USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 37
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About 1833 itinerant Methodist ministers visited Jefferson township and held services at the house of William Smith, near the present town of Mexico. In 1835 Rev. John A. Brouse, a Methodist missionary, came to the settlements along the Eel river and held services at the homes of the settlers. Other missionaries followed and in 1839 a small class was organized. Among the members were Nathaniel Leonard, William Eidson, Charles Murden, Nathan Raines, Henry Howes, Joseph Burke, William Smith and their wives, and Thomas Henry, Asa Leonard, Tim- othy, Matthew, Elizabeth and Orpha Murden. In the year 1844 a frame house was built on the Rochester road, in the northern part of the village of Mexico. This was the beginning of the Mexico Methodist church. About that time the Mexico circuit was established by the con- ference out of part of the Rochester circuit. In 1864 the circuit was divided, only four churches remaining on the Mexico circuit, viz. : Chili,
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Mexico, Bethlehem and Bethel. The same year a brick house of worship was built at Mexico, at a cost of about $2,200.
The Chili Methodist church was organized in the year 1838 or 1839, though services had been held at the home of Robert Miller a year or so before that time a short distance east of the village. Little can be learned regarding the early history of this congregation, but it is known that meetings were held at the houses of the members until about 1845, when a small frame church was built at Chili. Among the early pastors were Revs. Allen Skillman, Paul Jones, O. P. Boyden, Jacob Colelazer, P. J. Beswick, John Davis and William Reeder. In 1866 a brick house of worship was erected, a short distance from the old frame house, thus · giving the congregation a comfortable and commodious home. The sub- sequent history of the organization differs but little from that of the average village congregation.
About 1839 Robert Miller and his wife, E. I. Kidd and wife, Ellen Kidd, J. D. Cox, Richard and John Miller, Allen Lockridge and a few others got together and organized the Paw Paw Methodist church. Meetings were held at the homes of the members until about 1842, when a frame church was erected on the farm of Richard Miller, adjoin- ing the village. This church was the leading one of Paw Paw for many years, but with the decline of the village it lost much of its former prestige, though it is still a typical country church. Rev. S. C. Miller, in a historical sketch of Richland township, published a few years ago in the Peru Republican, says that about a month after the first families settled at Paw Paw Robert Miller and Mr. Kidd started for Peru to find a preacher to assist them in organizing a church. Taking their axes with them, they blazed a trail southwestward until they came to the Indian trace, which they followed to Peru. They did not succeed in finding a minister, but left word with William M. Reyburn, a local preacher of the Methodist faith, to request the regular preacher on his return home to follow the Indian trace until he came to a beech tree with a hand carved in the bark pointing to the northeast, from which place he was to follow the marks or blazes on the trees. A few days later a man was seen on horseback working his way along the blazed road and it was presumed that he was the minister. This surmise turned out to be correct. The preacher first reached the house of Mr. Kidd, whence messengers were sent out to other families and in a short time a congregation of nineteen persons assembled. This was the first service of the Paw Paw Methodist church.
The Macy Methodist church was organized in 1842, nearly eighteen years before the town was laid out. Among the early members were
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George Wilkinson, Thomas Clemens, English Ogle, Baldwin and James Wilkinson and their wives and a few others. Services were held at the homes of the members for several years before the congregation was strong enough to undertake the erection of a church. In 1844 a log house of worship was erected at the cross roads, where the town of Macy now stands, and this building was used both for school and church purposes for several years. When the new school house was built in 1860 services were held there for some time. A number of new inhab- itants came to the town, which was laid out in that year, and steps were taken to erect a church building. A lot was procured in Powell and Wilkinson's addition and the new church was dedicated in 1871. · It cost about $1,400 and served as a home for the congregation for about twenty years, when it became too small for the attendance. A move- ment was therefore started which resulted in the erection of the present comfortable and commodious house of worship at the northeast corner of McKee and Commerce streets. It is a handsome brick structure, with ample seating capacity, and was dedicated in 1895.
