USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > After thirty-five years, 1865-1900; a history of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Louisville, Kentucky. Dedication souvenir > Part 2
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In the Fall of 1867, John Carson, who has heretofore been mentioned as the leader of the young people, presented to the Board the idea of a Mission Sunday-school in the upper part of the city. This suggestion was amended and it was resolved to urge the necessity of an afternoon Sunday-school in the
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church, in addition to the morning school, and for a short time this idea was carried out.
In January 1868 the question of the propriety of purchasing a lot and building a chapel thereon, was brought before the Official Board, and later a committee reported that they had examined several lots and found some very desirable. The report was accepted and the committee continued. This com- mittee seems never to have reported again, and the project evidently fell through.
In February, 1868, the church began to be interested in financial matters, and no doubt the pastor was beginning to feel the need of money for his services, and a motion prevailed to request the Conference Missionary Committee to appropriate $400 to the Market Street Church. We note that Bro. Slavens very generously proposed to the Board that if they would make him up $1,400, he would report his claim satisfied to the Con- ference, although his salary had been fixed at $1,600. This proposition the Board accepted, and the Estimating Committee for the following year pledged the church for $1,000 for the pastor's salary, it being generally understood that the mission- ary society would appropriate $400, making the total salary, $1,400.
The report from the Trustees to the Fourth Quarterly Con- ference in January, 1868, is quite interesting, and we therefore give the figures here as reported at that time:
ASSETS.
Original cost of property $13,000 00
Improvement of property 1,726 49
Church furniture. 421 55
Sunday-school furniture
4 0 00
Stoves.
95 00
Total
$15,643 04
LIABILITIES.
Due on church debt
$10,207 59
Interest on debt 303 14
Other indebtedness 375 02
Total
$10,885 75
Actual worth of the congregation
$4,757 29
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.
The above report shows that the church must have had a great faith in the ultimate outcome for, with a membership as- small as they had at that time, $10,885.75 would otherwise have seemed appalling. We are inclined to think that the Official Board of the present membership would have had a consider- ably greater degree of comfort, had they been aware of this little matter of history, during the erection of the present build- ing; for, when the debt of the present structure reached the figure of $10,000, many began to question as to how it would ever be liquidated. Had they known that their predecessors of thirty-two years before met the same conditions with one- third the membership, and possibly even a less ratio in wealth, they certainly would have been saved considerable anxiety and mental strain. All history goes to prove that a house erected to the service of God can be built upon a different proposition than a commercial enterprise, because of the fact that the ele- ment of faith enters into it, and God always honors faith appertaining to His glory.
Mrs. Speed soon became interested in the financial condi- tion of the church, and at a called meeting of the Board on October 13, 1868, a letter was read from Brother Barker, of New York, in answer to one from Sister Speed, expressing a deep interest in the church enterprise. A letter was also read from Bishop Clark, which resulted in the Board pledging the church to raise the sum of $2,000; Bro. Barker pledging himself to raise $4,000, and Joshua Speed pledging $5,000, making a total of $11,000, all pledged conditional upon the whole amount being raised. We presume that inci- dentally this solution of the financial problem was the cause of the Official Board deciding to hold a thanksgiving service, and arranging all the details for such a service. Bro. H. H. Monroe was to open the meeting, Brother Nadal to make the first address, giving the causes of thanksgiving front a national point of view; Brother Mall to make the second address, sub- ject, "Spiritual Causes of Thanksgiving"; Brother Hill the third address, subject, "Material Prosperity," and the last address by the pastor, subject, "Home and Domestic Causes of Thanksgiving." The Board also concluded to invite Philip
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Phillips to give an evening of sacred song on February 12, 1869. Whether this song service was the means of electing Bro. O. Deshler to take charge of the public singing, your historians are not prepared to state; but elected he was, and the use of the church was granted him for the purpose of teaching vocal music to the members of the Sunday-school and the congregation. A year later a vote of thanks was tendered to Brother Deshler for his services as chorister for the past year. We take it for granted that the spiritual interests of the church during this time were well taken care of, as we note that several brethren were called before the Board to give their reasons why they had failed to avail themselves of the communion service on the Sunday previous.
The Kentucky Annual Conference was invited to hold its session of 1870 in Louisville, but the Conference went to Maysville instead. The invitation was, however, renewed the following year and the Conference of 1871 was held in Louisville for the first time since the division of 1844.
