History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 71

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

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Eighth Presbyterian Church (Indianola) .- Or- ganized Oct. 1, 1871, with seven members. The first pastor was Rev. J. R. Sutherland. Rev. T. C. Hor- ton, stated supply. Location, northeast corner of Market and Drake Streets. Membership, sixty ; Sun- day-school pupils, one hundred and sixty-six ; value of property, probably three thousand dollars.

North Presbyterian Church (Colored) .- Organ- ized Feb. 18, 1872, with fourteen members. The first pastor was Rev. L. Faye Walker. Church dis- solved in 1880, and reorganized as a colored Presby- terian Church. The building is that on Michigan Street near Tennessee, originally erected by one of the extinct Universalist congregations. The pastor is Rev. William A. Alexander ; membership, thirty ; Sunday-school pupils, forty-five ; value of property, probably cight thousand dollars.

Tenth Presbyterian, or Memorial Church .- The origin of the Memorial Presbyterian Church is to be traced to the action of the session of the Second Presbyterian Church in the winter of 1869- 70, during the pastorate of the .Rev. H. A. Edson. It was the desire to signalize the memorial year of Presbyterian reunion by the establishment of another mission. At a meeting of the session, March 17, 1870, a committee was appointed to secure ground for that purpose in the northeast quarter of the city.

Lots were accordingly purchased at the southwest corner of Christian Avenue and Bellefontaine Street, and a temporary building was erected. On the 8th of May, at four o'clock P.M., the house was dedicated, a Sabbath-school having been held there for the first time at 8.30 A.M. of the same day. At first the enterprise gave small promise of success. The Sun- day-school had a vacation, and an offer for the pur- chase of the property was favorably considered. Better counsel, however, prevailed, and at a meeting of the session, Oct. 13, 1870, the whole work was committed to the Young Men's Association of the Second Church. It was prosecuted with energy, and in February, 1873, forty persons reported themselves desirous of entering a formal church organization. At a special meeting of Indianapolis Presbytery, Mareh 3, 1873, the project was fully considered, and the church was constituted March 12th. Immediately upon his release from his former field, Mr. Edson began work on the new ground, holding the first service on the first Sabbath of April. The present site, on the northwest corner of Christian Avenue and Ash Street, was at once purchased for a perma- nent edifice. On the 7th of April, 1874, the corner- stone was laid, and worship was conducted for the first time in the chapel, March 7, 1875.

A printed report of the board of trustees, January, 1884, shows a property valued at twenty thousand dollars, with considerable resources in real estate, and subscriptions for the continuance and completion of the enterprise. The officers of the society are at present as follows: Pastor, Hanford A. Edson ; Ruling Elders, Benjamin A. Richardson, George W. Stubbs, Joseph G. MeDowell, James H. Lowes, William P. Ballard, Frank F. McCrea; Deacons, E. A. Burkert, W. J. Roach, Charles H. Libean, C. W. Overman, P. M. Pursell, Joseph E. Cobb, H. H. Linville, I. H. Herrington, A. J. Diddle; Trustees, George W. Stubbs, A. G. Fosdyke, J. H. Lowes, J. W. Elder, C. C. Pierce. Membership, three hundred and sixteen ; Sunday-school pupils, four hundred and fifty.

REV. HANFORD A. EDSON, D.D .- The Edson family are of English nationality, and trace their lineage from Deacon Samuel Edson, of Bridgewater,

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

Mass., and his wife Susanna, the former of whom died July 9, 1692, and his wife February 20, 1699. In the direct line of descent was Jonah, born July 10, 1751, who died July 21, 1831. To his wife Betsey were born fourteen children, of whom Free- man is the father of the subject of this biographical sketch. His birth occurred Sept. 24, 1791, in West- moreland, N. H., and his death June 24, 1883, in his ninety-second year. He studied medicine with Dr. Twitchell, of Keene, and also at Yale College, and at the close of the second war with Great Britain, in 1814, settled at Scottsville, N. Y., in the prac- tice of his profession. Hanford A., his son, born in Scottsville, Monroe Co., N. Y., March 14, 1837, was named for his maternal grandfather, one of the earliest settlers in Western New York. He enjoyed early advantages of tuition at home and at the neigh- boring district school, and entering the sophomore class of Williams College, Massachusetts, graduated from that institution in 1855. For a large part of the three following years he was instructor in Greek and mathematics in Geneseo Academy, New York. In September, 1858, he was admitted to the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and for two years prosecuted the study of divinity. In May, 1860, he repaired to Europe and was matriculated in the University of Halle, where especial attention was given to theology and philosophy under the in- struction of Tholock, Julius Müller, and Erdman. After extended tours in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and England, hastened by the war, he re- turned home. Being licensed to preach by Niagara Presbytery at Lyndonville, Oct. 29, 1861, he assumed charge of the Presbyterian Church at Niagara Falls, and remained until called to the pastorate of the Sec- ond Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, where his labors began Jan. 17, 1864. He discontinued his relations with this parish, and became the pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, on the 1st of April, 1873.

