USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the State of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 43
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In April, 1841, Reuben Pursell, Daniel Bush, and James N. Wil- son, qualified as trustees; clerk, James C. Bell; overseers of the poor, J. S. Bereman and Clarence Parvin.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
May 23d, a tax levy of four mills on the dollar was ordered.
August 28th, William McElwain was appointed overseer of the poor, in place of Clarence Parvin, resigned.
September 11th, Daniel McLean and Joseph Bell were, on peti- tion, "attached to the school district composed of corporation of the town of Washington."
October 30th, William Holt, James N. Wilson, and Joseph Black- more, were appointed school directors for the corporation.
March 7, 1842, Joel S. Bereman was allowed $5.50 for printing .. The same day, Curran Millikan, Lydia Millikan, and Micajah Dra- per, were attached to the school district composed of the corpora- tion of Washington.
By order of the trustees, through O. Loofborrow, constable, no- tice was given to the electors of the township, March 11, 1842, that they proceed to elect township officers on the 4th day of April next ensuing, as follows: Three trustees, two constables, one treasurer, one clerk, two overseers of the poor, three fence viewers, and fifteen road supervisors.
April 2d, it was shown by settlement with Joseph Blackmore, treasurer, that there was no unappropriated money in his hands.
On the 5th of the same month, John L. Van Deman took oath of office as township clerk, and James Pursell, Peter Wendel, B. Mar- tin, and N. Bush, were allowed two dollars each for services as judges and clerks at the annual spring election.
Micajah Draper, James N. Wilson, and Daniel Bush, took oath as trustees on the 6th.
J. S. Bereman and William McElwain filed certificates on the 12th as overseers of the poor, and Joseph Blackmore qualified as treasurer the same day.
May 31st, the trustees ordered a tax levy of four mills on the dollar.
December 10th, it is recorded that the trustees, " after examining the books of Union Township, including the entire record of said township, they have authorized the clerk to procure a book for the township, and to examine all the records, and place all matters of business, of different kinds, in separate books." A good idea. The accounts ought to be so kept, in ledger form, as that, at any time, it could readily be seen what the amount paid the several township officers, for services rendered, may be; and so, in like manner, should it be shown what the expenditures for specific pur- poses have been.
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UNION TOWNSHIP.
Union Township received from the county treasury, during the year 1880, $12,738.83; from other sources, $100; total receipts, $12.838.83. The expenditures for the year, we suppose, will be about the same.
The trustees now, are Jacob Dahl, Micajah Draper, and William Brannon. W. H. Dial is township clerk.
A few years ago, owing, it is stated, to a weak point in, or con- struction put upon the law then in force, the raids on the township treasury were frequent, and the township officers enjoyed "a feast of fat things." The township clerk, at the time alluded to, re- ceived about seven hundred dollars for a year's services (some place the figures considerably higher), and the fees of the trustees, in like manner, were on a pretty liberal scale, while the physicians who then gave special attention to the poor, in the medical line, reaped a rich harvest. They all manifested a very tender regard for " the dear people." The fees of township trustees and clerks are now.limited. They are each allowed $1.50 per day for each day's service rendered; but their total fees during the year, out of the township funds, must not exceed $150 each. Under the law now existing, it is argued that injustice is done officers in townships wherein county seats are situated, as in such localities attention to the discharge of duty requires special and almost daily attendance on the part of the trustees and clerk.
