You may be interested in the following E Mail from Paul RICKERT--a cousin who volunteered at the Martin Mitchell Museum in Naperville.

Paul Rickert--prrnaper@bellsouth.net

Your John Butz who married Lydia Diehl is a brother of my Solomon Butz who had 2 wives. Solomon is my 3rd great grandfather. I have a feeling that many of our ancestors left PA because of religious persecution. A significant number of the families were members of the Evangelical Association which was formed around 1806.

From "Flashlights on Evangelical History" on page 77, you will find this on the Cedar Creek Class. "Near Mt. Carmel, in Wabash County, Illinois, John Butz was the Evangelical pioneer. He was from Cedar Creek, near Allentown, and moved to Illinois in 1830, and through him a large number of Lehigh County Evangelicals were induced to settle in his neighborhood. In 1845 a still larger colony of Evangelicals emigrated in a body from Cedar Creek." The families mentioned in the paragraph were Amos & Aaron Butz, Solomon & Edward Mertz, John Drissler, John Neitz, Daniel Keck, Joseph Roth, Peter & Charles Fehr, Rueben & Ephraim Hauser, Charles Guth (Good?), & George Steininger. In 1846 came Charles Butz, Simon Strauss, Adam Gasser, and Philip Rassweiler. Most of these families moved on to the Naperville area. As I look back to my school days in Naperville, I wonder how many of my classmates were cousins. By the way, a copy of the book is in the Naper Settlement.

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Naperville was organized in 1858, with twenty members. The church building was built at an early day; but in 1871, it was rebuilt and improved. Present membership about sixty.

"The German Evangelical Church of Naperville was organized in 1838, with members from seven families. the first house of worship was erected in 1840, and used until 1857, when a new brick building was erected at a cost of about $8,000, and probably the finest church-building in the place. Present membership about 300. In the fall, 1871, a few members withdrew from this church and formed an English branch of the same church, with thirty-seven members, and is now called the English Mission of Naperville- using for the present the chapel in the College (North Central College) as a place of worship, with a present membership of 175.