Rev. H. Max Lentz wrote a “ History of the Lutheran Churches in Boone County, Kentucky ” in 1902. The publication of this book was made possible by the cooperation of members of the Rouse, Barlow, Crigler, Floyd, Graves, and Tanner families, among others.
The first Lutheran Church in Boone County was probably the result of a trip by Rev. William Carpenter of Madison, Virginia, who made a trip to Kentucky in 1804. Rev. Lentz, claiming to have the journal of Rev. Carpenter before him, says the trip cost Rev. Carpenter eighteen pounds. Rev. Carpenter did not record the purposes of his trip, but it is known that, in the following year, a large contingent of people left Madison for Kentucky. The group was said to consist of George Rouse, Elizabeth Rouse, John House, Milly House, Frederick Zimmerman, Rose Zimmerman, Ephraim Tanner, Susanna Tanner, John Rouse, Nancy Rouse, and Elizabeth Hoffman. They are said to have arrived on November 25, 1805, having come by wagon through the Cumberland Gap, but proof of this is not available.
At this time, Burlington, the county seat of Boone County consisted of a few log houses, a log court house, and log jail. The town of Florence did not exist at this date. Across the Ohio River, Cincinnati consisted of two brick houses and two frame houses. Some of the early information was drawn from the discourse, “ A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Hopeful Church, Boone Co, Ky. ”, dated January 6, 1854.
Within the year of the migration to Kentucky, the families resolved to hold worship services. Without a pastor, they had prayers, hymns, and then a sermon read by Ephraim Tanner. These services were held regularly until October of 1813, conducted in the German language. The Kentucky members had sought advice from Rev. Carpenter in Virginia, who sent them a copy of a Constitution, and advised them to organize a church. Rev. Lentz said that he had this Constitution in his hands as he wrote. It was translated from the German as:
“We, the undersigned, living in Boone County, State of Kentucky, members of the Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed Church, unite in the following articles of agreement for our government
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.