Theodor Henrich Rahlenbeck

The shoemaker Theodor Henrich Rahlenbeck (born December 4, 1784 in Hengstey ; † March 30, 1864 in Herdecke ) was a lay preacher and fighter against alcohol abuse in the area of ​​Herdecke, Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal ), Hagen and Gevelsberg at the beginning of the 19th century known. The Gevelsberg pastor Friedrich Schloemann wrote the book Fienenpastor von Herdecke about his life and work .

origin

The Protestant Caspar Diedrich Rahlenbeck, who was born in Frömern near Hamm in 1752, is registered as Theodor Henrich Rahlenbeck's father . He and his parents must have moved to Hennen near Iserlohn as a child , possibly caused by the pillage of Frömern by French troops during the Seven Years' War . Caspar Dietrich was confirmed in Hennen in 1766 and lived there until 1781 .

In May 1781 he moved to Hengstey in the Boele parish and married the Catholic Anna Margaretha Blothe there.

The couple's only son, Theodor Henrich, was born in Hengstey in 1784. In contrast to his sister, he was brought up as a Protestant.

The family later moved to Herdecke . There the master carpenter Caspar Dietrich Rahlenbeck acquired a built-up piece of land from the merchant and trader Johann Georg Schürmann (1720–1790) in 1787 , as well as a right of way to the family's cowshed and a right to use the fountain in the open air.

When Caspar Dietrich died of chest fever at the age of 46, the land register initially identified his widow and two children as the owner. Later, Theodor Henrich and his wife acquired the property from the other co-heirs, i.e. H. from his mother and sister.

The Fienenpastor

In Elberfeld, Theodor Henrich Rahlenbeck, who was trained as a shoemaker, met his bride Henriette Jannette Gertruth Westhoff, who worked for the Rauschenbusch family. The couple married in July 1813.

During this time he threatened to go blind due to an illness in one eye and began to be interested in questions of faith. He preached at meetings, started a Bible study group that met in his home, and was soon known as the "Fienenpastor": the lay pastor for the fine, i.e. H. the real Christians, also known as Pietists.

Rahlenbeck and the circle close to him got involved in the fight against alcohol abuse and supported the mission station Wupperthal in the mountains of the Cape region of South Africa through the Barmer Mission School , where the church and village, built in 1830, still exist today.

progeny

The couple had a total of nine children. The older son Johann Henrich Wilhelm (1816-1883) became a teacher and a well-known pen in Iserlohn . The other son Henrich Wilhelm (1824–1855) became, like his father, a shoemaker, but died at the age of 31. Some of the daughters also died early. A grandson of Theodor Henrich, Hermann Rahlenbeck (1852–1953), later became a pastor and well-known publicist for religious issues.

literature

• Friedrich Schloemann: The Fienenpastor from Herdecke . Friedrich Bahn Verlag, Schwerin 1927.

Web links

• The Rahlenbecks from Herdecke