Wayne-Medina-Lorain County OhArchives Church Records.....Mt. Zion Union Church & Hoff Cemetery
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Linda Simons lsimons8@suddenlink.net June 3, 2007, 11:50 pm

Newspaper Article: Date Unknown Sometime after 1962 
The first recorded burial in the cemetery on the knoll overlooking the 
Chippawa Valley on Pleasant Home Road three miles east of Hermanville was that 
of the son of John Miller who died in 1810.  Other tombstones have dates of 
1815 and 1817, after 1820, burials were more frequent. Tombstones show names 
such as Talley, Shellenberger, Walmer, Shafer, Young, Flickinger, Gingery, 
Yoder, Hoff, and Wagner.  Records show that in 1831 the land was donated at 
this location for the Hoff school and church.  The church, organized under the 
Lutheran Reformed tradition, was a place of worship for the community for more 
than half a century.  The church was rebuilt in 1887 on the former location of 
the schoolhouse which had been moved to another location.  Soon afterwards the 
German Baptists at Beech Grove were in the process of dividing and the liberal 
group known as the Progressive Brethren met at the Mt Zion Church. The Rev 
William Kiefer organize a congregation with sixteen members in 1893. About 
1915, the congregation divided, one group going to sterling, another to 
Smithville.  The church had no regular use until 1962 when the Rittman Church 
of Christ began meeting in the building.  The Hoff cemetery is now under the 
care of Mt. Zion Cemetery association which meets annually at the grounds.  
Trustees at one time were Carl Funk, Paul Zook, Homer Shafer, George Miller, 
and Ray Martin.  

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/wayne/churches/mtzionun35nbb.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ohfiles/

File size: 2.0 Kb