Carl Schlegel: Early U.S. Gay Activist, 1906-1907, by Jonathan Ned Katz
June 1, 2019, Last edit: Oct. 18, 2022
See also: The Presbyterian Church and Homosexuality in the U.S.: Timeline
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Resistance for initiating a new era of LGBT militant activism, we can now also honor the pioneering activism of a Presbyterian minister 62 years earlier.
Newly discovered evidence shows that the Reverend Carl Schlegel, a German immigrant to the U.S., publicly defended homosexuals' desires and acts in New Orleans in 1906 and 1907. This makes him the earliest known U.S. homosexual emancipation activist, one of a small number of documented pre-Stonewall politicos.
Schlegel advocated for homosexuals within his church and distributed the publications of a Berlin-based German homosexual emancipation organization, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. A later pioneering activist, Henry Gerber, was also inspired by that same German organization to found the Society for Human Rights in Chicago, in 1924, the first U.S. homosexual liberation organization. News of German homosexual organizing traveled internationally with these two pioneers.
The new evidence, published on OutHistory.org on June 1, 2019, appears in the Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans for January 29, 1907. These Minutes report the members of the Presbytery judging Rev. Schlegel guilty of defending "the lawfulness and naturalness of the condition, and in some cases of the actual practice of homo-sexualism, Sodomy, or Uranism."
"Uranism” was an awkward adaptation of the German “Urning,” a nineteenth-century term for a biological male understood to be born with the psyche of a female, meaning at the time, a man whose sexual desire was for men.
Schlegel’s own words were quoted. He advocated “the same laws” for “homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, [and] asexuals.” Asserting the legal equality of homosexuals and heterosexuals was a daring stance at the time. It would become a major tactic of U.S. LGBT activists later in the century. Schlegel’s including bisexuals and asexual persons in his proselytizing is the earliest-known U.S. bid for these groups' legal equality.
This minister was also quoted as urging the same punishment for all persons who committed the following acts: “First, if they use compulsion. Second, if they are found to offend publicly. Third, if they use or misuse children.”
On January 29, 1907, members of the Presbytery of New Orleans voted to find Schlegel guilty of “sin” and fired him. Earlier, in 1905, Schlegel had also been fired from the ministry of a prominent New York church, probably for promoting the same homosexual emancipation ideas and literature.
After Schlegel's demotion, a New Orleans newspaper reported: to those accustomed to the proper conduct of Presbyterian ministers "Mr. Schlegel was always queer."
I discovered the new evidence of Schlegel’s pioneering activism in the archive of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia. Relevant pages of the major document, The Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, are republished on OutHistory at this feature's end.
Though Schlegel’s activism appears to have had no lasting effect, his daring was remarkable. Perhaps the documentation of his activism will lead to the discovery of other lost, LGBT activist pioneers.
I am interested in any additional information about Schlegel and other activists that researchers can provide. Contact outhistory@gmail.com.
Carl Schlegel’s life and all the known documentation of his homosexual emancipation activities are detailed in the following new feature on OutHistory.org.
Schlegel's Birth and Immigration
According to German baptism records, Karl Schlegel was born in Pfullingen, Württemberg, Germany, March 29, 1863.[1]
Schlegel first arrived in the U.S. at age fifteen, in 1878, according to the Federal Census of 1900 and other documents.[2] In the U.S. he was referred to as “Karl” or "Carl," and sometimes as “Charles.”
Schlegel graduated from the Theological Seminary in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1895.[3] While studying at the seminary he also served the German Presbyterian Congregation in Passaic, N.J.[4]
Minister of the German Protestant Church
On April 21, 1896, at age thirty-three, Rev. Charles Schlegel was ordained as the minister of the German Protestant Church at 149 Norfolk street near Stanton, on New York’s lower east side.[5] Originally a Dutch Reformed Church, this was the old house of worship at which a group of wealthy Protestant men and their families had once worshipped.[6] But, by the 1890s, the old church was located in a neighborhood populated mostly by poor, Polish and Russian Jews who had fled persecution in their home countries and migrated to the U.S.
In the Fall of 1897, several New York City newspapers reported that Schlegel’s church was laying a cornerstone for a new church being built on east 68th Street and between 1st and 2nd Avenues.
The Church’s Move
The reason for the old church’s move uptown was revealed in The New York Journal on September 11, 1897, in which Schlegel provided a telling quote:[7]
The Gentiles drove the Jews out of Jerusalem and now the Jews of New York are getting even by driving the Gentiles out of "Little Jerusalem," the Jewish district of the East Side.
This, at least, is the reason advanced by the oldest German Protestant congregation of New York and America for having sold their time-hallowed sanctuary on Norfolk street, made historic by John Jacob Astor, the founder, and for having been compelled to build a new church uptown, the corner stone of which will be laid to-morrow.
"It is due to the crowding together of the great hordes of Russian and Polish Israelites, who during this decade have been driven to this shore from the inhospitable treatment of the Muscovites, that we have been forced to move our Zion," said Rev. Carl Schlegel, the young pastor of the church, yesterday.
The paper immediately assured its readers that Schlegel’s statement did not imply that the “earnest and pious” Protestant members of the old church
had no love for the people of their Saviour [Jews], nor that at any time there was the least ill-feeling or conflict between the two races, but there is so little in common in habits, customs and social conditions between them that congenial intercourse is out of the question. The minority had to give way to the majority.
The idea that Jews and Protestants constituted two culturally incompatible “races,” unable to live together, was a form of racism common at this time.[8]
The Journal again referred to “Rev. Carl Schlegel, the young and energetic pastor,” adding:
His brief ministrations of one and a half years to the historic congregation in this city have been marked by great spiritual and material progress.
Baron von Steuben
The new church building, The Journal added, would incorporate “the tall marble memorial” in the old church’s vestibule, dedicated to the Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who had worshipped at that church.
Von Steuben was the Prussian immigrant who became a major advisor to the army of American colonial revolutionaries fighting their British rulers. Von Steuben helped to instill Prussian-type discipline among the undisciplined American troops and served as General George Washington’s chief of staff in the final years of the American Revolution.
Had Schlegel heard any rumors about von Steuben’s sexual proclivities? We don’t know. Von Steuben had left Prussia and France after talk circulated about his sex with “young boys,” though no evidence indicates that he was a pedophile; his interest seems to have focused on young men. Von Steuben arrived in America in 1777 with his seventeen-year-old secretary, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau.[9]
At Valley Forge von Steuben also developed intense intimacies with two military officers in their twenties, Benjamin Walker and William North, whom he formally adopted, and to whom he left the bulk of his estate. Another young man, John W. Mulligant, Jr., also considered himself one of Steuben’s “sons” and inherited part of Von Steuben’s estate.
Baby in the Pews: November 13, 1900
An item in Christian Work: Illustrated Family Newspaper, published in New York on November 13, 1900. reported:
While preparing for the services on Wednesday evening, Rev. Charles Schlegel . . . found a six weeks’ old female child in a rear pew. A policeman was called in, and the child was taken to Bellevue Hospital.[10]
To the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee: August 1903
The earliest documentation of Schlegel’s interest in homosexual emancipation is an item published at the end of August 1903, in the Monthly Report of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), the homosexual rights organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, in Berlin.[11]
Schlegel had returned to Germany and visited the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee’s Berlin headquarters. “Among numerous visits” to the Committee, the report says,
we emphasize that of the Protestant pastor Schlegel of New York, who aims at an association of his Uranian fellow ministers as well as the founding of a subcommittee in New York.
Schlegel apparently considered other homosexual Protestant ministers good candidates for his U.S. emancipation organizing.
Uranian was an English adaptation of the German word Urning, first published by activist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in Germany, in 1864, before the coinage of the term homosexual. Uranian referred to a biological male thought to have a female mind and desires, meaning, in its time, a man who was sexually attracted to men. Minds were then thought to have a sex, male or female. And those female or male psyches were thought to have a built-in, biologically given, different-sex object of desire. The term uraniad was later coined to refer to women with male psyches – women who sexually desired women.[12]
Schlegel Arrested: September 5, 1903
On Saturday, September 5, 1903, while still in Germany, Schlegel was arrested and tried in Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town in the eastern part of the state of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg).