About 1843 a Methodist church was organized at Gilead, though serv- ices had been held at the homes of James Fiers and Alfred Dowd some seven or eight years before that date. Among the first members were Dr. E. H. Sutton, Nelson Hawley, Charles Cleland, Sullivan Waite, Lorenzo Dowd, Alfred Dowd and their wives, Mary Dowd, Chauncey Welton and Louisa Welton. Alfred Dowd was the first class leader. One of the first preachers was a man named Bennett and Arentis Dowd preached to the congregation in the absence of a regular minister. Shortly after the church society was organized a house of worship was erected. It was a log structure, which served the congregation until 1867, when it was torn down and a neat frame house was erected on the site.
What is known as the Olive Branch Methodist church, in Perry township, was founded about 1843 and for several years was one of the strongest church societies in that part of the county. Death and removal of members so weakened the congregation that the organization was abandoned a few years after the close of the Civil war.
Meetings were held at the homes of settlers of the Methodist faith in the vicinity of Converse as early as 1842. The town of Xenia (now Converse) was laid out in the spring of 1849 and in 1855 the Methodist congregation, which had been organized some years before, erected a neat frame house on Wabash street, at a cost of some $600. This build- ing answered all the needs of the society for about thirty years, when the growth of the congregation necessitated the erection of a new one. The old house was removed and in its place was built a handsome brick
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edifice, 50 by 59 feet in size, at a cost of $7,000. Among the early members of this congregation were Joseph and John Powell, Jesse and Shadrach Elliott and their families and Louisa Kimball. Revs. Bow- man and Bradshaw were two of the early preachers and the first pastor in the new building in 1886 was Rev. George S. V. Howard. The Con- verse church is in a prosperous condition and, next to Peru, is one of the strongest Methodist societies in the county.
The Methodist church at Bunker Hill was organized in 1846, with David and Malinda Hockman, John and Eliza Townsend and John and Eliza Barnes as the leading members. The first meet- ing was held in a little log house that stood on the farm of John N. Huffman, a minister named Davis conducting the serv- ices, and it was through his efforts that the church was organized. A few months later Lewis N. Snodderly, A. C. Lamborn, Jacob Coucher, James Dabney, Andrew Cunningham and their wives, Benjamin Fish, Mrs. Moses Larimer and a few others united with the church. With this added strength the members began to talk of erecting a church, but the first house of worship was not dedicated until 1855. It stood south of the main part of the town, not far from the Deer Creek township line, and was known as the "Railroad Chapel." Here the congregation con- tinued to hold meetings until the erection of the present brick church at the corner of Elm and Broadway streets, which edifice was dedicated in 1870, with Rev. George Havens as pastor. Since that time the church has enjoyed a reasonable degree of prosperity and it is one of the leading religious societies in the southern part of the county.
Calvary Methodist Episcopal church, the first to be organized in Erie township, was founded in the summer of 1846. The little class established at that time consisted of Daniel Mendenhall, Frederick White and Alfred Miller and their wives, and perhaps one or two others. A minister named Donaldson was the first to hold services there, the meetings being held at the house of Daniel Mendenhall until about 1848, when a log house was built on the farm of Mr. Mendenhall. In 1865 a frame church was erected on the same site. It was 35 by 50 feet in size and cost about $1,600. Twenty years after the erection of this building the congregation numbered about seventy members, but in recent years the membership has lost by deaths and removals until the church no longer wields the influence it did in the early years of its history.
A Methodist society was organized at the village of Miami-or rather where the village of Miami now stands-in 1846, by Rev. James Ricketts. The village was laid out in 1849 and a few years later a neat frame house of worship was erected and the church is still kept up, though its membership is not as strong as in former years.
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Ebenezer Methodist church, located in the northeastern corner of Union township, has long been prominent. In 1847 Daniel Lockwood and wife, their two daughters, Elizabeth and Robert Bain, Mrs. Mary Carlyle, William Hiteshew and his wife, Sarah D. Hiteshew, banded themselves together to worship after the Methodist faith. A history of this organization has been written by J. N. Baldwain, but it exists only in manuscript form. The members first met in a school house near the site of the present Ebenezer church. Three houses of worship have been erected. One of these was dedicated in 1859 by Rev. A. S. Larkin. Another house was built in 1900-at least it was dedicated in that year and was probably completed at that time. Mr. Baldwin's history states that the second church was dedicated by Rev. N. D. Shackelford and the third by Rev. H. W. Bennett, though there appears to be some con- fusion as to which was the second church and which the third, as he gives an account of the erection of only two. One building burned in 1899. The first pastors were Revs. George Guild and R. A. Newton, of the Rochester circuit. In February, 1913, the church had just experi- enced a successful revival and a notable increase in membership.