Dr. Edson has been the recipient of many ecclesi- astical honors. In 1873 he represented the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the National Congregational Council in New Haven, Conn .; and, in 1878, he was commissioned to the same duty

before the General Council of the Reformed Epis- copal Church in Newark, N. J. He has written largely for the press, and is the author of various magazine articles and published sermons and ad- dresses. Among the latter may be mentioned com- mencement address at McLean Institute, 1864 ; com- menccment address before the theological societies of Marietta College, 1867; address at the dedication of the library and chapel of Wabash College, 1872; commencement address before the theological socie- ties of Hanover College, 1873; semi-centennial ad- dress before the synods of Indiana, 1876. His thanksgiving sermon, Nov. 26, 1868, is said to have given special impulse to the establishment of the Indianapolis Public Library.

Dr. Edson was married, July 16, 1867, to Helen M., daughter of William O. Rockwood, Esq., of Indianapolis, and has had the following children : William Freeman, Mary, Hanford Wisner, Elmer Rockwood, Helen Mar, and Caroline Moore. Of these the four last named are living.

Eleventh Presbyterian Church, east side of Olive, north of Willow Street. Organized April 18, 1875, with thirty-seven members. Rev. William B. Chamberlin was the first pastor. Present supply, Rev. C. H. Raymond. Membership, eighty-eight ; Sunday-school pupils, one hundred and fifty ; value of property, probably four thousand dollars.

Twelfth Presbyterian Church, south side of Maryland Street, west of West Street. Organized June 14, 1876, with fourteen members. First pastor, Rev. E. L. Williams. Rev. C. C. Herriott until very recently was pastor. Membership, one hundred and six; Sunday-school pupils, one hundred and fifty-one; value of property, probably three thousand dollars.

Thirteenth Presbyterian Church .- This is a mission of the Second Church recently organized ou Alabama Street, near the Exposition building and fair ground.

METHODISTS.

Wesley Chapel .- The Methodists of the first set- tlement of Indianapolis do not seem to have made a church organization till after the Indianapolis Circuit had been constituted by Rev. William Cravens, of the Missouri Conference, in 1822. How long after, or

Hanfordet- Euron

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CHURCHES OF INDIANAPOLIS.

just when, there is no record to show. As early as 1821, Rev. James Scott came here from the St. Louis Conference and held services at private houses, and on the 12th of September, 1822, a camp-meeting was held on the farm of James Givan, on what is now East Washington Street, near the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. It was probably at this time that the Indianapolis Circuit, in connection with the Missouri Conference, was constituted. In 1825 there was a division of the Conference, and this cireuit was attached to the Illinois Conference. At this time the Methodists of the town had an organization, and probably had had for a couple of years. In that year they rented a hewed log house on the south side of Maryland Street, on the corner of the alley east of the east end of the Grand Hotel, and worshiped there till they removed to the first old brick church on the southwest corner of Circle and Meridian Streets in 1829. This first building cost them three thousand dollars, and remained till the walls eraeked in 1846, when it was replaced by Wesley Chapel at a cost of ten thousand dollars.

From the first visit of a Methodist preacher here in 1821, till the division of the church in 1842-43, was a period of twenty years of primitive Methodism, -extempore sermons, "lined out" hymns, congrega- tional singing, separation of the sexes in church, and a sort of clerical uniform for the preachers resem- bling a little the Quaker fashion. During this now historieal period the appointments to this circuit will be interesting :

Preacher.

Presiding Elder.

1821 ... Rev. Wm. Cravens (circnit). None.

1822-23 ... Rev. Jas. Scott (eircuit). 1823-24 ... Rev. Jesse Hale and Rev.

Rev. Samuel Hamilton.

William Beauchamp. George Horn (circnit).

1825 .. Rev. John Miller (eirenit). "

1825-26 ... Rev. Thomas Ilewston (circuit).

1826-27 ... Rev. Edwin Ray (cir- enit).

1827-28 ... Rev. N. Griffith (eircuit).

1828-29 ... Rev. James Armstrong (ststioned).

1829-32 ... Rev. Thomas Hitt (sta- tioned).

