USA > Illinois > Brethren in northern Illinois and Wisconsin > Part 5
USA > Wisconsin > Brethren in northern Illinois and Wisconsin > Part 5
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At first services were held in private homes and in school- houses. However, in 1866 or 1867 a meetinghouse of the regular Brethren type and size was built two miles north of Naperville on a lot donated by Joshua Erb. The house was without base- ment. The stones were hauled from Batavia. Levi Shafer, re- puted to be an excellent builder, was the contractor. Those who
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wrecked the house in 1907 preparatory to rebuilding it in Naper- ville found abundant evidence that he did not skimp or shirk when he built that meetinghouse. Services in this old meeting- house were held every two weeks. The sermons were in both English and German. Many times the house was filled to its capacity. But here, as in other places, there came a time when the work declined. Fortunately a revival followed and Bethel today has a congregation of 206 members. In 1920 the church name was changed from Naperville to Bethel but the old name continues to survive in common speech.
The growth of the membership in Naperville led to rebuild- ing the church house in town in 1907. By the use of the old ma- terial and much donated labor the outlay was only $1,642, a very small amount for the plant secured. On October 20, the con- gregation and friends met to dedicate it to the service of God, A. C. Wieand delivering the dedicatory sermon. In 1924 the church was remodeled and made more serviceable for present- day activities, at a cost of $10,000.
The men have been well organized. For several years they united in a trucking project for church funds. Although this did not yield much money it developed fine fellowship. After the church purchased the lot and house adjoining the church lot for $2,500 the men remodeled and modernized the residence at a cost of $2,348, The men themselves did all the work except the plas- tering. They could do this because they had in their own number plumbers, painters, carpenters and electricians, who were will- ing to donate their labor. By their co-operation they have dem- onstrated anew that Christianity is a way of life which shows itself in living together helpfully. Of the early membership of this congregation it has been said: "Great care and concern was manifest for the poor in the local congregation. Brotherly help- fulness was the rule to all the members in distress and misfor- tune; not so much in money, but a kindly, helping hand was taught and practiced; the result of which was a very sympathetic and peaceful congregation."
Bethel, long being the only congregation in the eastern part of the district, covered a wide area. The few members in Chi- cago, those in Batavia to the west and those near Joliet to the south all held their membership in Bethel until Chicago and Batavia were organized. For about fifteen years monthly serv-
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ices were held in the neighborhood of Joliet. Monthly meetings, however, failed to develop a lasting community work, and the meetinghouse was sold for one hundred dollars in 1901. Let no one think that the labors at this point were all in vain. Today the entire brotherhood is being served by E. G. Hoff, editor of Sunday-school publications, whose mother, Anna Gockley Hoff, was reared in the community where those monthly serv- ices were conducted while she was a girl.
In 1883 Wilbur B. Stover came to Warrenville, where he worked in a grist mill until he was discovered by J. G. Royer, who induced him to enter Mount Morris College and prepare himself for work more suited to his small stature. This con- nects Bethel with our early mission in India. And Kathryn Barkdoll Garner was born within the bounds of Bethel though, when she went to India, her church home was Batavia. This is a second link that joins Bethel with India.
Sunday school was first organized in the early seventies by Noah Early and Aaron Julius, the former being superintendent. Sessions for several years were confined to the summer months.
The Aid was organized in the winter of 1908 with Mrs. A. D. Sollenberger, the pastor's wife, as the first president. The untir- ing efforts of Emma Shiffler kept the society going during the many years in which she was president. Their semimonthly meetings in the homes bound the women together in a common cause as they sewed, quilted and gathered clothing, most of which was sent to the missions at Hastings Street and Douglas Park, Chicago. Their contributions to Douglas Park became a vital factor in arousing a church consciousness that finally led to the organization of that group as a separate church. The Aid has had a steady growth in numbers. Its regular contributions to the district and general work of the women have been com- mendable. Birthday luncheons are a unique feature. These de- velop fellowship, cement neighborliness and help to replenish the treasury.
Bethel has called twelve men to the ministry. In 1908 I. C. Snavely became the first pastor. The tenth and present pastor is S. Earl Mitchell, who began his service in 1938. In September he will be succeeded by Galen B. Ogden.
