USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 34
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September 13, 1855, the corner-stone of the new church edi- fice was laid on North Market street. This ceremony was con-
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ducted by Rev. John Crouse, and the following ministers were also present at the dedicatory services: Rev. Ruthraff, of Canton ; Rev. S. Feeman, of Mansfield; Rev. J. S. Lawson, of Pittsburg, Pa .; and Rev. Benjamin Pope, of Wooster.
June 1, 1856, services were first held in the lecture-room of the new church, where Rev. J. B. Baltzly was ordained. Rev. W. C. Weaver delivered the first sermon in it. September 24 to 30, 1857, the East Ohio Synod held its Twenty-second Annual Convention in the church. July 3, 1859, service was first held in the new church, Rev. Baltzly preaching from Genesis xxxv, II. On the Ioth of July it was dedicated, the sermon being preached by Rev. F. W. Conrad, of Dayton, Ohio, assisted by Rev. Baltzly and Rev. Feeman.
In 1860 the following officers were elected: J. H, Keslar, George Plumer and M. Funk, Elders; A. Bechtel, J. Bechtel and G. W. Althouse, Deacons; George Plumer, William McClelland and Henry Rockey, Trustees; Thomas F. Wildes, Secretary ; R. Bechtel, Treasurer.
February II, 1860, the Wooster congregation and the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church of Franklin township, agreed, by preamble and resolution, to constitute themselves as one body, to be called the Wooster Charge, assenting and subscribing to vari- ous regulations and conditions. October 10, 1860, the East Ohio Synod confirmed the act of union, at its session at Manchester, Ohio, by a unanimous vote. *
April 10, 1864, it was resolved to dissolve the union between Zion's Evangelical Lutheran church, of Wooster, and Trinity Evan- gelical Lutheran church, of Franklin township, subject to the ratifi- cation of the Synod, and to make way for the formation of a new charge-the Wooster Charge-by a union of the Wooster and St. Paul's church, of Smithville.
April 12, 1864, the union was consummated, and October 18 it was ratified by the Synod, in session in Ashland.
During the year ending April 1, 1866, there were admitted into the church 40 members. April 1, 1867, the union between the Wooster and Smithville charges was dissolved, when Wooster was constituted a separate one. June 7, 1868, Rev. Baltzly tend- ered his resignation on account of declining health, to take effect on the Ist of July, after a prosperous ministry of many years.
* In October, 1861, Margaret Mowry, a member, was 103 years old.
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August 29, 1868, the council, authorized by a vote of the church, presented a call to Rev. Ira C. Billman, to become pastor of the congregation. Said call was accepted, and Rev. Billmnn was duly installed. The council for 1870 was :
J. A. Lawrence, Philip Wiler, Q. A. Kieffer, Elders; D. W. Matz, Z. L. Numbers, J. Ottman, Deacons; H. Rockey, William Bentz, L. G. Hays, Trustees; Lewis Wenger, Treasurer.
June 12, 1870, Rev. Billman tendered his resignation, "to take effect immediately upon settlement." April 23, 1871, Rev. H. L. Wiles, D. D., was chosen pastor by a unanimous vote of the church, and still continues in charge. He is a zealous minister, a faithful worker and a brilliant divine.
Present officers-Elders, Albert McFadden and Joseph Snyder ; Deacons, S. R. Roller, Jacob Frick,- -; Trustees, Henry Rockey, Jesse Smith and Isaac Bechtel.
Church of Christ.
