USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 53
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the Rev. Mills J. Taylor was installed as pastor. Mr. Taylor also was a Monmouth alumnus and was graduated from the Xenia Theological Seminary in the year in which he was ordained and installed as pastor of the church at Cedarville. His successor, the Rev. J. L. Chestnut, present pastor of the church, was installed in January, 1915.
The present church building of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation at Cedarville is the fifth house of worship occupied by that body. In 1853 the congregation determined to pull down the old brick church on Massies creek and to rebuild it in Cedarville, that village being a more central point after the members composing the Xenia congregation had withdrawn. By this time the old stone church was not fit for use and those then using it gave up their interest to the others, and its material also was used in the construc- tion of the new edifice at Cedarville, the latter thus having in it material from the old church of 1824 and from that of 1839. This fourth church is now used as a gymnasium by Cedarville College and is known as the Alford Memorial, having been purchased in 1902 by William Alford and donated to the college as a memorial in honor of his parents, the Rev. and Mrs. John Alford. It is of brick, forty-five by sixty-seven feet, with a twelve-foot vestibule, and when opened for use in 1853 was furnished with the same pulpit and pews that were in the old brick church erected in 1839. The present church building was begun in 1901 and was dedicated in the following year, having been completed at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. It contains a memorial tablet to Dr. Hugh McMillan, a memorial window to Doctor Morton and a memorial window to Robert Charlton Reid, presented by his son, the late Whitelaw Reid. The congregation has about two hundred and fifty members and the active auxiliary societies of the church are reported to be doing good work. The Sabbath school, once looked upon with sus- picion, boasts of near two hundred members. The old feeling of distrust at the introduction of innovations and of anger at the laying aside of ancient relics are not held in the present generation, though "the banner of the cov- enant" is held none the less proudly aloft. Among the ministers sent out from this congregation may be mentioned G. Riley McMillan, John McMillan, Robert McMillan, Homer McMillan, Jason McMillan, William Bratton, Harvey Reid, Daniel C. Cooper, James H. Cooper, Samuel R. Stormont, David Murdock, John Kendall, Robert Galbreath, Riley Little, Milton Hanna, Wallace Iliff, Clarence Young, Alvin Orr and Frank Orr.
When the church celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of its organi- zation in 1909 a handsome "Centennial Souvenir" was issued carrying a general history of the church and mich additional matter of interest to Cov- enanters, among the contributions to the same being the following poen written by one of the sons of the church:
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THE COVENANTERS. By Wilbur D. Nesbit
You cannot understand us, you folk of changing creeds, Who weave a changing fabric to fit tomorrow's needs; . You cannot understand us; the path is rough and high And you would turn out from it to smoother ways near by.
But through the clash and clamor of your disputing words We hear the olden saying of them that tended herds; And in the ancient dogma you hold of small account We hear the primal message that thundered from the mount.
A covenant we cherish-a covenant of old; A covenant first fashioned where Jordan's waters rolled; It throbbed from David's harpstrings by the eternal plan, Unchanging and unceasing-the covenant with man.
They cannot understand us, the folk of changing creeds, Who weave a mingled fabric to fit tomorrow's needs- But we have seen tomorrows grow from the yesterdays While man-made creeds have faded into the distant haze.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT XENIA.
The Presbyterian church of Xenia was organized on Saturday, Novem- ber 6, 1841, following a petition of twenty-seven members of this faith which had been drawn up and signed on the 27th of the preceeding September. The full text of the petition to the Miami presbytery, together with the signers thereunto, is as follows :
We whose names are hereby given, express in this form, our desire to have a Presby- terian church organized to be under the care of the Presbytery of Miami and we promise our support and adherence to the same as a worshipping congregation: Ezra Bennett, James Brown and wife, James Bratten, Adam Rupell, Adam Rupell, Jr., Thomas Towns- ley, Elvira McCouin, Nancy McConnell, Elizabeth Kind, Rebecca Straine, Jane King, Amanda McConnell, Nancy Nesbit, Ann B. Allison, Elizabeth Williams, Cassandra Will- iams, David Medsker, Eleanor Medsker, Albert Wiley, John McClung, M. A. Crawford, E. S. Nichols, Francis Harris and family, William Saunders, James Stevenson, Aaron Harlan.