In December 1940 a new electric organ was installed. As
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these notes are being written the basement is being deepened and rearranged for larger service. In evaluating Bethel one should think not only of its past membership but also of the present 206 members and of Chicago and Batavia, which are children of Bethel.
Cherry Grove (1859)
Early Brethren settling north of Lanark were a part of the Arnold's Grove congregation. The Cherry Grove schoolhouse was a common center. Here they met monthly for public wor- ship, and hard by was a burial ground where the bereaved laid their loved ones to rest. The distance to Arnold's Grove being too great for those days there arose the desire for a separate organization. Though Arnold's Grove had so recently given birth to two new congregations, Hickory Grove and Milledge- ville, in council assembled it was voted on December 17, 1859, that the Cherry Grove members should be set off in a separate organization. Just two weeks later, the last day of the year, the fifty members living in the Cherry Grove neighborhood met at the schoolhouse and organized, choosing John Sprogle as elder, and John Rowland, Sr., John Butterbaugh and John Bol- linger as trustees. If the name "John" possesses any virtue this trustee body was well "Johned." At this council arrangements were made to build a meetinghouse. That was a good way to close the old year and begin the new.
They continued in the good work. In January the trustees purchased from Henry Sword four and eleven one-hundredths acres of land for a church site and cemetery at twenty dollars per acre. That was a busy winter. Material was hauled from Freeport and from Savanna, neither on trucks nor by rail, but on horse-drawn wagons. In the meantime one could hear the sound of axes and the crash of trees as men were felling and hewing the timbers that were to become a part of the new church building. During the summer, under the leadership of John Bollinger as foreman of construction, the house was built -and used before it was completed.
Death is no respecter of persons or of rank. The wife of Michael Bollinger (minister) died; her funeral services were held in the unfinished house and her body was laid to rest in the
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new graveyard, which in March had been consecrated by receiv- ing into its bosom the body of little Sarah Sturtevant. Thus joys and sorrows for this congregation were mingled while it was going through its birth pains.
The meetinghouse was of the typical Dunker type: size, 40 feet by 60 feet, all in one room, and having a very low ceiling. A stairway led to the basement, which was equipped with long benches and long tables and a kitchen in which were prepared those never-to-be-forgotten meals that made the two-day love feasts red-letter days to the country boys and girls who may well be excused for enjoying them even though they did not fully appreciate their spiritual significance. And there was the stairway leading to the attic with its straw-filled ticks where many spent the night on love feast occasions. Tallow candles furnished their dim light for evening meetings. In more recent years the house has been remodeled so as to meet Sunday- school needs. Could this old Cherry Grove meetinghouse speak, it would have a wonderful story to tell. In 1875 the congrega- tion experienced a large ingathering. Peter R. Keltner, whose parents had settled at Arnold's Grove in 1853, says of this period:
The large ingathering at Cherry Grove in 1875 was not the result of extra preaching. The atmosphere seemed full of the revival spirit. Many applicants for membership were voluntary, and several baptismal scenes took place. Lemuel Hillery was holding a few meetings. There were several applicants before the meetings began, and on the following Sunday twenty were baptized. I was one of that number. ยท
One evening while Hillery was preaching the report spread that Henry Martin's house was on fire. Fortunately it proved to be a false alarm. A brush heap in line with the house was burning, which gave rise to the alarm. Hillery, who was always ready for any turn in his sermon, said: "Yes, Bro. Martin's house is on fire, on fire of the Holy Ghost, and his children are turning to God," which was the case just then. This was at a time when "revivals" were not yet general in the form of a series of meet- ings. The records, however, show that baptisms at the regular Sunday meetings were quite common. Folks came and asked for church membership. Say what you will of the preaching of those days, it brought new members into the church.
