Friedrich Schmid Church Records, 1833-1875

Friedrich Schmid Church Records, 1833-1875

The materials in this Deep Blue collection are part of a larger body of archives held by the Bentley Historical Library related to Friedrich Schmid and Lutheran churches in the Ann Arbor area. For a more complete index to such materials, please consult the following online finding aids:

• Bethlehem United Church of Christ (Ann Arbor, Mich.) Records
• St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (Ann Arbor, Mich.) Records
• St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church (Plymouth, Mich.) Records
• Zion Lutheran Church (Ann Arbor, Mich.) records

In addition to various published materials on Schmid and his work available at the Bentley Historical Library, researchers may also be interested in:

• Friedrich Schmid notebook, 1830-1831
• Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church (Ann Arbor, Mich.) Records

Please contact the library's division of Reference and Access Services for more information.

Abstract:
Friedrich Schmid was a pioneering clergyman, regarded as the first Lutheran pastor in Michigan. He arrived in Michigan from Germany in 1833 and had organized the first Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in the state by November of that year. Over the next forty years he helped organize some 20 churches in southeastern Michigan and founded and served as the first president of the Michigan Synod. Materials in this online collection include digitized copies of registers of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and general information about families in the congregations of Salem Lutheran Church and Zion Lutheran Church (along with its precursor organization, Bethlehem Church).