Stephan was not merely
an adulterer. Being a good counselor to many is often accompanied by fragile
egos expressing thanks or manipulating men exploiting emotions and dependency.
He was associated with a number of young women in Dresden, and the police
followed him about his nocturnal habits. He contracted syphilis at some stage,
gave this horrid disease to some of his children, and lost his position when
Walther exploited the syphilis break-out among the young women in the
Stephanite cult in America.
No one wants to admit
this. Even
the Stephan family memoir skips over this fact, though it is quite frank and
yet fair in its treatment of everyone involved. However, syphilis explains many
aspects of Stephan’s life and final days.
1.
He went to spas for his rash, which is
one of the common symptoms of syphilis.
2.
Several of his children suffered from
syphilitic symptoms, which the father would have transmitted to their mother.
They died young in institutions.
3.
Stephan’s many walks, often accompanied
by young women, suggest his discomforts.
4.
Stephan became quite morose and angry during
the ocean voyage, and an angry bitter sermon he gave on his ship proclaimed the
followers were not worthy of him.
5.
Stephan became irrational and grandiose in
America, quite impractical, which led to additional financial hardship. He
insisted on starting in America as a bishop and drew up his contract, which CFW
Walther signed (but not Walther’s brother).
6.
Just as the police were suspicious of
Stephan in Dresden, so were the residents who noticed no wife, but a number of
women hanging around the bishop in St. Louis.
7.
Everyone in the Walther circle knew the
bishop was a flagrant adulterer, but they concocted a story that they suddenly
found out after a blistering sermon on sin caused a woman to confession her
adulterous affair with Stephan.
8.
The cause of the riot against Stephan,
which Walther organized, was the heart-breaking scandal of young women
condemned to slowly die, unmarried, from the disease their leader gave them.
9.
Stephan’s main mistress, Louise Gunther,
came over in the same ship with Stephan and his son. Walther’s
older brother and the lawyers Vehse and Marbach were also on the same ship. Gunther
lived with Bishop Stephan in his last days in Illinois. This alone destroys the
sudden revelation of adultery fable promoted by Walther and the pastors.
Bremen, Germany to New Orleans
21 January 1839
DISTRICT
OF MISSISSIPPI - PORT OF NEW ORLEANS
I,
H. W. Exter master of the Ship Olbers do solemnly sincerely & truly swear
that the within list signed by me & now delivered to the Collector of this
district contains the names of all the Passengers taken on board of the Said
Ship at the Port of Bremen or at any time since and that all matters therein
set forth are according to the best of my Knowledge & Belief just &
true & I do further swear that Two of the Said Passengers died on the voyage.
Sworn
before me this 21st Jan 1839 ~~ [signed] J. W. Exter-Master
List
of Passengers on board of the Bremer Ship Olbers H. W. Exter My bound from
Bremen to New Orleans
Columns
represent: Passenger number, Name, Relationship to the head of the family, Last
dwelling place, Occupation, Age, Died on the voyage.
Cabin
1
Martin Stephan Dresden Preacher 61
2
Martin Stephan his son
Dresden 16
3
Theodore Julius Brohm Dresden Candidate
30
4 H.
S. Fischer Dresden Merchant 40
5
Julie Fischer his wife Dresden 32
6* Louise Gunther Dresden 32
The Pattern of Adultery Previously Established in Dresden
Stephan established
himself as a Biblical, Lutheran, and Pietistic leader while carrying on with
young women, and repeatedly in trouble with the police or church leaders. The
early years seem to have been without scandal, but Stephan began withdrawing
himself from his children and wife. At the same time, his extra church, those Germans
who came to the little Bohemians church, grew to 1,000 people, perhaps the inspiration
for growth through Objective Justification and cell groups.
Walther himself
declared that Stephan’s adultery was the fault of his long-suffering wife, a
cruel and slanderous accusation against a woman who bore seven children and was
left with the sick children when Martin left for America with the healthy, eldest
son.
