USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Shrewsbury > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > Salemville > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 11
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Straightway, there arose a question as to the authority of the church to allow churches of other denominations to wor- ship in the new meeting house, but on the IIth of July, 1793, after a spirited discussion, it was voted that the church had authority to prohibit other societies from using the meeting house.
Whether this house was never completed, or whether it was destroyed by fire soon after its completion, does not appear from the records. At all events, we find that on January 10, 1796, the deacons of the church were instructed to try to obtain permission to use the house of Thomas Babcock for worship, and in the event of failure to secure that, the house of John Davis was to be used for that purpose.
On August 9th, 1801, the church voted to try to buy the house in which meetings were held, and voted to pay fifty dollars ($50) for the house and lot.
A week afterward, August 16th, the church voted to build a meeting house on the burying ground, twenty-eight feet long by twenty-two feet in width, with galleries. Nathan Davis and Thomas Clayton were appointed trustees to have
THE NEW SALEM CHURCH. ( Frame Building ).
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THE NEW SALEM CHURCH
charge of the work, and for their services they were to receive four shillings and sixpence a day and "find themselves."
Nathan Davis moved away to his farm at Lewisport (now West Union, in Doddridge County) ; and on November 8, 1801, William Davis, the clerk of the church, was appointed to assist Thomas Babcock in superintending the erection of the building. On August 12, 1804, the church appointed a day on which to meet and settle with the trustees for their services.
On the 19th of May, 1820, Nathan Davis and Jesse Davis were appointed to wait upon the venerable founder of the village of New Salem, Samuel Fitz Randolph, and get the deeds for the meeting house and grave yard lots. The deeds were executed by Samuel Fitz Randolph for "in lot" number 26, under date of September 5, 1803, and by Nathan Davis for "in lot" number 27,1 under date of March 14, 1811, these lots embracing the church yard and grave yard.
This meeting house was built of hewed logs. In the middle was a chimney with a double fireplace to supply heat. The crevices between the logs were filled with sticks and clay mortar. After it had been completely renovated, and at least three new windows and one new door added, it was described by Rev. Thomas E. Babcock, who visited it in 1853, as follows :-
"The Meeting House is an ancient looking structure of hewed logs. There is a gallery in it, which, however, seems to have fallen into dis- use. The gloomy aspect of the house is, perhaps, too true an index to the condition of the church. It is a sad picture, to see a church that has stood the vicissitudes of more than a century, feebly struggling for existence."
On the 14th of June, 1839, Jonathan F. Randolph, Peter Davis, and Jepthah F. Randolph, who had been appointed a committee to examine the meeting house, reported to the church "that there had better be two new logs put in the west end, and all the old chunking knocked out clean, and then fill up all the cracks with stone, lime, and sand; weatherboard [clapboard] the west end; cut a window in the south side on the left of the door, as well as one in the east end, and one in the west end; ceil it all below the joists; make a stairway ;
1. "In lot" number 27, had been conveyed to Nathan Davis, Sr., by Samuel Fitz Randolph, by a deed bearing date, February 13, 1796 ..
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throw out the chimney and put in a stove; lay the upper floor down snug ; make seats ; repair the gable ends, etc."
The church as thus repaired served until 1857, when at a meeting held on the 15th day of May, it was voted to erect a frame building, forty-six feet long by twenty-eight feet wide, and twelve feet from the floor to the ceiling, with a vestibule ten feet deep. This building was completed and dedicated on the 19th of August, 1858, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Rev. David Clawson. The total net cost of the new building was eight hundred dollars ($800.00).
The frame building served as a house of worship until 1899, when on the 13th of August of that year, the church gave instructions to its building committee to remove the old meeting house and proceed to erect upon the same site, where the old log house had also stood, a new edifice, to be con- structed of brick. On the 30th of December, 1900, the old building was sold to Jesse F. Randolph, one of the members of the church, for the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00), with the understanding that it was to be torn down and taken away. The new church was completed at a cost of seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00), and dedicated at the time of the annual session of the South-Eastern Association, which met with the church at Salem, in May, 1901. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Reverend Abram Herbert Lewis, D.D., of Plainfield, New Jersey, the Corresponding Secretary of the American Sabbath Tract Society, and Editor of the Sabbath Recorder.
