FREDERICK CHRISTIAN BAUMAN
Page 6
Tiffin Classis met not long after when I was examined by a committee of which Rev. H. Shaull was a member, and received a temporary license of six months to go on my Iowa trip and serve the colony with the gospel ministry. On April 12th, 1853, I left Tiffin for Iowa, via Clyde and Toledo. Rev. H. J. Reutenik left on the same train, and stopped at Toledo to begin mission work there, both of us starting on pioneer work, he in northern Ohio and I in Iowa.
The train over the C. and N. W. toward Freeport, at that time, only ran as far as Rockford. From there we were taken by stage. There were four stages with four horses to each one. Between Rockford and Freeport in crossing a slough we stuck fast in the mud. With considerable of an effort we got through, except one, which broke in the effort to get it out. It was then dusk and raining. Arrangements had them to be made to carry the passengers of the broken stage to the next stopping place half or three quarters of a mile further on. The driver on my stage asked me to give my place to a lady and that I ride to the station on the seat with him. I consented. I got out and the lady took my seat, but that moment the driver cracked his whip and started off and left me in the rain, and so dark that I could not see the stage, and could only find the way by the sound of the splash through the mud. In reaching the station I got my place again in the stage. I was tempted to report the driver, but fearing a delay, and as I might never pass that way again, I accepted the insult and meanness, and went on my way.
The next day, April 14th, we arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, and made inquiries for the Pennsylvania settlement. None whom I asked knew the name and place.
I had no special directions to find the place from Dubuque, only that it was fourteen miles south of Dubuque, and not far from the west bank of the Mississippi, and believing that the river ran south instead of southeast I took the Tedemore road to Catfish, and walked to Tedemore by evening, being then as far away from the place as I was at Catfish.
Next day, Saturday, 16th, went all day on the hunt of Daniel Cort, but no one I met knew the man until in the evening after putting up for the night with Mr. Black who kept a place of entertainment north of Lamott. Mr. Black said he knew Mr. Cort well, and the next morning, Sunday 17th, after paying my last 50 cents for the night's lodging I started in the direction of the settlement over the prairies without a fence to Marshalls and Bradshaws over the Buncombe road, and after there I had a plain road to Mr. Cort's house, which I reached at eleven o'clock.
I inquired whether he was the man who had corresponded with Dr. Gerhart in regard to a minister. He said he was, "and you are Mr. Bauman for whom we are looking," and then invited me into the house. Just then a person handed him a letter from Dr. Gerhart requesting an appointment to be made at 10 a.m. that day.
Of course the appointment could not be made and I felt relieved, as I did not feel in proper plight to preach then.
I now began to realize what it meant to be a pioneer missionary, and a stranger among strangers, not one of whom I had ever seen before. I was met with a hearty welcome from all our Reformed people. As no arrangements had been made as to where I should room and board, I received invitations from several families where I was assured of hospitable entertainment. At first I thought of staying a week or more with each of those families that had invited me, thus dividing the burden between them, as the amount of salary I was to receive, $75.00, would not allow me to pay regular board beside other expenses, including my traveling expenses coming west, and return again in the fall. The difficulty of such an arrangement at that time was far greater than it is now. At that time most of our people were living in small log houses, viz., David Kifer, Johnathan Allshouse, Jacob Wolf, Daniel Shultz, Jacob Kamerer, Mrs. Leffert, widow of Casper Leffert, Sr., and Casper Leffert; with only kitchen and one bedroom, while others had simply one room, with families from half a dozen, including parents.
It was plain to be seen that with such quarters, it was next to an impossibility to accept the most urgent invitations to lodge with them. Ulrich Leffert, at Buncombe, and Daniel Cort at Zwingle, had frame houses, but they were small and afforded but little more room than if they had been built of logs. Mr. Cort's house was a story and a half. I accepted their offer of a small room upstairs for a study and board free of cost.* The room, though small, was sufficient for my need, having a table, chair and lamp, and my library consisted of a Bible, concordance (Gerbach), Newest Testament (German), and Kuntz' English and German Dictionary.
*Frederick would marry their daughter, Elizabeth Jane Cort, the following year.