two months, the Saxon immigrants purchased land in Perry County, Missouri, at the confluence of Brazeau Creek and Mississippi River. Here they built homes, towns, schools, and churches. The organization of the community was disrupted when Stephan was accused of sexual misconduct (as he had previously been in Germany). Pastors G. H. Loeber and C. F. W. Walther told lay leaders of this confession. Walther made two trips to Perry County to prepare Stephan’s deposition. Stephan soon became embroiled in additional allegations. On May 30, 1839, Stephan was deposed and excommunicated from the community on the grounds of sexual misconduct and embezzlement, leaving C. F. W. Walther as the senior clergyman. Stephan was put across the river to wilderness near Kaskaskia, Illinois, followed by one of the women with whom he had been accused of consorting, and who stayed with him until his death. Stephan continued to hold worship in the county court house in Kaskaskia every two weeks. He taught German and guest-preached in other Protestant churches until called in 1845 as a pastor to Trinity Lutheran Church in Horse Prairie, a rural church a few miles east of Red Bud, Illinois. Stephan was pastor there for four months until his death on February 26, 1846, in Prairie, Illinois. According to the custom, Stephan's coffin was carried around the church three times before he was interred in Trinity's cemetery. A fence was placed around the grave and a wooden cross was erected. A memorial marker was erected by the congregation in 1988. References Bibliography Forster, W.O. Zion on the Mississippi. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953) Meyer, Carl S. (ed). Moving Frontiers: Readings in the History of the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1964) Rast, Lawrence R. Jr. Demagoguery or Democracy? The Saxon Emigration and American Culture [online] (Concordia Theological Quarterly) 63.4 (1999), 247-268. Available from <http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/rastdemagogueryordemocracy.pdf> Schönfuß-Krause, Renate: Ein Sachse wurde zum "Luther Amerikas" - Auswanderung von 665 sächsischen Lutheranern aus Dresden nach Nordamerika (in German). In: "die Radeberger" Nr.43 vom 27. Oktober 2017; Archiv "die Radeberger", Ausg. 43/2017 (PDF) Retrieved January 27, 2018. Stephan, Martin. The Christian Faith. (Dresden: The Royal Printers, 1825) Todd, Mary. Authority Vested. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000) Stephan, Philip G. In Pursuit of Religious Freedom: Bishop Martin Stephan's Journey. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008) Schönfuß-Krause, Renate: Kreuzessucht ward Kreuzesfluch(t). Die Auswanderung sächsischer Altlutheraner - zwischen