Churches & Cemeteries

(This page is a work-in-progress)

Our family lines were baptized, married, and buried at churches scattered across southeastern Pennsylvania. Many of these churches are historically significant to the settlement and growth of the region. Here, I plan to list and provide a brief history on as many as I can.

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Red Hill, Montgomery Co. Pennsylvania

As a child, I loved hearing the bells chiming in the tower of St. Paul’s, which was visible from my grandfather’s (Russell Thomas) yard until construction blocked the view. I’d often walk or bike there on visits just to wander the cemeteries and wonder if the familiar surnames were relatives. Spoiler alert: they are.

Founded between 1730 and 1739, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is one of the oldest congregations in Pennsylvania. The first log structure on the site was built in 1750, with the famous “six-cornered” brown stone church built in 1803. This was replaced with a larger structure (though, I do believe, it retained the unique shape) in 1878, which sadly burned in 1895. The current building dates to 1897, and has been expanded upon for a substantial youth education ministry. A complete history can be found here.

The newer of the two cemeteries, across the road from the church, is massive.
The older cemetery, located behind the church, adjoins bucolic corn fields.
I’ve always loved the splashes of color provided by the bell tower

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

Pennsburg, Montgomery Co. Pennsylvania

Compared to most of the other parishes listed here, St. Mark’s is remarkably modern. But it is of primary importance to me, personally, as I essentially grew up here. This is where I first heard and came to memorize the Lutheran liturgy. It’s where my grandparents were married, my mom baptized, my parents married, and myself baptized. I’ve performed music here and dusted under the pews with my knees as a child. It has always smelled exactly the same. Family was even involved in its construction and upkeep; Russell Thomas, my grandfather, said that his father, Philip Thomas, was part of the physical construction. Both men were involved in upkeep, repairs, and building improvements. The cemetery is the final resting place of them and many other immediate and extended family members.

St. Mark’s began in 1855 as a union church with the Pennsburg Reformed Congregation, now Pennsburg UCC. The Lutherans voted to break away from the Reformed congregation and began work on the beautiful marble building at its current location on Main Street in 1898, with all but the steeple completed in 1900. When the church was completed, a time capsule was placed in a cornerstone by the Rev. W.B. Fox (any potential relation unknown at this time). The capsule was opened in 2000 to mark the church’s 100th anniversary, though it wsa badly deteriorated. New items were added to the compartment in 2000.

Originally equipped with a reed organ, the church now has a pipe organ. The building was redesigned in 1929, with a basement dug under the church to house a Sunday School. Later, an entire annex was built to house offices, the Sunday School, choir rooms, and more. A complete history can be found here.

Taken from behind the church, possible from Russell & Pearl’s first house on Jefferson Street.
The front of the original church building, with added steeple. The bronze bell is rung before every service (and I believe my mom snuck back to ring it herself before her wedding).
The above two photos of St. Mark’s are from Russell & Pearl (Heimbach) Thomas’s photo albums.
As a child I was entranced by the massive stained-glass windows. Here you also see the choir loft, in which many of my family members have sat, and a glimpse of the gorgeous sky-painted dome above the sanctuary.
The education wing.

Kraussdale Meetinghouse

Kraussdale Road, East Greenville, Montgomery Co. Pennsylvania

Kraussdale Meetinghouse feels especially important to me, as it was named for and built on land set aside by my earliest Krauss ancestors.

Anna Krauss arrived in Pennsylvania with her five children having been widowed during her journey from Silesia to America. Balthasar, her oldest son, married Susanna Hoffman. The family, including matriarch anna, lived on a farm in the tiny area of East Greenville that has become known as Kraussdale. When family members passed, including Anna in 1755, they were buried on the farm.

The following is copied from the history of Kraussdale Meetinghouse linked above:

“The land was passed down to Balthasar’s son, Balthasar, Jr., and then to Balthasar, Jr.’s youngest son, George, with the following stipulation: ‘Except one acre of land which shall belong to the graveyard (including the same) for a meeting house, if ever Schwenkfeldians shall intend to build one there, which said graveyard and one acre of land shall be free for the use of the said Schwenkfeldians with free Ingress, Egress, and Regress to and from the same forever.’ In other words, his stipulation was that the cemetery continue to be accessible to the Schwenkfelders, and the land around it be available to them for the building of a meeting house. In accordance with this, George Krauss conveyed the acre of land to the trustees for the Society of Schwenkfelders. Over time, several parcels of land were added to this property.

There is some question as to the year when the first Kraussdale Meetinghouse was built, 1815 or 1825. In 1813, John Krauss, eldest son of Balthasar, Jr., wrote a vigorous petition praying the Schwenkfelders to erect a meeting house on this ground, particularly because of the frequent use of the burial ground, where many Schwenkfelders already had been laid to rest.

The first meeting house was a rough stone building with the joints painted white. This building was used for both school purposes and divine worship, and served for fifty years, until it was replaced with a brick structure. In 1900, the building was remodeled, and later, the brick was covered with white stucco. The first Christian Endeavor Society of the Schwenkfelder Upper District was organized in the Kraussdale Meetinghouse in 1894, with Elmer E. S. Johnson as president.

Regular worship services were discontinued here when the Palm Schwenkfelder Church was dedicated in 1911. As part of the Bi-Centennial celebration of 1934, monuments were erected at each burial ground known to hold the remains of Schwenkfelder immigrants. In front of each grave site was placed a small stone marker, engraved with his or her immigrant number, as assigned by the authors of The genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families, published in 1923. A series of memorial services was held, including unveiling the monuments, reading of brief biographical sketches, and decorating of the individual immigrant graves with flowers. There are a total of eleven Schwenkfelder immigrants buried here, as the large granite monument indicates.

There is a unique variety of unusual trees on the meeting house grounds, planted in the early 1900’s under the direction of Elmer K. Schultz, an amateur horticulturalist. He is buried in the mausoleum in the Palm Schwenkfelder Church Cemetery.”

Kraussdale is surrounded by rolling hills of fields and still-active farm land. It is a peaceful place. As of 2022, there is even an alpaca farm on Kraussdale Road.