Messiah Lutheran Church

Following is a 1828 contributed and transcribed by Niels Witkamp.  To see a photo of the actual document, click at the link at the bottom of this page.

Transcript 1828 German/English document Messiah Lutheran Church, Bedford Twp, Bedford Co, PA.

[I have transcribed and translated this to the best of my ability. I made a word for word literal translation which makes it awkward to read in English since sentences are structured differently in German, but it does show which words translate into what. In two instances one German word translates into two English words; in these cases the English words are between {}. On the first line Dennes must be an alternate or misspelling of Dunning since Messiah Lutheran was known as the Dunning Creek church back then. The names were very hard to read since they were written by several different people (did some sign their own names?) who used different script from each other. The hardest name was the first. I tried comparing it to last names known to me to be in that region and a variation on the ‘Croyle’ name seemed most likely. The first letter looks a bit more like an ‘E’ than a ‘C’ to me but I just could not find an ‘s’ in the name to make ‘Ernst’ as a variation of the ‘Earnest’ name; although I cannot rule that out completely. ‘Tag’ is German for ‘Day’. I am assuming that the list shows days volunteered to work on these projects, but I could be wrong. Niels Witkamp]

Wihr der kirchen rath an der Dennes Criker kirch
haben uns endschlossen unsere kirch zu deken und
den kirchhof ein zu machen dafur bitten wihr
die glieder dieser gemeine das sie das ihre mit
beij tragen werden zur bestreidung der unkosten
Januarius 26ten 1828 Bedford Caunty und Taunschip

We the church council at the Dennes Creek church
have us decided our church to roof and
the cemetery one to make {for which} asking we
the people {of this} congregation that they that us with
contributing shall to alleviate the expenses
January 26th 1828 Bedford County and Township

Johannes Criyl     4 Tag

Jacob Rack     2 Days

Johannes Klotz     2 Tag

Daniel Sill     2 Days

Jacob Walter     2 Days

Antony Zemmer     2 days

Emmanuel Fr. Nachtley     1 days

David Rossel     1 day

Samuel Reighard     1 Day

Fredrick Ernest     1 Day

John Earnest juner     2 Day

Conrat Imler     1 Tag

To see a photo of the actual document, click on the below link:

1828_Messiah_Lutheran_Church_document.jpg

Just as a quick note, Messiah Lutheran Church was part of the Dunnings Creek Charge.

Also, the names above, if spelled as they are today, would have the following changes:  Johannes Croyle, Anthony Zimmers, David Russell, Frederick Earnest, and Conrad Imler.