History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 49

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 49

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ARLINGTON BAPTIST CHURCH.

This congregation was organized in 1892 by the Rev. Allyn G. Foster, now of New Haven, Conn. The present membership is thirty-eight. Services are maintained Sun- day afternoons. The chapel is in the suburb of Arlington, and is under the pastorship of the Rev. F. B. LaBarrer.

410

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH (Colored).

This congregation worships in a rented building in northeast Baltimore. Its mem- bership is thirty-eight. It was organized in 1892 and has had a hard struggle to exist, but it is doing well now. The present pas- tor is the Rev. S. S. Wormley.

ISRAEL BAPTIST CHURCH (Colored).

In 1892 this congregation was organized. It occupies a rented building on Milliken street, and has a membership of 137. The pastor is the Rev. J. H. Reid.

DIVISION STREET BAPTIST CHURCH (Col- ored).

On Division street, near Robert, is this church situated. It has a membership of 205. The pastor is Rev. A. E. Minkins. Value of property, $5,500.

NORTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.

This congregation was organized in 1894 by a colony from the Eutaw Place Baptist Church. Its location is at the corner of Linden and North avenues, and its prop- erty is valued at $20,000. The present house of worship is a frame building. The membership is ninety-one. The pastor is the Rev. J. M. Wilbur.

CALVERTON BAPTIST CHURCH.

This is an offshoot of the Fuller Memorial Church and was organized in 1895. A neat brick chapel, valued at $1,736, was erected. The pastorate is vacant, but services are maintained regularly. Membership, fifty- seven.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Even a brief account of the history of Friends in Baltimore cannot be written without some reference to the founder of

the society, George Fox, who was born at "Drayton-in-the-Clay," now Fenny Dray- ton, Leicestershire, England, in 1624. He was reared in the Established Church of England, and "was early led by his 'heav- enly monitor' to be faithful inwardly to God and outwardly to man, and to keep to 'yea' and 'nay' in all things, that his words might be few and savory, seasoned with grace." He began his lay ministry in 1644, in Leices- tershire, preaching the new doctrine of the "Divine Immanence," or "the Light With- in."

The first account of Friends in Maryland was in 1656, when Josiah Coale, a very pow- erful lay preacher, attended by Thomas Thurston, came from England, visited the province, and established communities of Friends in various places. In 1659 the vis- its of William Robinson, Christian Holder and Robert Hodgson resulted in a consid- erable increase in membership. Early in 1665 John Burnyeat arrived in the colony and spent the whole of the summer in re- ligious work among the settlers. He again visited Maryland in 1671, and in 1672 he appointed a "General Meeting" at West river, in Anne Arundel county, "for all the Friends in the province," that he might "see them together, before he departed for Great Britain." Friends from all parts responded to the call. George Fox, with several breth- ren, arriving at this time from Barbadoes, where they had been making a religious visit, landed at the mouth of the Patuxent river, and attended this meeting. At its close a meeting for church discipline was held, the first of the kind in Maryland, and from that time to the present their lineal descendants, Baltimore Friends, have regu- larly held such meetings.

JA Water

411

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

The exceedingly valuable records of those meetings from 1677 are now in a good state of preservation in the fire-proof room in the meeting house on Park avenue, Baltimore.

The early Friends of Baltimore were prin- cipally immigrants, who had left England to escape persecution, and had previously set- tled in Virginia, the Barbadoes and New England, but in most of these places they had encountered the same intolerant spirit that they had left behind them. In the col- ony of Lord Baltimore, however, who had invited people of all Christian views to set- tle under his new government, and assured them that their religious rights should be re- spected, they found the protection they sought.

The earliest record of Patapsco "Particu- lar" Meeting (now Baltimore) is of Sixth Month, 1681. The first meetings were held in the dwellings of the members, until there were funds and members enough to build a meeting house.

Richard Taylor's will, dated 1726, and probated in 1729, contains the following passages: "I give and bequeath unto my son, Joseph Taylor, a lot of land containing one acre of land, bought of John Ensor for to build a meeting house on it; the said land and meeting house on it, I give and be- queath for the use of Friends, for the use of a meeting house and burying-place for Friends forever." This indicates the build- ing of this meeting house prior to 1726.

