USA > Ohio > Richland County > Mansfield > A history of the Wittenberg Synod of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1847-1916 > Part 17
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Being unable to buy a lot and build, the attention of Wittenberg Synod was called to the needs of the situation, and responded with an appropriation of $300 for four years, annually. The location was changed and the church was built. A little later the name of the congregation was changed also to "St. John's Lutheran Church of Ohio City."
303
HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
Since then the membership has steadily increased, -the Sunday-school has more than doubled its, en- rollment, a mid-week service sustained, and all the regular services are well attended.
During the pastorate of the Rev. A. Z. Fryberger, in 1895,-a Christian Endeavor Society was organized and well sustained. The name of the society was changed during the pastorate of Rev. H. C. Hadley to "Luther League." In addition to these organizations there is a Ladies' Aid Society, and a Brotherhood. The first building erected in the country was a frame, 30x40 feet with a seating capacity of 250-300, at a cost of $600.00,-this was erected in 1880 and 1881, under the pastoral care of Rev. A. Leathers. He was assisted in the dedication by Rev. Frederick Biddle, a former pastor.
During the year 1896,-the second pastorate of Rev. A. Leathers,-a new brick church was erected in Ohio City, with a seating capacity of over 300, at a cost of above $2,000.00, on a large lot conveniently located. The pastor was assisted in the dedicatory services by the Rev. Dr. H. L. Wiles, then of Mans- field, O. Over $1,100.00 were raised in subscriptions and cash, and the indebtedness all provided for.
Since then, new seating and pulpit furniture, a furnace, and an electric light system were added.
On an adjoining lot a new parsonage was built in 1894, and enlarged and improved a year later.
Pastors have served this congregation as follows :
Rev. C. Caskey June 1858 - Nov. 1858
Rev. F. Biddle.
Nov. 1858 - 1862
Rev. J. M. Dustman.
1864 1866
Rev. G. W. Halderman. . . Supply.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
Rev. G. Hammer 1870
Long vacancy with occasional supplies.
Rev. Valentine Exline 1874 - Oct. 1875
Rev. A. Leathers. Oct. 1875 - Oct. 1881
Rev. John Miller Feb. 1882 - Oct. 1883
Rev. S. P. Snyder
Dec. 1883 - Dec. 1894
Rev. A. Z. Fryberger
Feb. 1895 - Feb. 1896
Rev. A. Leathers.
Feb. 1896 - Feb. 1898
Rev. H. C. Hadley
June 1898 - Aug. 1902
Rev. H. McClintic.
Apr. 1903 - Dec. 1907
Rev. N. S. Luz.
Mar. 1908 - Nov. 1909
Rev. P. A. Hartman.
Apr. 1910- June 1911
Rev. J. L. Marvin Oct. 1911 - Sept. 1912 Supplies until May 1914.
Rev. J. A. Laughbaum. May 1914 - Apr. 1915
Rev. H. C. Stuckenberg. .. 1915 -
Glenwood Ave. English Lutheran Church of Toledo, Ohio
The city of Toledo, Ohio, is by far the greatest field of Home Mission enterprise and opportunity within the bounds of Wittenberg Synod. Indeed it is one of the greatest in the great Middle West. At the present time ( 1916), at least one-tenth of its two hundred thousand population are baptized members of the Lutheran Church. In the order of their nu- merical strength in membership the various synodical bodies are represented as follows: The Iowa Synod with six congregations; the General Council with ten congregations ; the Joint Synod of Ohio with three congregations, and a mission Sunday-school in process of development into a congregation ; the Synodical Conference ( Missouri and Michigan Synods) with four congregations; the General Synod with three congregations and a Sunday-school in process of de-
305
HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
velopment into a congregation ; and in addition to the foregoing a Scandanivian congregation and a Slovak congregation are being developed with a view towards organization, making a total of thirty con- gregations established, or in process of organization.
The General Synod did not enter this great Lutheran stronghold until late in the year 1900, when upon the advice of the General Secretary of its Board of Home Missions and the Advisory Board of Home Missions of Wittenberg Synod, it was decided to es- tablish a mission of this Synod in Toledo, and the Rev. Fremont E. Leamer, then pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Findlay, Ohio, was asked to become the first home missionary for this field. He began canvassing the field Dec. 10, 1900. He was commissioned by the Board of Home Missions in March, 1901, and held the first service in a store- room in a small one-story building at 2216 Monroe street, later moving to another store room at 2663 Monroe St.