As the people began to go out from New Salem, soon after its settlement, to settle at various points in the surround- ing country, they formed various other little settlements, rang- ing in distance from three or four miles, to ten or twelve miles, from New Salem, and the meeting house. These little groups found it practically impossible to attend church at New Salem with any regularity, and consequently began to hold Sabbath services in their own settlements, using the homes of various ones of their number as meeting places.
In the early days, such services were held at Lewisport (now West 'Union), and on Greenbrier Run, Halls Run, and Lamberts Run. In the course of time, stated meetings of the church were held at these places.
THE SALEM CHURCH.
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THE NEWV SALEM CHURCH
As these settlements grew, they began to feel the need of houses of worship in their midst, and the need was met in some places by the erection of meeting houses which were the property of the church.
The first of these meeting houses to be built was at Lewisport, where three brothers, Nathan, Joseph, and William Davis had purchased twenty thousand (20,000) acres of land and settled for their homes. Here upon a little bluff, only a stone's throw from the very verge of the banks of the Middle Island Creek, a rude log meeting house was erected, and a grave yard established upon the lands of Joseph Davis. This was probably built some time during the first decade of the nineteenth century, and was doubtless a crude affair of round, unhewed logs, with a cabin roof. After a few years, this gave way to another log structure, which too had fallen into decay, not many years after the first quarter of the century had passed.
After the organisation of the Middle Island Church at Lewisport was finally consummated in 1832, the New Salem Church relinquished all claim to the property in favour of the Middle Island Church. The latter church obtained legal title to the meeting house lot and grave yard from Joseph Davis, the former owner of the land, under date of March 31, 1858. The Middle Island Church still retains possession of this property, all of which is now used as a grave yard, where are buried several members of early Seventh Day Baptist families who lived in that locality.
Another meeting house was built on Greenbrier Run, on the hillside across the valley, about opposite the house in which John Williams lived for some thirty years.
This meeting house was a very small building of hewed logs, with a cabin roof ; and a chimney, with an open fireplace in the north-east corner of the single room of the interior. The building faced the west, and stood on the land of John Sutton, who made a deed for it, in 1841, to Jonathan F. Randolph and Peter Davis, as trustees of the New Salem Church. The lot was seventeen and a half rods long by eleven rods wide, and was surveyed on the 3Ist of January, 1841, by William F. Randolph.
This lot was sold and a new one purchased of Rev. Peter
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Davis, a mile or two further up Greenbrier Run. The new lot was in turn exchanged for one a few rods further up on the hillside, and the log house first built on the lot obtained from John Sutton was moved to the new location. The building was enlarged by a "Yankee-frame" (plank) addition, and then stood until about 1880, when the present house of worship of the Greenbrier Church was erected. The old meet- ing house was then torn down, and the logs used for building a barn on the farm of Jesse Clark, one of the deacons of the Greenbrier Church.
At a business meeting of the New Salem Church, held on November 18, 1870, it was voted that the house and lot on Greenbrier Run belonging to the New Salem Church, be con- veyed by deed to certain trustees for the use of the Greenbrier Church, which had been organised on the 24th of the preceding September, inasmuch as forty-three of the forty-six members of the new church had been members of the New Salem Church.
Owing to delay occasioned by legal technicalities and other causes, it was not until the first of March, 1880, that the New Salem Church formally relinquished all right and title to the property in favour of the Greenbrier Church.
The foregoing are all the houses of worship ever owned by the New Salem Church, after its removal to western Virginia.
Although as early as November 1I, 1804, the church voted to hold meetings on Halls Run, no meeting house was ever built in that locality by the New Salem Church.
The church maintained services at different other places, some, at least, of which were as follows :- For many years on the Meat House Fork of Middle Island Creek, at the present location of the Middle Island Church ; and for several years, each, on Buckeye Run, Long Run, and Flint Run ; but at none of these places did the New Salem Church build a meeting house. When the present house of worship of the Middle Island Church was built, half of the church lot was donated by Jepthah F. Randolph, one of the deacons of the New Salem Church, and he and his family, as well as other members of the New Salem Church living in that vicinity, con- tributed liberally toward the cost of the building.
At all these outlying stations where the New Salem
1
THE PARSONAGE AT SALEM.
