USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 131
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 131
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187 | Part 188 | Part 189 | Part 190 | Part 191 | Part 192 | Part 193 | Part 194 | Part 195 | Part 196 | Part 197 | Part 198 | Part 199 | Part 200 | Part 201 | Part 202 | Part 203 | Part 204 | Part 205 | Part 206 | Part 207 | Part 208 | Part 209 | Part 210 | Part 211 | Part 212 | Part 213 | Part 214 | Part 215 | Part 216 | Part 217 | Part 218 | Part 219 | Part 220
WM. CLARK, a son of James Clark, was born in Belmont county, March 22, 1823. He is a mason by trade, and has fol- lowed bricklaying and stone masonry during life, and his work can be seen for many miles around Morristown. He married Mary Moore of Belmont county, January 14, 1847, and settled in Morristown, where he has lived ever since. They have a family of four children -- three sons and one daughter. They are members of the Baptist Church.
JOHN LEE was a native of Maryland, and married Mary Cook of that state in 1799. In 1810 he, with his wife and five children, migrated to Belmont county, and settled in Union township, where he lived until his death. He reared a family of seven children : William, Catharine, Sarah, Stephen, Isaiah, Chris- tiana and Mary Ann. All are now deceased except Isaiah, Chris- tiana and Mary Ann. Farming was his vocation during life, and he died in 1854. His wife survived him until in 1864.
ISAIAH LEE, a son of John Lee, was born in Maryland, Octo- ber 2, 1810. In December of the same year he was brought to Union township, Belmont county, by his parents, who settled here as above: stated. Like his father, he has been a farmer during life. He married Delilah Talbot of Warren township, in 1838. He settled in Union township, where he lived until in 1867, and then moved to Morristown, where he is now living. They reared a family of six children-four sons and two daugh- ters. His wife departed this life in October, 1868. He then married Martha E. Fields of Morristown, February 4, 1879.
WILLIAM. EATON, a son of John Eaton, Sr., was born in Mor- ristown, Belmont county, December 16, 1818. He was placed behind the counter by his father to sell goods at the age of thir- teen years, and followed that as his vocation until 1850, when he engaged in farming and stock raising. He married Eliza- beth, daughter of Thompson Atwell, December 1, 1846. They settled in Morristown, where they are now living, and have reared a family of three children-Robert M., Charles A. and Mary Bell.
JOSEPH EATON, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. He served seven years in the war of 1776, and fought in the battles of Monmouth, Bran- dywine, Saratoga, and others. He migrated to Belmont county in 1815 ; lived here until in 1832, then he moved to Guernsey county, where he died in a few months afterward, aged eighty years.
JOHN EATON, SR., a son of Joseph Eaton, was born near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1781. He was reared a farmer, married Catharine Eckles, March 29, 1804, migrated to Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1804 or 1805, remained until in 1808, then moved to Jefferson county, Ohio. In 1814 he came to Morristown, and kept a hotel until 1821, when he also engaged in merchandizing. He retired from the hotel in 1837, and continued in the mercantile business until his death. He dropped dead while standing behind the counter from a stroke of apoplexy, July 11, 1843. His wife survived him nutil March 1, 1863, when she died at the age of eighty-two years. They roared a family of nine children : Joseph, John, Benjamin, Dan- iel, William, Isaac E., David, Jeanette and Mary. Ali are de- ceased except Isaac E., William and Mary.
ISAAC E. EATON served about one year in the Mexican war.
DAVID EATON served about one year in the Mexican war, and died in the service May 28, 1817, near Carmargo, Mexico.
JOHN MCCARTNEY, a native of Ireland, was born in 1789, and in 1818, with his wife and two children, he migrated to Amer ica, first locating in Pittsburgh, where he remained until 1825. He then came to Belmont county. He was a stonemason by trade, and while in Pittsburgh he worked on the penitentiary building. He built the crooked bridge on the National pike, one-half mile west of Hendrysburg. He was an extensive con-
376
HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.
tractor, in the erection of bridges on public highways and rail- roads. He reared a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, five of whom are living. He died in Wheeling with the cholera in 1851. His wife survived him until February 5, 1873.
JOHN EATON, JR., a son of John Eaton, Sr., was born in Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1806. He was brought to Morristown, Belmont county, by his parents in 1814. He married Jane Smith, of St. Clairsville, September 18, 1832. Hc lived in Morristown until 1839, when he was elected County Treasurer, and removed to St. Clairsville. He served two terms in office, and in 1843 returned to Morristown, where he lived until his death, which occurred December 10, 1848. His wife still survives him, and is living in Colerain township. They reared one son, Joseph R. Eaton, who is, married and living on the old farm near Morristown.