It is believed that the Society of Friends were the first organized religious body in the present limits of Baltimore, and that the first church edifice was erected by them. In Scharff's "Chronicles of Baltimore" we find the following passage: "In 1702 St. Paul's was made a mission parish, under the

ministry of Rev. Wm. Tibbs, and on July 28th, 1730, the vestry again met and agreed with Thomas Hartwell to build the walls for St. Paul's Church (Charles and Saratoga streets); but Hartwell failed, and the build- ing was delayed and not finished until 1739." Griffith's Annals of Baltimore says: "Down to the year 1758 we have no knowl- edge of any other churches, or meetings for worship here, but the established church (Episcopal) and the Society of Friends, or Quakers, of which latter society it seems a very great portion of the first settlers of Baltimore county consisted at this time."

By a deed dated December 15, 1713, "John Ensor and Uxor" conveyed to Rich- ard Taylor a certain parcel of land called "Friendship," being taken out of a large tract called "Darley Hall," and containing one acre, to erect a meeting house on. The price was ten shillings. This one acre is now near the center of Friends' burying- ground on the Harford road, the present place of burial of Friends of Baltimore.

In 1773, their members becoming numer- ous, and their meeting house being some distance from the city proper, the Friends bought two lots of ground, and in 1779 an- other lot, altogether including the entire square (except the corner lot at the north- west corner), bounded by Great York street (now East Baltimore street), Smook alley (now Aisquith street), Pitt street (now East Fayette street), and Canal street (now Cen- tral avenue). The price of the entire pur- chase was £121, 4s., in fee. On this lot George Matthews built the present Friends' Meeting House, at a cost of $4,500. The first meeting was held here in 1781, and it is still used as a place of worship. The "ex- ecutive" meetings for the Western Shore of

412

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Maryland were held at West river until 1739, when Gunpowder Monthly or Execu- tive Meeting was established in Baltimore county, and Baltimore Meeting became a part of that meeting. In 1792 Baltimore be- came a separate meeting, with a member- ship of 251.

The numbers increasing rapidly, it was found necessary to build again, and a lot was purchased on the south side of Lom- bard street, between Eutaw and Howard streets, and under the charge of John Mc- Kim, Elisha Tyson, John Mitchel, James Cary, Benjamin Ellicott and James Ellicott, a much larger house was built in 1805, at a cost of $19.905. In this house Baltimore Yearly Meeting was held until 1888. The records show that in 1807 there was a mem- bership of 476, in addition to the member- ship in East Baltimore.

From 1805 to 1819 two Monthly (or Ex- ecutive) Meetings existed in Baltimore, the original organization being known as the Eastern District, and Lombard Street Meet- ing as the Western District. The member- ship of the two meetings aggregated at thiat time about one thousand. Eastern District Monthly Meeting was discontinued as an executive meeting in 1819, and became a part of, and subordinate to, the Western District Meeting.

The "separation" that took place in the Society of Friends in America during the years 1827 and 1828 was an event of deep and painful interest to its members, and is still regarded by many, both within and without the pale, as a subject of increasing regret. It was accompanied by alienation of feeling among many who had long been knit together in the closest ties of friendship, and it diminished the salutary influence that

the Society had always exerted, from the first settlement of the country, in the pro- moting of every work that tended to the public good. It resulted in Baltimore in the establishment of an independent Meet- ing by seventy members, who withdrew from the main body and built a meeting house on the corner of Saratoga and Court- land streets, and afterwards removed to a larger house, which they now occupy, on Eutaw and Monument streets. It was not until a generation had passed that the two divisions of the Society were able to resume with tranquility the work of the Society; but both branches are now earnestly en- gaged in many kinds of religious and phil- anthropic work, co-operating with all other bodies in their efforts to advance the best interests of humanity.

On account of the encroachment of busi- ness upon this once quiet locality it was found necessary, in 1887, to sell the Lom- bard street property, and a handsome and commodious meeting house was built upon the corner of Park avenue and Laurens street, and has been occupied since 1889 as a place of worship. Baltimore Yearly Meeting is held in this house. The old meeting house on Aisquith and Fayette streets remains unchanged, and during the past few years the members who occupy it, with the assistance of those of Park Avenue Meeting, have entered quite extensively into home missionary work among the children in the vicinity.

