USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Historical Sketches and Eary Reminiscences of Hamilton County, Ohio > Part 11
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On the 27th day of September, 1817, Adam Lee, whom the church had previously licensed to exhort, stated, as the minutes show, "that he considered that he differed in faith from the doctrines held by the church, and that at our next meeting he will state his sentiments in full."
The minutes of the meeting held October 25, 1817, show that an investigation of Mr. Lee's defection was had, the result of which will fully appear from the following extract: "Took up the business con- cerning Brother Adam Lee, and, after a free, open
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conversation, Brother Lee declared himself in friend- ship and union with the church."
On the 23rd day of January, 1819, the minutes show that the case of Samuel Thompson was taken up, "and, after much conversation, the business was voted out of the church."
On the 27th day of March following, Thompson's case was again brought before the church, and he was excluded "for holding erroneous religious princi- ples, confessed to the church."
On the 23rd day of October, 1819, "Brother Bur- rows, who was appointed to wait on Sisters Radley and Thompson, made report that "he had visited the said sisters, and that they stated to him that they intended to withdraw from the church on account of its sentiments." "John Ferris and Betsey, his wife, and Nathaniel Denman were present, and, upon inquiry, it was found that their dissatisfaction had originated on account of the excommunication of Samuel Thompson; and the church then agreed to call a council from Round Bottom, Duck Creek, Plea- sant Run, and Muddy Creek, to investigate the business from its beginning."
The council, composed of Jonathan Waring, John B. Butt, and William Hildreth, from Little Miami Church; John Ferris, Stephen Flinn, and Aaron Chamberlin, from Duck Creek; David Layman, and George D. Mills, from Muddy Creek ; and Usual
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Edwards, from. Pleasant Run,. met at Carpenter's Run Church, December 25, 1819, and "after careful consideration of the matter, made the following report: "
" Dear Brethern, being left to deliberate upon what we have heard, we find it hard to determine what to advise in every respect; but, as a hard spirit is evi- dently an error, we unanimously advise you to endeavor to live in peace, and manifest that love and christian forbearance that is laid down in the gospel of Christ, and you have the prayers of your unworthy brethern.
"DAVID LAYMAN, Moderator, "JOHN FERRIS, Clerk."
At the meeting held February 26, 1820, a motion was made to restore Samuel Thompson to fellowship, but the question did not prevail.
On the 22nd day of the following April, Nathaniel Denman, John Ferris, Betsey Ferris, Sally Radley, and Polly Thompson (late Polly Radley) were ex- cluded from fellowship for "not submitting to the discipline of the church."
On the 23rd day of December, 1820, the case of Samuel Thompson was once more brought before the church with a view to effecting a reconciliation, but the effort failed ; and Mr. Thompson and his friends, while they still claimed to be consistent baptists, gave up all hope of an amicable adjustment of these long
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continued troubles and dissensions, and began to meditate upon the propriety of organizing a new church, with tenets less rigid, and more in accord with their own opinions. The matter having been aggitated and discussed among the disaffected mem- bers for several months, and articles of covenant agreed upon, all those persons who had been excluded from the old church, together with others who ob- tained their dismissal for the purpose, making twenty in all, met at the house of Isaac Ferris, on the 20th day of July, 1822, and there proceeded to organize what they termed the "Mount Carmel Baptist Church."
The tenets of this new organization formulated with the Baptist faith, but were modified to suit the free will ideas of its members. Their articles of covenant declared, "That the members of the Chris- tian church are the professed followers of Jesus Christ, who are to become visible members upon giving satisfactory evidence that God, of his own free mercy and grace, has converted their souls to Jesus Chirst; and, on being baptized by emersion, should be received into fellowship."
This new church was organized under favorable circumstances, and at a time auspcious of success, but greatly detrimental to the interest of the old church at Carpenter's Run, the already tottering destiny of which it fixed beyond hope.