REV. THOMAS B. CLARK -Our subject was born in 1779, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Greersburgh Academy of that county, and was licensed to preach by the Allegheny Presbytery in 1808. He moved to Belmont county in 1809, and was ordained and installed pastor of the Crabapple church, of Wheeling township, by the Steubenville Presbytery the same year. He remained as pastor of that church until in 1818, when he moved to Washington, Guernsey county, Ohio, and remained until 1832. He then removed to Logan county, Ohio, where he died in 1853, at the age of seventy-three years. He was married twice ; first, to Nancy Sample in 1807, who bore him five children : Maria, Alvan, Robert S., Thomas M. and Nancy, and died in 1815. He then married Mrs. Martha Wiley in 1817, by whom he reared two sons and three daughers.
ROBERT S. CLARK, a son of Rev. Thomas B. Clark, was born in Belmont county, July 2, 1811, and was reared a farmer. He married Mary M. Stillwell of Belmont county in 1838, and settled in Union township ou a farm where he remained and followed farming until in 1852. He then moved to Morristown and engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued in until 1859. In 1862 he was elected County Auditor, reclected in 1864, and filled the office until in 1866. He was succeeded by his son Robert M., who filled the office two terms. By his first, wife he reared two sons : Robert M. and Thomas C .; both are deceased. His wife died in 1849. He married Hetty A. Haz- lett, of Morristown, in 1852, by whom he reared two children, one son and one daughter. He is a member of the Presby- terian church.
JOSEPH MEAD, was born in Loudon county, Virginia, July 2, 1811. In 1827 he came with his mother and step-father to Bel- mont county, and settled in Union township. He taught school in the neighborhood for several years, being one among the early teachers in the township. He engaged in the mercantile business in company with William Gregg, in Belmont, which he continued a few vcars, then sold out his interest and engaged in the same business in company with his brother John, in Somer- ton. In 1839, he married Phoebe Nichols, and settled in Somer- ton, where he continued in the mercantile business until 1846. He then purchased and moved on a farm in Flushing town- ship, and followed farming until 1853, when he removed to Smyrna in the same township, and engaged in the mercan- tile business, until in 1856. At this time he purchased and moved on the farm where he is now living in Union township, about three miles east of Morristown. He reared a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. They are members of the Friends' church.
JOSEPH RYAN was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in August, 1809. His father was taken from him by death, and he was left withont the parental care when very young. His mother deceased in 1816, and at the age of seven years he was left to fight the battles of life. He lived in Mifflin county, Pa., until 1822, and then he came with a cousin to Martinsburg, now in West Virginia, intending to learn the blacksmith trade. But failing to get a position he was taken in charge by the Orphan's Court of Martinsburg, and bound to Frederick Brenner, with whom he remained until in 1825. On account of bad treatment, he was advised by the neighbors to leave him. They made him up a small sum of money to travel on, and again he started for a strange land, continuing his journey until he reached the north branch of the Potomac river, where he worked for differ- ent parties until in 1828. Then he migrated to Belmont county,
and located in Bridgeport, and first engaged with John Kirk to assist him on a trip down the river. Ile helped to load the boats and put every thing in readiness for the trip, but Kirk and his partner, Captain Fink, floated the boats off in the night and he was left behind. He was then employed by Captain Fink in his coal works, above Bridgeport for one year, and then opened a coal mine for Captain Fink on McMahon's creek (the first coal works on the creek), which he operated until the spring of 1830. Then he opened up a bank near Fink's works for Griffin and Hitchcock, which he operated for them until in 1832. He mar- ried Sarah Coulter, April 22, 1831, and lived near the coal works i'm a log cabin, on one and a fourth acres of land he had pur- chased, with the coal right back. In 1832, he opened up a coal bank on his own land, which he operated successfully, floating the coal down the river, doing his own piloting. In 1839, he sold his coal works, moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, purchased a farm and followed farming until in 1848. At this time he removed to Wheeling, boated stone for the city for three years, and in 1850 purchased twenty acres of land below Bellaire at a cost of $75 per acre, In 1851 he opened a coal mine on his land, which he operated until in 1854, when he sold to Jacob Heatherington, purchased lots in Bellaire and erected sev- eral buildings. He remained in Bellaire until in 1872, sold his property, and in the fall of that year he purchased property in Morristown where he has lived a retired life ever since. He can safely be called the pioneer coal dealer of Bellaire. His first wife deceased October, 1856, and then he married Rosanna Ruth, of Washington county, Pennsylvania.