About 1847 or 1848 Methodist ministers visited Clay township and held services at the house of Morris Little. A little later a society was organized and in 1854 a frame house of worship was erected at Waupe- cong, the first in Clay township. After a fairly successful career of about thirty years the congregation dwindled to such a degree that meetings were discontinued and the old church was torn down. About 1880 Rev. John Evans visited Waupecong, revived the interest of the few menbers of the Methodist church living there, reorganized the church and a neat brick building was erected, at a cost of about $1,800. Since then the Methodist church of Waupecong has enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity.
About the time the first Methodist church was organized at Waupe- cong members of that denomination formed a society in Harrison town- ship and soon afterward erected a small frame church on the farm of Henry Powell, near the Clay township line. This became known in time as the McGrawsville Methodist church. In this connection it is worthy of note that in the early days camp meetings were frequently held in the northeast corner of Clay township, in which the churches at Waupe- cong and McGrawsville took a leading part.
A class was organized at Perrysburg in 1854, by Rev. Enoch Way- mire, though meetings had been held in that neighborhood more than ten years before that date. About twenty members constituted the class, but no house of worship was erected until 1865, the services up to that time having been held in the Presbyterian church. When the society
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did build it erected one of the finest and best appointed churches in the county, at a cost of about $2,300. This church is still in existence, though it is not so strong in membership as in former years.
The Methodist church at Five Corners was organized a few years before the beginning of the Civil war and in 1860 a frame house of wor- ship was erected. It flourished for a time, but twenty-five years after it was established the membership was only about twenty.
Services were held by Methodist missionaries in Butler township as early as 1841, but no regular organization was effected until some years later. Then a society was formed at Santa Fe, where a neat frame house of worship was erected in 1869. Like many of the churches in the small towns, this congregation has never been very strong, but no doubt the members derive as much real fellowship from the association as they would if they belonged to some larger and wealthier church.
Soon after the village of Birmingham was laid out in 1868 a Meth- odist class was formed there and meetings were held for a time in the public school house, Rev. J. J. Cooper, of the Perrysburg circuit, act- ing as pastor. With the decline of the village the church also declined and most of the members united with other congregations.
The Pleasant Hill Methodist society, about four miles northeast of Macy and not far from the old village of Hooversburg, was formed at an early date, the Powells, Bennetts, Carpenters and some others con- stituting the membership. A log house of worship was erected on the farm of William Dukes some time in the '60s and meetings were held there regularly for some time. Some ten years later a frame house was erected one and a half miles northwest of the old church. This has always been a successful organization and at the close of the year 1913 the congregation was planning to build a new and more elaborate house of worship. The charge belongs to the Gilead circuit.
Rev. R. J. Parrott organized a Methodist church at Denver in 1873, with a membership of about forty, most of whom had formerly belonged to the churches at Chili and Mexico. Before the close of that year a handsome frame building, 36 by 50 feet, was completed at a cost of $1,500. This is one of the youngest Methodist churches in Miami county.
A colored Methodist church was organized in Peru in the early '70s and the first meetings were held in the engine house by Elder Patterson. In 1874 a small brick church was erected at the corner of Third and Tippecanoe streets and Rev. Robert Jeffries was installed as pastor. It soon became evident that the society was unable to support a resi- dent pastor and for some time ministers from Logansport or Kokomo visited the congregation at intervals. About 1893 Rev. Zachariah Roberts became pastor, but served only a short time. The congregation
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was never very strong and at the beginning of the present century it consisted of less than a dozen members. It now has a regular pastor and is enjoying a fair degree of prosperity.
