USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 26
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During the circuit days the ministers shared in the hardships that were endured by most of the people. Often the salary was fixed at between $100 and $200, in addition to which an allowance was made of about $75 for fuel, table expenses and horse feed. In 1849 the amount to be raised for pastor and presiding elder was $345. At the end of the year there was an unpaid deficiency of $119.56.
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF GOSHEN
The first church was erected in 1832 and located on South Sixth Street. It was a frame building forty feet square with walls twelve feet high. The contract was let to James Beck for $495 and, while an unpretentious edifice, was the largest church in Northern In- diana. It was ceiled, but not plastered, and furnished with benches made of slabs. The class leader, or local preacher, was Aza Spark- lin, whose associates were William Waugh and Thomas and George McCullom, with their wives. Before the church building was com- pleted, in 1832, a Sunday School was organized and held its sessions in a log cabin.
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In 1835 a camp meeting was held by the church on the Violett lands south of the town which was attended by people for twenty- five miles around. In 1840, under the ministry of Rev. George M. Boyd a revival meeting was held which resulted in 150 members being added to the church.
In 1845 plans were made and the contract was let for a new building, which was erected on Main Street just north of the Hotel Alderman. The trustees were Joseph H. Defrees, George Rumsey, Ebenezer Brown, John Darlan, Asa H. Norton, James Anderson and Samuel Murray. For over twenty years this building served the needs of the congregation, but the growth of the town and increase of the church membership made a new church necessary. In 1873 the lot was purchased at the corner of Fifth and Jefferson streets and on October 16th the corner-stone was laid. Rev. A. Marine, who had been licensed to preach by this church delivered the address. The panic made the raising of money difficult, but on January 31, 1875, the building was completed and the basement finished and opened for worship. Doctor Thomas, of Chicago, preached the dedicatory sermon. After 31/2 years the auditorium was completed, the walls decorated by Prof. Romeo Berra, a pipe organ installed and all debts paid. On June 16, 1878, the completed building was dedicated by Bishop S. M. Merrill.
From the organization of the church at Goshen, in 1832, until it became a station with a settled pastor, in 1852, the following have served : Richard I. Robinson (1832-33), with Beswick and Phelps as assistants ; Ball, Harrison, McCoole, Skillman, Stagg, Posey, Stonex, Bruce, Wheeler, Graham, George M. Boyd, Samuel Lamb, L. W. Monson, Franklin Taylor, Enoch Holstock and D. F. Streight.
Since Goshen became a station, the pastors of the First Methodist Episcopal Church have been: Revs. J. D. G. Pettijohn, September, 1852-September, 1854; C. W. Miller, September, 1854-September, 1855; H. J. Meck, September, 1855-September, 1856; N. Green, September, 1856-September, 1857; J. D. DeMott, April, 1857-April, 1859; N. Gillam, April, 1859-April, 1861 ; Thomas Comstock, April, 1861-April, 1862; T. Stahler, April, 1862-April, 1863; M. H. Men- denhall, April, 1863-April, 1865; E. F. Hasty, April, 1865-April, 1867; George Newton, April, 1867-April, 1869; J. C. Mahin, April, 1869-April, 1872; C. Martindale, April, 1872-April, 1874; S. H. Rhodes, April, 1874-September, 1875; S. H. Rhodes, April, 1874- September, 1875; A. W. Lamport, September, 1875-April, 1878;
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N. H. Phillips, April, 1878-April, 1880; W. O. Pierce, April, 1880- April, 1882; H. J. Norris, April, 1882-April, 1884; C. Skinner, April, 1884-April, 1887; H. N. Herrick, April, 1887-September, 1888; C. C. Albertson, September, 1888-October, 1892; W. H. Daniel, October, 1892-April, 1893; E. L. Semans, April, 1893- April, 1896; A. S. Preston, April, 1896-April, 1900; C. C. Cissell, April, 1900-April, 1903; M. J. Magor, April, 1903-October, 1910; T. D. Stephenson, October, 1910-April, 1913; R. L. Semans, April, 1913-
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The first twenty years of Presbyterianism in Goshen comprised a period of struggles and only partial successes. Very soon after the County of Elkhart was organized and Goshen platted, a Pres- byterian minister preached a sermon at the home of a Mr. Irwin in Benton. In the summer of 1832 the same clergyman, Reverend Mr. Cory, preached the first Presbyterian sermon in Goshen. As to the following six years, neither tradition nor the public prints throw any light upon the subject. In 1838 a small and insecure Presbyterian organization of the New School was effected and sur- vived about two years. Then came Rev. Enoch Bouton, a minister and home missionary of the Presbyterian Church. For a time he held services in the old court house and organized a small society, mainly of the families of Frederick and Leonard Harris and Charles L. Murray, the last named being the brilliant young editor of the Express.
