Local History: Northumberland County: Rockefeller Township History of the Eden Lutheran Church-Part I Copyright (c) 2001 by John Paul Deeben. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. jandwdeeben@msn.com USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. An Eden in the Wilderness: A History of the Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church at Plum Creek, Rockefeller Township, 1844-1961 by John Paul Deeben A LEISURELY DRIVE DOWN any one of the many back roads of Northumberland County will quickly reveal one of the richest and most enduring aspects of the county's history. Scattered along these rural by-ways are numerous country churches of varying denominations. Most of these churches are no larger than a one-room country schoolhouse. Many still serve active congregations. Others now house secular organizations, such as the Odd Fellows, or have been disbanded altogether. Quite a few, such as the Zion Stone Church at Augustaville, still stand in their original splendor, a testament to time and the building talents of their founders. Others have been rebuilt several times over the years. A small hand-full have been abandoned and razed; only a lone cemetery with scattered headstones marks their former existence. These many small country churches, regardless of their varying condition, illustrate the strong evangelical spirit of Northumberland County's early pioneers. They stand as a testimony to the role that religion played in our ancestors' efforts to forge new communities in Northumberland's early wilderness. The following narrative chronicles the history of one of these pioneer congregations, the Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church at Plum Creek in Rockefeller Township. Organized in 1844 as an offshoot from other Lutheran congregations, the Eden Church typifies the history and experience of many of these small country churches, and attests to the pioneer spirit that drove the early settlement and development of Northumberland County. I. LUTHERAN BACKGROUND, 1773-1844 THE EDEN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH emerged in the midst of a well-established Lutheran community. The first Lutheran congregations and traveling missionaries appeared in Northumberland County well over seventy years before the settlers in the Plum Creek area of Augusta Township banded together in worship. As early as 1773, the Himmel Lutheran and Reformed congregation organized in the southern end of the county near the present-day village of Rebuck. A log schoolhouse and church were built the following year, after the congregation obtained a land patent for sixty acres from the colonial government.[1] About the same time, a Lutheran congregation was organized in the Stone Valley area of [Lower] Mahanoy Township. In 1774, as well, colonial authorities issued a twenty-seven acre land warrant for a Lutheran church in the area, near the present village of Red Cross, that would eventually become Jackson Township. The Rev. John Michael Enterline helped solidify this congregation between 1780 and 1788, and in 1795 the tract was finally surveyed and a building erected. A few years later, in 1803, Jacob's Lutheran and Reformed Church, better known as the Howerter Church, was established.[2] In the Sunbury area, the Proprietors gave a parcel of land to the Lutherans on Third Street, between Penn and Church streets, when the town plot was laid out in 1772. This piece of land was the beginning of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation's first log structure, however, was located at the northeast corner of Walnut Street. It was not until 1793 that a formal church edifice was erected on the Third Street site. With the construction of this church, Sunbury became a formal center for the operation of Lutheran ministries.[3] A church plot was also laid out across the river in Northumberland in 1772, but the Lutherans did not organize a congregation there until 1817. In the Sunbury hinterland, the Zion Stone Church, near Augustaville, emerged as the first Lutheran congregation around 1806. A few years before, in 1802, German settler Martin Raker donated an acre of his homestead for the use of public worship. A school building and a cemetery were established on the land, and four years later the formal organization of the Zion church took place. In 1814 the congregation began construction of a permanent building, which they finished in 1816. The church, a beautiful fieldstone structure which stands today as the oldest church building in the county still in active use, features a grand two-story worship hall with galleries on three sides. [In 1861 the galleries were replaced with a permanent second floor.] Thus established, the Zion Stone Church became the predominant Lutheran church in the area, and eventually served as the parent congregation for most of the other Lutheran churches, including the Eden Church, which emerged during the nineteenth century. Most of the men who later founded the Eden congregation also took an earlier hand in building the Stone Church.