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First St. Paul's Lutheran Church

3620 Nafziger Road, Wellesley, ON, N0B 2T0

Begun: 1852

Pastor F.W. Bindemann of Berlin conducted  services in the area as early as 1848, but formal organization of the  congregation was in 1852 by Pastor Franz Adam Peifer of Waterloo. Pastor Peifer ministered to a joint congregation of St. Paul's, Wellesley and Zion, Phillipsburg until 1854.

The cornerstone for the first church building, on land donated by Christopher Doering, was put in place on July 20, 1854; the building was completed later in the same year, during the ministry of Pastor Christian Herman Thomsen who dedicated the church in 1856. This church was destroyed by fire on August 21, 1876, but a new brick one (the present one) was built in the same year; the cornerstone was laid on September 10, 1876, and the church was dedicated on November 17, 1876. (The date stone above the front door reads Ev Luth St. Paulus/Kirche 1876.)

Rev. Johann Adam Ernst was pastor in 1864 when the congregation separated from Phillipsburg and joined the  Missouri Synod. The year 1867 found the next pastor, Rev. Henry Koch, looking after four congregations - St. Paul's, Wellesley; St. John's, Poole; Emmanuel, Petersburg; and, later, the Lutherans in Linwood. In 1879 Emmanuel joined St. Paul's in Berlin, to return to St. Paul's, Wellesley in 1896. Emmanuel became a single congregation in the late 1970s.

Renovations were made to the church in 1896 and 1926; in the latter year a chancel and basement were added. The church steeple was replaced in 1936 by a shorter structure, and another new steeple, surmounted by a seven foot stainless steel cross, was built in 1978. In 1992 a large new addition was constructed; a major change was the relocation of the main entrance of the church to the new wing.

Records:
Baptism dates: 1888- Location of records: at church
Marriage dates: 1888- Location of records: at church
Burial dates: 1888- Location of records: at church

The early records were lost in the fire in 1876. See
Waterloo County Marriages 1858-1869, for Marriages 1858-1859, 1865-1869. Some Birth records 1836-1855, 1858, 1860 and some Deaths 1855, 1860 are in the Civil Registers for Waterloo County, National Archives microfilm C-15758, available at the Kitchener Public Library.

References: Cronmiller 1961:164; Maple Leaf 1983:87; R. Taylor 1986; Wellesley W.I.; WHS 1967(55):45,52.

Church History:
100th Anniversary Souvenir of First St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Wellesley, Ontario, June 29, 1952.

Information excerpted from:
Waterloo County Churches, A Research Guide to Churches established before 1900, by Rosemary Willard Ambrose ©  Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. It is reproduced  by permission.

For a complete list of resources mentioned above, please click
here.

                                   -----------------------------------------------------

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First St. Paul's celebrated its150th anniversary in 2002. Much
of the  following information comes from their commemorative booklet. 

 









Early Pastors
1852 - 1864 - Pastor F. W. Bindeman, Pastor Franz Piefer, Pastor Popplow, Pastor C. H. Thomsen, Pastor Friedrich Ehinger, Mr. Pahl, Pastor Hoelsche

Reverend Adam Ernst, 1864-1865
Reverend Henry Koch, 1865-1869
Reverend Frederick Dubpernell, 1870-1875

Reverend Julius Kirmis, 1876-1894
Reverend Daniel Lochner, 1894-1906
Reverend Henry Battenberg, 1906-1921
Reverend Gustav Pranschke, 1922-1926
Reverend Clarence A. Kramer, 1927-1948
Reverend Walter Heinze, 1948-1960
Reverend Donald R. Reisdorf, 1961-1967
Reverend Irwin H. Pudrycku, 1967-1975
Reverend Karl A. Frincke, 1975-1982
Reverend Douglas L. Priestap, 1982-1987
Reverend R. George Reinhart, 1987 -



Cemetery
The cemetery is located beside the church. Records can be accessed through the
church office.

The tombstones have been transcribed by the Ontario Genealogical Society and recorded in pamphlet #CC4540. This can be accessed in the
WTHHS Historical Room or purchased from the OGS. A CD of all the cemetery transcriptions in Wellesley Township is also available for purchase from the Waterloo Region Branch of the OGS for $30.00.

More information about the cemetery can be seen
here.