In the records, extending through more than a century, are found the names of many Friends representing families prominent in the history of the city. Among these are Uria Brown, who taught the first free, or public school in the State of Maryland;

413

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

John McKim, who requested his sons, Isaac and William, to endow the McKim School, now used for the free kindergarten of the Society of Friends (Aisquith and Fayette streets); Elisha Tyson, a devoted friend of those of the African race, and one who spent much time and money in their behalf; Moses Sheppard, who founded the Sheppard Asy- lum for the Insane; Andrew and Jonathan Ellicott, who established Ellicott's Mills, now Ellicott City; Joseph Townsend, who promoted the establishment of the Equitable Insurance Society in 1794; Gerard Hop- kins, the ancestor of the founder of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital; Philip E. Thomas, one of the promoters and first president of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road Company; George Hussey, the ances- tor of Obed Hussey, the inventor of the first successful mowing and reaping machine; Rossiter Scott, the father of Townsend Scott, the first to establish the bond and stock brokerage business in Baltimore; Da- vid Wilson, the ancestor of Thomas Wilson, the founder of the Wilson Sanitarium and other charities; John Mitchel, a leading wholesale grocer, in whose store Moses Sheppard commenced life as an errand boy; John Needles, who in connection with Wil- liam Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin Lundy and Arthur Howells, devoted years of his life in the cause of the oppressed of the African race in our midst. To these we might add the names of Matthews, Brown, Trimble, Riley, Cornthwait, Dukehart, Dawson, Brooks, Mott, Pope, Davenport, Atkinson, Powell, Husband, Reed, Amoss and many others who have long since passed from works to reward, but of whom it might be said that the moral and material condition

of Baltimore was greatly advanced by their exemplary lives, energy and enterprise.

In the year 1828 the Friends separated into two divisions over the doctrine of the Atonement of our Lord. Part held to the orthodox view and have since been known as the Orthodox Friends; while part es- poused the views of an American Friend named Elias Hicks, who had been a noted preacher in the Society and who traveled far and wide disseminating his opinions. He won a large following and occasioned a separation among the Friends in America. which continues unto this day. His adher- ents are called "Hicksite Friends." While in Pennsylvania the Orthodox party has al- ways been much the stronger of the two, in Maryland the Hicksite party has maintained the ascendency. Each of these two parties has two meeting houses in the city. The Orthodox Friends have their chief place of worship at the northeast corner of Eutaw and Monument streets.

THE EUTAW STREET MEETING HOUSE.

This brick edifice was erected in 1867 on a lot which cost $15,000. The building cost $31,000. It is a two-story structure, having several rooms in the basement and a large audience room above. Owing to its con- venient location this meeting house is used for many public gatherings of a charitable and philanthropic nature. The membership is 300, and its services are well attended.

THE LIGHT STREET MEETING HOUSE.

For several years the Orthodox Friends maintained a mission in the southern por- tion of the city. It was first held in rented buildings, but in 1871 a lot was purchased on Light street near Hamburg and a two- story brick building erected thereupon in

414

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

1880. Subsequently this building was en- larged to its present proportions. Regular meetings were begun in 1880. The lot cost $0,500 and the building $14.000. Two years ago improvements were made at a cost of $5,000. A kindergarten is maintained here and also a gymnasium. Evening classes are also held for instruction in various use- ful arts. The membership is about 100.

The Orthodox Friends had one other meeting house, which is now used for secu- lar purposes. It is situated at the corner of Courtland and Saratoga streets, and was built in 1830, and was used as a place of meeting until 1867, when it was sold. It is now used as a colored normal school. The Eutaw Street Meeting House was erected to take its place.

THE CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST.

This denomination traces its origin to a learned and godly man, who came to this country from Germany in the middle of the eighteenth century-Philip William Otter- bein. It sprang into existence in the great revival movement during the latter half of that century and has had a most vigorous existence, until there are 250,000 members in the United States, with 3,500 church edi- fices and 2,400 ministers. The founder of this active denomination was born in the town of Dillenburg, Germany, on the third of June, 1726. His father was a man of fine culture, who gave his son the finest lit- erary advantages. He was brought up in the German Reformed Church and was or- dained to the ministry at Dillenburg on June 13, 1749. For a time he performed the duties of both a teacher and a pastor; but in 1852 he felt impelled. together with

