History of Platte Presbytery; or, Presbyterianism in northwest Missouri, Part 10

Author: Clark, Walter Halsey, 1832-1912
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Kansas City : Tiernan-Dart Print.
Number of Pages: 278


USA > Missouri > History of Platte Presbytery; or, Presbyterianism in northwest Missouri > Part 10


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).


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Our church was built in 1896. With lots and all we estimate the cost $2,500; all paid for. The Ladies Aid Society furnished some things. The organ and Bible stand were presents.


Elder William Hammett, Clerk of Sesion, most courteously and promptly furnished the above in July, 1907.


The Tina Church was organized December 19, 1886, by Rev. Thos Marshall and Elders Thos. H. Trussell and Dr. W. H. Dice, with the following members: Mary Allen, R. D. Allen, Mrs. J. Austin, Mariah Beans, Mrs.


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Mary Campbell, Alice Crose, Mrs. M. Crose, Stephen Crose, Mrs. Crose, Emma Dice, W. H. Dice, Wm. For- sythe, Mrs. A. B. Ross, G. T. Ross, Jesse States, Thos. H. and Margaret Trussell, Alice Warnick and John Warnick. Dr. W. H. Dice and T. H. Trussell were elected elders. Dr. Dice, a veteran pioneer, did the preliminary work. He wrote in October, 1905, "The church was made up of members of the Coloma and Rockford churches, with Wm. Forsythe and wife of the Avalon Church."


This church because it was the first one organized in the town, received from the Burlington R. R. Co., the gift of a lot on which a frame building, costing $800, was erected in 1888. It has been supplied by Revs. George Case, W. C. McCune, A. J. Harmon, A. D. Wolfe, T. C. Armstrong, L. W. Cunningham and Ira W. Barnett; and served by Elders T. H. Trussell, W. H. Dice, J. R. West, James Edmonds, Robert R. Wilson, Isaac Edmonds, Leslie G. Venard, R. D. Allen, J. G. McGaughey, John L. Dickerson, E. M. Ross and B. A. Wilmot.


For most of the above we are indebted to Elder J. G. McGaughey, Clerk of Session, and his daughter, Miss Kate.


The Green Valley Congregation was organized Feb- ruary 21, 1889, by Rev. F. M. Miller, half a mile north of the city limits of St. Joseph. It was known as the Oak Grove Congregation till in 1900. It now has a good church, valued at $2500, two miles northwest of St. Joseph, and a glebe. The recent pastors are J. Tur- ner Hood, J. H. Tharp and G. L. Engles. The present elders are W. D. Maxwell, J. W. Bond, J. C. Thomas, Henry Peter and E. B. Teagarden.


Elder W. D. Maxwell says, "We have services three Sabbaths in the month, a midweek prayer meet- ing, a Christian Endeavor, and an ever-green Sabbath School."


The Weatherby Congregation was organized April 11, 1889, by Rev. L. F. Hayes with the following mem-


.


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bers: James N. Clark, Martin M. Crow, Sarah Crow, John Edie, Walter Edson, Edward Granam, Laura E. Graham, A. E. Harper, Henry R. Harper, Margaret A. Harper, Mary E. Harper, Sarah Howard, Wm. M. How- ard, Laura Kariker, Chas. McClure, John McClure, Hattie B. Musser, Cora J. Rhoads, Eva E. Rhoads, Caroline Riggs, Lillie Riggs, Flora Roper, Addie Thompson, Georgie Ward and A. L. Zimmerman. H. R. Harper, J. McClure and J. N. Clark were elected elders .; A. E. Harper and A. L. Zimmerman, deacons. The congregation was received under the care of Platte Presbytery in September, 1889.


The church house, thirty by fifty feet, built in 1890-1, cost $1600. The adjoining lot, owned by the church, fifty by a hundred feet, is planted in maple trees.


The pastors have been L. F. Hayes, C. B. Powers, E. S. Ragan, M. R. Daugherty, W. O. H. Perry and S. T. Divinia; the elders, H. R. Harper, J. McClure, J. N. Clark, John Fisher, J. W. Baker. Chas. McClure, W. B. Taylor, Eugene E. DeHart, C. B. Johnson, Oliver Mus- ser and S. A. Riggs; and the deacons, A. L. Zimmer- man, A. E. Harper and.Isom F. Riggs.


Elder H. R. Harper, Clerk of Session, furnished the above.


