USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > Illustrated history and biographical record of Lenawee County, Mich. > Part 3
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The present M. E. church, on the corner of Broad and Maumee streets, was dedicated in 1863, Rev. F. A. Blades being the pastor.
Early in the history of the church a Sunday school was organ- ized, and this branch of the service has been a source of great good. The present enrolled membership is about 550, with an average attendance of about 300. The officers are: W. M. Blanchard, superintendent; Arthur Baldwin, 1st assistant; Mrs. Clarence Frost, 2d assistant; George Breen, 3d assistant; Dr. C. L. Norton, secre- tary ; Mrs. Harriet Norton, treasurer; George Trimm, librarian. There are thirty-one teachers.
First Baptist Church,
On the evening of November 5th, 1831, a number of Baptist friends met at the school house in the village of Adrian, for the pur- pose of conferring on the subject of covenant union. The gathering
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was composed of eleven men and thirteen women, as follows: Joseph Rickey, Reuben Tooker, Benjamin F. Gouldsbury, John H. Carpen- ter, John Whitney, John S. Older, John W. Myers, Allen S. Hutchens, John T. Carpenter, Gersham Noyes, David Wiley, Maria Hutchens, Lydia Whitney, Delia Older, Eliza Gouldsbury, Lydia Thursting, Eunice Rickey, Nancy Rickey, Lucy French, Elizabeth Parker, Cynthia Upton, Elizabeth Carpenter, Amy Fitch, Lois Stone.
John Whitney was the moderator of this meeting, and William Foster (afterwards received by baptism), was clerk. After an inter- esting session it was "Resolved to meet again at this place for further conference on the 19th inst."
First Baptist Church, Adrian.
At the meeting on the 19th of November, 1831, John Whitney, Reuben Tooker, Joseph Rickey, John H. Carpentor, Dan Treat (received by letter), and William Foster were appointed a commit- tee to prepare Articles of Faith and Covenant. At a subsequent meeting on the 23d of the same month, the Articles were presented, approved and accepted, when it was "Resolved to call on the follow- ing churches for a council to witness our union and to constitute us into Church State, if such council should think it to be expedient, viz .: Church in Dexter, Church in Ypsilanti, Church in Saline, and 3
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also to give Elder Tripp, of Sand Lake, an invitation; council to meet in the village of Adrian on the last Saturday of December, 1831." The council met at the stated time. Elder T. Bodley, of Saline, preached the first sermon and extended the hand of fellow- ship. On the next day, Sunday, January 1st, 1832, Elder Bodley preached at the house of Isaac Dean, from these words: "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved ?"
On Sunday, January 29th, 1832, after church service, the con- gregation repaired to the River Raisin, when Elder Bodley baptized eight candidates for membership. In February, 1832, Elder T. Bodley became the first installed minister of the church ; John H. Carpenter and John Whitney were the first deacons, and John Whit- ney the first treasurer. Elder Bodley remained with the church during the year 1833, at a salary of $150.00.
The records show that in March, 1834, a call was extended Rev. Mr. Goodman, but we find that in June, 1834, the Rev. Bradbury S. Clay (father of our present well known banker, Frank W. Clay), was installed. It appears the question of the minister's salary occasioned the members some anxiety. There had been considerable delay in raising the last year's expenses of the church, and it was decided to empower William Foster, Lauren Hotchkiss and Benjamin Palmer to make a levy, and William Foster to make an assessment on the taxable property of the members of the church, that the amount of the Rev. Mr. Clay's salary might be assured. It was voted to raise $200 to pay Mr. Clay for his ministration during the year 1835.
In 1837 a brick church was completed and dedicated on the site of the present edifice on Broad street. Rev. Gideon D. Simmons was the pastor during the construction of the first church. A large and fine toned bell was soon after hung in the tower. It was first swung between two stumps in front of the church, where the village gamin insisted on trying its tones.
About the year 1855 the first chapel was built. The present chapel was dedicated January 1st, 1900, and cost $7,372.28. The annex and audience room was constructed in its present form in 1884-5, during the pastorate of Rev. J. S. Holmes, at a cost of about $12,000.
The present pastor, Rev. Franklin Wait Sweet, was installed October 3d, 1902. The present Board of Trustees consists of the following gentlemen: E. L. Baker, president; John E. Carr, secre- tary; George W. Ayres, C. B. Bennett, Frank Cantrick, C. C. Fisher, D. B. Morgan. The Sunday school was organized soon after the church was founded, and in 1834 Lauren Hotchkiss was its superintendent.
