History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 20

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 20

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In 1800. Robert H. Luttrell, then minister, asked the monthly meeting to establish a preparative meeting for Cuba, which was done In August of that year, with Grace Biggs, as clerk, and Clyde Beard, treasurer. Seventeen conversions were made the following winter and new interest was revived In the community. A committee was appointed in September to solicit funds to built a parsonage. It was during this win- ter that diphtheria visited the village of Cuba and brought sorrow to so many homes. This delayed the work on the parsonage, but it was finished before spring.

Since that time the fortune of the church has fluctuated, but a steady progress has been maintained. The following have served as ministers: John Mercer. A. M. Gibson, Samuel H. Hamilton, Mrs. Ada Lee, Homer Biddlecum and Josephus Hoskins. Mrs. Ida Allen is the present (1915) minister.

THE HICKSITE FRIENDS OF CLINTON COUNTY.

The Hicksite branch of the Friends has no meeting in Clinton county at the pres- ent time, and. according to the testimony of R. I. Greene, the Hicksites have never had but two meetings in the county. In 1528 Elias Hicks paid a visit to Wilmington and as a result of his preaching he brought about a division In the Friends meeting in the town. Just when the division took place and who the leaders of the seceding branch were, is not known, since the early records are lost. In 1828 the division seems to have been established. the followers of Hicks being called Hicksites and those reject- Ing his teaching. the Orthodox Friends. Jacob Jackson was the first Hicksite minister in Jackson township, and probably in the county.

The Hicksites in Wilmington outnumbered the Orthodox branch when the divi- slon was effected in 1528, and consequently they gained possession of the building. The Orthodox branch refused to worship with their radical brothers and for the fol- lowing eleven years attended meeting at Dover or Center. It was not until 184 that the Orthodox Friends got control of the building in Wilmington again, although they had purchased an old school building in the town in 1839 in which they had been holding services for fifteen years. By 1854 the Hicksites had become so weak in num-

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bers that they offered no opposition to their former brothers in Christ when the latter took possession of the old church building. The Hicksites never again effected an organi- zation in Wilmington.

The other Hicksite meeting in Clinton county was located at Martinsville and, according to R. L. Greene, flourished between about 1844 and 1852. The Martinsville building was a frame structure, about twenty by thirty feet in size, and was in the midst of a dense woods which closely surrounded the building on three sides, an open space being cleared on the east as the door opened on that side. Christopher Hiatt was the head of the meeting and, according to the best authority obtainable, the meet- ing "was laid down at his death."

Fir sixty years the Hicksites have not held regular meetings in the county, those still of this persuasion attending at Waynesville in Warren county occasionally. Waynesville has the only Hicksite meeting in this section of the state.

BABINA FRIENDS CHURCH.

The Friends church at Sabina was organized during the winter of 1878-79 as a result of the evangelistic efforts of Nathan and Esther Frame, of Jamestown, Ohio. The preparative meeting was set up by the Wilmington monthly meeting and for the first two years services were held in the Methodist Episcopal church in Sabina through the courtesy of that denomination. In 1880 a lot was purchased on Elm street of Mrs. E. A. Newman for the sum of four hundred dollars. On this lot a one-story brick building was erected, at a cost of thirty-five hundred dollars. This bullding, with many improvements, is still in use.

Among the charter members of the church may be mentioned Ellis A. and Emma Lewis, David and Mattie Edwards, Dr. A. J. and Celia Gaskins, Dr. S. B. and Adna H. Ligutner, William and Mary Pavey, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Wright and Isaac and Mar- garet Roberts. In 1915 the church enrolled about two hundred members. The fol- Jowing ministers have served the church : Levi Mills, Robert Douglas, Alfred Brown, Alpheus Trueblood, Mary Moon Meredith, Benjamin Morris, Morton C. Pearson, Edgar H. Stranaban, Alfred J. Copeland, Thomas L .. Scott, Lindley Jones, John F. Nelson and Eliza H. Thorne, the latter two being the present ministers. Mra. Thorne bas been the resident pastor for many years.

The church owns a parsonage near the meeting house. A Sunday school is main- tained under the superintendency of James F. Gaskins. Anna S. Lewis is president of the Ladies' Aid Society. The clerk of the church is Louisa P. Moon.

CHESTER FRIENDS CHURCH.

