William Weinel ~ 1781 - 1865

        Started St. Jacob's Church in 1822

        Pastor of the German Reformed Church
        Westmorland and Armstrong Counties
        Pennsylvania from 1816 - 1854

        William (Wilhelm) Weinel was born January 27, 1781, one of four children of Nicholas Weinel and his wife. He and his three sisters were born in Mittel Grumdorf, not far from Gelbhausen, in Germany. The family came to Pennsylvania in 1799 when William was 18 years old.

        According to the account of William's son Charles (Carolus, born 1809), William and perhaps others of the family were indentured for a period to pay for their passage to Pennsylvania. William was brought to Goshenhoppen in Montgomery County where he was employed as an organist and teacher in the church school. While there he paid the passage for his three sisters.

        Later he went to Northhampton County and served as the teacher and organist of Dryland Union Church. This was located between Nazareth and Bethlehem at Hicktown. It is interesting to note that a large number of the members of this church had left Dryland to settle in Mt. Pleasant Township of Westmoreland Conty in the late 1700's. Baltheasar Meyer, an earlier school master at the Dryland church, had come to Westmoreland in 1969 where he became the teacher in the Sewickley Settlement.

        In 1805 William Weinel was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Fry, the daughter of Frederick Fry and his wife Elizabeth, nee Buss. This family was part of the Dryland congregation. Catherine was born November 1, 1787. It is likely that her father was the Frederick Fry who had come to Philadelphia in 1773 on the Brigantine Dolphin. There were a number of Fry families at Dryland. Some of them had migrated to the Sewickley Settlements in Westmorland before 1800. Others remained.

        Because of the scarcity of German Reformed ministers, William was encouraged to study theology. For this reason the Weinels moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he secured a position as teacher and organist of a church and began to study under Dr. Christian L. Becker. Dr. Becker had been the Reformed pastor at Dryland from 1793 to 1795.

        Four children were born to William and Catherine Weinel. they were:

        Salome - born July 10, 1806, died August 2, 1888, Married Joseph Shoemaker

        Elizabeth - born August 3, 1807, married John Bovard

        Leopold - (twin) - born January 12, 1809, died June 22, 1870.
        Married (first) - Elizabeth Weister; (second) Maria Salome Smail.

        Charles - (twin) - born January 12, 1809
        Married (first) Sarah Learn; (second) Elizabeth Asbaugh

        The records of the Lutheran congregation at Dryland give the baptism of Salome as August 3, 1806, and that of Elizabeth as September 3, 1807. All of the Fry family seem to have been Lutheran.

        According to Dr. Henry Harbach, in his work "Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America," the Weinels returned to their former home in Northhampton County where William completed his studies under the direction of Dr. Becker's son, Jacob C. Becker.

        Weinel family history indicates that William and his family were in Baltimore during the War of 1812. The story is told that after the burning of the Capitol at Washington, the British forces made a attack on Baltimore. William Weinel, who was in charge of a Reformed church, was instructed to ring the church bell if the city was in danger. The city was well protected, but the bell rang. Weinel ws supposed to have been accused of treason, but it was discovered that a British sympathizer had rung the bell, so Weinel was cleared of the charge.

        William Wienel was licensed to preach by the Reformed Synod which met at Easton in 1815. He was commissioned to go as a missionary to North Carolina. But instead he "drifted to Western Pennsylvania and at the next meeting of Synod at New Holland in 1816 he produced a letter from congregations in Westmoreland County which indicated that they wished to have him come as their pastor." The Synod reluctantly agreed to this and permitted him to go west instead of south. It was not until 1819 at the meeting in Lancaster that he was ordained.

        Pastor John William Weber died in July 1816. He had had health problems for several months prior to his death. His last baptism had been in May of that year and his visits to congregations were quite restricted. Pastor William Wienel was welcomed in several of the more distant and more loosely organized Reformed congregations. The first of his pastoral acts to be recorded was at Sardis on June 16, 1916.

        By 1817 William Wienel was pastor of these churches in Westmoreland County:
        Kintig's (St. John's ), Pleasant Township Seanor's (St. Paul's), Hempfield Township
        Schwabs (Zion), East Huntingdon Township Brandt's, Ligioner Valley
        Milliron, Franklin Township Boehmer's, Franklin Township
        Hill's, (Emmanuel), Franklin Township Yockey's (St. James), Bell Township

        The area of Pastor Weinel's ministry was extended in the next few years to Forks, or East Salem Church, so named for its location in the forks of the Youghiogheny River and Jacobs Creek in Rostraver Township. The name East Salem distinguishes it from Salem Church at Brush Creek. In Allegheny Township in northern Westmoreland County, a Reformed congregation was established at Klingensmith's.

        They were Zion's (Forks), in Gilpin Township; Eisamans (St. Matthew's), in South Buffalo Township; and Frantz's (St. Jacob's), in South Bend Township. Some of the congregations in southern Westmoreland Country were taken away from the Weinel parsh as the Armstrong Congregations were added.

        In this regard it may be helpful to look at the entries in the parish registers which were begun by Pastor Weinel:

          Zion, East Huntingdon (1817-1824)
          St. John's, Mt. Pleasant Township (1821 - 1829)
          Brant's, Ligonier Valley (1818 - 1826)
          St. Paul's, Hempfield ( 1821 - 1826)
          St. Jacob's, South Bend (1822 - 1850)
          Schumacher's, Spring Church (1835 - 1843)

          His record of Communions at Klingensmiths's (Allegheny) extend from 1826 to 1852; at Eisaman's from 1825 to 1829. Also a farm of 120 acres was bought near Hillville. A large house was built on the property and the Weinels lived there for several years. It was across the road that the brick church was erected. This was know as Salem, or Kingensmith's church. It was here that Pastor Weinel held Reformed services and Pastor Jacob Zimmerman held Lutheran services on alternate Sundays. The old log church was finally sold to Isaac and Rebecca Shurster in 1875 and was torn down.

          About 1850 Pastor and Mrs. Weinel left the farm and lived on Market Street in Leechburg. He continued to have services in the area until 1854 although the number of congregations had gradually decreased over the years. His last official act recorded was at Christmas in 1859 when he baptized two of his grandchildren.

          In 1863, the Weinels moved back to the crossroads where there son Charges was living. They continued to live there until the pastor died on January 29, 1865 at the age of 84 years and one day. His wife survived until February 1, 1865. Both died of pneumonia. There funerals were conducted by the Lutheran pastor, Jacob Zimmerman. They were buried in what is now known as Pleasant Hill Cemetery which surrounds the former site of the brick Klingersmith (Salem) church.

          Most of the Reformed families served by Pastor William Weinel in northern Westmoreland ans southern Armstrong Counties were absorbed by the Lutheran congregations in the area. Notable excepts were the Reformed congregations at South Bend and at Hill's in Franklin Township.