Monday, August 1, 2011

Sunday in Waldshut

We drove to Waldshut near the Swiss border to visit the Baptist church. There were about 90 attending some traveling up to 20 miles away. After the service, we were befriended by a couple who spoke English. The members met in the garden to the rear of the chapel for pastries and coffee. She was born in America. We also spoke with the minister who spoke English well. This is the only Baptist church on the German side of the border in the southern part of the Black Forest. It is only 60 years old. There were no Baptists in this part of Germany and most of Germany for almost 200 years since the few existing members in the 1500’s were burned at the stake as heretics. They said that for Peter to attend the Baptist church, he would have had to travel 60 Km to Basel. The minister would not have traveled to Weilheim to perform a marriage. This seems to rule out the marriage place and date listed on the internet turning us again to Stuttgart as his residence after the war with France. The minister told us that although there may have been a few families meeting in private homes in Stuttgart at the time, Peter would have had to go to Hamburg to study for the ministry.



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