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St. John's Lutheran
CHURCH
Conover, NC

DEAL
Eli E. Deal

DEAL
Jacob E. Deal

DEAL
William Deal
Mary Herman

SETZER
Delila Deal
(Mrs. Jacob Lanier Setzer)

SETZER
Jacob Laneir Setzer

SETZER
Nancy Malinda Frasure
(Mrs. Jacob Lanier Setzer)

SETZER
Patsy Ruth Ann Deitz
Infant Son Setzer
(Mrs. Jacob Lanier Setzer)

SETZER
John Wilburn Setzer
Evoline Tabitha Smith

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CEMETERIES

Eastview
Cemetery
Newton, NC

McCorkle Family
Cemetery
Terrell, NC

Providence Memorial
Cemetery
Catawba, NC

Weeks Family
Cemetery
Newton Grove, NC
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CHURCHES

Bethlehem Methodist
CHURCH
Claremont, NC

Catawba Methodist
CHURCH
Catawba, NC

Center Methodist
CHURCH
Catawba, NC

Mathis Chapel Baptist
CHURCH
Catawba, NC

Sharon Lutheran
CHURCH
Statesville, NC

Sherrills Ford
Presbyterian
CHURCH
Sherrills Ford, NC

Shiloh Methodist
CHURCH
Claremont, NC

St. John's Lutheran
CHURCH
Conover, NC
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LOFTIN:
 Beatty
 Corzine
 Cranford
 Fisher
 Givens
 Harwell
 Kaiser
 Lanier
 Lomax
 McCorkle
 Rudisill
 Sherrill
 Upright
 Washington
 Work

SETZER:
Aderholdt
Barringer
Bovey
Bushart
Deal
Heavner
Herman
Ikert
Miller
Motz
Rankin
Witherspoon

GOBLE:
Babst/Bobst
Douglas
Faber
Fink
Fulbright
Hefner
Meinhert
Miller
Muller
Pabst/Bobst
Robinson

JOHNSON:
Corzine
Fink
Hamilton
Kaiser
Leslie
Lewis
Moore
Sherrill
Upright
Wilkinson
 

 

