St. Thomas’ Churchtown

2201 County Road 27, Hudson, NY  12534

The Founding of the Congregation and Earliest Years to 1830

The founding of the St. Thomas congregation was undoubtedly the outgrowth of the ministry of Justus Falckner’s “church in my house” at “Gospel Hoeck” with Rev. Berkenmeyer being the itinerant pastor at the time of its official “gathering” in 1730. According to The History of the New York Ministerium, “The founder of this Congregation is hardly anyone else than Berkenmeyer.”  (p. 41.)  After the year 1738, Berkenmeyer was pastor of the Albany and Athens churches only.  St. Thomas then fell to the care of other itinerant pastors until 1760.  During its earliest days it was known simply as The Lutheran Church of Claverack.

The official church records of baptisms, funerals and communicants begin in 1700 and through 1905 are contained in two books transcribed from the original three volumes by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and edited by Royden Woodward Vosburgh and L.P. de Boer in 1912.  The recording of marriages at St. Thomas did not begin until 1804.  Family names from the St. Thomas congregation prior to 1760 may be found in the records of other area churches such as Zion Lutheran in Athens, St. John’s Lutheran in Manorton, Christ Lutheran in Germantown, and St. Paul’s Lutheran in West Camp.  Also some family names from the St. Thomas congregation may appear in the records of the Reformed churches in Claverack, Hillsdale, Ghent, West Copake, Germantown, Gallatin and Linlithgo.

The first church was built of logs in 1750 mid-way between the settlement at Claverack to the northwest and the Livingston Manor.  It was not erected in any settlement, but rather at a location that was convenient for the Dutch Lutherans around the present Hudson-Claverack area and the German Lutherans who had moved north and east from Livingston Manor.  The first indenture of the church property is dated May 1769 when Henry W. Livingston donated land to the church.

As the years passed and local families grew a settlement developed around the church which appropriately was, and still is, called “Churchtown.”  Among the first inhabitants of the town were Jacob Hagadorn, Nicholas Roat (Roote), Jonas Roshman (Rossman) and Joseph Hauser (Houser).  Uldrich Sours was also one of the local landowners and lived to the astounding age of one hundred and five years.  The hamlet of Churchtown contained a school owned and operated by the church, a store, several “Publick Houses,” a wagon repair shop and, on surrounding streams, a grist mill, saw mill and a plaster mill.  Much later, in the year 1853, a post office was established in one of the stores and Albert Sheldon was the postmaster.  Deliveries of mail from Hudson were made several times a week.  In 1878, when the History of Columbia County was published, the postmaster was Mr. R. Decker.

Johann Friederich Reiss (Reis) became the first full-time pastor of the St. Thomas’ congregation in 1760, having served churches in the Mohawk Valley from 1751 to 1760.  While at St. Thomas he also ministered to the Lutherans at Germantown, Wurtenburg, Manorton and Hillsdale.  In his first year at Churchtown, he baptized twenty-three children, among them Maria Schmidt, Jonas Silbernagel, Johannes Schutt, Friderich Klein, and Henrich Miller.

Reiss served St. Thomas for twenty-three years and then went to the Stone Arabia, N. Y. congregation which he served until 1787 when he returned to St. Thomas and served another four years.  He died in 1791 while serving in the office of pastor.  His grave-marker in the Churchtown Cemetery is located on the site of the altar of the old log church.  It reads “Rev. John F. Ries who was born A. C. 1722, and departed this life A. C. 1791, having been Pastor of this Church about 30 years.”

Philip Jacob Gross (Grotz) took charge of the Churchtown congregation and the other churches Reiss had been serving on the east bank of the Hudson after Reiss went to Stone Arabia in 1783.  When Reiss returned to St. Thomas In 1787, Gross then became pastor of the Stone Arabia church and died there in 1809.

The original Call Letter to the next pastor is included in the First Volume of the transcribed church records and is dated October 8, 1791.  The congregations at Churchtown and Loonenburg (Athens) extended a joint call to Johann Friederich Ernst of “Kutztown, Maretawny Township, Berks County, State of Pennsylvania.”

