USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 24
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The three Methodist Churches in this city now (1897) number 1,337 members. Truly, the Lord has blessed the work of the Church. B. R. McELROY.
METHODISM IN RAVENNA.
"Father Shewel," a faithful old pioneer and local preacher, living in Rootstown, formed numerous Methodist classes in Eastern Ohio. During the sum- mer of 1814 he established an appointment for preach- ing in the western part of the town of Ravenna, about one mile from the present village. Here he formed a class of seven members. Ravenna proper did not have regular preaching until 1825. Thus, for some six years previous to the year 1831 it was favored, in addition to other Church privileges, with monthly preaching by Methodist itinerants. On one of those occasions- Sunday, March 13, 1831-the preacher invited those
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of the congregation who felt so disposed to tarry at the close of the service for class. Five responded, and gave him their names. Two weeks from this date, in a log schoolhouse some two miles north of this vil- lage, these members, together with three others, were fully organized into a Church.
Ravenna, at the time of this organization, was within the boundaries of the Ohio District. The meet- ings of the society were continued in the log school- house during the spring and summer of that year. Early in September they were removed to the brick schoolhouse in the village. On Sunday, September 18th, same year (1831), a Sunday-school was organized. The society continued to occupy the brick schoolhouse for their place of worship until the completion of their first meeting-house, which was dedicated in December, 1832, less than two years from that little band of eight in that rural retreat, the country log schoolhouse. It was a good, substantial frame building. In 1856 it was removed, to give place to one of larger dimensions. The fine brick building we now occupy was dedicated by Bishop Simpson on January 30, 1857.
The Centennial year of Methodism, 1839, was duly observed by us, in common with Methodists all through the country. In July, 1857, the Erie Confer- ence held its session in this place, Bishop Scott pre- siding.
In 1873 was inaugurated the "Woman's Temper- ance Crusaders," also called "The Praying Band." Here, Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge took the lead. Ra- venna was her home. Ere she died, she became a power in the temperance cause, on both sides of the
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ocean, as a co-worker with Frances E. Willard and Lady Henry Somerset.
Quite extensive repairs were made to our Church property in 1896. The old steeple was taken down, and a new one put up. A room was excavated under the church for a furnace, and a furnace put in. The lot was graded, the church and parsonage were painted, and a new carpet laid down in the church. Our congregations and our Church property are prob- ably on a par with those of our neighbors, with whom we have cordial intercourse. A. B. GRIFFIN.
METHODISM IN SANDUSKY.
The introduction of Methodism into the vicinity of Sandusky was on this wise: In the month of Oc- tober, 1811, William Gurley, a native of Ireland, ar- rived, with a large company of other immigrants, at a spot named Bloomingville, in Huron (now Erie) County, Ohio, seven miles south of Sandusky. Will- iam Gurley preached in the log schoolhouse on the Sunday after his arrival, and at the close organized a class of about fifteen or twenty members. This was the first religious service held on the Reserve west of Cleveland, and the first religious organization of any kind in that part of the State. That society, and the Perkins class, organized in 1815, have had a prac- tically unbroken history from that date to the present.
In 1817, J. B. Finley, presiding elder, sent the Rev. Alfred Brunson, as a supply, to form the Huron Cir- cuit. Brunson was then with his family in Portage County. Owing to the fact that his wife was obliged
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to spin the wool and flax, weave the cloth, and then make his garments, he was not in condition to leave home until January, 1818. After various thrilling ex- periences and hardships he reached Portland, now Sandusky, early in the month of February, 1818. He preached on Sunday, in a cooper-shop owned by a Mr. Clemens, and this point became a regular ap- pointment on the Huron Circuit. Services were held with more or less regularity in private houses for six years. From 1824, for five or six years, services were held in the schoolhouse fronting on Columbus Ave- nue, at the northeast corner of the present Sloane Block. True Pattee was the preacher in charge in 1824, and James McIntyre also served during this schoolhouse period.
In 1828 a petition was forwarded to the bishop pre- siding in the Annual Conference for a preacher to be sent to Sandusky as a station, and not as an appoint- ment on a large circuit. This petition had the desired result, and John Janes was appointed to Sandusky in 1828.
