Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
First United Presbyterian Church
Fremont, Ohio
LH-160
Introduction
Agency History
Scope and Content
Inventory
Addenda
Introduction
The First United Presbyterian
Church of Fremont donated a portion of its records to the Hayes Presidential
Center in 1968 (LH-160).
Additional material was donated in 1999 and is listed as
an addenda (LH-295). Selected records have been microfilmed and
are available for viewing in the Hayes Presidential Center=s reading room.
A photocopy of the church=s records from 1833 to 1885 appears in
the Hayes Presidential Center=s
reading room under the title Records of the Presbyterian Church in Lower Sandusky, Volume I 1833 - 1885 (F499 F9F51 ORR). The
volume includes an index of names of members whose baptisms, dismissals, transfers, and
deaths appear in the records. This index has also been entered in a genealogy
database at the Hayes Presidential Center and is also available online (www.rbhayes.org/index).
Agency History
The First Presbyterian Church in Fremont, Ohio,
was founded November 30, 1833 by 22 local settlers, some of whom traveled
several miles on foot, desiring the presence of a Presbyterian church in the
community. The first ministerial servant was the recently ordained Ellery Bascom. Unfortunately, Rev. Bascom
left the position the next spring when the members were not able to pay his
$200 annual salary and he faced creditors. For some time this new church met in
the court house, the school building, and stores along Front Street. The church had its first
permanent meeting place in a two-story frame building belonging to Isaac Prior
which had been built for that purpose. The site of this building was on the
south side of East State Street
a few yards east of the bridge. In the spring of 1844 the congregation decided
to build a more suitable building, chose the present location at the corner of
Park and Garrison Streets, and formed a building committee. This 45' x 60'
building complete with bell tower was dedicated January 10, 1847 with 125
members.
That first church was torn down
in 1869 and the present building begun with the corner stone laid
July 15. The following January the basement rooms were ready for the worshipers
and the rest of the building completed and dedicated April 27, 1873. A Ladies
Aid Society had formed to pay for the furnishings of the new church by means of
socials, oyster suppers, mite-meetings, and strawberry parties. At this time there was a
membership of 200 and it was decided, since the church was debt-free, to pursue
a Afree seat system@
and welcome all people of Fremont
and the vicinity.
There has been an active Sunday School and youth program, predating the organization of the
church by two years. In 1870 George and Mary Fitch, who had attended the Sunday
School as young children, left for missionary service
in China.
During their home furlough in 1880 the Ladies Foreign Missionary Society was
organized. Other missionaries have received support over the years. The congregation
was also active in missions around the Fremont
area. The East Side
Sabbath School
was organized in November 1906 with 32 members. This group eventually grew into
the present East Side Presbyterian Church. Other local
mission work has included the Prairie Presbyterian Sunday School and the Ballville Heights Presbyterian Sunday School. Boy Scout
troops have also been sponsored by the congregation.
Rev. J. R. Walter and his family
moved to Fremont
in 1927 beginning a pastorate that lasted for over 30 years. During this time programs for
youth and adults were expanded and the practice of sending The First Church
Messenger to each member household begun. The clock in the church tower was
repaired and remained a local landmark until a storm in July 1977 destroyed
most of the steeple. (Both were later rebuilt.) Membership grew to over 700
members.
Scope and Content
This collection contains numerous
Session, Sunday School, and women=s organizations records for the First
United Presbyterian Church. The Session records document the early years of the
congregation and run from 1833 to 1960. There are yearbooks and program books, minutes books, treasurer=s
books for the Ladies Aid and Women=s
Missionary societies from 1879 to 1945, and Sunday School records from 1887
through 1935. There are also numerous individual committee reports as well as
annual reports, financial reports, and church histories from various milestones
in the life of this congregation. Another important historical record is the
collection of The First Church Messenger, a weekly newsletter
sent to each member from 1922 through 1963, and the Sunday bulletins from 1964
to 1996.
Inventory
Ac. 1859
7.5 linear
ft.
