A Few Churches Where My Ancestors Worshipped

Our family, including my parents, siblings, and I, and my maternal grandparents' family, were all members of the Mineral Ridge Methodist Church when I was a child or, in the case of the adults, at some point in their lives.  My grandmother's brother, William Bickerstaff, was the contractor and primary builder.  It was dedicated in 1930.

I remember the sanctuary as a quiet, peaceful, reverent place with a high ceiling and long stained glass windows on the sides.  To me, the most delightful part of the church was its a beautiful rose window at the front.  When sitting inside on a sunny day the window glowed (and was always pleasant to look at when the minister's sermon was beyond my interest or understanding).  In the evenings, when the lights were on inside, the window glowed as we walked by.

The church of my German ancestors in Steubenville, Ohio, in the late 1800s and early 1900s was the German Evangelical Church or Zion Lutheran Church.  Henry Meinzen and his children were members but I don't find evidence of Henry's wife, Elizabeth, being a member.


After a series of merges with other churches in the 1900s, Zion Lutheran Church finally merged with and became Zion United Church of Christ.  They have maintained and still hold the early records from at least 1870, when Henry Meinzen's first son was born and baptized there.  His obituary, published in December 20, 1925, in The Steubenville Herald Star states, "He belonged to the Zion Lutheran church, taking an active interest in all church activities until his last illness."

The funeral services of my grandfather, Gust Doyle, were performed by Rev. C. C. Clark, pastor of the Franklin Baptist Church.

My great-grandmother Elvira (Bartley) Gerner's funeral services were performed by Rev. H. A. Sayers of the Methodist church of Bruin, in 1945.  I've been unable to find even an obituary for her husband, Fred, who died in 1926.

My third great-grandparents, John and Catherine (Saylor) Froman, were associated with the Good Hope Lutheran and Reformed Church in West Salem Township, Mercer County, Ohio.

My great-great-grandparents, Dixon and Rebecca (Smith) Bartley, attended St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania.

It is a little leap to say that an ancestor was a member of a church where his or her funeral service was held but it suggests, to my mind, some affiliation of the deceased or a member of his or her family.

Church affiliation is not a topic I've spent much time researching.  As I find records and see a church mentioned in a news article or obituary, I note it in.  It would be interesting to research and note the churches where ancestors worshipped.

I sometimes find church associations (hinting at the churches where my ancestors worshipped) in a variety of places and documents.

• Obituaries have been the most common source for finding church associations.  They usually name the pastor who performed the service and sometimes the church affiliation of the deceased.
• Marriage records sometimes give only the name of the minister who performed the marriage.  A little sleuthing (in a city directory of the time) may help determine the name of the church over which the minister presided at the time of the marriage.  It's important to note that a couple may change church associations several times during the course of their lifetime.  A marriage record is not a true indication of church association in the later years of their lives.
• Baptismal records can sometimes be found transcribed and published in books or online.  If one knows the church affiliation already, a letter or email to the church may reveal whether they maintained the old records and whether they will provide a copy.
• Newspaper articles, especially social news, often name attendees at church events and give information about social activities, especially for women.  They may also name who hosted an event and who attended.
• County histories will often give a history of churches of the area.  If your ancestor was an early or founding member, his or her name may be mentioned.  If your ancestor submitted a biography for inclusion in a county history, he will probably have mentioned his church affiliation (if it was important to him).
• Online church records collections can be helpful sources if there is one for your ancestor's church.  United Kingdom church records (found in FreeReg) are a great source of information about church association.

I notice that my RootsMagic program offers "Religion" as one of its fact types.  I think I'll begin using it.

This post was written for Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors.  The post topic for the week was "At Worship."

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
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Out of Place Records

A few years ago I performed a broad search at Ancestry for my great-great-grandfather, Dixon Bartley.  Based on other research, I believed he was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in about 1806, lived there his whole life, and died there in about 1900.  If I found any information other than census records in my Ancestry search, I expected his name to be in records for Butler County.

So it was a surprise to see Dixon's name as a result in Ancestry's Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 in the Durham Reformed Church, Durham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania collection.

