USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 24
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At this first meeting William Hood and Nathaniel Patton, Sr., having been previously elected elders, were ordained to the ministry. John P.
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Mitchell and his wife, Peggy, who were received on certificate, were the first members of New Zion church. The first members received on examina- tion were William Henderson and his wife, Martha, and Nathaniel Lewis. When the first communion was celebrated, in 1827, by Rev. Joseph Clay- baugh, the church had a membership of forty.
The first church building was of hewed logs, was thirty feet square, and was thrown up in the fall and winter of 1824. James McCracken and Adam and Andrew Rankin prepared the logs and these men, assisted by James R. Patton and William Anderson, "carried up the corners." The house was not covered until the summer of 1825, at which time a roof of poles and split shingles was tied on with that skill which our good fore- fathers happily possessed. The shingles were rived on the farm of Samuel Lewis, near Clarksburg. The roof was put on under the direction of Will- iam Penny. The seats were such as those occupying them chose to make. everyone supplying their own, some better and some worse. On these seats the patient worshippers could and did sit through a two-hour service in the morning and one of equal length in the afternoon.
The lot (one acre) on which this first church was erected was deeded by Samuel Donnell on January 1, 1825, to the trustees of New Zion congre- gation, namely : William Henderson, Adam Rankin and James McCracken, for the sum of six dollars and fifty cents. The second lot ( two acres) was deeded by William and George A. Anderson, on May II, 1841, to trustees William B. Lewis, A. J. Dale and William Duncan, for a consideration of one dollar.
In 1832 the congregation had increased to such an extent that it was (leemed necessary to enlarge the building. Accordingly, a frame addition of twenty feet was added to the old building by Samuel Henry. In 1837 a frame church took the place of the old log building. In 1862 many trees were planted around the church by William Anderson and future genera- tions have had cause to be grateful for this labor of love on the part of this sterling old pioneers. As the years went by, the congregation became able to build a still more substantial church and in 1892 the present beautiful brick house of worship was erected at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. . 1 parsonage was built in 1871.
Many of the ablest men of the denomination have served the church as pastor and the following list is as complete as the records disclose : James Worth, 1830-52; Rev. Walker, 1852-67; Samuel Taggart, 1868 ( five months) ; William Johnston, 1871-77; William Ritchie, 1877-79: Alvin Vincent, 1880-88; T. H. McMichael, 1800-93; Harry Crawford, 1893-94:
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Paul Stewart, 1896-1900: Neil Ferguson, 1901-05; W. W. McCal!, 1906-12; Fred Elliott, since 1914. The first settled minister, James Worth, severed his connection with the church in 1852 to go with a colony of set- tlers to Oregon. He was a man of unusual attainments, well-grounded in doctrine, a good organizer, faithful in the discharge of his duties, a patron of honesty and uprightness. and to his judicious management and careful training the congregation owes much of its success in later years. No other minister ever served the congregation as long and no other left such an impress on the church.
The present ideal of the church is to be in every sense a community church and the church is now styled the "Spring Hill Community church." The officers are men alive to their responsibilities to the entire community, and every organization of the church seeks to minister, rather than to be ministered unto. The session is honored by the service of two men who have represented Decatur county in the halls of the state Legislature, Jethro C. Meek and William J. Kinkaid. The Sabbath school is under the able and enthusiastic management of Ezra Kirby and is doing very efficient work. The Spring Hill church has furnished to the church at large two col- lege presidents, the Rev. William Johnston, former president of Amity Col- lege, of College Springs, Iowa, and the Rev. T. H. McMichael, of Mon- mouth College, Monmouth, Illinois. This congregation is justly famous for its loyalty, its liberality. its sociability, its high ideals of community life, and the beautiful location of its meeting house. Its broad Christian spirit is well expressed in the public invitation issued by the church, "To all who mourn and need comfort-to all who are weary and need rest-to all who are friendless and want friendship-to all who are homeless and want sheltering love-to all who pray and to all who do not, but ought-to all who sin and need a saviour, and to whomsoever will-this church opens wide the door and makes a free place, and in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, says 'Welcome.' "
The present officers of the church are as follow: Minister, Frederick Elliott ; session, William Kinkaid (clerk), Theodore Humphrey. Nathan Logan, Robert Donnell, Jethro Meek and Hugh Sparks; treasurer, William Kinkaid: superintendent of the Sunday school, Ezra Kirby; trusteees, Edward Sefton (chairman), Thomas J. Kitchin and Elbert C. Meek.
SPRINGHILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
OLD SPRINGHILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.
The Christian church, founded by Thomas Campbell, near Pittsburgh, in 1809, and continued by Alexander Campbell, did not take root in Decatur county until 1831, about a year after the movement had taken strength and started to spread to all parts of the country. The first church of this denomination to be established in this county was at Clarksburg. It was organized on November 16, 1831, about ten months before the first Christian church at Greensburg was established.
The history of this denomination in Decatur county was prepared in 1912 by L. D. Braden, of Greensburg, and is made the authority for most of the facts in regard to the church set forth in this volume. The booklet was issued on September 29, 1912, in honor of the eightieth anniversary of the Greensburg church.
Madison Evans, in his "Pioneer Preachers of Indiana," gives the fol- lowing account of the founding of the church in Greensburg :
"In the fall of 1832 John O'Kane first visited Rush county, where he was employed to evangelize for one year. He and John P. Thompson, of Rush county, traveled together over the counties of Rush, Fayette and De- catur, being the first at almost every point to publish the doctrine of the reformation. When they arrived at Greensburg, O'Kane rang the court house bell and a small andience collected. Thompson preached and one came forward to confess the Lord. This was the first evangelistic sermon and the first disciple at that place, which is now the center of a powerful influence in favor of primitive Christianity. O'Kane followed and three others made the good confession.
"The previous night they preached at a point four miles northwest of Greensburg and two were added to the saved, one of them, a daughter of North Parker, is believed to have been the first person who embraced the ancient gospel in eastern Indiana.
"From that point they continued their journey, the people everywhere gladly receiving the Word. Though sectarian opposition was strong, and there was much ill-feeling toward O'Kane, growing out of his active par- ticipation in the presidential campaign, still the disciples were multiplied. new churches established, prejudices eradicated and Bible principles incul- cated."
(17)
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GREENSBURG CHRISTIAN CHURCII.
The date of the sermons preached by Thompson and O'Kane in Greens- burg was probably Sunday, September 1, 1832. The First Christian church was organized twenty-nine days later in the county seminary, which is still standing on South Franklin street. For two or three years services were held at this place and the county court house. For a long time there was no resident minister, but the church was edified by discourses from visiting clergymen. In 1836 a permanent meeting place was established in a log dwelling on East Main street, owned by Ilugh Sidwell.
Four years later the congregation had increased in numbers to such an extent that a more modern structure was needed. Accordingly a comfort- able brick church was erected near the railroad. The church was provided with a bell which Gen. James B. Foley had secured from an Ohio river steamboat. This bell was later installed in the spire of the present church.
The old building was torn down in 1870, after the present church was dedicated. Measured by present-day architectural standards the old church left several things to be desired, but when erected it was considered the last word in such structures.
It was forty feet wide, sixty feet long and designed to accommodate two hundred people. Instead of the conventional spire it had a square three- decker steeple which looked as though the builders had exhausted their supply of material before completing their work. This steeple surmounted an overhanging roof, supported by four square pillars.
In these early days a minister schooled in theology was a decided rarity. Most of them were men who made a living for their families following the plow ; standing behind the counter or working at the forge. They took their pay in articles of wearing apparel and other necessities, promulgating, in return, doctrines of faith and salvation. Such a man was Carey Smith, a blacksmith, who had been converted through reading "The Christian Bap- tist," published by Alexander Campbell. Smith moved to Greensburg from Indianapolis in 1833 and preached for three or four years in churches in this part of the state. In 1840 he made a tour of the south under the patron- age of Alexander Campbell and died in Mississippi the following year.
The first regular pastor of this denomination at Greensburg was John B. New, father of John C. New, who later owned the Indianapolis Journal and was appointed consul general to Liverpool in 1889. New moved to Greensburg from Vernon in 1839. At his first meeting his congregation
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numbered but thirteen, three of whom were small boys. Undaunted by the gloomy outlook, he and his wife remained valiantly at the post and organ- ized churches at Antioch, Napoleon, Milroy, Shelbyville and Milford within the next three years.