The Friends church at Chester began to hold indulged meetings in that neighborhood early in the history of the county The first services were held in a school house on the farm of Thomas McMillan, Sr., but in 1828 a lot was donated, a log church erected and since that time regular services have been held. The log building gare way to a brick structure in 1844 and this second building was in use for a period of seventy years. In 1914 a ten-thousand-dollar house of worship was erected on the old site. Anna C. Wall. the oldest living member of the congregation, remembers the days of the old log church and the dedication of the first brick building In 1844. The church maintains a Sunday school and a Christian Endeavor society. The Sunday school has been going for more than thirty years and the Christian Endeavor for half that length of time. The congregation now numbers two hundred and eighty-six members The present resident ministers are Eber Haines. John F. Hawkins and Jennie Carey. The church is in Chester township. on the Wilmington and New Burlington pike, about a mile and a half west of Gurneyville.

CENTER FRIENDS CHURCH.

The history of the Center meeting dates back more than a hundred and ten years, and the church building which they erected in 1805 has the honor of being the frst house

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of worship erected within the limits of Clinton county. As a matter of fact, this church was flourishing several years before Clinton county was even organized. The lapse of so many years makes it practically impossible to get exact data, but, from the best evidence obtainable, it seems that the first meeting In the Center community was held at the home of Robert Eachus some time between 1800 and 1803. A deed, dated December 19, 1803; shows that James Murray conveyed fifteen acres of ground in the northwestern part of "what is now Union township, to Nathan Linton, James Moon and Isaac Perkins. "Trustees of the Society of Friends on Todd's Fork." This tract was for the purpose of providing a site for a meeting house and cemetery. Just when the first church was erected is not known, neither is there any extant record showing when permission was granted to hold an indulged or preparative meeting.

The late Judge Harlan, in his sketch of Robert Eachus, says: "In May, 1805, Miami quarterly allowed the holding of the proposed meeting, soon after which a house, made of hewn logs, without door or floor, was built, and meetings were held twice a week therein. This house Is believed to be the first house of worship erected in what is now Clinton county." (Clinton county was organized In 1810.)

A monthly meeting was granted and established at Center on February 7, 1807. With the indux of settlers of this denomination the little log church was soon too small to accommodate the growing congregation, and another log building, much larger, having two rooms, was built eight or ten rods southeast of the present site, the old building serving as a woodshed. The first quarterly meeting at Center was held March 13, 1826. The records disclose the fact that as early as 1824 the church had asked for such a meet- ing, but there is nothing to indicate that there was such a meeting prior to 1828. The present brick building was erected in 1828. The building is fifty by eighty feet, and, as were all the early churches of the Friends, was divided into two apartments.

During all these years this church has been an active factor in the life of the people of the surrounding community. Thousands have gathered within the quiet walls of this quaint old church and there received that divine inspiration which bas enabled them to become better and more useful citizens. The church now has a membership of one hundred and five. The present pastor is Nancy A. C. Leonard.

SPRINGFIELD FRIENDS CHURCH

The history of the Friends church, known as Springfield, dates back more than a century. It is not only one of the oldest churches of this denomination in Ohio, but also one of the earliest west of the Alleghanies. Most of the early settlers of the Springfield neighborhod came from North Carolina, being driven from that state on account of their Intense hatred of the institution of slavery. In the fall of 1806 four brothers-Ell, Isaac. Caleb and Joshua Harvey-came from that mate and settled in Chester township, or rather in what was later organized as that township. The county of Clinton was not organized until four years later. These brothers built a small school house on the northwest corner of the farm now owned by Jesse H. Harvey and in this they held indulged meetings regularly until 1812. In that year the meeting was formally organized and a house of wor- ship erected on the site of the present church structure.

The first volume of church records has been lost and consequently the early history of the church Is difficult to trace. 'It is known that there have been three buildings erected on the same site and that the last one was built in 1991. at a cost of twenty-six hundred dollars. A large cemetery Joins the church. in which may be found graves dating back more than a century. The first person buried in this cemetery was Lydia, the wife of Isaac Harvey, who died on January 2, 1813.

The loss of the early records makes it impossible to give a complete list of the ministers and pastors who have ministered to this congregation. Among the ministers may be mentioned Charles Osborn. Enos G Pray, Ell Newlin, Jacob Hadley, Mary N.

