source: Pope p. 79 Lutherans con't Despite the fact that the exact date of the establishment of St. John's cannot be proved, it is generally regarded as the oldest congregation in Newberry County. At the time that Judge O'Neall wrote the Annals (1859), and when Chapman brought out the second edition with his Part Two included (1892), St. John's lay beyond the county line. Hence neither mentioned St. John's. Today St. John's occupies a new brick church with a Sunday school annex. Across the highway is the beautiful, simple wooden building erected in 1808 and known as the White Church, complete with gallery, hand-carved pulpit and the original sounding board. The well-kept graveyard adjoins the old church lot. Tradition says that St. Paul's was founded in 1761 on land granted to the Reverend Joachim Bulow. However a release, dated June 24, 1774, from Joachim Bulow of the District of Ninety Six, Minister, to Bernard Mantz, George Eigleberger, and George Hertel, Elders of the Congregation of the dissenting Church of St. Paul is recorded in Deed Book B at page 107, Newberry County Clerk's Office. the contract granted to Joachim Bulow on June 23, 1774. The tract is described as being on the waters of Crim's Creek and bounded southeast by Tobias Lagrone, northeast by Andrew Thomas, northwest by Michael Kibler, and southwest by Jacob Durr and William Houseal. The Reverend Frederick Joseph Wallern was the second pastor of St. Paul's, serving from 1787 to 1818. In 1814 a congregation from Newberry District was received in connection with the North Carolina Synod; its elders were Michael and Peter Rickard, Andrew Weecker, and Martin Kinard, and it is thought that this was St. Paul's. In 1830, st. Paul's Church was dedicated by the Reverend Messrs. Rauch and Schwartz. This was during the revival of interest in religion, and since that time St. Paul's has been a fine, strong church. It now occupies its fourth building, one of granite which was opened on March 19, 1938. The third Lutheran church established in the county during the eighteenth century is Bethlehem, located a few miles north of Pomaria. The congregation first met about 1784 at Wicker's Camp Ground and erected a small log hut for a meetinghouse. The church was incorporated in 1788 and then moved to its present site in 1816 under the pastorate of the Reverend Godfrey Dreher. end of Lutheran section.... ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com