Three weeks later, on Easter Sunday, April 7th, the mission was organized with thirty charter mem- bers, six of whom are still members of the congrega- tion, viz. : Mrs. S. J. Wirick, Mrs. Ida Beckwith, Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Gear and Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. Ehermann.
The first lot purchased, fronted on Glenwood Avenue, being sixty feet taken from the rear of two lots fronting on Monroe street in the heart of the best residential district of Toledo. This purchase was made August 17, 1901, the congregation having been incorporated the previous day under the name it now bears.
20
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
On September 23rd ground was broken for the present Church building. October 13th the corner stone was laid and by February 27th, 1902, the build- ing had progressed sufficiently to permit of the hold- ing of the first services in the basement.
On May II, 1902, the new building was solemnly set apart for the service and glory of God by the act of dedication. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. A. Stewart Hartman, D. D. He was assisted in the service by the Rev. H. L. Yarger, D. D., and the following pastors of Wittenberg Synod: the Rev. E. H. Dornblaser, D. D., the Rev. H. L. Wiles, D. D., the Rev. C. E. Gardner, D. D., the Rev. N. J. Hadley, the Rev. F. B. Heibert and the Rev. Geo. S. Bright.
The building is of limestone, built after the Gothic type of architecture and originally cost $5,000. This was intended to be the Sunday-school chapel, the main auditorium having been planned for the rear of the chapel. Extensive improvements were made to the building in the spring of 1914 under the pastorate of the Rev. Alvin E. Bell, by the erection of a substantial addition for chancel, sacristy, and choir room, and installing Lutheran appointments such as the altar, lecturn, altar cross, chancel hangings, hymn-board, baptismal font, organ, pews, etc., at a cost of $2,600.
A year later, in March, 1915, developments were such, that, to avoid being shut off almost entirely from view from the main artery of traffic by the erection of a large Church building of another denomination on the corner lots adjacent to the mission it became necessary to purchase the remainder of these lots from which the old Church lot had originally been bought.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
Upon the advice of Synod and its Advisory Board of Home Missions and the officers of the Boards of Home Missions and Church Extension, this purchase was made for $11,500 on June 1, 1915. Coming upon the mission at a time when it still had a debt of $1,200 on the improvements made a year before, and re- quiring a cash payment within a few weeks of $3,500 it became necessary for the congregation through its pastor to make an appeal to the congregations of Synod for offerings to save the mission from a disaster which would have undone the work of former years, and blighted the future, unless the present location had been abandoned for another.
So liberal was the response to this appeal on the part of the congregations of Synod outside of Toledo together with the members of the mission, that the crisis was successfully met and one year after pur- chase, the debt reduced from $11,500 to $4.700, part of this reduction being due to a fortunate sale of a few feet of the new lot which seemed unnecessary for the future building site. The wisdom of this purchase is evidenced by a thirty per cent increase in value within the first year.
The Church now has what is universally admitted to be one of the very finest Church sites in the entire city of Toledo in the same block with and within a few doors of the beautiful new $750,000 Museum of Art.
The original plan of building to the rear of the chapel has been abandoned and when the main audi- torium is built it will probably be attached to the side of the chapel and built facing Monroe street and occupying the beautiful corner lots. The property now
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
has a frontage on Glenwood avenue of two hundred feet and on Monroe street of one hundred feet, the rear sixty feet being eighteen and six-tenths feet wider. Its estimated value is $25,000. The indebtedness is being steadily reduced. $3,000 was paid in 1916.
The mission has had but two pastors: The Rev. Fremont E. Leamer having served from March I, 1901, to March 23, 1913, and the Rev. Alvin E. Bell from June 29, 1913, to the present time, (1916).
The following table summarizes the growth in membership of our Glenwood congregation and Sun- day-school from its organization to Oct. 1, 1916:
Year - 1901 - Communicant members 18
1902
67
1903
86
1904
..
98
1905
..
107
1906
110
1907
125
1908
120
1909
..
125
1910
125
1911
135
1912
130
1913
..
130
1914
175
1915
..
..
200
1916
٠٠
240
Year - 1901 - Sunday-school enrollment 30
1902
60
1903
67
1904
112
1905
125
1906
140
1907
137
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
1908
..
140
1909
..