1832-33 ... Rev. Benjamin O. Ste- venson (stationed).

1833 ... Rev. C. W. Ruter (stationed). 1833-34 ... Rev. C. W. Ruter (sta- tioned).

Preacher.

Presiding Elder. Rev. James Havens.

1834-35 ... Rev. Edward R. Ames (stationed).

1835-36 ... Rev. J. C. Smith (sta- tioned).

1836-37 ... Rev. A. Eddy (stationed). 1837-38 ... Rev. J. C. Smith (sta- tioncd).

A. Eddy.

1838-39 ... Rev. A. Wiley (stationed). 1839-40 ... "

1840-41 ... Rev. W. H. Goode (sta- tioned).

James Havens.

1841-42 ... Rev. W. H. Goode (sta- tioned).

There are but few survivors of this early period of the Methodist Church here. Rev. John C. Smith is still living in the city, and a few years ago pub- lished an interesting book of reminiscences of the prominent preachers and the religious condition of the country at that time. Rev. Greenly H. Mclaughlin, though too young to be in the min- istry then, was a member of the church and well remembers the early incidents of its history.

REV. GREENLY H. MCLAUGHLIN .- The great- grandfather of the subject of this sketeh was James, a native of Scotland, who married Naney Franklin, and emigrating to America settled near Richmond, Va. Among their children was John, who was born in Virginia, and married Miss IIerod, a native of Virginia. Their children were James, Francis, John, William, Naney, and Mary. John, with his family, removed from Virginia to Pittman's Station, Ky., in 1781. His son William, father of the subject of this biography, was born in Virginia Dec. 19, 1779, and died March 26, 1836. He was reared in Ken- tucky, and later in life removed to Ohio. He mar- ried, Dec. 31, 1812, Miss Elizabeth Hannaman. Her grandfather was Christopher Hahnemann, born in Germany, who had seven children, among whom was John, born in Cherry Valley, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1769, and died Nov. 15, 1832. He married Susannah Beebe, born June 11, 1771, who died April 2, 1842. Their children were thirteen in number, of whom Judge Robert L., of Knoxville, Ill., is the only sur- vivor and now in his eightieth year. Elizabeth, their eleventh child, was born in Scioto County, Ohio, Nov. 4, 1795, and died Feb. 3, 1880. She married, as above, William MeLaughlin, and had children,-

Allen Wiley.

James Havens.

John Strange.

Allen Wiley.

John Strange.

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

Susannah, Euphemia W., Greenly H., Nancy R., William H., Elizabeth J., and Maria G.

William McLaughlin, who was a soldier of the war of 1812, bought the quarter-section two miles southeast of the court-house, on which the subject of this sketch now resides, at the land-sales at Brook- ville, in July, 1821, before the lands of the " New Purchase" were subject to entry. There was then no road or " trace" through it, and it was regarded as not first choice ; hence he was permitted to bid it off at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. This, however, nearly absorbed his entire capital, leaving only a few dollars for the expenses incident to mov- ing and fixing up. In September of that year he moved upon this purchase and took up his abode in a temporary camp. This soon gave way, however, to a first-class cabin of round logs, eighteen by twenty feet, which for several years did the compound duty of kitchen, parlor, and bedroom, to which was often added the further service of tavern and meeting- house.

Greenly was at this time four years old, having been born in Fayette County, Ohio, Dec. 24, 1817. His great-grandfather being a Scotch Catholic and his great-grandmother a Scotch Presbyterian, to set- tle all probable discords on account of differences on religion, it was agreed in advance that the boys who should be born of the marriage should be educated in the Catholic faith and the girls in the faith of their mother. But the pair moved to America and settled near Richmond, Va., before there was much occasion to carry out this agreement, and all in the third generation became Protestants through maternal influence.

Mr. Mclaughlin, though only four years old when his father moved from their temporary sojourn (from 1819 to 1821) in Rush County to a more permanent home in Marion, remembers the peculiar trials and pleasures incident to what pioneer life then was in the midst of a dense forest. He recalls the abun- dance of game and of snakes, and to have seen In- dians as they passed to and fro through the country. He remembers that his father once shot a deer stand- ing in his own door-yard, and such was the abundance of squirrels that the killing of them partook more of