CHURCHES.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Washington was organized at the solicitation of John Bohran, during the summer of 1817, by John Solomon and Thomas Carr, at the house of Robert Wil- son. Through the courtesy of Mr. John Trimble, of Columbus, Ohio, we have been furnished with the following list of ministers that have preached here since the organization of the society :
John Solomon and Thomas Carr, 1818; William P. Finley, 1819; Andrew McLain, 1820; D. D. Davidson, 1821; James Smith, 1822; Jolın Summerville and James Smith, 1823; Benjamin Laurence
35
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
and George Gatch, 1824; Andrew F. Baxter, 1825-6; Z. West- lake, 1827; James T. Donahoe and Jesse Prior, 1830 ; Augustus Eddy and William T. Snow, 1831; William T. Snow and Henry Turner, 1832. Name changed to Washington Circuit in 1832. James Turner and E. M. Dailey, 1833; E. T. Webster and Lester James, 1834; E. T. Webster and John Rogers, 1835; C. C. Ly- hand and J. A. Brown, 1836; S. Clarke and E. Estell, 1837; Eli Truett and Joseph M. Smith, 1838; James Laws and Henry Whar- ton, 1839; James Laws and B. A. Cassat, 1840; Joseph A. Reeder and B. A. Cassat, 1841; John Fitch and O. P. Williams, 1842; Noah Hough, 1843. N. Hough and Martin Wolf, 1844; John W. Keeley and B. N. Spahr, 1845; John W. Keeley and V. Beemer, 1846; J. B. Auston and Archibald Flemming, 1847; J. B. Austin, 1848; T. W. Chandler and S. Haines, 1849; Samuel Brown and M. G. Baker, 1850; M. G. Baker, S. Middleton, and J. C. Reed, 1851; Barton Lowe and H. F. Green, 1852; B. Lowe and William Sutton, 1853; Moses T. Bowman and W. Sutton, 1854; L. P. Mor- ris and J. T. P. Williams, 1855-6. It was constituted a station, with one hundred and sixty-seven members, and Thomas H. Phillips was pastor in 1868-9; Henry T. Magill, 1860-61; Isaac Cook, 1862-3; E. H. Dixon, 1864; E. P. Hall, 1865-6 ; J. B. Brodreck, 1867-8-9; G. F. King, 1870-71; Samuel A. Keene, 1872-3; A. C. Hirst, 1874-5; James H. Gardner, 1877-8-9; W. D. Chemingten, 1880; T. M. Leslie.
The following have been presiding elders: From 1828 to 1831, John Collins; from 1831 to 1833, Augustus Eddy; 1833, John Ferree ; 1834, J. B. Finley ; 1836, James Quinn; 1839, M. Mailay; 1841, Z. Connell; 1843, William Summers ; 1847, David Kemper ; 1849, Cyrus Brooks; 1851, J. M. Jameson ; 1852, John W. Clarke; 1856, Joseph M. Trimble; 1860, D. D. Mathers; 1861, Z. Connell; 1864, William Porter; 1868, Thomas H. Phillips; 1872, Isaac F. King; 1876, J. S. H. Creighton ; 1880, Wellington Harvey.
After the organization of the society, in 1817, services were held part of the time at the old court house, and a part of the time at the residence of some of the congregation till 1828. In that year the brick school on Market Street, now a part of the residence of Richard Millikan was completed, and was occupied by this con- gregation for church purposes till 1834, when the brick church on the north corner of Main and Market streets was built. This was an immense structure for a village like Washington in those days ;
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UNION TOWNSHIP.
its dimensions, according to the best authority on the subject, being about the same as those of the present Methodist Church on the corner of Market and North streets. As the walls of this building were considered unsafe, it was never completed on the inside, and on account of its unfinished condition-having nothing but a brick floor, and being without ceiling or plastering-it could be occupied during the summer months only, and in three years was abandoned entirely. From this time till 1845, the society occupied the court house and the Presbyterian Church, when a frame church on Mar- ket, between Fayette and North streets, now occupied as a residence by William Weller and E. Saul, was erected and occupied till 1866. when the present church was completed at a cost including interest, of about fourteen thousand dollars. In 1870, this building was re- painted and frescoed at a considerable expense, and the house which is about 50x80, is perhaps the most valuable church property . in Washington.
MOUNT OLIVE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
The organization of this society was effected, in 1829, by the Rev. Father Dobbins of Jamestown, Greene County, Ohio, and at first consisted of the following members :
Henry Burnett and wife, Thomas Burnett and wife, Peter Fultz and wife, John Coile and wife, and George Hinkle and wife.
For fourteen years services were held in the winter season at the different dwellings of the members, and in summer, in barns and in the groves-"God's first Temples"-Father Dobbins removing from Jamestown at stated periods to minister to his small congre- gation. In 1831, he removed to the banks of Sugar Creek, four miles west of Washington, and settled in the midst of his small flock, in whose interest he labored assiduously till his death, which occurred January 13, 1860, at the advanced age of ninety-two years, eight months and twenty-three days. He was a man of superior talents, oratory and energy, and represented Greene and Fayette counties each two terms in the Ohio Legislature. His life has been written by the Rev. Charles Caddy.