150
1910
150
1911
140
1912
140
1913
110
1914
137
1915
..
..
165
1916
190
First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Springfield, Ohio
Lutheranism in Springfield dates from 1841 when Rev. John Lehman, then living at Xenia, Ohio, was serving a number of churches in Greene and adjoin- ing counties, among them one at Frieden's, near Law- renceville, Clark County, worshipping jointly with a Reformed congregation in the same building. It was at this time that Rev. Lehman made the acquaintance of several Lutheran families in Springfield, among whom were the Cooks, the Ways, and the Filberts, and others who desired that he should preach to them in Springfield, then a village of but a few hundred inhabitants. With this request Rev. Lehman complied and the first sermon preached by a Lutheran pastor was delivered by him at the home of Mr. Jacob Cook, in the western part of the village not far from where the Big Four railroad now crosses Main street.
Dr. Ezra Keller, the founder and first president of Wittenberg College, says that the first organization was formed in November of 1841, while Rev. Lehman says the congregation was organized on May 7, 1843. It is only probable that the former date was the be- ginning of preaching in Springfield, while the latter date is the one on which the congregation was organ-
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
ized with constitution adopted and officers elected. The court house was at first secured as a place for worship where services were regularly held on alter- nate Sundays. One who was present at the first ser- vice says that not more than a dozen members were in attendance and these mostly from the country. Shortly afterward the place of worship was changed to the Radical Methodist Church, later known as the Methodist Protestant, now occupied by the African Methodist Episcopal Church on East North street. Again the congregation changed its place of worship to the Associate Reformed Church, now known as the United Presbyterian, on South Limestone street, be- tween High and Washington, only later to go to the Universalist Church on Washington street, where it remained until an edifice suitable for worship was erected on the present site of the First Church at the corner of High street and Wittenberg avenue.
In the oldest known record of Lutheranism in Springfield we find this account: "The Lutheran con- gregation in Springfield, Ohio, was organized on the 7th day of May, A. D., 1843. The officers of the congregation were, John Lehman, Pastor; Mr. Jacob Shuman, Elder ; Mr. Daniel Reifsnider, and Mr. Jacob Cook, Deacons." No statement is made of the number of persons who comprised the organization, but on the 15th day of October, 1843, the following persons received the Holy Communion : Jacob Schuman, Jacob Cook, Daniel Reifsnider, Jacob Filbert, John Brant, Christian Kurtz, John Baker, Jacob Daner, Mrs. Daner, Magdalena Brant, Sarah Baker, Hannah Way, Maria Antony, Sophia Antony, Margaret Ann Garlo, Sarah Shuman, Maria Shuman, Elizabeth
3II
HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
Filbert, Elizabeth Circle, Justina Cook, Lavina Circle, Catherine Circle, Mrs. Huffman, Philip Woliston, Jacob Antony, William Way, Mary Way, Elizabeth Koblentz, and John Miller. Of this number ten were confirmed at this same service and four were baptized, making twenty-nine in all.
In another record we find this account: "This congregation was organized by the Rev. John Lehman in November of 1841. The first officers were Jacob Shuman, Elder ; Jacob Cook and Daniel Reifsnider, Deacons."
From this small beginning, seventy-five years ago, Lutheranism has grown in Springfield to twelve con- gregations with a confirmed membership conservative- ly estimated at more than 5,000, with Wittenberg College cataloguing a thousand students and assets of nearly one million dollars, and the Oesterlen Orphans' Home with its 45 children located on a beautiful farm of 130 acres just beyond Lagonda and without the city limits.
Upon assuming the duties as pastor of the con- gregation in Springfield Rev. Lehman took up his residence in the city, but remained with the congrega- tion only until the fall of 1844, when, because of the burden of the work in serving so many churches, he resigned, leaving the congregation with a few less than fifty members.
In the summer of 1844 that saintly man of God, Dr. Ezra Keller, then connected with a school that had been opened at Wooster, Ohio, came to Spring- field seeking a more suitable location for the school. After traveling through the south-western part of the state and having preached in Springfield on the 23rd
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
day of June, Dr. Keller makes this note in his diary : *"I traversed the Miami valley looking out for a suit- able location for our institution. None pleased me as well as Springfield." In December of this same year, and just one month after Rev. Lehman had resigned. Dr. Keller moved to Springfield, and began at once to serve the Lutheran congregation as its pastor to which position he had been elected. In February, 1845, Wittenberg College, by a vote of its Board of Directors, was located in Springfield. Dr. Keller was the first president of Wittenberg College, serving the college in this position, and pastor of the congregation until God called him to his rest and reward.