Mr. Janes agitated the matter of a church-building. and prepared the way. His successor succeeded in completing the building, which was dedicated in 1830. The Methodist Episcopal church-building therefore preceded any other church-building by five years, and the organization of a Methodist society preceded that of any other denomination. The Methodist Episcopal society is now occupying the fourth structure it has erected for its use as a place of worship.
The present church-building was erected in the
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years 1872-74. In 1897 the building was thoroughly repaired, making it the handsomest audience and Sun- day-school room in the city.
In addition to these four church-buildings, two others have been built by Methodists who separated from the parent society. In the year 1835 the "Beatty secession" occurred, caused by the anti-slavery agita- tion, aggravated by some personal difficulties, when a large number withdrew from the Church. They erected a large stone building immediately to the north of the little frame church. It was called the "Beatty Church" for a long time, because of the prominence of Mr. John Beatty, one of the prime movers. At a later date the society became a part of the "Wesleyan Methodist Connection." The society ultimately disbanded, some returning to the mother Church, others scattering to various other Churches.
In 1853, Philander Gregg led off a faction on the question of instrumental music, and a number who were opposed to the use of instrumental music in pub- lic worship withdrew with Mr. Gregg, and organized the "Second Methodist Episcopal Church." It lived through two pastorates; but in 1855 the society dis- banded, and the members principally returned to the mother Church. The church-building was erected on Decatur Street, between Washington and Adams Streets, and is now in the possession of the colored Baptist society.
The Methodist Episcopal Church society has had therefore a practically unbroken history from the year 1818, or a period of eighty years. .
The Church is now in the possession of the fourth
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parsonage in its history. The first, a frame building on Fulton Street; the second, a brick on Adams Street, between Hancock and Franklin Streets; the third, on Washington Street, adjoining the church; the fourth, 325 Decatur Street, purchased on April 20, 1895, a commodious and handsome dwelling.
The Sandusky City Mission, for German Meth- odism, was authorized by the Ohio Conference, held at Chillicothe, Ohio, September 25, 1850. The first mis- sionary was the Rev. E. Riemenschneider, who was sent out in 1841 to the North Ohio mission, which covered the ground from Marietta to Lake Erie.
The first church was built in 1852. Services were held previously to that in the "German Settlement," in the house of J. Fisher. The mission extended from Thomson, Seneca County, to Amherst, Lorain County, and LaCarne, Ottawa County. The first minister sta- tioned in Sandusky was Rev. G. A. Reuter, 1850-51. When the mission was organized there were twenty- one families. Of these, two families are still living. Their church-building, located on the West Park, was moved in 1880 to a lot on Jefferson Street, between Columbus Avenue and Jackson Street. In 1896 their church and lot on Jefferson Street were sold to the German Lutherans, and a new church-building, and later a parsonage, were erected at the corner of Tyler and Shelby Streets.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was or- ganized in 1879, the Rev. George Stevens pastor. They erected a neat frame building on Neill Street, which is still occupied by them as a place of worship. L. K. WARNER.
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METHODISM IN SIDNEY.
In the autumn of 1824 a report came to the ears of Brother Joel Frankeberger that a Methodist preacher was in town, and had "put up" at Hinkle's tavern. He hastened to his home, and communicated the joyful news to his family; then, hastily laying aside his work-day attire, he repaired to the tavern. He found the preacher, who was on his way to Confer- ence, and told him he must come and stop with him. A member of the Frankeberger family then conducted him to their home, while Brother Frankeberger hur- ried from house to house to notify the community that he had a preacher who would speak at his house that night. This was the first Methodist sermon ever preached in Sidney, and the preacher was Levi White. A class of eight was then formed. Sidney was then in the North Ohio Conference, and was near the center of Bellefontaine Circuit, which included Bellefontaine, Sidney, West Liberty, and Westville, with all the inter- vening territory. Rev. David Young was presiding elder. There was no meeting-house in Sidney until 1831 ; but meanwhile, services were held in the summer under an old elm-tree on the bank of the river, and in the winter in the house of Brother Frankeberger. The front room was constructed on purpose for hold- ing meetings. A half window was placed on the north wall at a suitable height for the minister to use its sill for his Bible and hymn-book. For many years after the building of the Second Methodist church, it was still held as a class-room. As long as the circuit was so large, services were held but once in four weeks.