The Hon. William S. Wilcox became superintendent in the fall of 1839, and served continually in that capacity until the spring of 1891, a period of over fifty-one years. Since the resignation of Mr. Wilcox, D. B. Morgan and George L. Bennett have served as super- intendents, the latter still being in that position. Mr. Bennett is
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
assisted by the following associate superintendents: D. B. Morgan, B. P. Hathaway and Mrs. E. L. Baker. E. L. Baker, jr., is the secretary and treasurer. The membership is about 625, with thirty teachers. There is a Sunday school board of twelve members, to whom all questions are referred.
On the basis of average attendance, which for the first six months in 1903 was 425, this is one of the largest Sunday schools in Mich- igan.
Below will be found extracts from a letter written by Allen S. Hutchens, a constituent member, on the occasion of the semi-centen- nial of the church in 1881. Many facts and incidents of the early settlement will be found in this interesting paper:
BEAVER DAM, WIS., Nov. 18, 1881.
TO THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN ADRIAN, MICH .:
* Dear Brethren- * * * My father with his family reached Adrian Sept. 22, 1831. A few weeks later, Deacon John Whitney, who had come from a church near Trumansburg, N. Y., and had settled about five miles northwest of Adrian, called at our house and introduced himself as a Baptist, and said that he had started out to see how many of the like faith and order he could find in the vicinity of our little village. His strong and cheerful words were a note of joy to my mother's heart and to my own. In perhaps two weeks 'he came again, re- joicing that he had found so many anxious as himself for a church home. Rev. Thos. Bodley, at Saline, was sent for, because he was the nearest Baptist minister. Elders. Booth, Goodman and Merrill were a good deal farther away. Isaac French was build- ing a hotel on the north west corner of Main and Maumee streets. It was enclosed and the floor laid in a small room that was soon the barroom. There we met, as joy- ful a company of Christians as ever came together. The figures in the little room stand out in bold relief-forms still dear to my heart. They were Christ's men and women. Deacon Whitney in the center of the room, so happy that he couldn't keep his face straight, and the smile read, "I didn't bear my old rheumatic limbs on my canes around through the woods for A. S. Hutchens, the last constituent member of the Church. Died at Madison, Wis., July 10th, 1903. nothing." The sisters sat on the north side; Elder Bodley, Joseph Rickey and others on the west side ; I, a little boy, in the southeast corner under the window. Deacon Foster, near Deacon Whitney's right hand, arose and read a series of Articles of Faith and Practice, which, I presume, he had taken from the records of the church in Shelby, Orleans County,
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N. Y. The Articles were accepted, and we solemnly pledged one another to walk together as a church in the fear and love of our common Lord. Elder Bodley's heart was full, and oh, how earnestly he counselled and prayed. After the organization was effected we tarried long and were loth to part.
Mr. Dean, whose hotel stood on the northeast corner of Maumee and Winter streets, was not a professor of religion, but a kind, good-hearted neighbor, and he allowed us to go into his ball-room the next day for Sunday services, for the Methodists were occupying the schoolhouse that stood by the old cemetery. The room was so well seated that it seemed to us that the old gentleman must have borrowed chairs from nearly every house in the village. Elder Bodley preached from these words: "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved ?" The celebration of the Lord's Supper followed the sermon. A strong spirit of brotherly love possessed us, and our hearts were full of the joy and hope of the new church life. We had come from warm living churches, torn ourselves away from loving Christian hearts, hoping that bye-and-bye, before ยท many years, there would be some little church somewhere in those woods that we could unite with, and now to start off so soon, so strongly and so unitedly was away beyond what we had dreamed of.
During the following winter our covenant meetings were held in the school house, and our prayer meetings at the homes of the brethren, here and there in the forest. I am not certain that Elder Bodley visited us in the winter, though I think he did; at any rate he came to see us in March, and we invited him to become our pastor, and in April he moved his family into a little house on the edge of the swamp on the southwest corner of Maumee and Broad streets. My father's log house. a little southeast of the village, then became our place of meet- ing on Sunday mornings and on Sunday evenings, and often on week day evenings Elder Bodley preached in the different neighborhoods where the brethren lived.
In the autumn of 1832 we began to meet in the upper room of a dwelling house that stood on the northwest corner of Maumee and Broad streets, and met there until we went into the brick house in 1836.