At Cary a society of Wesleyan Methodists was formed at a compara- tively early date. An undenominational church, similar in doctrine; had its outgrowth in meetings held in a tent near the village of Miami in. 1889 by Rev. J. F. Shutters. Early the following year a society was organized and a frame house of worship erected in the village at a cost of about $1,200. It is known as the Mission church. There are two Wesleyan churches in Peru-one on old Flax hill in the north- western part of the city and one in North Peru. They were established about twenty-five years ago. The same pastor serves both churches, each of which has a substantial frame structure.
An old atlas of Miami county shows a Methodist church on the north side of Section 11, in Peru township, on the road to Chili, another in the northeast part of Allen township, about a mile and a half from Deedsville, and a third on the northwest quarter of Section 4, in Wash- ington township, about a mile and a half from the county infirmary, but the writer has been unable to learn anything of their history.
Probably the youngest Methodist Episcopal church in Miami county is the one at Amboy. It has been organized but a few years, but has been prosperous from the beginning. In 1913 a neat and substantial brick house of worship was commenced and was finished early in the following year, the dedication of the building being celebrated on March 15, 1914.
THE PRESBYTERIANS
On Thursday, November 26, 1835, thirteen members of this denom- ination assembled at the residence of William N. Hood, in Peru, for the purpose of organizing a church. The meeting was presided over by Rev. Samuel Newbury. The original thirteen charter members of the First Presbyterian church of Peru were: Stewart and Margaret Forgy, O. P. Jennison and wife, Cornelius Vauriper, Mrs. A. M. Vauriper, Re- becca Williamson, Margaret Sergeant, Sophia C. Hood, Mary Ann New- bury, Miss Caroline Nesbit, Miss Emily Sergeant and Frederick W. Sergeant. For a time the meetings were held at the house of Mr. Hood. Then Mr. Newbury purchased a lot upon which stood a double log cabin, which was thrown into one room and fitted up with seats. This house stood on West Fifth street. Later the services were held in the cabin erected by William Smith and used for the first school taught in Peru. On January 28, 1836, was elected the first board of trustees, consisting of William N. Hood, O. P. Jennison and Stewart
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Forgy. At the same time F. A. Sergeant was chosen clerk. Stewart Forgy had been elected and ordained ruling elder at the time the society was organized.
The proprietors of the town of Peru, William N. Hood, Richard L. Britton and Jesse Williams, presented the congregation with a lot on West Third street and in the spring of 1836 a frame house was com- menced by John W. Timberlake and Henry Robinson. It was occupied about the beginning of the year 1837 and was the first Protestant church erected ,in Miami county. A Sunday school was organized by Mr. New- bury and at the end of two years from the organization of the church the congregation numbered twenty-four members. Rev. Asa Johnson became pastor in October, 1837, and continued with the church until 1848, when he was succeeded by Rev. Milton Starr. Rev. F. S. McCabe began his ministry in Peru in July, 1852, and continued as pastor for nearly fifteen years. During his administration a new church was erected. It was dedicated on July 4, 1858, and served the congregation until the erection of the present building at the northwest corner of Main and Cass streets, at a cost of $65,000.
The pastors from 1868 to 1894 were Revs. Everett Thomson, Henry L. Brown, Samuel Wyckoff, J. B. Parmelee, Matthew M. Whitford, Leon P. Marshall and Solomon C. Dickey. On January 21, 1894, Rev. Harry Nyce began his labors as pastor and has since been in charge. Under his ministry the present magnificent stone edifice at the corner of Main and Cass streets has been erected. The corner-stone of this building was laid with appropriate ceremonies on May 1, 1905. At that time James H. Fetter prepared and read a history of the society, from which many of the facts in this sketch have been gleaned. On June 1, 1905, the old church building on West Third, near Broadway, was sold to Harry F. Masters and C. P. Eckstein for $10,000. This building was used as a court-house while the present court-house was being built. It is now used as a laundry.
The Second Presbyterian church in Peru, a society of the Old School, was in existence for several years. This congregation erected a brick house of worship at the southwest corner of Main and Miami streets, which was used until the First and Second Presbyterian churches were amalgamated about 1870 after which the edifice was used by the Bap- tists, Methodists and Congregationalists and is now owned and occupied by the Christian church.