I almost ignored the link thinking it couldn't possibly be him.  To my surprise, I found the names of Dixon along with other citizens of Butler County.  Could they all have moved together from that area to Bucks County?  If so, why would Dixon have moved more than 300 miles in his later years?

It took a bit of investigation to discover that the record I saw was from the pastoral record book of Rev. Charles F. Althouse, who had been assigned to St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania, from February 15, 1897, to June 30, 1902.  Dixon and friends hadn't moved.

Rev. Althouse served in eight different locations, the last being Durham Reformed Church in Durham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  I assume that whoever catalogued these records at Ancestry checked the location at the beginning and end of the Rev. Althouse's record book but not the locations in the middle of the book.  It seems that because Rev. Althouse's last location of service was in Durham, these records were included in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records at Ancestry. 

Because I have more than a few ancestors who lived in this location at this time, Rev. Althouse's book was a boon to my research.  I found Dixon, his wife, Rebecca, and their son's father.  The records in the book also added some social history and context to the lives of those ancestors.

Don't be fooled by search results.  Just because the record seems like it couldn't possibly be for your ancestor because the stated location of the record is not where your ancestor lived, don't ignore it!  Some records are just out of place.  

This post was written for Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors.  The post topic for the week was "Out of Place."

--Nancy.

Related Posts
▸Mixed/Misidentified Church Records on Ancestry - Church Record Sunday
▸Dixon Bartley - Church Record Sunday 

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
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Transcription and Translation of a Church Record Written in German

Sometimes church records are an entry in a ledger without a formal document.  That is the case with this death record for Carl Kropp from the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (which became the Zion United Christan Church) in Steubenville, Ohio.

It is written in German but not in one of the more-difficult-to-translate old German scripts such as Suetterlin or Kurrent.  Yet because the handwriting and German words are unfamiliar to me it has not been a quick transcription nor translation.  Google Translate has been helpful, especially because I could try out possible spellings.

Below is a transcription of the handwritten German words and beneath that is a translation from German to English.

Kropp Carl geb. [geboran] am 2c ^ten Januar 1835
Kropp Carl born                 on  2nd  January 1835

in Heiddersdorf, Hannover, verherheiratet c. Sophie
in Heiddersdorf, Hannover,      married    with Sophie

Meintzen am 14 ^ten September 1863.  Gestorben
Meintzen on  14th   September 1863.   Died

am 30 ^ten Mai 1905 an, ["]general debility" Abends
on  30th  May 1905 of,  ["]general debility" in the evening

6 [???], beirdigt am 2 ten Juni auf dem
6 [???],  buried  on   2nd  June on  the

Union Friedhofe.  Die Hinterbluebene:  Seine
Union Cemetery.  The     survivors:         his

Wittwe und 5 lebende Kinder:  Wilhelmine
widow  and 5  living  children:  Wilhelmina

Schuette, Wilhelm, Heinrich, Karl Kropp,
Schuette,  William,   Henry,   Karl Kropp,

und Sophie Spahn.   (Geweindeglied)
and Sophie Spahn.      (Member)

Notes and Comments
On the German words and translation:  Google Translate sometimes gives different translations for the same word.  I am unclear whether "am" is "on" or "of" in English.  I used whichever made sense.   And there is that word at the beginning of the fifth line that I was unable to decipher or translate.  The "6" after it may indicate the time at which Carl died.

The location of Carl's birth looks like it could be Huddersdorf but I was unable to locate a town by that name.  However there is a town named Heiddersdorf.  The minister's dots over his "i's" are barely discernible or are higher than usual, making the handwriting uncertain enough that I went with Heidersdorf.   I'm aware that villages and towns can disappear over time and that in 1835 there may have been a town called Huddersdorf which now no longer exists.

This document gives Carl's date and location of birth; his wife's name and their marriage date; his death date and burial location; and the names of living children at the time of Carl's death.  This record is a page from a journal and has no date on it.  I have no other information about it than the church from which it came.  The citation will be minimal.

