FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY of Madison Township: Reformed & Lutheran Churches *************************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Louise Schlaff lschlaff@htonline.com December 6, 1998 *************************************************************************** This is No. 3 from Chap. 25 - Churches, from the book, History of Madison Twp. CONSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH SCHOOL UNION. "The Reformed and Lutheran people started a Sunday school soon after their church building was occupied in about 1840. The Sunday schools of those days were quite different from the modern school. German primers were used in some of the classes, which attracted a number of the citizens who wanted to learn the German language to attend the Sunday school for this purpose. Some of the leading members questioned the propriety of conducting the school for this purpose, and as the glass was not yet in the windows and the weather got cold, the school was discontinued. The Reformed people then attended the union Sunday school at the United Brethren church until April 16, 1865, when the Reformed and Lutheran again organized a school with the following officers: Rev. James Heffly and Rev. George Mochel, pastors; C. Gayman, superintendent; Jacob Bott, assistant superientendent, W. F. Armpreister, secretary; Geo. Loucks, librarian; Henry Howard,assistant librarian; Geo. Loucks, treasurer.....On January 23, 1864, a meeting was held to consider the purchase of a melodion. Miss Hanie was teaching music in Winchester, and through February and March, Daniel and Christian Gayman took lessons of her, practicing on Bergstresser"s medodion. it was put into the church and on the Sunday of March 20,1864, Daniel Gayman played on it, later, a Miss Swan, a music teacher, acted as melodionist. There was opposition to its introduction and purchase. Jacob Zarbaugh had for three years led the singing with a clarionet. Miss Barbara Zarbaugh (Bott) was the first regular organist. The organists since Miss Zarbaught were: Miss Katie Stevenson (Mrs. Rev. M. Loucks), Miss Ollie Hesser (Mrs. Scott), Miss Ella Vought (Mrs. John A. Whitman, Emma Schoch, Ella Loucks and Ruth Stahl. Choristers: Wm. Palsgrove (there is still a summer reunion of this family at Canal Winchester), John H. Speilman, Samuel Foucht, Frank Brown and Wm. D. one church choir, one organist, and the best of Christian fellowship prevailed. Many of the members of both congregations being Germans, they had inter-married until it was a common occurrence to find families in which the father and part of the children held membership in one church while the mother and others belonged to the other. It is a curious fact that many persons who were at an early day Lutheran are now Reformed, and that Reformed are now Lutheran. The organization of the Reformed Sunday school took place at the parsonage, Rev. Eli Keller, DD.,(Rev. Eli Keller is buried at the Fallsburg, Ohio, cemetery.) being then the pastor. He lived where Elijah Alspach now lives. The superintendents have been: Christian Gayman, Peter Brown and Moses Gayman, Geo. F. Bareis, Frank Brown, Geo. B. Bolenbaugh, O.P.Gayman." (Anyone interested in having a particular church researched from this book e-mail: lschlaff@htonline.com.) ==== OHFRANKL Mailing List ====