In 1842 the Presbyterians erected a neat frame house of worship on North Fifth Street, at the north end of the old Messick property. The old subscription paper circulated to raise means for the erec- tion of the building is dated November 22, 1841, and shows the names of fifty-three subscribers. The value of their offerings repre- cented $578, a large proportion of which was in work, lumber and other materials. One man, George Rowell, gave a plow.
During the second year of Mr. Bouton's ministry he was a com- missioner to the General Assembly of the church, held at Phila- delphia. He returned from that meeting with a fever by which he was taken away in the course of a few weeks. After his death the church was unsupplied for a period of two or three years, when the Rev. A. S. Kedsie, a minister of the Congregational faith located
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at Goshen, supplying the pulpit for a period of nearly three years. During his ministry the Presbyterian organization was abandoned and the Congregational form was adopted, and, mainly through the instrumentality of an itinerant evangelist-Avery by name-the membership was increased to perhaps forty. Immediately follow- ing that period, that pastor accepted a call to Kalamazoo and left the church vacant, and it remained so for three years and more.
In the spring of 1851 Rev. James Johnson came to Goshen from Peru, where he had been pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He supplied the pulpits so far as he was able, with the great burden of constant sickness at his home, until the death of his wife in the autumn of that year, after which he removed to Iowa. During the winter succeeding the church building was unoccupied. The fol- lowing summer, that of 1852, it was given up to a private school.
This completes the story of the precarious beginnings of Pres- byterianism in Goshen. Succeeding the death of Reverend Bouton no stable Presbyterian organization existed, and even the Congrega- tionalist organization fell away after the departure of Reverend Kedzie. Other church organizations in Goshen in 1852 were the Baptist, which had a small membership and a minister but no house of worship. The Methodist Church had the largest membership, about 150, and what was then considered the finest church building between Fort Wayne and Chicago. It was located at No. 211 North Main Street. And such was the situation at the time of the organ- ization of the present church.
For the succeeding half of a century a history of the church is almost a biography of its pastor. The last Saturday of October, 1852, the Rev. H. L. Vannuys, a graduate of that year's class of the Theological Seminary of Princeton, came to Goshen from Elk- hart by stage. He had made an appointment with the Hon. Thomas G. Harris to preach the next day in the Presbyterian Church. The latter was a citizen of prominence and a politician of note, who being so engrossed in the heat of the troublous campaign, then com- ing to a close, when Gen. Winfield S. Scott was defeated by Franklin Pierce, and who had entirely forgotten that he was being depended upon to arrange a service in the little neglected church on Fifth Street. In the morning he met the young minister at the church, where the latter was awaiting a congregation, and after expressing his deep regret for the situation, said they would arrange a service later in the day. The church was unfit for occupancy, the door
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having been left open, and a flock of sheep that had the freedom of the streets had used the room as a sleeping place, and the walls and benches had been chalk-marked by sacrilegious boys.