While Carl is not the collateral ancestor in question -- his wife, Sophie Meinzen Kropp is -- the location named on this record may be helpful in finding where they were married which could, in turn, be helpful in finding Sophia's city of birth (and by extension, possibly her brother Henry Carl Meinzen's city of birth, too).  (That's me:  ever the optimist.)

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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No Record for Sophia - Church Record Sunday

I wrote to Zion United Christian Church in Steubenville, Ohio, a few weeks ago.  I wrote with the specific request to learn if the home towns of Henry Meinzen and Carl and Sophia (Meinzen) Kropp had been recorded when they began attendance at the church, at the times of their deaths, or at any other time.  I gave specific beginning and end dates for searches.  I received a response within two weeks.  Quick work by the church historian there.  In total I received five photocopied pages.

Two undated pages were handwritten lists compiled, the historian said, to invite individuals to church reunions.  They include the following two individuals:  Mr. Henry Meinzen, 933 Sherman Ave. City (Calif.) and Henry Kropp, 1216 Plum St. City (Conf.).

I believe Henry Meinzen is the son of Henry Carl Meinzen, though as far as I know he never lived in California.  Henry Kropp is probably Carl and Sophia's son.  I have not looked at Steubenville city directories to know where Henry and his wife, Katie, lived.

Another undated page had a numbered list of marriages.  In the margin of the one of interest was written "1905" and, in German, "Kropp Henry W und Katie Spahn ??????? [looks like getraut] am 22 November 1905.  Zeugen:  John Spahn und Fau Minnie Schuette."  I understand it to mean that Henry W. Kropp married Katie Spahn on November 22, 1905, and that the witnesses were John Spahn (Katie's brother) and Minnie Shuette (Henry's sister).

On another handwritten dated list under "1890" I found "Sophia Kropp    Mrs. John Spahn."  There's no information about the purpose of the list.  I know that Sophia Kropp and John Spahn married in 1899 but this doesn't seem to correspond to that.  The previous dates on the page were 1889 and 1888.

There was no record of Sophia's death; however, there was a death record for Carl Kropp which tells the location of his birth.  I'll share and translate it in another post.  It was handwritten in German but (thankfully) not in old German script.  I may still struggle to get an accurate translation but it will be less difficult than if it were in old German.

One of the challenges with these church records is that I can't accurately cite volume and page for the photocopies I received.  The closest I can come is to state that they came from the archives of the church and they date they were provided to me.

I am disappointed that there was no church record for Sophia, neither of her arrival  nor of her death.  Steubenville had a German newspaper (available on microfilm at the Ohio State Archives Library) but it ceased publication in 1916 and Sophie died in 1920, so no help there (not that I'd be able to translate enough pages to determine whether there was an obituary, anyway).  I must keep looking for her location of birth and confirmation of her relationship to my great-grandfather Henry Carl Meinzen.  An obituary stating him as her brother and her death certificate with her father's first name different than the first name Henry gives for his father are not enough.  The search continues.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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The Best Place to Find a German Immigrant's Hometown

Again I face the daunting challenge of searching for the hometown of my great-grandfather Henry Meinzen's (assumed) sister, Sophia (Meinzen) Kropp.  I haven't yet been able to find Henry's hometown so I'm not sure how much hope for success I can muster for finding Sophia's.  My pattern has been to search, search, search, then give it a rest for a year or two, then search some more.

Yesterday I read a FamilySearch Blog post, Tracing German American Immigrants by Nathan Murphy, in which he reviewed research by Roger P. Minert concerning the likeliest places to find the hometowns of Germans who immigrated to the U.S. before 1900.

Dr. Minert's research indicates that the most likely place to discover an immigrant's hometown is through local church vital records in the U.S.  This means that if you can discover your ancestor's congregation, and if records were kept in that congregation and included the hometown of origin of your German ancestor, and if the records were not destroyed, and if the church has a historian or is kind enough to let you search their records (and you can read and translate old handwritten German script), you may be able to discover your ancestor's city of origin in Germany. 

Zion Lutheran Church and Parsonage, Steubenville, Ohio

I may be in luck.  (I'm mustering some hope.)   Sophia's obituary stated that she attended Zion Lutheran Church in Steubenville, Ohio, the same church her brother attended.