This petition was presented in due form to the presbytery, and it was the desire of the presbytery that the petitioners have their church established as soon as they could furnish a sufficient number of members with certifi- cates of membership in some previously existing congregation. James C. Barnes and John C. Galloway were sent to Xenia by presbytery to examine into the proposed church on the same day, September 27, 1841, and preached that night and the next day. On Monday, September 29, the names of those with proper certificates were called for, and eighteen names were presented, but only few of this number had their certificates. Consequently, the mem- bers of the proposed congregation were told to get their certificates and that when they were thus prepared, the church would be organized.
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The formal organization took place on November 6, 1841, at which time the following persons presented the proper certificates and became the charter members of the church: Ezra Bennett, Mary Ann Bennett, E. S. Nichols, Elvira McCouin, Rebecca Straine, Margaret Rogers, Nancy McCon- nell, Ann Hook, Rebecca Hook, Martha Hook, Janetta Hook, James Brat- ton, Jane C. King. Ann B. Allison. Matthew C. Allison, the infant son of Anna B. Allison, was the first child baptized into the church. This gives a charter membership of fourteen, three men and eleven women. It is inter- esting to note that the church today has only one descendant of these charter members, Mrs. Robert Adair, whose father, E. S. Nichols, was one of the charter members.
The church has had two buildings in the seventy-seven years of its his- tory, both on the present site, southeast corner of Market and King streets. This lot was purchased in 1847 of James Collier for six hundred dollars, and the same year the first building, a two-story brick structure, was in process of erection. The beginning of the present building dates from the spring of 1868. In May the building committee reported subscriptions in the amount of $16,900, but it was decided not to begin building until $25,000 was pledged. The razing of the old church began on July 13, 1868, and until the new building was completed the congregation held services in the Y. M. C. A. rooms and in the opera house. It appears that the original plan was for a two-story structure, but this was subsequently abandoned and the church was completed in its present form.
The complete list of pastors from the beginning is as follows : J. Hudson, October 4, 1845-March 20, 1847; from 1841 to 1845 the congregation had been using supplies; E. E. Swift, September 16, 1848-February 2, 1850; H. W. Taylor, August 15, 1851-March 24, 1855; L. B. Wilson, November 3, 1855-August 8, 1858; W. L. Findley, September 18, 1859-January 10, 1869; Joseph H. Montgomery, June 23, 1869-June 7, 1871 ; W. W. Ralston, November 1, 1872-August 19, 1875; L. M. Hopkins, April 30, 1876-Sep- tember 19, 1880; F. M. Wood (supply), January 18, 1881-March 18, 1883; Charles Axtell, October 3, 1883-August 23, 1886; J. C. Ely, November 27, 1886-July 4, 1897; J. E. McGee, January 15, 1898-April 9, 1899; J. S. Eden- burn, September 20, 1899-January 25, 1904; Ames Montgomery, September 2, 1904-March 14, 1909; William H. Mason, November 1, 1909-July I, 1912; C. C. Martin, eight months; George S. Macaulay, December, 1913. In the spring of 1918 Reverend Macaulay went to France to engage in Y. M. C. A. work, and at present the congregation is without the services of a regular pastor. George E. Gowdy, who was compelled to give up the ministry three years ago on account of ill health, is now supplying the pulpit.
The first elder elected was Ezra Bennett, since which time the following
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have served as elders : Samuel Adams, D. L. Hills, William K. Russell, T. P. Townsley, John Carey, William Rupell, A. M. Houston, J. H. Cooper, O. M. Whittington, George S. Ormsby, R. L. Merriam, Daniel McMillen, Robert Gowdy, Daniel Fleming, Dr. Leigh McClung, William Watt, Dr. C. M. Galloway, R. K. Stevenson, C. N. Lupton. James A. Brown, Dr. Ben R. McClellan, E. C. Fleming, William Cooper, J. H. Irwin, A. Hutchinson, James Kyle, J. M. Stewart, Dr. A. C. Messenger, R. C. West, U. E. Clark, D. B. Watt, Hunter Bull, Dr. W. A. Galloway, Dr. D. D. Jones, O. C. Baker, Bert J. Winters, J. B. Fleming, Dr. Reed Madden, R. D. Adair, J. R. Sterling and George A. Birch, Jr. The present members of the session are Dr. Reed Madden, D. B. Watt, D. D. Jones, Dr. A. C. Messenger, B. J. Winters, O. M. Whittington, George A. Birch, Jr., Dr. W. A. Galloway and R. D. Adair.