At the hour of 3 that afternoon an audience assembled quite filling the court room. It was a room a square of perhaps 45 or 50 feet, the floor of brick and on a level with the ground. The preacher occupied the judge's stand. The choir, self gathered after the audience assembled, was in the stall of the jurymen at the judge's left. The windows were raised as it was a warm Indian summer afternoon, and a good number of people were at and around the windows listening. Such was the humble start of the church.
The following week a meeting was held by a number of people inclined to the Presbyterian faith, the conclusion of which was a proposition that if Mr. Vannuys would remain and preach as their minister they would set about at once the putting of the church building in order for occupancy. And before the week was ended they began the work. They put a new roof upon the church, put a second coat of plaster upon the walls-they had had but one-took out two doors of the front and put in a central one covered by an outside vestibule and built the first stay of a tower. They re- moved the rough benches and put in pews, nicely grained, and fin- ished it up a neat and handsome room. The same pulpit remained ; it had been built by Rev. Johnson's own hands. By the Christmas of that year the work was completed and the building consecrated to worship.
All that winter services were held in the little church. When spring came there came with it talk of an organization. On Satur- day afternoon, the 12th day of March, 1853, a meeting was held in the church pursuant to a call issued the preceding Sunday, to con- sider the interests of religion. There were fourteen present, all but three of whom belonged to the old congregation. After devotional services beginning with the hymn of invocation, "Come Holy Spirit," and the full and free interchange of views, it was "Resolved that we now take the necessary steps for the organization of a Presbyterian church." The following persons, all of whom had been previously in connection with the church here or elsewhere, entered into cov- enant : Charles L. Murray and Ann M., his wife ; James R. McCord and Eliza, his wife; S. F. Abbott and Lois, his wife; Joseph D. Devor and Martha, his wife; Robert Lowry Sr .; Lee Sanderson,
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Orrin Curtis, Matilda Barnes, Marcia M. Harris and Margaret M. Miller.
The following officers were chosen: Ruling elders: Robert Lowry, Sr., James R. McCord and Orrin Curtis; deacons : Joseph D. Devor and Lee Sanderson ; trustees: Charles L. Murray, Orrin Curtis and Thomas G. Harris. Rev. Hervey L. Vannuys was chosen pastor.
The organization was christened as "The First Presbyterian Church of Goshen." On March 26, the second Sunday following, the organization, Rev. S. C. Logan came from Constantine, admin- istered the Lord's Supper and ordained the deacons previously elected and Elders Lowry and McCord, Mr. Curtis declining to serve as he lived on a farm and could not give the duties the re- quired attention. The 16th of June following the Lake Presbytery met in Goshen, organized and enrolled the church and ordained and installed the pastor. The church so organized and started on its way of public blessing and benefaction has had a continuous growth and uninterrupted prosperity, and has been a power in the com- munity whose strength and extent can never be reckoned in its full- ness until that day when the books of all of us are balanced.
David G. Lowry, a son of Elder Robert Lowry, Sr., was the first member taken into the church ; this was March 26, 1853. About the same time Miss Sophia McClure and Mrs. Lucy Clark were taken in as members. A little later Mrs. Mary Stevens and Dr. C. S. Ramsey and wife came from Indianapolis and presented their letters, and still later Mrs. Jane McCabe, Mrs. Eliza Lowry, Miss Elizabeth Lowry, Mrs. Amanda Shepherd, Mrs. Orrin Curtis and Anthea Abbott united with the church. All these accessions occurred be- fore the month of March elapsed, so that the new-born church com- menced its active life with a membership of twenty-seven.
About 1860 the membership had outgrown the small building erected almost twenty years before and to get larger and modern quarters the trustees sold the old church to Fred Jackson for $750 and later purchased the lot on Market Street, now Lincoln Avenue, where the present church stands. Fred Jackson sold the old church to Adam Yeakel, who moved it to its present location on South Fifth Street, where it is now in use as their place of worship by the congregation of the German Lutheran Church. Turned about, a steeple added, stained glass windows replacing plain glass, it is yet the same as when put in order back in the fall of 1852.