. The Polo Church was organized January 24, 1893, in the M. E. South church, by Revs. W. A. Cravens and La Theo Iobe, and John Wilson, Pastor-at-large, with nine members: Thomas Bathgate, Miss Mary Bathgate, Mrs. Mattie Carter, Mrs. Toney Estes, Joseph Frazer, Mrs. Mecca Frazer, Mrs. Effie Madden, Mrs. Maggie Moss and James Tait. Messrs. Tait and Bath- gate were chosen elders. The church was supplied by John Wilson, J. L. Boyer, A. M. Hendee, Joel W. Todd and James Reed. The reasonable prospects of growth which existed at its organization having faded away, it was disbanded by Presbytery September 10, 1908. It owed its existence to the now venerable Elder Tait,


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long an active business man, who was never contented to live in a place without a Presbyterian church.


The Hope Church of St. Joseph was organized Nov- ember 5, 1892, by Revs. H. Bullard, E. B. Sherwood, C. B. McAfee, F. Lonsdale and H. W. Cowan with the following members: Wm. K. and Annie M. Adams, Harlan E. Adams, Mrs. Arabella Anderson, Mrs. Catherine Artlip, Mrs. Mary E. Blinn, Harvey S., Treneus P. and J. Edward Blinn, Miss Lucy E. Blinn, Mrs. Martha E. Baker, Mrs. C. E. Bethel, Misses Goldie and Nannie K. Bethel, Mrs. Bertha Brill, Misses Edna, Nellie and Pearl Brill, Miss Nellie E Carrier, Mrs. Martha Coe, Mrs. Annie L. Cowan, Misses Laviņa K. and Mahala, E. Davis, Wm. M. Groves, Mrs. Susan S. Groves, Mrs. Emma and Miss Olive L. Hardwick, Wm. S. Hepburn, Mrs. Maggie E. Hepburn, Miss Mary E. Hubbell, Miss Roxana Johns, Mrs. L. H. Jones, Misses Janet L. and Jessie R. Jones, Wm. D. Jones, Mrs. Eliz. Krinzel, Harvey J. Mann, Adam Miller, Mrs. Sarah Mil- ler, Mrs. Susan R. Mohler, Miss Rosa Moser, Miss Mary T. Oppliger, Misses Emily P. and Laura P. Robinson, Mrs. Mary J. Rupert, O. Schoepfer, Miss Lizzie Shank, Mrs. Sarah Shaw, William H. Speaker, Mrs. Mary Speaker, Miss M. Christina Speaker, Miss Glennie M. Sells, Miss Laura Stone, Mrs. Katie B. Stumpfad, Mrs. Mary Swartz, Chas. E. Swartz, Misses Dinah and Emma Yost, Mrs. Sarah E. Ziebold, Daniel A. and Edward P. Ziebold. Messrs. W. K. Adams and I. P. Blinn were elected elders; and H. E. Adams and W. M. Groves, deacons.


In the sketch of Westminster Church some mention has already been made of the work in Hope Chapel. This was built at a cost of over $500, on a lot bought by Elder Herschel Bartlett for $900 and "placed at the disposal of the pastor." "The whole region was vis- ited from house to house, and Sunday night services were arranged for. These, the Session placed in the hands of Elder Adams, who had so fully proved his ef- ficiency in evangelistic work during eighteen months


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while conducting Sabbath night meetings at Oak Grove church. He had just been released from that work by the organization in the neighborhood of a Cumberland Presbyterian church, made possible by a revival in which about forty of the young people who had been regular attendants on Mr. Adams' services, were con- verted. This duty was accepted, and for two and a half years was carried on with gratifying success. During the first summer Elder Butler assisted, till he left the city. The next two summers theological students were employed during their vacations, until in September, 1891, it became evident to Mr. Adams and the Session that the time had come when some minister should be regularly employed. Rev. Hector W. Cowan was invited to take charge," and remained until March 1, 1894. Rev. Ernest W. Symonds, a recent graduate of Omaha Theological Seminary, accepted a call and was installed May 3, 1894, as the first pastor, remaining till January 1, 1903. He was immediately followed by Rev. Henry A. Sawyers, the present pastor.


Very largely through Mr. Cowan's influence and efforts, a brick church costing $2,250 was erected in. August, 1892. The first building now serves as a chapel for the brick structure.