drudgery than of sport, for if left unmolested they would entirely destroy the small patches of corn that grew in the midst of the heavy timber every- where abounding. To aid in protecting the crop the children who were too young to handle guns were armed with immense rattles, called horse- fiddles, and sent frequently through the field to drive the thievish "varmints" away. He recalls the primitive schools and the primitive school-houses with the primitive teacher and his primitive rod and ferule. The structures were made of round logs, with doors of clapboards hung on wooden hinges, and with no light except that which strug- gled through greased paper in the absence of glass. Nearly one entire end was devoted to the fireplace. Such at least was the one which stood on the iden- tical spot now occupied by Mr. Mclaughlin's ele- gant residence, and in which he obtained the knowl- edge of a, b, c, and other intricacies of the spelling- book. To the ordinary appointments of such houses, the dimensions being eighteen by twenty feet, was added a pulpit in the end opposite to the fireplace, in which the early Methodist, Baptist, and other preach- ers very frequently expounded the Word to the sturdy yeomanry of the country, and this school-house be- came so much of a religious centre that it was fol- lowed by a neat hewed-log and then a frame church on the same farm, and the first camp-meeting ever held in Marion County was held here in 1826, under the management of Rev. John Strange.

The elder Mclaughlin and his wife brought with them their membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and soon after their arrival the first class of that church was formed io Indianapolis, of which they became members. His piety and talents were such that he became a leader and exhorter in the church, and was extensively useful as such during the remainder of his life, which ended in 1836. It is hardly to be wondered that under these circumstances, with such a home, a frequent-lodging place for the itincrants of those days, Greenly grew up a Meth- odist of a most pronounced type, nor surprising that four out of five of his sisters became wives of Meth- odist preachers.

As Greenly advanced in years the educational advan-

GAM Laughlin

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CHURCHES OF INDIANAPOLIS.

tages of the home log school-house were supplemented by occasional attendance at some of the better schools in the town. He finally became a pupil at the " Old Seminary," adding frequent turns at teaching in the neighboring districts both as a means of turning an honest penny and as further developing his own mind. In the summer of 1840, Mr. MeLaughlin entered Indiana Asbury University with the intention of grad- uating at that young institution. He was then nearly twenty-three years of age, with a religious character well established, and a fund of theological knowledge much above the average of men of his age just from the plow ; hence, when the next year he was licensed to preach the gospel, it is not strange that he at once took a high rank among the student preachers of that institution. Such was the demand for his gratuitous pulpit labors, even at that age, that his studies were seriously interfered with though he held a respectable standing in his class, and at the expiration of two years he yielded to the importunities of friends and gave up his college life altogether to enter upon the pastoral work in the Indiana Conference. His stand- ing as a preacher may be readily inferred from the class of appointments received. He was welcomed at such places as Knightstown, Shelbyville, Brookville, Rushville, and Vincennes. While at Vincennes in 1847 he was tendered the important work of chaplain to the port of Canton, China, under the auspices of The American Seamen's Friend Society, but his health not being sufficiently robust to justify such a mission, he declined. In 1849 he was solicited by Bishop Janes to take a part in the interest of the Methodist Episcopal Church at St. Louis, Mo., but this he also declined for the same reason.

After seven years of successful labor in the pastoral work, including one year as agent for Asbury Univer- sity, he sought rest and recuperation by returning to country life on the old farm where he now lives. He immediately gave himself to the work of a local preacher while engaged in the work of farming, and has been extensively useful and acceptable in this field. Meanwhile his health improved, but again relapsed, so that he never felt sufficiently strong to assume the work of a pastor.

Mr. Mclaughlin is an industrious and successful

farmer, as he was, while so engaged, a successful and industrious pastor. In these years of comparative retirement he has kept well read in the theology and literature of his church, after contributing to the col- umns of the church periodicals valuable papers on theological and ecclesiastical subjects. He lives still on the farm purchased by his father more than sixty years ago, and to which he came when a boy of only four years. He is among the few who have witnessed the growth of the eity of Indianapolis from the be- ginning.

He was married, June 1, 1854, to Mary M. Ball, of Rush County, taking one of the three daughter's of the family, all of whom became wives of Meth- odist preachers. The children of this marriage have been four in number. Zopher Ball, the great-grand- father of Mrs. McLaughlin, was a soldier of the Rev- olution and resided in Washington County, Pa. He had five sons,-Henry, Caleb, Dennis, Abel, and Isaiah, all of whom were patriots. Caleb, who served in the war of 1812, married Phoebe Walton, of Mercer County, Pa., where he settled early in the present century. His children were Amos, Jonathan, Caleb, Henry, William, Sarah, Mercy, and Aseneth. Jona- than Ball, of this number, was born in Washington County, Pa., Jan. 2, 1797, and removed to Rush County, Ind., in 1835. He later became a resident of Henry County, and died May 13, 1867, in his seventy-first year. He married Aseneth Moore, and had children,-Samuel, Henry, Demas, William, Mary M., Phobe, Cyrus, Caleb, and Emily, of whom Mary M., born May 8, 1830, is married, as above stated, to Mr. Mclaughlin. Their children are Olio S., a suc- cessful hardware merchant at Knightstown, Ind., and Wilbur W., yet a minor attending Butler University, and at intervals assisting on the farm, and two who died in infancy.