A brief item in the Gmünder Tagblatt (daily paper) does not name the American arrestee. It reads, in translation:
Gmünd, September 7. A minister/clergyman of one of the protestant North American churches, visiting Gmünd, was arrested on Saturday evening for a crime against § 175 and transferred to the Royal District Court, but released again for the time being.[13]
Paragraph 175 was a provision of the German Criminal Code, passed May 15, 1871, that declared:
Unnatural fornication, whether between persons of the male sex or of humans with beasts, is to be punished by imprisonment; a sentence of loss of civil rights may also be passed.[14]
Court Records, Schwäbisch Gmünd
Records of the court in Schwäbisch Gmünd make no mention of any offense under Paragraph 175. The record does include the brief notation, which says, in translation:
Schlegel, Carl, Pastor from New York" - libel/verbal slander."[15]
The offense for which Schlegel was tried was termed, in German: "Beleidigung." This means libel or verbal slander of a particular type, not slander in general. For example, beleidigung refers to something a person says spontaneously to another person.[16] So, according to the court, Schlegel’s offense was of a verbal character. Like his later troubles, this one involved Schlegel’s speaking publicly, in this case, probably on the spur of the moment.
Monthly Report, October 1903
An item from the Monthly Report of the Scientific Humanitarian Society early in October 1903 refers to Schlegel’s arrest, and mistakenly, apparently, to his supposed crime:
Pastor Schlegel from America, mentioned by us in the last Monthly Report, has been arrested in Schwäbisch Gmünd, allegedly because he is said to have indecently touched a youth, and is awaiting a court-day this week, which hopefully will turn out favorably.[17]
Monthly Report, November 1903
The Monthly Report, published at the beginning of November 1903, relates:
After a 24-day investigation, Pastor Schlegel has been set free and has returned to America. Hopefully this unpleasant incident will be without further fateful consequences for him professionally.[18]
Schlegel arrived back in the U.S. on October 27, 1903, on the steamship Zeeland.[19]
Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types, 1904
A report in Magnus Hirschfeld’s Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types (Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen), in 1904, suggests that Pastor Schlegel had paid dues as a member of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. The item reads: “Pastor S. in the U.S.A. 50 Mark.”[20]
Dismissed from New York Church, February 27, 1905
In 1905, the Reverent Carl Schlegel was “dismissed” from New York City's First German Reformed Protestant Congregation" to a ministry in New Orleans, Louisiana.[21]
The minutes of a meeting of the Reformed Church in America convened in New York City, report:
February 27, 1905, Rev. Charles Schlegel resigned from the pastorate of the 68th Street German Church, and was dismissed to the Presbytery of New Orleans.[22]
Whether Schlegel “resigned” from his New York pastor’s job or was “dismissed,” the New York officials did not, apparently, relay any compromising details to the New Orleans church.
Welcomed in New Orleans: March 23, 1905
A month after his resignation or dismissal in New York, on March 23, 1905, in New Orleans, the Rev. Schlegel was welcomed at a reception in the Sunday School of the Second German Presbyterian Church, at the corner of North Claiborne Avenue and Allen Street.
The Rev. Louis Voss, of the First Street German Church, “said he was sure” that the members of Schlegel’s new church “would learn to admire Rev. Schlegel, as he was a man of learning as well as an accomplished and trained minister.” In response, Schlegel said “he would do all in his power to endear himself to the congregation” as thoroughly as did his predecessor.
First Sermon and a Photo: March 27, 1905
On March 27, 1905, the Daily Picayune, of New Orleans, headlined a report: “Rev. Carl Schlegel Preaches His First Sermon in Second Presbyterian Pulpit,” and included the second known photo of the preacher.[23]
Rumors: December 20, 1906
A year-and-a-half after preaching his first sermon Schlegel was in trouble. The earliest evidence of Schlegel’s homosexual rights proselytizing in New Orleans appears in the official Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans.[24]
The first document contained in the Minutes is a letter dated December 20, 1906, from the officers of the Second German Presbyterian Church, New Orleans. It reports “certain conditions which vitally affect the interests of the Church,” about which the church body “feels itself disqualified to act.”[25]
The leaders of The Second German Church asked the Presbytery of New Orleans to investigate “rumors prevailing in connection with the pastor” (Schlegel), and to take such action as “it may deem best for the Church and for the cause of religion. . . .”
Schlegel Resigns/Is Suspended: January 7, 1907
In response to the above request, the Presbytery of New Orleans held a first meeting in the Lecture Room of the First German Church, in the city, on January 7, 1907.[26]
The meeting began with a prayer, and an order that the Presbytery “sit with closed doors.” But the officers of the Second German Church were “granted the privilege of being present.”
A communication from Rev. Carl Schlegel, tendering his resignation as pastor of the said Church was read.
The officer of the church states that Mr. Schlegel had left the city . . . stating that he intended to return to New York, his previous residence.
It was resolved that a Judicial Committee be appointed to formulate charges against Rev. Carl Schlegel.
The Church leaders ordered that, “pending the charges against him, Rev. Carl Schlegel be suspended from exercising the active functions of the Gospel ministry without censure.” They adjourned until the following day.
The Charges Specified: January 8, 1907,
On January 8, the Presbytery met for the second time, and the committee appointed to formulate the charges presented the case of “The Presbyterian Church in the United States vs. Carl Schlegel.”[27]
The committee charged Schlegel “with holding, maintaining, disseminating and defending grossly immoral doctrines, contrary to the Word of God.”
Schlegel, it was said:
Holds, maintains, disseminates and defends the naturalness and lawfulness of Sodomy, otherwise called “Homosexuality” or “Uranism” . . .
Schlegel was charged with disseminating information and defending homosexuality on the following four occasions:
December 14, 1906, in his own room, before Revs. J. H. Nall and George Summey.
December 18, 1906, at the office of the Southwestern Presbyterian, in the presence of reverends J. H. Nall, George Summey, Louis Voss, and Elder William Frantz.
December 17, 1906, in a written communication and pamphlet, sent to Rev. Louis Voss.
On December 20, 1906, at a session of his own Second German Presbyterian Church, Schlegel was accused of
circulating literature, viz., copies of the Year Book for the Sexual Intermediates Stages with special reference to Homosexuality (in German) to Rev. Louis Voss and Elders Koelle and Frantz; against the peace, unity and purity of the Church and the honor and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . .
The clergymen meeting on January 8, sent Schlegel a letter asking him “to plead and answer the charges” at a meeting scheduled for January 24.
Plea of ‘Not Guilty’”: January 24, 1907
On January 24, the Presbyterian leaders gathered for the third time and a “communication from Rev. Carl Schlegel” was read, and then read again. This was received “as his plea of ‘not guilty’ to the charges.”[28]
In order that Schlegel’s “interests be safeguarded,” the Rev. Louis Voss was assigned as his counsel. The Presbytery adjourned until the following day.
The Trial of Rev. Carl Schlegel: January 25, 1907
The next day, meeting for the fourth time, the Presbytery “proceeded with the Trial of Rev. Carl Schlegel.”[29]
“The indictment and the communication from Rev. Carl Schlegel . . . were read.”
The prosecutor, Rev. William McF. Alexander, asked that four documents “be placed in evidence.” These were:
(1) Schlegel’s letter in response to the charges,
(2) Schlegel’s earlier letter to Rev. Louis Voss,
(3) the Pamphlet titled Monthly Report and
(4) a book titled Jahrbuch fur Sexuell Zwischenstuffen (Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types).
The prosecutor called as witnesses the Reverends Nall, Summey, and Voss who testified about their meeting and talks with Schlegel, and his replies. The Reverend W. O. Becker, of the Second German Church, also testified.
The prosecutor then addressed the Court, “summing up the testimony.”
The counsel for Schlegel then addressed the Court,
translating numerous passages from the “Jahrbuch fur sexuelle Zwitschenstuff,” in defense of homosexualism.
The members present then “expressed their opinions in the cause.”
Thirteen of those present then voted to sustain the charges. Two members were excused from voting. One member, an elder of First Street German Church, F. Ruppert, voted not to sustain. Nothing is known, at present, about the motivations and reasoning of the dissenting church member, F. Ruppert.