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The present structure was built in 1861 at a cost of about $12,000. John Werner laid the foundation and superintended the brick work. What difficulties must have been encountered and overcome during this time of building can scarcely be imagined by members of this day, though fully realized then. It was the be- ginning of the Civil war and it is marvelous to think of such a great work going on amid the alarms and chaos of that nation-rending contest. It is related that while the masons were placing stone the pastor procured copies of a newspaper and read them dispatches about the Battle of Bull Run then in progress. It is a wonder one stone could be laid straight upon another during the telling of such momentous news. However it was done and its cornerstone duly laid.
A REMARKABLE PASTORATE RECORD
In October, 1877, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Van- nuys' pastorate of the Goshen Church was gratefully and affection- ately observed by the members of the society and the general public; likewise the fortieth anniversary in 1892 and the fiftieth, in 1902. In June, 1903, he was succeeded in the active pastorate by his nephew, Rev. E. A. Vannuys while the venerable founder of the church became pastor emeritus. Doctor Vannuys passed to the reward of the faithful Christian on the 17th of February, 1911.
The church was remodeled in 1900 and a parsonage erected in 1911. The present membership of the First Presbyterian Church, still served by Rev. E. A. Vannuys, is about 525.
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
The First Baptist Church was the third church to be permanently organized in Goshen, and was established by eight ladies in 1858. The edifice now occupied, on the corner of Washington and Sixth streets, was completed in 1876, and, with the parsonage and grounds, covers half a block. The church society is active both at home and in the foreign fields. As to the latter feature of its work, it may be mentioned that it has sent two of its members abroad, Mrs. Nora Yates Turner and Mrs. Inez Ulery McGuire. Rev. C. Agers was one of the pioneer pastors of the First Baptist Church. For the past thirty-five years the following have been in service: Rev. J. M.
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Whitehead, from March, 1881, to December, 1884; Rev. Wilson Whitney, May, 1885-September, 1887 ; Rev. John Heritage, Novem- ber, 1887-June, 1800; Rev. C. V. Northrop, July, 1890-March, 1892; Rev. S. M. Cramblet, July, 1892-May, 1897; Rev. W. P. Pearce, November, 1897-March, 1903; Rev. J. V. Fradenburg, May, 1903-September, 1907; Rev. Eugene Neubauer, November, 1907-December, 1908; Rev. S. L. Roberts, February, 1909-June, 1910; Rev. A. D. Berry, July, 1910-November, 1913; Rev. H. Robert Smith, since April, 1914. The present membership of the church is about 300.
ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The parish was organized on Easter Monday, March 26, 1859. Its first officers were: George F. R. Wadleigh, senior warden; Hedley Earde, junior warden; William B. Martin, Charles E. Law- rence, Chance W. Stevens, Charles B. Alderman, Philip M. Henkel, John Graham, and George Howell, vestrymen. These officers were among the principal incorporators. Rev. H. M. Thompson was called to preach every other Sunday on July II, 1859. Rev. C. A. Foster was the first resident rector and while the parish was under his charge, in 1861, the present house of worship was completed. Since that time it has been greatly improved as to interior furnish- ings and decorations. The rectory is the gift of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Latta, the deed of transfer being presented to the vestry in April, 1887. In May, 1900, the pipe organ was installed. Since the rectorate of Doctor Foster, the following have served the par- ish : Rev. S. D. Pulford, Rev. C. C. Tate, Rev. R. C. Wall, Rev. J. E. Wildman, Rev. Richard Totten, Rev. T. W. Mitchell, Rev. J. C. Boxer, Rev. S. C. Orpen, Rev. W. W. Raymond, Rev. S. Roose- velt, Rev. J. B. Mead, Rev. Charles T. Stout, Rev. E. B. Stockton, Rev. F. W. Goodman, Rev. Edgar M. Thompson, Rev. J. V. Fraden- burg, Rev. Edward L. Roland and Rev. L. T. Scofield. Mr. Roland served as rector from 1906 to 1914, and Mr. Scofield has been in charge since the latter year. The membership of the parish is about 150.