We began to go to the river almost immediately after our pastor began his work. A spot just below the mill dam is in the memory still as a sacred place. The church commenced its work in the best of harmony of feelings and views; so much so that a stranger might well have thought that we had migrated from some one church in the East. Except one from New Hampshire and two from * Vermont, I think we were all at first from Central and Western New York. * * * *
* We had to work for what we got. I have seen in my father's log house, sitting on boards laid on logs between the two beds at one end of the room, and the large fire-place at the other end, sisters of the church and young women, who had come on foot five miles, and brethren who had come from the south settlement eight miles, with ox teams, to enjoy the Sabbath services, and to see the faces of brethren that were loved. After the sermon, unless we had to go to the river, the greeting was about as long as the meeting. We lived in the midst of new things-new houses, new clearings, new comers from the East-much con- stantly to awaken interest ; but to us the church and the meetings of the church were the main things on earth. And this brotherly love and devotion to His cause the Lord blessed, for within two years from the organization, brethren who
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were acquainted with the churches thought the church in Adrian not only larger in numbers, but stronger in spiritual gifts than any other Baptist church in the territory.
Brethren, let me correct a mistake. At the semi-centennial of the Baptist church in Medina, Orleans County, New York, two years last May, it was stated that your church was founded by members from that church. I believe my mother and I were the only ones from that church. There were more members at first from the church at Shelby, in the same county, than from any other church. The pastor of that church claimed that you owed them a debt of gratitude. Pay it, for two years later it made to you the best gift it could make, for it sent to you in August, 1833, Lauren Hotchkiss, a man full of zeal for work in the Master's cause. He was remarkably fitted to two kinds of service, to lead a prayer meet- ing and to conduct a Sunday school, for he never allowed the one to be dull, nor interest in the other to flag. He put a strong arm under our little struggling Sunday school and made it right off one of the important interests of the church work. The last work he did for the church was to be the soul and inspiration of the building of the meeting-house.
Yours in the bonds of Christian love, A. S. HUTCHENS.
The First Presbyterian Church,
The First Presbyterian Church of Adrian was organized at the house of N. D. Skeels on the fifteenth day of September, 1832, pur- suant to a public call. The Rev. I. M. Wead, of Ypsilanti, was
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present and chosen moderator, and N. D. Skeels, clerk. The mod- erator presented the Articles of Faith and Covenant adopted by the Detroit Presbytery, Sept. 1st, 1831, which were adopted by resolu- tion. The clerk was then ordered to enroll the following names, after giving evidence of their regular membership in other churches: Josiah Sabin, Patrick Hamilton, Isaac Ormsby, Amelia Ormsby, Elijah Johnson, Elihu Frary, Asahel Finch, Jr., Mary D. Finch, N. D. Skeels, Elizabeth Skeels, Clarissa Fessenden, Mary A. Chapin, Elizabeth Beals, Huldah Brown.
There seems to have been a strong temperance sentiment existing at that time, for we find in the minutes of the first meeting the following :
"Resolved, That no person shall be admitted to this church unless they can conscientiously abstain from the use or vending of ardent or distilled spirits, except for medical purposes."
Three elders were then elected, as follows: Elijah Johnson, A. Finch, Jr., Josiah Sabin. The first baptism was the little daughter of Asahel and Mary D. Finch, Elizabeth Mary.
In November, 1832, the Rev. George Howell came to Adrian.
The minutes show the next minister to visit the village was the . Rev. A. S. Wells, in 1834, who was followed the same year by Rev. E. Gregory, who remained during the winter of 1834-5. In the fall of 1835, the Rev. William Wolcott came, and served as supply during 1835-6.
The church has had eight installed pastors, as follows: 1837-42, Rev. J. L. Tomlinson; 1844-61, Rev. George C. Curtis; 1861-65, Rev. George Duffield, Jr .; 1865-74, Rev. Wm. H. Webb; 1876-80, Rev. John C. Hill; 1881-85, Joseph B. Little; 1886-98, Rev. Willard K. Spencer; 1898, and still in charge, Rev. Edward M. McMillin.
The first church building was erected by the Society on Church street, in November, 1832, being the first church edifice built in the village. In 1842 a new structure was built on the present site, on East Maumee street, at an expense of $12,000. This was enlarged in 1854 at an expense of $5,000, and again in 1869-70 was largely rebuilt and beautified, at a cost of $25,000. The church bell, weighing 1,601 pounds, and costing $478, was hung Dec. 31st, 1846. The chapel was built in 1884, at a cost of $5,000.
The fine parsonage, No. 35 Dennis street, was built by the Samuel E. Hart estate, in 1895, and was first occupied by the Rev. W. K. Spencer.