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It was about this time that the troubleous question of Missions arose in the Baptist churches of the country, and which terminated in the great division of 1836. This trouble is also tracable to the dissemination of the new light doctrines. The question of mission and anti-mission, after all, was more doctrinal than practical. Total depravity, coupled with free grace, naturally led to missionary work, while the inflexible doctrines of election and perseverence of the saints as naturally inclined to oppose it; and thus it became a question involving the fundamental principles of the Baptist faith.
This question of mission and anti-mission arose also in the Old Blue Ash Church, and contributed in no small degree to the work of its destruction. But, notwithstanding these dissensions and doctrinal dif- ferences among its members, no people were more united upon questions pertaining to the christian duties. As a body they were strict disciplinarians, holding each other firmly accountable for character and deportment. The minutes show that sin and transgression found little indulgence in the church. Even popular sins were promptly and rigidly dealt with.
Although the use of ardent spirits was prevalent among all classes at that period of time, not except- ing the ministry, yet not a few were excommunicated for drunkenness, quite a number for "frolicking and
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dancing," and others for much graver sins. A striking instance of the promptness and justice with which the church dealt with its members appears in the minutes, and is worthy of mention.
A young lady and a member of the church made complaint "that certain members (naming them) had circulated evil reports against her character, and demanded an immediate investigation." The church at once complied, and the parties were arraigned for defamation of character, and after a full and thorough examination, although influential members, they were promptly expelled from fellowship.
The church, from its first organization, held a prominent position in the Miami Association. The annual meeting of 1801 was held at Carpenter's Run, at which three new churches were added to the Association, viz .: Little Prairie, now Middletown; Bethlehem, in Browne county; and Poplar Fork, near Williamsburg, Clermont county. The circular letter of that year exhorted the churches, "not to let sin rest upon a brother." A resolution was also passed requesting "each church and congregation to make a collection for the benevolent purpose of send- ing missionaries to instruct the native Indians."
The history of two silver cups that were presented to the church in 1815, to be used in communion service, is so quaint and interesting that no apology is deemed necessary for offering it.
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On the 25th day of February, 1815, the following minute appears of record :
"5th. The church received a letter from Sister Hannah Hildreth, of which the following is a copy :
" Columbia, February 4th, 1815.
" Hannah Hildreth presents kind respects to the Baptist Church at Carpenter's Run, and begs their acceptance of a pair of silver cups for the use of the communion. And may you, my dear brethren, be blessed with many refreshing seasons. at the table of your Lord and Master, who himself set His dear children an example, and commanded them to do the same in remembrance of Him, is the sincere prayer of your unworthy sister in the bond of the gospel.
"H. H.
" Which cups being engraved on the sides of each with the following words: 'Baptist Church, Carpen- ter's Run, 1815.'
"The Church appointed Brother Richard Ayres to write a letter to Sister Hildreth, informing her of the receipt of the cups, with our thanks therefor."
These cups remained in use at Carpenter's Run until 1828, when from sheer want of membership it ceased to exist, the following being the last recorded minute :
" 1828, August 24th .- The church agreed to send a letter to the Association, which was read and ap-
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proved, and Brother Benajah Ayres appointed mes- senger to bear the same."
The subsequent history of the silver cups was recorded in the minute book on the opposite page from the last-mentioned record, of which the follow- ing is a copy :
" January 10th, 1850.
"The foregoing record of the Carpenter's Run church fell into the hands of the subscriber a few days ago, and believing it a duty obligatory on me, I proceed to record the entire extinction of the church to which this book once belonged.
"For some years previous to the last record, viz. : August 24th, 1828, the records show the church meetings to be irregular, which fact I am acquainted with personally, during which time one died and another moved away, until there were no more to attend, and at last Benajah Ayres, the clerk, removed to Miami county, bringing this book with him, and in quick succession Richard Ayres, the Deacon, and last member, who was also one of the first members of the church, also removed to Miami county, bring- ing with him those silver cups, which appear by the records to have been presented to the church by Hannah Hildreth, of Columbia.
"It was their intention to attach themselves to some church, but there being none nearer than Piqua, a distance of some six miles, the old Deacon
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was too feeble to attend. He soon after died, leaving the cups in the hands of his son. He, not believing the sentiments of the church at Piqua, as they were missionary Baptists and he anti-mission, did not unite with them, and lived in that situation until the day of his death, which occurred October 30th, 1848.