St. John's Lutheran Church   2126 St. Johns Church Rd NE Conover, NC  28613   Organized: 1798             The History of St. John's Lutheran Church since 1798 Written by the Rev. C.O. Smith May 15, 1949 On the Occasion of the Laying of the Corner Stone of the New Church   St. John's was founded by a group of "Pennsylvania Dutch". Unfortunately the early records of the founding of St. John's congregation have been lost if any were kept. The only thing we have from that remote period is the deed. Since this was, at that time, Lincoln County, this deed is recorded in Lincoln Court House, and begins thus: "This indenture made this 28th day of November in the year of our Lord 1798 between Henry Bobe (Pope) of the County of Lincoln and State of North Carolina of the one part, to the elders of the United Congregation Of St. John's and their successors in office forever in trust for the said congregation consisting of Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians". It further says: "Being a part of a tract of 350 acres granted by His Excellency, William Tryon, Esq., Governor of North Carolina, to Henry Bobe by a King's patent Bearing date of the 13th day of October in the year of our Lord 1765".   Thus, while the deed was executed in 1799, the congregation must have been organized before that date. In the first place, Henry Pope must have been living here when Gov. Tryon's King's grant was made to him in 1765, 34 years before the deed was made to the church. Again if there were elders to whom the deed was made in 1798, there must have been a congregation prior to that date to elect these elders. Then, the people who organized this congregation were "Pennsylvania Dutch", and we know that this immigration from Pennsylvania began in 1750 and was in full flow by 1760. Besides under MARKED stones there lie the remains of Philip Baker, born in 1764; of Martin Accert (Eckerd), born 1759; of Theobold Hunsucker, born 1744; of his wife, Magdelena, born 1750; of Daniel Woodring, born 1764; of Polsar Sigman, born 1754; of his wife , Margaret, born 1757; of a Summit, born in 1741; and others. How old were those whose remains lie in unmarked graves, or in graves with uninscribed stones, we do not know; and there are goodly number of such graves in the graveyard.   (Incidentally, in this cemetery lie the remains of 4 Lutheran Pastors, and of the wives of two Lutheran Pastors; The Rev. Daniel Moser, born 1790 and dies 1839; the Rev. Daniel Henkel, 1795-1831; the Rev. D.E. Fox, 1835-1866; the Rev. D.A. Goodman, 1837-1917; and the wife of the Rev. J.S. Koiner and of the wife of the Rev. C.O. Smith).   A Historic Sketch of the Reformed Church in North Carolina says: "About 1812 when the first house of worship at St. Paul's (West of Newton) gave place to the one still standing, that part of the Reformed and Lutheran congregations which lived in the bend of Catawba River, erected for themselves a commodious log building six miles northeast of the mother church". That "commodious log church" was St. John's.   Here it is said that the first church here was erected "about 1812". Whether that is correct I do not know, but I do know that this first church was built of logs. I was baptized in it, and confirmed in the brick church which was erected when the first church was torn down. This log church was weather boarded and ceiled; was two-stories high; had a gallery with a floor-space more than half the size of the first floor; had a "goblet" pulpit, entered by a little stairway from the rear, and in it the minister was in position to address the audience on both floors. The slaves sat in the gallery. This pulpit was a real work of art in workmanship. Every plank and every nail used in the church and in the pulpit was made by hand. A certain Mr. Sigman made the nails in his blacksmith shop.   This old log building served as a "union" church, built by the Lutherans and the Reformeds. The Episcopalians, so far as is known, never had a member here, nor did they ever hold a service in this church. They were named in the deed simply because the Episcopalian church was the official church of England, and this was an English colony.   It is claimed that the similarity of confessional basis of the Reformeds and the Presbyterians brought about a confusion of names, so that when the Presbyterians are named in the deed, the Reformeds are means. Neither the Lutherans nor the Reformeds were strong enough to build a church of their own faith, so they together built the church, the Lutherans having a three-fourths interest, and the Reformeds a one-fourth interest, in the property; the Lutherans holding their services 3 Sundays in the month, and the Reformeds one Sunday.   In 1883 this old church was replaced with a plain, but commodious brick church which would seat around 300 people. This church, too, was a "union" church. Part of its walls are contained in the west wing of the present beautiful structure, of which every member of the congregation has abundant reason to be justly proud.   