[4] The emergence of these early Lutheran congregations depended to a very large extent, of course, upon the presence of practicing ministers. Traveling Lutheran missionaries and circuit riders made their way into Northumberland County well before most Lutheran congregations took formal root; their activities provided most of the driving force behind church organization in this area. The earliest know Lutheran minister to penetrate the Northumberland wilderness was Rev. Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (1750-1801), son of the renowned Lutheran theologian Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, who traveled the Tulpehocken Path in 1771. He came to the Susquehanna River just below Mahanoy Mountain and administered to the spiritual needs of the settlers near the Isle of Que.[5] Another early minister who worked the lower Northumberland County region was the Rev. John Michael Enterline. In addition to founding the Himmel Church along Swabia Creek in 1773, Enterline tended to scattered settlers from Stone Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna, to Mt. Pleasant Mills, Freeburg, and areas outside Selinsgrove in what would later become Snyder County. Besides Himmel's, he organized some fifteen churches in lower Northumberland and Snyder counties between 1775 and 1788, including St. John's at Berrysburg [Dauphin County], St. Peter's at Red Cross in 1780, Hassinger Lutheran Church near Middleburg in 1780, and St. Peter's at Halifax in 1788.[6] The first Lutheran pastor to reach the Sunbury area and beyond was the Rev. Daniel Lehman. Beginning around 1780 he conducted preaching tours between Sunbury and Catawissa. Lehman also appeared regularly at Jacob's (Reed's) Lutheran Church outside Snydertown. He was followed by Rev. Herman J. Schellhard, who organized congregations near Milton and Muncy in 1790, and Rev. Christian Espich, who in 1794 traveled a wide circuit between Sunbury and parts south and west of the Susquehanna River. Besides serving Reed's Church and overseeing construction of Zion's first house of worship in Sunbury, Espich administered to the Himmel's Church and fledgling Lutheran congregations at Buffalo Valley (the Driesbach Church), Penn's Hill, Penn's Valley, Aaronsburg, and Mahanoy. Espich was soon followed in 1800 by Pastor Ludwig Wilhelm Albrect Ilgen.[7] The most well known Lutheran circuit rider of the Sunbury area in the early nineteenth century, however, was the Rev. John Peter Shindel. During his long career in Sunbury, from 1812-51, Shindel personally organized several of the small Lutheran churches in the hinterland of Augusta Township, including the Eden Lutheran Church at Plum Creek. Shindel was born at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on October 3, 1787. After entering the pastoral field, he was assigned to Sunbury by the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1812, and was formally ordained in Philadelphia in 1816. Shindel's regular pastoral duties encompassed a large number of congregations in the Sunbury area. He served Zion in Sunbury from 1812-51, and Jacob's (Reed's) Church, St. Peter's in Elysburg, and the Zion Stone Church from 1812-50. He presided over the dedication of the first permanent church buildings at both Reed's Church and Zion, Augustaville, in 1816.[8] Shindel's circuit duties also took him to a very wide range of additional churches throughout his career. To the north of Sunbury, Shindel served in Northumberland from 1817-23. There, he led the dedication service of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church on August 30, 1818. He may also have preached occasionally in Milton and at Immanuel's Lutheran Church in Muncy. In the lower end of Northumberland County and beyond, Shindel attended the Pillow congregation from 1830-43, Stone Valley from 1822-35, St. John's in Lyken's Valley from 1815-43, and Gratz from 1827-43. He also served St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Cameron Township from 1827-45. There, he conducted the first communion service on May 24, 1832. In Shamokin, local coal operators William and Reuben Fagely, in response to increased activities by Mormon missionaries, persuaded Shindel to hold occasional services at the Central School House from 1840-45. Across the Susquehanna River, finally, Shindel regularly traveled to Freeburg, Grubb's Church, and the Hassinger Lutheran Church in Middleburg from 1819-20, Schnee's from 1819-23, Kratzerville from 1820-35, and the First Lutheran Church in Selinsgrove from 1819-43.[9] During his career Shindel also founded several Lutheran churches. These included St. John's Lutheran Church in Snydertown and Immanuel Lutheran Church at Hunter's Station, Little Mahanoy Township, in 1828, Trinity Lutheran Church in Selinsgrove in 1843, and the Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church at Plum Creek in 1844. Shindel served these churches until his retirement in 1851; Immanuel's he served until 1842. In all, John Peter Shindel attended to well over twenty congregations until shortly before his death at Sunbury on October 26, 1853.