The present diaconate of the church is composed of J. W. Prugh (presi- dent), C. S. Johnson (secretary), H. E. Kiernan, Charles L. Jobe, Charles F. Howard, Frank H. Routzong, R. D. Williamson, Harry D. Smith and Dr. Paul D. Espey. The treasurers of the church since the beginning have served in the following order : E. S. Nichols, T. P. Townsley, Tunis Dubois, A. G. Wilson, J. M. Cooper, C. W. Chandler, O. M. Whittington, M. D. Lupton, C. L. Jobe and Miss O. E. Kyle.
The church has always maintained a Sabbath school, and today enrolls one hundred and eighty members in its classes. John W. Prugh is super- intendent. There is a Christian Endeavor Society of twenty-five members and two missionary societies, Home and Foreign, with thirty-five members, and the Missionary Guild, with forty members. The congregation numbered three hundred and eighteen members according to its published roster for the year 1917-1918.
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT XENIA.
The Reformed Presbyterian church at Xenia was an outgrowth of the organization effected by the Covenanters on Massies creek in 1809. It became a separate organization in 1848 and in the next year erected a church edifice at the corner of Columbus and Market streets, the first pastor being the Rev. J. A. Crawford. The members of the first session were J. C. McMillan, William McQuiston and John Miller. On December 9, 1869, this church formed a union with forty members of the Second United Pres- byterian church of Xenia and its thirty-five members became merged with the new congregation known as the Third United Presbyterian church of Xenia, which had a continuous history from 1869 until 1902 when it was merged with the Second United Presbyterian church.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CLIFTON.
An older chronicle narrates that "in the early days of the nineteenth century the beautiful and romantic tract now occupied by the Yellow Springs House could boast of but one pretentious little cabin, owned and occupied by a widow, named Davis, who was a stanch Presbyterian and who fre- quently entertained at her house the traveling ministers who chanced to pass. On these occasions the few settlers of the neighborhood flocked to the house to participate in the services conducted by these traveling preachers-the first meetings ever held in the township."
In 1812 settlers holding to the Presbyterian faith had so increased in number in that neighborhood that, under the direction of the Rev. Peter Monfort, a rude log meeting-house was erected at the point that later became known as Clifton and formal services began to be held. Mr. Montfort, who was an uncle of the Montfort who later became widely known through- out Presbyteriana as the editor of the Herald and Presbyter, was a man of much force and under his admirable ministration the little congre- gation soon grew to such proportions that the little log meeting-house became inadequate. It was supplanted by a brick church which served the needs of the congregation until in the proper course of time it became neces- sary again to enlarge the house of worship and the old brick church gave way to another of more ample proportions and of more modern style of architecture, a handsome brick edifice which was a credit to the community. For twenty years, or until his death, the Rev. Andrew Polk was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Clifton. The present pastor is Reverend Mckibbon.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT BELLBROOK.
The Presbyterians in the neighborhood of Bellbrook effected an organi- zation as early as the year 1827, the first members of the session of this con- gregation having been Josiah Lamme, John Cooper and William Russell. The Rev. William Gray was the first minister and he was followed by the Rev. Adrian Aten, the latter's immediate successors being the Rev. John S. Weaver and the Rev. T. B. Atkins, the latter of whom served during the '70s and '8os. In 1829, a year or two after effecting an organization, the congregation erected a meeting-house on the hill just west of Bellbrook and there continued to hold services until in 1858 when they purchased a church building which had been erected in Bellbrook by the Universalists, who had found themselves unable to maintain their organization.
In addition to the above Presbyterian churches of the county, there are a few others concerning which it has been impossible to secure data. There have been three churches of this denomination at Yellow Springs: The first was organized on February 3, 1855, by Rev. Samuel D. Smith, who
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became the first pastor, the most prominent member of the original fourteen charter members being William Mills, the founder of the town of Yellow Springs. The second church of this faith in the town of Yellow Springs was incorporated on January 19, 1859, under the name of the First Presby- terian Church of Yellow Springs. This congregation erected a handsome building of limestone in 1859. The third branch of Presbyterianism appeared in Yellow Springs in 1861, being a seceding group of twelve from the First church, and calling themselves the Central Presbyterian church. This third congregation held services in the building of the Reformed people, but after the close of the Civil War, became so weak that it was finally disbanded, most of its members returning to the First church.