In 1851 some Brethren families began settling in the neigh- borhood of Shannon. This placed them within the bounds of the
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Arnold's Grove congregation. When Cherry Grove became a separate organization the Shannon group became a part of Cherry Grove. To meet the spiritual needs of the Shannon group, meetings were held in the schoolhouse of district number 9. In May 1874 the Shannon group asked Cherry Grove for the privilege of holding a meeting in the schoolhouse to consider building a meetinghouse. Permission was granted, the meeting was called, and $1,850 was subscribed for the new house. When this action was reported in council meeting at Cherry Grove, June 1, the church voted to build the meetinghouse and ap- pointed Elias Forney, Samuel Lahman and Isaac Lutz as a build- ing committee. That same year the building was completed in November at a cost of nearly $3,500, almost twice the amount subscribed. Some were dissatisfied because the committee had spent more than was on hand. But, after all was explained and understood, the church authorized the trustees to sign a note to the individuals of the building committee. Thus a building problem which might have divided and ruined a congregation was settled in a brotherly fashion. That note settling the build- ing trouble deserves preservation. Here it is:
Cherry Grove, Illinois, April 10, 1874.
On or before June 1, 1877, we, the trustees of the Church of the Breth- ren, at Cherry Grove, Illinois, agree to pay the sum of fifteen hundred sixty-nine dollars and ninety-four cents to Elias Forney, Samuel Lahman and Isaac Lutz, with ten per cent interest. value received.
Signed, John Rowland, Samuel Wolf, Trustees.
"One hundred and twenty-three dollars paid on the above note today."
Interesting features of this note are: The date, April 10, 1874, though the building was not authorized until June 1 of that year. When the congregation was organized in 1859 we saw them elect three trustees. Only two names appear on the note. Many congregations made their deacons the church trustees. Cherry Grove seems not to have followed that rule. The church took three years in which to raise the amount. The interest rate of ten per cent seems high now but was the rule at that time. And "Church of the Brethren" is assumed to be the name of the congregation thirty-four years before it became the legal name as adopted by the Annual Conference of 1908. "Church of the Brethren" appears in many records much earlier, which shows we really adopted an old name in 1908.
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Though the leadership of Cherry Grove was rather conserva- tive in its early days, within the bounds of this congregation there was an awakened, forward-looking group that did things. Note what took place within a very short period:
1. On November 13, 1875, voted to organize Shannon as a separate congregation.
2. On November 15, 1875, at a special district meeting, foreign missions in the Church of the Brethren were born when Chris- tian Hope of this congregation was called to the ministry by the entire district and was selected to go to Denmark, and Enoch Eby, Paul Wetzel and their companions were asked to be ready to go to Denmark when they and Hope thought proper.
3. In September, 1876, the Brethren At Work started as a new church paper, at Lanark.
4. In 1876 a meetinghouse was erected in Lanark, financed largely by Cherry Grove members living in Lanark.
5. The big revivals held by S. H. Bashor in Lanark and Cherry Grove. Bashor was then the outstanding evangelist in the church.
6. On May 8, 1878, Cherry Grove granted Lanark the priv- ilege of having a Sunday school, but on August 13 following re- fused to allow one in the Cherry Grove house.
7. On August 13, 1878, Cherry Grove gave Lanark permis- sion to organize as a separate congregation.
No record of Cherry Grove is complete without mentioning and giving proper recognition to the long and influential serv- ice of Henry Martin, who was elected to the ministry in Mary- land in 1858, settled at Cherry Grove in 1865, and succeeded Michael Bollinger as elder of the church in 1870. For thirty- six years he continued as elder, with the exception of one year near the middle of his term of service. He was conservative and not in sympathy with some of the innovations he saw creeping into the church. He lived to see the congregation grow as two new churches were organized.
Like most of our early congregations Cherry Grove was dila- tory in keeping records. In 1874, however, M. M. Eshelman, who had united with the church at Virden, Illinois, by baptism in June 1873, became clerk of the Cherry Grove congregation. His first entry reads: "Special Record, May 1, 1874, Cherry Grove,
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M. M. Eshelman, Clerk. Elders, Michael Bollinger, Henry Mar- tin." Thus began the church work of M. M. Eshelman, who was active in local, district, printing and missionary affairs for nearly ten years.
After the days of the free ministry Cherry Grove entered upon the period of one minister, sometimes resident, sometimes nonresident. At present the church is served by Merle Haw- becker, who grew up in the congregation. Cherry Grove and Chippewa Valley are the only two congregations at present whose pastors were born, baptized and called to the ministry in the congregations which they are shepherding. Like many of our other congregations the membership is not as large as it was in some periods of the past. When organized there were about fifty charter members. In 1881, although Shannon and Lanark had been cut off from Cherry Grove, the membership still stood at one hundred seventy. In 1941 it was one hundred twenty-six.