The Rev. Carl Schlegel was then “deposed from the Gospel Ministry.”
Three reverends were appointed to formulate the reasons for the judgment, “and to give suitable advice to Mr. Carl Schlegel.”
“Grossly Immoral Doctrines”: January 29, 1907
The fifth and last meeting of the members of the Presbytery of New Orleans opened with a prayer, as had the earlier meetings. The members adopted a report summarizing their judgment in Schlegel’s case.[30]
Whereas, The Presbytery of New Orleans is convinced, from a careful hearing of all the evidence in the case, that the views held by Rev. Carl Schlegel touching the lawfulness and naturalness of the condition, and in some case of the actual practice of homo-sexualism, Sodomy, or Uranism, as shown by his own words in his pleas, as follows:
Schlegel was quoted:
“Let the same laws for all the intermediate stages of sexual life: the homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, be legal as they are now in existence for the heterosexuals, that is, they should be under punishment:
First, if they use compulsion. Second, if they are found to offend publicly. Third, if they use or misuse children, are dangerous and corrupting and will lead only to evil . . . ."
The judges then added their own views of Schlegel:
however much he may be justified in believing in the fact or existence of such a condition as that of homosexuality, the maintenance, defending and disseminating of his views concerning the same are evil and only evil; and that the only scriptural view of this whole matter is that given by the apostle in Romans, first chapter.
The Biblical reference was to the Apostle Paul’s condemnation of those who, in the King James translation, “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator.”
For this cause God gave them up until vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly . . . .
In 1907, it's notable that the members of the Presbytery doubted the “existence of such a condition . . . as homosexuality.” They were familiar with Biblical and legal condemnation of an act, sodomy. But a homosexual “condition” was a new idea, employed by a radical homosexual activist to promote the equal status of persons with homo-, hetero-, bisexual, and asexual conditions.
The Presbytery adopted the following final judgment:
Whereas, Carl Schlegel, a minister of this Presbytery, has been proved, by sufficient evidence, to be guilty of the sin of holding, maintaining, disseminating and defending grossly immoral doctrines in that he holds, maintains, disseminates and defends the naturalness and lawfulness of Sodomy, otherwise called homo-sexualism or uranism, We, The Presbytery of New Orleans, do adjudge him totally disqualified for the office of the Christian ministry, and therefore we do hereby, in the Name and by the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, depose from the office of a Christian minister, the said Carl Schlegel, and do prohibit him from exercising any of the functions thereof.
The judgment gave Schlegel the chance to repudiate his sinful ideas. It suspended Schlegel “from the sacraments of the Church until he shall exhibit satisfactory evidence of sincere repentance.”
The Presbytery also said that it
most earnestly and lovingly urges upon Mr. Schlegel that he destroy all the books and other documents or literature which he has upon the subject of homosexualism; that he endeavor to give up all thought and study of the subject; that he strive to make the Word of God his guide in the interpretation of the facts and conditions of men; and that, if he does this, he be assured of the sympathy of all his brethren and of their earnest prayer for his spiritual good.
The Presbyterian council’s loving call to Schlegel to “destroy” all homosexual emancipation texts, to stop thinking about homosexuality, and to stop studying it, is, in the perspective of history, chilling advocacy of authoritarian mind control like that satirized in George Orwell’s novel 1984.
The Rev. L. Voss was appointed to preach in Schlegel’s place.
The Presbytery also resolved:
In any information given out concerning the action of the Presbytery in this case, nothing more shall be stated than the simple fact that Rev. Carl Schlegel was deposed from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church for holding, maintaining, disseminating and defending grossly immoral doctrines.
Publicly accusing the minister of defending “grossly immoral doctrines,” but refusing to specify those doctrines, suggested that these ideas were irresistibly enticing. If specified, the doctrines that could not be named among Christians might prove so appealing to sinful, fallen humans that they might approve them, and even practice them. Behind the Christian fear of naming the sin in question was the fear that if the public tried it, they’d like it.
The New Orleans Press Reports Schlegel’s Trouble
On January 8, 1907, the Daily Picayune, of New Orleans, headlined a report: "Rev. Carl Schlegel Resigns But the Presbytery Has Not Yet Decided to Accept." Schlegel had resigned the previous week, the paper reported, and left for New York City, "where he intends to reside in the future."
The resignation had been reported to the Presbytery of New Orleans and that body had held a special meeting on January 7 to discuss it.[31]
Schlegel had told his congregation, the paper reported, that that he was going to New York "to attend to some personal business and also to pursue certain scientific studies."
Schlegel’s reference to “scientific studies” was probably a euphemistic reference to the doctrines and publications of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the German homosexual emancipation group. “Scientific studies” may also have referred to Schlegel's later reported interest in spiritualism, conceived sometimes as scientific.
On January 30, 1907, the Daily Picayune reported that the Presbytery of New Orleans had the day earlier, held a fourth session in the case of the Rev. Schlegel. The paper said that, "after long and careful consideration," it had dismissed Schlegel "because of holding and writing and disseminating and defending grossly immoral doctrines." The report said that Schlegel had "now taken up scientific studies in New York."[32]
On the same day, January 30, The Times-Democrat of New Orleans headlined a report: "MINISTER IS DEPOSED," adding: "New Orleans Presbytery Ejects Rev. Carl Schlegel." The pastor had "Held, Maintained, Disseminated and Defended Immoral Doctrines.."[33]
The paper said that Schlegel had been “secured from New York, where he was a minister in good standing,” confirmation that Schlegel’s New York church hadn’t passed on any hints about the reason for his leaving that pulpit.
Schlegel had recently resigned and left for New York City, “to engage, so he said, in scientific studies.”
The meetings of the New Orleans Presbytery, “held behind closed doors,” had raised “considerable curiosity” about “what was happening.” The paper added:
It is said that to those who are accustomed to the very proper and consistent conduct of Presbyterian ministers of the city, the behavior of Mr. Schlegel was always queer.
The paper concluded: Schlegel’s “deposition here will prohibit his ever occupying any other Presbyterian pulpit.”
An Emancipation Lecture in New York
In March 1907, Dr. Georg Merzbach, a supporter of the Berlin Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the homosexual emancipation group, spoke on that subject in New York City before the New York Society of Medical Jurisprudence. Merzbach was making a lecture tour of the U.S.[34]
This was Merzbach’s first public talk in English on “our area of specialization,” homosexual emancipation, he reported to his comrades in Berlin. Merzbach reported to those comrades: “Three ministers whom I had invited also attended the lecture and gave it their undivided attention.”
Carl Schlegel had returned to New York City by March 1907, and it seems likely that he would have attended Merzbach’s talk, though no evidence of this has been discovered.
Merzbach reported that his talk was enthusiastically received:
The pictures and explanations I presented were received with tumultuous applause - an unusual thing, given the coolness of American scholars. A number of very distinguished doctors and legal scholars participated in the [almost two-hour] discussion, while Professor Beck, the surgeon, stood at my side as an interpreter to prevent misunderstandings in the heat of the exchange ....
“Naturally,” Merzbach added, “rather naive questions were posed in the discussion, as well as some which were quite intelligent.”
I will mention a few: "Can homosexuality be eradicated by castration? What indications of homosexual tendencies does the animal kingdom provide? The names of historic or famous homosexuals, and the evidence thereof? Doesn't homosexuality lead ultimately to paranoia or other psychoses? Can homosexuals have children? Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Hamlet?"
“Some people,” said Merzbach, “spoke out forcefully against the penalization of homosexual acts so long as they are not punishable . . . on other grounds (coercion, etc.).” That was certainly the position that Schlegel had publicly advocated in New Orleans.
“The entire thing made such an overwhelming impression,” recalled Merzbach of his inaugural talk, “that Professor Beck, who had arranged the lecture, told me that he had never witnessed such success in presenting a scientific topic ....”
Merzbach’s colleagues had predicted, “a courteous but cool reception because of the subject matter; and now we have had this singular success in the very country where bigotry and prudishness are truly at home.” Merzbach concluded optimistically: "We have won a great battle."