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THE NEW SALEM CHURCH
Church maintained services, with the exception of Lewisport and Greenbrier Run, dwelling house and school houses were, for the most part, used for places of meeting for religious service.
The logs of the old meeting house torn down at New Salem in 1857 to make room for the new frame building, were sold to Elmore B. Hursey, Esq., for the sum of twenty-five dol- lars ($25.00), and removed to a point on the other side of the valley about half a mile distant from the site where the meeting house stood, and left to lie on the ground until they decayed and disappeared.
The logs of the meeting house at Lewisport, decayed and disappeared from view half a century ago.
The old frame meeting house at New Salem, as already related, was sold to Jesse F. Randolph, Esq., one of the active members of the church, for the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00), with the express understanding that he should demolish it.
The old school house in which meetings were held on Meat House Fork, and which stood by the roadside almost directly in front of the present house of worship of the Middle Island Church, on completion of the new building, was sold at public auction to Jepthah F. Randolph for the sum of four dollars ($4.00), and removed by him to his home half a mile away and converted into a farm building. This old school house, together with the old log meeting house on Greenbrier Run, which was removed to the farm of Jesse Clark, are the only survivors of the old buildings used by the New Salem Church as houses of worship, with the exception of the Old Township Hall at New Milton, a mile and a half distant from the present house of worship of the Middle Island Church. This still stands near its original site, but has been converted into a farm building.
PARSONAGE.
There is no record of any action on the part of the church to provide its pastor with a home at any time during its sojourn of nearly half a century in New Jersey.
The first action taken by the church toward providing a home for any one performing ministerial labour among them was on the 14th of May, 1824, when the church voted to raise money by subscription to build a home for Rev. John Greene at Quiet Dell, on Elk Creek. Quiet Dell was the home of Abel
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SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
Bond, one of the prominent members of the Lost Creek Church. His was the first Seventh Day Baptist home within the bounds of the New Salem and Lost Creek churches reached by the missionaries sent to western Virginia from the churches in the north and east ; at the same time it constituted a central point from which they could work to advantage within the bounds of both churches.
Apparently, however, the house was not completed in time to be used until the second visit of Alexander Campbell, in the summer of 1834. Even then it appears to have been built almost, if not quite, wholly, by Abel Bond, himself. Campbell says,
"That good man, Deacon Abel Bond, had built a nice little house in his spacious yard, during my absence, for the accommodation of whoever might be their future missionary. He said to me (my wife and son of five years being with me) :- 'The new house [which] I have built is your own home while you choose to occupy it; but you will take your meals with my family.' The house was furnished with a good bed, chairs, and a writing table, with plenty of stationery."
Whether the New Salem Church really contributed to the cost of this little home for missionaries at Quiet Dell, or not, it is nevertheless true that the vote taken on the 14th of May, 1824, is all the action of that church recorded looking toward a home for any one performing ministerial labour within its bounds for almost, if not quite, a round century after its arrival at New Salem.1
On the 2d of November, 1890, a call was extended to Rev. Theodore L. Gardiner, at that time pastor of the church at Shiloh, New Jersey, to become the pastor of the New Salem Church at a stated salary, besides a suitable home. Two or three weeks afterward, it was announced that the call had been accepted, and action was taken looking toward the erection of a parsonage. A year later the parsonage was practically completed. The total cost of the pastor's home, including land, house, and barn, was sixteen hundred dollars ($1,600.00).
MINISTERS.
The following is an abstract from the records of the
I. When Rev. Charles A. Burdick closed his labours in West Virginia, and arranged to remove from the state, he offered his residence at New Salein, near the meeting house, to the Nw Salem Church for use as a parsonage. Although the offer met with favour, it was finally decided not to accept it.
RESIDENCE OF REV. CHARLES A. BURDICK AT NEW SALEM. (After a photograph taken in 1890).
III
THE NEW SALEM CHURCH
church concerning its ministers, including pastors and other ordained ministers of the church, as well as members licenced to preach :-
May II, 1794. Rev. Isaac Morris was dismissed to join the West Fork River Church.
December 14, 1794. A request was presented from the West Fork River Church for assistance to excommunicate Rev. Isaac Morris. "Agreed to send them a letter directing them to take the Gospel rule, according to their articles [of faith]."
