Jesse Hoover

In June of 1837, Pr. Jesse Hoover, found out about a small settlement of German Lutherans in Adams County Indiana. Making the trip either on foot or on horseback, Pastor Hoover began paying regular visits to conduct services in the homes of the settlers.

On February 25, 1838, this small group met to organize a congregation, the first rural congregation in Adams County. At this meeting, six candidates were nominated and two weeks later, on March 11, the first election of officers was held. The first officers of the congregation were Friedrich Buuck, elder, and Christian Fuhrman and Heinrich Loeffler, deacons. The charter members of the congregation, 26 adults and 30 children.

Hoover, served both the congregation here at Zion and the one at St. Paul's, Fort Wayne, maintaining his residence in Fort Wayne. It was Pr. Hoover who had given the new location the name of Friedheim, which translates “House of Peace” or “Peaceful Home”.

Pr. Hoover would die of a heart ailment at the age of 28 a few months later. He is buried at the old Concordia Cemetery in downtown Ft. Wayne, IN