His Great Grandfather's Church

Himself’s great-grandfather Christoph Schulz (1840-1922) emigrated from Germany in the mid 1860s and settled in the Winona, MN area.  From the stories of family members who were blessed with having known him, he was a man of great faith. 

Himself’s cousin Herb was Christoph’s grandson.  He had two favorite stories about his grandfather.

First, he told of times they would be out visiting and would be snowed in on a Sunday.  Too difficult for the horses to make it to the church, Christoph would open the Bible and conduct his own services.  The kids would scatter…knowing Grandpa’s sermons were long.  Herb would chuckle as he told about Grandpa finding him hiding in the chicken coop and dragging him by the collar back to the house for home church.

Herb also recollected many evenings when Grandpa Christoph would fall asleep with his head on his Bible.

Christoph was a founding member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Wilson, MN.  The Winona Daily News in an article about an addition to the church had this to say; “Wilson-area farmers, most of them German, founded Trinity Lutheran in 1866 and built the current structure in 1914. Its classic red bricks house an interior highlighted by stained-glass windows captioned in German.

Four of the windows depict the biblical parable of the sower and the seed - appropriate for a church surrounded by farm fields. Straseske's favorite pane depicts the seed falling on fertile ground, an analogy for those who hear God's word and take it to heart.”

A photo of Trinity taken on one of our trips in ’07…before the addition. 

This trip we were in Winona on Sunday and decided to visit Great-grandfather’s church.

In the sanctuary.

Pews and one of the stained glass windows showing “The Good Samaritan”. 

Detail of the window.

Simple beauty.

 

Some of the stained glass windows.  Supposedly Christoph bought one for the church.  

I found it interesting how the windows were made. 

There are still family members who attend this church.  What a wonderful heritage of a man of faith!