et, just east of Broadway, and placed at the disposal of the
English portion of the congregation. It was called St. Matthew's Church.
Schaeffer was assigned to the pastorate and Geissenhainer was recalled
from Pennsylvania to take charge of the German part of the congregation.
New trouble soon developed. The English congregation demanded
representation in the Church Council. This the mother church declined to
concede, although it is claimed they had agreed to do so when the
English congregation was formed. The new congregation was unable to
maintain itself, and in 1826 the church was sold for a debt of $14,000,
and Pastor Schaeffer resigned. The Walker Street building was bought by
Daniel Birdsall who resold it to the mother church. The legal questions
at issue in the transaction were taken into court and decided in favor
of the mother church.

A son of the pastor, Frederick William Geissenhainer, Jr., was called
from Pennsylvania to minister in St. Matthew's Church in English, so
long as this could be done without detriment to the German congregation.
This continued for three years, by which time a deficit of $5,000 had
accumulated.

In the meantime the congregation of Frankfort Street had grown to such
an extent that it decided to sell the Old Swamp Church, and move into
the spacious building on Walker Street, where it also acquired the name
of the English congregation and was thereafter known as St. Matthew's
Church. The younger Geissenhainer continued to hold English services in
the afternoon until 1840. The senior Geissenhainer served the German
part of the congregation until his death in 1838.

After Pastor Schaeffer resigned in 1826 he collected the salvage of the
English enterprises and organized a new English church, St. James,
which he served until his death in 1831.

Among the major happenings in this period were the Burr-Hamilton duel,
the launching of Fulton's steamboat, the introduction of Croton water,
the opening of the Erie Canal, the writings of Washington Irving, and
the organization of the American Bible Society and the American Tract
Society.

Such things as social service, church extension or confessional
questions had not yet begun to disturb the churches. Our people had all
the time they wanted therefore for controversy on the undying question
of the relative importance of the English and German languages. This,
as we have seen, led to a lawsuit, the sale of a church and the
permanent ruptu