[10] In doing so, he became without question one of the foremost promoters of the Lutheran Church in Northumberland County during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Eden Lutheran Church would emerge as a result of such a strong evangelical influence. II. THE PLUM CREEK SETTLERS, 1791-1850 AT THE BEGINNING of the Nineteenth Century, the Plum Creek Valley in Augusta Township, though moderately populated, was one of the main points of settlement outside Sunbury. One of the principal thoroughfares of the township, the Plum Creek Road, ran the entire length of the valley. Linking the Tulpehocken Road (Route 890) with the Old King's Highway (Route 61), it facilitated travel from Sunbury southward to Shamokin. Through the fertile pastures of the valley also flowed Plum Creek, a small tributary of Shamokin Creek that provided the main drainage for that area of the township.[11] Along this well-watered and accessible valley many of the oldest and most well-known families of the county-families that would form the nucleus of the Eden congregation-made their homesteads. Perhaps the most prominent of the Plum Creek settlers was John Philip Weiser (1787-1863), a descendant of a pioneer family well acquainted with Northumberland County. Philip's great- grandfather, the famed colonial Indian agent Conrad Weiser (1696-1760), had traveled regularly to Shamokin (Sunbury), the Indian capital on the Susquehanna, to deal with Chief Shikellamy, the Viceroy of the Iroquois in Pennsylvania. Philip's grandfather, Frederick Weiser (1728-1773), accompanied Conrad to Shamokin in 1745 and returned with his brother Samuel Weiser in 1753 to ascertain any evidence of French encroachments following the outbreak of the French and Indian War. Two years later, in October 1755, Frederick Weiser helped evacuate relatives from along the Susquehanna River following the massacre of settlers at Penn's Creek. In August 1769 Frederick again represented the Weisers at Fort Augusta during a meeting between colonial and Indian officials. Frederick's son, John Conrad Weiser (1753-1804), also became acquainted with Northumberland in 1771 as a traveling companion to his missionary kinsman Rev. Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg. John Conrad became the first Weiser to settle permanently in Northumberland County. In 1791 he moved his family, including four-year-old John Philip, from Schuylkill County to a homestead near Spread Eagle Manor in Mahanoy Township.[12] John Philip Weiser probably settled in Plum Creek shortly after his marriage on October 27, 1811 to Catherine Malick (1788-1852), a daughter of Augusta Township settlers David and Mary (Conrad) Malick. His homestead contained several hundred acres, and Philip erected many of the farm buildings that stand to the present day. On one of his farms stood one of the oldest structures in the county, a log cabin which was used as a shelter against Indian attacks during the French and Indian War. Philip Weiser must have been a formidable man, for later biographers described him as "a tall man, well proportioned, raw-boned and muscular though weighing about two hundred pounds, dignified in his bearing, possessed a resolute will and held strong convictions of right and wrong, was educated and intelligent, and applied his energies to such good purpose that he became the most substantial man in his section."[13] Weiser was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and served as a Northumberland County commissioner from 1841-44. A staunch Lutheran, Philip Weiser was a prominent member of the Zion Stone Church and later became one of the pillars of the Eden congregation.[14] Another family that established several homesteads in Plum Creek was the Fausolds. The progenitor of this considerable clan, Valentine Fausold (1765-1824), came from Hessen, Germany in 1795 and first settled in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. After serving in the War of 1812, Valentine moved to Northumberland County in 1816. He settled on the old John Reed farm in Plum Creek, located between the Miller's Cross Road's Church and the Stump School House in Shamokin Township. He became a member of the Zion Stone Church. Four of his sons, Jonathan (1805-1885), George (1809-1895), Joseph, and Henry (1819-1885), who married Philip Weiser's daughter Catherine, all settled in Plum Creek and became prosperous farmers. In addition, Jonathan Fausold worked as a shoemaker, while George Fausold engaged in contract work as a carpenter. He supervised a sizable crew and built many of the houses and barns in the area. George also participated in local politics as a Democrat, serving as a township school director, supervisor, and overseer of the poor.[15] Another pioneer whose family became very influential throughout Plum Creek was George Savidge (1769-1828). A native of New Jersey who migrated to Northumberland County about 1795, Savidge was a prosperous farmer and stonemason. His large homestead was located very near the site of the Eden Church. He was a prominent member of the Zion congregation at Augustaville, and helped build the stone church building in 1816. For his services, Savidge received one hundred dollars.