New possessed a wonderful capacity for work of this nature. In groves, barns, dwellings and school houses within a radius of ten miles from Greensburg, he preached and exhorted daily; often conducting fourteen services a week. At the end of his first year he had added seventy-five members to the First Christian church of Greensburg and erected a new church building at a cost of three thousand dollars. At the end of his pas- torate, in 1845, the church had one hundred and fifty members.
His successor was Jacob Wright, a rough-and-ready minister, who preached at Greensburg, Clarksburg, Milford and Clifty for two years. He was the first Christian minister in Decatur county to receive a salary, his stipend being three hundred dollars a year. He was an able debater and frequently shared the rostrum with other ministers who differed with him in matters appertaining to Sunday schools and baptism.
During Wright's pastorate John O'Kane came back to Greensburg. A great concourse was assembled to hear him preach. The aisles were filled and crowds were gathered outside at every window. The evangelist was warming to his theme of regeneration and repentance when a rotten sleeper in front of the pulpit gave way under the unusual weight and the floor dropped three feet to the ground.
The doors swung inward, and in their mad rush for the outside the people jammed the doors fast shut. People were trampled under foot and rolled beneath the seats. Some walked upon seatbacks and jumped through windows to security. . At last the doors were opened and a grand rush fol- lowed, people tearing the clothes off their neighbors' backs in the mad scramble. No one was seriously injured.
BEGINNING OF BUTLER COLLEGE.
A movement which resulted in the foundation of Butler College was started in Greensburg in 1847. At a state convention of the denomination held there in that year a resolution was adopted for the establishment of an institution of learning of the highest grade. A committee was named to make a later report which resulted in the founding of Northwestern Chris- tian University at Indianapolis. Later the name of the institution was changed to Butler College.
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Other ministers who filled the Greensburg pulpit between 1846 and the outbreak of the Civil War were Richard Roberts, B. F. Sallee, Thomas Conley and Joseph R. Lucas. Rev. D. R. Van Buskirk, who occupied the pulpit during war times, was a man of marked ability, serving Decatur county during this period in the state Legislature, both in the upper and lower houses of the General Assembly. He was appointed chaplain of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in 1864. It was during the second year of Van Buskirk's ministry that Alexander Campbell came to Greensburg and preached two sermons in the old church near the railroad. Campbell was then near the close of his life, which he had given to the restoration movement. ITe was then seventy-four years old and his hair was as white as snow. He delivered a notable dis- course on "The Great Commission," and charmed the great congregation with his affable and engaging manner.
The Rev. D. R. Van Buskirk was followed in the Greensburg pulpit by three other ministers, Carl Starks, John Shackleford and Dr. L. L. Pinkerton; then, in 1868, the church decided that a new building was an imperative necessity. The Cleveland, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company had secured a right of way through Decatur county, in 1853, and was running its trains just past the old church, the noise of trains seriously interfering with the solemnity of the services.
Some man of exceptional ability was needed as pastor of the church for this work and the Rev. D. R. Van Buskirk was once more secured. The site of the present church, North Broadway and Hendricks streets, was pur- chased from W. II. Hazelrigg and B. W. Wilson and work was started upon the erection of an eighteen thousand dollar church, which was dedicated on February 20, 1870, by Rev. Isaac Errett. A revival service was held imme- diately after the dedication of the church and one hundred members were added to the congregation.
When the Reverend Van Buskirk left for the second time he was fol- lowed in the pulpit by the following ministers: W. P. Aylesworth, 1870-71; W. B. Hendryx, 1871-74: U. C. Brewer, 1874-77; S. M. Conner, 1879; G. P. P'eale, 1880-82; William Bryan, 1883; W. T. McGowan, 1884; M. W. Ilarkins, 1885-88; W. C. Payne, 1889-91 ; C. H. Trout, 1891 ; T. M. Wiles, 1892-94, and U. M. Browder. 1895-96.
In 1896 the church extended its third call to Reverend Van Buskirk, who filled the pulpit until 1901. During this pastorate he repaired the church, installed ornamental wooden beams and some beautiful memorial windows. Ilis funeral services were held in this church on April 5. 1908. Since this
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time the church has been ably served by the following ministers: W. D. Starr, 1902-04; Thomas B. Howe, 1904; Frank W. Summer, 1905; James Mailley, 1905-08; W. G. Johnston, 1908-1I; W. J. Cocke, 1911, and A. Homer Jordan, 1912-15.