A few years ago I began a search for church records for Henry.  Since the church was a Lutheran church I contacted several Lutheran Church organizations, including ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America).  I finally learned that Zion Lutheran Church had no affiliation with other Lutheran churches and in the early 1900s it became Zion United Church of Christ.

At the time of that discovery Zion UCC had a historian who was able to decipher old German handwriting and was willing to search the old journals.  I can only imagine what a challenging search it must have been to scour page after page -- 50 years' worth of records -- searching for Henry and his children.  She stopped at 1870, the year of Henry's marriage, which did not yet name his home town.  He immigrated in 1866 so it's possible that had I asked her to search those four more years his city of origin maybe have been found.  (At the time I didn't have the heart to ask her to look through four more years after having searched so many already.)

I hesitate to ask her to search further back in the records for Henry and also search for Sophia and Carl Kropp.  I hesitate but now that I know church records are the one best source, I know I'll decide to contact the church again and ask for this help.

Possible places to learn of an ancestor's church affiliation are obituaries, cemetery records, and marriage records.  Newspaper articles about church activities and events sometimes also name participants in the activities.

For more information about searching for your German immigrant ancestors and Dr. Minert's work, go read the post.

I may be hoping against hope, but hope I will!

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2009-2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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Dixon Bartley - Church Record Sunday

When I found Rev. Charles Althouse's church record book on Ancestry buried in the records of Durham Reformed Church of Bucks County, Pennsylvania (even though my ancestors in these records lived and died in Butler County, Pennsylvania), I felt like I hit pay dirt.  I was thrilled to find the information about several ancestors all on the same page.  I already knew the burial locations but there was new information:  their exact ages in years/months/days; their causes of death; and the scripture text for the funeral sermons. 

Dixon Bartley is one of my paternal great-great-grandfathers.  He died where he lived most of his life, in Parker Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania.  Dixon's information is on the very last line of these two pages, above.


At the time of this record Rev. Althouse was serving as pastor of St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania.  He recorded the following information for Dixon:

Date of Funeral:   April 23, 1900
Name:                  Dixon Bartley
Scripture text:     Job 5:26
Age:                     94 years, 6 months, 13 days
Cause of death:    cancer and old age
Cemetery:            Bear Creek

The closest birth information I had for Dixon was "about 1806."  Using the age at death in this record Dixon's calculated birth date is October 9, 1805.

The text for the sermon, Job 5:26, is,

Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

It seems to state the obvious, since Dixon was 94 years old when he died, but I'm sure Rev. Althouse expanded the thought in some depth.

Thank you, Rev. Althouse, for keeping your record book.  Thank you, Durham County Reformed Church, for preserving the record book.  And thank you, Ancestry, for making it available.

–Nancy. 

Copyright ©2014-2020, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Information Relating to Christian Gerner's Death - Church Record Sunday, 52 Ancestors

Rev. Charles F. Althouse of St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania, was the pastor who performed the funeral service for my great-great-grandfather, Christian Gerner.  What a thrill to find information about my ancestor recorded by the pastor.

Christian Gerner died on Thursday, February 16, 1899.  His funeral was 3 days later, on Sunday, the 19th of February.

This is the record Rev. Althouse kept:

Funeral Date        February 19, 1899
Name                   Christian Gerner
Text                     Rev 14:13
Age                      79-1-15 (y-m-d)
Fee                       $3
Cause of Death     Pneumonia
Cemetery              Fairview

(Full page view of record book at right.)



This information suggests that Christian was born on January 1, 1820.  It's possible that he was.  It's equally possible that January 1 was an easy date to claim when a definite date was not known.  All census records available suggest that 1820 was the year of his birth.

The text from his funeral, Revelations 14:13, reads,

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

If Christian wasn't really prepared for death, at least the minister thought he was.

I found this church record on Pennsylvania and New Jersey Town and Church Records at Ancestry.com, specifically the collection Durham Reformed Church, Durham, Bucks, PA, image 187 which you will be able to view only if you have an Ancestry.com membership or are at Family History Center or a public library with Ancestry.com access.