The complete roll of elders is W. K. Adams, I. P. Blinn, Jesse O. McClain, Edward P. Adams, O. P. Tor- rance, E. Donovan Plummer and Christian F. Meyer.


The Barbee Memorial Church was organized May 6, 1894, in the Baptist church of Excelsior Springs, by Revs. Wm. Frost Bishop and E. McNair and Elder John M. Finley, a committee from Upper Missouri Presby- tery. The charter members were Joshua F. Barbee, Mrs. M. M. Barbee, Miss Mary A. Barbee, Mrs Fratie Bates, Mrs. Mary Jane Crockett, Fred H. Dice, J. L. Dice, Mrs. M. L. Dice, E. L. Dimmitt, Mrs. Luella Ever- sole, Mrs. Cordie Ford, Mrs. Jennie Gordon, George Mc Caslin, Misses Agnes and Helen McGeorge, Mrs. Jane McGeorge, Mrs. Belle McMullen, Mrs. Clara Newlee,


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Miss Louise Pitney, Mrs. Laura Shelton and Mrs. Emma Sparks.


The pastors have been Revs. Joshua Barbee, Ross M. Neel, Robert L. Kinnaird, Donald S. West and Frank A. Bradshaw; the elders, Edward L. Dimmitt, Anthony Haynes, John M. Finley, A. M. Griffith, Wm. T. Hufft, Jos. M. Mckibben, James C. Shelton, Chas. C. Sherwood and S. B. Cole.


The church held its meetings in Prof. Haynes' Academy building until the church building was fin- ished, April 1, 1902. It was dedicated April 18, 1902 by Dr. Dobyn.


For the above we are indebted to Prof. Anthony Haynes, Clerk of Session, who has been the main pillar of the church, financially and otherwise.


The Gaynor City Church was organized December 8, 1894, by Rev. John Wilson with the following mem- bers: Mrs. Clara Barks, George Barks, Mrs. Mary Barks, James and M. Burgher, Mrs. Jane P. Dinsmore, Mrs. E. Donaldson, Charlotte S .. David, Elizabeth J. and Esther C. Hepburn, Mrs. Isabell Hepburn, James L. and M. J. Hepburn, Jennette, John, John G., Mar- gurite A., Richard and Thomas H. Hepburn, Mrs. Louise Hicks, Mrs. Eliza Higgins, Mrs. Hattie Lindsay, Mrs. E. Nigh, Mrs. Melissa Shirley, Thos. Shirley and Mrs. Electa Smith. J. Burgher and J. L. Hepburn were elected elders. In 1895, a neat frame church was erect- ed, costing about $1550, all of which was raised on the ground. Deaths and removals reduced the roll of members from sixty to six in a dozen years, and the church was disbanded in 1907-8. It was an offshoot of the Hopkins Church, to which its remnant returned. The history of this church illustrates that of many feeble or extinct country churches. Depleted by the scattering of their vigorous young to their life work, and the death or removal to town of others, they be- come weak or die through giving their life blood to the church at large. Elder Hepburn has contributed one


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son as a minister, and several highly educated daugh- ters are Christian workers.


The Chula Church was organized in 1895 by Revs. J. H. Tharp, J. M. Ragan and others. So wrote Miss Nellie Lilly, Clerk of Session, in July 1908, but in the absence of the Records, she gave nothing more. The recent elders are D. F. Shiffett, J. N. Ballinger and M. H. Smith. The church is evidently alive as it has a weekly prayer meeting. Its property was valued at $1600 in 1905.


The Morton-Hardin Church was organized in April (or May), 1895, at Hardin, by Revs. Joshua Barbee and J. S. Van Meter. Mr. Barbee was pastor five years till his death. Rev. Ross M. Neel preached a few times, then Revs. Robert L. Brown, J. W. McClure and Guy B. Duff. The present elders are W. C. Kirk- patrick, Thomas Kirkpatrick, J. B. Harrison, James Prather and John J. Stephenson. One of the first elders of the church was H. S. Trigg of Hardin.


Elder J. J. Stevenson, Clerk of Session, furnished the above in August, 1907. The temporary absence of the Records caused the uncertainty as to the date of the organization, and prevented the giving of fuller information.