At first St. John's belonged to no Synod, for there was none to belong to. Then, it belonged to the North Carolina Synod from 1803 to 1820. In protest against the un-Lutheran doctrinal laxity of the North Carolina Synod, the Tennessee Synod was organized in 1820. St. John's withdrew from the North Carolina Synod, but it and its Pastor, The Rev. Daniel Moser, hesitated about joining the Tennessee Synod until 1824 when, at a meeting held in Keinadt's (Coyner's) Congregation, in the "Valley" of Virginia, it and its Pastor were accepted into the Tennessee Synod.   When the faculty left Concordia College, Conover, North Carolina, and went to Hickory to establish Lenoir (now Lenoir Rhyne) College, the Missouri Synod came to take up the work at Concordia College. This was in 1892. About two years later, St. John's called the Rev. W.H.T. Dau, D.D., and then joined the Missouri Synod, of which Synod it is still a member.   The Minority Lutheran Congregation, during the Pastorate of the Rev. George S. Hunt, appealed to the Ohio Synod to take them over, which this Synod did.   Recently the Missouri Synod, St. John's Lutheran Congregation, bought the Reformed and Ohio Synod interests in this property. It now belongs entirely to the Missouri Synod Lutherans. This was done during the pastorate of The Rev. Roland E. Haase.   That opened up the way for bigger and better things at St. John's, and these Bigger and Better things have come! The Congregation, which was draggy and sleepy came to life, and it is now awake. It is doing things. A fine activity has changed the graveyard from a place where the motto was "GONE AND FORGOTTEN" into one which reads: "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN". But the awakened Congregation decided not only to take care of the dead, but also to take care of the Living. They have planned and are finishing up one of the nicest Country Churches in Catawba County. St. John's is now definitely on the road to greater things. May she Live, Bloom, and Grow. Heaven's blessings attend her.           Church Pastors       Pastor's Name First Sunday Final Sunday                                                         Cemetery         DEAL Eli E. Deal August 11, 1811 November 08, 1863 Eli Deal was the son of WIlliam Deal and Mary Herman He was a brother to Delila Deal (Mrs. Jacob Lanier Setzer) He was the husband of Eliza A. Rudisill       DEAL Jacob E. Deal Son of D. F. & Delila Deal was born June 7, 1863 and died June 22, 1890 Aged 27 yrs and 15 days Jacob was the son of D. F. & Delila Deal       DEAL   William Deal November 08, 1774 November 08, 1824   Mary Herman February 05, 1780 August 13, 1845       William Deal was born November 8 1771 Departed this life November 8 1824 William Deal was the husband of Mary Herman He was the son of Jacob Deal and Margaret Ikert He was the grandson of Johann Wilhelm Diehl and Mary Ann Crosby     Mary (Herman) Deal Born February 5 1780 Departed this Life August 13 1845 Ages 65 Ys 6 Mo & 7 Ds Mary Herman Deal was the wife of William Deal She was the daughter of Johannes Wilhelm Herman and Maria Catherine Motz She was the granddaughter of Johann George Herman and Anna Margaretha Guenther       SETZER Delila Deal Setzer May 11, 1809 October 14, 1850   Sacred To The Memory of Delila Setzer Wife Of Jacob Setzer Who Died October 14, 1850 41 Yrs 5 Ms & 3 Ds Delila Deal was the 1st wife of Jacob Lanier Setzer   She was the daughter of William Deal and Mary Herman She was the granddaughter of Jacob Deal and Margaret Ikert She was the great granddaughter of Johann Wilhelm Diehl and Mary Ann Crosby She was the granddaughter of Johannes Wilhelm Herman and Maria Catherine Motz She was the great granddaughter of Johann George Herman and Anna Margaretha Guenther       SETZER Jacob Lanier Setzer October 04, 1804 December 10, 1891   In memory of Jacob Setzer who was born Oct. 4, 1804 and died Dec. 10, 1891 Ages 87 yrs 2 m & 6 d Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of Life.  Rev. 2:10 Jacob Lanier was the husband of (1) Delila Deal, (2) Nancy Malinda Frasure and (3) Patsy Ruth Ann Deitz He was the son of John Setzer and Catherine Bushart Barringer He was the grandson of Jacob Setzer and Mary Magdalene Bovey He was the grandson of Mathias Barringer and Margaret Bushart                             SETZER Nancy Malinda Frasure Setzer July 22, 1813 June 11, 1877   Nancy M Setzer wife of Jacob Setzer was born July 22, 1813 and died June 11, 1877 Aged 63 yrs 10 ms and 19 ds Nancy Malinda Frasure was the 2nd wife of Jacob Lanier Setzer       SETZER Patsy Ruth Ann Deitz Setzer October 31, 1842 August 22, 1912   Patsy R. A. wife of Jacob Setzer born Oct. 31, 1842 died Aug. 22, 1912 Aged 69 y. 9 m. 21 d. Patsy Ruth Ann Deitz Setzer was the 3rd wife of Jacob Lanier Setzer   Infant (Son) of Jacob & Patsy R. R. Setzer born Dec 30, 1878 died Jan. 1, 1879 Aged 36 hours       SETZER   Mother Evoline Tabitha Setzer Born September 17, 1850 Died March 22, 1908   Father John Wilburn Setzer Born May 30, 1840 Died Nobember 25, 1907             SOURCES:   History of St. John's since 1798 http://www.stjohnsconover.com/about/history/48-history-of-st-johns-since-1798