Stephan’s adultery was
not simply a sudden discovery in the New World. His wife Julia testified in
court that her husband moved a young woman into their house. Julia kicked the
girl out and put a lock on the spare room. Martin broke the lock and brought
back the girl. He was the master of the house and would do what he pleased.
His wife also reported the relationship with Louise Guenther, who lived with
Martin in various locations, went to America with him on the same ship (see
above), and lived with him in Illinois. When he went to the spa for his rash,
he wanted Louise there in the same room, not his wife. Martin asked his wife to
go home, and she walked 20 miles back.
The sudden discovery of
adultery is also refuted by the presence of the lawyers Vehse and Marbach on
the Olbers, the ship which Stephan and Louise Guenther took to America. The
original plan involved Stephan taking his wife and children to America with
him. Instead, he left them behind and took Louise and his son Martin IV. If
nobody knows about these matters, the sudden confession tale seems plausible.
The loyalty of the Missouri Synod fathers to a flagrant adulterer is
implausible.
Who Supposedly Confessed – Louise Guenther?
The key to the entire
drama in America – the ouster of Bishop Stephan – begins with Pastor Loeber
preaching an especially powerful sermon on sin, May of 1839,, which supposed
caused Louise Guenther and another women to confess their sins of adultery. The
Walther circle had to concede the problems with their story. Louise seemed to
see herself as a wife for a long time, and she was good at not disclosing anything
that would hurt the bishop. However, the
story is still repeated with the hushed tones of saint tales. Attempts to
unravel the truth are met with missing documents and the gimlet eye of many
outsiders who openly questioned the behavior of the bishop and the saintliness of
the group.
Syphilis Unlocks the Mysteries
The veneral disease
syphilis canceled the original seminary doctoral degree, the S.T.D., because people
would no longer think getting a Doctor of Sacred Theology at school was a
career boost. Syphilis was not curable in the 19th century.
The disease begins with a painless chancre sore and can remain dormant for a
long time, though the bacteria remain. Syphilis is damaging to internal organs
and can be passed from the mother to the unborn child. The disease seems to
imitate other diseases, and the initial outbreak may even go unnoticed. The
sore heals by itself.
Within a few weeks of the original chancre
healing, you may experience a rash that begins on your trunk but eventually
covers your entire body — even the palms of your hands and the soles of your
feet.
Stephan’s spent time at
the spa because of his rash, and Louise Guenther tended his sores there. He
complained about his health and said he needed to walk at night because of his
discomfort. Syphilis can attack the heart and also the brain. Various historians
have noted that Stephan was known for his ability to move people, but he became
moody and irrational in America, with grandiose ideas. He insisted on being
named the bishop before he set foot in the New World, and his circle complied –
CFW Walther included – but not his brother. His other great plans were often
absurd.
Buying land in
Perryville instead of St. Louis, where a better deal was offered, may have come
from parallel motives. He may have wanted to escape the suspicions of St. Louis
residents, who questioned the absence of his wife and the presence of Louis
Guenther living above him in the same building. He may have chosen the
Perryville land for no good reason at all, like many of his other orders, which
were obeyed. His considered himself the Means of Grace and that Europe no
longer had the Means of Grace once they left the Old Country. One person
objected to that bizarre and anti-Biblical notion, so he was removed from his
cash allowance until he repented.
More evidence of the
bishop’s syphilis can be found in the tragic case of his own children. Philip
G. Stephan emphasized that no one had total deafness in either family. However,
Several children were born deaf, which is one symptom of congenital syphilis. [More
details to follow]
“The Unspoken Word Is
the Most Important”
Nothing adequately explains
CFW Walther stirring up a riot, taking his followers down to Perryville, threatening
the life of the bishop, stealing his land, gold, books, and personal possessions,
then forcing him at gunpoint across the river to Illinois.
Those who have
researched this in St. Louis know that the young women suffered a syphilis
outbreak due to Bishop Stephan. They all overlooked his abandonment of his family,
his consorting with young women for years. I agree with the theory that he
doomed several young women to misery and death, and that made punitive measure
justified. It also removed the continuing scandal of the bishop’s harem.
