USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 7
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The first Conference held in the West was at Half- Acres, in Tennessee, in May, 1788, which was fol- lowed by one in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in July, 1788.
The Western Conference was formed by Bishop 8
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Asbury, in 1796. It originally embraced all the ter- ritory west of the Alleghany Mountains. In 1805, this Conference included twenty-six circuits, five dis- tricts, stretching from the Muskingum and the Ohio to the Opelousas in Louisiana, and having thirty- seven preachers. At this time there was but one dis- trict in Ohio; but, in 1810, Ohio alone contained three districts, twenty-one circuits, and thirty-one preachers, with eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-one members.
The field was divided and subdivided as the neces- sities of the work grew. The General Conference of 1812 divided the Western Conference into the Ohio and Tennessee Conferences. The first session of the Ohio Conference took place in Chillicothe, in October, 1812. "The Ohio Conference, when organized, em- braced, geographically, Big and Little Kanawhas, in Virginia, extending westward into the State of In- diana, north to the lakes; the base of its eastern line took in the Redstone Circuit on the western slope of the Alleghanies, and it extended southward far into the State of Kentucky." There were six districts in the Ohio Conference; namely, Ohio, Muskingum, Sci- oto, Miami, Kentucky, and Salt River.
The Erie Conference was formed in 1836, which embraced the western part of New York, Pennsyl- vania, Eastern Ohio, including Akron and Cleveland. The work grew so rapidly that, in 1840, the Ohio Conference was divided by the organization of the North Ohio Conference, which embraced a portion of the territory now included in the Michigan Conference.
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UrbanaO COLUMBUS D I Cincinnati 1 TV E RIVER O S S AT VCRAWFORD ALLEN L i OGAN I UNION I DELAWARE 1 MADISON 1 I OHIO E R o A ASHTABULA A I ¡GEAUGA CUYAHOGA| Vernon o ORAIN TRUMBULL r 1 Warren 1 Ravenna O MEDINA ISUMMIT ¡PORTAGE Akron JMAHONING 1 Allianceº : 5 AND Į WAYNE STARK 4 Massillon Canton, COLUMBIANA 1. East Liverpool O HOLMES 1 CARROLL ] JEFF TUSCARAWAST 1 | COSHOCTON 1 I HARRISON; ERSON Z ENN + -f GUERNSEY IBELMONT eşville Barnesville -- MUSK INGUMI 1 INOBLEI i. MONROE RRY MOF 1 1 1 I A I WASHINGTON Marietta OHIO I R V ATHENS MEIGS WEST ··· MAP OF ... CONFERENCES IN OHIO. 1. CINCINNATI. 2. OHIO. 3. CENTRAL OHIO. 4. NORTH OHIO. 5. EAST OHIO. YLV S Steubenvilled RIVER P A 1 N G Athens! 1 iso IA 1 Painesville E Cleveland 1 Youngstown ·Cambridge O AHWG MF 23373 999200 II5 GROWTH OF METHODISM. In 1852, the territory in Kentucky was detached from the Ohio Conference, and the Cincinnati Con- ference was formed. Four years later the Central Ohio Conference was formed at Lima. It was then called the Delaware Conference, but in 1860 it was changed to bear the name of the Central Ohio Con- ference. The last division of the territory of Ohio was made in 1876, when the East Ohio Conference was organized, and embraced most of the territory in Eastern Ohio. The territory of Ohio now contains five large Con- ferences, thirty-two presiding elders' districts; and her churches and circuits can be counted by the hun- dreds. Through the influence of Rev. William Nast, of Cincinnati, the "Father of German Methodism," the first German Methodist society was formed in 1838, and reported the first year thirty members. The work grew slowly but steadily. The General Conference, in 1864, organized the German Methodists into three separate Conferences. The Central German Con- ference embraces the work in Ohio, and had, in 1897, six thousand two hundred and seventy-three mem- bers, thirty-one local preachers, and forty-five pas- tors. The Lexington Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church extends its work into Ohio among the colored brethren, and had for the same year three thousand members and thirty pastors. One of the external signs of the growth of Meth- odism in Ohio is the large number of beautiful . II6 OHIO METHODISM. church edifices. A live Christian Church naturally exhibits its interest in the advancement of Christ's kingdom by erecting commodious and attractive build- ings for worship. ZEIDLER CIAS REV. WILLIAM NAST. The Methodist people in Ohio began their wor- ship in a very humble manner. The log-cabins, barns, and sheltering woods were the common sanctuaries. The first Methodist meeting-house was built on Scioto II7 GROWTH OF METHODISM. Brush Creek, in 1800. The year previous, Rev. Henry Smith had come to Ohio, and preached to sev- eral settlements on the Scioto and Miami Rivers. On October 1, 1800, he says: "I rode to Joseph Moore's, Scioto Brush Creek. Here I found a considerable society already organized by Brother Moore. Here I had some success, and the society increased, so that on