In 1843, this little congregation, with the help of some outsiders, erected a large hewed log church, on the banks of Sugar Creek, on land owned by Daniel Bush, which was dedicated as a Methodist Protestant Church, but which was named " Union Church," as it
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
was understood that when not occupied by the Methodist Protes- tant Church, it was to be free to any and all other denominations. Though the membership increased slowly, yet the pioneer Chris- tian did not falter in his duty, and their hopes that the future would bring a glorious reward to their labors were fully realized in 1848, when a glorious revival occurred, which gathered into the church many of the young married people of the neighborhood, and also several of the older people. That revival is still remembered with gratitude by the few surviving members, as one of the most happy Christian experiences of their lives. Though at this time Father Dobbins was eighty years of age, yet his mind was as active and powerful as ever, and he labored day and night at this meeting.
About the year 1856, it was thought best for the convenience of some of the members to divide the class, which was accordingly done, and the branch organization held services in what was called the Coile school house, two miles north of the present church, till 1863, when the society erected an elegant frame church on the farm of Isaac Coile, near the Coile Cemetery on the Plymouth pike, and named it "Sugar Creek Chapel," from the name of the creek on whose banks it stands.
The members remaining in the class at Mount Olive, considering the old church too much dilapidated for further use, in 1863 select- ed a site on the farm of Samuel Coile, on the Wilmington pike, three miles west of Washington, on which, in 1864, they built a commodious frame church at a cost of seventeen hundred dollars, the plans and specifications, of which, were similar to those of the Sugar Creek Church. These two classes have made rapid growth, and are supporting good Sunday-schools.
Harmony Church on the Plymouth pike, six miles northwest of Washington, a full account of which appears in the history of Jasper Township, is an outgrowth of the Mount Olive Church. The seed sown by the Rev. Father Dobbins so many years ago fell on good ground, and the three above named churches are the fruit thereof. These churches are embraced in the Washington Circuit of the Methodist Protestant Church.
The following is a list of the ministers who have preached at one or all of these churches:
Revs. Father Dobbins, A. McGuire, Joel Dolbey, sen., Jonathan Flood, sen., A. H. Bassett, C. Caddy, S. Evans, - Pealon, - Stubbs, - Trumbo, - Riely, T. D. Howe, - -- Warrington,
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UNION TOWNSHIP.
J. Litter, P. F. Johnson, R. K. Davis, C. S. Evans, R. M. Dolbey, Joel H. Dolbey, and Jason F. Hinkle.
The following named gentlemen have served as superintendents of the Sabbath-school since its organization, in 1849: At Union Church, Noah Hinkle four years, Amizi Hyer five years, Enoch Bush two years, John Fultz two years, Jesse Hyre fourteen years, Moses Carl one year, Daniel B. Tupes one year, J. F. Henkle one year, and N. S. Henkle two years.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, COLORED.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Den- nis Brown's house, in July, 1867, by Rev. Mr. Arnett, of Circle- ville, and services were held at the house of several members of the congregation for more than a year. Hamilton was rented and occupied for some time, after which the congregation rented the old Methodist Episcopal Church, where services were held about one year. In 1875, a committee, consisting of David Rodgers and Mills Gardner, were appointed to negotiate the purchase of the old Catholic church, on Main Street, for this congregation. This they accomplished, paying two thousand dollars for the property. Mr. Rodgers donated one thousand dollars to the society, toward the purchase.
Mr. Arnett preached only four times. William Hogan was ap- pointed, and remained with the charge until his death, which took place at Wilmington about a year afterward ; Perry Ross filled his unexpired time. Wadkins Lee was then appointed, and re- mained two years. He was succeeded by Father William Morgan, and since Morgan, the following ministers have served in the order of their appointment : Edward Wright two years, Mr. Toney two years, Elder Green two years. Rev. Charles Bundy was appointed in August, 1877, and still remains.
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Catholic worship in Washington Court House was begun, and for sometime maintained, under very trying circumstances. Rev. Father Blake first celebrated mass in 1852, in a shanty occupied by Michael Flynn, while engaged in constructing the C. & M. V. R. R. The attendants were principally railroad men, most of
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
whom left when the road was completed. The following, how- ever, remained, and became the pillars of the present flourishing society : John Coghland, and his brother Thomas, Michael O'Garrath, Martin Brannan, John Saunders, Patrick Burke and mother, Mr. Grady, and Michael Flynn. Of these all are living except Brannan, and all are citizens of this county, except O'Gar- rath and Brady, who moved to Lancaster in about 1859. Father Blake continued to preach occasionally, until the road was finished, after which Father Duffey, who was stationed at Circleville, came once a month, bringing with him a choir from that place. He first celebrated mass at Flynn's house, but shortly after, Ely's Hall, then just completed, was engaged, and Father Duffey continued to come till his death, which occurred at Circleville about one year after his first services at Washington.