In 1842-43 the station here was divided, and a new church called Roberts' Chapel was formed. In 1846, as above noted, Wesley Chapel replaced the old church, and was itself sold in 1869 and converted into the Sentinel building, now changed to a block of business houses.

Meridian Methodist Church .- After the sale of Wesley Chapel in 1869 the congregation worshiped

402

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

in the Michigan Street Church, built by the Univer- salits, and now a colored Presbyterian Church. It stands on the southwest corner of Meridian and New York Streets. It is of stone, costing about one hundred thousand dollars, and finished in 1870. A brick parsonage is connected with it, which cost about eight thousand dollars. The full membership num- bers five hundred and eighty-seven, with ten on pro- bation ; Sunday-school attendance, about four hun- dred. The school has no circulating library, but pro- vides all necessary books and charts for all the pupils. The annual contributions for benevolent purposes, exelusive of five thousand dollars annual expenses, is over one thousand dollars. Rev. John Alabaster, D.D., is pastor. His residence is No. 25 West New York Street ; presiding elder, Rev. John K. Pye.

Roberts' Chapel .- Indianapolis station having been divided in 1842 into western and eastern charges, the latter went out from the old hive, and formed an organization, calling itself Roberts' Chapel congregation. In 1843-44 a church building was erected on the northeast corner of Market and Penn- sylvania Streets, at a cost of ten thousand dollars, which was at that time the most imposing church edifice in the city, except possibly the second build- ing of the First Presbyterian Church, built very nearly at the same time. In the square base of the spire was set the first town clock in the city, made by John Moffitt, and paid for by a special tax. The Rev. John S. Bayliss was the first pastor. In the basement of this church the first course of lectures ever delivered in the city was given. Here Governor Henry S. Foote, of Mississippi, lectured a short time before the war. Here Jonathan Green, the "re- formed gambler," lectured on his first visit. In 1868 the old church, then just a quarter of a cen- tury old, was sold, and incorporated in one of the Martindale blocks, now occupied by the counting- room of the Journal newspaper.

Roberts' Park Church .- During the time after the sale of the old chapel till the occupancy of the new church the congregation held services in a frame building near the site of the new one. The latter was completed far enough for use in 1870. It is of dressed limestone, cost one hundred and fifty thou-

saud dollars, including the lot, and is said to be " the finest free-seat church in the United States." The present pastor is Rev. Ross C. Houghton, D.D. The number of members, eight hundred and ninety-one; Sunday-school pupils, six hundred and three; super- intendent, H. C. Newcomb; presiding elder, Rev. John Poucher.

California Street Church .- This congregation was originally formed in 1845, for the benefit of the region west of the eanal, and called the " western charge." The first preacher was Rev. Wesley Dor- sey. A frame building on Michigan Street, west of the canal, was built, and called "Strange Chapel," after John Strange, the third presiding elder in this circuit, in 1825. Soon after the building was re- moved to Tennessee Street, near Vermont. In 1869 a difficulty occurred in the church in consequence of the desire of some of the prominent members, who had contributed largely to the purchase of the lot and building, to reintroduce the old fashion of the church,-separation of the sexes and congregational singing. A resolution to this effect was adopted, and about half of the congregation withdrew. In the same year the lot on West Michigan Street was sold, and a new brick church built at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars, dedicated Jan. 9, 1870. The " Primitive Methodists" bought the lot, or donated it to the church, and made it a condition of the deed that the old ways should be adhered to. On Sunday, the 8th of January, 1871, however, the church took fire, and was burned to the bare walls, and sold. The congregation had divided before the catastrophe on the question of receiving the pastor assigned by the Conference, Rev. Luther M. Walters, the dissenting portion ocenpying the abandoned Universalist Church, previously used by Meridian Church congregation. After the fire the part of the congregation still adhering together occupied Kuhn's Hall, with Mr. Walters as pastor. The completion of arrangements for a new church suggested a change of name from that which distinguished so inauspicious a career as that of Strange Chapel, and St. John's Church was adopted. A lot was purchased on the southwest corner of California and North Streets for fourteen hundred dollars, and a building erected to cost about

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 71

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942