the 6th of August, 1800, we proposed building a meeting-house; for no private house would hold our week-day congregation. But we met with some op- position, for some wanted a free house. But as no one seemed to care for their souls but the Methodists, it appeared to me like foolishness to build a house for other denominations before they came and wanted a house. We, however, succeeded in building a small log-house, but then large enough for the neigh- borhood, the first Methodist meeting-house on the circuit, and perhaps the first in the Northwestern Territory." The church was dedicated to the worship of God on August 29, 1801. It stood nine miles back from Rome, in Adams County, one mile and a quarter from Brush Creek, on Wintersteen's Run. "The building was twenty-four feet square, with a very small door and window on either side, and was built of scored logs. It was surrounded by a burying-ground, where a number of early settlers sleep." It was used for worship for about twenty years, and then gave place to a better structure. In 1803, the Holmes log meeting-house was erected on Indian Short Creek. "In the immediate neighborhood of which," says Rev. John Meek, the I18 OHIO METHODISM. pastor at this time, "there followed one of the most powerful revivals of the work of God, of the awaken- ing and the conversion of sinners, that I recollect ever to have witnessed." The next Methodist meeting-house was the one erected at Hopewell. Rev. William I. Fee, in speaking of his grandfather, says: "In the year 1803 he united with a number of pioneer Methodists who had moved from Maryland and Virginia to Clermont County- such as the Sargents, Pigmans, Prathers, and Fees- in the erection of the third Methodist Episcopal church edifice in the Northwest Territory. It was named Hopewell. It stood one mile west of Felicity. It was a hewed log building, two stories high, and a very large edifice for that day." Rev. John Meek says: "At the dedication of which the small Church in that part of the wilder- ness was blessed by the labors of our beloved Mc- Kendree, of precious memory, and Brother William Burke, who was then presiding elder of the Ohio Dis- trict, together with Brothers Amos and Patterson. I believe Brother Burke preached from 2 Corinthians iii, 18: 'But we all with open face,' etc .; and Brother McKendree followed with, 'Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty'-17th verse. The anointing of the Holy Spirit appeared to be upon them; 'the power of God was present to heal;' the slain of the Lord were many; the cry of the wounded and the shout of them that were made whole 'was heard afar off;' and, blessed be God! I expect to meet some in heaven that were converted to God at that meeting. I will here say, WILLIAM McKENDREE. 119 120 OHIO METHODISM. those were the happiest days of my life-log-cabins to preach in, puncheon floors to sleep on, long rides, cornbread and milk to eat, a constant succession of kind friends to make welcome, and the love of God in the soul, a home high up in heaven in prospect, and the blessed promise of, 'Lo, I am with you al- way, even unto the end of the world,' gave the mind a most pleasing variety, and caused our time to move on most agreeably." Ward's meeting-house was erected this same year. It was located on Duck Creek, Hamilton County, near Madisonville. It was built, as were most of the churches of this day, of rough beech-logs. About this time a log meeting-house was also erected on Eagle Creek, in Scioto Circuit. One of the first meeting-houses in the Western Reserve was erected at Wellington, in 1830. It was a central point in the extensive Black River Circuit, which was bound "on the north by Lake Erie, on the south by Wayne County, on the east by Cuyahoga, and on the west by the Fire Lands. This circuit included about one-third of the territory now in the North Ohio Conference, and was at this day in the Portland District, which extended as far south as Delaware." The meeting-house was "constructed of round logs, and was some thirty feet in length, twelve feet wide, and about eight feet high, with a puncheon floor and clapboard roof, with four windows, two on each side, filled with oiled white paper." These log chapels soon began to be erected in most of the scattered settlements of the West. They served more than a religious purpose. They became 1 I2I GROWTH OF METHODISM. the rallying centers of the social and religious life of the surrounding neighborhoods. People of varied types of national character were drawn together by their social and religious instincts. Through the in- fluence of religious fervor, the heterogeneous elements of society were, to a large degree, blended into one living organism. The patriotic and religious pulse began gradually to beat harmoniously until the com- mon hopes and purposes of these diverse people and scattered settlements were welded into a common brotherhood. Thus the work of the early pioneers as character-builders broadened out to become the builders of a nation. In 1897, there were two