Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fremont, Ohio

Introduction
Agency History
Scope and Content
Inventory

Introduction
Additional records of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church are retained by the church.

Agency History
On January 15, 1842, a meeting to organize a religious society in Lower Sandusky, Ohio, was held in the courthouse on Croghan Street.   The 28 citizens present became the nucleus of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Following the canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church, articles of association were signed, wardens were chosen, and a delegate named to the Diocesan convention held in Newark, Ohio.  A temporary pastor, the Rev. James O’Kill, served from February 5, 1842 until November 4, 1842, when the Rev. William Flagg took over as the first permanent pastor.

By the end of 1845, a Sunday school and the Parish Aid Society had been formed, a baptism had been performed, and a class of 15 had been confirmed.  The church was consecrated November 14, 1845 by Bishop Charles P. McIlvaine of the Ohio Episcopal Diocese.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 206 North Park Avenue, Fremont, Ohio, is the oldest church building still in use in Sandusky County.  The site was purchased in 1843 for $400.00.  The 60 by 42-foot building with seating for 52 was constructed at a cost of $3000.00.  Members pledged funds to pay for the construction.  Members “bought” pews when they were ordered in 1844; that money paid the pastor’s salary.

Over the years the structure has been remodeled several times. Gas illumination – the jets were installed on poles at the ends of pews – was added in 1861.  The church building was enlarged in 1872 and1873.

In 1890 the “Farmers’ Tavern,” an inn adjoining the church, was purchased and fitted out for use as a chapel, Sunday school classrooms, and rectory.  In 1906 both the church and the adjoining chapel were remodeled.  The church received a square tower, baptistery, choir stall and robing room, and an office for the rector.  The chapel was wired for electricity, and a porch was added.  It continued to serve as the rectory until a house on Clover Street was purchased in 1916.

Major structural repairs and changes were made in 1965 and1966.  The chancel, containing the altar, lectern, and pulpit, was torn down and rebuilt five feet to the west.  When the marble flooring, pulpit, and altar were reinstalled, the altar was made free standing.  A retable and dossal curtain were installed behind the altar.  The entire church was rewired.

The outside walls were sandblasted and repainted.  Interior walls were repainted, and brass was re-plated.  Nearly all work was done by Fremont firms.  The church was rededicated May 22, 1966.  In June 1977 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

Scope and Content
The contents of these records span the years between 1842 and1992.  The majority of the documents are from the years 1842 to 1900.  Documents provide information about church membership, finances, and programs. Perhaps the most valuable of the records are the Parish Records (Volume I, II, and III) found in the first box. In addition to organizational information, the volumes contain family registers, giving surnames and names of children within each family. Names and dates are also given for members who died, were baptized, confirmed, or married. Those who joined or transferred from St. Paul’s also are listed. Documents relating to additions and alterations of church property are numerous. Activities of organizations, such as Women’s Auxiliary, Ladies’ Guild, and Altar Chapter, are part of this collection as well.   

Inventory
3 ½ linear ft.