"This book then fell into the hands of his son. He, since having died, has thrown it into my hands. Therefore I have thought it proper to make the above statement, if perchance it may interest any one.
"The cups are at this time in Spring Creek Bap- tist Church, in Miami county, and will remain there until a place more appropriate be assigned for them. " RICHARD A. DENMAN,
"Clerk of Spring Creek Baptist Church."
As there is no church or society that can justly claim to be in regular succession to that of Carpen- ter's Run, there is none, perhaps, having a better right to the possession of these silver cups than those in whose hands they now are. Were the laws of inheritance, as applied to individuals, to be recog- nized, Mount Carmel Church would approach nearest in the line of descent. But that church is no longer an active and prosperous organization. Like most of the churches that were located and established at an early day in this western country, the change of
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the centre of population has left it an obscure and out-of-the-way point, and it must in the near future give way to and be superseded by its more accessi- ble and modernly-constructed rivals. Therefore it is not in that growing and healthful condition that would insure permanency, and hence would be an unsafe depository for those relics, which are mainly valuable as mementoes of the old pioneer church.
SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The precise time of the organization of this church is not well established. There was certainly preach- ing in the neighborhood of Springfield as early as 1798.
The Transylvania Presbytery, at its meeting in October, 1798, held at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, ap- pointed the Revs. Peter Wilson and Archibald Steel to supply one Sabbath each at Springfield (now Springdale).
It has been said that the Revs. Wilson and Steel preached at Springfield in 1797. This is quite prob- able so far as it applies to Mr. Wilson. He came to Cincinnati from New Jersey in July, 1797, and in October following was appointed by Presbytery to supply the church at that place, the Rev. Mr. Kemper having resigned the charge in October of the previous year. Mr. Wilson, therefore, it is quite probable, preached in Springfield during the Summer
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and Fall of 1797, though there appears no positive evidence of the fact.
As to Mr. Steel, it is not so clear. He was from Kentucky, and was licensed by Presbytery at the meeting held at Bethel, near Lexington, October 3rd, 1797, and not until October, 1798, was he appointed as supply in Ohio. Upon a call from Clear Creek and Orangedale (the former east of where Franklin now is, and the latter near the present site of Mid- dletown), the Presbytery appointed Mr. Steel as sup- ply to these two churches.
The Rev. J. G. Monfort, D. D., in his able address on "Presbyterianism North of the Ohio," delivered April 9th, 1872, in the Second Presbyterian Church, of Cincinnati, says: "The progress of the church north of the Ohio, to October, 1797, shows three min- isters, the Revs. James Kemper, Peter Wilson, and James Speer, with the Rev. Archibald Steel, a licen- tiate, and with churches in Cincinnati, Deer Creek, Orangedale, Manchester, Turtle Creek, and New Hope, and congregations, not fully organized but recognized, at Gilboa and Springfield."
Again on page eight of his printed discourse, Mr. Monfort says : " Next to First Church of Cincinnati, and churches now called Pleasant Ridge and Mont- gomery, Springfield, now Springdale, requires notice. It was supplied by various ministers a few Sabbaths in a year from the organization of the Washington
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Presbytery, in 1799 to 1801. Messrs. Wallace, Kemper, Steel, and Dunlavey each supplied one or more Sabbaths. Mr. Steel was at Clear Creek, and Mr. Dunlavey at Eagle Creek, in Browne county."
Notwithstanding the doubts that may arise as to the Revs. Mr. Wilson and Steel having preached at Springfield in 1797, all traditional accounts point to the fact that at least a partially organized society of Presbyterians existed there even prior to that date, and these traditions are fully confirmed by a docu- ment found among the papers of the late John Schooley, one of the founders of the Springfield Pres- byterian Church, and recently forwarded by his son, John C. Schooley, of New York city, to the present pastor of the Springdale Church, of which the follow- ing is a true copy, taken by the writer from the orig- inal, which bears all the evidences of being genuine :
We, whose names are hereto affixed, do promise to pay or cause to be paid unto Mr. John Schooley, Mr. William Preston, or Luke Foster, the several sums annexed to our names, in cash or labor, for the use of procuring a piece of land for a grave-yard, and to defray the expense of a temporary meeting-house for the Presbyterian society of this Township of Springfield, on demand, this fourth day of April, 1796 :
NAMES.