In 1846 Revs. A. Johnson and O. V. Lemon, two Presbyterian min- isters, visited Gilead and organized a church. Two years later a frame house of worship was erected and for several years services were held regularly, though the congregation was never strong numerically. The Vol. 1-23
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removal of some of the most active member so weakened the society that the church was abandoned in 1868, the old house of worship being used as a store room for many years after that time.
About the year 1849 Rev. Andrew McClelland began holding meet- ings at Perrysburg, in the school house and at the home of Hamilton Simonton. These meetings resulted in the formation of a Presbyterian church with about eighteen or twenty members, among whom were several members of the Simonton family, John Leach, John Kiplinger and his wife and John McConahy and wife. A frame church was com- menced in 1850, but it was not completed until about four years later. Services were held in it, however, before it was finished, the first ser- mon preached in the building being on the occasion of the funeral of Hamilton Simonton in August, 1852. For several years the congrega- tion enjoyed a reasonable degree of prosperity, but after a time the membership decreased to about a dozen, when meetings were held at irregular intervals and were finally discontinued altogether.
Rev. F. S. McCabe, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Peru, was the first minister of that faith to preach in Butler township. After holding services for some time in a school house in the northwestern part of the township, not far from the Mississinewa river, a society was organized and in 1863 a church building was commenced on land donated by George Mckinstry. It was not completed until the follow- ing year and was dedicated on September 25, 1864, a minister named Carnahan preaching the dedicatory sermon. This church is known as New Hope church.
A Presbyterian church known as Mount Hope was organized in Washington township shortly after the Civil war and a house of wor- ship was erected on what was known as the White farm. For some time the society was fairly prosperous, but on account of deaths and removals it was disbanded, the few members left uniting with the church at Peru or other convenient places.
Rev. William Armstrong, a missionary of the Muncie presbytery, organized the Presbyterian church at Converse on November 12, 1870, with the following members: J. M. Darby, J. K. Darby, Catharine S. and Flora Darby, J. A. and Cordelia Douglass, A. D. Kimball, Carrie D. Murray, Elizabeth Jones, A. B. Kimball, N. Dangerfield, F. M. Shinn, Elizabeth Platt, David Coppock, Letelia Summers, James Parker, Lydia J. and Henrietta S. Kimball, J. M. Wright and wife, J. A. Phelps, Eunice Hand, A. P. Stout, M. P. Keasby, Emma A. Zeek and Jackson Saxon. Services were held for several years in the United Brethren or Christian churches, but in 1893 a modest frame building was erected at the corner of Marion and Washington streets. With some alterations this house is still the home of the congregation.
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THE BAPTISTS
Probably the first services held by members of this denomination in Miami county were those conducted by Rev. George Pope at the house of George Neece, in Allen township, in 1838. No society was formed at that time, but in December, 1839, a few persons who believed in the doctrines of the Baptist church met at the cabin of William Cool, and took the preliminary steps toward the organization of a church society. Meetings were held at the homes of the members until the following March, when the Weesau Creek Baptist church was formed with the following members: William, Christopher and Juda Cool, Sallie Hall, Charles Cole, Mary Boss, Ezra Griffith and wife, Leonard and Powell Cool. In July, 1841, the congregation joined with others of the same faith in forming the Huntington association. The first house of worship was built early in the year 1851, on land donated by William Cool. In 1853 this church became the head of the Weesau Creek association and in May, 1856, the first Sunday school was organized. Two of the original members of this church-William and Leonard Cool-were ordained to the ministry in May, 1855. In January, 1876, a handsome and commodius brick church was dedicated for the use of this church, Rev. J. White- side preaching the sermon on that occasion. This is the oldest Baptist church in the county.
In the early '40s Rev. John Davis, a Baptist minister, visited Erie township and held services at the house of Salathiel Cole. A small society was organized, but no house of worship was ever erected, services having been held for several years in the homes of the members or at the California school house. After the death of some of the older members the survivors united with Baptist churches at other points and the meet- ings were discontinued.
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