New York City Spiritualist: 1912
News of Schlegel next appeared five years later, on August 17, 1912, in the New York Herald, which headlined a story: “Preacher Now A Spiritualist”.[35]
The Rev. Carl Schlegel, who says he has been a minister of the Reformed and the Presbyterian churches in this city, is preparing himself for the ministry of spiritualism. He will be a speaker tomorrow night at the New York Temple of Modern Spiritualism, No. 138, East Twenty-seventh street.
On Saturday, August 24, 1912, the New-York Tribune reported:
At the New York Temple of Modern Spiritualism, the Rev. Dr. Richard R. Schleusner has selected for his theme for to-morrow evening “Is Christ to Come Again to Earth?” He will be followed by the Rev. Carl Schlegel, now a convert to Spiritualism and preparing himself for the ministry of Spiritualism.”[36]
The Temple of Modern Spiritualism
That 1912 report is the last discovered linking Schlegel to the New York Temple of Modern Spiritualism, so his association seems to have been fleeting.
But it’s worth noting that, just five months earlier, the Temple of Modern Spiritualism had filed for incorporation as a religious, scientific, and educational institution. It also announced that it had raised $50,000 of the $300,000 it was seeking to build a new home for the Temple on Central Park West. (That $300,000 in 1912 would equal about $7,400,000 in 2019).[37]
It’s also revealing that, on February 26, 1913, Dr. Schleusner was arrested for practicing medicine without a license.[38] New York officials apparently doubted the claimed “scientific” aspect of Schleusner’s spiritualism. But that did not stop him.
Schleusner was in the news again, in August 1913, in Bell Telephone News, in a satirical report headed: “Wireless Telephones to Spirit Land.” The report quoted Schleusner explaining that, “to advance the cause of spiritualism,” the New York Temple of Modern Spiritualism had
established a ‘psychical laboratory’ in our rooms and are daily making experiments under the direction of noted scientists. We will install a wireless telephone for the purposes of ascertaining whether it is possible for departed ones to communicate with their loved ones.
The report noted that a man formerly connected with the wireless bureau of the U.S. Navy was engaged by The Temple to install a wireless station to receive calls from the beyond.
Schleusner hoped
to be soon in wireless communication with the departed ones. We have already installed a wireless plant in our church and hope almost any day to receive a communication from someone who has left our shores.
In 1913, numbers of U.S. newspapers reported, often skeptically, on Schleusner’s claims of telephone conversations with the dearly departed.[39]
Homosexuality and Spiritualism
Carl Schlegel’s and other homosexuals’ links to the early-twentieth-century spiritualist movement remain to be explored. Earlier in the history of spiritualism, numbers of prominent spiritualists were women who supported radical causes such as the vote for women and the abolition of American slavery.[40]
An autobiography published in 1930 by the American lesbian Ruth Fuller Field (under the pen name “Mary Casal”) reports meeting another lesbian who was “a Theosophist,” a spiritualist sect. The lesbian was “a near friend of Madam Blavatsky,” well-known as a leader of Theosophy.[41]
Schlegel's Last Days: 1920-1922
The 1920 U.S. Census lists Charles Schlegel, from Wurttemberg, as living in a home for the incurables in the Bronx.[42]
An obituary for the Rev. Carl Schlegel, appearing in The Leader-Observer (Forrest Parkway, in Woodhaven, Queens, NY), states that he died "last Tuesday, July 25, at the Long Island Hospital, L.I." (the year was 1922; that year July 25, fell on a Tuesday.)[43]
The obit, apparently written by his family, did not mention the controversial aspects of his career:
He was compelled some years ago to give up his much desired work because of ill health. He lived in Florida for ten years expecting to fully regain his health.
He is survived by his aged mother, Katherine Schlegel, and three sisters and one brother in Germany, and two brothers, Robert and Frederick Schlegel and one sister, Mrs. Bertha Trostel of New York City.
Services were held at the home of his sister . . . 428 Columbia Avenue, Woodhaven, on Thursday, July 27, by the Rev. E. R. Jaxheimer, pastor of the St. Lukes English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Woodhaven, and at the grave in Evergreen Cemetery, on Friday, July 28, at 10 a.m.
The obituary mentioned that Schlegel was for a "number of years . . . pastor of the old Steuben Street [sic] Church in Manhattan."
His death notice ended:
He was a faithful and ardent worker in his first parish and beloved by many.
Visiting Schlegel’s Grave
Schlegel was buried in the Nazareth section of Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, in grave number 18004. When the weather is obliging, visitors to the Cemetery may request a map, locate Schlegel’s grave, picnic, and say hello to this homosexual emancipation pioneer.[44]
DOCUMENT:
The Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans
Click once on The Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans and this will lead you to the pages of this major document referring to the Rev. Carl Schlegel. This document may be downloaded but please credit OutHistory.org, and the original document in the archive of The Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia.
Notes (NUMBERING IN PROGRESS)
The photo of Schlegel is in German Reformed Protestant Church, Organisirt 1758 [microform]. Neu erbaut 1897. Souvenir für die Einweihung der Deutschen Reformirten Protestantischen Kirche ... [February 20th 1898.] [Translation: Souvenir from the German Reformed Protestant Church in East Sixty-Eighth Street.] (New York: J. C. Hassel, 1898). New York Public Library Microfilm: NYPL *Z1-346 no. 120. The last page of this copy of the pamphlet may include the signature of Schlegel. Thanks to Ron Van Cleef for researching this document. Kate Cordes, librarian at the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Genealogy, New York Public Library emailed me on December 5, 2009, 12:34:18 PM EST. She "double-checked our shelves and our uncatalogued miscellaneous collection of New York City church material, but I found no print copy of the Souvenir für die Einweihung der.... Chances are that the original was disposed of after it had been microfilmed, as this was not an uncommon practice during the early years of microfilming at the library.”
[1] Schlegel, Carl. Taufe (Baptism), Birth Date: 20 Mrz 1863 (20 March 1863); Baptism Date: 29 Mrz 1863); Baptism Place: Pfullingen, Württemberg, Deutschland (Germany); Father: Kronenwirth Schlegel; Mother: Catharina Schlegel; Author: Evangelische Kirche Pfullingen (OA. Reutlingen); City or District: Pfullingen. Source: Ancestry.com. Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Lutherische Kirchenbücher, 1500-1985. Various sources. Description: This collection consists of Lutheran church records for the years 1500 to 1985 from Württemberg, Germany. Ancestry.com accessed February 4, 2018. See also: Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985. Schlegel, Carl. Taufe (Baptism), Birth Date: 20 Mrz 1863 (20 March 1863); Baptism Date: 29 Mrz 1863); Baptism Place: Pfullingen, Württemberg, Deutschland (Germany); Father: Kronenwirth Schlegel; Mother: Catharina Schlegel; Author: Evangelische Kirche Pfullingen (OA. Reutlingen); City or District: Pfullingen.
Source Ancestry.com. Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Lutherische Kirchenbücher, 1500-1985. Various sources. Description: This collection consists of Lutheran church records for the years 1500 to 1985 from Württemberg, Germany. Ancestry.com accessed February 4, 2018. Accessed March 2, 2019 from Ancestry.com at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61023&h=14803829&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1068
See also: U.S. Census, 1900: “Carl Schlegel,” Age: 37; Birth Date: March 1863; Birth Place: Germany; Home in 1900: Manhattan, NY; Street: E. 68 Street; House Number 353; Sheet Number 11; Family Number: 216; Race: White; Gender: Male; Immigration Year: 1878; Relation to Head of House: Head; Marital Status: Single; Father’s Birth Place: Germany; Mother’s Birth Place: Germany; Years in U.S.: 22; Naturalization: Na [Naturalized]; Occupation: Minister; Months Not Employed: 0; Can Read: Yes; Can Write: Yes; Can Speak English: Yes; House Owned or Rented: 0; Home Free of Mortgage: F; Farm or House: H; Household Members: Robert Schlegel 19; Pauline Schlegel 20. Source: Year: 1900; Census Place; Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1112; Page11; Enumeration District: 0698; FHL microfilm: 1241112 Source Inormation. Accessed February 6, 2018 Ancestry.com
[1] Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] New York Journal, “A New Home for the Old Astor Church.” New York Journal, September 11, 1897, p.10.
