June 30, 1811: Two Baptisms Mark the Official Beginning of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

June 30, 1811: Rev. Jacob Miller has recorded two baptisms that he performed today. This is the first written record of activity of the Boyertown Lutheran congregation, and the date became the official beginning of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, although it had been a preaching point of the mother church, Falkner Swamp New Hanover Lutheran Church, the oldest German Lutheran congregation in the United States, at least since 1809, and possibly earlier.

The baptisms were of Samuel Leaver, son of Johannes and Catherine Leaver, whose sponsors were Charles and Maria Luphold, and Rebecca Sassaman, daughter of Heinrich and Elizabeth Sassaman, whose sponsors were Heinrich and Sarah Boyer, owners of the tavern known as Boyers, which became the original name of the congregation as well as the village where it was located.

Samuel Leaver will become a leader in the incorporation of Boyertown as an independent borough in 1866, its first “Burgermeister,” a member of the borough Council, and an editor of the local newspaper The Boyertown Bauer. Samuel’s great granddaughter Marguerite Leaver Macpeak will bequeath more than $6,500,000 to S. John’s in 2001.

It was not until 1871, that this congregation adopted the name St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Boyertown, when they approved the Articles of Incorporation. Number VII of the Article states that members of the congregation must contribute at least 50 cents a year and be of the male sex. The requirement that members had to be males was not stricken from the By Laws until 50 years later, in 1921, and then only after much debate.

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