Barbara Heinemann Landmann - Barbara Heinemann Landmann Dies, 1883.

Barbara Heinemann Landmann Dies, 1883.

Barbara died on May 21, 1883, nine years after Nordhoff's visit. She was 88 years old. Scheuner, in a postscript to the Brief Narrative, says: "She passed away peacefully and quietly in the Lord." She was buried in the cemetery at Main Amana.

In the cemetery there are no family lots, no monuments. The departed members of each village are buried side by side in the order of their death. . . . The graves are marked by a low stone or white painted head-board with only the name and Todestag on the side facing the grave. (Shambaugh, 1908)

After Barbara's death, many of the restrictions imposed by her ordinances were eased.

Members were now allowed to keep photographs. There was scarcely a sitting-room in the seven villages that did not have a photograph album. The subjects were not only friends and relatives in the world, but also many members of the Community, who had the photographs taken (almost invariably in "world clothes" worn for the occasion) on some holiday trip to the city.

Members were now allowed to exchange simple Christmas gifts. The little Inspirationist now enjoyed a reasonable sampling of the toys displayed in shop windows during the holidays.

Members were now allowed to purchase books, newspapers, and magazines according to their own inclination. Occasionally undesirable books and papers might find their way into the hands of the young people; but if the Elders discovered this fact, such books and papers were mentioned by name in an open meeting and their further reading prohibited. In connection with each village school, there was a carefully selected library of "good literature," from which the children were allowed to draw books at the end of the week. These were as a rule read by all the members of the family. In addition there was a township circulating library, and as the whole of Amana Township was owned by the Community, this library, too, was selected and supervised by the proper authorities and was not destined to lead the young reader astray. The Community continued to subscribe to technical and trade journals appropriate for the use of members engaged in the various businesses of the Community.

Although some of Barbara's ordinances were tempered by time, she continued to be honored: her testimonies, along with those of Christian Metz, were read aloud during the Sunday morning services.

No Werkzeug has arisen since Barbara's death. Nordhoff, during his 1874 visit, asked about a successor for Barbara.

The present inspired instrument being very aged, I asked whether another was ready to take her place. They said No, no one had yet appeared; but they had no doubt God would call someone to the necessary office. They were willing to trust him, and gave themselves no trouble about it. (Nordhoff, 1875)

When Shambaugh wrote (1908), God had not called anyone to the necessary office. All leadership duties, both secular and spiritual, had fallen on the Elders.