Early English settlers build substantial stone church

In Lisbon Township, one of the first settlers was John Weaver who arrived in 1837. The Weaver family was instrumental in the formation of a church there. Traveling ministers stopped in the town periodically to preach a sermon on a Sunday. The first pastor to do this was Elder Griffin in 1839.

Pioneers met in the Weaver barn during those early years. One Sunday there was a temporary choir platform above the hayloft, and it collapsed sending the choir members into the hay below.

The first minister to be hired was Elder Wheelock who was a Methodist. The church was established in October 1842. A frame structure was built first on a one-acre site on May 26, 1844. William Armstrong, a student of the Nashotah House Episcopal seminary, was ordained and took charge of St. Alban's until 1855.

In 1857 three more acres were purchased for the church, which now provided room for the first parsonage to be built in 1859. Weaver's quarry, now Halquist Quarry, provided the stone used for the cornerstone of the new stone church. Bishop Jackson Kemper, who was a founder of Nashotah House, was at the laying of the cornerstone on Aug. 23, 1864.

St. Alban's was named after an English saint and martyr. After all, the people in this town came from Peasmarsh, Sussex, England and brought the memory of the 1090 Norman-built stone Episcopal church they attended there. The township also became known as Sussex.

The church here was described as a substantial building of stone, English in appearance and surrounded by God's Acre (the cemetery), an old English custom. The walls were 23 inches thick giving the inside of the church very good acoustics. The building was consecrated on May 18, 1866. A bell was created in order to follow the custom of tolling the bell for the dead, which tells if you are male or female and how many years you lived. Later in 1875 the bell was mounted in the tower when it was constructed. In the 1870s the glass windows were all replaced by stained glass windows made in France and Italy, which are now priceless.

This site features a Waukesha County historical marker erected and maintained by the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum. Please visit our website at www.waukeshacountymuseum.org to see information on all of our historical markers. To find the markers, go to the bottom of the home page. For each marker you will find pictures, maps, and history.