The Sunday school is in a flourishing condition, and since 1850 has been a power for good and active church work. The officers are: Superintendent, S. S. Withington; First Assistant, H. M. Judge ; Second Assistant, Miss Della Corbus; Third Assistant, Miss Ida Park; Secretary, Miss Florence Clement; Assistant Secretary, Nor- man Angell; Treasurer, Miss Helen Jewell; Superintendent of
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Primary Department, Miss Alice Angell; Assistant, Miss Carrie Culver. The enrollment is about 350 scholars, with an average attendance of about 225.
Christ Episcopal Church.
One of the handsomest and most substantial church edifices in Adrian is Christ Episcopal Church. This church was organized in 1838 by the Rev. David J. Burger, who remained here for one year.
Christ Episcopal Church, Adrian.
In 1839 Rev. Wm. N. Lyster, of Sand Lake, took temporary charge, and often visited the parish, until 1840. In 1841 Bishop McCoskry administered the Apostolic Rite of Confirmation in the Methodist Church, on Toledo street, the congregation kindly tendering their house of worship for that purpose. About this time the old Presby- terian structure on Church street was secured, the Presbyterian Society having erected a new edifice on Maumee street, and the Rev. Sabin Hough was appointed rector. No records can be found (it is believed they were burned in the old court house in 1852), but it is known that services were held during the first ten years, and that the Revs. David J. Burger, Wm. N. Lyster, Donald Frazer, Charles V. Kelley and Richard S. Adams were in charge.
The first church edifice was erected in 1851. The building com- mittee was James J. Newell and Henry Hart, and the contractors were Daniel A. Loomis and Robert J. Bradley, builders, the architect being F. J. Scott. The cost of the building was $4,282. This was
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done under the rectorship of the Rev. Rufus Murray, and the church was consecrated by Bishop McCoskry, Oct. 31st, 1852. Since that time, 46 years, the church was at various times improved and en- larged, and was used until Sunday, August 9th, 1897, when a special service was conducted by the rector, Rev. C. H. I. Channer, whose sermon contained many interesting historical references. The old building was then removed and the corner stone of the present hand- some sanctuary was laid September 28th, 1897. The first service was held in the new church on Easter Sunday, 1898. Following were the church officers at that time: Rector, Rev. C. H. I. Channer ; Wardens, Richard A. Bury and H. V. C. Hart; Vestrymen, A. W. Carey, E. E. Marble, W. F. Ayers, H. L. Larwill, C. D. Hardy, C. Short, R. Alfred Bury. The building committee consisted of R. A. Bury, H. V. C. Hart, A. W. Carey, H. L. Larwill, E. E. Marble. The architects were Spier & Rohn, of Detroit, and the contractor was Samuel Pickles, of Jackson, Mich. The cost, with all its fur- nishings, was $25,000.
The handsome rectory on the corner of Church and Locust streets was built with money donated by Mrs. Mary L. Drew, relict of the well known pioneer resident, Delos Drew. The house was built in 1899, at a cost of something over $4,000. Mrs. Drew died before its .completion.
Methodist Protestant Church,
The College Church, afterwards known as the First Methodist Protestant Church of Adrian, was first organized April 14th, 1867, with 46 members. The first trustees appointed were: Dr. J. Kost, J. H. Bailey, D. G. Edmiston. Stewards: J. S. Wilcox, J. H. Davis, J. R. Gilkey. Leaders: A. H. Marsh, G. B. McElroy. Fol- lowing are the names of the first ministers: J. M. Mayall, Asa Mahan, G. B. McElroy, John Kost, J. S. Thrapp, W. M. Goodner. The licentiates were : C. B. Goodrich, A. R. Seamon, A. H. Marsh, John Ellis and D. G. Edmiston.
In August, 1879, the Society leased the old Plymouth church building, and in May, 1880, purchased the property and has wor- shiped there since that time.
The present pastor, Rev. C. W. Stephenson, was installed in Sep- tember, 1901, and has been engaged for his third year. Board of Trustees at present are : Dr. G. B. McElroy, I. W. Swift, J. N. Sampson, Rev. John Gregory, Charles Clark. Dr. M. R. Morden, V. A. Michener. Board of Stewards: A. E. Metler, Alfred Dobbins, Mrs. Charles Thierman, Mrs. Karnes, Arthur Randall. Secretary, Arthur Randall; Treasurer, Alfred Dobbins; Superintendent of Bible School, H. K. Fox; Superintendent of Primary Sunday School, A. E. Metler.
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN. .
St. Mary's Catholic Church.
About the year 1840 a Catholic mission was opened in the village of Adrian by Father Smoulder, who came from Monroe. He came here monthly, and Mass was read in the homes of Patrick Kelley, Chas. Conlisk and Patrick Stanton.
