hello all.. a conversation has been going on and i beleive it may have been off list so please let me summarize. it has been said that prior to the building of the zion lutheran church in middletown there was a country church in the area which was a "union" church used by both the lutheran and the reformed church people of the middletown valley area. it was reported to have been a log building.. when the churches of middletown were built and church books begun there were added to those books records from the country union church as remembered. these records are supposed to be included in the German Church Records Volume II i beleive there are but two pages .. does anyone have Volume II ? to do a look-up for Klein/ Kline/Cline ? thanks again as always jay cline --------------------------------- Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.

Jay, I'm not sure if we discussed this already or not, but here's what I know about this church: My ancestor, Johann Ludwig WISSINGER and his wife Catherine were of the Protestant faith and in 1750, Johann and his friends built a crude log structure for their church in the Middletown area, Md. This building was used by the Lutheran and Reformed congregations until 1783 when the group disbanded. In 1771, the Lutherans purchased an acre of land from Conrad CRONE and in 1773, they built a sexangular log structure for their church. This building was used until 1814 at which time they built a brick structure replacing it in 1859 with a larger brick structure, which is still standing, and in use today. This building was also used by the government as a lookout and hospital during the Civil War. This church is the Lutheran Congregation of Zion Church of Middletown, Md. On March 20, 1771, a deed was signed by Conrad Crone for a parcel of ground in Middletown giving it to the trustees of a Lutheran church to be built on the site. On September 24, 1815, the second Lutheran Church in Middletown was dedicated. It was built on the same site as the first church which was on a lot sold to the church in 1771 by Conrad Crone. The third church replaced this one on the same site in 1860. >From what I understand, there are/were three churches in Middletown in these early days: * Evangelical and Reformed Church (originally the Monocacy Lutheran Congregation), founded in 1737, * Zion Lutheran Church, started in 1750 as described above, * Christ Reformed Church, aka the German Reformed Church (a congregation of the United Church of Christ), founded in 1770. For your reference and researching, I found some records for the Lutheran Congregation of Zion Church, Middletown, Md. at the LDS library on microfilm - Church Record of the Lutheran Congregation of Zion Church at Middletown, near Frederick, Md. translated by Charles T. Zahn (this multi-volume reference contains Baptismal, Marriage, and Death records, Communicant and Confirmation lists and other notes. These records starting 1779 and are translated from the original German manuscript by Charles T. Zahn, 1934. Unfortunately, records before 1770 for the Zion Church including the early log church are believe to have been lost or destroyed. For a complete listing of transcribed records, see the LDS catalog at <http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp>, select PLACE SEARCH, enter Place = Middletown and Part of = maryland, Select <Maryland, Frederick, Middletown>, select <Maryland, Frederick, Middletown - Church records>. Note, there is a listing for the Transcript of church records, 1746-1887 [Evangelical Lutheran], but I have not seen these records yet. These would be the oldest known records for the churches of Middletown. I hope this helps and good luck with your search, Bob Wissinger Researching the Wissinger's of Frederick Co., Md. -----Original Message----- From: mdfreder-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:mdfreder-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of jay cline Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 10:48 AM To: fred co.list Subject: [MDFR] middletown zion lutheran hello all.. a conversation has been going on and i beleive it may have been off list so please let me summarize. it has been said that prior to the building of the zion lutheran church in middletown there was a country church in the area which was a "union" church used by both the lutheran and the reformed church people of the middletown valley area. it was reported to have been a log building.. when the churches of middletown were built and church books begun there were added to those books records from the country union church as remembered. these records are supposed to be included in the German Church Records Volume II i beleive there are but two pages .. does anyone have Volume II ? to do a look-up for Klein/ Kline/Cline ? thanks again as always jay cline -------------------------------------------- My mailbox is spam-free with ChoiceMail, the leader in personal and corporate anti-spam solutions. Download your free copy of ChoiceMail from www.digiportal.com