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Hadley, John H. Douglas, and Jonathan Wright. Among the pastors bave been John Kittrel, Levi Milla and Jesse H. Harvey.

The church now has a membership of two hundred and it is safe to say that hundreds of others have been communicants during its long carer of more than a hundred years. A Sabbath school and Christian Endeavor society are maintained throughout the year and both organizations are doing good work in the cause of the Master. This meeting is one of the oldest In the Mississippi valley and the thousands who have come under its influence have had cause to be thankful for its guldance. The present pastor is Jesse H. Harvey.

OGDEN FRIENDS CHURCH.

The Ogden Friends church dates back to 1817. although it was not located at the village until 1889. The present organization at Ogden was first established at what was known as Lytle's creek, where a house of worship was erected by the congregation in 1817 on three acres of land donated for church and cemetery purposes by Richard Fallis. The congregation continued to meet here until 1809, when they bought the Methodist Protestant church at Ogden. The old church at Lytle's Creek was sold in the latter part of the seventies to Elmer McMillan. Among the ministers who have served this church may be mentioned Elizabeth Haney. John C. Crites, John Kittrel. Lewis Moon and Bertha E. Day. the present pastor. The membership of the church now numbers one hundred. A Sabbath school, Ladies' Aid Society and Junfor Band are maintained by the church.

GHARSY BUX MEETING.

Within a few years after the organization of Clinton county, in 1810. John Pearson. John Peelle, William Gallemore and others, either members of or who had been brought up in the faith and practices of the religious Society of Friends, had settled in the northern purt of the county, in the part that later was organized Into Wilson township. In accord with that most excellent custom of the pioneers of our country they soon began holding religions meetings, using each others' homes, in turn, for that purpose.

As early as 1820 these worthy pioneers were gathered into an "indulged meeting." -- 1. e., a meeting under the care of the committee set apart for the duty by a superior body. This organization was Center Monthly Meeting of Friends. When Dover Monthly Meet- ing was "set up" In 1824, the indulged meeting here was given Into its charge as being in its limits.

"The first official mention is the following minute on the records of Dover Monthly Meeting. 6th of 11th month. 1824:

"The subject of the indulged meeting on Grassy Run coming before this body. resulted In the appointment of John Oren, Daniel Bailey, Jonah Frazer, Moses Frazer. Thomas P. Moorman. Gayer Starbuck and Charles Atkinson to sit with them from time to time, render them such advice as they may be enabled, and report to a future meet- ing: also to report a Friend for overseer of that meeting, to next meeting."

The month following the date of the above extract. John Pearson's name was pro- posed as overseer and the meeting united in his appointment to that office. Annually. for the five years following, a committee was appointed by Dover Monthly Meeting with powers similar to the above.

The year following the "Hicksite Separation." this minute was placed on record mider date of the 16th of the 4th month. 1520: "The committee appointed to visit the Indulged meeting on Grassy Run made the following report: We of the committee attended to that appointment, had a conference with the members of that meeting and are united In judgment that the Indulgence thereof has continued as long as is profitable." (Signed ) David MeMilan, Nathaniel Carter. Mahlon Haworth, Charles T. Moorman, Moses Frazer, William Shields, Daniel Bailey, Phoebe Haworth and Lydia Oren, "which this meeting unites with, and discontinues the Indulgence of Grassy Run Meeting."

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"Alexander Oren, David Bailey, Jouab Frazer and James Bryan were appointed to attend that meeting. Inform them of the above proceedings and report to next meeting."

The next mouth this entry was made: "The Friends appointed to attend the laying down of Grassy Run Indulged Meeting-report it is complied with."

Three months later the following petition was signed and forwarded :

"To Dover Monthly Meeting of Friends, to be held the 16th of 7th month, 1820.

"Dear Friends: The Friends of Grassy Run. having conferred together, are united in requesting for an established meeting for worship, to be held on first and fourth days in each week. Also a preparative meeting to be held on the fourth day preceding monthly meeting week."

(Signed) John Peelle, William Gallemore. George Stout, Joel Hunt, Jesse Hiatt, John Patterson, William Gallemore. Jr .. Cephas Atkinson. Jesse Carter, Jobn Pearson, Lydia Peelle, Mary Hunt, Mary Gallemore, Phebe Stont, Levicy Hiatt, Dinah Wyles, Rebecca Patterson and Hannah Pearson.