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When the quarterly-meetings were held, the people came for many miles around. At the close of the Saturday afternoon service the preacher would say, "Let all the other societies stand up." The Sidney members then hastened to invite them to their homes; often as many as fifty were thus provided for over the Sabbath.
At a quarterly-meeting held at Bellefontaine in 1827, while James B. Finley was presiding elder, and Joshua Boucher was circuit preacher, a committee of three were appointed to inquire into the practicability of building a meeting-house in Sidney. This com- mittee did not report until January 21, 1829, when they announced that they had purchased a lot for the church, at a cost of sixteen dollars. The building was a free-will offering; some giving material and others labor. The second church stood on the corner where the Baptist church now stands. It was erected in 1838.
From the beginning the Church grew steadily and rapidly, when we consider the growth of the town, and that there were several other denominations hold- ing services here. In 1841 we find on the Church record one hundred and sixty-two names. In 1843, two hundred and fifty-four.
At a meeting held August 9, 1843, a resolution was read, the object of which was to take the sense of the meeting in reference to making Sidney a sta- tion. The majority voted for it, and the new Confer- ence year brought Samuel Lynch as pastor.
At a meeting of the officiary of Sidney Station, held at the meeting-house September, 1847, the finan-
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cial plan of the Conference was adopted. A committee was appointed to estimate the table expenses of the pastor for the year. They reported seventy-five dol- lars. Ten dollars were added. The whole amount to be raised was three hundred and sixty-one dollars, which was apportioned to the different classes. The amount paid at Lockport to be appropriated to keep- ing the preacher's horse.
In 1867 the site of the present church edifice was secured, and a church commenced; but it was not completed until 1874. It was dedicated by Bishop Foster, August 11, 1874.
The Semi-centennial of Methodism in Sidney was held November 26, 27, and 28, 1875. In this half- century, Sidney has sent out from its number fourteen preachers. It has three times been the seat of the Annual Conference. The membership now is seven hundred and fifty.
METHODISM IN SPRINGFIELD.
In 1805, Springfield, then a village four years old, was included in the Mad River Circuit. It thus con- tinued until 1833, when William H. Raper, the pre- siding elder, formed a new circuit, of which Spring- field was the principal part, and to which it gave name. The membership numbered 950. At this time a church edifice was built at the corner of Columbia and Market Streets. It was a large brick structure, having galleries that greatly enlarged its seating ca- pacity, and it was for years the most important and commodious audience-room in town.
In 1840, Springfield ceased to belong to a circuit,
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and became an independent charge. In 1848 a colony formed the congregation, which has since been known as High Street Church. The site of the present church-building was selected in 1850, and a year later the house was dedicated. It has been a flourishing congregation of the highest respectability and most refined Christian influence. The church has been remodeled from time to time, and keeps pace with the high state of architectural excellence peculiar to its location. Directly west of the church-building stands the parsonage, which is one of the handsomest resi- dences in Springfield.
No history of Methodism in Springfield is complete without special mention of Hon. P. P. Mast. While he belonged to the First Church, or "Old Columbia Street," he donated the valuable lot on which stands the parsonage of Central Church. He was a promi- nent member in the latter charge until he went with the colony which formed St. Paul Church in 1880. This congregation, which began with 150 members, located on Yellow Springs Street. It has the finest building of all the Methodist Churches, and a com- fortable parsonage is situated on the same lot.
Grace Chapel, in the west end of Springfield, was built by Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. P. P. Mast donated the ground, and has ever been its generous patron. A Sunday-school has always been kept up, but only during the last few years has the financial capacity of the congregation warranted the expense of a pastor.
Clifton Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by a colony from Central Church in 1894.
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There were 65 members; at the close of the third year the increase raised the membership to 225. A Sun- day-school in this locality was undertaken in an empty building belonging to the Freewill Baptists, from whom it was rented. This was the nucleus of what promises to be as flourishing a congregation as any in town. It fills a long-felt want in that part of the city.