On the eleventh day of October, 1869, the Market Street property was sold, and the pastor and Brothers William James and H. H. Monroe were appointed a committee to wait on the School Board and ask permission to occupy their chapel in the Male High School building. It seems that the sale of this, property was made in order to allow certain embarrassments hangiug over it to be removed, for in 1870, Richard James, who was secretary of the Board at that time, wrote in the rec- ords that the property had been repurchased and now enjoyed a freedom from embarrassment that it had never known before. As to just what the details of the arrangement were can not be stated, nor is it material.
An interesting and at the same time a suggestive item to the present Official Board, is the fact that in the year 1870 a protest was filed before the City Council objecting to the "coffee house" on the northwest corner of Market and Eighth streets. We presume it was effective, in that it was heard before the Council, an elective body, rather than before a license board, as it is to-day.
Rev. Duke Slavens, the pastor during these years, is still
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living and ministering at the present time to a congregation in Adams, Nebraska.
The Annual Conference held at Maysville in 1870, presided over by Bishop Thomson, sent as pastor to the Market Street Church, the Rev. J. McKendree Reiley, and early in the year the church became missionary in character, for we note that Brother H. H. Monroe was granted leave to remove his class from the church to the Mission Rooms of the church, on the corner of Seventeenth and Main streets. A report from the pastor in midsummer of the year of 1870, is worthy of note, and is as follows: "As to the general condition of the station, in some respects it is very hopeful; the finances have very much improved. The prayer-meeting congregations have also improved, and the number who attend on the ministrations of the word are said to be largely in advance of what has been usual here. Over twenty persons have united with the church by let- ter and on probation. It is apparent to the pastor, as indeed it is to all, that we need a more attractive house of worship with more desirable surroundings. In regard to the general benevolent enterprises of the church, a branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society is in contemplation, but the attempt has not yet embodied itself in form."
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REV. J. MCKENDREE REILEY, FOURTH PASTOR. 1870-1872.
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CHAPTER IV.
FROM MARKET TO THIRD STREET.
IN August of 1870 the Trustees requested the privilege of selling the church property, which was granted, the price to be $8,000-$2,000 of the same to be cash in hand. A com- mittee of three was appointed to sell the property, consisting of Bros. Barker, Richard James, and A. Gunther; the same committee was also asked to secure a place of worship in case the sale was effected. But the parties proposing to buy failed to make any definite offer for the church and the arrangements fell through. In connection with this the church had to suffer the mortification and a financial loss through the dishonesty of one of her probationers, who had sufficiently gained their confidence to be appointed a collector of the pastor's salary, and who had collected and failed to return, and left for parts unknown, taking with him the church's money and other things to which he was not entitled. Before passing we deem it well to note that Sister Gabriella Buckner, lately deceased, and some eight other members of the Church, South, cast their lot with the Market Street Church.
The pastor's salary was placed at $2,000, and the subscrip- tions toward the paying of the same are worthy of note. There were two subscriptions for $500; four at $100 each; three at $50 each; nine at $25 each; and the balance in small amount, the smallests being one subscription of $5.00. A vote of thanks was extended to the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Jeffersonville, Indiana, for their kind offer to entertain a portion of the preachers attending the Annual Conference. A similar vote of thanks was extended to Centenary and Wesley Chapel churches of New Albany for a similar kindness. The following letter was so intensely interesting and refreshing to the Committee on Historical Research that we publish same in full:
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"LOUISVILLE, KY., Feb. 20, 1871.
"To the Joint Official Board, Louisville Station, M. E. Church :
"DEAR BRETHREN: One of your members, Brother Richard James, has unofficially communicated it to me as the ascertained wish of your entire body that I should remain your pastor, and that of the congregation you represent, another year, proposing to com- pensate me for my services by the assurance of $2,500 salary, with the understanding that you will make it $3,000 if practicable.
"While I highly appreciate your preference for me, I decidedly object to the mention of $2,500 at all as a salary for me, or the making of that sum in any sense a radiating point for your efforts toward my support, knowing as I do from the experience of the current year in the press of living, etc., that it would not be enough to make me comfortable in my situation. I prefer, under all the circumstances, to remain with you, and will do so, the appointing power acquiescing, providing the salary remain at what it now is, $3,000, with the present furniture privileges undisturbed, and that your exertions all look toward that sum, agreeing for my part that if, after having made your utmost reasonable effort and sacrifice in the fear of God, it shall appear that you can not reach that sum, then I will take one common Lord and Master for the remainder, and consider the debt paid.