Box 1
Folder 1 Session Records
1833-1848
2 Session
Records 1841-1923
3 Session
Records 1841-1869
4 Session
Records 1849-1901
5 Session
Records (with Membership Record) 1901-1914
Box 2
Folder 1 Session Records
1914-1924
2 Session
Records March 23, 1924 - April 6, 1936
3 Session
Records April 6, 1936 - April 16, 1947
4 Session
Records April 30, 1947 - Jan. 10, 1960
Box 3
Folder 1 Membership Record
1914-1921
2 Membership Record 1921-1925
3 Record Book, Ladies Aid Society 1910-1922
4 Record Book, Ladies Aid Society 1922-1935
5 Record Book,
Ladies Aid society 1935-1941
Box 4
Folder 1Treasurer=s
Book, Presbyterian
Sabbath School
1887-1914
2 Sunday School Record Book Nov. 1917 - Dec. 1918
3 Sunday School Record Book 1925-1934
4 Sunday School Record Book 1926-?
5 Sunday School Record Book 1935
6 Sunday School Record Book 1883, 1905, 1906
7 Sunday School Attendance Book n.d.-1909
8 Sunday School Record Book 1909, 1910
Box 5
Folder 1 Revised membership Roll
March 1902
2 Financial Ledger 1925-1944
3 Financial Ledger 1934-1945
4 Attendance
Record Book for an Unidentified Organization 1928
5 Two
Unidentified Ledgers 1964-1965
Box 6
Folders10 First Church Messenger
1922-1952
11 First Church
Messenger 1955-1963
12 Secretary=s Book, Women=s Home Missionary Society 1887-Sept.
1893
13 Year Program,
Women=s
Missionary Society 1914, 1919-1945
14 Yearbooks for
Women=s
Association 1955-1960
15 Treasurer=s Reports,
Women=s Home
Missionary Society 1879-1921
16 Treasurer=s Book, Ladies
Home Missionary Society 1900-1910
Box 7
Folder 1 Minutes,
Home and Foreign Missionary Societies April 1907 - July 1921
2 Minutes (and
scrapbook), Women=s
Missionary Society 1911-1938
3 Minutes, Women=s Home Missionary Society April 1922 -
April 1928
4 Minutes, Women=s Missionary Society April 1928 - March
1935
5 Minutes, Women=s Missionary Society April 1935 - Jan.
1941
6 Minutes, Women=s Missionary Society Feb. 1941 - Nov.
1945
7 Treasurer=s Book, Women=s Home Missionary Society 1911-1915
8 Women=s Society Financial Records, undated
9 Women=s Society Financial Records 1919-1921
10 Women=s Society Financial Records 1922-1923
11 Women=s Society Financial Records 1924-1946
12 Women=s Society Financial Records (Receipts,
Check Stubs, Ledger) 1917-1926
13 Secretary=s Book, Ladies
Aid Society 1884-1940
14 Record Book, Foreign Missionary Society 1902-1922
15 Minute Book,
Junior Society of Christian Endeavor 1894-1903
16 Minutes, Westminster Bible Class
1917-1919
17 Minute Book,
Young People=s
Fellowship 1931-1936
18 Minute Book, Board of Trustees March 1925 - May 1943
19 Record Book
of Rev. J. R. Walter Jan. 1922 - June 1939
20 Yellow Fever
Relief Committee - Second Ward (empty book)
21 Index of
Subscribers 1930-1938
22 List of Subscribers 1938-1944
Box 8
Folder 1Correspondence
(Miscellaneous)
2 Calling of
Rev. John F. Troupe
3 Scattered
Treasurer=s Reports 1838-1858
4 Annual Reports
5 Treasurer=s Report
6 Report of the
Sunday School
7 Proposed
Budget
8 Miscellaneous
Financial Papers
9 Trustees
Report
10 Annual
Congregational Meetings
11 Session, Meeting & Annual Report
12 The Church
Project Committee
13 Every Member
Canvas
14 Directories
15 Bulletins
16 History of
the First Presbyterian Church
17 History of
the Church by Mrs. Marshall Bixler
18 50th
Anniversary of the Church
19 Centenary History 1833-1933
20 Anniversary
Booklets
21 Sesqui-centennial 1953
22 125th
Anniversary Booklet, Nov. 30, 1958
23 100th
Anniversary of the Laying of the Cornerstone 1969
24
Correspondence of Ellery Bascom
25 Book of Subscriptions for Building a Parsonage 1890
26 Pledge List,
undated
27 Pledge Book
June 1937 - June 1940
28 Miscellaneous
Church Records 1924-1936
29 Miscellaneous
Church Records 1924-1936
30 Report of the
Christian Endeavor
31 Flower Committee, Reports
32 Report of the
Choir Fund
33 Report of the
Deacon=s Fund
34 Report of the Fidelis Circle
35 Report of the
Men=s Club
36 Women=s Bible Class
37 Men=s Bible Class
38 Foreign
Missionary Society
39 Women=s Home Missionary Society
40 Home Mission
society Bank Statements
41 Ladies= Aid Society
42 Annie M. Bartz Chapter
43 Fleur-De-Lis Chapter
44 Westminster Bible Class
45 Westminster Club
Miscellaneous
46 Y.P.S.C.E. (Young People=s
Society for Christian Endeavor?)
47 Miscellaneous
Booklets
48 Newspaper
Clippings
49 Miscellaneous
Ballots, Counts
50 Miscellaneous
Papers
51 Miscellaneous
Programs/Bulletins for Church Services
52 Programs for
Various Church Meetings and Organizations
53 Rough Drafts
of Sermons and Memorials
54 Quarterly
Newsletter of the Ohio
Synodical Society 1925-1927
55 Thanksgiving-Union Service Newspaper Clipping, n.d.
Oversize
1 Charles
Goddard, executor of the will of Mary Duncan, 1860
2 Contract (for
the church property), 20 June 1843
3 Expenses:
January - December 1838
4 Church account with e. Bushnell, 1859
5 Subscription
list, n. d. (ca. 1873 ?)
6 Church
building subscription list, 1869
7 Bound volume: German bible, dtd. 1747
Addenda
LH - 295
Ac. 5471
3 linear ft
Box 1
Folders 1-12 First Church
Messenger/Sunday Bulletins 1960-1985
Box 2
Folders 1-9 Sunday Bulletins
1985-1996
10 Index to
Subscriber=s List
1944-1945 - 1949
11 Treasurer=s Book of the Sandusky County Ministerial Association
12 The Parish
Register June 1966