Thomas Church/ Saint Thomas Cemetery

In 1833 the Basel Mission Institute of Switzerland sent Friedrich Schmid as its first missionary to the United States. Schmid is credited with founding some twenty churches in Michigan, including the Thomas Church. At first Thomas and Anna Roth hosted services in their home. In 1844 they sold land to the Thomas Church for a sanctuary. According to tradition the church was named for Thomas Roth. The present edifice comprises an 1874 church and 1965 additions. Services in German were held exclusively until 1935, then once per month until the late 1950s. Saint Thomas Cemetery In 1844 Thomas and Anna Roth, and John and Christina Maser each sold a three-quarter acre of land to the Thomas Church. Members plotted a cemetery and erected a church on the parcel. The earliest burial occurred in 1844. More than one hundred graves date from the nineteenth century and are marked with decorative vertical headstones. German funerary art—weeping willows, clasped hands and parted curtains coupled with German script and plant motifs—prevails here.