[16] George Savidge raised a large family of seven children on his Plum Creek homestead. Four of his sons, John Savidge (1794-1873), George Savidge, Jr. (1797-1867), Joseph Savidge (1805-1889), and Samuel Savidge (1806- ? ), all pursued successful agricultural interests along Plum Creek as well. George Savidge, Jr., in particular, became one of the leading men of the district. In addition to operating a substantial 300-acre farm, he was a blacksmith by trade. Future biographers characterized George Savidge as such an astute businessman that "in his time he ranked third among the most substantial citizens of Rockefeller Township."[17] In 1818 George Savidge married Catherine Raker (1801-1870), the daughter of Conrad Raker, another prominent pioneer who later served as a county commissioner in 1837-38. George and Catherine Savidge raised a large family, three of whom-sons Henry Savidge (1822-1878), Hiram Savidge (1832-1909), and Lafayette Savidge (1835-1900)-established large farms along Plum Creek near the Savidge homestead. The eldest son, Henry Savidge, also became a leading man of the township. Henry was characterized as "an energetic and successful man, prosperous in his business and useful in all the associations of life."[18] In addition to farming, he produced pottery for a living, turning out all varieties of earthenware and ornaments. Henry was also a leading member of the local Democratic Party. Along with Judge Abraham Shipman, another local citizen of prominence, Henry Savidge controlled party politics in Rockefeller Township, "deciding its policies for many years and wielding a wide influence in this region."[19] Henry, his brothers, and their families all subsequently formed a major portion of the original Eden congregation. While the Weisers, Fausolds and Savidges comprised a few of the most prodigious pioneer families in the area, there were several other settlers of note who would also play a role in founding the Eden Lutheran Church. One such immigrant, Johannes Dreher (1807-1873), came to Plum Creek from Schuylkill County, where he had been engaged in farming and work on canal boats. He served as one of the first officers for the Eden Church before moving on to Mt. Carmel in 1855.[20] Dreher married Sarah Krieger, the daughter of Christian Krieger (1768-1850), another well-known Plum Creek homesteader. A descendant of an old English family that claimed roots back to the time of the Crusades, Christian Krieger boasted marital ties to several of the early Plum Creek families. In addition to Sarah, Christian's daughter Mary Krieger (1813-1868) became the wife of George Fausold. Krieger's son, Daniel (1811-1864), also married into the Fausold clan, wedding Valentine's daughter Mary Ann (1821-1891). Two other Krieger siblings, Samuel (1805- ? ) and Lydia (1820-1884), married into the Peter Conrad family of Plum Creek. Samuel wedded Mary Conrad (1810- ? ), while Lydia became the wife of Daniel P. Conrad (1814-1892), another of the original Eden Church officers. Other Plum Creek inhabitants who would figure in the origins of the Eden Lutheran Church included Jacob Bartholomew (1803-1877), a farmer and wheelright who settled in Plum Creek in 1831, Abraham Eyster, George Unger, William Reeser, Samuel Sharef, and several descendants of John Adam Krigbaum (1761-1839), a Berks County native who married Rachel Snyder (1761-1844), the sister of Pennsylvania Governor Simon Snyder.[21] In sum, the Plum Creek Valley early on became home to many capable and devoutly faithful Lutheran men and women. Their burgeoning presence by the middle of the nineteenth century created a dynamic population ripe for a new evangelical congregation called, perhaps appropriately, Eden. III. THE ORGANIZATION AND BUILDING OF EDEN, 1844-45 THE EDEN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH formally organized under the guidance of Pastor Shindel on April 21, 1844. Several basic reasons account for the rise of this congregation. The accessibility of existing churches provided one important factor. Although the Plum Creek Valley, it will be remembered, lay within a central location in the county and provided a thruway for east-west travel, the established churches in 1844 (Zion in Sunbury, the Stone Church in Augustaville, and St. John's in Snydertown) lay beyond the fringes of its settled population. All three parishes were situated several miles from the center of the valley, well beyond the mountain lines that defined the Plum Creek area. While many of the Plum Creek settlers who founded Eden belonged to the Stone Church, the plain reality of nineteenth-century travel-in the age of horsepower and unpaved country lanes-posed a frequent problem for them. This logistical factor highlighted in a very physical sense the need for a more convenient, centralized place of worship. The continuing evangelical influence of the Lutheran faith in the Northumberland hinterland provided an even more fundamental reason for the rise of Eden. A major part of Pastor Shindel's mission as he rode the county circuit was to cultivate new conclaves of Lutheran followers. His success in establishing new churches in the wilderness certainly inspired the Plum Creek settlers