"Hoping that you will consider this whole subject prayerfully, and reach the wisest conclusion, I remain,
"Yours truly,
J. MCKENDREE REILEY.
"N. B .- Please to return your action acquiescing or otherwise in my proposition as above stated as early as may be in writing. "J. McK. R."
The Doctor's communication was accepted and adopted, and he was returned as pastor by Bishop D. W. Clark, the Conference convening in Louisville at the time. Immediately after Conference, subscription books were placed in the hands of the trustees and others to receive subscriptions looking toward the erection of a new church, and the following per- sons were appointed a Building Committee: Joshua F. Speed, Col. J. F. Buckner, and Richard James. The pastor had pre- viously written the Church Extension Society in relation to the appropriation for a church edifice in Louisville, to which the Society replied through the Secretary, A. J. Kynett, that it would not be possible for the Society to give $10,000 for the project, but they had some hope that the Society would author- ize a liberal appropriation. In a later letter, under date of
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December 5, 1871, Secretary Kynett writes that the General Committee authorizes an appropriation of $6,000 within the Kentucky Conference; $5,000 of which amount was to be applied at Louisville, and enjoins the church to secure a first- class location on a corner lot and build a chapel, with a view of erecting a permanent building. A vote of thanks was con- veyed to the Corresponding Secretary of the Church Extension Society by the Board of Trustees for this liberal appropriation, and on December 26, 1871, a called meeting of the Trustees was held for the purpose of meeting Mr. Joshua Speed and hearing his views as regards the steps to be taken to obtain a new church. Mr. Speed stated that one of the Trustees of Calvary Church told him that they would sell their church for $25,000, whereupon the pastor, Dr. Reiley, and Bros. James and Mon- roe were appointed a committee to examine the said property and report its condition to the Board. This committee exam- ined Calvary Church and brought in their report showing its advantages and its disadvantages both in the location and the building. The report was accepted and the committee was dis- charged. The Trustees approved the purchasing of Calvary Church, corner of Third and Guthrie Streets, at the price of $25,000, provided that the Church Extension Society would appropriate $5,000 in cash and two bonds of the Society for $2,500 each, payable on the Ist of July, 1873, and the Ist of July, 1874, with interest, and provided that Joshua Speed would give a similar amount on the same, or better terms, and Brother Bruce, the Presiding Elder, and the pastor, were appointed a committee to proceed to Philadelphia to ascertain what the Church Extension Society would do in the premises. Their visit to Philadelphia resulted in Chaplain McCabe and Brother Shinkle coming to Louisville and looking over the ground. At this point, Calvary Church declined to sell for less than $30,000, and Brother Shinkle made a proposition to the Board that he would subscribe $4,000 for the purchase of Calvary Church, payments to be made in installments of $1,000 each, and provided the congregation could take possession of said church free of debt. The following resolution was adopted:
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"Resolved, That we hereby express our earnest appreciation of the visit of the Rev. C. C. McCabe and Amos Shinkle, Esq., at this important juncture in the history of our church in this place, and that we tender to these gentlemen our gratitude for the practical interest they have taken in our affairs, the former by pledging the Church Extension Society for an extra $5,000, and the latter by subscribing $4,000 towards the purchase of a suitable place of wor- ship for our congregation."
At a meeting of the Board held on January 9, 1872, Mr. Joshua Speed reported that the vestry of Calvary church had tendered their property, through Mr. Pindall, for the sum of $25,000, payments to be $12,000 cash, one Church Extension Society bond for $2,500, due July 1, 1873, with interest, and another for the same amount due July 1, 1874, and the remain- der on or before one, two, or three years. The vestry of Calvary Church pledged themselves to make the title good. Dr. Kynett, of the Church Extension Society, suggested that Mr. DePauw, of New Albany, probably would advance the $5,000 promised by the Church Extension Society, and the pastor, Dr. Reiley, was requested to see Mr. DePauw in connection with the matter. He did so, and Mr. DePauw kindly agreed to honor a note for $5,000 drawn by the Trustees of the Market Street Church, to be paid with interest, as soon as the money was received from the Church Extension Society. Brother DePauw was officially thanked for his kind offer, after which Dr. Reily reported that he had received a draft from the Church Extension Society for $5,000, which was handed to Mr. Speed to consummate the pur- chase of Calvary Church. The committee appointed to pur- chase Calvary Church was also constituted a committee to sell the Market Street Church property on whatever terms they might deem most advantageous.