According to the Call, he was “to administer two holy Sacraments (a year) according to Christ’s Constitution and with edifying Sermans (sic) which are to be preached on every other Sunday in each of the aforesaid Congregations as much as God may grant him grace and strength to feed the sheep.”  Space does not permit the presentation of the entire Call, but it is interesting to note that he must have had to learn to speak Dutch as the call letter includes this statement: “He shall likewise preach in the Holland language in the Congregation of Loonenburg as soon as he shall find himself capable.”  His salary was to be one hundred pounds per year with each congregation paying half and he was to be allowed the use of the parsonage at Loonenburg.  He also was to be provided by the members of the churches with twenty cords of good firewood and “first crop hay together with Pasturage during the summer season for one horse (and also) fifty bushels of Oats to keep the same in good riding Order.”  For recording the baptism of each child in church records he was to receive four shillings from the parents and ten shillings for performing a marriage ceremony.  Likewise, he was to receive a certain number of shillings for preaching a funeral sermon, the amount being obscured in the original copy.

During Ernst’s pastorate the congregation was incorporated as “The German Lutheran Church of St. Thomas in Churchtown.”  In 1793, the members adopted a set of detailed and very strict regulations which are contained in the Second Volume of transcribed records of the church.  These were translated by Catherine Louis from the original German and were signed by the following trustees and elders: Willem Milius, Willem Becker, Jacob Camer, Jacob Boshman, Peter Miller, Simon Michel, Fite Roshman, Peter Hagadorn, Henry Bortel as well as Johann Friedrich Ernst as minister.

To illustrate the strictness of the regulations and the word usage in the year 1793, the following is quoted: “In case any of the Communicant members of our Church, which God in his Mercy forbid, commits gross offense or publicly transgresses by means of sin and having fallen into the snare of Satan, and such be proved by irrefutable, trustworthy evidence, the requisite degrees of admonition shall likewise be practiced impartially and such persons (1) be admonished by the spiritual guide (pastor) alone and be exhorted to true penance and repentance, but if such be of no avail, (2) the admonition shall be repeated by the minister in the presence of several elders, and if neither this has any effect, (3) He shall by summoned before the entire Church board for the third and last time.”

It is apparent from the church records that Ernst had a difficult time with his flock.

One of his notes in the church records reads:

In the spring of 1794 a quarrel raised by the schoolmaster Penker has prevented the Holy Communion from being held.” In the Communion records of 1796 there is found this notation: “The Holy Evening Meal was not held by the congregation because it had allowed itself to be led into the error that the preacher had been drunk, or that on account of his membership with the Freemasons he stood in league with the Devil.

On February 19, 1799 he baptized a child by the name of Cornelius Kuhn “in the house of Mylius, because through the godless obstinacy of several people, such as Jacob Roshman and Jonas Roshman and others, the Church Key was withheld so that the church could not be opened, nor service be held.” Thus from his pastoral notations, we have Ernst’s side of the controversy but the accusations of the congregation cannot be proved or disproved for the sake of history.  Ernst had some good days though, because on the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity in 1795, following the list of communicants, he made this comment, “This has been the most blissful Communion I ever had since I have ministered this congregation.”

Several of Ernst’s parishioners must have been slaveholders because the record of communicants on the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity in 1793 lists, “Anna Tenkosen, eine Negerin” (a “Negress”) and Christian Schmidt, “eine Negerin.”  Elizabeth Schmidt was baptized on September 6, 1795.  Her father was “Yenko Schmidt, eine Neger dem P. Schmidt” (a Negro servant belonging to P. Schmidt).  As was the custom of the time the slave was given the slaveholder’s surname at the time of baptism.  Listed as one of the communicants in 1793 is “Peter, des Veit Miller’s Neger,” (the Negro of Veit Miller).

Rev. Ernst resigned as pastor in 1798 and eventually returned to his native state of Pennsylvania.  He also served the Lutheran churches in Germantown, Manorton and Hillsdale.

Frederick H. Quitman was the pastor of St. Thomas from 1800 to 1802 and like his predecessors served more than one church in the area at the same time: Germantown, Manorton, Ghent and Rhinebeck.  There is little information in the record for the years of his pastorate.  One interesting thing, however, is that the name of the next pastor of the church, John George Friederick Uhl, appears in the list of communicants for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity 1802 and again in the list for the fall of 1803.

