The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-10-16

/ &Oii6A C6otAOiA AAOl
Evangelical Church, M o IN
Clemens, next week will turr
back the pages of history to ,
period IS years ago, when the
community was a mere village
on the Clinton River, and the
now thriving religious grouE
had neither church edifice OF
resident pastor.
This memory will be the most
precious of many, when the
church's 85th anniversary i.
marked in the spacious and well
tended edifice and the attractive
South Wilson boulevard parson-
age.
And while memories 60 back
to the church's only two for Ter
pastors, Rev. Herman Gundert
and Rev. F. A. Reese, who serv-
ed the congregation from 1854
to 1925, honor will be paid to
the present minister, Rev. Jacob
Wulfmann, whose pastorate
from 1925 has been marked with
signal progress.
Next Sunday the church's
85th anniversary will be feat
ured by special services at
which leaders of the national
and Neutrality-suspicious. synods OF
the church will appear. On Fri
day, Oct. 26, women's groups OF
the church will sponsor a dinner
in the church dining rooms-an
adjunct to the thriving parish
which justifies the faith its
founders had in the future.
HISTORY is TOLD
The following summarized
history of the church is provid-
ed through research efforts OF
Rev. Jacob Wulfmann:
1t was about the middle of the
last century that little group
of German settlers banded
themselves together for the pur-
pose of establishing a Christian
Church in Mount Clemens. The
first meetings were held in the
modest homes of sturdy pion-
GERS, and when these proved in
adequate for such gatherings,
permission was obtained to use
the more spacious rooms of the
court house for their worship
services.
For several years the little
band which called itself the
United Evangelical Society
was practically without spirit
ual leadership. Services were
held internationally and were
conducted by visiting pastors OF
various UNCONVENTIONAL affilia-
tions. History and tradition re-
cord the names of the following
pastors who ministered to the
little group in those early days
Rev. Hermann of the Northwest
Synod, Rev. sWinkler, of the
Buffalo Synod, the pastors
Krause, Grabner, and Grad
mann of the Missouri Synod and
Rev. Hoff of the Reformed
Church. The first resident pas
tor was Rev. William Kies. He
came to Mount Clemens from
Casco Twp. in st. Clair County
and remained with the congre-
cation from August IL, 1862 un-
til May l, 1854.
FIRST MEETING 1860
The first official documents
of the congregation obtainable
are the minutes of meeting
held January /, 1860. These
minutes record the election of
the first church council consist
ing of the following men: FIR.
Slender, president; John c.
Reimold, secretary; Fred Fuhr-
landt, treasurer; George Muir
than, Fred Steinbrink, Carl
Schmidt, Conrad Cess, Jacob
Coil and Henry Krauss. Hence
January l, 1860 may safely be
assumed to have been the date
of the founding of Zion Evan
gelical Church Of Mount Glenn
ems.
In a meeting held January o,
1862, the original name which
had been adopted by the yet un-
organized group was changed to
the somewhat obscure appella-
ton, German E. S. Congrega.
ton" However, it may be
assumed that the two letters "E''
and IS" stood for the initials OF
Evangelical Synod, the name OF
the denomination of which the
first pastor was q member. Al
that same meeting, which was
attended by ~ members of the
congregation, the first constitu.
ton was adopted and q new
church council elected. The
constitution contained 20 para
graphs and was written into the
records of the congregation by
William Fluemer on April 80,
1863. The Council consisted OF
the following men: A d m
Schrade, president; John c. Rel.
mold, secretary; Jacob Gohl
treasurer; Abraham Coulo n
Gottfried Alband. Ferdinand