thousand two hundred and forty-seven Methodist Churches in Ohio, having an estimated value of nine million six thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, or an average value of more than four thousand dollars. Besides there were six hundred and forty parsonages, valued at one million two hundred and eight thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars. The church-building epochs of Ohio Methodism have been quite marked. First, the humble sanctuaries of the early settlers, built of hewn logs, were gradually displaced for more attractive frame structures. Many of these in turn have been superseded by more convenient and imposing church edifices built of brick or stone. The last epoch began about twenty-five years ago, and now nearly every county-seat in the State has a fine Methodist church edifice that is unparalleled for architectural beauty and attractive church appointments. The triumphant march of Methodism is seen in 122 OHIO METHODISM. her numerical growth. At the opening of the century Methodism had been in America thirty-four years, and had been organized as a Church sixteen years, and had sixty-four thousand communicants. In 1897, the entire membership of the Methodist Churches in the United States aggregated five million seven hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and ninety- eight. At the beginning of the century the Regular Baptists had one hundred thousand communicants; the Congregationalists seventy-five thousand; Pres- byterians forty thousand, and the Episcopalians eleven thousand communicants. The Methodist Church has outgrown them all in point of numbers. The historian Schouler says: "More practical in its ordinances, better organized and disciplined, setting rituals at naught, broad in doctrines of faith, having the pious Asbury for a leader, and Wesley's blessing resting upon it, the Methodist Church, though tardier in the start, under our national system, was swifter in the race; pushing, indeed, so zealously among the pioneer settlers in pursuance of its farsighted policy, as to have since become foremost in numbers among our religious denominations." In 1798 the entire number of Methodist preachers in the United States was two hundred and sixty-seven. Now there are seven Conferences in Ohio, and one Conference alone has as many ministers. The Western Conference, in 1800, had two thou- sand five hundred and ninety-five members and four- teen preachers. When Kobler, the one solitary pil- grim, passed over the brook, hunting up the lost sheep . 123 GROWTH OF METHODISM. of the house of Israel, in 1798, he could find only twenty-five or thirty members in the whole country; but by the close of the year he reported ninety-nine members. In 1804, the Methodist societies had grown to number twelve hundred and fifteen. A steady advance was made, and by the year 1810 there were three districts, twenty-one circuits, thirty-one preach- ers, and eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-one members of the Methodist Church northwest of the Ohio River. The Ohio Conference was organized in 1812. The first year's work showed a membership of twenty- three thousand. The entire membership of Method- ism in the United States at this time was two hundred and fifteen thousand. The growth of Methodism in Ohio by decades is herewith given. This estimate can not be altogether accurate, since at the beginning of Methodism there was an overlapping of territory into other States; but we think it is sufficient to give some idea of the steady progress of the Church during the first century of its history. In 1798 99 members and I preacher. In 1800 321 2 preachers. In 1804 1,654 66 66 25 66 In 1813 23,000 In 1823 36,372 100 In 1833 51,460 66 155 In 1843 107,062 341 In 1853 106,503 66 i 735 66 In 1870 137,353 In 1880 175,898 66 66 748 In 1890 240,656 66 837 In 1897 281,509 66 1018 8 In 1810 8,781 66 26 559 In 1860 130, 156 66 655 124 OHIO METHODISM. The best work can not be shown in tables of statis- tics. But since the Christian forces elude our vision, it is necessary to give facts and figures in order that the work of the Church may be brought before us more vividly. Dr. Dorchester says: "No mathematics cer- tainly are cunning enough fully to calculate the work of Christianity, and sum up its effects as it goes through the world, moderating its coldness, calling forth countless forms of life, activity and beauty, puri- fying its fountains, and filling it with verdure and fragrance and music. And yet it is also true that there are no phenomena which may not be approximately enumerated, and the more distinct and positive they are, the more definitely may they be numbered and aggregated. Ecclesiastical statistics, like moral, social, commercial, and political statistics, have a distinct significance. Their importance has been enhanced by the recent studies of exact science. Difficult as statistics must be-liable to the greatest errors, in results, by the smallest errors of fact or number-they have nevertheless attained the truest proof of scientific character, namely, that the statisticians can predict. Science is the ascertainment of laws; the knowledge of laws enables us to foretell results. This is the test of scientific theory-the dis- tinction of truth from speculation." We insert here a table to exhibit the numerical strength of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio for 1897. This table can be studied with profit. The figures given are eloquent with the promise of yet grander results for the glory of God and the welfare of humanity. 