From the records it would seem that prior to this time the Market Street Church property had gotten into Chancery Court, and that the property through the court sale brought $7,575, leaving a debt of $3,425 unsatisfied. The Trustees of the Unitarian congregation, to whom the debt was due, agreed not to exact this balance, but to give a written release from the same. Through their attorney, Hon. Jas. Speed, they formally released the Trustees of all former indebtedness to the Unita-
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rian congregation, and the property was thereupon immediately bought back bv the congregation from Joshua Speed, who had purchased it through Chancery Court, and Mr. and Mrs. Speed passed over the property to the Trustees; and when Calvary Church was bought, the same committee, as heretofore stated, had the legal right to sell the Market Street property. Posses- sion of the church known as Calvary Church, Third and Guthrie Streets, the present site, was given April 15, 1872, but repairs being needed, the church was not opened as a place of worship until the fourth Sunday in June, 1872. The opening was attended with appropriate services, Rev. Duke Slavens, a former pastor, making the opening prayer; Rev. D. Stevenson, who succeeded Rev. J. McKendree Reiley to the charge, being appointed by Bishop Levi Scott at a session of the Annual Conference at Covington, reading the scripture lesson, and the sermon being preached by Bishop Thomas Bowman, after which, the Bishop recognizing the previous dedication, dedi- cated the church anew in the name of the Methodist Episcopal congregation. In the afternoon a childrens' meeting was held at which addresses were made by Rev. Duke Slavens, Rev. Mr. Heywood, of the Unitarian Church, the Rev. Mr. Turner, a Methodist preacher of New Albany; Rev. E. W. Sehon, of the M. E. Church, South, and under whom, as pastor, the church had been originally built. A cordial hand-shaking while sing- ing "Shall. We Gather at the River," closed the afternoon ser- vice. At night the opening prayer was made by Rev. William Pratt, of the Baptist Church, and the Bishop preached again, the service closing with a prayer by the Rev. N. Callander, of the Cincinnati Conference. And thus was ushered in a quarter of a century of militant church life, the struggles, trials and victories of which remain to be recorded in future chapters.
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"OLD TRINITY." CHURCH AND CHAPEL.
1872-1898.
CHAPTER V.
A NEW NAME, "TRINITY."
ECOGNIZING the intense interest and substantial assistance afforded by Brother and Sister Speed, a resolution was offered and adopted that Mrs. Fanny Speed be requested to name the new church and in response thereto Mrs. Speed notified the Board, through Dr. Stevenson, that she would name the new church, "Trinity." The name was unanimously adopted by the Board, April 24, 1872. The old Market Street church was sold in July, 1872, the deed of conveyance from the Trustees of the church to J. W. Henning was made, and we note that it was stated in the deed, the payment of $8,000 was cash. The amount of cash actually paid, however, was $5,500, and for the remainder Mr. Henning's notes at one and two years were taken, with Joshua F. Speed as security. The commit- tee on the purchase and sale of the property was discharged.
The congregation having now become settled in their new home, we note that an examination of the records was made and all of those names of members who could not be located, were given to the Stewards and if reported by them "Not found," were dropped from the rolls. One brother was dropped from the records, he having joined the Christian Baptists. The membership of the church at this time numbered about 125. Quite a number of new members were received, but there were also a number of removals with and without letters. Dr. Stevenson, the pastor, writes in his report that "While possi- bly the membership and Sunday-school has suffered somewhat from the change from Market Street to Third, altogether, how- ever, there is reason to congratulate ourselves that our pros- pects are as fair as they are. I think the crisis is passed and from this time we shall grow slowly, it may be, but surely, in members and influence," a prophecy which has been veritably fulfilled. Attention was given to the West End Mission at 17th and Main Streets, Rev. H. H. Monroe being designated as its
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pastor and reports that a number of the older children have been led to embrace Christ as their personal Savior. The Mission labored under great disadvantages for want of a room on the ground floor, the hall which they occupied being on the third floor and the stairs being badly constructed. At an adjourned meeting of the Fourth Quarterly Conference held February 10th, 1873, a report of the Trustees was submitted which is very complete and interesting in its figures. We here- with publish the same in full. By way of comment we would call attention, not only to the munificent gifts on the part of the Church Extension Society, Brothers Speed and Shinkle, which certainly are worthy of note, but to the fact that in those days, as now, a war tax had to be paid and $8.00 of the money went to help "Uncle Sam" pay his Civil War expense bill. We also call attention to the fact that after appropriating $248.33 to the Board of Stewards in order to pay the preacher in full, they still had a balance of $410 left in the Treasury to carry on the work of the Conference year 1873-4.
