. Boediker, Joh. Bolsac, G. H. Botzer, Fr. Brecklingen, 
 F. Braun, Bruno Broitzem, Franz Buddeus. 
 
 Ab. Calovius, Philip Carolus, J. Benedict Carpzov 
 (jr.) Samuel Benedict Carpzov, Christopher Cellarius, 
 M. Nathan Chytraeus, Joh. Claubergius, Daniel Colberg, 
 J. Chr. Colerius, Georg Collbius, Fr. Eberhard Collin, 
 Hartmann Creidius, Ernst Salomon Cyprian. 
 
 J. Conrad Dannhauer, Salomon Deyling, Paulus Doer. 
 ing, Joh. Jac. Donatus, Joh. Chr. Dorn, Alb. Dranck- 
 meister. 
 
 Johann Ebartus, Melc. Sylvester Eckhardus, Sebastian 
 Edzardus, Gottfried Engelschall, Chr. L. Ermischen. 
 
 Joachim Fabius, Joh. Fecht, Gustav Fr. Fechter, Gott- 
 fried Feinlern, Caspar Finck, Joh. Foerster, Chris. 
 Foerstener, Joh. Anastasius Freylinghausen, Joh. Leon- 
 hard Friesch. 
 
 Hermann Gebhard, Joh. Gerhard, Justus Gesenius, 
 Math. Gesner, Salomon Gesner, Joachim Giesen, Salomon 
 Glassen, J. Walther Goelter, Georg Goezen, Gabriel Wil- 
 helm Gotten, Pascasius Grosippus, Adolph Grot, Hugo 
 Grotius, Andr. Gryphius, John Gabriel Guetner, Cyriacus 
 Guntherus. — 
 
 M. Nic Haas, Fr. Andries Halbauer, Daniel Hanichen, 
 Benj. Hederich, Joh. Heermann, Joh. Albrecht Helmich, 
 David Hermann, Gottfried Herrmann, Hermann J. Hohn, 
 Johannes Hornbeck, J. Huelsemann, Egid Hunnius, Ni- 
 kolaus Hunnius, Leonard Hutter. 
 
 Fried. Aug. Janus, Johann Lorentz Jans. 
 
 Stephan Kempen, Andreas Kesler, J. Knauer, Joh. Fr. 
 
14 
 
 Koenig, Georg Koenig, Chr. Kortholt, Joh. Abraham Kro- 
 mayer, Polykarp Kunadus. 
 
 B. C. Lakenius, Joachim Lange, Sam. Fr. Lauterbach, 
 Herman Lebermann, J. Chr. Lehmann, Caspar Loescher, 
 Val. Ernst Loescher, Fr. J. Luetken, Joachim Luetle- 
 mann, Martin Luther. 4 
 
 B. Walther Marperger, Caspar Mauritius, J. Fr. 
 Mayer, F. Balthazar Meisner, Balthasar Mentzer, J. M. 
 Meyfahrt, J. H. Michaelis, M. Georg Michaelis, Johan- 
 nes Moller, J. Lorentz Mosheim, Joh. Miiller, Joh. Cas- 
 par Muerdel. 
 
 Caspar Neuman, Sebastian Neumann, Erdmann Neu- 
 meister, Elbertus Noordbeck. 
 
 Gottfried Olearius, Joh. Olearius, Lucas Osiander, J. 
 F. Osterwald, Chr. Caspar Otto. 
 
 Georg Aug. Pachomius, Peter Sigmund Pape, Georg 
 Petrus Pelilpratus, J. G. Pfeiffer, Georg Mich. Pfeffer- 
 korn, Georg G. Pitzschmann, Heinrich Pipping, Peter 
 Poiret, Elias Praetorius, Joh. Praetorius, Andr. Pruck- 
 ner. 
 
 Joh. Quistorp. 
 
 Joh. Jakob Rambach, Ernst Ludwig Rathlef, Joh. Jere- 
 mias Relchhelm, Joh. Rhinid, Johann Riemer, Georg 
 Rost, Georg Roth, Christopher Rousch. 
 