1897. MEMBERSHIP. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. CHURCH-PROPERTY. Probationers ... Full Members .. Preachers ... bership .. Total Mem- Schools Teachers Officers and Scholars Total of Churches Probable Paronsages ...... Value Probable Cincinnati 2,638 51,052 129 53,819 355 5,596 42,471 48,271 48,067| 364 $2,015,000 I2I $328,450 Central Ohio. 2,797 47,489| 156 50,442 423 6,509 54,780 412 1,342,850 I26 187,950 Ohio 2,937 68,974 172 72,083 590 8,143 50,459 58,602 595 1,709,650 I45 227,050 East Ohio 2,294 66,844 179 69,317 547 8,319 59,759 68,078 552 2,732,450 152 308,850 North Ohio .. 1,338 34,439 71 35,848 324 4,919 33,364 38,283 324 1,206,500 106 155,975 12,004 268,798 707 281,509 2,239 33,486 234,324 267,810 2247 9,006,450 640 1,208,275 Central GermanCon- ference ..... 6,304 Lexington Confer- ence (Colored) .... 3,000 GROWTH OF METHODISM. 125 CONFERENCES. ..... ... all ages .. Value .............. Local .. I26 OHIO METHODISM. It may be a matter of interest to insert a table to exhibit the comparative numerical strength of eight leading denominations in Ohio for 1890. DENOMINATIONS. Organi- zations. Church Edifi's. Seating Capacity. Value of Church Property. Members. All Baptists. 846 789 229,015 $2,798,928 68,033 All Catholics 586 515 197,813 7,395,640 336, 114 All Congregational. 247 253 83,029 2,044,525 32,218 All Lutherans. 588 573 192,537 3,007,097 39,569 All Methodists 2,798 2,713 818,940 9,600,820 272,737 All Presbyterians ... 828 849 287,420 6,722,875 103,607 All United Brethren 995 927 272,215 1,436,810 53,500 All Episcopal .. ... 169 186 50,519 2, 103,487 17,71I The membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio for 1897 exceeds the combined nu- merical strength of five leading denominations, in- cluding the Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopa- lians, Presbyterians, and United Brethren. One person in every fifteen of the inhabitants of the State is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The probable number of members and adherents in the Methodist Church in Ohio will approach one million of the population. Methodism is in the front line of Sunday-school work. The statistics of the Sunday-schools of the State of Ohio for the year ending December 31, 1896, show that there were seven thousand four hundred and sixty-eight schools, having six hundred and ninety-four thousand two hundred and forty-six scholars, and manned with sixty-two thousand and seventy-eight teachers. Of this number the Methodist 127 GROWTH OF METHODISM. Episcopal Church had two thousand and thirty-nine schools and two hundred and thirty-four thousand three hundred and twenty-four scholars enrolled, or about one-third of the Sunday-schools and scholars of the State. What a wonderful power is lodged in the hands of one denomination! The members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio are, as a class, fairly liberal givers. They respond generously to all local and general benevolent work of the Church. In 1897 the Church contributed seven hundred and forty eight thousand five hundred and eighty-one dollars to the support of the pastors, besides giving one hundred and sixty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars for Home and For- eign Missions. This, in the aggregate, looks like a large amount; but when distributed throughout the entire membership, requires only about three dollars annually from each member of the Church to sup- port the pastor, and sixty cents for missions. The average annual salary of the Methodist preachers in Ohio is a trifle above seven hundred dollars. The Methodist Church of Ohio has been blessed with an era of revival, which still continues; and an era of education, which will always retain its hold on the intelligence and confidence of the people. The Methodist Church is barely entering on an era of beneficence. Here is a wide-open door for the Church to enter and secure marvelous results in extending and strengthening the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. We herewith give a table to exhibit the amount I28 OHIO METHODISM. of money given for the support of pastors and mis- sions for the year 1897: 1897. Pastor's Support. MISSIONS. CONFERENCES. Society Missionary Society For'gn Miss Society ...... Home Miss Cincinnati. $149,205 $19,558 7,336 7,888 Central Ohio 137,516 2L,215 4,793 4,979 Ohio 148,736 18,254 9, 128 2,975 East Ohio. 201,338 30,849 8,026 6,864 North Ohio 111,786 12,376 5,741 3,748 748,581 102,252 35,024 26,454 This