SAMUEL KIRK, a son of William Kirk, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1792. When in his fifth year his father moved to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and in 1813, with his family, migrated to Belmont county, Ohio; settled on a farm one-half mile northwest of Flushing, and remained there until his death, which occurred August 27, 1841. Our subject married Rachel Jones in 1815, built a cabin in the woods on a tract of land which he had purchased, located two miles west of Flushing, near where the village of Rock Hill now stands, and lived there until his death, October 8, 1877. His wife died April 11, 1872. They reared a family of five children : Levi, Sarah A., Edith, Wm. B. and Lydia H. Levi, the eldest child, was born July 11, 1817; he married Hannah Russell, and died in North Lewisburg, Champaign county, Ohio, October 21, 1871, leaving no children. Sarah Ann is still living; has been mar- ried twice; first to John Clark, second to John Riggott; she survived them both, and is living one mile south of Rock Hill, in Flushing township. Edith married Westley Russell, by whom she had eleven children: Simeon, Rachel A., Levi R., Mary M., Luther, Adaline, Jemima, William, Arthur, Everet and Nora; herself and husband are deceased.
WILLIAM B. KIRK married Ann Jenkins, November 27, 1845, by whom he has four children : Cyrus H., now merchandizing in St. Clairsville; John J., now merchandizing in Hendrysburg ; R. Willis, clerking in his father's store in Morristown, and Elwilla, now in her eighteenth year. Wm. B. Kirk was mus- tered into Co. B, 126th O. V. I., as captain, on the 7th of August, 1862. He served until June 25, 1863, and was discharged on account of ill health. At present he is keeping a store in Mor- ristown.
LYDIA H. KIRK, the youngest child of Samnel Kirk, married H. L. Raymond, by whom she had four children : Flora Ida, Frank R., Etheline and Frederick. .
JESSE THOMAS was born in Loudon county, Virginia, Septem- ber 14, 1824, came to Belmont county, Ohio, November 1, 1846, and followed teaching school as his occupation. He settled ou section 19, in Union township, known as the Woolman section. He married Margaret Drennen, March 29, 1853. Their Union resulted in five children-two sons and three daughters. He is following farming and surveying at present. .
DAVIS & FISHER, job printers, Morristown, Ohio. Started in 1865.
REV. E. J. GANTZ was born near Williamsville, Erie county, New York, May 30, 1853. When a child his parents moved to Niagara Falls, New York. He nnited with the church June 12, 1870, and entered Bethany College, West Virginia, in the fall of 1871, graduating in June, 1875. During the summer vacation of 1873, he preached at Richville, New York. While a student,
377
HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.
he made monthly trips to Hendrysburg, Belmont county, dur- ing the year 1874, and also semi-monthly trips to Quaker City, Guernsey county, during the years 1874-5. Became pastor of the church in the latter place, and remained there until the fall of 1877. On the 28th of March, 1876, he married Frances L. St. Clair, second daughter of S. St. Clair, of Barnesville, Ohio. Moved from Quaker City to Barnesville in the spring of 1877, and preached for the district one half his time until the spring of 1878. He was then ealled to Morristown, where he now re- sides.
HISTORY OF FLUSHING TOWNSHIP.
Flushing township was erected from parts of Kirkwood and Union, and organized March 14, 1817. It is situated in the northwest corner of the county, and bounded as follows: On the north by Harrison county, on the west by Guernsey, on the south by Kirkwood and Union townships, and on the east by Wheeling township.
It is three miles wide and ten miles long, and contains thirty sections, eighteen of which were taken from Kirkwood town- ship, range 6, township ten and twelve from Union township, range 5, township ninc. It received its name from Flushing, the principal village in the new township.
THE TOPOGRAPHY
Of the township is somewhat varied, and depends upon its geo- logieal structure-the soil being composed of the limestones and shales of the "upper productive" coal measures. This soil being of soluble nature, and the locality elevated, the streams cut for themselves deep beds with lateral ravines, making the surface of the country somewhat broken and hilly. An anticlinal axis or dividing ridge runs through the eastern portion of the town- ship forming the dividing line between the waters of Wheeling creek running eastward and those of the Big Stillwater running westward into the Tuscarawas. Notwithstanding the uneven- ness of the surface the soil is of excellent quality, being strongly impregnated with lime, and bears good erops of wheat, corn and grass. The land is especially adapted to sheep raising and wool growing is the principal business of the farmers, the merino sheep being the breed best adapted to the locality. Coal is abundant and forms an excellent fuel, but the consumption is confined to home use as there is as yet no outlet to market by rail. The "Cleveland, Tuscarwas Valley and Wheeling Rail- road" traverses the township from northwest to southeast, but is not yet completed.