The Methodist Protestant Church has one con- gregation in Springfield. The church is situated on Pleasant Street, between Center and South Fountain Avenue. This organization dates back to 1829, from which time until about 1837 it formed part of a cir- cuit. Its first meeting-house, on North Street, was afterward sold to the African Methodists, and is still occupied by them.
Among the colored people of Springfield, Meth- odism is represented by three flourishing congrega- tions. The first in age and importance is the North Street African Methodist Episcopal Church. Its be- ginning is not accurately known, but was probably the enthusiastic meetings held by a few earnest Chris- tian Negroes, many of whom had been through the trials of slavery, and who met to sing, pray, and com- pare experiences in barns and cabins of long-ago times. After having several small meeting-houses, such as their means allowed, they finally settled on North Street, in a building which they bought from another congregation, but which they have improved and enlarged unto its present capacious comeliness. This is a Church of great respectability and influence.
In 1867 nine members of the North Street African
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Methodist Episcopal Church resolved to form a new congregation. It has been prosperous, both finan- cially, socially, and spiritually. It is called Wiley Chapel. The church-building is on South Center Street.
The third church belonging to the colored citizens is known as the Second African Methodist Episcopal Church of Springfield. It is situated on the corner of Clifton and Boler Streets. KATE KAUFFMAN.
METHODISM IN STEUBENVILLE.
The Ohio Circuit, which afterward embraced Steu- benville, was formed in 1787. It embraced Ohio County, Virginia; Washington County, Pennsylvania; and settlements on both sides of the river from the mouth of the Muskingum to Pittsburg. It is claimed that the first preaching in Steubenville by a Methodist preacher occurred in 1794, when Samuel Hitt and John H. Reynolds preached a few sermons in the midst of much opposition. The number of members reported in 1799 on this circuit was 427.
In 1801 the circuit was divided, and the West Wheeling Circuit formed, in which Jefferson County, Ohio, was included.
The year 1806 was one of great enlargement. A preaching-place was found at the house of John Per- mar, where many were converted.
In 1812, William Lambden was the preacher. At the close of his first sermon, he announced that the next forenoon he would form a class at the house of Bernard Lucas. The meeting continued to be held in private houses, and the membership was augmented
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at each meeting. During this year there was a great revival, and B. Wells proffered the land on which the church now stands, and an edifice 50 by 55 feet was erected. As usual, it all grew out of an old-fashioned revival. In 1813 the Ohio Conference was held in Steubenville, Bishops Asbury and McKendree being present. Steubenville was made a station in 1818, and when the Pittsburg Conference was formed in 1824 it embraced this station.
The first Methodist Sunday-school was organized in Steubenville in 1826. This was the year in which the Secretary of War, E. M. Stanton, was converted, and united with the Church.
The first separation of the Methodists occurred in 1830, when eighty-one full members and eleven pro- bationers united and formed a Methodist Protestant Church on Fifth Street. The year following there was a great ingathering of members. In 1845-6 the second swarming of the Methodists occurred, and as a result the Hamline Church was formed. In 1854 the church known as the "Old Ship" was torn down, and the present one built. In 1870 another colony of fifty members was sent off, to form the Finley Church. In 1892 the church was remodeled, at a cost of nearly $6,000. In 1891 the new Hamline church, a fine mod- ern stone structure, was dedicated. The eighteenth session of the East Ohio Conference was held here in September, 1892.
The three Methodist Episcopal Churches of Steu- benville had, in 1897, a membership of about 1,200, out of a total Protestant Church membership of about 3,000.
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The Methodist Church is the oldest Church of the city, and stands first in numbers, but second in wealth. The county and river valley are strongly Methodistic. The great majority of the Churches in the county are Methodist. G. F. OLIVER.
METHODISM IN TOLEDO.
Methodism had an early entrance into the territory of the present city of Toledo. Who held the first serv- ice seems to be in some doubt. Elnathan C. Gavitt, who died in Toledo, Ohio, March 15, 1896, is confident that he preached the first sermon about 1832; while others think Mr. Gavitt was preceded as early as 1822 or 1823 by Billings O. Plympton and Elias Pattee, who then stopped and held services while passing be- tween Detroit and Monroe and Northern Ohio.