The Maitland Church was organized July 7, 1895 by Revs. John Wilson and H. A. Sawyers and Elder W. M. Hamsher, with the following members : Ralph Crider, Rosetta Crider, John U. Crozen, Blanche De Bard, Maggie W. Dills, Mollie Frank, Orville Graves, Wilda Graves, Emma Kenyon, D. Ward King, Mary B. King, Lettie Reed King, David McHugh, Elzira Mc Hugh, John L. Ogle, Lottie Powell, Lizzie Robison, . Mary Robison, S. D. Robison, Ella Rogers, J. P. Rogers, Rose Rogers, Elizabeth Shields, William Shields. Messrs. Crozen, Graves and Ogle were chosen elders. With the preceding, the elders are Wm. Shields, D. Mc


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Hugh, R. Crider, F. P. Gates, J. M. Kenyon, H. K. Noel, Samuel Weaver and Chas. Graves. The church has been supplied by C. P. Blayney, W. E. Caldwell, H. P. Alexander and Jeremiah Moore.


The church, which cost about $4,500 was built in 1898. The manse, purchased for $1,500, stands in a half acre lot.


We are indebted to Elder H. K. Noel, Clerk of Session, for the above.


Rev. J. T. McKitrick, pastor of The United Presby- terian Church of St. Joseph, writes: "The church was organized in 1899, by the Board of Home Missions. Rev. W. R. Leeper was pastor until June, 1907, and the undersigned since September, 1907. The elders have been F. D. Mckinley, E. M. Wallace, D. E. Law- head, D. R. Forgan, Wylie Mckinley and J. A. Craw- ford. The present church building cost $7,000 and the lot on which it stands cost $5,000.


The following is condensed from a fuller sketch kindly furnished by Elder J. A. Speer, Clerk of Session of the Burlington Junction United Presbyterian Church.


Work was begun at this place September 24, 1899, by Rev. J. W. Johnson, and continued by members of College Springs Presbytery who volunteered their ser- vices. On Thursday evening, February 22, 1900, Rev. S. S. Martin of College Springs, Iowa, and Elders W. P. Morrison of College Springs and J. K. Herron of Coin, Iowa, the committee of Presbytery, having held ser- vices for five days, "proceeded to the organization known as the First United Presbyterian Congregation, Burlington Junction, Mo. The charter members were James M. Affleck, Mrs. Nannie Affleck, Howard and Jessie Affleck, J. L. Duff, Mrs. Emma Duff, John A. Duff, T. E. Fordyce, Mrs. W. H. Hamilton and Mrs. Geo. Thompson, by letter ; and Anna M. Duff and Effie


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Thompson, on profession. J. L. Duff and T. E. Fordyce were elected elders, and J. M. Affleck, J. L. Duff and Mrs. Hamilton, trustees.


February 23, 1902, a church building costing $4,350, was dedicated, free of debt, the sermon being by Rev. R. B. A. McBride of Tarkio ..


The church has been supplied by Revs. J. P. Gibson, D. P. Smith, J. E. Barr, W. H. Anderson, E. J. Griffith and Joseph Calhoun, D. D .; and served by Elders J. L. Duff, T. E. Fordyce, J. M. Affleck, J. A. Speer, S. C. Taylor and J. R. George. Up to September, 1908, sixty-eight members had been received."


The work in South St. Joseph which resulted in the organization of Faith Church was begun in June, 1899, by Elders J. O. McClain and O. P. Torrance of Hope Church, at the solicitation of Mrs. E. E. Brown and Mr. Albert N. Sprague. The first meetings were held in Hagan Hall with an attendance of only eight, but patience and faith triumphed. In November, 1899, they began a neat frame church costing nearly $1700, which was completed in March, 1900. The deep inter- est felt in the enterprise by all the kindred churches of St. Joseph is shown by the participation in the organi- zation of the church, September 2, 1900, of Revs. E. B. Sherwood, T. D. Roberts and E. W. Symonds, and Elders W. M. Sherwood, F. J. Behne and W. J. San- ders of Westminster; A. A. Elliott and C. M. Miller of Third Street, and W. K. Adams and O. P. Torrance of Hope.


The charter members were Mrs. E. E. Brown, Hor- ace L. Ewing, Cora S. Ewing, Chas. W. Hengston, Albert N. Sprague, Mrs. Laura Sprague, W. L. Upton, Mrs. R. B. West, J. B. Wright, M. D., Mrs. J. B. Wright, J. W. Wright and Mrs. J. W. Wright. The first elders were W. L. Upton and J. W. Wright, and they have been followed by O. Burnett, G. H. Moffett, Henry Dishner, W. E. Blanchard, Walter H. Penning- ton, Wm. Dishner, Chas. McKay and Samuel Johnston. -9


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The church has been served by Revs. R. Bruce West, H. A. Brown, David C. Davies and D. Augustus Shetler.