several other young men, to come to Amer- ica in order to administer to the spiritual needs of the large number of Germans who had come hither. They reached New York on the 28th of July. They proceeded to Philadelphia, under the guidance of the Rev. Michael Schlattel, whose earnest ap- peal had moved them to leave their father- land. There were six young men in the party, and they were sent to different posts of duty. The Rev. Mr. Otterbein was sent to Lancaster, Pa., then a thriving town of about two thousand inhabitants. Here was situated the second in importance of the German Reformed Churches in America, the first being at Philadelphia. To this Mr. Otterbein was appointed and here he served most acceptably for six years. During his administration the old, wooden church, which had been built long before, was super- seded by a massive stone edifice which stood for a century, and was only taken down in 1852. Many new features introduced by him have remained until this day. In 1758 he resigned in order to visit his old home in Germany; but the continuance of the French and English war made travel dan- gerous and he accepted a temporary charge at Tulpehocken, Pa., and remained there two years. In September, 1765, he removed to York, Pa., and was the pastor of that large and influential church until 1774, when he was called to assume the charge of the independent Reformed Church of Balti- more, having visited his fatherland in 1770.

The Second Reformed Church of Balti- more had come into existence in 1771 and was the result of a serious division in the First Reformed Church over the conduct of its pastor, the Rev. John Christopher Faber. The latter had come to this country from

415

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Germany and taken charge of the church in an irregular manner. It was charged that his ministrations were formal and that he "led an offensive life." A large minority, after appealing in vain to the synod for re- lief, left the First Church and established an independent Reformed church. They elected as their first pastor the Rev. Bene- dict Schwope, a young Reformed minister who had recently come from Germany and was residing near Baltimore. He accepted. A large lot was purchased on Conway street near Sharp and there erected a small frame building suitable for their immediate needs. The title to this was not vested in the Ger- man Reformed Church, but in chosen mem- bers of the congregation, with power of transmission to their successors. Efforts were made to reunite the warring factions of the Reformed body, but in vain. In 1773 the Rev. Mr. Schwope resigned and then the Rev. Mr. Otterbein was urgently press- ed to accept a call to the new Reformed con- gregation. He took charge on May 4, 1774. He had now been in America twenty-two years and was forty-eight years of age. The growth of his congregation was not rapid, owing largely to the breaking out of the War of the Revolution. The German popu- lation of Baltimore was small at that time, the entire population of which numbered only 6,000. After the close of the war more favorable conditions set in, and in 1785 the new congregation effected a formal organi- zation. A set of rules, now quite famous, was adopted January 1, 1785. They exhibit a distinct departure in many particulars from the tenets of the Reformed Church, and mark a new step in the religious world, which ultimately culminated in the forma- tion of a new ecclesiastical body. The Ger-

man Reformed Church has always held dis- tinctly Calvinistic doctrines. These the new congregation repudiated and adopted Armenian views. It also changed the name from German Reformed to Evangelical Re- formed. It also sought to create and ad- vance a deeper personal piety, and displayed many of those evangelistic features which were elsewhere to be seen among the early Methodists. Indeed Mr. Otterbein and Mr. Asbury had become very intimate friends, and it was largely due to the influence of the latter that the former had come to Bal- timore.

In the new movement among the Ger- mans Mr. Otterbein had as his sympathizers and supporters several distinguished men of other church affiliations. Chief among these was the Rev. Martin Boehme, of the Mennonite Church, who had gone far and wide preaching the simple truths of Chris- tianity and insisting on the necessity of per- sonal piety. It was at one of these evangel- istic meetings conducted by Mr. Boehme in Michael Long's stone barn, in Lancaster county, Pa., that Mr. Otterbein first met him. After the former had finished his dis- course Mr. Otterbein arose and embraced him, exclaiming, "Wir sind Bruder" -- "We are brethren." Mr. Boehme was expelled from the Mennonite Church because of the new views which he had espoused.