 J. Nic. Saltzmann, Johannes Saubert, Joh. Martinus 
 Schamelius, Sam.. Schelwiger, Sebastian Schmid, Benj. 
 Schmolk, Wolfgang Schoensleder, J. C. Schroteren, Joh. 
 Jacob Schuerer, Joh. David Schwerdiner, Christian 
 Scriver, Daniel Severin Scultetus, Gottlob Fr. Seligman, 
 Nikolaus Selnecker, Chr. Sennertus, Nic. Sievers, Chris- 
 toph Sontag, P. Jacob Spener, Johann Sperling, Otto Lo- 
 renzen Strandiger, Leonard Christoph Sturm, Burcard 
 Gotthelf Struvius. 
 
 Tallander, Sylvester Tappen, Jeremy Taylor, Conra- 
 dus Textor, Chr. Thomasius, Adam Thraciger. 
 
 Henricus Varenius, Joh. Vereius, Andr. Virgonius. 
 
 Joh. Georg Walch, Joh. Wandal, Christian Weisen, 
 
15 
 
 Chr. Weissbach, Jacob Weller, Sam. Werenfels, P. Wich- 
 mann, Joh. Jever Wilburg, Joh. Winckler, J. Chr. Wolf. 
 Joh. Caspar Zeumer. Petrus Zornius. 
 
 This list may lack consistency, especially where the 
 Latin form of a proper name, in genitive or in abla- 
 tive, has been listed instead of the original German form. 
 I trust the reader will overlook this apparent neglect of 
 form, and bear in mind that the spelling of a surname 
 two hundred years ago was less orthodox and uniform 
 than now. Arnd was also spelled Arndt, as Bercken- 
 meyer was spelled Berchenmeyer and Berkenmeyer. 
 What is important, is the array of names on the list, 
 showing the “kind of company” the brave pioneer 
 preacher at Loonenburg cherished two hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 The discovery, or rediscovery, of this long-forgotten 
 library may mean little more than a modest museum 
 curiosity. I trust it will mean much more, at least to 
 Wittenberg students of theology, who if they find the 
 tomes too ponderous, will get some inspiration from 
 Berkenmeyer’s busy life among his people and among his 
 books. Aside from this, the incident of finding these 
 books may encourage the spirit of search in some other 
 library, harboring forgotten volumes from libraries of 
 venerable pioneers, though the search may be more dif- 
 ficult than in a well-organized library like that of Wit- 
 tenberg College. I am not sure but that a few of the 
 Berkenmeyer books are at Gettysburg College, where 
 there are several books containing the autograph of J. 
 Chr. Leps, a successor of Berkenmeyer at Loonenburg, in- 
 cluding a catechism from 1727. (See Evjen, Scandina- 
 vian Immigrants in New York, p. 155, note). The indi- 
 ces L, O, n would be ample proof. 
 
 Be this as it may, the “bulk” of the Berkenmeyer li- 
 brary is at Wittenberg College, Ohio; the “remnants” are 
 
16 
 
 probably still in existence, waiting to be found possibly 
 in New York and Pennsylvania. 
 
 Hamma Divinity School of Wittenberg College, 
 Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Note.—The following data were obtained too late for embodi- 
 ment in the text proper of the treatise. A volume containing 
 twenty-one brief controversial writings on Chiliasm and the Jews 
 adds these names to the list of authors: Christian Democrite, 
 Esdra Heinrici Edzardi, Christian Georg Gottfried, Amynta Ire- 
 se M. Leiding, Olger Paulli, Petrus Schipping, Burchardus de 
 
 older. 
 
 The name of the celebrated Danish theologian Niels Hemming- 
 sen (Nicolaus Hemmingii) must also be added to the list of au- 
 thors. One volume is from his pen, and contains four Commen- 
 taries: on the Epistle to the Philippians; on First and Second 
 Thessalonians; on First and Second Peter; and on Jude. The 
 Commentary on Philippians was published 1564, the other com- 
 mentaries 1566—all at Wittenberg, Germany. This is the oldest 
 volume in the Berkenmeyer Library. 
 

 

 
PRINTEDINU.S,A. 
 
 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 GAYLORD