Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives

Rev. John Jacob Faude

The Rev. John Jacob Faude was born in Tuttlingen, Wuerttemberg, Germany on 29 August 1852, the son of Philipp Friederich and Henriette Caroline (Riess) Faude. He came to America with his parents when aged 7 and settled in Coldwater, Michigan. He graduated from Racine College, where he had sung in its choir, and later Nashotah House. In 1870 he worked as a school teacher in Branch County, Michigan, but he later settled in Indiana and married in Marshall County on 7 October 1875, Florence S. Hollund. Faude was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Talbot in 1877, the same year he was given charge of St. Thomas Church in Plymouth. In 1882, he also took charge of Trinity, Michigan City, and held both posts concurrently.

In 1883, Faude, who served as dean of the Northern Convocation of the Diocese of Indiana, met with the Rev. William Naylor Webbe and vestry of Trinity, Fort Wayne, to discuss the possibility of creating a new northern diocese. Though the meeting was kept secret from the press, Trinity's vestry pledged issuing a $10,000 bond for it support, should the diocese be created. A second meeting in Fort Wayne after Easter that year included other clergy and gathered increasing support for the idea. When the Diocese of Indiana gathered for its Annual Council in June, the matter the division was brought up, and Bishop Talbot had indicated his consent, even though he was now paralyzed after suffering a stroke. Although Webbe spoke enthusiastically on the subject other clergy broke ranks and opposed it as premature. An article soon appeared in a Cincinnati newspaper accusing Webbe of being overly ambitious in his desire to become the bishop of the new diocese. Webbe rebutted the charge, but Faude disliked the letter and disputed the charge that he had endorsed the plan or supported Webbe's views. Faude said he had counseled waiting to divide the diocese until all parishes in the northern convocation had paid into Bishop Talbot's endowment fund. The clash between the two rectors seemed to dampen any further discussion of the issue for a number of years.

Faude remained at Plymouth until 1886 but stayed at Michigan City until 1890. He also returned briefly to Plymouth in 1889-90. That year he was elected rector of Gethsemane Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, an influential parish which Bishop Knickerbacker had previously led. He remained there until his death from appendicitis on 2 April 1901.  At the time of his death, an obituary on the front page of a Minneapolis newspaper said, "He had ... self-control in the highest degree and has always held himself well in hand. He was a natural leader and a born organizer. His work at Michigan City was very successful."






 

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