[1] April 21, 1896, Rev. Charles Schlegel was ordained as the minister at the German Protestant Church at 149 Norfolk street, near Stanton,
[1] “received and arrangements made for his ordination and installation over the Northfolk Street Church."[9] In a section on New York City religious institutions, under the heading “German Protestant”, this book lists: "149 Norfolk St. Rev. Charles Schlegel.”[8]
[1] New York Journal, “A New Home for the Old Astor Church.” New York Journal, September 11, 1897, p.10.
[1] Janine Giordano Drake, “Race, Class, Religion, and American Citizenship” (Oxford Research Encyclopedias, February 2018). Accessed March 25, 2019 from http://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-489
[1] William E. Benemann, Male-Males Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships (Routledge, 2006), p.97. Paul Douglas Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
[1] Christian Work: Illustrated Family Newspaper (NY, NY), Tuesday, November 13, 1900, vol. 69, p. 76. “While preparing for the services on Wednesday evening, Rev. Charles Schlegel, rector of the Lutheran Reformed Church, at No. 357 East Sixty-eighth street, this city, found a six weeks old female child in a rear pew. A policeman was called in, and the child was taken to Bellevue Hospital.” See also a report of the same incident in the New York Tribune, November 15, 1900, below. The two newspaper reports suggest that the incident occurred on Wednesday, November 14, 1900. Accessed March 25, 2019, from HathiTrust at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=schlegel;id=nyp.33433003056672;view=1up;seq=7;start=1;sz=10;page=search;orient=0
New-York Tribune (NY, NY), “Found A Baby In A Church Pew,” November 15, 1900, p. 5. “While preparing for the services last evening [Wednesday] the Rev. Charles Schlegel, rector of the Lutheran Reformed Church, at No. 357 East Sixty-eight st., found a six weeks’ old female child in a rear pew. A policeman attached to the East Sixty-seventh-st. station was called in and the child was taken to Bellevue Hospital. The baby was dressed in white. There were no marks or identification.” Accessed March 1, 2019 from Library of Congress, Chronicling America at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1900-11-15/ed-1/seq-5/
[1] Monthly Report of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), end of August 1903, 1 leaf (unpaginated), the item about Schlegel is 13th in a list of 16 items. The item about Schlegel is reprinted by Manfred Herzer, Capri: Journal of Gay History 26 (June 1998), p. 15. I am grateful to James Steakley for the translation, and to Hubert Kennedy for first alerting me to Manfred Herzer’s republication of the three items about Pastor Schlegel, and for first translating the items from the German. I also thank Manfred Herzer for information about Pastor Schlegel in the U.S.
[1] Uranian, Wikipedia, accessed December 11, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian. A book published by an American, Edward Prime-Stevenson, in 1908, in Rome, used uranian and uraniad for people later called male and female homosexuals. Xavier Mayne (pseudonym of Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson), The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life ([Rome?] : Privately printed, [Preface 1908]); ; photo reprint New York: Arno Press, 1975.
[1] Gmünder Tagblatt, September 7, 1903. Jonathan Ned Katz is grateful to Norman Domeier for supervising this research, and Rita Winkler for the actual research. Norman Domeier email to Jonathan Ned Katz, July 1, July 2, August 14, 2014. Thanks to Manfred Herzer for the information that there were two newspapers in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1903, the Reichsstadt Gmündische Nachrichten and the Gmünder Tagblatt, and that archives of both are Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Konrade-Adenauer-Strasse 8, 70173 Stuttgart. Herzer to Katz, email August 31, 1998.
[1] “Paragraph 175,” Wikipedia, accessed March 9, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph_175#Version_of_May_15.2C_1871
[1] Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg/Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg: F269 II, P 293 (Amtgericht Schwäbisch Gmünd). Thanks to Rita Winkler for discovering this document.
[1] Jonathan Ned Katz thanks Norman Domeier for information about the translation of beleidigung.
[1] Monthly Report, beginning of October 1903, p. 16. Additional research in the police court records of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg might provide more information about Schlegel's case.
[1] Monthly Report of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), beginning of November, 2003. <Page and Exact date?>
[1] “Rev. Karl Schlegel,” arrival date: 27 October, 1903; birth date: about 1863; age: 40 years and nine months; gender: male; port of arrival: New York, NY; sh9p name: Zeeland. Accessed from Ancestry.com on February 6. 2018. Source Citation Year: 1903; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 0408; Line: 30; Page Number: 3. Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[1] Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen (Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types), Vol. 6, 1904, page 737. Manfred Herzer email to Jonathan Ned Katz, 8/31/98.
[1] Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] Reformed Church in America. Minutes of the Particular Synod of New York Convened at New York City, May 2, 1905. Kingston, NY: Daily Leader Printing Estabishment, 1905, page 33. Accessed December 11, 2009 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=GvsQAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA14-PA33&dq=Reverend+Charles+Schlegel&lr=&cd=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false
[1] “Rev. Carl Schlegel Preaches His First Sermon in Second Presbyterian Pulpit, Which He Takes Charge." Daily Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), March 27, 1905; p. 7. Accessed from GenealogyBank.com which incorrectly lists the paper’s titles as the Times-Picayune.It did not become the Times-Picayune until 1914.
[1] Presbytery of New Orleans. Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans Pro-Re-Nata Meeting, January 7, 8, 24, 25, 29, 1907 . . . . (New Orleans, LA: E. S. Upton, Print 1907). On Rev. Carl Schlegel, pp. 111-122. Archived in the Presybyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery, p. 112-13.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 111.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 113-15.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 115-16.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, pp. 116-19.
[1] It would be fascinating to know more about the one elder of the First Street German Church in New Orleans who voted not to sustain the charges against Schlegel, F. Ruppert. A resident of New Orleans, “Charles F. Ruppert Senior,” born about 1871, died November 8, 1936, according to Ancestry.com. accessed on March 27, 2019 from https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=F_Ruppert&event=1907_new+orleans-orleans-louisiana-usa_34322&keyword=First+Street+German+Church A Charles F. Ruppert Junior is also listed in New Orleans city directories according to Ancestry.com.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, pp. 119-22.
[1] The paper reported that the Rev. J. W. Caldwell, Moderator of the Presbytery had presided, and Rev. Louis Voss, Stated Clerk, ten ministers, and six elders had attended.
[1] "Rev. Carl Schlegel Resigns But the Presbytery Has Not Yet Decided to Accept," Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), Tuesday, January 8, 1907, page 5, accessed from Geneaologybank.com March 9, 2016. This report refers to Schlegel announcing his resignation, and saying he was leaving for New York City "to pursue certain scientific studies." This seems to be a coded reference to both the German Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the early homosexual emancipation organization in Berlin, and to Schlegel’s intention to study spiritualism, conceived and spoken about as a science.
[1] "Deposed by Presbytery. Action Finally Taken in the Case of Rev. Carl Schlegel,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), Wednesday, January 30, 1907, p. 18, accessed from GenaologyBank.com September 24, 2015. Another New Orleans newspaper report is headed: “MINISTER IS DEPOSED. NEW ORLEANS PRESBYTERY EJECTS REV. CARL SCHLEGEL. Reasons Given Are That the Pastor Held, Maintained, Disseminated and Defended Immoral Ideas from the Pulpit of Second German Church . . .” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana), January 30, 1907, p. 16, accessed May 12, 2017 from: Newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/164143862/
[1] “Minister Is Deposed. New Orleans Presbytery Ejects Rev. Carl Schlegel. Reasons Given Are That the Pastor Held, Maintained, Disseminated and Defended Immoral Doctrines. . . , The Times-Democratic (New Orleans, LA), January 30, page 16. Accessed March 25, 2019 from Newspapers.com.
[1] Katz, Gay American History (T. Y. Crowell, 1976), pp. 381-82, n. 87 p. 631, citing Monatsbericht des wissenschaftlich-humanitären Komitees, vol. 6 (1907), pp. 76-77.