It is impossible at this date to state with certainty who was the first settler in Flushing township, the reader is referred to the biographies of early settlers for information.
TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The first election was held in the village of Flushing on the first Monday of April, 1817, when the following board of town- ship officers were elected, viz :
Justices of the Peace-Henry Long, James Crozier and James Judkins.
Trustees-Isaac Branson, James Wright, Enos West. Clerk-Edward Bethel.
Treasurer-Samuel Holloway.
Fence Viewers-Abraham Brokaw, John Lewis.
Constables-Josiah Wickersham, Levi Harseman.
House Appraisers-Josiah Wickershaw Samuel Pickering.
Overseers of the Poor-William Kirk, John Howell.
Road Supervisors-Jonas Pickering, Joseph Wright, Thomas Morrow, Henry Stotler, Jonathan M. Ellis.
About 1832 the township trustees moved the polls from Flushing to Rock Hill, and in April, 1877, the township was di- vided into two precincts the polling places being established at Flushing and Belmont Ridge.
TOWNSIUP OFFICERS FOR 1878 9
Justices of the Peace-John Moore, Jr., W. G. Cash, Levi Starkey.
Treasurer-Elihu Ilolingsworth.
Assessor-W. J. Vance.
Board of Education-Joshua Kirk, chairman, Levi Starkey, elerk, Albert Conrow, Win. MeDonough, John Moore, Jr., M. C. Dunn, Robert Todd, Henry Savage, Johu Nabb, M. Green- field.
48-B. & J. Cos.
Trustees-Samuel Fisher, Hiram Howell, J. L. Chandler. Township Clerk-Levi Starkey.
Constables-John Henry, James E. Gardner.
Supervisors of Roads-Elisha Ellis, William Kirk, James Randolph, T. C. Mills.
SUMMARY.
There are at present in the township, seven churches (a sepa- rate account of which will be found elsewhere) ; twelve schools. two steam flouring mills and one woolen factory.
POPULATION.
The population of Flushing township in 1830, was 1671, or 825 males and 846 females, (including the village of Flushing.) The population according to the census of 1870, is as follows: Township (White) 1352. Colored, 132; total 1.484
Village 195. 11: 206
Total .. 1690
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY SETTLERS.
A man by the name of Elisha Ellis, familiarly known as "Big Elisha," in contradistinction to another gentleman of the same name, of less stature, says that he came to the township in 1804 : crossed the Ohio at Wheeling, struek into the woods, followed a trail westward, and settled on section 33, R. 5, T. 9. At that time there were no houses in the vicinity of Flushing, and the town site was a thieket of underbrush and grape vines. A man named John Winters kept a small store at St. Clairsville, and young Ellis would dig ginseng and Virginia snake root, and carry the same about once a week to St. Clairsville to exchange for powder, lead, and salt. Ginseng sold for 10 cents per pound, snake root for 25 cents, powder $1.50, and lead 50 cents per pound. Salt was an article greatly sought after, and eom- manded a high price. It was brought from Alexandria, Vir- ginia, on horseback, two and a half busbels to a horse-one man managing three horses-and when transported to Ohio, sold for $8 per bushel. Later, when wheat was raised, the farmers traded one bushel for a pound of coffee. Eggs sold for three or four cents per dozen.
Hannah Ellis-wife of Elisha (the lesser)-says that when her father, Levi Hollingsworth, came to Finshing, in 1804. he occupied a shanty 12x14, with puncheon floor, door, ceiling. table and cradle, with greased paper as a substitute for window lights. Beds were made by setting a post at a proper distance from the wall, placing poles from that to the wall, and stretch- ing deer skins thereon.
Elisha Ellis relates that his father, accompanied by his mother, had gone away, taking the gun with him, when the children, going out to swing, looked up to the bent oak from which the swing was suspended, and saw a large animal resembling a dog looking down at them. They ran into the house and barred the door, when the panther sprang to the ground, ran the dogs under the house, and then killed a deer in sight. When the parents returned in the dusk of the evening and called the cow, the panther answered, It was shot next day.
A circumstaneo illustrative of the manner in which the early pioneers were obliged to manage to secure a living, is given by David Conrow, who, when a boy, got up at midnight, shelled a grist of corn, placed it on the back of a faithful old ox, carried it to the mill, hitched the oxen into the mill and ground the grist by moonlight, and returned home in time for his mother to bake cakes for breakfast.
METHODIST CHURCH OF FLUSHING.
