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History of St. John's since 1798 |
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Page 2 of 3
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.
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General Information 
