St. John's Waxler Church and Cemetery
In one of my mother's scrapbooks, I found this article from the Marietta Times by Burns Harlan dated Monday, August 16, 1976. Originally, the scanned photo was included here, but is now replaced by a current photograph. Location: Off CR 11 in southwest part of township. S32, T4, R7.
Old German Lutheran building in Liberty Twp. no longer in use
When a county history was written shortly after 1880, a German Lutheran Church was located in the southwestern part of Liberty Twp. Its location is on County 11 on a hill near County 42.
Later it was known as St. John's Waxler, a division of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. After that it was a United Church of Christ—but it has not been used for about 10 years.
Organizers of the German Lutheran church were Jacob Schramm, Samuel Bruny, Christian Best, Peter Gruber, charles Brown, their wives, and Catharine Haartwig and Frederick and William Epler.
Meetings were held from house to house for two or three years when a building was erected, Minister in 1881 was Rev. F. C. Trapp.
From 15 to 20 years before the history was written (1881), a German church was organized and met in a building on Fifteen Mile Creek, but the building was destroyed by fire and the church ceased to exist.
Among those buried in the cemetery at the church (the old section is unkept) are Bruny, his wife, Gruber and his wife.
Bruny was born in 1825 and died in 1912, and Mrs Bruny, the former Elizabeth Rohrer, born in 1824, died in 1916. Gruber, born in 1818, lived until 1887 while his wife, Catherine, who died in 1903, was born in 1819.
Also among the older burials are those of Casper Wallenfelsz (1828-1908), Wallenfelsz's wife Salome (1832-1908). George C. Best (1829-1906), Best's wife Elizabeth (1830-1900), Karl Braun (1814-1887), Barbara Pontious (1834-1884), Jacob Becker (1807-1880), Becker's wife Catharine (1810-1889), Susannah Erb (1817-1894), as best the writer could interpret the German, Daniel and Maria Gelinnan Kirsch, Adam Miller (1865), in his 50th year; and Dr. Charley Schwarz, born in Mason City, W. Va., in 1864 and died in 1894.
References
- German-American Communities, Churches, Cemeteries, Records and other Sources Washington County and Adjoining Townships in Noble and Monroe Counties, Ohio, information compled by Millie Covey Fry of Marietta, Oh, December 30, 2001; December 4-7, 2006, January 30, 2007. Information provided by Donna Betts, Kurt Ludwig, Catherine Sams, Ernest Thode, and Dean Zimmer.
- Matt, Barbara Gerhart, translations of the Berg Church Records of Daniel Hirsch.