"Which claiming the attention of this meeting, we appoint David Bailey, Charles T. Moorman, Daniel Bailey, Joseph Doan, Jr., and George Carter to visit them in con- junction with a committee of women Friends, endeavor to judge the propriety of grant- ing their request and report to the next meeting."

The committee reporting was continued from month to month.

Under the date 19th of the 11th month. 1829, we find: "The committee continued on the request of Friends living on Grassy Run for an established meeting. report they have attended to the appointment, and are free to grant their request, which report is united with by this and the women's meeting, and directs the request forwarded to quarterly meeting."

Center Quarterly Meeting appointed a committee to consider the propriety of con- firming the request, which reported that, "they had visited Friends of Grassy Run, had a solid opportunity with them, and after mature deliberation, feel their request for n meeting of worship be granted to be held on the first and fourth days except fourth day In quarterly and monthly meeting weeks, but granted not the preparative, which was united with and the meeting established 5th month 19th. 1830."

Some time later the preparative was granted, being one of the preparatives forming Dover Monthly Meeting. This alliance continued until the action of the "Five Year Meeting," a few years since, In a measure abolished the preparative. Since them Grasay Run has exercised the rights and privileges of a Monthly Meeting.

The name of the meeting was taken from a stream flowing near the Arst meeting house ground. The first house of worship was a hewed-log structure situated on land how owned by heirs of William P. Gallemore. This was in use until 1848, when a sub- stantial frame edifice, twenty-four by forty fret, of the universal type of Quaker meeting houses of that date, was built on land donated by John Peelle. about one mile southeast of the old location. This served its day and generation well. In 1882 the brick edifice now in use was constructed.

SCHOOLS.

Grassy Run has had a very gratifying record for school and college attendance. In the "forties" the meeting house was used as a monthly meeting school room and Friends were active and earnest in the cause of education. In addition to paying school tax levied by the state they cheerfully and voluntarily contributed of their means to support a system of monthly meeting schools In 1×50 the Grassy Run meeting built a school house on the meeting-house lot. In this building a very successful school was conducted until the close of the Civil War. Changes in population and improvement tu the public- school system has been the cause of closing the Friends monthly meeting schools, and since then many of the young people have attended the College of Friends at Wilmington.

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MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ..

With little exception Grassy Run has always been favored with a resident "recorded minister." John Pearson, Cornelius Douglas, with his nephews, John Henry and Robert Walter, George Carter and his sons. Wilson and Cyrus E., Eunice Winslow, Lewis Hunt, John M. Pidgeon, Isaiah Peelle, William P. Gallemore and Joseph Whinery, with his wife Edna, at different times, through a period of more than three-quarters of a century. have been zealous exponents of the Gospel.

At the "head of this meeting." for forty-five years, sat John Peelle, one of the pioneers, and rarely was his place vacant-a length of time seldom equaled, even among as long-lived a people as the Quakers.

WILMINGTON METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Methodist Episcopal church was the earliest religious organization in Wilmington. In 1813 a class was organized which met weekly In the homes of the seven members who composed it. The seven members to serve in this spiritual kingdom were James and Lydia Birdaull, Levi and Sarah Sheppard, Israel and Kate Johns and Mrs. D. Mcveigh Jones. Over this little flock of worshippers, Rev. William Austin, the father-in-law of Mrs. Lois Austin, presided. This little band of Christian workers beld nightly meetings at the home of the members and at other places where they were Invited. They sang, prayed and exhorted among their friends and neighbors and many souls were won to Christ through the simple, but no less effective, work of these humble workers in the Saviour's vineyard. Their fervor was rewarded for it was not long until others joined the devout little band, among the number being Thomas Gaskill and family. A. T. Sewell and family. Joel Woodruff and wife. Charles Russell and family, Daniel Jones and wife and others whose names have, unfortunately. not come down to us. It is of interest to know that Charles Russell was the father of Dr. A. P. Russell and that Amos T. Sewell was the father of Mrs. Sarah Hale, who resides on West Main street, next door to her son, Dr. W. R. Hale, and whose rigorous memory treasures a rich store of anecdotes and reminiscences of pioneer days. Mr. Sewell often talked to his daughter of the joys and sorrows of the early settlers. He, with several other Methodist families, lived about two miles out the Prairie road, which at that time was a trail through a swamp. Every prayer meeting evening they would all come to the village to church. stopping on the way by a log to have a little neighborhood prayer meeting so as to get their spiritual armor polished up. as it were, for the encounter with his satanic majesty later In the evening.