Rev. Uhl was ordained a Lutheran minister on October 10, 1803 and served St. Thomas for thirty-three years, the longest pastorate to date.  He was the schoolmaster of the church-owned school before his ordination.  Sometime between 1816 and 1825, Uhl began to copy the church records contained in the worn-out second volume (1802-1821).  He used the record book in which his predecessor, Rev. Ernst, had recorded the Church Regulations.  The rest of the volume, except for a page of signatures, is in the handwriting of Pastor Uhl who faithfully kept the records day by day, year by year. Even after his retirement in 1835 he continued to live in Churchtown and to baptize some of the children and record their baptisms.  The Uhl copy of Volume II is included in the two books of records transcribed by Mr. Vosburgh and Mr. de Boer.

On October 31, 1817 the hamlet of Churchtown was the site of a remarkable ecumenical celebration hosted by the St. Thomas congregation.  The occasion was the three-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg Church in Germany and thus the beginning of “The Reformation” and the Lutheran movement.  Pastor Uhl wrote a magnificent proclamation which was read on that day and was recorded by him in the Church records.  An extract from the local newspaper The Hudson Bee describes the festivities:

This festival was celebrated in Churchtown in the town of Claverack. The festivities were well suited to the occasion.  At 11 o’clock in the forenoon of the 31st October the assemblage of people at the above place was very great, when the solemnities of the day commenced by singing the German hymn composed and sung by Martin Luther on his entering Worms.  After this the procession was formed at the house of Frederick Hauser in the following order: First, Marshal of the day.  Second, the Hudson Band of Musick. Third, two old and respectable members of the Congregation bearing the Bible placed on a cushion to which was annexed a beautiful wreath in the figure of a Heart encompassing the likeness of Luther.  Fourth, the Lutheran Congregation of Churchtown and other persons who had come from different parts of the County to join in the Celebration.  The Band of Musick then commenced a well adapted air, and the procession moved to the Church, entering which, divine Service began in German, and a very appropriate sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Uhl.  In the afternoon a procession was again formed in a similar manner, with the exception of the Emblematical Device, which after the forenoon’s service, remained in Church suspended from the pulpit, and after entering the Church, an excellent English sermon, every way adapted to the occasion, was preached by the Rev. Mr. Bedell.  Both in the for and afternoon, divine Service was at proper intervals, interspersed with music by the band.  After divine Service was ended in the afternoon the Clergy, the Band of Musick and many other persons partook an excellent repast, prepared by M. Rossman. The Solemnities of the day were conducted with the utmost decorum, and were not interrupted by the least disorder, all who were present appearing to (be) duly impressed with the importance of the occasion which had called them thither, and this paid a respectful tribute to the memory of the great Reformer, and in a becoming manner evinced their joy for the still greater work he accomplised.

Hudson, November 4, 1817 – John Kortz

A more descriptive and interesting account of the celebration of St. Thomas that day is contained in a letter from a spectator to the Hudson Bee and was also copied in the church records by Pastor Uhl.  In part, it reads: “The first and principal thing worthy of remark was the harmony which prevailed on that day.  What could have been more pleasing and gratifying to the beholder of the Solemnities which that memorable occasion justly demanded?  What could have been more pleasing to him whose mind was expanded beyond the narrow prejudices which divide Christians of different denominations than to see clergymen of various orders join hand and heart in Commemorating an event from which men of every religious persuasion reaped the same advantages; which had such important consequences in removing the film  which had so long obstructed the Vision of the human interest; which taught mankind the true bond of relation between them and the Creator.”  “This pleasing scene unanimity was of the 31st of October last, presented by the Cordial manner in which the Clergy walked arm in arm in the procession and heartily joined in the Celebration.  The reverend gentlemen who attended were the Rev. Valentine R. Fuchs, the

Clergyman of the Reformed Congregation of Germantown; the Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, minister of the Episcopal congregation in the City of Hudson; the Rev. J.G.F. Uhl and The Rev. George Joseph Wichterman, both Lutheran clergymen, the former the minister of the congregation at Churchtown and the latter residing at Taghkanic.

          [[When the religious exercises of the afternoon were finished, the unanimity which distinguished the behavior of the Clergy during the Solemnities of the day was strengthened by their partaking together of a repast prepared by Mr. Rossman of Churchtown.]]  (Sharing a meal and eating together has long been a token of unity in Christian churches.)  ”The day of religious light begins to dawn upon us.  The omen is truly auspicious of the Spirit of tolerance.  Let us rejoice that it has fallen to our happy lot to have lived to see it.”

