HAEGER’S VISION

Inscription

HAEGER'S VISION
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, 1720,
A SPIRIT CALLED "MASTER OF
TIME AND SPACE" SHOWED
REV. J. F. HAEGER VISIONS
OF GERMANTOWN'S FUTURE.
NEW YORK FOLKLORE
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2023

On a fateful Christmas Eve in 1720, Rev. Johann Frederick Haeger, who was stationed in Germantown, New York, experienced an otherworldly encounter that would revive his dismal spirits. Serving under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Rev. Haeger had grown depressed. His efforts to infuse Church of England practices into the 1710 Palatines met with staunch resistance, and his failure in accomplishing many of the Society’s goals weighed heavily on him.

Yet, as legend recounts, a mysterious spirit known as the “Master of Time and Space” visited a dejected Rev. Haeger, unveiling visions of the Reformed Church of Germantown flourishing in the late eighteenth and then again in the nineteenth centuries. These glimpses into the future rejuvenated Rev. Haeger’s spirit, inspiring him to return to the pulpit for a final Sunday sermon before he departed from this world. This legendary event, captured in documents including 1960s newspaper articles by Town of Germantown Historian Walter V. Miller, speaks of hope, resilience, and the power of belief in the face of adversity.