DAYS.
John Schooley
Levy Sayre.
2 2 LABOR. Team.
CASH. £1 10s 0d 15 0
There being but two subscribers to this paper, it
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would seem that the undertaking was not successful. It nevertheless clearly substantiates the fact that there was a recognized Presbyterian society in Springfield township at that date, and such being the case, and there being a desire on the part of a few persons at least to procure a house of worship, the presumption follows that there was occasional preaching there also; and who more likely to have performed that service than the Rev. James Kemper, then the regular supply at Cincinnati, and who had reason to regard Springfield as being within the pale or scope of his jurisdiction, as he also did the congregation at Montgomery, where it is known that he occasionally preached prior to the organization of the Sycamore church.
In April, 1799, the Washington Presbytery held its first meeting, at which a verbal application was made by Archibald Steel for a minister to supply Springfield .*
In October, 1799, "John E. Finley was appointed to preach at Springfield on the second Sabbath in November, and Mr. Dunlavey to preach also one Sabbath."
The following year John W. Brown, a foreign minister, preached at Springfield for a few months, and it was perhaps during this year that the church
* Mr. Steel was not preaching at this time, his license having been withdrawn.
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was formally organized, as we find that at the next meeting of the Presbytery, held in October, 1800, the church applied for the settlement of Mr. Brown, being the first regular call for a supply.
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The Presbytery refused to recognize Mr. Brown in a ministerial capacity, he being unable to produce the credentials of his ordination, and for this reason the request of the Springfield society was not granted.
Soon after this the Rev. John Thomson, a licen- tiate of the Presbytery of West Lexington, visited Springfield, and at the next meeting of Presbytery, held at Red Oak, in Browne county, April 14th, 1801, he was "appointed to supply Springfield and Orangedale, each one-half his time."
In October following Mr. Thomson was called as pastor of Springfield for two-thirds of his time. He was appointed stated supply at Hamilton for the . other one- third of his time. His ordination and installation took place at Springfield on the 11th of November, 1801. "He remained pastor of the church until he went off with the New Lights in 1803."
Soon after Mr. Thomson's appointment as supply at Springfield steps were taken for the building of a meeting-house. A church building was erected and fitted up for use, though not entirely completed, during the summer of 1802. It occupied the site where the old burying ground still remains south of
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the village of Springdale. It was a large frame building, nearly square, with galleries on three sides, and was regarded as a good and comfortable meeting- house for those days. The lot was not conveyed to the church until the 20th of November, 1803. The deed was given by James McCormick to John McCor- . mick and James Watson, trustees, and embraced two-and-a-half acres.
The descriptive part of the deed, after giving the metes and bounds of the lot, has this clause added, "where the Springfield meeting-house now stands."
On the 5th day of September, 1812, an additional half-acre was deeded to the church by Peter Cregor.
After Mr. Thomson had labored one year in the church he revised the roll of membership, and found the whole number to be about seventy, many of whom had been received during the year. He had introduced the "exercises," or Kentucky revivals, had kept his congregation under a high pressure of excitement, and to this may be attributed the great number of accessions to the church. Mr. Thomson, in speaking of his labors during that year, says :
"The opinion of the elders was fully expressed, that the Lord had blessed my labors the past year, yet I felt we were not in a lively state. Such was our condition when our first communion commenced -the last of May, 1802. Nothing was manifest until Monday when it became evident that God, by
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His Spirit, was in the midst of His people in a special manner. The revival was one of great power and continued for several months, and at every meeting we were generally greeted with new cases of awaken- ing, and the hopeful conversion of some seeking, longing souls. At the first communion after the re- vival commenced twenty joined the church, and for a year and a half we had additions at every com- munion."