THE GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The German Methodist Episcopal Church of Goshen was organ- ized in 1859 by Rev. F. Ruff, at that time stationed at Kendall-
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ville. The society occupied rooms in the Evangelical Methodist Episcopal Church and rented of the Swedenborgians until 1864, when a small brick structure was erected at the corner of Fifth and Purl streets. In 1874 a larger church was built and the society sold the older structure to the English Evangelical Lutherans, but after- ward reoccupied the edifice which it had originally erected and which had been remodeled by the Lutherans. Among the pastors who have served the German Methodist Episcopal Church may be named Rev. J. Weidman, Rev. John Straush, Rev. John Bodiner, Rev. F. L. Nagler, Rev. Henry W. Lentz, Rev. W. P. Rueckheim and Rev. A. C. Bauer, who is still pastor.
ST. JOHN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
The parish of St. John's was founded by the missionary priests of Notre Dame, Rt. Rev. Julian Benoit, V. G., being the first priest to visit Goshen. He said mass for the early Irish and German pioneers in the old courthouse, and in private residences in the early '40s. Other priests who followed Father Benoit in missionary visits were Rev. Alexander Granger, C. S. C., Very Rev. Edward Sorin, C. S. C., and Rev. Henry Vincent Schaefer.
The work of erecting the church in 1860 was under the direction of Rev. Henry Vincent Schaefer, who had charge of Avilla and its missions. The first pastor was Rev. Frederick J. Holz from 1860 to 1861. Following Father Holz the church was attended by Rev. A. B. Oechtering, Rev. Fathers Duehmig and Storr and others, and Rev. H. Meissner became the resident pastor from 1868 until the spring of 1871. Rev. J. H. Quinlan of Elkhart and Rev. M. F. Noll attended the congregation after Father Meissner's time, and Rev. H. A. Boeckelmann was resident pastor from 1878 to 1880. Rev. A. J. Kroeger, now of Logansport, was resident pastor from 1880 to 1887; Rev. Adam Buchheit from 1887 to 1889, and Rev. S. M. Yenn, from 1889 to 1900; Rev. F. A. King, and Rev. W. S. Hogan from September, 1902, to February, 1903; Rev. J. B. Fitz- patrick from 1903 to 1907; Rev. L. A. Eberle, from 1907 to 1911, when he was appointed to Chesterton and succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Gustave Hottenroth.
Father Hottenroth began his work at Goshen, in July, 1911, his charge including a mission at Millersburg, embracing 400 souls.
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The first school building of St. John's parish was erected in 1867 and lay teachers were in charge. In 1881 Rev. A. J. Kroeger com- pleted a substantial brick house west of the church and Sisters of the Holy Cross were engaged as teachers. Its attendance is now about eighty.
TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
On the 27th of October, 1861, the Lutherans of Goshen who were interested in effecting an organization assembled at the old Presbyterian Church and formed the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. They called Rev. M. M. Bartholomew to the pastorate, the enterprise being assisted by the Lutheran congregations in Benton and Harrison townships. In 1862 the old Presbyterian Church was purchased and moved to a lot on South Fifth Street near Purl, where, after being considerably improved, it was dedi- cated as the Trinity Lutheran Church August 24, 1862. A parson- age was erected on Sixth and Purl; the one now occupied was com- pleted in 1904. At first the preaching was only in English, but it soon became evident that not a few of the members wished a por- tion of the services to be conducted in German. As Mr. Bar- tholomew was not a master of that language, he resigned in favor of Rev. Jonathan Weber in 1866. Since that year the church has been a bi-lingual institution, using both languages interchangeably. In 1875 the portion of the congregation which desired all the services in English founded a separate church, and the Benton congregation parted company with the mother body later. The congregation in Harrison Township remained with the original organization.
