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Special Collections, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College
Special Collections© 2011 By Wytheville Community College. All rights reserved.
Processed by: Cathy Carlson Reynolds
Collection is open to research.
There are no restrictions.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Records, Mss. Collection 1968.4, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA
Donated by the estate of Frederick Bittle Kegley in 1968.
German settlers near Wytheville, Virginia founded St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1798. Daniel Etter and Mary Etter deeded one acre for twenty-five dollars for the construction of a church building. Members donated funds totaling $201.50 and in 1800 celebrated services in a new church. In 1816 the congregation contributed $430 for the purchase of a pipe organ.
St. John's first pastor, Rev. George Daniel Flohr, and his congregation established the church as a guiding force in the growth of Lutheran churches throughout Southwest Virginia. Indeed, St. John's Church served as a mother church to Lebanon (1851), Holy Trinity (1876), St. Luke's (1888), St. Mark (1891), Poplar Grove (1897), and Holy Advent (1915) churches. As the population shifted toward towns and the railroads, St. John's Church lost members. In 1924, the congregation merged with that of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Wytheville. Part of the merger agreement provided for the establishment of an endowment fund to maintain the historic building and cemetery of the mother church.
In 1977, the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission designated St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church as a Historic Virginia Landmark. A homecoming is held annually.
The collection includes four volumes of original church records, a volume of photostats and transcripts, two typed transcripts, and miscellaneous documents. Record Book 1 (Folder 1; 1800-1892) contains a constitution, baptismal records (1804-1892), a list of subscribers for the building of the first church (1800), and a list of subscribers for purchase of an organ (1816). Record Book 2 (Folder 1; 1880-1924) contains information about church members including date of birth, marriage, and death as well as minutes for the church congregational, council, and committee meetings.
A ledger book (Folder 3; 1875-1908) for the St. John's Church Christian Association and Women's Missionary Society includes minutes, lists of members, and financial records. A record book (Folder 4; 1896-1900) for another church organization, The Augsburg League of Christian Endeavor, contains minutes for business, committee, and social functions of the group.
The Rev. William J. Finck transcribed and translated from German into English Record Book 1. He also produced photostats which he combined with transcriptions and drawings into Records, 1804-1892: St. John's Lutheran Church (Folder 5). Finck sent a copy to the Library of Virginia and two sets to Frederick Bittle Kegley, a member of St. John's Lutheran Church. Interspersed in the pages of this volume are pen and ink drawings by Elizabeth Waller Wilkins of church buildings, ministers, wives, and birth announcements. Finck also produced two typed transcripts of records from Record Book 1 from 1800-1836 (Folder 6, Folder 7).
The final folder (Folder 8; 1869-1935, Undated) contains miscellaneous documents including a transcript (1869) of the 1804 constitution, letters regarding the endowment fund for maintenance of St. John's Church and Cemetery (1924-1925), and notes by Frederick Bittle Kegley.
Record book of St. John's Evangelical Church, Wytheville, Virginia. Transcript by Rev. W. J. Finck in Folders 5, 6, 7.
Signed by Elders, Caspar Rother, Johannes Herrcherother; Deacons, Andreas Brau, Henrich Bien. Signed by Elder Jacob Brunner and Deacon Michel Braun, on the part of the Reformed.
Includes names of children, date of birth, names of parents, date of baptism, names of sponsors.
Includes listings for Lt. Joseph Rufus Brown, son of Henry Brown, and John Kegley, son of Martin Kegley, who were killed at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, on 9 May 1864.
First segment is undated.
Vestrymen list.
List of subscribers, giving amount of donation. The organ was installed during the first and second week of April 1816, and was played for the first time on Good Friday. The cost was $400, and freight was $30.
Adopted 5 January 1879, amendments adopted 17 December 1893.
Includes name, how and when received into the church, time of death, and where buried. Other listings include name, time of birth, names of parents, time of baptism, names of sponsors, how and when received into the church, time of marriage, time of death, where buried, when removed, when excommunicated, when restored.
Compiled by Rev. F. J. Lottich, Pastor.
The Association was formed to "assist the congregation in furthering its spiritual as well as temporal interests. "
Newspaper clippings regarding death of Ellenora Brown Yonce, Rosanna Repass, Katherine Yonce Morehand, and Fannie A. Yonce.
Includes constitution, members, money received, and exercises.
Organized January 1897.
Finck, Rev. William J. Records, 1804-1892: St. John's Lutheran Church. Includes records in German, 1804-1836, translated. Drawings by Elizabeth Waller Wilkins include pen and ink of church buildings, pen and ink and watercolor of the 1805 baptismal certificate of Katherine Umberger, and pen and ink portrait of Katherine Umberger Kegley, wife of John Kegley. Portraits by Wilkins of Sarah Baumgartner Harkrader Fisher, wife of Isaac Harkrader and Joseph Fisher Sr., Rufus Repass, Rev. James Andrew Brown, Eleanora Herbst Brown, wife of James Andrew Brown, and Welcome Baumgartner also included. Map of St. John's Church property, on onion skin, also included.
Finck, Rev. William J. "The Church Records of St. John's Evangelical Church, Wytheville, Virginia, 1800 to 1836, Typed and Translated. " Includes constitution, baptismal records, and list of subscribers for new church building and organ.
Finck, Rev. William J. "The Church Records of St. John's Evangelical Church, Wytheville, Virginia, 1800 to 1836, Typed and Translated. " Includes constitution, baptismal records, and list of subscribers for new church building and organ.
Transcribed by Rudolph Tuesler, Wytheville, Virginia. Includes constitution, baptismal records, and list of subscribers for new church building and organ.
Endowment committee, comprised of G. B. Morehead, W. B. Cassell, F. B. Kegley, R. C> Patterson, N. B. Rhudy, Newt Umberger wrote regarding establishment of a fund to maintain the old St. John's Church building and cemetery.
Article III, Old St. John's. Regarding establishment of endowment fund to maintain property.
Regarding establishment of endowment fund for maintenance of property.
Regarding his translation and typing of the church records for which he charged $12.07 for two sets.
Re: officers of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church.