After Father Duffey's death, Father Reagan, stationed at Lan- caster, came occasionally during one summer, and ministered to the small flock. After him, Father Everett, of Lancaster, paid it one visit ; and he was followed by Father Fitzgerald, of Columbus, who celebrated mass once. Father Pindar, who was stationed at Circleville, then came once a month for about a year, and mass was celebrated at Ely's Hall, but confessional was held at John Sanders' house.
Near the close of Father Pindar's services, the Catholic church on Main Street, now owned and occupied by the colored Methodist Church, was completed, and was dedicated by the Rev. Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, who in his remarks on the occasion explain- ed the origin and mission of the Catholic Church.
Father Pindar and Father J. B. O'Donohne were present at the dedication. Pindar remained with this charge about one year, when he apostatized, married, and became an Episcopal minister. Archbishop Purcell appointed Father J. B. O'Donohue, stationed at Morrow, to take charge of the congregation.
About six months after Father O'Donohue's appointment, he pro- posed to the congregation the erection of a more commodious. place of worship, in a part of town more suitable for a cemetery. Accordingly, the church property on Main Street was sold to the colored Methodist Episcopal congregation, for the sum of two thousand dollars, and three acres of land were purchased of Judge D. McLain, at one hundred dollars per acre, east of town, near the . C. & M. V. R. R., just outside of the present corporation limits, on
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UNION TOWNSHIP.
which a substantial two story brick church, 40x62 feet, was erected.
In the fall of 1879, Father Felton, by nativity a German, suc- ceeded Father O'Donohue. During his pastorate a fair was held, which was attended largely by Protestants, and $1,700 were cleared to the congregation, which was to be appropriated toward pur- chasing a residence for the priest. In August, 1880, Father Fel- ton was transferred, and Father Michael O'Donohue was sent from Hillsboro, Ohio, to supply his place, and still remains. At present the church is in a flourishing condition, with a membership of two hundred and upwards.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
· The Baptist Church is often defined to be an evangelical denom- ination of Christians, which differs from others in certain principles connected with baptism as the initiatory ordinance of Christianity. This difference is commonly understood as limited to the proper age, and mode of its administration, and those who believe in adult baptism by immersion.
But this definition is inaccurate and incomplete. Inaccurate, for in the view of Baptists age is nothing, but spiritual qualification is everything; hence they baptize all who repent and believe the gospel, whether in childhood, youth, or manhood, and very fre- quently whole households at once, as did the apostles.
The definition is incomplete, for many who are not baptized be- lieve that the immersion of adults was the primitive baptism of the New Testament. The fact is generally admitted in works of sci- entific authority, both historical and archaeological.
Baptists, then, properly defined, are those who hold that the bap- tism of Christian believers is of universal obligation, and practice accordingly. And they hold this because they acknowledge no master but Christ; no rule of faith but his word; no baptism but that which is preceded and hallowed by personal piety ; no church but that which is the body of Christ, pervaded, governed, and ani- mated by his spirit. Whatever diversities of opinion and usage are found among them, these are their common and characteristic principles; by these they are known and distinguished in every country, and in every age.
On like grounds, also, the Baptists reject (though with less con- cern) the substitution of sprinkling for the entire immersion of the
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
body, which, they maintain, was originally practiced in the admin- istration of baptism, and, except in cases of the sick, universally observed throughout Christendom for thirteen hundred years.
For the universal obligation of immersion as identical with bap- tism itself, and essential to its specific spiritual purposes, they urge the admitted signification of the word baptizo, the places where the rite was originally performed, and the phraseology employed in de- scribing it, the undeniable example of Christ himself, and the met- ' aphorical allusions of the sacred writers when explaining the spir- itual import of the rite, all of which, they say, confirm the mean- ing to be immersion, and necessarily exclude every other.