        Pastor Uhl was forced to retire in 1836 because of his advanced age.  Judging from the number of baptisms, marriages, confirmations and communicants recorded during his tenure at St. Thomas, he had a large congregation and was kept very busy.  His interest in the affairs of the church continued up until his death on June 27, 1845 at the age of 84.  His grave in the church cemetery is a short distance from that of Pastor Reiss.

In 1836 the present church building was erected by Ambrose Root and John McElwain. Since it took them almost a year to build the new edifice, at can be assumed that both Pastor Uhl and his successor, Rev. Jacob Berger (1836-1842), were involved in the project.  A ledger used by Mr. Root and Mr. McElwain for keeping records of expenses is one of the treasured artifacts of the St. Thomas congregation.  It shows that these men were paid $1.25 a day for their labor.  Mrs. McElwain received $1.00 a day for cooking for the men and a few local laborers.  It is not clear who paid for the food used but the prices are recorded in the ledger: apples, thirty-one cents a bushel; butter, nineteen cents a pound; a gallon of molasses, thirty-seven cents; eggs, twelve cents a dozen.  Logs for lumber were drawn by horse and wagon from the Catskill and Berkshire Mountains as well as from local forests.  The architecture of the Church is Greek Revival and originally had a seating capacity of five hundred.  There is a large balcony of the second level.

During the pastorate of Hiram Wheeler (1842-1846) a two story, spacious parsonage was built and was the home of the pastors and their families from 1844 until 1956. In the basement is the original brick oven.

Very little is known about the pastorate of Rev. Levi Schell, 1853-66, except that he was one of several Lutheran ministers in the county who preached in Hudson at the Court House to a group of Lutherans before the founding of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hudson. He was also instrumental in helping a group of Lutherans in Taghkanic Center form a church in 1855.  In 1858, a resolution was drawn up between St. Thomas Church and the Taghkanic Center Lutheran Church forming a dual pastorate whereby one minister served the two congregations but each church organization remained a separate entity.  The trustees of St. Thomas who signed that resolution were John Michael, Samuel Anderson and Arnold Wise, with Rev. Schell signing as pastor.  This arrangement continued up until 1919 when Rev. P.M. Luther left to serve a church in Oneonta.  The two churches again shared the same pastor from 1942 to 1947 when Rev. George Whitlock served them.  The Taghkanic Center Church was affiliated with the Lutheran church at Ancram until 1982, when the church closed due to declining membership.

From 1837 to 1869 there is very little information of interest in the records of the church, except the listing of baptisms, communicants, funerals and marriages. Records of annual congregational meetings and Board of Trustees meetings are preserved in a volume entitled, “Business Records of St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Churchtown, New York; 1809-1945.”

According to the regulations adopted in 1793, the governing body of the church consisted of Trustees (no specific number is mentioned), four Elders, four Directors or Deacons and the minister. Elders were elected for three-year terms and Deacons for two-year terms.  One elder, deacon and trustee were elected each year by the congregation.  In order to become an elder or trustee, one first had to serve as a deacon and “have proved himself faithful and attentive in office.”  The secretary and treasurer apparently were chosen from among the Trustees.  Friend Miller was the treasurer at the time of the first recorded annual meeting on December 23, 1869.  Samuel Miller was elected a Trustee for three years, Jacob Rossman was elected Elder and John Stickles was elected Deacon.  Rev. J.A. Rosenberg was minister at this time and served until 1876.  He performed the first marriage ceremony ever celebrated in the new church building, between Albert H. Shelden of Claverack and Catherine Jane Palmer of Taghkanic on January 17, 1861.  Marriages in those days usually took place at the bride’s home, at the home of a family friend or at “Domini’s House.”

At the annual meeting of 1871, the congregation voted to purchase a hearse to be rented out for use at funerals. In 1873 rules and regulations governing the rentals were adopted.  Members of the church were to pay $5.00 for its use, unless they furnished the team of horses to draw it, and then the fee was only $3.00.  The trustees were empowered to set the fee for those who were not church members or did not contribute towards the purchase of the hearse.  Two dollars of each rental charge was put into the church treasury and the sexton was paid one dollar for cleaning it after each use.  The congregation also approved a resolution stating that the “fee for the sexton be placed at the sum of $3.00.  This to include digging the grave, tolling the bell and covering up.”