numerical growth and preponderance of members in the Methodist Episcopal Church of the State is a source of gratification to its followers. The aggressive impulse of the Church indicates that she possesses a powerful latent force. No Methodist, however, should permit the remarkable figures given to blind him to the deeper and grander forces which Christianity represents. The progress and results al- ready achieved bring a corresponding responsibility to put forth the whole moral and spiritual power of the Church for the wider extension of the gospel and the building up of the Christian Church. Surely it is a blessed privilege to be a member of the Church and a sharer in the great religious move- ments designed to advance Christ's kingdom. The achievements of the past should accelerate the growth of the Church through succeeding decades, and hasten the triumph of the gospel. The Woman's Woman's Chapter V. Pioneer Preachers. I29 9 HE great characteristic of Christianity, and the proof of its divinity, is that it has been the main source of the moral de- velopment of Europe, and that it has discharged this office, not so much by the inculcation of a system of ethics, however pure, as by the assimilating and attractive influence of a perfect ideal. The moral progress of mankind can never cease to be distinctively and intensely Christian, as long as it consists of a gradual approximation to the character of the Christian Founder. There is, indeed, noth- ing more wonderful in the history of the human race than the way in which that ideal has traversed the lapse of ages, acquiring new strength and beauty with each advance of civilization, and infusing its beneficial influence into every sphere of thought and action."- Lecky. HE depths of Divine grace are clearly seen in allowing those mighty men (Methodists) to become what they have become in England and elsewhere-a great stimulant force in Christendom. What denomination can show greater exploits, more versatile serv- ice, and larger conquests ?"- Adams. AM no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees : it sufficeth me if I know their virtues. There is no service like his that serves because he loves."-Sir Philip Sidney. ND when recording History displays Feats of renown, though wrought in ancient days ; Tells of a few stout hearts that fought and died, Where duty placed them, at their country's side ; The man that is not moved with what he reads,- That takes not fire at their heroic deeds,- Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, Is base in kind, and born to be a slave."-Cowper. 130 CHAPTER V. T HE aggressive power of the Church is largely due to the early pioneer preachers. Their rug- gedness of character, fervent spirit, and uncompromis- ing principles made them akin to the prophets of old. They were men of rare natural endowments. Few of them had the advantages of scholastic training, but they were schooled in the practical affairs of life. They sprang from and came in contact with the com- mon people. Their habits, language, and sympathies were on a level with the common people, and their preaching awakened spiritual desires and a quick re- sponse in the most impervious characters. They were usually men of devout spirit and a singularly effective manner. They held in view the practical aim of reaching the people, and leading them to accept Christ. They presented the Divine message of light and love to the sinful in such a manner as to excite and sustain appropriate emotions, and prompt the hearers to immediate action. They felt inspired to express the Divine message, and their sermons were clear, strong, and clothed in plain language. The secret of their power was in the message. Search through their sermons, and you will find that the gospel of Christ was the rich vein of gold-bearing quartz underlying the whole range of their preaching. They declared in ringing and splendid eloquence the gospel, and their words were often so weighty as to cut like blades of steel. 131 I32 OHIO METHODISM. Again, their spiritual fervency made them a power. They possessed the earnestness of profound convic- tions, and spoke out of a heart powerfully moved by the Holy Spirit. The marks of their heavenly call were manifest, notwithstanding their peculiar and singular endowments. Their fervor made them free and forcible. They were unfettered by manuscript or studied efforts. They spoke earnestly and tenderly of a change in their own hearts through the infinite love and atoning work of Christ, and amazing results followed. The spontaneous heartiness with which they gave themselves to the work lifted them above all rhetorical restrictions, and they were carried for- ward by the glow and warmth of a vital energy which was more than human. Multitudes of those unaccus- tomed to worship were led to become faithful disciples through their irresistible pleadings and spiritual power. No wonder they were jubilant and confident with the spiritual chivalry of the apostles. Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.