The records of the Methodist society in Flushing being des- troyed by fire when Mark Kirk's house was burnt, the follow- ing history was obtained from that gentleman, who was steward at the time. The first sermon was preached by Michael Ellis at the house of Jesse Brandenburg in Flushing in 1818. The first class of which any record was kept consisted of JJacob Miller. (leader) Jesse Brandenburg and Matilda his wife, Jeremiah Harris, Michael Lewis. Enos West, Mary Brock, Denton Watkins and Robert Kimber, the two last named being local preachers. The first church was a log structure and built about 1821, on the ground now occupied by them. The log house was removed in 1836 and a brick edifice 15x56 erected by Theodore Bailey and James Young. This building was burnt May 4, 1851, and rebuilt the same year and dedicated about one year after by Edward Smith, P. E. Smith was strongly opposed to slavery
378
HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.
and his radical sermons on the subject caused a schism in the church which ended in his resigning his charge as presiding elder of the district.
About the year 1842, Israel Archibald, in charge of the cir- cuit, held a series of revival meetings at the Flushing church, which continued about three weeks, and over one hundred per- sons joined the church, amongst them many of the principal citizens of the neighborhood. Heretofore the Friends society had been the most numerous, but this revival and the accessions to the church consequent upon it made the Methodist the leading society-a position since maintained. The society still occupies the brick church, and has a membership of one hundred and twenty with Joshua Kirk, Jr., Jacob Cunningham, M. B. Kirk and Julia Brandenburg as class leaders, and Rev. D. C. Knowles as pastor.
METHODIST CHURCH OF BELMONT RIDGE.
In the month of April, 1809, James Finley preached at the house of Samuel Burroughs, in the edge of Harrison county, Ohio. George Winrod moved to Flushing township in 1811, and settled on the northeast quarter of section 14, R. 6, T. 10, and from that time he had regular preaching at his house until 1835, when a church was built at Belmont Ridge, and the preach- ing moved to that place. Revs. John Graham, John McMahon, Samuel Hamilton, Samuel Young, William Lamden, William Tipton, Thomas Taylor, Edward Taylor, James Taylor, - Ruckle, James Moore, John Minor, Samuel R. Brockunier, Wil- liam Knox and Pardon Cook, having preached on the circuit in the interval.
Belmont Ridge is at this time (1879) a station on the Rev. D. C. Knowles' circuit.
STILLWATER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first sermon was preached by the Rev. Salmon Cowles, August 4, 1832, who organized a society of ninctecn members, viz : John Price, Sr., his wife Ebizabeth ; John Todd, Sr., and his wife Ann ; John Price, Jr., and his wife Rebecca; Thomas Morrow, and his wife Jennie; William Smith, and his wife Mary; Salmon Cowles, and his wife Polly ; George Todd, and his wife Jane; Joseph Moore, and his wife Nancy ; Otho Sheets, and his wife Susan, and daughter, Harriet. Trustees-John Todd and John Price, Jr. Elders-John Todd, Thomas Mor- row and James Moore. This church has passed through many vicissitudes of fortune, rising at one time to a membership of one hundred and six, but during the agitation of the slavery question a serious schism occurred, those opposed to slavery seeeding and building a house of worship for themselves, leaving but a few in possesion of the church property. After the settlement of the slavery question, there being no further cause for separation, the factions united, abandoned the old church building and now worship together in the new church under the ministrations of the Rev. Fitzgerald. The member- ship at this time (1879) numbers about forty.
STILLWATER BAPTIST CHURCH, ROCKHILL.
This church was constituted at the old brick meeting house on the national road, two and a half miles west of Morristown, November 23, 1816, the following ministers officiating-Elders, John Pritchard, Nathaniel Skinner and Elijah Stone. Of its history for the first few years, but little is known, as the records are not in possession of the church. About the year 1830, a schism occurred in this church, caused by the preaching of Alexander Campbell. The church building, in consideration of a certain sum of money, was relinquished to the followers of the new faith, who called themselves Christians or Disciples. The remaining adherents of the old Baptist faith, lived mainly in two neighborhoods, one near Rock Hill, the other near Burr's Mills, in Goshen township. The remaining portion of the old church organized two new churches for the convenience of their localities-one in Goshen township called Ebenezer, and one in Flushing township, retaining the old name of Stillwater, which is the subject of this article and which erected a building at Rock Hill. It was a frame house, and was dedicated to the worship of God, November 22, 1835, the Rev. R. H. Sedgwick being called to the pastorate, who labored successfully with the church for five years, adding large numbers to its little band of disciples. The church has had twelve pastors, viz; R. H. Sedgwick, Wm. Storrs, S. C. Bush, Thomas Jones, P. McCollum, W. J. Dunn, M. Squibbs, T. M. Erwin, G. C. Sedgwick, M. Barnes, S. Siegfried, G. G. Boyd, present pastor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.