The first Methodist class was formed at the home of Eli Hubbard, which stood near the Tremainsville bridge, which is now at the intersection of Detroit Avenue, Cherry Streets, and at the north end of Col- ingwood Avenue, at present just outside of the city limits, and in what is now known as West Toledo. The outgrowth of this class was the Tremainsville Methodist Episcopal Church, which has passed out of history as such, but its fruit is the West Toledo Methodist Episcopal Church.
Seven years before the founding of Toledo, and in the same year as the founding of the work in West Toledo, a class was formed at the home of Noah A. Whitney, and Mrs. Maria A. Whitney was appointed class-leader.
The Monroe Street Methodist Episcopal Church,
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which was the first in Toledo proper, and which has sent forth colonies to other portions of the city, has had a constant existence, and now numbers about three hundred members, with a Sunday-school of three hundred and fifty, and with Epworth Leagues num- bering nearly two hundred. Under the present pas- torate of Rev. W. H. Leatherman, the Church has built the Central Avenue church, at a cost of $4,000, and is building a new parsonage at Monroe Street property. The present valuation of church property is $12,750. The future of this Church is regarded as of very great importance for our Methodism.
The second Church in Toledo, St. Paul's, was or- ganized in 1836, when the society purchased lots on Huron Street, between Locust and Walnut, where the church was erected, but was sold in 1850 to the Ger- man Methodists, and became the foundation of the Emanuel German Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1850 the progress of the Church became such that more commodious quarters must be secured, and lots were purchased at the corner of Madison and Superior Streets, where a building was erected, at the cost of $2,000. This building was removed in 1865, and the present two-story building was erected, at the cost of $60,000. This was in the winter of 1869, when $18,000 was raised toward the debt, and, this being insufficient, another effort was made in June of 1873, when $23,000 more was raised. Then came the direst catastrophe to Toledo Methodism, "the paper crash." Men who subscribed thousands were not able to pay a cent, and the Church was left in the sorest need, and the whole city, and indeed the whole Conference, felt the shock
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and crash. At this time it was evident that several new church enterprises should be begun, and the foundations for at least four other Methodist churches should be laid at the proper distances, and in the most strategic points. But here was the struggling mother Church of the down-town Churches crippled and helpless, and every man was urged to come to her relief. Other denominations came in, and, profiting by our helplessness and seeing the openings, planted several churches at the very points where there should have been Methodist churches. These four Churches have memberships that at the present day are known to be from one-half to two-thirds Methodist. Many of them found it too far to go to St. Paul's, and some feared the extra strain the debt would require, and the people who came to the city from other cities were slow to enter where the debt was so apparent. As a consequence of all this, the Methodist Episcopal Church fell from her place as leader of the religious forces of the city, and has several other sisters, whose progress has been a constant stimulus to her, if not a real provocation unto love and good works. The facts of some unwise leadership are also so apparent that there can be no concealment of their irreparable dam- age to our Church. The location of several churches on ineligible sites to please some real-estate man, and the holding on to some to please one or two families, as well as the forbidding of authorities to enter certain other territories, are all too manifest. Notwithstand- ing all this, there has come a new era to the Meth- odism of Toledo, and we are very surely gaining on the unchurched masses.
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The present status of St. Paul's Church is very encouraging. Within the past ten years she has helped to build seven or eight of the struggling Churches of Toledo. These gifts aggregate thousands of dollars, and are a grateful token of gratitude for the help she received from the Central Ohio Conference in her distress a few years since. In 1897 the trustees of St. Paul's Church sold the property at the corner of Su- perior and Madison for the sum of $60,000, and began plans for the erection of the finest and largest church in the city among Protestants. Lots were purchased on the corner of Thirteenth and Madison Streets, a half mile further up town. This new church is cer- tainly the most unique piece of architecture in the city, and the building can not but be remembered favorably by any one who visits it. When completed, the whole cost will exceed $80,000. The new St. Paul's will greatly aid in the unification and development of our connectional interests.
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