Father Kindekens established a church in 1845, and the first edifice was built on the corner of Center and Erie streets.
Father Ehrenstrasser came in July, 1865, and remained until September, 1867. Father Van Dyke came in September, 1867, built the present St. Mary's Church edifice in 1869, and remained until December, 1871. In December, 1871, Father Duhig came and remained until September, 1873. Then came Father Wallace, in October, 1873, who remained until January, 1894. Dr. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., came in February, 1894, and remained until March, 1901. Father Henry D. Sullivan, the present pastor, came in March, 1901. St. Mary's has a membership of about one thousand, and has a Sunday school of one hundred and fifty scholars.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
The Catholic congregation in Adrian was separated in 1862, when the German Catholics decided to build a place of worship of their own nationality, as they were all German speaking and wished to have a pastor who spoke their own language.
From 1862 until 1865 the congregation's spiritual welfare was administered to by the Redemptorist Fathers, who visited here regu- larly from Detroit, but as they were rapidly growing in numbers it became necessary for a resident pastor, so in 1865, Rev. Father Ehrenstrasser took charge of the rapidly growing congregation and remained here until 1870, but was then relieved and called to a dif- ferent field of labor.
He in turn was succeeded by Father Tewis, who remained here only two years, and in 1872 was succeeded by Rev. Father Kullmann, who did much in behalf of the church and congregation. Under his pastorage the first cemetery was opened, besides several improve- ments on the church property, but at that time it was very evident that the church was not large enough for the greatly increased con- gregation, and the building of a larger edifice was agitated; but nothing definite was done until the following year, when Rev. Cas- imir Rohwoski took charge of the congregation, and to him is due the credit of the present beautiful edifice, the school and residence ; but his undertaking was great, and he had not fully carried out his plans when he was removed, with a portion of his noble work undone, that is, the completion of the parish residence. But his successor,
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Rev. Theisen, finished the work of the residence, and did much in liquidating the debts on the property ; he was in charge of the con- gregation only two years and in turn was succeeded by the Rev. A. P. Ternes, who remained here until 1896, making various improve- ments on the parish property.
Rev. Henry C. Koenig took charge in 1896, and the present pastor, F. W. Schaeper, came in March, 1903. There is a large con- gregation and Sunday school.
First M. E. Church,
Following are the names of the pastor and principal officers of the M. E. Church of Adrian, in 1903:
Pastor, Rev. J. I. Nickerson ; President pro tem. and Collector, Rev. A. J. Bigelow; Secretary and Recording Steward, Fred E. Ash ; Treasurer, E. N. Smith ; District Steward, Mrs. A. J. Bigelow.
Erected in 1863.
TRUSTEES-G. P. Fuller, President ; C. L. Norton, Secretary ; E. N. Smith, Treasurer ; Wallace Westerman, H. W. Bovee, A. J. Bigelow, P. J. Willson, J. W. Page, Joseph Wesley.
STEWARDS-G. O. Green, Oliver Schneerer, A. D. Quick, H. H. Todd, Fred E. Ash, J. J. Stephenson, W. O. Albig, W. J. LaFraugh, Mrs. H. Camburn, Mrs. A. J. Bigelow, Mrs. E. S. Ferguson, Mrs. G. D. Austin.
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ADRIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The history of the Public Schools of Adrian is not without in- terest to every one.
With the exception of those burned in the old Central School building in 1866, the record is quite complete from the very first school that was opened by Miss Dorcas Dean in 1828, when there were only seven families in the village. This school was kept in one room of the first frame house, built by Dr. C. N. Ormsby that year. The first school committee was formed in 1828, and a combined school and meeting house was constructed and used during the winter of 1828-9. This building was located at the junction of South Main and Winter streets. The first teacher in this building was David Buck. The old English Reader, Cobb's spelling-book, and Morse's Geography were the books used. Mr. Buck did not remain long, but
First Union School in Adrian. Erected in 1851-2. Burned in 1866.
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went farther West, where he was drowned in 1830. Anson Jackson was the second teacher and served the village as schoolmaster for many years, being competent and popular.
The records do not give detailed facts regarding all the school history that might have been preserved, but the names of some of the teachers are at hand. We find among them Messrs. Powers, Brewster, Inglis, Dixon, Ramsdell and Hance, as the most prominent and successful among the men, while Miss Emma L. Keeney, after- wards Mrs. A. F. Bixby, and Miss Casey, who became Mrs. Norman Geddes, were among the most accomplished and successful of the early teachers.
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