Next in order among the prominent co- laborers of Mr. Otterbein is to be named George Adam Guething, his own son in the Gospel. He was born in Prussia on Febru- ary 5, 1741, and was brought up in the Re- formed Church. He came to America at the age of seventeen, and made his home at Antietam, Md. Here he taught school part of the year, and was a miner the remaining

416

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

portion. The school house in which he taught afterwards came to be known as "Guething's Meeting House." This place was visited by Mr. Otterbein as early as 1760, when he was located at Frederick, and doubtless Mr. Guething came under his in- fluence at that time. On Whitsunday, 1783, he was ordained to the ministry of the Ger- man Reformed Church. Espousing what were considered "fanatical views," he was expelled from the German Reformed Church at Reading, Pa., on April 29, 1804. He spent forty years thereafter in the min- istry of the United Brethren Church and seemed "to have been personally a good man."

Among others ought to be named as ef- ficient helpers the Rev. Dr. William Hen- del, a man of fine education and brilliant pulpit powers in the German Reformed Church; the Rev. Daniel Wagner, Rev. An- thony Hautz, Rev. Frederick L. Henop and Rev. Jacob Weimer. To these is to be added the Rev. Benedict Schwope. Not all of these followed Mr. Otterbein out of the German Reformed body, but all of them sympathized with him in his spiritual aims, and even when they remained in the Re- formed Church, adopted many of his prac- tices, such as class meetings, etc. Long before the seperation came, these ministers had formed themselves into a bond of union under the name of "The United Ministers." Theyagreed to organize classes in their con- gregations and to conduct them upon an accepted model. For two years these United Ministers, who were living at differ- ent points, held semi-annual meetings for conference. The Rev. Benedict Schwope acted as secretary, and the minutes of two of these meetings are still extant, the one

held at Pipe Creek near Baltimore on May 29, 1774, and the other at Frederick, Md., on June 12, 1775. The last meeting was held at Hagerstown on June 2, 1777. In 1789 a conference was convened at Mr. Ot- terbein's parsonage in Baltimore to adopt a definite mode of procedure. Fourteen min- isters were recognized as members, but of these only seven were present. Of these seven, five were Reformed ministers and two were Mennonites. The names of the seven are: William Otterbein, Martin Boehme, Henry Weidner, George A. Guenthing, Christian Newcomer, Adam Lehman, John Ernst. They adopted an instrument which may justly be called the first creed of the self-constituted organization. It is entitled: "The Doctrine of the United Brethren in Christ." It has five articles: I. A belief in the Trinity; II. In the Deity and Propitia- tion of Christ; III. In the Holy Ghost, pro- ceeding from the Father and Son; IV. In the Bible as the Word of God; V. In the fall of Adam and salvation through Christ. They also recommended baptism and the Lord's Supper; also the washing of feet, where the same is desired.

The Conference also adopted "Disciplin- ary Rules." These governed the new or- ganization from 1789 up to 1815. In 1791 another conference was held eight miles from York, Pa., on the farm of John Span- gler, at which nine ministers were present. Thirteen were absent. No formal confer- ence was held until 1800, when the name and perpetuity of the new church was fixed. It met on September 25 and 26, at the house of Peter Kemp, about two miles west of Frederick, Md. Fourteen were present. They elected John William Otterbein and Martin Boehme to be Superintendents or

417

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Bishops. Annual conferences were now es- tablished and the United Brethren Church took its independent place among the other Christian bodies. The last conference to be attended by Bishop Otterbein was in the year 1805. Increasing infirmities made it impossible for him to travel. He died on November 17, 1813, at the age of eighty- one. For thirty-nine years he had been pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church. Soon after his assumption of the pastorate of this church, the old frame building was removed and a large and stately brick edi- fice erected in its stead. It is still standing and in use, although the date of its erection was 1784. It is now popularly called "The Otterbein Church." The Rev. Mr. Otter- bein never formally disconnected himself from the church of his birth and ordination, even though he became the founder of a new denomination. He was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rev. Frederick Schaf- fer, and he by a line of godly men, to the number of twenty, down to the present pas- tor, the Rev. August Schmidt.

The congregation has 200 members and owns a fine property, including a good par- sonage.

OTTERBEIN UNITED BRETHREN CHAPEL.

This chapel is now generally known as the Scott Street U. B. Church. It was or- ganized to meet the growing numbers of English speaking members of the U. B. Church. The first English class was formed at the old German Church, on Conway street, on October 31, 1855, by the Rev. N. Altman, pastor. The English congregation was organized on November 6, 1855, and trustees were then elected. The church was incorporated as the Otterbein Chapel

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344