In May of 1872 an event of importance to the young people of St. Thomas and other area churches took place at the church. The annual convention of the Columbia County Sunday School Association was held at Churchtown.  This organization comprised nearly all the Sunday Schools in the county and was an auxiliary of the New York State Sunday Schools Association.   Its purpose was to organize Sunday School work in the county. To try to reach child and to encourage the study of the Bible.  Again in October of 1876 the convention was held at St. Thomas.  In the year 1878, Mr. George Best of Churchtown was the association secretary.  In that year there were one hundred twenty-five children enrolled in Sunday School classes at St. Thomas and Richard Miller was the superintendents.  The church at that time had about three hundred fifty communing members.

The first mention of “renting of the pews” appears in the minutes of the annual meeting of 1879 when the date of January 18 was set aside for this purpose. No mention is made of the fees charged for the pews charged for the pews.  Chauncey Diefendorf was the pastor at this time and was appointed clerk for the annual meeting of January 5, 1878, the minutes being in has handwriting.  Pastor Diefendorf and his wife lost their seven-month old son in April 1879.  The funeral is listed in the records, noting that Rev William Hull of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hudson officiated.

On December 29, 1883, during the pastorate of Marcus Empire, the following resolution was adopted by the congregation: “Whereas singing is an important part of divine worship, and being desirous of encouraging the same in connection with our church service: (1) The pastor is hereby authorized to purchase ten copies of the “Book of Worship With Notes” for the pulpit and choir, (2) Members of the choir and authorized to raise by subscription in the congregation the means necessary to secure a suitable organ for their use in the church.” How much money was raised and where the organ was purchased is not recorded.

It is not until the annual meeting in the year 1885 that any money amounts are mentioned in connection with the operation of the church and the benevolent contributions. In that year $478.74 was received and $338.45 was disbursed by the Treasurer, Reuben Miller.  Benevolent contributions for the year totaled $258.45.  During the late 1800’s, although his salary was only about $600.00 per year, Rev. Empie had difficulty collecting it.  A resolution was adopted by the congregation authorizing the Trustees to call upon those members who did not contribute regularly at six-month intervals, since only three-fourths of the pastor’s salary could by paid monthly from the envelope receipts.

In 1896, while Chester H. Traver was pastor, the present Parish Hall was built to provide rooms for meetings, social events and Sunday School classes. The total cost was $1,482.29 and Hite H. Stickles, Superintendent of the Sunday School, was in charge of raising the necessary funds. $551.02 was raised by solicitation and $355.11 by “sociables”.   In the 1970’s a bedspread dating from this period was discovered in settling an estate and donated to the church by a local attorney.  Approximately nine hundred persons contributed ten cents each to have their names embroidered upon it by the members of the Ladies Aid Society.  In the center of the bedspread is a sketch of the church building surrounded by the names of eleven pastors, three elders, five deacons and five trustees.  The elders were: Calvin Stickles, John Eitleman, Sr. and Isaac Hallenbeck; deacons, Louis Eitleman, Samuel W. Coons, Edgar Stickles, Lorenzo Snyder and Charles I. Miller; trustees, John H. Cookingham, Peter Raught, Lester J. Bashbord, Reuben S. Miller, treasurer and Homer J. Miller, secretary.  The bedspread may have been raffled off to raise additional money for building the hall.

On January 5, 1907 the congregation appointed Lorenzo Snyder, Hite H. Stickles and Allen Coons to handle the necessary legal work to have the church incorporated as “St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church of Churchtown.” The old wax seal of the church is preserved and was used for many years until a metal hand seal was purchased.  Myron E. Shafer was the pastor at the time, serving from July 9, 1905 until December 1, l909.  His ordination was held at St. John’s, Manorton on October 8, 1905 and he may have been newly married since the following appears in the church records: October 26, 1905. Reception tendered pastor and bride in church hall, congregation presenting them with purse of $75.00.”  His installation as pastor of St. Thomas took place on October 30, 1905.

Improvements to the parsonage, barn and grounds were made in the same year with the total amount expended being $350.00. In 1908 the interior of the church was remodeled and refurbished at a cost of $3,000.

The next pastor called to St. Thomas was Robert J. Van Deusen who took up his charge on March 1, 1910. A reception for him and his wife was held on September 23, 1910 in the church hall and they were presented with a gift of money and supplies.

In the same year, the present bell was placed in the church tower. Made by the Meneely Bell Foundry of Watervliet, New York, it weighs 1500 lb.  Hite H. Stickles canvassed the congregation and about two hundred ninety-two persons contributed a total of $249.65 toward the purchase of the new bell.