The first Sunday school was organized in 1850 and was divided into two classes, one for the adult members of the church and one for the chil- dren. In the class for men and women considerable stress was laid by the teacher, usually the minister, upon doctrinal tenets of the church, while the younger pupils were likewise given as much instruction in such matters as they could well assimilate.
Modern Sunday-school organization and the international system of lessons came in 1872. Now there are departmental superintendents and adult, intermediate and primary classes, with large enrollments. The Ladies' Aid Society was organized in 1890 with forty members. It conducts a lec- ture course each year and makes liberal contributions to the church. Other church organizations are the auxiliary of the Christian Women's Board of Missions and the Christian Endeavor Society.
This last named organization had its inception in 1889 when Dr. A. M. Kirkpatrick formed a young people's society. The present society was organized in the following year. The following, among others, have served the society as president : Grace Dille, Kate Rogers, Brazier Kirby, Nell McCune, W. H. Milner, W. E. Kirby, Ruth Robinson, Rosa Davis, Jessie Elder and William Stolz.
CLARKSBURG CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Antedating the Greensburg church by ten months, the Clarksburg church has the oldest congregation of Disciples in Decatur county. It was organized on November 16, 1831, with a goodly list of charter members by William Goudge at a place two miles east of Clarksburg and named the Salt Creek Church of Christ.
Among the original members of this church were: Absalom Blackburn, Samuel McClary, George Parish, Joseph Parish, Elisha Cregan, Samuel Githens, John H. Davis, James Davis, William Snelling, Hugh Smothers, Joseph York, William Brown, Thomas Anderson, H. Cartmell, Thomas A. Bryant, Robert N. Higgins, James Higgins, Samuel Blackburn, Abraham Myers, Jesse Barns, Daniel Lewis, John Lowery and Benjamin Goodwin.
McClary and Davis assisted Goudge in the administration of church affairs until 1837, in which year James Conner commenced to preach there.
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Conner left in 1842 and the church declined until 1849, when it was reor- ganized and revived by Jacob Wright as the Clarksburg Christian church. For a time services were held in the Clarksburg school house and in 1850 the congregation built a church of its own.
William Patterson, Joseph Lucas, Daniel Franklin and others filled the pulpit until the beginning of the Civil War, after which the pulpit was vacant until the war closed. The Sunday school was organized in 1868 and now has an enrollment of more than one hundred.
Since the war ended the church has been served by the following min- isters : David Matthews, John S. Campbell, Milton T. Hough, L. D. Mc- Gowan, J. E. Taylor, R. L. Noel, Z. M. Kenady, Charles Salisbury, D. W. Campbell, W. L. Folks, C. R. Miller, H. H. Nesslage, John McKee, W. E. Payne, E. W. Stairs, H. W. Edwards, T. J. Burke and D. J. Thornton. Deaths and removals have worked heavy injury to the old church in the last score of years and the congregation now numbers less than seventy-five members.
WESTPORT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
The third oldest Christian church now existing in the county is located at Westport. It was organized about 1850 by L. S. Giddings, L. C. Scott, their wives and, perhaps, some others. For a time services were held in an old log school house in Westport. In the early sixties a frame meeting- house was erected, which was used by the congregation until the present church was finished in 1912. As late as 1867 the seats used were the old- fashioned benches with no backs. The congregation now has a membership of one hundred and seventy-five.
Among the ministers who have filled the pulpit of this church are Will- iam Patterson, John A. Campbell, W. M. Gard, H. B. Sherman, Alphonso Burns, W. E. Payne, R. B. Givens, M. O. Jarvis and M. R. Scott, the pres- ent pastor.
The church has a flourishing Sunday school, and a Ladies' Aid Society, which takes an active interest in the affairs of the church.
MOWREY CHAPEL.
The Milford Christian church was organized in 1842, flourishing for a time and passed out of existence in 1884. Nineteen years later the few members left decided to reorganize the church and continue its work. Con- tributions were solicited for a new church, the old one having been torn
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down, and the new edifice, built at a cost of two thousand five hundred dol- lars, was dedicated in 1904.
Nelson Mowrey, Decatur county's leading philanthropist, although not a member of the church, gave the congregation a substantial sum of money and the new building was named in his honor. Rev. Fred R. Davies, of Charlestown, was the pastor for a number of years, the church experienced a substantial growth and now has a membership of about one hundred.