In 1901 a manse costing $900 was provided. The church is doing a good work, its specialty being the Sabbath school. Most of the above was furnished by Elder O. Burnett, Clerk of Session.


In the spring of 1901, three young men from the First Presbyterian Church of St. Joseph started a little Sabbath school in the King Hill school house, South St. Joseph. Elder T. B. Campbell took a special in- terest in the work, and Rev. I. F. Swallow, who had just graduated from Louisville Seminary, began work there the first Sabbath of June. By his untiring zeal and perseverance the work grew, and by the prompt liberality of friends in the First Church, the foundation for the church building was laid September 17, 1901. The building was formally opened for services, Novem- ber 17, 1901, and the church was organized January 17, 1902, with the following members; Miss Charlotte Anderson, J. P. Anthony and wife, F. C. Brown and wife, G. S. Brown and wife, James Clemenson, Mrs. Augusta Conners and her two daughters, Albert D. Conway and wife, E. A. Crain, Mrs. Edds and her two daughters, Wm. E. Ervin, Chas. A. Hoffman and wife Mrs. Bessie Jones, Mrs. Grace McKelvey, George A. Mosier and wife, C. C. Miller, wife and daughter, Miss Luella Norris, Mrs. D. A. Pope, Mrs. Belle Rasmus, Mrs. Vina Stout and Miss Mary Waugh. Messrs. Hoffman and Mosier were elected elders; and J. Clemenson, deacon.


Rev. I. F. Swallow was elected pastor, and after three years of untiring and successful work, he accept- ed a call to Augusta, Ky. After going without a per- manent pastor for over a year, our friends succeeded in getting for us Rev. B. B. Sutcliffe, who is doing excei- lent work. William E. Ervin and E. W. Sandusky have been added to our bench of elders, and J. J. Hen- dra, W. Barton, Wm. Kirschner and Geo. Anthony, to


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the board of deacons. The church, which is situated on the corner of Hyde Park Avenue and Fifth Street, and the manse were built for about $10,000. Wm. Kirschner is Superintendent of the flourishing Sabbath school.


The above was condensed from a fuller account furnished by Elder Wm. E. Ervin, Clerk of Session.


The Brookdale Church, like so many others, had its beginning in a Sabbath school. This Sabbath school "was established in the spring of 1903, in a public school building on Edmond St., and was maintained as a mission school of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of St. Joseph, until the fall of 1903. In Novem- ber the Presbytery of Platte (C. P.), assumed control and placed the Rev. W. S. Harold in charge. He was ordered to make a canvas of the Presbytery for funds with which to erect a building. His labor was so suc- cessful that on June 19, 1904 the Sunday school was changed from the school building to the new building which was dedicated, free of debt, on July 3, 1904. The church is located on Sylvanie Street in what is known as the Brookdale Addition, and is valued at $1500, beside the lot which cost $500.


"On January 1, 1905, the organization of the con- gregation was consummated by Rev. W. S. Harold. The list of charter members is as follows: Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Ainscombe, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. Clonkey, Homer and Waldo Clonkey, C. E. Dobson, Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Dumbreck, Misses Catherine and Celia Dum- breck, Mrs. W. S. Harold, Mrs. J. W. Hagerty, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Munger, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Pumphrey, Miss Nellie Pumphrey, W. P. Sampson, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Story, and Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Wise. Messrs. Clonkey, Sampson and Story were elected elders; and Munger and Wise, deacons.


"Rev. W. S. Harold served the congregation until June, 1905, when he accepted a call to the pastorate


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of the church at Memphis, Mo. The church was with- out regular services, except a Sunday night service conducted by a Y. M. C. A. worker, till in the spring of 1906. Then the Chuch Extension Committee of the Synod of Missouri secured the services of Rev. Wm. A. McCammon, who took charge of the work, June 1, 1906.''


The above was furnished by Mr. McCammon in June, 1907. He went to Arizona in 1908, and the church is now in charge of Rev. Duncan Brown. Mr. Llewellyn White has been added to the Session.


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Extinct and Non-reporting Churches.