Rev. M. M. Bartholomew was followed by Rev. Jonathan Weber in 1866, and he was succeeded by Rev. G. Schmogrow in 1872, the last named serving until the first split in the original church in 1875. Since that division the pastors of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran have been : Rev. George Harter, 1876-82; Rev. George A. Harter, 1882-3; Rev. S. Baechler, 1883-8; Rev. M. F. Lauffer, 1888-91 ; Rev. J. Humberger, 1891-2; Rev. A. H. Feldman, 1892-4; Rev. J. F. Mueller, 1894-7; Rev. C. E. Clessler, 1898-1907; Rev. Carl F. Betz, 1908-09; Rev. A. L. Burmann, 1901-12 ; Rev W. A. F. Grimm, 1912-14; Rev. J. H. Schmidt, since 1915. The present membership of the church is about 165.
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FIRST REFORMED CHURCH
On September 20, 1875, the First Reformed Church of Goshen was organized by Rev. E. R. Williard, with the following charter members : John F. Kitson, Jacob Pfeiffer, Solomon Sarbaugh, Eliz- abeth Sarbaugh, George N. Miller, Mrs. C. A. Cunningham, Jonas Frantz, Mrs. Bertha Fisher, Luella Christman, Sarah A. Sarbaugh and A. S. Leib. In January, 1876, the old Methodist Church on North Main Street was purchased and remodeled, its dedication occurring in March of that year. At the same time Rev. W. H. Zeigler commenced his pastorate, which continued until February, 1881. Since that time the successive pastors have been as follows : Rev. A. K. Zartman, July 1881-July, 1888; Rev. H. S. Gekeler, April, 1889-fall of 1890; Rev. I. S. Hahn, April, 1891-October, 1891; Rev. B. B. Royer, June, 1893-January, 1899; Rev. N. B. Mathes, May, 1899-January, 1909; Rev. C. K. Staudt, July, 1909- September, 1912; Rev. W. W. Foust, March, 1913, up to the present. The substantial brick church occupied by the society was erected in 1893. The present membership is about 285.
FIRST ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
This church was organized by those members of the old Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church who desired to have its services con- ducted entirely in the English language. The organization was formally effected January 27, 1876, under the name of the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church by the election of the follow- ing officers: Elders, John Shoup and Christian Bartholomew; deacons, A. Miller and H. E. Tiedeman ; trustees, J. C. Beck, L. E. Bartholomew and Morgan Butler; secretary, J. S. Simon ; treasurer, C. D. Tiedeman. In February, 1876, the German Methodist Episcopal Church, corner of East Purl and South Fifth streets, was rented and subsequently purchased. The building was twice remodeled and in 1894 an exchange of properties with the German Methodists was effected by which the English Lutheran Church came into posses- sion of the larger building which they have since occupied on the corner of Fifth and Madison streets. The present membership of the church is 165.
From the organization of the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church to the present, the successive pastors have been: Rev. L. M.
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C. Weicksel, February, 1876-June, 1882; Rev. J. G. M. Hursh, October, 1882-June, 1884; Rev. J. N. Burnett, December 1884- October, 1889; Rev. M. S. Waters, April, 1890-April, 1893; Rev. W. R. Swickard, July, 1893-April, 1894 ; Rev. J. A. Leas, April, 1894-March, 1896; Rev. William Evans, June, 1896-March, 1898; Rev. A. C. Anda, November, 1898-September, 1902; Rev. George P. Kabele, May, 1903-August, 1904; Rev. Luther J. Hogshead, June, 1905-November, 1906; Rev. Luther J. Smith, May, 1907-August, 1915; and Rev. D. F. Bement, who recently was called to the pastor- ate.
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