[1] “A Spiritualist Temple. $50,000 Raised Toward a Building in Which Phenomena Will be Practised, The Sun (New York City), March 20, 1912, p. 1. Also in March 1912, Engineering News reports that The New York Temple of Spiritualism “has been incorporated to construct a temple in Central Park West. Cost, $300,000,000” The co-directors of the temple are listed as Richard R. Schleusner, 138 East 27th Street, and R. Demuth, 422 East 159th Street. See Engineering News, March 28 1912, v67, n13, p172, accessed February 3, 2018 from: https://books.google.com/books?id=xzFKAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA172&lpg=RA1-PA172&dq=%22%22New+York+Temple+of+Modern+Spiritualism%22%22&source=bl&ots=A-daBTZxmJ&sig=VMnaNyOO-H1PqcicAnSNGV1yHqs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7-oOk2YrZAhWLm1kKHb6xCagQ6AEITDAH#v=onepage&q=%22%22New%20York%20Temple%20of%20Modern%20Spiritualism%22%22&f=false For the inflation calculation see https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/dollars.php accessed February 3, 2018.
[1] “Spiritualist Pastor Arrested as a Quack. The Rev. Dr. Schleusner, Accused of Practicing Medicine Illegally. Has ‘Ideal Water’ Cure. Also Advertises Lectures on ‘Black and White Magic’ in Spiritualism.” The Sun (New York City), February 27, 1913, p. 4. Accessed February 4, 2018 from FultonHistory.com.
[1] Chris Woodyard, Haunted Ohio, “Spiritual Telegraph and Spook Light,” accessed February 3, 2018 from http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/12059/ citing the following newspaper stories, in addition to Engineering News, above: “Spiritualist Seeking $300,00 for a New Temple; He Takes PHOTOS BY ‘SPOOK-LIGHT.’” Datelined New York, March 17, from Denver Post (Colorado), March 17, 1913: p. 2. The story says “His concern is incorporated under laws of New York, with K. Marx [Mrs. I. Marx] and R. Demuth as fellow incorporators.” Another account is by Carton Ten Eyck, written for the United Press, “Claim Wireless Reaches Spirits; Psychical Sharps Claim Wireless Messages Are Surrounded by Spirits by the Hundreds.” The story is datelined New York, April 7, from Daily Capital Journal [Salem, OR], April 7, 1913: p. 1. Another story is quoted from The Sun [New York, NY] May 4, 1913: p. 6. Woodyard ends: “The last I found of Dr. Schleusner was a reference to his position as Grand Master of the New Jersey Grand Lodge in 1928. He is buried in Laurel Grove Memorial Park, Totowa, New Jersey.” A photo of Schleusner is reproduced from Find A Grave, accessed February 3, 2018 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69690360 Ancestry.com, accessed on February 3, 2018, indicates that Schleusner’s full name was Richard Reinhold, born in Germany, January 7, 1879, and immigrated in 1907. The 1920 U.S. Census lists his wife’s name as Kate, and they are living with a boy named John Marx, 9.
[1] Ann Braude, Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America (Second Edition. Indiana University Press, 2001), p. 296.
[1] Mary Casal, The Stone Wall (Chicago: Eyncourt Press, 1930; photo reprint Arno Press, 1975), p. 179. Accessed March 25, 2019, from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/stonewallautobio00casa/page/178
[1] United States Federal Census, 1920, January 15. Name: Charles Schlegil (corrected to Schlegel); Age: 57; Birth Year: about 1863; Birthplace: Württemberg, Germany; Home in 1920: Bronx Assembly District 7, Bronx, New York; Residence Date: 1920; Race: White; Gender: Male; Immigration Year: 12878; Marital Status: Single; Father’s Birthplace: Germany; Mother’s Birthplace: Germany; Native Tongue: German: Able to Speake English: Yes; Occupation: Inmate; Naturalized Status: Naturalized; Able to Read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes. Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 7, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1141; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 404; Source Information; Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). The late Joel Honig apprised Jonathan Ned Katz of this census on August 21, 1998. Accessed March 2, 2019 from from Ancestry.com at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=6061&h=31936968&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XtQ302&_phstart=success This may have been St. Barnabus Hospital in the Bronx, founded in 1866 as the Home for the Incurables, “a place where people with cataclysmic strokes or crippling heart disease went to die." Ian Fisher, "Caring for Poor, and for Profit; Bronx Hospital Shakes Up the Medical Establishment," New York Times, March 9, 1998. But four years later, in 1924, there were three homes for incurables (hospices) in the Bronx: (1) Beth Abraham Home for Incurables-Allerton Avenue and Bronx Boulevard. (2) Home for Incurables-Third Avenue, between 182nd and 184th Streets. [Bronx]. (3) Hebrew National Home for Incurables-1801 Anthony Avenue. SOURCE: “The Bronx, New York city's fastest growing borough ... the 1924 Edition of ‘The Bronx’, the fourth of a series of annual publications of the Booklet…. Accessed August 3, 2016 from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AHJ1659.1924.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext Perhaps research will reveal of which hospice Schlegel was an inmate.
[1] “Rev. C. Schlegel Dies.” Leader-Observer (Forrest Parkway, NY), p. 3. The day, month and year of this newspaper item are not available on FultonHistory.com. But this item dates to 1922 as confirmed in several newspaper items cited below. The obituary reports that Schlegel died "last Tuesday, July 25, at the Long Island Hospital, L.I." (In 1922, July 25 fell on a Tuesday; source accessed March 28, 2019 from https://stevemorse.org/jcal/latlon.php/jcal/whendid.html
The obituary says that Schlegel was for a "number of years . . . pastor of the old Steuben Street Church in Manhattan." It adds: "He was born in Germany, March 20, 1863." It reports that he was educated at the "Bloomfield Seminary, after which he took up “the ministry in New York City." It alleges: "He was compelled some years ago to give up his much desired work because of ill health. He lived in Florida for ten years expecting to fully regain his health." "He is survived by his aged mother, Katherine Schlegel, and three sisters and one brother in Germany, and two brothers, Robert and Frederick Schlegel and one sister, Mrs. Bertha Trostel of New York City." "Services were held at the home of his sister . . . 428 Columbia avenue, Woodhaven, on Thursday, July 27, [1922] by the Rev. E. R. Jaxheimer, pastor of the St. Lukes English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Woodhaven, and at the grave in Evergreen Cemetery, on Friday, July 28, at 10 a.m.” Accessed March 29, 2016 from Fultonhistory.com, Forest Parkway NY Leader Observer 1921-1923 - 0699.pdf
The photo of Schlegel is in German Reformed Protestant Church, Organisirt 1758 [microform]. Neu erbaut 1897. Souvenir für die Einweihung der Deutschen Reformirten Protestantischen Kirche ... [February 20th 1898.] [Translation: Souvenir from the German Reformed Protestant Church in East Sixty-Eighth Street.] (New York: J. C. Hassel, 1898). New York Public Library Microfilm: NYPL *Z1-346 no. 120.
The last page of this copy of the pamphlet may include the signature of Schlegel. Thanks to Ron Van Cleef for researching this document. Kate Cordes, librarian at the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Genealogy, New York Public Library emailed me on December 5, 2009, 12:34:18 PM EST. She "double checked our shelves and our uncatalogued miscellaneous collection of New York City church material, but I found no print copy of the Souvenir für die Einweihung der.... Chances are that the original was disposed of after it had been microfilmed, as this was not an uncommon practice during the early years of microfilming at the library.”
[1] Schlegel, Carl. Taufe (Baptism), Birth Date: 20 Mrz 1863 (20 March 1863); Baptism Date: 29 Mrz 1863); Baptism Place: Pfullingen, Württemberg, Deutschland (Germany); Father: Kronenwirth Schlegel; Mother: Catharina Schlegel; Author: Evangelische Kirche Pfullingen (OA. Reutlingen); City or District: Pfullingen.
Source: Ancestry.com. Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Lutherische Kirchenbücher, 1500-1985. Various sources. Description: This collection consists of Lutheran church records for the years 1500 to 1985 from Württemberg, Germany. Ancestry.com accessed February 4, 2018. See also: Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985. Schlegel, Carl. Taufe (Baptism), Birth Date: 20 Mrz 1863 (20 March 1863); Baptism Date: 29 Mrz 1863); Baptism Place: Pfullingen, Württemberg, Deutschland (Germany); Father: Kronenwirth Schlegel; Mother: Catharina Schlegel; Author: Evangelische Kirche Pfullingen (OA. Reutlingen); City or District: Pfullingen.
