The original document the below came from is part of the Crawford County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society’s Church Collection and is dated April 12, 2012, but there is not a date of when the document was written.
In 1828 the first Evangelical family known in Crawford County located west of Bucyrus on what is now the Lincoln Highway. The family consisted of a widow, Magdalena Aumiller and her two sons, George and his wife Barbara, and Daniel. They had come from an old Evangelical Center in Union County, Penn., where John and Magdalena Aumiller were members of the church. Their home was probably the first Evangelical meeting place near Bucyrus. The work around Bucyrus was given the name Bucyrus Circuit by the 1893 Conference and in 1894 Bucyrus was taken up as a Mission. With five Evangelical churches already in the area, nothing more was done and the obligation was recalled. In September 1901, Bucyrus was again taken up as a Mission under the pastorate of the Rev. W. H. Munk and his associate, the Rev. L. L.0rth, with $100.00 appropriated for the cause.
Worship services were held first in the G. A. R. Hall and then in the former German Lutheran Church, which was then the Armory. This building, after being remodeled, is now St. James Episcopal Church. On March 2, 1902 the first Sunday School was held with an attendance of 30.
The First Evangelical Church was organized March 26, 1902, with 18 charter members. They were Rev. and Mrs. W. H. Munk, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Heinlen, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Kiess, T. C. Kiess, C. F. Kiess, Mr. and Mrs. B. G. Hieber, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Drexel, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Class and Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Garvin. Mr. Garvin served as the first Sunday School Superintendent, with W. C. Kiess as Assistant and Chorister, Secretary, T. C. Kiess, Treasurer, Albert Drexel, Organist, Mrs. J. C. Fitterer, and Assistant Mrs. B. G. Hieber. Mrs. Albert Brown, Mrs. Albert Drexel, Mrs. R. A. Garvin and the pastor were teachers. B. G. Hieber was the first Class Leader and E. E. Class the Exhorter. The average attendance the first year was 18. The first Primary class consisted cf Rev. Munk’s three children, Fairy Garvin, Edgar Hieber and Bessie Kiess. Ruth Hieber was the first cradle roll member. From that beginning the Sunday School has grown to 345 members. Succeeding Superintendents were J. W. Haller, H. E. Cook, E. P. Spreng, F. E. Wagner, R. E. Caldwell. Calvin Shifley, S. H. Cook. Joseph Hartwell. Galen Kyre, Arlo Brown, Ned Weber, Charles F. Shifley and Bruce A. Holloway.
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