Winter 1999

 The Region 6 Archives received a generous grant from AAL for the purpose of conducting Mini-workshops on archival issues and congregational histories. The previous workshops at Hebron Lutheran Church, Hebron, KY, and Zion Lutheran Church in Sandusky, OH, were successes. There were strong turn-outs followed by good dialogues and exchanges of ideas. Even the archivist learned something! You can learn too at one of the many workshops scheduled. If interested in attending, please register at the numbers below, or call the Archives at 614/235-4136 X4002 if you any questions. See you there!

 Marysville, OH: Trinity Lutheran Church

Saturday, March 13, at 9:00 am

Joe Ohler at home 937/642-7015

Tuesday, April 13, at 9:00 am

Church Office (8am-12nn)

419/589-5252

Sunday, June 6, at 1:00 pm

Church Office

812/695-3061

The workshops will last about 4 hours long and will be followed by a good will donation lunch.

The 1999 Congregation Heritage Workshop is set for July 11-13, 1999, at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. The heritage workshop assists congregations plan their anniversary celebrations, establish their archives and form their heritage committee.

Contact: Cynthia Jacobson

Congregation Heritage Workshop Assistant

Office of Congregational Relations

Luther College

700 College Drive

Decorah, IA 52101

319/387-1271

FAX: 319/387-2153

SoliDeoGloria@luther.edu

http://www.luther.edu

The last newsletter (V2N1, Summer 1998) mentioned the new postcard collection of Region 6 Church Postcards. Although there was a good response, the Archives wants to continue to see this collection grow! You can help by donating any postcards or postcard photos of your church building ever produced by your congregation.

You can also help to document your congregation's history by donating a copy of histories and special publications to the Archives. If your congregation has not prepared a history, the Archives can help. Please contact the Archives for publications on how to prepare a congregational history, or you may want to consider attending one of the Congregational Archive Workshops scheduled. Just contact the Archives for more information.

The Region 6 Archives is always receiving valuable records that celebrate our history. What follows is a short list of records acquired by the Archives.

• ELCA OH and MI closed congregational records
• Congregational histories
• ELCA Region 6 synodical records including published synod minutes, newsletters, council minutes, and videos
• Deceased pastor records and correspondence
• Various records of ELCA Social Service organizations
• TALC OH Western District records

The Advice Guide is ready! Please contact the Archives for the Brief Advice Guide published by the Region 6 Archives. It was mentioned in the last newsletter and is designed to help congregations understand the various research issues that affect congregational record research.

First Lutheran Church Cross Roads celebrated their 150^th year anniversary in 1998. Lois Hamilton wrote the congregational history that celebrates not only First Lutheran's history but that of Indiana and the US. I asked Mrs. Hamilton if she would like to contribute to the newsletter by writing an article. She provided what in her words is "a story that I would tell you in person." I decided to copy it as is to help those of you planning a celebration and to learn about something new. I have enjoyed both the history and Lois' description of events. I hope you do as well.

First Lutheran Church Cross Roads is a very small rural church located in the southwest part of Delaware County, midway between Anderson and Muncie, Indiana. It is one of the oldest churches consistently in use in Delaware County, having its beginnings is 1848.

The past forty years have been difficult for the church. Attendance now has declined to the point that there are not enough able-bodied members to serve on the church council. Nevertheless, we decided we must celebrate our 150 years as a congregation and that it would be nice if we could give each family having ties to the church, a memento to take with them at the time of the celebration.

Our plans began more than two years ago when we contacted the Aid Association for Lutherans to see if we were eligible to receive a grant from them for use in funding our celebration. They responded by saying that we were already in their computer and sometime prior to our celebration, they would send us a check. They also sent a very nice booklet with many good hints for celebrating church anniversaries.

A little over a year ago, Pastor appointed the vice-president of the congregation and myself as co-chair of the anniversary celebration, and the rest of the members as a planning committee. Our first meeting was held during Sunday School in September 1997.