In the latter part of the year 1803, the church had one hundred and three communicants, with six ruling elders, viz. : John Watson, William Preston, Moses Miller, Thomas McIntire, Abraham Lindley, and James Andrews.
But notwithstanding this seeming prosperity the seeds of dissension had already been sown that were destined to produce a disruption of the church, and soon grew beyond the power of control. The cause of this was the introduction of a new system of revi- vals, or religious exercises. And, as the pastor of the Springfield Church, the Rev. John Thomson, was one of the principal agents in disseminating this discord, it seems proper that a brief history of these remark- able exercises, which shook the foundations of Cal- vanism, and modified the Presbyterian faith, should be given.
The ushering in of the present century brought with it the strangest and perhaps the most wonder-
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ful of religious revivals known to history. It had its origin in Logan County, Kentucky, for which reason it became known throughout the west as the Ken- tucky revivals.
In 1799 the Rev. James McGready, a Presbyterian minister, formerly from North Carolina, was settled in Logan County, where he gained some notoriety as an impassioned pulpit orator. About the same time the brothers William and John McGhee, the former a Presbyterian and the latter a Methodist minister, were known throughout the north and central sec- tions of Tennessee as great religious revivalists. · William resided in Sumner, and John in the adjoin- ing county of Smith.
In the autumn of 1799 these two brothers set out together on a ministerial tour through the Red River settlements and into the adjoining counties of Ken- tucky. On their course they visited the neighbor- hood where the Rev. McGready was located in Logan county, and there attended a sacramental mecting then being held under the auspices of that reverend gentleman. It appears that a number of other min- isters were also in attendance, among whom were the Revs. Mr. Hoge and Rankin, and at one of these meetings held in the evening, and at the close of the sermon preached by the Rev. William McGhee, a woman rose up in the audience and uttered a loud, piercing cry, and immediately fell to the floor. This
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produced an unbounded emotion throughout the con- gregation. "Some were shouting, some praying, some weeping, some lying prostrate upon the floor, while others were exhorting and beseeching their friends to flee from the wrath to come and turn to the Lord."
Such boisterous and unruly proceedings were novel scenes in a Presbyterian church, if indeed in such extravagant forms the like had ever appeared in a religious assembly. Another meeting was held soon afterward on Desher's creek, near the Cumberland river, when the ecstatic emotions were wonderful be- yond description.
The excitement spread as the meetings continued, and the congregations increased, as did also the emo- tional exercises. People came from a great distance, and the houses being insufficient to accommodate them, out-door meetings were held; and, sparsely settled as the country then was, the congregations were swelled to enormous numbers, some coming the distance of a hundred miles.
These meetings were conducted by the Presby- terians and Methodists jointly, the leading spirits among the Methodists being John McGhee, William McKendree, William Burk, John Sale, Benjamin Lakin, and Henry Smith. And this was the origin of the camp meeting, which has become a permanent institution in the Methodist Church.
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These revivals spread into other counties, and soon embraced all the settled portions of Kentucky and Tennessee. A great number of what was called Sac- ramental Camp Meetings were held the following spring and summer, among the largest of which were those held at Cabin Creek, Concord, Pleasant Point, Indian Creek, and Cane Ridge. It was estimated that over twenty thousand people were in attendance at the meeting at Cane Ridge-many from Ohio; and that three thousand persons were converted during one day through the means of the various exercises, as they were termed.
The Rev. McNemar, in describing these meetings, says: "They were generally opened with a sermon, near the close of which there would be an unusual outcry, some bursting forth into loud ejaculations of prayer or thanksgiving for the truth; others break- ing out in emphatical sentences of exhortation ; others flying to their careless friends with tears of compas- sion, beseeching them to turn to the Lord; some struck with terror and hastening through the crowd to make their escape, or pull 'away their relations ; others trembling, weeping, crying out for the Lord Jesus to have mercy upon them : fainting away till every appearance of life was gone, and the extremities of the body assume the coldness of death ; others sur- rounding them with melodious songs or fervent prayers for their happy resurrection in the love of
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