During the early '50s of the past century there was organized at Yel- low Springs a church of the Associate Reformed communion. The new congregation erected a church building, under the ministry of the Rev. Alex- ander Nesbitt, but never succeeded in paying for the same and the house was sold at sheriff's sale and the congregation presently was disbanded, Mr. Nesbitt having been the only pastor. The church building later was taken over and occupied by the Negro Baptists of that community.
The first Presbyterian church at Osborn was organized in 1865 by Reverend Johnson, G. L. Massey being the most prominent of the seven charter members. At first the little congregation held its services in the Lutheran church of the town, but in 1867 they erected a six-thousand-dollar building, having at that time a membership of eighty-seven.
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF XENIA.
In a handsome pamphlet issued by the First Methodist Episcopal church of Xenia on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of that body's organization and entitled "A Century of Service," under the editorial super- vision of Mrs. Carrie Dodds Geyer and Mrs. A. C. Turrell, it is stated that the Union Methodist Episcopal church, two miles south of Xenia, is the mother church of Greene county Methodism. In their oldest quarterly conference record, a record of Mad River circuit dating back to May 23, 1807, the "Society of Methodists in Xenia" is mentioned for the first time, June 18, 1808. The preaching places on Mad River circuit in 1808 were Springfield, Sweet's, Cartmill's, Spain's, Urbana, Reynolds', Ross's, Cain's, Hendershott's, Coleman's, Lamb's. Reed's, Harner's, Th. Smith's, Harner's, Huron's, Lebanon, Curl's, Widow Smith's, Mt. Pleasant, Bonner's (Union), Xenia, Cutler's, Boggoss's and Adams's. The total quarterage of these twenty-five places amounted to forty dollars, of which amount "Xenia" paid two dollars.
The pioneer Methodist of Greene county was Frederick Bonner, who came here with his family from Virginia in June, 1803. Eighteen years
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before John Wesley died and eleven years before Francis Asbury was appointed the first Methodist bishop, Frederick Bonner was one of the most prominent Methodists in Virginia, where his house was a regular preach- ing place for twenty-five years, and his is the first name on the list of those who have served as trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Xenia. In 1803 he sold his five hundred acres of land in Virginia for two thousand dollars and, coming to Ohio, invested the money in a two-thou- sand-acre tract of land about two miles south of the present city of Xenia. Many of his friends and neighbors in Virginia came out and settled in this neighborhood, forming a community that has been distinctly Methodist in religion for more than one hundred years. Frederick Bonner could not have been here many weeks before a Methodist "class" was formed, and during the years preceding the building of any Methodist church in this county the preaching place was known as Bonner's. His son, Chappell Bon- ner, is the third man mentioned as trustee for what is now the First church. One of his daughters married Samuel Pelham, another trustee; and two other daughters married Methodist preachers, W. P. Taylor and John Sale, the latter of whom was for years presiding elder for this district, his ser- vice in that connection covering the periods 1807-10 and 1814-17. Fred- erick Bonner gave each of his children a farm and Mrs. Sale lived on her farm while her husband traveled on horseback, preaching all over the state of Ohio. Many notable instances of his power in prayer are told, and it was under his preaching at camp-meeting in 1810 that Gen. Simon Kenton was converted.
Richard Conwell, another of the members of the first board of trus- tees, came here from Virginia in 1803. He was a tanner. Henry Hypes, a trustee of the church in 1814, also came from Virginia. Two of his sons became ministers of the Methodist church, as did two grandsons in their generation. Alfred M. Lorrain, the first superintendent of the Sunday school and pastor in 1834-35, was a soldier of the War of 1812. For some time he followed the sea and after his arrival in Xenia in 1821 he taught school and also studied medicine, but in 1824 he began preaching and for thirty-nine years served as a minister of the gospel. The latter part of his life was spent in literary work, mostly for church papers and The Ladies' Repository and in 1862, only one year before his death, he published his autobiography, an interesting book entitled, "The Helm, the Sword and the Cross."