On February 6, 1919, the women organized their first Aid with Lillie Bloyer president, Mary Puterbaugh secretary, Bertha Thompson treasurer and Addie Sword work superintendent. Their average attendance has been eleven. They earn money by making garments, holding food sales, serving meals and the like. They have contributed more than $1,400 to foreign and home missions, the Home, orphanages, church repairs, pastor's salary and needy individuals and groups.
Waddams Grove (Lena, 1859)
The early history of this congregation is a part of the story of Yellow Creek which you should read again. In 1859 in regu- lar council Yellow Creek territory was divided. The northern part, then known as Waddams Grove, changed its name to Lena in 1927. The congregation numbered about seventy-five charter members. The large membership and the distance to Yellow Creek by lumber wagon justified the new organization. Daniel Fry, elder of Yellow Creek, became the elder of Waddams Grove. Enoch Eby, whose business had been teaching school and who had been called to the ministry in the East when thirty-one years of age, was made foreman. A second minister was Benja-
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min Kepner, elected at Yellow Creek in 1850. Allen Boyer and John Wales were deacons.
In 1860 the Louisa meetinghouse on the old Chicago-Galena trail, two miles northwest of Lena, was erected. For fifty-seven years this substantial brick building, whose walls often rang with the eloquence of Enoch Eby, Paul Wetzel and other min- isters, was a landmark in local history and in Dunker annals. The building committee was John Wales, Allen Boyer and Isaac Kemper. Yellow Creek did not forget her pledge, but rallied to the support of the building project as had been agreed upon when the Yellow Creek house was built. The full basement, mostly above ground, gave a beautiful setting to the red brick house in the woods by the roadside.
The cost of this house, not counting free labor, was about $2,200. As forty by sixty feet was the usual size of the Brethren meetinghouse, so about $2,200 seems to have been the usual cost, whether built of brick or wood in those early days. On Septem- ber 27, 1860, Daniel Fry preached the first sermon in the house. At that time the Brethren did not "dedicate" their houses of worship formally. They just entered them for the first time and began to use them for the worship of God and the uplift of the community.
On April 7, 1860, the church held an election for the ministry. The lot fell upon W. J. H. Bauman, later of Nora Springs, Iowa, and Morrill, Kansas. He became one of the leaders in the Pro- gressive movement. His son, Louis Bauman, is pastor of the First Long Beach Brethren church, and the leader of the Grace group in the present trouble of the Brethren Church.
The ministers held meetings in schoolhouses and homes in the northern parts of Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties in Illinois and across the border in Wisconsin. In this way they discovered members in the different communities and won others. On the human side men and women then were much the same as now. On May 16, 1860, Enoch Eby solemnized in his own home the marriage of Eld. John Heckman of Mulberry Grove, Ill., and Mrs. Lavina Moyer Goshorn, parents of John Heckman. Mrs. Heckman was made a widow by the death of her husband, Goshorn, near Broadhead, Wis.
In 1865 Enoch Eby settled near Rock Grove across the Peca- tonica River, where he resided for ten years. Meetings held in
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this new settlement brought a number into the church by bap- tism. Two love feasts were held, one in 1866, the other in 1868, in Joseph Gyer's barn. For reasons not now known plans for a meetinghouse and organizing a church did not materialize, though they were under consideration by the seventy members living east of the Pecatonica.
In the western part of Waddams Grove territory lived a num- ber of Brethren families in what is known as the Chelsea com- munity. To accommodate these members services were held for some years in the little stone schoolhouse. By 1874 senti- ment was sufficiently strong to build a meetinghouse for these members. But the story of Chelsea is told elsewhere.