The second planning meeting was held in October 1997. Hubert Shroyer (the vice-president) and his wife, Juanita, Pastor Hamilton, and I did some "brain storming" as to the things we could or couldn't do because of our size and small membership. We took our list of possibilities to the congregation in November. Pastor Hamilton opened the meeting by stating the reason for the celebration was to remember and celebrate the impact God has had on the lives of the people who were members and friends of First Lutheran Church. The results of that meeting are as follows:

• Program: We should have a one day celebration with both the worship service and the program held in the morning.
• Worship Service: The Synod should be represented and there should be special music.
• Open House: An open house should be held in the afternoon so people could come and go as they wish.
• Meal: There will not be a noon meal served due to lack of help, funds, and location.
• Date: September 13, 1998 was set as the date.
• Publicity: Newspapers, Television, radio, Synod office, etc.
• Invitations: We needed addresses of people with ties to the church, former pastors and members.
• Property: Repairs needed to be completed and all areas need a good cleaning.
• Souvenirs/Programs/Favors: We want people to have a remembrance of the church. Pictures, cups and a history booklet were suggested. Each family was requested to look for historical items. We would especially like to have pictures and history of the families represented on the memorial stained glass windows. (We called this project "the windows people.")

Little work was accomplished in December, January, and February. Mr. Shroyer was in very frail health, but the church history was always on his mind. Being a great-grandson of the founder and first pastor of the congregation, and having lived in the area most of his life, he was not only willing but excited to get started writing the church history. He was not able to complete that task. On March 4, 1998, after having suffered a severe heart attack, he died. Our last conversation the day before his death was in regard to the location of the first log church. At his funeral, I promised his family I would write the church history.

March was not a good month for all of us at our church. The last week of March, my husband (Pastor Hamilton) also had a heart attack. He had emergency bypass surgery and spent several weeks recuperating. (He has now recovered and is doing well.) At that time, I was still employed as a public Health RN on a full time basis so very little work on the history was completed.

We received a check for $1000 from AAL, which allowed us to go ahead with the anniversary plans. It was decided that the history booklet would be our souvenir gift. We had invitations printed and they were sent out in June.

We were fortunate that so many church records survived over the years. Records of Council meeting, Ladies Aid, Missionary Society, Sunday School secretary and attendance records, from as early as the 1860s to the present time were available as resources for the research.

Background information came from early history books of both Delaware and Henry Counties, early maps (especially those showing the location of early church and cemeteries) and court house land deeds. Newspaper microfilm and paper clippings provided the information on early history of Lutheranism in Virginia. Civil War history from Henry County was also helpful as was the Henry County Historical Society.

Church members contacted relatives of early members who in turn provided pictures and historical information. One of our own 90-plus year old members was very helpful with anecdotal information.

Writing the manuscript was not difficult once all the information was gathered. Family history of "the window people" proved both interesting and frustrating. It is just amazing the number of people that can trace their family back to the Sayford family (the first pastor)! Some of the families on other windows could not be traced in the time we had available, so that information is lacking.

The booklet would not have been possible without the help of Dan Mowrey, a commercial artist from Evansville, Indiana, who grew up next door to the church. He offered to put the history in the booklet format and added the computerized genealogy and attractive cover. He located a printer and had it printed at a much lower cost than we could have done locally. It was a little hectic working with someone that far away, but he and his family did a great job. (He also added some of the humorous comments in italics in the booklet!)

Pastor Hamilton contacted the Synod and former pastors. He also arranged and printed both the worship service and the program leaflets. We had them copied locally.

We decided to display our historic memorabilia in the back rooms of the church. We filled four large and a couple of small tables, three cupboards and walls with pictures, dishes, books, and records. Antique hand-crocheted paraments were placed on the alter, pulpit, and lectern. The church and parsonage were clean and sparkling.

The Muncie Star-Press and the New Castle Courier Times had great coverage which included pictures and stories pertaining to the anniversary. The Anderson News and the Middletown News mentioned it as well.

The day of the celebration was beautiful. The church was filled to capacity for the worship service at 9:30 and the Anniversary program at 11:AM. The Bishop's assistant, The Rev. Charles Schroeder gave the sermon at the worship service. We invited our local US Representative and he came with words of congratulation during the program. Many people spontaneously shared wonderful memories of their association with the church during the program. Some people brought a picnic lunch and ate it on the church lawn.

The Open House in the afternoon was very well attended. People visited as they looked for names of relatives or their own names in the record books. Many people signed the guest register, however, the actual number attending is unknown. Suffice it to say that the celebration was more successful that we could have ever hoped for.