St. Thomas Lutheran Church
              Ohio City, Ohio (Harrison Township)

 
 Ohio City is located in Western Ohio about 10 miles from the 
 Indiana border in Van Wert County.  German immigrants began to 
 settle in this community as early as 1839. The first decade of St. 
 Thomas Lutheran Church belongs to the past to such an extent that 
 the particulars cannot be presented to posterity in their 
 completeness because of the absence of reliable sources.
 
 It is known that Pastor Wyneken came upon the German 
 settlement of Schumm in his travels through Ohio. When he 
 ministered to the people of this community in 1839 he may have 
 also made contact with the people who became the nucleus of St. 
 Thomas. It is believed that church services were held in private 
 homes soon after the early immigrants arrived.  The first known 
 pastor, John George Burger, a Loehe sending, left his call in 
 Hancock County in 1846 and came to Van Wert County where he 
 organized Zion at Schumm. He also ministered to people living 
 north and east of that settlement until his untimely death. John 
 George Streckfusz was then called by Zion at Schumm and he 
 organized St. Thomas church in the summer of 1847. Its first 
 candidate, Friedrich Nuetzel, was ordained and installed on 
 February 4, 1849.  Soon after he commenced his pastorate 
 doctrinal problems surfaced and created much dissension within 
 the congregation. After much debate and the studying of Scripture 
 and the Lutheran Confessions it was attempted to adopt a strict 
 Lutheran Constitution. This provoked serious differences and 
 caused Pastor Nuetzel to accept a call elsewhere in the summer of 
 1850. At that time the congregation split and became 2 
 congregations. The new congregation that was formed became St. 
 Paul Evangelical Protestant Church.
 
 In December of that same year the second pastor, Erhardt Riedel, 
 was installed, a constitution was adopted and signed during the 
 first year of his pastorate.
     ______________________________________________________________
     This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg
     by Debbie Harris and is in the public domain by permission 
     of Rev. Manfred K. Rembold. You may freely distribute, copy or
     print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: 
                      Rev. Robert E. Smith of the 
           Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
                                       
                       E-mail: bob_smith@ctsfw.edu
                                       
       Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
          Phone: (219) 452-2148             Fax: (219) 452-2126
     ______________________________________________________________