In those days the preaching was more doctrinal and the ser- mons more Biblical. The preachers had little time to study much outside the Bible. This had its advantages as well as its many disadvantages. The sermons were not as logical and pol- ished as now, but they were fervent and the preachers were more eager to proclaim the truth in simple and positive language than to clothe it in flowery phrases. Enoch Eby was powerful in the pulpit. His voice was musical, his heart was emotional and his words fell with force. Once in a sermon he remarked that there was no Scripture for infant baptism. In his audience sat an attentive listener, Nicholas Weaver, a German of another faith who warmed up under a statement he felt certain was not correct. Arriving at home, he at once took down the family Bible and sought for the command to baptize children. He was sure he had often read it. Not finding the passage, late in the afternoon he turned to his wife and said: "Mam, wo sagt es in der Bibel dasz wir die Kinder taufen sollen?" To this his wife replied: "Ach, Dat, das ist nicht in der Bibel; das ist in der Catechise." ("Mother, where does it say in the Bible that we shall baptize the children?" "Why, father, that is not in the Bible; that is in the catechism.") This was news to him. He could not get away from it. Some time after that he united with the Brethren. On another occasion Eby made a strong assertion which a man in the rear of the audience contradicted. Eby was just then taking off his coat, as he often did in warm weather when preaching, and he replied to the man, "I will see you about that after the meeting." The man thinking that trou- ble might be brewing jumped out the window and made for
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home. Unusual incidents are both of these, but they well illus- trate the character and positiveness of the preaching of the time.
There were sporadic attempts at Sunday school but general support was lacking in these efforts. In 1866 a Sunday school was attempted with Milton Philips as superintendent but the school was of short duration. By request a Sunday school was started in the Albee schoolhouse. It continued for one summer only. Allen Boyer was superintendent and Robert Badger as- sistant. Sentiment was slowly crystallizing, but not until May 3, 1884, did the church grant the privilege of holding Sunday school in both the Louisa and Chelsea meetinghouses. On July 4, 1901, Yellow Creek and Waddams Grove held their first joint Sunday- school meeting in the Louisa house. All were so pleased that the joint meeting was continued as an annual affair for some years.
For half a century and more the Louisa meetinghouse ren- dered yeoman service to the district as well as the church at large. Folks still speak of the Annual Meeting held near its location in 1856. Here was held the district meeting that made final arrangements for sending Enoch Eby and wife and Daniel Fry and wife to Denmark, a golden milestone in Brethren his- tory. Here lived and ministered two outstanding preachers, Paul Wetzel and Enoch Eby, the latter eleven times moderator of An- nual Meeting, and both great pulpit orators, Wetzel in the Ger- man language and Eby in English.
But conditions changed here as elsewhere. People came and went. Some Brethren began to retire from the farm and move to Lena. Others migrated to other states. The shifting of mem- bers to Lena led to a call for preaching in town. The Baptist congregation was disintegrating, though they had a good house in Lena. This house the Brethren purchased for $2,000 and put in shape for regular services. This meant the abandonment of the Louisa house, in which a farewell service, with basket din- ner, was held on September 27, 1927, just fifty years after the love feast before the deputation left for Denmark. The services at this last meeting at Louisa consisted of addresses: The Pass- ing of a Landmark, by Peter R. Keltner; The Religious Influence of a Church Community, by John Heckman; The History of This Community for Eighty-one Years, by Lee Boyer, who, with
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Erastus Kepner, represented those present when the house was dedicated on September 27, 1860. Later the house was razed.
It was in 1904 that the women got together and as a unit planned to provide clothing and bedding for the needy, young and old, in their own community and elsewhere. Needing money to secure material, they began to quilt-all this with- out formal organization. After some years they organized the Aid Society with Mary Sandrock, in whose home the meetings were held, as president. In the village of Waddams the meet- ings were held in the home of Katie Lutz. In 1918 a room was fitted up in the home of Amanda Masters for the exclusive use of the Aid, with Portia Richard as president. Here were their headquarters for a number of years. Their social and educa- tional improvement has been fostered by reading missionary lit- erature and by keeping in touch with church activities both local and national. During the past fifteen years they have contrib- uted about $2,250 to local and world-wide needs.
Waddams Grove began employing pastors in 1920. The eighth and present pastor, John F. Burton, began his service in 1935. She has called fifteen men to the ministry. In this num- ber is Peter R. Keltner, who with his wife was instrumental in building the congregations in Sterling, Rockford and Freeport.
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