Local History Collections

(Description ID: 607015)

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums 

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church 

LH-433 

Introduction
Historical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory

Introduction
The records of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church were donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in 2016.

Historical Sketch
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 3077 County Road 170, at Kingsway in Sandusky County, Ohio, was established April 17, 1892 when members of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Fremont, Ohio asked to organize a congregation closer to their homes in Rice Township. Pastors Paul Pfeiffer and Carl Ackerman of St. John’s served the new congregation until 1893. At that time Rev. W. A. Bowman was called as the first pastor, serving a three-point charge of Trinity, Salem at Four Mile House, and St. Paul’s at Mud Creek.

A Ladies’ Aid Mission Society was organized in 1901.That year a parsonage and barn were built as was a new brick church. The church building was to serve the entire life of the congregation was dedicated December 15, 1901.

The sanctuary was refurbished in 1941 and a Reuter pipe organ installed in 1949. Other physical improvements included a parish hall dedicated in 1953 and a new parsonage constructed in 1970.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church assumed sponsorship of Rev. Virgil Hoyer as missionary to Japan in 1963. In 1983 Trinity entered into an agreement with Lutheran Social Services and St. Francis Hospital, Green Springs, Ohio, that the pastor would serve part-time as the Protestant Chaplain at the hospital.

Trinity joined with other Lutheran churches in the Fremont area to form LIFT (Lutherans In Fremont Together) as a way to energize their members and enhance their collective ministries. But, due to declining membership and financial resources, the congregation voted in 2015 to merge with St, Mark’s Lutheran Church in Fremont to form TRIMARK. The church closed April 24, 2016. The church building was razed in 2016 and replaced with an outdoor worship space. 

Scope and Content
This collection contains records of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at Kingsway, Ohio, from its incorporation in 1892 until its merging with St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in 2016.

Box 1 of the collection holds items relevant to worship service such as holy bibles, hymnals and song books, and poems written by Pastor A. F. Rohr. An item of significance in this box is a family record registration, identifying early members and their families.

The congregation had an active Sunday School program and several women’s groups. The secretary and treasurer records of these organizations are found in the second box.

The third box holds records of the financial secretary and treasurer in addition to the annual reports of the congregation from 1954-2015. The fourth box contains the parish council secretary’s minutes from 1892 to 2016 with a gap for the years 1937-1965.

The last box of the collection holds membership records and photographs of some church activities.

Other items of historical interest include the 1892 Articles of Incorporation certificate, two baptismal certificates, articles from the 2001 corner stone, and a home communion set from 1896.

Inventory
Ac. 5997; Ac. 6105
71/2 linear feet

Box 1

Articles of Incorporation, September 12, 1892

Sacred Songs, 1914 (3 copies)

Poems & Hymns written by Pastor A. F. Rohr

Selection of Prayers

“Be True” 1899 in Remembrance of Confirmation Day, Eliz. H. Nickel

Family Record Registration

Sunday School Hymnal

Hymns, Selected and Original, for Public and Private Worship, 1870

Scrapbook of published poems and Hymns of Pastor A. F. Rohr

Phonograph Record – Message from Dr. Ackerman on the Occasion of 50^th Anniversary Celebration

King James Holy Bible

King James Holy Bible, 1984

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal (Fourth Edition)

Holy Bible - Presented by Ladies Aid Society, Christmas 1916

“Lutheran Standard” April 1901 (Issues in English and German language)

Corner Stone – 2001

Box 2

Ladies Aid Society treasurer’s records, 1905 – 1914, 1933 – 1938

Ladies Aid Society secretary’s minutes, 1921 – 1925, 1926 – 1932

Women’s Missionary Society secretary’s minutes, 1945 – 1954 Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church secretary’s minutes, 1946 – 1954

Church secretary’s minutes, 1961 – 1973, 1973 – 1978

Rebekah Circle record, 1971 – 1979 Trinity Lutheran Sunday School treasurer’s record, 1948, - 1962, 1962 – 2000 Sunday School secretary  and treasurer’s record, 1955 – 1964, 1965 – 1974, 1974 – 1991, 1991 – 2000

Flower Aid Adult Bible Class, 1941 – 1968 

Box 3

Finances, 2003, 2005, 1970 – 1979, 1980 – 1998, 2001 – 2015 Treasurer’s reports, 1963 – 1964, 1967 – 1972, 1968 – 1982, 1983 – 1987, 1988 – 1992, 1993 – 1997

Annual Reports, 1941, 1944, 1954 – 1969, 1070 – 1989, 1990 – 2010, 2011 – 2015

Box 4

Secretary’s minutes, 1988 – 1990, 1997 – 2002, 2003 – 2006, 2007 – 2010, 2011 – 2012, 2014 – 2016

Home Communion Set

Box 5

Communicant Photographs; 1908, 1914, 1992, 1993, 1996 - 2004 (originals); 1900, 1904, 1914 – 1915, 1917 – 1922, 1926 – 1928, 1930, 1932 – 1933, 1937, 1939, 1942 – 1945, 1947 – 1948, 1951, 1953 – 1954, 1956, 1958 – 1959, 1962, 1964,1972 – 1975, 1977, 1981 – 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990

Folder 16: 2017 – 2022 Trinity Lutheran Congregational Minutes and Financial Reports [Ac.6105]

Folder 17:  Constitution & Bylaws  (2005) [Ac.6140]

Sacramental Recording Ledger  (1892 - 2015) [Ac.6140]

Confirmation Photographs; 1898, 1900, Date Unknown (Oversize - with Communion Record Book)

Congregational Record  (2006 - 2016) [Ac.6140]  (Oversize - next to collection, not in box)