The first settlers were Scotch Irish, but they were soon followed by the comepresent Pennsylvania Germans.

As early as the year 1811 there were quite a number of these Idustrylous people scattered thoughout the county.

Their principal settlements were Licking, Beaver, Red Bank, Salem, Shippenville, and State Road, and the oldest Evangelical Lutheran Churchs of the county are located in there communities.

It must be borne in mind however that Clarion County was not errected until March 11 1839 and all references to these settlements in the early synodial records ect, are made to Armstrong and Vanago Counties.

The first pastor to minister to these German pioneers so far as we can learn, was Rev. Peter Rupert who was sent out as a "Traveling Missionary" by the ministeries of Pennsylvania during the summer of 1814.

He found that the people of Licking settlements had already built a log church, and here he instructed and confirmed the first class of Catechertical .

The first German pastor to make his home in Clarion County was Rev. Henry Kock, a minister of the Reformed Church, who came to Western Pennsylvania in 1819.

The conditions of his day are those discribed by his biographer.

"The county was thinly inhabited, no roads, only foot paths and marked trees to serve as guides from clearing to clearing and from one log cabin to another. His first sermons were preached in cabins in the winter and in the woods during summer.***

On one occasion the Rev. Nicholas P. Hacke, with his wife, a sister to Mrs Koch, visted him. They started from home in no vehicle, but were compelled to cut their way with a axe for miles to get to his house"

From 1819 to 1839 he ministered to the Lutherans as well as Reformed, although the former were treated to an occasional visitation by Rev. John M. Steck of Greensburgh Pa.

The most substantial pioneer work for the Lutheran Church in the county was done by Rev. Gabriel Adam Reichard, who entered the field in the summer of 1822, and ministered to the people at varying intervals for a piriod of eight years.

The Oldest Lutheran Church in the County is undoutably the St. John's Church of the Licking Charge, which was previsiously organized as early as the year 1814. The next oldest churches are St Pauls, Red Bank, Shippenville, Fryburgh, and Lamartine.

The reader is warned against the unreliable Lutheran date found in Davis History of Clarion County

A goodly percentage of the church going people are Lutheran. The number 1,863 communical members, and are folded in twenty-one chruches, fourteen of which belong to the General Synod, four to the Ohio Synod, and three to the General Council.

These settlers were Fathers of the "Licking" Reformed and Lutheran Churchs.

In 1811 John Brinker bought of Lewis Doverspike, several hundred acers of land, three acers of which he soon thereafter sold to the "Trustees" of the German Reformed Congregation for the consideration of ten dollars.

The date of this sale is not definately know, insomuch as Mr Brinker neglected to execute a deed for land. This deed was made to the church by his heirs, under the date of April 26 1834.

Upon the land, a log church was errected sometime between the year 1811 and 1814.

For when Rev. Peter Rupert visited the settlement in the summer of 1814 he found a solitary little log church in the wilderness and confirmed a class of catechertical within its walls, one of whom lived to be more than ninety-four years of age, and to Rev. B. E. Shaner this longevity of mother Kahns, who survided the other members of this cate class, reflects the vigor of her race.

The Lutheran Pioneers of Western Pennsylvania were exceptionaly hardy people. They had great healty bodys and strong loving hearts.

No better or more desirable class of settlers ever came to Clarion County than the Pennsylvania Germans.

Author: Burgess, Ellis Beaver, 1869-1947.

Title: History of the Pittsburgh Synod of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1748-1845-1904.

Together with a brief sketch of each congregation of the Synod, edited by the same author.

Imprint: Philadelphia, Printed for the Synod by the Lutheran Publication

Society, 1904.

Physical Extent: 488 p. illus., ports. 24 cm.

Subjects:

   Pittsburgh Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. History of The Pennsylvania Synod