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From 1670 to 1750 settlers of the German Ancestry came by wagon from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. In 1745, a united effort by the Lutheran and the Reformed organized a church which was first known as “Stahakers’s Church” or “Sshaaker’s Church” (which was later pronounced “Shoemakers’s Church”).
The first church building was made of unhewn logs and lasted almost 25 years. The second building was completed in 1771. It was 2-story with a gallery running around three sides and a high pulpit with a sounding board at the back of it. It was used for one hundred years. An outdoor pavilion was built in 1790.
In 1791 the State of North Carolina granted 14 acres to the church, which the church still holds today.
Until 1830, all church records were kept in German. Between 1830 and 1840, the services were changed from being conducted in German to English.
In 1868, the congregation started making bricks for the third building which was built across the road. On May 22, 1871 it was dedicated to the service of Almighty God. In 1925 the church was renovated, and in 1928 eight Sunday School rooms were added.
On May 18, 1930, the congregation voted to incorporate the cemetery and to establish a permanent Endowment Fund.
In 1938 the church was renovated again. On Sunday, January 8, 1939, the church was almost destroyed by fire. The columns were the only thing reusable. By the third Sunday in May, 1939 the church was ready for the first morning worship service. After a survey, it was agreed by a vote of Friedens members that they would become self-supporting beginning July 1, 1949.
In January, 1952, a new parsonage was started. An Educational Building and Fellowship Hall was completed and used for the first time on May 28, 1967.
The above information from the 1986 photographic directory.....
by Ronda Whitesell, copied from the "Two Hundred Twenty-Five Years History of Friedens Lutheran Church," written by Lalah G. Apple.
| | Parishioners Reminisce about Church History
History Stories from the Fellowship Dinner meeting November 19, 2003
Frank Phillippe: When the church burned on January 8, 1939, Hubert Summers had heard about it and came running by our house. (I was just a child at the time.) We all ran down to the church, and I remember as I came over the hill, I saw the roof falling in.
We had our church services at the old Sharon Church until ours was rebuilt. During the clearing, we started flicking bricks and a brick with an old dog track from the 1877 building was found. (It is now in the Friedens history room.)
The window shutters were given away and my dad got some and sliced them up and put them on the hen house. I confiscated them when the property was sold as I didn’t want them to leave the Friedens “family.”
I have been a member of Friedens for over 74 years, and worked closely with Roland Summers on the development of our history room.
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Becky Wagoner: Virginia Creasy told me her grandmother Artelia Benns McLean Roney (who is also Katherine Haney’s grandmother) had told her about a time after the services began being preached in English instead of German when a minister came to preach and agreed to do it in German. She looked around and saw the old women weeping with joy to hear the sermon in German again.
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Graham Womack: Roland Summers remembered the old piano that was in the basement and how it had Bobby Ray’s (Leo Ray’s brother, Bobby Ray’s uncle) handprints all over it.
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John Creasy: Roland Summers’ grandfather visited Mary Ellen Wagoner and Mary Ellen told him she wished someone could get the logs from the smokehouse. They were logs from the original church and they had been using them in their smokehouse for years. He told his Sunday School class and they got the logs back and built the Little Chapel with them.
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Harry Wagoner: The stone in the step of the Little Chapel is from the Lutheran School.
Notes taken by Pat Miller:
For more information or to learn more about Friedens' history, please contact Becky Wagoner or the church office.
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| Colonial execution re-enacted
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Dramatic Incident at Friedens Church
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On March 7, 1781 a very striking incident occurred at Friedens Church, General Nathaniel Greene Had camped between Troublesome Creek and the Reedy Fork with fourteen hundred men awaiting for reinforcements before meeting Lord Cornwallis. On March 2nd, there had been skirmishes with Tarleton's legion around Clapp's Mill to the south, and on March 6th, there was a hot contract at Whitesell's Mill (later Summer's Mill) on the Reedy Fork. Passions were at fever heat for the forces of Cornwallis were drawing near.
On the 7th, of March, the day after the contest at Whitesell's Mill, a crowd of Greene's men were down south a few miles in and around the church foraging, and stopped at the home of a man named Schumacher who lived a short distance from the church, and asked for a drink of water.
“There’s a spring blow the hillside and you can draw your water there,” Schumacher told the thirsty Delaware Continental Militia members. Howard Hendricks leaned against his musket and looked at the well just a few feet away.
“We’re tired and all we want is some water.” he said. “Why can’t we get some here?,” he asked.
“Yeah,” another soldier said.
“We’ve been back and forth across this countryside fighting for you and this is the treatment we get?”
“You aren’t fighting for me,” Schumacher replied coldly, pointing the soldiers once again toward the spring.
Tempered flared. More words, harsh words, flew between the men.
“Those are treasonous remarks,” Hendricks said finally as he grabbed Schumacher and the two tumbled to the ground with arms flailing.
Hendricks eventually got the upper hand and the soldiers grabbed Schumacher. They stood him in front of a nearby church, and after three warnings to take back his words or be shot, Schumacher opted for the bullets.
“God save the King,” he said as the deafening blast of muskets filled the air.
Afterward, when the soldiers had left, members of the Friedens Lutherans Church carried Schumacher away on an old door. They buried him in the adjoining cemetery The soldiers became furious.
This incident is related in History of the North Carolina Synod, page 108.
It was only a few days after this that Greene's forces met Lord Cornwallis in the Battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781, which proved to be turning point in the Revolutionary War, and its results brought the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, October 19, 1781.
Tradition has it that the stain of blood could be seen about the church steps and door for many years, and that the church door itself was taken down from its hinges and used to bear off the slain body of the dead Tory. We do not know as to this, but the main facts are true.
Relics of the camps and battle at Whitesell's Mill could be found on the ground there for many long years.
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About the Church Building
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Church building
built 1868-69 | 
From a postcard
Note chimney location | 
Burned out shell-1939!!
Only Columns remained!! |
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___________Notice dates in stone-1745 to 1871__________ |
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CEMETERY ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE:Left to right:
Mr. Lacy Lowe, Mr. Hubert Summers, Mr. Frank Lowe,
Mr. Clarence Summers, Mr. Cling Gerringer
and Pastor Luther R. Sloop.
The German language was used in the early organization
of Friedens Church. Listed below are some German names
with the English translation.
German-
Bostian Goehringer--
English-
Boston Gerringer
German-
Peter Sommers---------English-Peter Summers
German-Antony Goebel---------English-
Anthony Coble
German-Ludwig Eislen-----------English- Ludwig Isley
German-Christian Eiselan--------English-Christian Isley
German-John Wagner---------English-John Wagoner
German-Henry Hardt-----------English- Henry Hart
In the older part of the cemetery there has been erected an
altar memorial with the inscription: "Remove not the ancient
landmark which your fathers have set.: Prov. 22:28. This altar
is made from the steps of the second church building on the
same site where it stood.
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