This church's predecessor was founded by Milton B. Hopkins, who was just then beginning his ministerial career. George King, McClure Elliott, Robert Braden and John H. Braden were some of its charter members. The first meetings were held at the home of Mr. King. A month later a church was built, all labor and material being donated by members.
During the period before the Civil War, John B. New, Jacob Wright, Richard Roberts and others preached at this place. Following the war J. S. Young, William Patterson, James Land, James O. Cutts, John Brazelton and Frank Talmage occupied the pulpit. In 1874 and 1876 Knowles Shane and Alfred Elmore held two very successful revivals and the membership of the church rose past the two hundred mark.
A few years later interest began to wane and finally in 1884 the church was abandoned. The old church, which the early members had built with clumsy axes, was neglected and at last torn down.
ADAMS CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
The Christian church at Adams was organized by Jacob Wright in 1859, with the following charter members: William, Sarah and Elizabeth Colwell, Mary Woodward. Joseph and Martha Pleak, Willet and Nancy Stark, Jane Johnson, Mary, Clara, William, Parish, Lavina and Belle Aldrich, Phoebe and Ephraim Wagner, Thomas Whitaker, Martha Inman. Charley Moor, Elizabeth Bennet, Thomas Johnson and Eliza Pearce.
Until 1872 the congregation met in dwellings and in the old school house. In that year a comfortable brick building was erected, which is still in use. The church now has seventy members. Ministers during the past two decades have been: C. L. Riley, I. B. Grisso, G. H. Brewer, C. G. Can- trell, H. B. Sherman, D. R. Van Buskirk, S. J. Tomlinson, H. M. Hall, C. S. Johnson, W. T. McGowan and D. J. Thornton.
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WAYNESBURG CHRISTIAN CHURCHI.
Elder William Patterson is supposed to have been the first minister for the Waynesburg church, which was probably founded in 1855. The church occupied a small building until 1877, in which year a better building was erected. This building was struck by lightning and burned in 1898. Since that time another structure has been erected on the same site. The church has a membership of eighty. Among its recent pastors are John A. Camp- bell, W. M. Gard, Alphonso Burns, Z. M. Kenady and Henry Ashley.
NEWPOINT CHRISTIAN CHURCHI.
James Young of Kentucky organized the Newpoint church in the winter of 1862 in the old school house at that place. For a time the church flourished and then lapsed into inactivity for about seven years. Then interest in the church was again aroused and a new building was erected. This edifice was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1870, and a revival followed, which resulted in ninety-nine additions to the church. Some of the active members at that time were Eph Wagoner and wife, Thomas Brown and wife, W. E. Barkley and wife; Elizabeth Barkley, Mrs. M. E. Main, William Higdon and wife; MIrs. J. L. Hilliard, Joel Pennington and wife; Mrs. Thomas Hart,. Mrs. Samuel Thomas. Mrs. Rosetta Starks and Mrs. Phillip Lawrence.
The church now has more than one hundred members and has a good Sunday school. The following Butler College men have occupied the pulpit there : S. R. Wilson, M. T. Hoff, J. H. Gavin and C. Goodnight. In 1912 Rev. William Chapple, of Columbus, conducted a revival which added thirty- eight to the church, the second largest number received in its history.
ST. PAUL CHRISTIAN CIIURCH.
AAlthough the youngest church of the denomination in the county, the St. Paul Christian church is one of the most active and ranks second numer- ically. It was organized on March 2, 1874, at the Union church, with sixty- one charter members. Milton Copeland, James Fishback and William Hann were ordained as elders and A. H. Thompson, W. H. Walters, O. J. Grubb, Ilenry Leffler, James Hanger, C. A. Pearse, M. A. Leffler and L. A. Van Scyoc were ordained as deacons.
Ten years later the church building was surrendered to the Lutherans, the Christian congregation taking the seats and fixtures. Services and Sun-
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day school were held for a time in the school house and then the congre- gation disbanded for lack of a meeting-place.
In 1888 the church was reorganized and the congregation rented the former meeting-place. In 1893 this building was purchased outright from the Lutherans. Two years later the okl church was rebuilt and was dedi- cated with appropriate ceremonies on August 25, 1895.
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