The recognized founder of Methodism in Ohio is Francis McCormick, who formed a class in the vicinity of Milford, in Clermont county, in 1797. He went to conference and begged Bishop Asbury to send a preacher across the Ohio river. In response to this entreaty the bishop, in 1798, asked the
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Rev. John Kobler, the presiding elder of the Kentucky district, to cross the river and form a circuit in Ohio. Following the Little Miami and Mad rivers as far north as Dayton, Kobler returned down the Big Miami to Cincinnati, and the circuit thus formed became known as the Miami cir- cuit, the first circuit formed in Ohio. In the conference minutes of 1800 it is mentioned as having ninety-eight white members and one colored. In 1805 this circuit is referred to as the Miami and Mad River circuit and in 1807, simply as the Mad River circuit; so that when the Xenia church was organized in 1808 it belonged to the Mad River circuit, Ohio district of the Western conference. The circuit at that time had five hundred and thirty- two members, twenty-five preaching places, and was served by three travel- ing preachers called "circuit riders." Francis Asbury and William McKen- dree were the bishops and the Rev. John Sale, mentioned above, was the presiding elder. In 1809 Miami "district" was formed and in 1811 Union circuit is first mentioned. In 1827 this circuit had above twelve hundred members. Xenia continued to be a part of Union circuit until 1836, when the size and character of the church demanded a settled preacher and con- ference took the church from Union circuit and made it a "station," with Rev. Azra Brown, a typical old-time Methodist, its first settled pastor. In the meantime the Western conference had grown to ten districts and had become so large that in 1812 an Ohio conference was formed, with five districts, including Miami district. In 1852 the Cincinnati conference was formed out of the Ohio conference and Xenia was a part of the Spring- field district until 1893, when it was placed in the Hillsboro district.
In 1864 the first Methodist church in Xenia, then commonly called the Second Street church, had become so large that it was thought expedient to organize another Methodist church in town and accordingly a board of trustees was appointed out of the membership and Trinity church was erected. The most cordial relations and the heartiest co-operation have existed from the first between the mother church and Trinity, the two con- gregations always holding their "love feast" together and often uniting for special services. It is impossible within the limits of a review of this char- acter to even mention the names of the many men and women who have given lives of service as members of this church. But without doubt Mrs. Tobias Drees held her membership in the church longer than anyone else. She was baptized by the Rev. John Sale, the first presiding elder, and gave this church seventy-one years of unbroken service. Her father, Henry Hypes, led the singing in the church for the first thirty or forty years. Three deaconesses have gone out from the church, Carra Close, Emma Huston and Lucy Medsker, and another of the young ladies of the church, Euretta Meredith, was here prepared for foreign missionary work. The homes of
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Frederick Bonner, Nathan Nesbitt, Michael Nunnemaker, Hiram C. Brown and Tobias Drees were always open for the entertainment of Methodist ministers and were sometimes called the "Methodist Hotels." Besides the names mentioned elsewhere, no history of the church would be adequate without mention of the names of Perkins, Davis, Wright, Beall, Pelham, Beatty, Gatch, Shearer, Newton, Keagy, Trader, Connable, Lauman, McGer- vey, Buckles, Whitmer and Shannon. The church has been favored in hav- ing been served by many of the most eminent ministers of the Ohio and Cincinnati conferences.
The history of the church begins in 1808 with a visit from Bishop Asbury, who had preached at the home of Frederick Bonner, September 19, 1807. John Sale, John Collins, George W. Walker, Alfred Lorain, Asbury Lowrey, Granville Moody and J. F. Marlay were repeatedly sent as dele- gates to the general conference, James B. Finley being a member of that body eight times, and many others were thus honored by their brethren at least once. John Collins has been referred to as "remarkable preacher and one of the most useful men in the conference." Benjamin Larkin is remem- bered as a man "especially beloved by all the children." Of John Strange it has been written that "he was one of the brightest lights of the Ameri- can pulpit in the Mississippi valley in the early days. There were times when his audiences were held spellbound by his eloquence and raised en masse from their seats." An earlier historian has written of W. P. Taylor that he "was profoundly doctrinal and argumentative and used so many big words that some of his congregation actually thought at one time that he was preaching in Latin." Russell Bigelow traveled all over Ohio on horse- back, was missionary to the Wyandotte Indians for a time and several promi- nent churches in the state bear his name. Of Charles Waddle it is said that in his time he was, "without exception, the most popular preacher in the conference." . A reminiscent note regarding the service of Arthur Elliott say's that one summer he was greatly annoyed by the rabble almost breaking up his camp-meeting and was thus moved to pray: "O Lord, rain hell fire until it is knee deep." William H. Raper, twice pastor and twice presiding elder, "won the respect and admiration of all classes of people," and of William B. Christie it is noted that he "was a finely educated man." Daniel Davidson's favorite theme was the final resurrection and when preaching on this subject he was wont fervently to declare that "the heavens will be rolled up like parchment and the sea bile like a pot."
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