On March 1, 1845, the lot on which the First Church now stands was bought for $250.00. In those days money was scarce, the congregation small and poor, and funds being needed for the new institution just located in the town, made it almost impossible for the young congregation to secure a building of its own. In the early records of the congregation we find the following action :
"March 11th, 1845, the following breth- ren, J. N. Kurtz, Jacob Filbert, Jacob Cook, John Longnecker, and the pastor met to con- sult about the necessity and possibility of building a church on the ground purchased. The subscription being small, and not likely to increase soon on account of the college subscriptions, they resolved, in reliance on divine aid, to undertake the work on their own responsibility."
*Biog., p. 245.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
In the diary of Dr. Keller there is found this statement bearing upon the same matter. "Today, I, in connection with three other men, all in moderate circumstances, resolved in the name of the Lord to build a Lutheran church here on our own responsi- bility. So small was the congregation that we were obliged to proceed on this plan."*
Saturday, June 14, 1845, the corner stone of the new church was laid, the pastor, Dr. Keller, preaching the sermon from the text in Isaiah 28:16. The ser- mon was preached to a large congregation in the Universalist Church with the following Lutheran ministers present : Revs. S. Ritz, George Leiter, I. Culler, George Sill, and A. S. Link. The offering upon this occasion amounted to $20.27, which is the first entry of receipts for the building fund. The con- struction of the building was pushed as rapidly as possible and by November Ist the entire building was inclosed and the basement partly finished. .
On Monday morning, November 3, 1845, Wit- tenberg College opened its first session in Springfield in the basement of the First Church. There were four rooms, including the vestibule, that were used for this purpose. Here the college classes remained and recited until 1848, when the college was moved to the east wing of what is now known as Myers Hall, or the Young men's dormitory. The preparatory classes remained at the First Church until the fall of 1850.
In the private record of Dr. Keller under date of November 24, 1845, we find ths entry: ""To-day I
* Biog., p. 280.
+ Biog., p. 302.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
preached for the first time in the basement of the new church. I had a school desk for my pulpit, and a floor, without a ceiling above my head. It was rather uncomfortable ; but thanks be unto God, we have now a better sanctuary of our own." The church remained in this incomplete condition until the fall of 1847, when we find this entry in Dr. Keller's diary: "The financial affairs are improving. An effort has been made, if possible, to complete the upper story of the church. When we commenced this building I did not expect to see it completed in less than ten years. There is some probability that it will be finished in half that time. Thanks to the good Lord for this degree of prosperity."*
Under the leadership of Dr. Keller not only did the college take form and grow but the Lutheran Church was greatly strengthened and given a certain degree of permanence in the community. Lutheranism had seen its day of small things in the community, neither had it then nor has it since despised this day, and it was.now destined to reap in joy what it had sown in tears, when, all too soon, both the congrega- tion and the college were made to mourn, what seemed to many, the untimely death of the founder of Wit- tenberg College and the second pastor of the church. After a few weeks' illness, on December 29, 1848, Dr. Ezra Keller fell on sleep and passed to be with God. His death was a great blow to Wittenberg College as well as a keen loss to Lutheranism. He was mourned not only in Springfield but throughout the whole church. Stricken. down while yet a young man, he
* Biog., p. 332.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
had served his day and generation well, and the humble beginnings of Lutheranism in Springfield speak most loudly this day, of the worth and faith of this great man of God. Funeral services were held in the First Church and his body laid to rest on the campus of Wittenberg Collegee and later removed to beautiful Ferncliff cemetery where it awaits the Master's call. Suitable resolutions were adopted by the Council of the congregation and placed upon the minute book and later a marble slab suitably engraved was placed in the auditorium in memory of this truly great man, which now occupies a most prominent place and upon which thousands have looked and read the brief biography. May his life be an inspiration to the thousands who shall come to drink of the fountain of his beloved Wittenberg, and who shall worship in one of the Lutheran churches of the city. And may many a young man be turned to the Gospel Ministry and to a life of sacrifice and service by the memory of this just man. During his pastorate of four years one hundred and twenty-two persons were received into membership of the Church.
