MICHAEL MATTHEUS HIRSHINGER 1786 1853

The history of Methodism in Baraboo indicates that this church was built in 1850 in the Town of Freedom. One account of the history of the Westfield German Methodist Church mentions the German Methodist Church was started in Baraboo Township in 1853. Both may be correct since the church was built as a community church with the German Methodists taking over later. It is a fact that the last or one of the last of several restructurings of Freedom Township was the transferring of the easternmost sections of Freedom Township to Baraboo Township. That was in 1859. What was in Freedom Township at that time would be in Baraboo Township after 1859. Histories of the time use the names of the townships interchangeably. In any case, this church would have been founded under the banner of the German Methodist Church of the Town of Freedom. The Hirschingers owned land a little over a mile south of Rock Hill Cemetery. County Trunk W turns west below the cemetery, making that turn to bypass and preserve an idyllic spot known as Hirschinger Springs.

Later, William Canfield, for whom Charles Hirschinger, son of Michael Hirschinger, worked in the orchards, indicates that Charles “is a member of the German Methodist Church. They have a respectable church building within a mile of them to worship in." It doesn't indicate in which direction from the Hirschinger homestead the church stood. However, Bernadette Bittner reports:

“A Methodist Church was built in the east central part of section 7 in the early 1850s and was shown on the 1877 plat map as across the road from the school, now the community center. The structure is still standing (1977), having been used as a barn. It was a community church before the German Methodists took over it was near Rock Hill Cemetery.” iIn order to make the dates fit the other facts, it is necessary to understand that the new group who came from Pittsburgh, PA would have joined the Hirschingers and Nipperts who were already in the area. The late 50s and early 60s are mentioning the forming of the communities, not the dates of the arrival of the new settlers. iiMost sources translate that German word Gemeinshaft as society. It means a group of people with something in common. In the case of churches, it would be better translated as congregation or fellowship. iiiHarry Ellsworth Cole, ed., A Standard History of Sauk County, WI. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1918. p. 582. ivCole, op, cit. page 796. vivhttps://www.baraboopubliclibrary.org/files/local/wardvol6/03%20Section%201.pdf, pg. 31. viiWilliam Canfield, Sauk County, Including It's (sic) History from the First Marks of Man's Hand to 1891 and Its Typography. The Second Volume, Baraboo, WI viiBernadette Bittner. The History of Churches in Sauk County Wisconsin featuring “Ghost Churches.” 1977., p. 19

Michael Nippert was also involved in the German Methodist Church of Freedom (Slentz District). His father once visited Michael and his family. His father then went to Germany where he started a German Methodist Church.

The Methodist Episcopal Church (now United Methodist Church) of North Freedom started in the blacksmith shop of Michael Nippert Jr, son of the Michael Nippert who fought with Napoleon. The blacksmith shop was on the northeast corner of today’s East Walnut and Depot Street in the Village of Bloom, now part of the Village of North Freedom.

Source: Allen Schroeder, July 2022