Box 1

1. Parish Record Book, Volume I 1842 – 1864 (organization, treasurers’ reports, parish vestry records)

2. Parish Record Book, Volume II 1843 – 1874 (families, baptisms,      confirmations, communicants, marriages, burials)

3. Parish Record Book 1843 – 1874

4. Parish Record Book, Volume III 1842 – 1876 (vestry meetings’ minutes)

5. Vestry Record Book 1889 – 1918

Box 2

1. Inventory of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church records at Hayes Presidential Center

2. Handwritten book (circa 1830s) of poems for albums

3. Subscription lists; certifications of loans from Buckland & Pease 1843 to 1845

4. Contracts for construction of church 1843; Quitclaim, June 4, 1843; mortgage, December 27, 1849; note, June 3, 1843

5. Lists of slip [pew] renters 1843 – 1846

6. Rectors’ salary receipts 1843 – 1850

7. Letters of rectors and vestrymen

8. Miscellaneous receipts and notes 1844 – 1850

9. Sentence of Consecration, November 14, 1845; copy of account of incorporation

10. Slip [pew] assessments; receipts, notes 1849; 1851; 1880

11. Financial memo book – miscellaneous entries 1858 - ?

12. Business papers; miscellaneous 1867 – 1882

13. Miscellaneous certificates 1870 – 1873

14. Loan Exhibition pamphlets (80)

15. Sunday school class book 1884

16. Ben Hur Pageant; social events 1886; 1894

17. References to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Church Life [publication] 1887

18. Subscription book May 1890 for purchase of inlot #63

19. Cancelled checks; receipts 1890 – 1894

20. Papers of George Buckland and others concerning purchase of Miller lot for Chapel, 1889, 1890, 1893        

21. Papers concerning purchase of Miller lot for chapel 1889, 1890, 1893

22. Miscellaneous bills and receipts 1875; 1892

23. Papers concerning bequest and upkeep of grave of the Rev. Alonzo Phelp,1890-1891

24. Treasurer’s book 1911 – 1918

25. Church property appraisal 1942

26. Correspondence concerning the history of the church

Box 3

27. Printed histories of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and other parishes

28. Chronology of St. Paul’s Parish

29. Correspondence from Diocese of Ohio 1865 – 1905

30. Miscellaneous correspondence 1866 – 1917

31. Treasurer’s book of the Ladies Aid Society 1878 – 1889

32. Sunday school class book No. 9, (circa 1880s)

33. Records of St. Paul’s altar guild 1890

34. First annual recital of St. Paul’s Vested Choir 1905

35. Minutes of the Women’s Auxiliary January 10, 1924 – December 4, 1930

36. Minutes of the Women’s Auxiliary June 6, 1912 – 1923

37. St. Paul’s Women’s Auxiliary program booklets 1910 – 1941

38. St. Paul’s Church Periodical Club miscellaneous materials 1912 – 1918

39. French orphan adoption papers 1918

40. Altar Chapter Record Book 1937

41. Minutes of the Ladies’ Guild December 1938 – November 15, 1939

42. Miscellaneous church bulletins 1881 – 1949

43. Programs for activities held at the church early 1900’s

44. Newspaper clippings circa 1917

45. Newspaper clippings re Rev. Franklin E. Hauck, his mother, and his brother

46. Photographs of Rev. F. E. Hauck and his home

47. Certificates received by Rev. F. E. Hauck

48. Miscellaneous booklets, cards, etc.

49. “Morning and Evening Prayers for the Family,” Rev. A. Phelps, 1862

50. “St. Paul’s Churchman,” 1891

Box 4

51. Church Life November 1928

52. Photographs of the church and former pastors

53. Transcriptions from other collections (McIlwaine – Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, 1832-1890)  

54. Miscellaneous odds and ends

55. The Prefect to Mrs. Raymond Sprunk dtd Vatican City, August 3, 1981.          

56. An Interlude of Wealth and Health, Cleveland: The Clerk’s Press, 1910

57. The Rev. Franklin E. Hauck correspondence, etc.

58. National Park Service certificate for National Register of Historic Places 1977

59. Program, photos, etc., 150^th Anniversary 1992

60. Programs, newspaper clippings, etc., special events 1866 – 1967

61. Membership directories 1967 – 1977

62. Women’s Auxiliary, Altar Guild miscellany

63. Financial statements 1941 – 1988

64. Loose clippings from bound scrapbook

65. Loose bulletins, etc., from bound scrapbook

Bound volume

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, souvenir items, etc., 1876 – 1914

Oversize

Photograph of the Rev. Franklin Hauck at home

The Missionary Echo, February, 1874 (2 copies)

The Standard of the Red Cross, November 26, 1870

The Western Episcopalian, August 9, 1866

Napkins with advertising of Fremont, Ohio, businesses, circa 1900

Lithograph – without frame – of “Our Saviour”

Deaconship certificates dated June 18, 1916 and July 8, 1917