March 8, 1795. Rev. John Patterson was given pastoral care of the church.
January 10, 1796. Joseph Davis applied for, and received, a call "to improve his gift in the work of the Gospel."
May 13, 1798. Joseph Davis was silenced until further action of the church.
November 14, 1798. Zebulon Maxson was given a call to preach, and Joseph Davis "was given liberty to exhort."
June 8, 1800. The church deferred the ordination of Zebulon Maxson till the first Sabbath in July, on account of "disappointment of help."
August 10, 1800. Mosher Maxson was invited "to improve his gift in preaching, in this church."
November 10, 1800. Mosher Maxson was authorised "to improve his gift in preaching amongst all the churches of the same faith and order."
1801. Sometime between January II, and May 10, of this year, Rev. Samuel Woodbridge and Rev. John Patterson ordained John Davis as a Gospel minister.
August 9, 1801. Zebulon Maxson was licenced to preach. The church clerk was instructed to write the certificate of licence, and affix the names of all the members present at the meeting to it.
May 5, 1802. Mosher Maxson was silenced, because he held that the "conviction of the soul was the gift of the Holy Ghost."
May 16, 1802. Licence was restored to Mosher Maxson, who had "made satisfaction to the church."
May 9, 1803. Fellowship and communion were withdrawn from Rev. John Patterson, because "he fellowshipped with First Day Baptists." It was voted that Joseph Davis be permitted "to improve his gift in exhortation or in doctrine within the church, till further orders."
November 21, 1819. Licence was granted to Peter Davis "to go into the world and preach the Gospel."
February 18, 1821. Licence was granted to Lewis A. Davis "to go forth to preach the Gospel."
August 16, 1822. The ordination of Peter Davis was deferred until the next church meeting.
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August 15, 1823. It was voted that Peter Davis should be ordained the third Sabbath in October following.
November 14, 1823. Peter Davis, not having been ordained in October, in accordance with action of the church on August 15, for lack of ministerial help, it was voted that Rev. John Davis perform the ordination the third Sabbath in December, alone, "if no ministerial helpers be present."
November 19, 1824. "It also came under consideration that Elder John Davis wishes a letter of dismission. Laid over till next church meeting."
November 18, 1825. Rev. Peter Davis was charged with preaching a new doctrine, which the church did not approve. He was debarred from communion, and a committee appointed to admonish him by let- ter, and cite him to the next church meeting.
February 17, 1826. The committee appointed to communicate with Rev. Peter Davis in behalf of the church, reported that the letter had been written. But as he was not present, the church deferred further action until the next church meeting.
May 18, 1827. Because the church was informed that Rev. Peter Davis supposed that the church did not understand certain doctrinal views which he held, the church appointed a committee of seven mem- bers, five from the New Salem Church and two from the Lost Creek Church, to meet with the church at New Salem on the Fifth Day of the week before the third Sabbath in August following, to give him a hearing.
August 16, 1827. The committee appointed to consider the doc- trinal views of Rev. Peter Davis, met. He appeared before them and presented an exposition of his belief concerning the immortality of the soul, which met the approval of the committee, who recommended that the church restore him to his former full standing in the church. Apparently the church adopted the recommendation of the committee.
November 19, 1830. It was voted that William Babcock "continue to improve as an evangelist in this society until further orders, and that he have liberty to exercise his gifts wherever he may think proper."
May 20, 1831. The church took the following action :-
"RESOLVED, That Brother Ezekiel Bee improve in the way of preaching within the bounds of this church."
May 20, 1831. Rev. John Davis entered complaint that the Lost Creek Church had debarred him from communion. A committee was appointed to visit the Lost Creek Church and inquire into the cause of such action.
August 19, 1831. The church voted that Ezekiel Bee be licenced "to go forth to preach the Gospel."
November 18, 1831. The church voted that William Babcock and Ezekiel Bee be licenced to preach. Asa Bee was "called on trial" to the ministry.
February 12, 1832. Asa Bee was licenced "to go forth to preach the Gospel."
(7)
I13
THE NEW SALEM CHURCH
April 11, 1834. Ezekiel Bee, Asa Bee, George J. Davis, and Peter Davis "denied the government of the church, and expressed a wish for free communion."
