The Mount Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Lavansville, was organized as Samuel\’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Bedford county, at a very early date, but the earliest records in existence do not show when the organization was effected. It was prior to the year 1784, however. The early records were written in German, and from a translation made by Rev. J. F. Kuhlman, the present pastor, we learn that “on April 17, 1791, after a public profession of her faith and the promise to live according to God\’s commandments, Rachel, a negress belonging to Peter Ankeny, was received into covenant with God and His church by baptism; and in order that she might have aid and protection in her Christian life, the elder, Peter Ankeny, and the deacon, Henry Stahl, took upon themselves the office of sponsors.”
It is believed that a Rev. Mr. Long was the first pastor, a gentleman who was one of the first, if not the very first Lutheran minister in the county. Up to the time of the change of name, and for years after, the congregation belonged to the Somerset charge and was served by its pastors.
On August 15, 1846, the congregation determined to build a new church at Lavansville, and on April 5 of the following year, it was resolved to change the name from “Samuel\’s” to Mount Calvary. In 1848 the present church edifice was built at Lavansville, and in 1872 the congregations at Lavansville, Bakersville and the old Samuel\’s church were formed into a separate charge.
Those who served as pastors since the location of the church at Lavansville were:
P. Rizer, who was succeeded by William Uhl, in 1847
A. Babb, 1852
C. Witmer, 1857
G. A, Pile, 1860
L. Gerhart, 1861
J. P. Hentz, 1866
____ Winecoff, 1872
The first pastor after the separation from Somerset–Mr. Winecoff–was succeeded by Mr. Earhart in 1873; he by L. L. Sieber in 1876, and the latter by the present pastor, Rev. J. F. Kuhlman in 1882. The congregation has a membership of one hundred and forty.
(Source: History of Bedford, Somerset & Fulton Counties, PA; 1884)
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