On the subject of church communion, the Baptists generally · agree with other denominations that it is not proper before baptism. As they find no exception to this rule in the New Testament, they do not feel authorized to invite those who are not, in their view, duly baptized, to unite with them at the Lord's table, however highly they esteem them. They profess, in this limitation of church communion, that they do not judge the consciences of others, but seek to preserve their own. Yet, while holding these views, they claim to feel a cordial sympathy with other evangelical denomina- tions, and rejoice to co-operate with them, as far as possible, in the work of Christ.
The government of the Baptist Church is congregational. Each body being immediately dependent on Christ, is therefore inde- pendent of all others, and is complete in itself for the management of its internal affairs, such as the choice of its officers, declaration of faith, acceptation, dismission, or discipline of members. As such church is a little spiritual republic, so every member is entitled to a vote, and is trained to all the duties of an active citizen. The voice of the majority governs.
They recognize no higher church officers than pastor and dea -. cons. Elders as evangelists and missionaries are also ordained, after due trial, and sent out to preach the gospel.
Councils are usually called by the churches, to advise, and assist in the ordination of ministers, the formation of churches, and the. settlement of serious difficulties, though they have neither judicial nor appellate powers. Whatever be their differences in other things, Baptists all agree in maintaining the congregational form of church government.
" The ministry of the Baptists," says Dr. Baird, " comprehends a
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UNION TOWNSHIP.
body of men who, in point of talent, learning, and eloquence, as well as devoted piety, have no superiors in the country." The Bap- tists have never made classical scholarship a prerequisite to the ministry of the gospel, lest they should seem to be wiser than God ; but it is a mistake to suppose they have ever despised education or knowledge, except when substituted for holier gifts. As early as 1764, when numbering sixty churches and about five thousand members, they founded their first college in Rhode Island. Long before they had fostered Harvard, and helped Franklin to lay the foundations of the University of Pennsylvania. They now have about forty colleges and universities of their own, over one hun- dred academies and female seminaries of a high grade, and about fifteen theological schools. They have publication societies at Phil- adelphia, Charleston, and Nashville, besides many flourishing pri- vate publishing houses in our larger cities.
Their missions are planted in Canada, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Hayti ; in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway; in western and central Africa; in southern India, Assam, Burmah, Siam, and China.
The Baptists claim their origin from the ministry of Christ and his apostles. They claim, also, that all the Christian churches of the first two centuries after Christ were founded and built up on the principles they profess; in proof of which they appeal to the high critical authorities in church history-Mosheim, Neander, Hagenback, Jacobi, and Bunson. They furthermore claim to be able to trace their history in a succession of churches essentially Baptist, though under various names, from the third century down to the Reformation. These churches, from the fifth century on- ward, were the subjects of systematic persecution from the state churches, both in the east and in the west. Cyril, of Alexandria, and Innocent I, of Rome, according to the historian Socrates, be- gan this persecution by depriving them of their houses of worship, and driving them into secret places, under the laws of Honorius "and Theodosius II, which forbid repaptism (so called) under penal- ty of death. Yet their principles reappear among the Culdus of the west, and the Panlians of the east ; the Vallesii and the Pa- terines, the Albigenses and Waldenses, and emerge on all sides at the first dawn of the Reformation. In the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton, as reported by Whiston, "the Baptists are the only body of Christians that has not symbolized with the Church of Rome."
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Of the German Baptists, Mr. Bancroft has summed up the mat- ter in a few pregnant words :
" With greater consistency than Luther, they applied the doc- trine of the Reformation to the social positions of life, and threat- ened an end to priestcraft, spiritual domination, titles, and vassal- age. They were trodden down with foul reproaches and most arro- gant scorn, and their history is written in the blood of thousands of German peasantry. But their principles, secure in their immor- tality, escaped with Roger Williams to Providence, and his colony is witness that naturally the paths of the Baptists are paths of free- dom, pleasantness, and peace."
In England, from the time of Henry VIII to William III, a full century and a half, the Baptists struggled to gain their footing, and to secure not only toleration for themselves, but for all, on the broad basis of liberty of conscience.
From 1611 (as appears from the documents recently published by the Hanserd Knolly's Society), they issued appeal after appeal, ad- dressed to the king, the parliament, and the people, in behalf of their soul liberty, written with a breadth of view and force of ar- gument hardly since exceeded.
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