July 21, 1833. Lewis Bond was granted licence to preach.
June 20, 1834. Amaziah Bee was accorded the privilege of preaching.
May 7, 1835. Amaziah Bee was deprived of the privilege of preaching.
January II, 1847. "Peter Davis was appointed elder [sic]." (The record doubtless should read "pastor" instead of "elder").
February 16, 1855. Rev. Samuel D. Davis was appointed pastor for one year.
September 19, 1858. Rev. David Clawson was appointed pastor.
November 18, 1859. Jacob Davis was appointed to labour in the New Salem and Lost Creek churches.
May 18, 1860. Levi Stalnaker was granted licence to preach.
November 16, 1860. Rev. Peter Davis was excused from the active duties of the pastorate of the church; and Rev. Samuel D. Davis was invited to be present and officiate at Quarterly Meetings.
November 20, 1863. Licence was granted Jacob Davis to preach.
May 20, 1864. Judson F. Randolph and Lewis F. Randolph were licenced to preach.
August 19, 1865. Jacob Davis was ordained to the Gospel ministry. Rev. Samuel D. Davis conducted the ordination service.
May 18, 1866. The church accepted the resignation of Rev. Samuel D. Davis as pastor, and Rev. Jacob Davis was appointed to act as pastor for a period of one year. Rev. Samuel D. Davis was appointed assistant pastor for the same period.
May 20, 1870. Lewis F. Randolph was requested to preach, or provide some one in his stead, every Sabbath for one year at Salem, except when the church should arrange otherwise. At the same time, the church expressed its gratification that Rev. Walter B. Gillette had been sent to labour upon the West Virginia field under the auspices of the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society, and urged that he be kept upon that field for a full year.
September 24, 1870. Lewis F. Randolph, who had been called to ordination as a Gospel minister by the New Salem Church, was solemnly consecrated to the duties of that office, at the request of the New Salem Church, by the council which met at Greenbrier to organise a church at that place. The ordination services took place in connection with the organisation of the Greenbrier Church.
November 18, 1870. Rev. Jacob Davis was appointed to labour with the Greenbrier Church, preaching there in accordance with the regular appointments established at that place before the organisation of the Greenbrier Church.
May 19, 1871. Rev. Jacob Davis was engaged for the ensuing year to spend about one-sixth of his time in pastoral work in the church, preaching two Sabbaths in each month at New Salem, but
114 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
preaching the first Sabbath of the month at such places as his judgment might dictate.
August 14, 1874. Rev. Charles A. Burdick was requested to join the pastor in officiating at "Quarterly Meetings, monthly meetings, and other services of the church, until other arrangements should be made."
April 16, 1876. Rev. Samuel D. Davis was elected pastor of the church, with the understanding that he give his entire time to his pas- toral duties, at an annual salary of four hundred dollars ($400.00).
March 30, 1877. Rev. Samuel D. Davis was re-elected pastor for the ensuing year.
May 17, 1878. Rev. Samuel D. Davis was re-elected pastor for the ensuing year.
February 14, 1879. Rev. Samuel D. Davis offered his resignation as pastor. The resignation was laid upon the table, and a committee was appointed on ways and means of paying the pastor's salary, and to recommend an available candidate for that office.
April 6, 1879. The committee on ways and means reported that it had arranged with Rev. Samuel D. Davis to continue his pastorate to June I, following, giving one-half his time to the duties of his office, from April I. The committee was instructed to engage Rev. Charles M. Lewis as pastor. If he should not be available, other names were suggested to the committee from which they might select a pastor.
May 16, 1879. Rev. Samuel D. Davis presented his report as pastor for the year ending April I, previous. In his report he offers his resignation as follows :-
"The experience of the past year has impressed me more and more with the fact that we need a live man on the field over which our large and interesting church is scattered, who could, untrammeled, spend his time and strength in building up the church. Hoping this want will be supplied, I now tender my resignation to take effect on the first day of June, 1879."
The resignation was accepted. In his report, he further states that through the liberality of Luther F. Randolph and Daniel Fillmore F. Randolph, he had been able to secure the services of Rev. Charles M. Lewis, for some time, for revival work within the bounds of the church.
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