AN INCIDENT.

Another story serves as an illustration of how far the children have departed from the theological trails blazed by their fathers. The only grist-mill in the country was at Waynesville. All the grinding was done in the dry senson, for when the rain came the roads were impassable, One of Mr. Sewell's neighbors had been out of meal and for several days had eked out sufficient for his family by grating the corn on a piece of tin filled with nail holes, He appointed a morning to go to mill, but when the day came the rain was pouring. The farmer hurriedly prepared for the trip, hoping to go and return before the road became a slongh. But the wife viewed the preparations with astonish- ment. "Why, father," she said, "are you going without the family prayers?" He plended haste and left without the customary devotions. All kinds of accidents befell him and he knew it was because of his neglected duty. In the night the settlers heard him com- ing bome, shouting and praying. They all joined him on the way and, collecting in the home of one of their number, began a revival that was talked of for many days.

BUILDINGS.

The rapidly-Increasing membership made a church building a necessity. In 1818 James Birdsall sold to the trustees of the Methodist church the old frame house where

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milling had been done by horse power. The house stood on the site of the present Methodist church. The old mill was repaired and made comfortable for church services. Levi Sheppard did the brickwork and plastering and Israel Johns, Joel Woodruff and Daniel Jones did the woodwork. The building was remodeled and ready for occupancy by the little congregation in 1819. It was in this old, overhauled mill that such strong preachers as Collins, Christie, Bigelow, Bascom, James Quinn, James Finley and others preached Christ and Him crucified.

The first class had been organized into a congregation in 1814 and assigned to the White Oak circuit, Miami district, over which Rev. Samuel Parker was the presiding elder at that time. The first preacher appointed to the Wilmington church was William Burke. He and his successors held forth In the mill-church until 1833, when it was replaced by a brick edifice which was at that day one of the best in the state. Charles Russell and Levi Sheppard constituted the building committee. In 1865, Bishop Wiley laid the corner stone of the present church and it was dedicated July 29. 1866, by Bishop Davis W. Clark. The building committee was composed of J. P. Brindle, Joshua James and Thomas Wraith. The late B. F. Jones hauled the first load of brick that went in its construction. The Rev. A. Meharry was pastor at the time it was being erected. Those were busy days for the Aid Society for they raised one thousand one hundred seventy- seven dollars and ninety-eight cents, a large sum for the period just at the close of the Civil War. The auditorium was at this time left unfinished, and in 1871, during the pas- torate of the Rev. A. U. Beall, the work was completed, and the room was dedicated by Dr. I. W. Wiley, then editor of the Ladies' Repository and the next year elected bishop.

Bishops Walden. Moore and Cranston have frequently visited Wilmington and preached from its pulpit. Three bishops, H. B. Bascom. T. A. Morris and S. M. Merrill, have served this church either as pastor or presiding elder. Mrs. Elizabeth Quinn Taylor. now a member of the church, is the daughter of the Rev. James Quinn, who was pastor here eighty-three years ago. Wilmington has twice entertained the Cincinnati confer- ence, In 1874, when Rev. William Runyan was pastor. and Bishop R. S. Foster, of Boston, was the president, and again in 1804. during the pastorate of the Rev. E. T. Lane, and at this session Bishop D. A. Goodsell, of New York, presided.

In 1840, the church was divided on the slavery question, a number forming them- selves into an independent congregation, thus anticipating by a few years the rending of the church in the United States into the church North and church South.

IMPROVEMENTA.

In 1902 the church was greatly improved by putting steel walls and celling on the auditorium and making a general change in the whole church plan. In 1913, the year the church celebrated its centennial, the building was redecorated within and repainted with- out : other interior Improvements were made at the time, but the greatest addition was the pipe organ, which was installed that year with appropriate ceremonies. The parson- age. on East Columbus street, was built about twelve years ago during the pastorate of Rev. J. S. Pumphrey.

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 20

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108