Recently, a local museum rejected a rocking chair that was used by Bishop Samuel P. Spreng, a Naperville leader in the Evangelical Church. I was asked to research the Bishop, the chair and tell their story.
The story begins long ago. Both English words “chair” and “cathedral” are drawn from the same Greek root word kathedra.
A cathedral like Notre Dame or St. Peter’s was considered the official seat of the diocese because it contained a cathedra or bishop’s chair. If this tradition were practiced in the Evangelical faith, Naperville’s Community Methodist Church on Center Street would have been called a cathedral five times for the five bishops who called the church their home, including Bishop Spreng.
Samuel Spreng was born in Ohio in 1853. He was raised in the Evangelical tradition by his parents Christian and Julia (nee Grimm). In 1875, he joined the ministry pastoring churches in Cleveland, Columbus, Napoleon and Circleville, Ohio. In 1907, the Evangelical Conference ordained Samuel Spreng as the 10th bishop of the church, a position he held until his retirement in 1930. Bishop Spreng was the editor of the Evangelical Messenger from 1887-1907 and the author of more than 20 books and publications including The Life and Labors of John Seybert, Rays of Light on the Highway to Success, and History of the Evangelical Church for the Use of Young People et al.
Bishop Spreng preached sermons in English and German, oftentimes the same day. In 1920, he was part of a delegation to visit the war-torn Evangelical churches in Germany. According to one source, he was also elected a Bishop of Germany. During the Great Schism or church split in 1894, Spreng sided with Bishops Bowman and Dubs forming the United Evangelical Church.
From his appointment as bishop in 1907 until his death in 1946, Spreng and his family lived in Naperville. His sister, Emma Spreng married Solomon Gamertsfelder. The Gamertsfelder’s daughter (Bishop Spreng’s niece) was Ruth Gamertsfelder, one of the first caretakers of the Martin-Mitchell Museum. A local family acquired the Bishop’s rocking chair from Miss Gamerstfelder. The chair is called a platform rocker because the rocking occurs on a stationary base. This design incorporated both the decorative and technical elements popular during the Victorian Era. I was told, if anyone in the family was feeling as if their halo slipped, they would go sit in the Bishop’s rocker and reflect.