Immediately after the death of Dr. Ezra Keller the Council met on January 1, 1849, and resolved to ask Prof. Michael Diehl, of the college, to supply the pulpit until the close of the year, May 1, 1849. Prof. Diehl accepted the position of supply, filling the pulpit until July 14, 1849, when Rev. Samuel Sprecher was called as pastor. During the supply of Prof. Diehl thirty-three members were received.
When it became known to Dr. Keller that he would not likely recover from the attack of typhoid fever he wrote Dr. Sprecher at Chambersburg, Pa.,
316
HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
reminding him of his promise to accept the chair of theology at Wittenberg, and later called the Board of Directors to his bedside and had them promise that they would elect Dr. Sprecher as his successor. The Board of Directors of Wittenberg College gladly com- plied with the request of Dr. Keller and the mantle fell upon that great man of God who came to Witten- berg in its very young days when the institution had few friends and no endowment, but he came full of faith and hope, though weak in body, yet he lived to see the institution and the church grow to large pro- portions and to become mighty factors for righteous- ness in the immediate community and in the Church at large.
Upon his election as pastor of the church Dr. Sprecher immediately took up his twofold duties of President of Wittenberg College and pastor of the Lutheran Church. The work was arduous, his body was weak, and after serving the congregation as pastor for two years on August 1, 1851, Dr. Sprecher resigned. On May 31, 1851, Rev. G. N. H. Peters had been elected assistant pastor. During the pastor- ate of Dr. Sprecher an effort was made to complete the church building and the church was dedicated on the first Sunday in January, 1851. Rev. F. W. Con- rad preached the dedicatory sermon. It appears from the minutes of the Council that the debt was not pro- vided for on the day of .dedication and that for a number of years the congregation was annoyed with a debt. During the pastorate of Dr. Sprecher fifty members were received.
On August 27, 1851, Rev. F. W. Conrad was elected pastor who was at this time serving as a pro-
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
fessor in Wittenberg College and where he continued his work. The congregation did not consider itself sufficiently strong to pay the salary of a pastor, hence the calling of men who were serving as professors in the college. Professor Conrad served the congre- gation as pastor for three years, or until the summer of 1854, when he resigned. During his pastorate fifty-five members were received.
The Rev. Prof. A. Essick, of Columbus, Ohio, was unanimously elected pastor of the congregation August 28, 1854, and on September 24th he began his labors at a salary of $550.00 per year and house rent free, salary to be paid quarterly. On account of sick- ness Rev. Essick did not remain one year as pastor, having resigned in March of 1855. Twenty-one members were received during his pastorate.
It was during the pastorate of Rev. Essick that we find this minute: "The Council met this evening, September 9, 1854, with the view of reviving the choir, and improving the singing during divine worship. After consultation it was unanimously agreed that Mr. Peter Schindler be requested to take charge of that part of worship, and build up a choir under his own instruction, and that the Council will aid him as much as they can in his effort." Mr. Schindler faith- fully served the congregation for thirty-three years in this capacity.
Rev. A. J. Weddell, Zanesville, Ohio, was elected pastor of the congregation September 16, 1855. Dr. Sprecher having supplied the congregation during the interim. Rev. Weddell accepted the call and began his labors on the first Sunday in November, continuing as pastor less than two years, resigning July 31, 1857.
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HISTORY OF THE WITTENBERG SYNOD
During his pastorate eighty-five members were re- ceived. The congregation had now grown to nearly three hundred members and the Council was in- creased to four elders and four deacons.
The congregation was now without a pastor for almost one year during which time the pulpit was supplied by Profs. Sprecher and Diehl, they adding to the membership of the church thirty-four members. Rev. J. H. Heck having been called as pastor, accepted and began his labors on June 20, 1858. Rev. Heck remained as pastor three years when he resigned to take effect in June, 1861. During his pastorate seventy-two members were received and an effort made to pay off the indebtedness of the church.
Rev. Morris Officer, who had recently returned from his missionary labors in Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, was engaged as supply for the congregation on June 1, 1861, for a period of four months, after which he was regularly elected pastor but only re- mained as pastor until March 23, 1862, when he re- signed to continue his efforts in behalf of the African mission. It was during Rev. Officer's pastorate that the women of the congregation were first given the right to vote in the business of the church. These were troublesome days through which the congregation was passing both because of internal dissention and because of the Civil War.
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