This is the one picture I have of the Old Stone Church, where the Dutes once worshipped. The picture, from "The Evangelical Church in Ohio" is captioned "Amherst Church (second building), 1882-1925".

This was posted by Nancy Meyers to the OHLORAIN roots web list 12/24/2003: "Salem Church of the Evangelical Assoc. began in 1836. It was the mother congregation of Huron, South Ridge, Browhnhelm, and Lorain congregations. It 1st built a log church, then a frame church built in 1861 at the corner of Cooper-Foster & Kolbe Roads. Many Germans members. In 1864 the congregation rebuilt a church on the site where the present day Old Stone Church stands & it had merged with the Amherst group. I have an 1867 membership list of both the Salem Class and the Amherst Class."

Valerie on the location of Salem: "I just discovered by reading more in the Evangelical History that Salem was evidently an area north of Amherst. I have been doing Amherst history for about 20 years and never heard of it. It states that it is about four miles west of Lorain and north of Amherst. That would put it at the end of Kolbe road and possibly close to Casper's farm." I gather that the Dute farm was at the corner of Kolbe and Cooper Foster. "The Evangelical history states that part of the reason for organizing the Salem group was to bring the German immigrants together in religion. Amherst is known for its German population in the early days. They came to farm and work in the sandstone quarries. Salem was the name they gave to all churches in what they call the Sandusky area. That seems strange since we are just as close to Cleveland as we are to Sandusky ---aout 30 miles." From 8/11/08. Later the same day: "I called our local genealogist with whom I exchange material often. He said he didn't know how it got to be Salem but yes it was where Casper Dute's farm was located. There was a frame church on the property. That explains the story about Casper walking past the church and hearing the minister talk about 'our duty.' He thought the pastor was talking abut him so he joined the church. I always thought it was a phony story because the church was in town on the spot where their newer one was built. I guess I shouldn't be so doubting of the stories."

The extended excerpt below from "The Evangelical Church in Ohio" was sent me by Ethel Valerie Eppley Jenkins Gerstenberger. The book also contians some text on a church in Brownhelm that Henry and Anna Dute Hasenpflug were involved in, for anyone who's interested, and a list of the pastors for several of the old churches.

The notations here are from Valerie Gerstenberger, including the one saying "my great-grandparents". It's hard to say what the Salem Class was. "Die Evangelische Gemeinschaft" means "The Protestant Society".

The reference here to "our enemies" is hard to fathom. Maybe there was some tension in early Ohio between the German immigrants and the settlers who came from places like New England. That wasn't the only church burning. Valerie: "My Mother's mother attended the Baptist here in Amherst. However, it burned and that was probably when she went to the Congregational." On the other hand, Valerie says, "I never heard that the burning of the churches was anything intentional." It would be interesting to get the original of the report by George Dute and Lewis Schleich. The footnote says it's from Ch. Bot.; the book itself probably explains what that is.

Valerie on the camp meetings: "There is a reference in the association history that he allowed them to meet for their summer conference on his property for a period of 18 or more years. This however, was that they resided in tents. That doesn't mean that there wasn't the church there also. The tents were just for those attending the conference. Those meetings are the ones that eventually obtained Linwood Park as their home. It seems that I once saw an account or heard that the frame buildng was moved from Amherst to Casper's farm."

The pages below are from History of Lorain County, ?1879, snail-mailed me by Valerie, 2/26/2009.

The first paragraph here implies that the J. G. Ziegler account was written in the 19th century...

...but the last paragraph in it here lists the pastors up thru 1911, implying it was written after that. Take your pick. The top paragraph, where it says the old church north of town was sold to George Dute, implies that he did not own that land when Salem Church was built.