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Note: 10 May 1810, the first white settlers came to the Ridgeville area.
1833 - Old Holy Trinity Cemetery was opened in 1833 at 2920 Jaycox Road, originally called Snow Road, Ridgeville Township, Lorain County, OH.
1843 - Holy Trinity Church was first located on Jaycox (aka Snow) Road in front of its cemetery, where Johann Joseph Gedert and his wife, Anna Katherina Schmidt, and their grandson, Andrew, are buried. Johann and Anna arrived in Ridgeville Township from the Rheinland-Pfaltz around 1843*. Holy Trinity's first resident pastor was Father Nicholas Schmitz who had arrived with his parents, Jacob and Lucy Schmitz, in 1844.
*From Passengers to Ohio: 1843 in the Ohio Genealogical Society's "The Report" dated Spring 1986, page 22: "From National Archives & Records Service Microfilm B-237, roll 51, page 1, Passenger lists vessels arriving in New York, the vessel PLATO of Boston, Captain Isaiah CHASE, departed Antwerp 21 June 1843, arrived New York, 16 Aug 1843." Listed are: John Joseph 47, wife Catherine 37, daughter Margaretta 11, daughter Maria Catherine 7, son John 4, and daughter Ann Catherine 2, with ages/sex, occupation, country from "Prussia" and country to "Cleaveland Ohio." (see page in notebook) Note that the ages for John and Catherine do not conform to those found on their tombstones and in censuses.
In 1849, the edifice for St. Mary's Catholic Church at French Creek, Avon's western end, was built under the supervision of Father Jacob Ringele. Prior to that, Father McLaughlin of Cleveland also ministered to German Catholics in Avon and Ridgeville.
By 1850, Germans were living in Avon, Elyria, Huntington, Henrietta, Ridgeville, Rochester, Russia, Sheffield and other parts of Lorain County.
In January 1853 the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad opened, passing through N. Ridgeville south of Center Ridge. This later became the Lakeshore & Michigan Southern, then the New York Central, and then the Penn Central.
In 1875, St. Peter's Catholic Church was built in Ridgeville.
The following is an excerpt from "German Pioneers of Lorain County" by Dr. Robert Ward. (He sent this to me by email on June 22, 1999.) "In the early 1830's, Germans, some of whom spoke the German dialect of Alsace, settled in the North Amherst and Black River (Lorain) areas of Lorain County. In 1836, Friedrich Johann Tanke, pastor of Cleveland's first German church (Die Deutsche Evangelische Protestantische Kirche) left his post to minister to Germans in Black River. In 1856, Reverend Allardt and Reverend J. M. Steiner of the same church conducted services for German Evangelicals who founded St. Peter's Evangelical Church a year later. Also by 1836, missionary Jacob Lutz of the Evangelical Association (Evangelische Gemeinschaft) was holding religious services about two miles north of Amherst. In 1848, the Salemskirche (Salem Church) of the Evangelical Association was erected. It would serve as the mother church of others in Black River, South Ridge, Brownhelm and Huron. By 1850, Germans were also living in Avon, Elyria, Huntington, Henrietta, Ridgeville, Rochester, Russia, Sheffield and other parts of Lorain County. Most of the Germans living in Black River, Brownhelm, and Russia were located on adjacent farms. Father McLaughlin of Cleveland also ministered to German Catholics in Avon and Ridgeville. Peter Biermacher, who arrived in 1838, is buried at St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery. The edifice for St. Mary's at French Creek, Avon's western end, was built in 1849 under the supervision of Father Jacob Ringele. Nearby Nagel Road is named for the Johann Nagel family. Schwartz Road in Avon and Westlake recalls one of Avon's earliest German families. With the Jacob Mueller and Paul Faber families, Johann Schwartz and his wife and children arrived there by 1833. Schwartz's daughter, Anna, later married an Irish settler with whom she lived in Cleveland. His son, John Harrington Farley, became Director of Public Works and, in 1883, mayor of Cleveland. They were among the founders of Holy Trinity Catholic Church which was first located on Jaycox Road in front of its cemetery where Johann Joseph Gedert (born 1801 in Gappenach) and his wife, Anna Katherina, nee Schmidt (born in Kaifenheim) are buried. They arrived in Ridgeville Township from the Rheinland-Pfaltz around 1845. Holy Trinity's first resident pastor was Nicholas Schmitz who had arrived with his parents, Jacob and Lucy Schmitz, in 1844. Father Schmitz also served the Sheffield mission which had built a frame church in 1853.
Footnote: We are indebted to Virginia Wysong of Toledo, Ohio one of their 2nd-great-granddaughters, for this information."
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