to form their own congregation. The fact that some division was then emerging within the Stone Church congregation over new ideas being introduced by Shindel no doubt influenced their course of action even more. This evangelical stimulus is reflected plainly in the statement of purpose crafted by the Plum Creek settlers in the first constitution of the Eden Lutheran Church. The preamble of that document, of which an English and German copy in the handwriting of Philip Weiser still exists, states in quite simple terms: In the Year of our Lord Eighteen hundred And forty four, a Small Band of Christians belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Augusta township, Commonly Called Plum Run Settlement, Northumberland County Penna. Resolved to Build a House of Worship, for their own use, in which they can worship the God of their Fathers & the God of the Bible, in accordance with the Doctrines & discipline of the Lutheran Church--[22] The simple desire to create a church of their own in which to practice their Lutheran faith as they saw fit, thus inspired most of the Plum Creek settlers to organize Eden. The constitution of the Eden Lutheran Church outlined several specific rules of organization. Concerning the leaders of the congregation, the document provided for a panel of six elected officers: two elders, two deacons, and two trustees. Together with the presiding minister and an appointed treasurer, these officers comprised the church council.[23] Philip Weiser, George Savidge, Johannes Dreher, Henry and George Fausold, and Daniel P. Conrad made up Eden's first slate of officers. They were required to conduct the business of the congregation according to the guidelines of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States, to discharge their duties in good faith, and to hold themselves voluntarily accountable for any "unchristian Like Conduct."[24] In addition, they were required to establish regular prayer meetings in the congregation and "see that they are Conducted in a still Decency order [original [syntax]."[25] The constitution also authorized the council to appoint a secretary form among themselves, who would "keep a strict account" of all congregational meetings and transactions. In this capacity the secretary maintained a registry into which all baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials were recorded. The secretary was also responsible for keeping a record of yearly communions as well as an updated membership roster, so that "it may be known who is a member" of the church.[26] The constitution provided a few guidelines for the minister of the congregation as well. First of all, any minister who wished to assume the pulpit of the Eden Church had to be approved by a majority vote of all eligible members of the parish at a special election. A unique proviso called for the annual election of a minister; through a two-thirds majority vote, members could maintain their current pastor on a yearly basis, or choose a new one at any time. No minister could be considered for the pulpit, however, unless he was a member in good standing of one of the Evangelical Lutheran synods in the United States, supported congregational prayer meetings and Sabbath Schools, and favored any "such measures as God has Commanded in his word, favorable to his Kingdom. . . ." Any layman or minister of the gospel could also preach upon seeking permission from the elected pastor and two-thirds of the membership. Finally, the Eden minister was required, aside from his other pastoral duties, to read the church constitution to the congregation once a year if so requested by the council.[27] The constitution outlined some general and specific rules for the church membership at large. Concerning general tenets of faith and conduct, the document called upon all church members to be strictly pious persons who "shall Endeavor to avoid all Evil words as well as deeds & conduct themselves as becometh the Children of God-" Stressing honesty and integrity, members were encouraged to "Endeavor to Settle any and all disputes among themselves, before they take Recourse to Law."[28] Any person possessed of these traits could join the Eden Church if they also were duly confirmed by a minister of the Gospel, or could provide proof of current membership in another Lutheran congregation. An eligible person had to apply directly to the Eden minister for membership, and also indicate their willingness to be placed upon the church roster, "if the minister finds him worthy of this privilege."[29] Once a part of the congregation, members had to conduct themselves according to the disciplines outlined by the Lutheran Synod; anyone who misbehaved had to answer to the church council for their actions. Furthermore, the congregation as a whole was authorized to take all necessary steps "if in accordance with the spirit of the Scripture" to convert people from sin.[30] All members were required as well to support the church with annual contributions "according to his abilities, as becometh the professor of religion." Anyone who failed to provide financial support for the minister for two consecutive years would forfeit their voting rights in the next election.