Source Ancestry.com. Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Lutherische Kirchenbücher, 1500-1985. Various sources. Description: This collection consists of Lutheran church records for the years 1500 to 1985 from Württemberg, Germany. Ancestry.com accessed February 4, 2018. Accessed March 2, 2019 from Ancestry.com at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61023&h=14803829&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1068
U.S. Census, 1900: “Carl Schlegel,” Age: 37; Birth Date: March 1863; Birth Place: Germany; Home in 1900: Manhattan, NY; Street: E. 68 Street; House Number 353; Sheet Number 11; Family Number: 216; Race: White; Gender: Male; Immigration Year: 1878; Relation to Head of House: Head; Marital Status: Single; Father’s Birth Place: Germany; Mother’s Birth Place: Germany; Years in U.S.: 22; Naturalization: Na [Naturalized]; Occupation: Minister; Months Not Employed: 0; Can Read: Yes; Can Write: Yes; Can Speak English: Yes; House Owned or Rented: 0; Home Free of Mortgage: F; Farm or House: H; Household Members: Robert Schlegel 19; Pauline Schlegel 20. Source: Year: 1900; Census Place; Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1112; Page11; Enumeration District: 0698; FHL microfilm: 1241112 Source Inormation. Accessed February 6, 2018 Ancestry.com
[1] Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] New York Journal, “A New Home for the Old Astor Church.” New York Journal, September 11, 1897, p.10.
[1] April 21, 1896, Rev. Charles Schlegel was ordained as the minister at the German Protestant Church at 149 Norfolk street, near Stanton,
[1] “received and arrangements made for his ordination and installation over the Northfolk Street Church."[9] In a section on New York City religious institutions, under the heading “German Protestant”, this book lists: "149 Norfolk St. Rev. Charles Schlegel.”[8]
[1] New York Journal, “A New Home for the Old Astor Church.” New York Journal, September 11, 1897, p.10.
[1] Janine Giordano Drake, “Race, Class, Religion, and American Citizenship” (Oxford Research Encyclopedias, February 2018). Accessed March 25, 2019 from http://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-489
[1] William E. Benemann, Male-Males Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships (Routledge, 2006), p.97. Paul Douglas Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
[1] Christian Work: Illustrated Family Newspaper (NY, NY), Tuesday, November 13, 1900, vol. 69, p. 76. “While preparing for the services on Wednesday evening, Rev. Charles Schlegel, rector of the Lutheran Reformed Church, at No. 357 East Sixty-eighth street, this city, found a six weeks’ old female child in a rear pew. A policeman was called in, and the child was taken to Bellevue Hospital.” See also a report of the same incident in the New York Tribune, November 15, 1900, below. The two newspaper reports suggest that the incident occurred on Wednesday, November 14, 1900. Accessed March 25, 2019 from HathiTrust at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=schlegel;id=nyp.33433003056672;view=1up;seq=7;start=1;sz=10;page=search;orient=0
New-York Tribune (NY, NY), “Found A Baby In A Church Pew,” November 15, 1900, p. 5. “While preparing for the services last evening [Wednesday] the Rev. Charles Schlegel, rector of the Lutheran Reformed Church, at No. 357 East Sixty-eight st., found a six weeks’ old female child in a rear pew. A policeman attached to the East Sixty-seventh-st. station was called in and the child was taken to Bellevue Hospital. The baby was dressed in white. There were no marks or identification.” Accessed March 1, 2019 from Library of Congress, Chronicling America at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1900-11-15/ed-1/seq-5/
[1] Monthly Report of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), end of August 1903, 1 leaf (unpaginated), the item about Schlegel is 13th in a list of 16 items. The item about Schlegel is reprinted by Manfred Herzer, Capri: Journal of Gay History 26 (June 1998), p. 15. I am grateful to James Steakley for the translation, and to Hubert Kennedy for first alerting me to Manfred Herzer’s republication of the three items about Pastor Schlegel, and for first translating the items from the German. I also thank Manfred Herzer for information about Pastor Schlegel in the U.S.
[1] Uranian, Wikipedia, accessed December 11, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian. A book published by an American, Edward Prime-Stevenson, in 1908, in Rome, used uranian and uraniad for people later called male and female homosexuals. Xavier Mayne (pseudonym of Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson), The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life ([Rome?] : Privately printed, [Preface 1908]); ; photo reprint New York: Arno Press, 1975.
[1] Gmünder Tagblatt, September 7, 1903. Jonathan Ned Katz is grateful to Norman Domeier for supervising this research, and Rita Winkler for the actual research. Norman Domeier email to Jonathan Ned Katz, July 1, July 2, August 14, 2014. Thanks to Manfred Herzer for the information that there were two newspapers in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1903, the Reichsstadt Gmündische Nachrichten and the Gmünder Tagblatt, and that archives of both are Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Konrade-Adenauer-Strasse 8, 70173 Stuttgart. Herzer to Katz, email August 31, 1998.
[1] “Paragraph 175,” Wikipedia, accessed March 9, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph_175#Version_of_May_15.2C_1871
[1] Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg/Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg: F269 II, P 293 (Amtgericht Schwäbisch Gmünd). Thanks to Rita Winkler for discovering this document.
[1] Jonathan Ned Katz thanks Norman Domeier for information about the translation of beleidigung.
[1] Monthly Report, beginning of October 1903, p. 16. Additional research in the police court records of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg might provide more information about Schlegel's case.
[1] Monthly Report of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), beginning of November, 2003. <Page and Exact date?>
[1] “Rev. Karl Schlegel,” arrival date: 27 October, 1903; birth date: about 1863; age: 40 years and nine months; gender: male; port of arrival: New York, NY; sh9p name: Zeeland. Accessed from Ancestry.com on February 6. 2018. Source Citation
Year: 1903; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 0408; Line: 30; Page Number: 3. Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[1] Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen (Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types), Vol. 6, 1904, page 737. Manfred Herzer email to Jonathan Ned Katz, 8/31/98.
[1] Peter N. VandenBerge, Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America 1628-1978, The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America No. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1978), pp. 153, 308.
[1] Reformed Church in America. Minutes of the Particular Synod of New York Convened at New York City, May 2, 1905. Kingston, NY: Daily Leader Printing Estabishment, 1905, page 33. Accessed December 11, 2009 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=GvsQAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA14-PA33&dq=Reverend+Charles+Schlegel&lr=&cd=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false
[1] “Rev. Carl Schlegel Preaches His First Sermon in Second Presbyterian Pulpit, Which He Takes Charge." Daily Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), March 27, 1905; p. 7. Accessed from GenealogyBank.com which incorrectly lists the paper’s titles as the Times-Picayune.It did not become the Times-Picayune until 1914.
[1] Presbytery of New Orleans. Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans Pro-Re-Nata Meeting, January 7, 8, 24, 25, 29, 1907 . . . . (New Orleans, LA: E. S. Upton, Print 1907). On Rev. Carl Schlegel, pp. 111-122. Archived in the Presybyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery, p. 112-13.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 111.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 113-15.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, p. 115-16.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, pp. 116-19.
[1] It would be fascinating to know more about the one elder of the First Street German Church in New Orleans who voted not to sustain the charges against Schlegel, F. Ruppert. A resident of New Orleans, “Charles F. Ruppert Senior,” born about 1871, died November 8, 1936, according to Ancestry.com. accessed on March 27, 2019 from https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=F_Ruppert&event=1907_new+orleans-orleans-louisiana-usa_34322&keyword=First+Street+German+Church A Charles F. Ruppert Junior is also listed in New Orleans city directories according to Ancestry.com.
[1] Minutes of the Presbytery of New Orleans, pp. 119-22.
[1] The paper reported that the Rev. J. W. Caldwell, Moderator of the Presbytery had presided, and Rev. Louis Voss, Stated Clerk, ten ministers, and six elders had attended.
[1] "Rev. Carl Schlegel Resigns But the Presbytery Has Not Yet Decided to Accept," Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), Tuesday, January 8, 1907, page 5, accessed from Geneaologybank.com March 9, 2016. This report refers to Schlegel announcing his resignation, and saying he was leaving for New York City "to pursue certain scientific studies." This seems to be a coded reference to both the German Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the early homosexual emancipation organization in Berlin, and to Schlegel’s intention to study spiritualism, conceived and spoken about as a science.