In this section are found only the extinct churches not already noticed and the non-reporting churches, excepting Mt. Bethel, because of its relation to Bee Creek ; Bethlehem and Pratherville because of the date of their-organization is not definitely known; and the Pleasant View, First Cumberland of St. Joseph and York, because their sketches were not obtained in time to be inserted in their proper place chronologically. Where the known facts are few, as is often the case, they are all given.


That there are so many extinct churches is no cause for surprise or severe criticism. In a new country where people change residence so freely and nothing is yet crystallized or settled, the most flattering pros- pects of any locality may utterly fail, so that enter- prise and activity in building up the Master's kingdom, necessarily involves some apparent waste. Still some of these extinct churches have raised up a minister of the gospel-a thing that many of our larger churches have never done. A denominational zeal which some- times sought to build up one branch of the church militant at the expense of another and which was more tolerated in the early times than now, was responsible for much of the real waste.


The date of the organization of the Bethlehem- often called Walnut Grove-Church, has not been learned. Mrs. Mary Calhoun Baker of Denver wrote in November, 1906: "Bethlehem Church was organized in the early fifties. From 1854 until their death, Edward Pickett and Andrew Robertson were elders. My father, Alexander J. Calhoun, was ruling elder and clerk. He died November 22, 1904 at the age of ninety years and twelve days. Rev. Daniel Patton was one of the early pastors of the church, if not the first." Mrs. Calhoun sent an editorial obituary of her husband


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which will be found, in condensed form, among the "Early Pioneers." The Records were left in the hands of the deacons, Messrs. R. L. Harbaugh and Wm. Sevier, from whom no response to inquiries made has been received.


In 1905, fifteen members were reported, and church property (four miles north of Liberty) valued at $1000. The last reported membership of the church was only five, but it to be hoped that it will be maintained, if only as an out-station. Many such are needed to pre- vent many of our country districts from lapsing into practical heathenism.


We are indebted to Elder E. R. Melton, Clerk of Session of the Pleasant View Church, for the following highly valued information. The old church Record has been lost.


"In 1874, Rev. L. F. Hayes organized what was known as the New Liberty C. P. Church at the New Liberty school house, four and a half miles east and one mile north from Craig. The congregation used the school house till the New Liberty Baptist church was built right near it, both congregations using that for several years. Then the Presbyterians held their ser- vices in the Lonesome school house, one half mile south and one mile west of where the present church stands. This was built in 1889, at a cost of $1600, and is located three and a half miles north and four miles east of Craig.


"The charter members were Mason F. Dawson, Mary Dearmont, Thomas Dearmont, Clark Eppler, Har- vey Finney, Andrew Judy, Eliz. Judy, Chris. Neider- houser, Mrs. Mary Neiderhouser, Thos. Simpson, Wm. Skelly and wife, Henry Walker, Miss Mary Walker and D. A. Young. The following is a list of ministers : L. F. Hayes, J. Harvey Norman, Chas. B. Powers, F. G. Prall, O. D. Allen, W. F. Perry, H. R. Norris, W. C. Carter, John A. Murphy, D. M. Boyer, R. B. West and


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John Duncan. The list of ruling elders is Chris. Neider- houser, And. Judy, D. A. Young, J. R. Nauman, John Strough, H. Finney, E. R. Melton, W. E. Johnston, A. T. Rowland, Peter S. Nauman, J. H. Neely, S. D. Painter and B. F. Judy."


Elder D. B. Jesse, Clerk of Session of the Prather- ville Church, furnished the following very satisfactory sketch. He wrote in December, 1908 :


"The earliest records of our church were destroyed by fire in 1898. The Pratherville C. P. Church was organized at Missouri City by Rev. L. J. A. Prather, in either the year 1866 or 1867, and was known as the Missouri City congregation. The first elders we have any record of were Robert Gilmore, James Allcorn and Jefferson Robertson. For several years -until 1873- the congregation worshipped at Missouri City in con- nection with the Methodist Church, after which a church was erected at Pratherville under the efficient leadership of Rev. J. A. Prather. After the building was erected, chiefly at the expense of Mr. Prather, the Fishing River Baptist Church paid one half the ex- pense of erection and worshipped in it till they moved to Mosby in 1891. The Presbyterians continued to wor- ship in the old church till the dedication of the new one, which was built with the aid of the Christian Union Church, the latter paying one third of the expense on condition that they be allowed use of the building one Sabbath in each month. The church was com- pleted at a total cost of $1400, and was dedicated May 29, 1898.




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