[31] Concerning the administrative needs of the church, the constitution provided for annual elections, attended by a majority of the members, to decide the business of the congregation. Such elections had to be advertised two weeks in advance, and only communing and contributing members could participate or stand for office. Young members were accorded a vote in any congregational election for one year following their confirmation, "altho he may not have contributed anything, to the support of the church; . . ." Thereafter, they had to provide financial support or forfeit their voting rights. Through these elections, then, the congregation could pass any laws necessary for the better government of the church.[32] Additionally, the constitution called for an annual "Settlement of the congregation," at which time a general accounting would take place in the presence of the officers. The settlement outlined the condition of the congregation and detailed any external business pertinent to the welfare of the members.[33] Even before the Plum Creek settlers formulated the governing principles of their new congregation, they began construction of the first church building. Preliminary work commenced about March 25, 1844 on a plot of ground along the Plum Creek Road donated by Philip Weiser from his extensive homestead. The cornerstone was laid a month later, on April 21st, and the one-story frame structure was completed on November 2, 1844. During that time, a variety of work was carried out by men of the congregation as well as many of their community neighbors. Surviving account records from the project reveal much interesting and detailed information concerning the nature of the work involved and the manner in which it was performed. All facets of labor on the church building were organized by subscription. Men from the congregation and community first pledged a monetary sum in support of the project. They then had the option of providing a direct cash payment, donating the value of their pledge in building materials, or working the sum off in labor. This arrangement proved satisfactory to the men who actually worked on the project. A few months after the church was completed, on March 15, 1845, they signed a statement in which they agreed "to pay the Sum of our Subscriptions and we that have work[ed] over our Subscription and gave materials to Building said house, be considered in full, Paid what we have done Over our Subscriptions."[34] Actual labor on the church took place in several stages, and comprised a variety of artisan activities. Between March and November 1844, twenty-some work parties were organized. The men performed an array of jobs, from simple preparatory work such as hauling materials to the building site, cutting boards and shingles, and mixing mortar for the foundation, to more intricate carpentry jobs. These latter included masonry work on the foundation, shoring timber (building the stud walls), making wooden lathes (thin, wooden strips nailed to the interior framework, upon which the plaster finish was applied), plastering, and whitewashing the church.[35] Most of the preparatory work took place from March to June, with the heavy construction occurring from August through November. All of the men who worked on the building project contributed varying amounts of time and labor. For the most part, those who belonged to the congregation, particularly the council officers, performed a majority of the labor. Daniel P. Conrad, for example, spent several days in April and May hauling materials and cutting wood. In August he delivered more boards and spent one day making lathes. Then, during October, he hauled lime, sand and bricks for four days, made lathes one day, filled concrete at the walls one day, and helped whitewash the building. Conrad also lent a hand with the finish-up work on November 12th, the last day of the project.[36] In a similar manner, George Savidge delivered two pounds of nails, at eight cents per pound, for window frames on March 27th. In April he spent two days transporting materials with three horses. During May he bought 4,000 shingles and another pound of nails, spent one day shoring timber, and another day hauling. On August 17th he delivered another load of boards with Daniel Conrad, then spent a half-day making lathes. On September 11th Savidge brought more lumber from Furman's sawmill. During October he spent a half-day tending the plasterer, and a half-day mixing sand. Finally, on November 2nd, he also helped put finishing touches on the church. In addition, Savidge donated the catechism and the Record Book.[37] John Dreher, George Fausold, Samuel Krieger, and Philip Weiser all donated similar amounts of time and labor. As well, Henry Fausold built ten door and window frames, while his brother George Fausold built the doors and the altar.