September 5, 1910 was designated “Annual Home Day” by the pastor and a memorable day was planned by him and Richard Miller, chairman of the event. The morning session included the Address of Welcome by the Hon. Lester J. Bashford, responses by P. K. Dederick of Albany and Rev. E. A. Ottman of Ancram, a duet by the Misses Louise M. Kay and Emma C. Herbs of Hudson and fraternal greetings from the pastors of neighboring churches.  This was followed by a social half-hour and then dinner in the church hall from 12:30 to 2:30.  The program states: “The chicken dinner will be of such a character that the following prices will be asked: Adults, thirty-five cents;

Children, twenty cents. The public is cordially invited.  There will be ample room for tying horses.  The exercises will occur even if the day be rainy.”  During the afternoon session Randall N. Saunders of Claverack, School Commissioner, gave the main address.  Mrs. Lewis Merrifield of Martindale rendered a solo followed by an address by Assemblyman Daniel D. Frisbie of Middleburg.  Next came a solo by Miss Kathryne Pulver of Claverack and an address by the President of the Synod of New York, Rev. George U. Wenner, D. D. of New York City.   The program concluded with a song by the choir and the Benediction.  Mrs. Carroll S. Miller was the church organist.  Rev. Van Deusen dedicated the present pipe organ on December 1, 1912.  It had been purchased for $750 from a Masonic Temple in New York City.  The original cost is estimated to have been about $1800.  According to the treasurer’s report for that year, Mr. George Ham was paid $3.20 for “erecting the organ.”  The organist, Mrs. Miller, was paid twenty-five dollars/year for her services.  Air for the organ was provided by a hand operated bellows and various young men of the congregation took turns at the pumping. A disbursement of $2.75 is listed in the minutes of the annual meeting of 1913 to Homer Friss for “pumping organ.”  Whether this amount was paid for a whole year of pumping at the church services or just an occasional turn at the bellows is not determinable.

A much needed receiving vault for use in the church cemetery was built in 1914 at a cost of $377,66, Mr, John W, Mambert solicited contributions and supervised the construction of the vault. In recognition of his efforts, the congregation adopted a resolution of appreciation which was spread on the minutes of the annual meeting of January 2, 1915.  The total amount contributed was $409.50 and the excess after costs was turned over to the cemetery committee.

After serving as pastor of St. Thomas for five years and two months, Rev. Van Deusen was forced to resign on May 1, 1915 because of poor health, having suffered a nervous breakdown following the death of his beloved wife on May 27, 1914. He was left with two-week old twin sons and four other children under the age of eleven to care for.  The family moved to St. Johnsville, New York and the pastor began a long period of convalescence.  He was a well-liked and respected man so one can imagine the joy experienced by the St. Thomas congregation when Rev. Van Deusen returned on October 31, 1920 as guest preacher and delivered his first sermon following his prolonged illness.  The topic of his sermon was “A Three-Fold look, Upward, Inward, Forward.”  His six children sang a song of praise during the well-attended service.

After graduation from Hartwick Seminary in June 1916, Phillip M. Luther accepted a call to St. Thomas on July 1, 1916. His installation took place in the church on October 24, 1916. The charge to the pastor was made by W. E. Traver of Germantown and the charge to the congregation was delivered by Rev. Herbert D. Shimer of St. John’s – Hudson, President of the Hudson Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of New York.  Following the installation, the Ladies Aid Society of St. Thomas served refreshments in the church hall and present Rev. Luther with a “clerical gown of very fine texture.”

The congregation approved building an addition to the church at the annual meeting in January of 1918. Pastor Luther explained that the purpose of the addition was to facilitate the moving of the organ from the center of the church to the left side of the chancel.  This made room in the chancel for the addition of an altar, pulpit and lectern which were furnished by the families of Richard Miller, Reuben Miller and John Cookingham as memorials.  The addition was completed at the cost of $650.00 and the chancel was rededicated on August 4, 1918 by Pastor Luther.  The installation of paneling, art glass in the doors of the chancel and a unique base-relief of the Last Supper over the altar was completed later, giving the church one of the most beautiful chancels in the area.

Pastor Luther resigned his duties at St. Thomas on January 31, 1919 to accept a call to The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Atonement at Oneonta, New York.