[1] "Deposed by Presbytery. Action Finally Taken in the Case of Rev. Carl Schlegel,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), Wednesday, January 30, 1907, p. 18, accessed from GenaologyBank.com September 24, 2015. Another New Orleans newspaper report is headed: “MINISTER IS DEPOSED. NEW ORLEANS PRESBYTERY EJECTS REV. CARL SCHLEGEL. Reasons Given Are That the Pastor Held, Maintained, Disseminated and Defended Immoral Ideas from the Pulpit of Second German Church . . .” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana), January 30, 1907, p. 16, accessed May 12, 2017 from: Newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/164143862/
[1] “Minister Is Deposed. New Orleans Presbytery Ejects Rev. Carl Schlegel. Reasons Given Are That the Pastor Held, Maintained, Disseminated and Defended Immoral Doctrines. . . , The Times-Democratic (New Orleans, LA), January 30, page 16. Accessed March 25, 2019 from Newspapers.com.
[1] Katz, Gay American History (T. Y. Crowell, 1976), pp. 381-82, n. 87 p. 631, citing Monatsbericht des wissenschaftlich-humanitären Komitees, vol. 6 (1907), pp. 76-77.
[1] “A Spiritualist Temple. $50,000 Raised Toward a Building in Which Phenomena Will be Practised, The Sun (New York City), March 20, 1912, p. 1. Also in March 1912, Engineering News reports that The New York Temple of Spiritualism “has been incorporated to construct a temple in Central Park West. Cost, $300,000,000” The co-directors of the temple are listed as Richard R. Schleusner, 138 East 27th Street, and R. Demuth, 422 East 159th Street. See Engineering News, March 28 1912, v67, n13, p172, accessed February 3, 2018 from: https://books.google.com/books?id=xzFKAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA172&lpg=RA1-PA172&dq=%22%22New+York+Temple+of+Modern+Spiritualism%22%22&source=bl&ots=A-daBTZxmJ&sig=VMnaNyOO-H1PqcicAnSNGV1yHqs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7-oOk2YrZAhWLm1kKHb6xCagQ6AEITDAH#v=onepage&q=%22%22New%20York%20Temple%20of%20Modern%20Spiritualism%22%22&f=false For the inflation calculation see https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/dollars.php accessed February 3, 2018.
[1] “Spiritualist Pastor Arrested as a Quack. The Rev. Dr. Schleusner, Accused of Practicing Medicine Illegally. Has ‘Ideal Water’ Cure. Also Advertises Lectures on ‘Black and White Magic’ in Spiritualism.” The Sun (New York City), February 27, 1913, p. 4. Accessed February 4, 2018 from FultonHistory.com.
[1] Chris Woodyard, Haunted Ohio, “Spiritual Telegraph and Spook Light,” accessed February 3, 2018 from http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/12059/ citing the following newspaper stories, in addition to Engineering News, above: “Spiritualist Seeking $300,00 for a New Temple; He Takes PHOTOS BY ‘SPOOK-LIGHT.’” Datelined New York, March 17, from Denver Post (Colorado), March 17, 1913: p. 2. The story says “His concern is incorporated under laws of New York, with K. Marx [Mrs. I. Marx] and R. Demuth as fellow incorporators.” Another account is by Carton Ten Eyck, written for the United Press, “Claim Wireless Reaches Spirits; Psychical Sharps Claim Wireless Messages Are Surrounded by Spirits by the Hundreds.” The story is datelined New York, April 7, from Daily Capital Journal [Salem, OR], April 7, 1913: p. 1. Another story is quoted from The Sun [New York, NY] May 4, 1913: p. 6. Woodyard ends: “The last I found of Dr. Schleusner was a reference to his position as Grand Master of the New Jersey Grand Lodge in 1928. He is buried in Laurel Grove Memorial Park, Totowa, New Jersey.” A photo of Schleusner is reproduced from Find A Grave, accessed February 3, 2018 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69690360 Ancestry.com, accessed on February 3, 2018, indicates that Schleusner’s full name was Richard Reinhold, born in Germany, January 7, 1879, and immigrated in 1907. The 1920 U.S. Census lists his wife’s name as Kate, and they are living with a boy named John Marx, 9.
[1] Ann Braude, Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America (Second Edition. Indiana University Press, 2001), p. 296.
[1] Mary Casal, The Stone Wall (Chicago: Eyncourt Press, 1930; photo reprint Arno Press, 1975), p. 179. Accessed March 25, 2019, from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/stonewallautobio00casa/page/178
[1] United States Federal Census, 1920, January 15. Name: Charles Schlegil (corrected to Schlegel); Age: 57; Birth Year: about 1863; Birthplace: Württemberg, Germany; Home in 1920: Bronx Assembly District 7, Bronx, New York; Residence Date: 1920; Race: White; Gender: Male; Immigration Year: 12878; Marital Status: Single; Father’s Birthplace: Germany; Mother’s Birthplace: Germany; Native Tongue: German: Able to Speake English: Yes; Occupation: Inmate; Naturalized Status: Naturalized; Able to Read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes. Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 7, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1141; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 404; Source Information; Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). The late Joel Honig apprised Jonathan Ned Katz of this census on August 21, 1998. Accessed March 2, 2019 from from Ancestry.com at https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=6061&h=31936968&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XtQ302&_phstart=success This may have been St. Barnabus Hospital in the Bronx, founded in 1866 as the Home for the Incurables, “a place where people with cataclysmic strokes or crippling heart disease went to die." Ian Fisher, "Caring for Poor, and for Profit; Bronx Hospital Shakes Up the Medical Establishment," New York Times, March 9, 1998. But four years later, in 1924, there were three homes for incurables (hospices) in the Bronx: (1) Beth Abraham Home for Incurables-Allerton Avenue and Bronx Boulevard. (2) Home for Incurables-Third Avenue, between 182nd and 184th Streets. [Bronx]. (3) Hebrew National Home for Incurables-1801 Anthony Avenue. SOURCE: “The Bronx, New York city's fastest growing borough ... the 1924 Edition of ‘The Bronx’, the fourth of a series of annual publications of the Booklet…. Accessed August 3, 2016 from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AHJ1659.1924.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext Perhaps research will reveal of which hospice Schlegel was an inmate.
[1] “Rev. C. Schlegel Dies.” Leader-Observer (Forrest Parkway, NY), p. 3. The day, month and year of this newspaper item are not available on FultonHistory.com. But this item dates to 1922 as confirmed in several newspaper items cited below. The obituary reports that Schlegel died "last Tuesday, July 25, at the Long Island Hospital, L.I." (In 1922, July 25 fell on a Tuesday; source accessed March 28, 2019 from https://stevemorse.org/jcal/latlon.php/jcal/whendid.html
The obituary says that Schlegel was for a "number of years . . . pastor of the old Steuben Street Church in Manhattan." It adds: "He was born in Germany, March 20, 1863." It reports that he was educated at the "Bloomfield Seminary, after which he took up “the ministry in New York City." It alleges: "He was compelled some years ago to give up his much desired work because of ill health. He lived in Florida for ten years expecting to fully regain his health." "He is survived by his aged mother, Katherine Schlegel, and three sisters and one brother in Germany, and two brothers, Robert and Frederick Schlegel and one sister, Mrs. Bertha Trostel of New York City." "Services were held at the home of his sister . . . 428 Columbia avenue, Woodhaven, on Thursday, July 27, [1922] by the Rev. E. R. Jaxheimer, pastor of the St. Lukes English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Woodhaven, and at the grave in Evergreen Cemetery, on Friday, July 28, at 10 a.m.” Accessed March 29, 2016 from Fultonhistory.com, Forest Parkway NY Leader Observer 1921-1923 - 0699.pdf
[1] Nicole Segarra, Evergreens Cemetary, Brooklyn, NY, email to Jonathan Ned Katz, January 29, 2017, 10:44 AM.
[44] Nicole Segarra, Evergreens Cemetary, Brooklyn, NY, email to Jonathan Ned Katz, January 29, 2017, 10:44 AM.