[38] While the above-mentioned men performed the majority of the work on the church, other members and neighbors in the community offered some assistance. The oldest member of the congregation, seventy-nine year-old Christian Krieger, spent one day in June boring shingles (a job worth fifty cents towards his initial pledge), and then paid the balance of his five dollar subscription in cash. Similarly, William Reeser and Joseph Fausold spent two days on masonry work in April, Joseph Krigbaum five days on general labor, Henry Savidge two days on labor and two days in October slacking lime and whitewashing the church, and Jonathan Fausold two days on general labor. Fausold also paid $2.68 towards the general subscription fund, and another $1.32 to his brother George to complete his $5.00 pledge.[39] In addition, non-members-friends and neighbors from the Zion Stone Church congregation-donated materials to the project. Peter Lazarus provided an oak and two pine trees for lumber, Daniel Bostian two days worth of carpentry work, Samuel Savidge eight bushels of lime, Henry Malick two dollars worth of boards, and Lewis Dewart fifty pounds of nails. Jacob Raker, Jacob Bloom and John Wolf also gave 215 ft., 200 ft., and 167 ft. of boards respectively.[40] The final cost of the first Eden Lutheran church building totaled $267.56. The existing list of expenditures in the building records outlines an interesting array of items purchased by the building committee. In addition to paying $9.37 for such materials as boards, bushels of lime, brick nails and putty, the congregation spent 20 cents for a lock and hinges, 61 cents for hinge bolts, and $1.62 for oil. As far as a heating system for the church was concerned, a coal stove was purchased from Johannes Dreher for $7.00, stove pipe for $3.47, and two loads of coal for 87 cents. An extra $4.00 was paid to Daniel Wensel for plastering, while John Brown received one dollar for sawing.[41] The subscription pledges to pay for these expenses only amounted to $169. So many members overpaid their pledges, however, that the actual sum collected came to $242.48. Johannes Dreher, for example, pledged five dollars but actually contributed $13.62 in work and materials. George and John Savidge, George and Henry Fausold, Samuel Krieger, Philip and Solomon Weiser, and Joseph Krigbaum all followed suit. The $25.08 deficit in the overall building cost was quickly covered by an additional offering of $11.55 received at the cornerstone laying on April 21, 1844, and another collection of $18.02 taken during the dedication ceremony for the new edifice. The offering collected at the first communion service in January, 1845 provided another $3.32.[42] It could therefore be said that faith and generosity as well as hard work made the first permanent sanctuary of the Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church a reality. IV. EARLY YEARS AND EARLY PASTORS, 1845-73 THE ORIGINAL FRAME CHURCH BUILDING served the Eden congregation form 1844 to 1873. The events that filled these early years in the life of the Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church are somewhat sketchy and difficult to piece together. The oldest record books of the congregation have long since disappeared. Bits of information gleaned from later registries, however, tend to suggest a rather simple life typical of a fledgling congregation. The first recorded confirmation took place in 1847. At that time, Rev. Shindel inducted a class of three people into the membership of the church: Peter and Magdalena Bartholomew, children of Jacob and Catherine (Bloom) Bartholomew, and Harriet Savidge, who subsequently became the wife of John H. Martz. Shindel inducted a second class of confirmants shortly before his retirement in 1851. Most of the young people in this class were children of founding members. They included Daniel, Elizabeth and Catherine Fausold, children of Jonathan and Catherine (Bartholomew) Fausold, Abigail Gass, and Hiram and Lafayette Savidge, sons of George Savidge. The earliest known burial in the adjacent Eden churchyard also took place during Shindel's tenure, when two young children of Daniel and Lydia Conrad were interred in 1845 and 1847. Shindel also witnessed the passing of the first and eldest of the founding members when Christian Krieger died on September 30, 1850 at the age of eighty-two.[43] The Rev. Dr. Peter Born took over the Eden pulpit after Shindel retired. He was born near Muncy in 1820, the son of Peter and Elizabeth Born. Pastor Born attended Gettysburg College, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1848. He graduated two years later from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, and was assigned to the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod. Born served as pastor in the Sunbury area from 1850-59. Besides Eden, he officiated at the Stone Church, St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church near Hallowing Run in Lower Augusta Township, and Zion Lutheran Church in Sunbury. For a short time, from August 1, 1858 to early 1850, Born also supplied at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northumberland.