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FINANCIAL REPORT OF TRUSTEES.
Purchase of Calvary church by Trustees $25,000 00
PAID FOR AS FOLLOWS:
April 15, 1872, By cash as per deed. $12,000 00
Two (2) Church Extension Society bonds at $2,500.00 each. 5,000 00 Trustees' notes:
Due one (1) year $2,500. 6. two (2) 2,500. 66 two (2) 500. "ยท three (3) . 2.500. 8,000 00 25,000 00
SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Church Extension Society in cash $5,000 00
. . " bonds 5,000 00 $10,000 00
Joshua F. Speed in cash 7,000 00 66 in notes 6, 12, 18 mos 3.000 00
10,000 00
Amos Shinkle, January. 1873.
1.000 00
February, 1873
1,000 00
March, 1873
1,000 00
April, 1873 1,000 00
4,000 00
Market Street Church sold for
8,000 00
Total
$32,000 00
EXPENDED.
Trinity church
$25,0 0 00
Lien on Market Street church
2,685 64
Improvements and furniture. 2,566 03
Stamp on deed. 8 00
Interest, 1, 2, and 3 years
930 00
Repairs on furnace.
106 .0
Pyne & Creighton
16 00
Appropriated to Board of Stewards 248 33
Balance in treasury.
410 00 $32,000 00
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REV. D. STEVENSON, D. D., FIFTH PASTOR. 1872-1875.
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During the year 1873 a storm swept over the church which, while it did not wreck her, at the same time, very greatly crip- pled her, the effects of that period being felt even until this day. On account of the absence of the written record in the matter, your historians can only give such data as is official, and recite such facts as are recorded. We find that at a meet- ing of the Leaders and Stewards held on June 9, 1873, in response to the question: "Are any wilfully neglecting the means of grace?" the names of Robert James, his wife, Marga- ret James, Richard James and his wife, Andrew Hartman and his wife, I. P. Kelley, W. N. Matthews and his wife, Albert E. McIntyre and his wife were reported. At a meeting of the Leaders and Stewards on July 28, 1873, when the same ques- tion was asked, no new cases were reported, but during the discussion of this question, the meeting was interrupted by the appearance of six persons who presented the following letter:
"LOUISVILLE, KY, July 28, 1873.
"Past r of Trinity M. E. Church and the Members of the Official Board: "The undersigned members of Trinity M. E. Church believing that you desire to have our connection with the church severed, would respectfully demand that if any charges stand against us, that we be brought to trial without delay.
"W. N. MATTHEWS, "RICHARD JAMES, "P. H. BONHAM, "I. P. KELLY, "A. HARTMAN, "ROBERT JAMES. "
This communication was read, and the pastor stated that he would take the opportunity to follow out the instructions of the Discipline, and that was to warn them of their conduct in wilfully and habitually neglecting the means of grace. He desired them to do their duty. If they did not, the church did not desire a trial, and would rather they would withdraw, but that the Church had its rights and would judge how long to allow their conduct to continue. As a result of this storm, as we have been pleased to term it, we find that I. P. Kelly, A. E. McIntyre and W. N. Matthews were excluded from the church. That Andrew Hartman was allowed to withdraw pending trial, and then on July 4, 1875, we find in the pastor's report, that Mrs. Eliza James and Mrs. Carrie Hartman had joined the
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M. E. Church, South. In October in the pastor's report, he states that six have gone to other churches. This, in brief, gives a summary of the final disposition of the names first mentioned for "wilfully neglecting the means of grace." The records state, in behalf of Robert James, that he expressed a purpose not to attend the services of the church for that par- ticular conference year. . Richard James was the Sunday-school superintendent at the time. The causes incident to these brethren remaining away from church services not being writ- ten history, prevents your historians from publishing anything but the facts as they are found. Suffice it to say that it is a lamentable fact that such history should have been made.
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