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History of Friedens Church:
The Beginning to 1887

Read on December 5, 1999

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      After a time of having services in homes of interested families, the congregation was organized on December 13, 1874 under the name of "Die Evangelische Freie Protestant Gemeinde" (The Evangelical Free Protestant Congregation).
      The first constitution was signed by the following charter members: Elias Burke, Rudolph Hoge, Johann Riebold, Charles Metzger, Friederich Hoge, Julius Nill, Adam Feldner, Jacob Mahler, Henry Mumme, Frank Heddergott, Peter Bernhardt, Frank Holtgrave, William Schulz, Phillip Gross, Fritz Schuler and William Freulenau.
      The first Congregational Meeting was held on January 3, 1875 in the local Presbyterian Church - now the Pentecostal Church, since the congregation did not have a building until November of 1875.
      The first pastor to serve the congregation as a resident pastor was Rev. Dietrich. Peter Cumman whose term of ministry started in 1876 built the first parsonage with his own hands, conducted regular services and also taught Sunday School. Unfortunately, the ministry was short as he died in 1881 having served the congregation only five years.
      There followed a period in the history of the congregation when it had a pastor and then short periods without the services of a pastor. Because of this situation, it became more difficult to pay the pastor a living wage. The pastors who served for only a short time were all "free" pastors and were not members of the denomination. Friedens Church then dictated a pleas to the German Evangelical Synod of North America and asked for a pastor who was a member of that denomination. The synod sent a recent graduate of Eden Theological Seminary, the Rev. Ernest Rierneyer in the fall of 1887.
      The first couple to be married in the newly organized church was Henry Gindler and Barbara Witman on February 3, 1878. They were the grandparents of Irwin Dollinger, deceased; Marie Dollinger; Oscar Gindler, deceased; Harold Gindler; Elmer Gindler and Irene Kotzman. Their daughter, Maria A. Gindler, the mother of Marie Dollinger, was the first baby baptized in the newly organized church in 1878.