[44] During Pastor Born's eight years at Eden, from 1851-59, he confirmed five persons. His class of March 25, 1853 consisted of three Fausolds: Samuel and Henry K. Fausold, sons of George and Mary (Krieger) Fausold, and Mary Ann Fausold, daughter of Jonathan. On May 12, 1855 he confirmed Huldah Bartholomew. Shortly before he departed, Born also confirmed David Fausold on April 22, 1859. After Born left the Eden pulpit he pursued a more academic career. From 1859-81 he served as superintendent of the Classical Department, Susquehanna University. During that time he also served as a trustee of Gettysburg College from 1871-78, and received a doctorate in Divinity from Wittenberg College in 1879. Then, from 1881-93, Born served as superintendent of Susquehanna University as well as a professor at the Susquehanna Seminary from 1881 until his death on May 23, 1899. Following Pastor Born's tenure at Eden, two brief terms of service were held between 1859-62 by the Revs. P. Rizer and George P. Weaver. The Rev. A. H. Shertz, who ministered from 1862-67, succeeded them in turn. One confirmation was held during his term, which took place on May 23, 1863 and inducted six people into the church: William Taylor, Mary Bartholomew, Eli Fausold, Mrs. Louise C. Shipman, Lucinda Fausold, and Zachariah Conrad. During this period two more founding members passed away as well: the venerable Philip Weiser on November 16, 1863, and George Savidge on October 1, 1867.[45] All in all, the Eden Lutheran Church fared well as a fledgling congregation. Fulfilling its mission as a center of worship in the Plum Creek Valley, Eden experienced it's share of births, deaths, and marriages-amounts typical for a small country church of that time period. Some major changes, however, were in store for Eden as the congregation worked toward it's thirtieth anniversary. During the brief pastorates of Rev. Joseph R. Focht (1868-70) and Edward E. Berry (1870-72), the need became clear for major renovations to the frame edifice of the church. Before these changes took place, the congregation first had to pass through a major test of faith and endurance as the turbulent events of the Civil War called several of its brethren into military action. ENDNOTES [1] Herbert C. Bell, History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: Brown, Runk Co., 1891), p. 788. Hereafter cited as Bell, Northumberland County. [2] Ibid., pp. 710, 713, 746; Lester G. Shannon, "The Lutheran Church in the Upper Susquehanna Valley," Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings 22 (November 1, 1958): 107-8. Hereafter cited as Shannon, "The Lutheran Church." [3] Ibid., p. 111; Bell, Northumberland County, pp. 502-3; J. H. Weber, History of Zion's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1791-1891 (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication House, 1891), p.9. [4] Bell, Northumberland County, p. 792. [5] Shannon, "The Lutheran Church," p. 100. [6] Ibid., pp. 107-8. [7] Ibid., pp. 109-11. [8] Ibid., p. 114; Bell, Northumberland County, pp. 792, 799. [9] Ibid., pp. 540, 640, 771; Shannon, "The Lutheran Church," pp. 114-15. [10] Ibid. [11] Bell, Northumberland County, pp. 20, 790. [12] Frederick S. Weiser, ed., The Weiser Family: A Genealogy of the Family of John Conrad=20 Weiser (Mechanicsburg: Center Square Press, 1960), pp. 6-7, 227-30. Hereafter cited as Weiser, The Weiser Family. [13] J. L. Floyd, ed., Genealogical and Biographical Annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. L. Floyd & Co., 1911), p. 454. Hereafter cited as Floyd, Genealogical and Biographical Annals. [14] Ibid.; Weiser, The Weiser Family, p. 411. [15] Floyd, Genealogical and Biographical Annals, pp. 130-31, 662. [16] Ibid., p. 625. [17] Ibid. [18] Ibid. [19] Ibid. [20] Ibid., pp. 628-29. [21] Bell, Northumberland County, p. 1195; Floyd, Genealogical and Biographical Annals, p. 273. [22] The Eden Lutheran Church Constitution, April 21, 1844, in the Eden Lutheran Church Records, Box 1, Folder 1, United Lutheran Church Archives, Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Hereafter cited as Eden Church Records, ULC. [23] Article 2, in Ibid. [24] Article 3, in Ibid. [25] Article 10, in Ibid. [26] Articles 4 & 5, in Ibid. [27] Articles 15, 16, 19-21, in Ibid. [28] Article 8, in Ibid. [29] Articles 5 & 9, in Ibid. [30] Article 11, in Ibid. [31] Articles 6 & 7, in Ibid. [32] Articles 8, 12, 13, 17, & 18, in Ibid. [33] Article 14, in Ibid. [34] Subscription Statement, March 15, 1845, Eden Building Account Book (1844), p. 26, Box 1, Folder 2, Eden Church Records, ULC. [35] Ibid. [36] Ibid., p. 1. [37] Ibid., pp. 5, 19. [38] Ibid., pp. 6, 13. [39] Ibid., pp. 3, 5, 12, 15-16. [40] Ibid., pp. 10, 12, 14, 17-18, 21. [41] Ibid., pp. 30-31. [42] Ibid., pp. 23-25, 29, 31. [43] Church Membership List, Eden Parish Register, 1872-1959, Box 1, Eden Church Records, ULC; Joseph A. Meiser, Jr. et al, eds., A Genealogist's Guide to Burials in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Volume II, 2nd Edition (Grantville: Wert Bookbinding, Inc., 1991), p. 179. [44] Bell, Northumberland County, pp. 503, 543, 707, 792; Abdel Ross Wentz, ed., Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary, Volume II: Alumni Record (Harrisburg: The Evangelical Press,1964), p. 32. [45] Eden Parish Register; Meiser, Burials in Northumberland County, pp. 185-86.