St. John's Lutheran Church
Use these records in your
research but, please, do not publish without permission of the family or the
chapter.
Celebrating
the 250th Anniversary
The church history reads "the leader of the group settling in the Fork was
Johannes Adam Summer, considered by historian Duncan Wallace 'the first white
settler in the present Newberry County'...sailed from Rotterdam in 1743, spent
several years in Pennsylvania, then led his followers to the low-lying hill
country in Fairfield overlooking the 'Esvapadema
(Broad) River. He then crossed the river at Cohee
Shoals and made their homes in the verdant fields along Crims
Creek".
In the Colonial Council minutes of February 5, 1754, "The compactness of
the German settlement in the Forks of the Broad and Saluda Rivers made possible
a church organization and it was for the service of these settlers that the
Rev. John Gasser, Reformed Minister, left Switzerland in 1752. Coming by way of
Pennsylvania, he did not reach Charles Town to petition for land until 1754,
but at that time he had agreed with the settlers to preach in two churches, one
in the lower part of the Fork, the other farther on. He was given his bounty of
50 acres.
The first church was built in 1754, a small, crude log cabin served as a church
and a school house. After nine years, the young
congregation was sufficiently established to apply to the Colonial Government
for a grant of land. On October 5, 1763, a royal grant of 100 acres on Grames (Crims) Creek between the
Broad and Saluda Rivers was issued under the seal of King George III by Thomas
Boone, Governor in Council, to John Adam Epting and
Peter Dickert, elders of the congregation and their
successors for a glebe and a church building.
The "White Church", built in 1809, still stands across the road from
the present sanctuary built in 1950.
Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the
information on this web site, all transcriptions are subject to human error,
and researchers should always check the original source of any list. All
material contained on these pages is furnished for the free use of those
researching their family origins. Any commercial use, without the consent of
the host/author of these pages is prohibited.
Copyright is retained by the author/contributor of the material and publication to any medium, electronic or non-electronic, without consent is in violation of the law.
All persons contributing material for posting on these pages do so in recognition of its free, non-commercial distribution, and are responsible for assuring that no copyright is violated by submission.
©1985-2023 Dutch Fork Chapter of SCGS, Inc.
Last
updated 07 January 2023