I don't want to seem greedy, but now I wish the minister had saved the text of his remarks, too!  They may have given me more insight into the life my g-g-grandfather led.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2014 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.

Mixed/Misidentified Church Records on Ancestry - Church Record Sunday

The Durham Reformed Church, Durham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania on Ancestry.com's Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 contain more geographic locations than Durham.  I found several Butler County, Penna, ancestors buried in the records.  Here are some details about this particular collection.

Image 145

The Durham collection contains 278 images, a little over half of which are from Durham churches.  But beginning at image 144 you will find a minister's record book with information from other parishes, too.  I assume that because the minister ended his service in Durham, Pennsylvania, his record book remained in that parish with those records.  Hence, its appearance with the Durham Reformed Church records on Ancestry.

Rev. Charles F. Althouse was the pastor at St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania, from February 15, 1897 to June 30, 1902.  It is his record book you will see beginning at image 144.

Image 146

Bless his heart, Rev. Althouse was a record-keeper extraordinaire.  His journal begins (at image 146/page 1 of his record book) with the pastorates where he served and the dates of service.



Pastorates.
1   Edinburg, Ill. charge - Edinburg and Buckhart -   Sept 15 1894 Dec 1, 1896
2.  Fairview, Pa. Charge - Baldwin and Chicora -      Feb 15, 1897 June 30 1902
3.  McKeesport, Pa.  1st McKeesport                        July 1 1902 - Jan 1 1904
4.  Saxton, Pa. Charge  Saxton and Hopewell.          Mar 1 1904 - Dec 15 1907
5   Christ   Allentown, Pa.                                         Dec 15 1907 Oct 15 1917
6   Phoenixville       Supply from Feb 15/18 -            June 1, 1918 - Apr 16 1922
7   New Williams         "       "   Mar - Oct
8   Durham Charge                                                     Oct 1 1923 - Aug 15 1939

Knowing the dates of when and where he served will help when looking at the recorded names and dates on the journal pages:  in the lists of baptisms, marriages, funerals, etc., he made no indication where one parish's records end and the next begin.

Below is an "index" to the images of  Rev. Althouse's record book on Ancestry.com.  Image 144 is the beginning of his record book.  Each image shows two pages each of which is numbered separately.  For example, image 147 includes pages 2 and 3.

Image 146

Image 146 / inside front cover
   Pastorates Page 1.
   Church Officers Page 2.
   Communion Seasons 12.
   Baptisms.  22.
   Marriages.  92.
   Funerals.  114.
   New Members.  162.
   Sermons.  250.
   Annual Reports   598

Images 147-149 / record book pages 2-7
   Church officers' names with residence city/town, office, and dates served

Image 150 / record book pages 12-19
   Communion Seasons (dates)

Images 154-178 / record book pages 22-69
   Baptisms (more than 700) (with date, name, age (y-m-d), parents' names)

Images 179-186 / record book pages 92-106
   Marriages (includes date, name of groom, license number, fee, name of bride, place)

Images 187- 202 / record book pages 114 -141
   Funerals (497) (includes date, name, text, age (y-m-d), fee, cause of death, cemetery)

Images 203-222 / record book pages 162-198
   New members (includes date, name)

Images 223-277 / record book pages 250-357
   Sermons (sometimes 2/day & 5-6/week) (includes date, place, scripture reference)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've written this post because finding my own Butler County ancestors in Bucks County records at Ancestry was confusing.  (This post would have helped when I first began but I don't know if I would have found it.)  This information clarifies this resource and will help me if I want to search the record book for other funerals, marriages, and/or baptisms.  I know Ancestry.com has the names indexed but a researcher may overlook them, especially if the surname is a very common one.  Perhaps this information will be useful to someone else but if not, I know I'll refer back to it.  (I wish there were a place on Ancestry at Durham Reformed Church where I could link to this post so it could be helpful to others.)

Now if only Rev. Abner Dale kept a record book and it were available online, I would be thrilled.  I'm sure it would include baptism and marriage records for two families of ancestors.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2014 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.