The Church of Christ, meeting in Wooster, was organized July 26, 1835. The following statements are taken from the records of the church :
At a meeting on Lord's Day, July 26, 1835, the persons whose names appear below extended to each other the hand of Christian fellowship, and organized them- selves into a worshiping assembly, under the following pledge :
We, the Disciples of Jesus Christ, living in and near the town of Wooster, being desirous of attending to all the ordinances of the Lord's House, do unite ourselves together in a congregated capacity, taking for our guide or discipline the New Tes- tament of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we propose, as soon as prac- ticable, to appoint Bishops and Deacons, whose duty it shall be to take charge of the temporal and spiritual interests of the congregation, according to the Holy Scriptures. And in order to protect ourselves from imposition, we further agree not to receive any person claiming to be a Christian who is not known by us, or who does not present a letter of commendation from some congregation. To the above we have authorized our several names to be affixed :
Wm. F. Pool; Peter Willis and Elizabeth, his wife; Frederick Kauke and Elizabeth, his wife; John Miller and wife; Jacob Wachtel and Elizabeth, his wife; Samuel Zimmerman and Mary, his wife; George K. Zimmerman, Griffith L. Jones, Elizabeth Scott, Eleanor Jones, Mary McCurdy, Elizabeth Hickman, Rebecca Hull, Sophia Zimmerman, Kimball Porter and Susannah, his wife.
From the time of this initiatory movement until May, 1847, there is no record of the proceedings of the church. But from some of the older members we learn that the little band continued to meet from week to week to "break the loaf" and to join in
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social exercises, whenever preaching could not be obtained. As an evidence of the zeal which characterized the members, we men- tion the fact that during their interval of twelve years the little company of twenty-one had increased to nearly one hundred.
There is no record to be found of the election and ordination of officers until 1850. On Saturday, December 7, in that year the church met and unanimously selected the following persons as its officers : Elders, Kimball Porter, William Grim and Constant Lake; Deacons, George K. Zimmerman, Michael Miller and Martin Rowe.
The following sisters were chosen as Deaconesses: Almira Grim, Mary Bartol, Barbary Hickman, Eleanor Lake, Mary Porter, Rebecca White, Arta Porter, Harriet Harbaugh and Hes- ter Snook. On the next day, Lord's Day, December 8, at 2 o'clock P. M., the church met to attend to the ordination of these officers. Elder J. H. Jones was the officiating minister on this occasion.
For several years the church had no house of worship. And indeed, it had no regular place of meeting. Part of the time it occupied the old Court House, where it had been organized. Sometimes it assembled in a brick school house in the south part of town, located on what is now known as South Market street. Another place of meeting was the residence of Frederick Kauke. And occasionally it worshiped in the dwelling houses of other members. For a time it occupied a cooper shop, situated on what, at present, is called Grant street. Then again, in a large room in J. S. Lake's building on West Liberty street. Finally, in the year 1847, the church completed a house of its own on the corner of Walnut and South streets, which house it has continued to occu- py until the present time.
The first regular pastor was J. H. Jones, who began his labors for the congregation in the year 1845. He remained in this posi- tion until 1857, and was succeeded in the pastoral work by the fol- lowing persons in the order named: John W. Errett, Samuel R. Jones, Robert Moffett, N. A. Walker, J. H. Bauserman, J. N. Lowe, D. J. White and H. D. Carlton.
In addition to its regular preaching, this church has frequently enjoyed the pulpit ministrations of eminent Evangelists. Promi- nent among them may be mentioned Alexander Campbell, Wm. Hayden, A. S. Hayden, John Henry, Wm. Pool, A. B. Green, James Porter, John Rigdon, John Secrist, Wesley Lamphere, C. E.
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Van Voorhes, Adamson Bently, John Whitacre, D. S. Burnett, Jasper Moss, M. Wilcox, Walter Scott, Isaac Erritt, W. K. Pen- dleton, C. L. Loos and Benjamin Franklin.
It may be mentioned, as a matter of interest, that during the time that has elapsed since its organization about seven hundred persons have been members of the church; but the growth in numbers has been largely counteracted by removals. Many have been removed by letters to other congregations ; some have died, and some have been excluded. The following persons are at pres- ent the officers of the church: Elders-Constant Lake, James W. Hughes, Silas H. Sharp, H. D. Carlton ; Deacons-Alex. Garing, Wm. H. Smith, Henry Myers, Jehu L. Grafton; Deaconesses- Elizabeth Sharp, Mary Bartol, Hannah Miller, Elizabeth Yarnall, Anna P. Lake.
H. D. C.
The Church of God.
The founder of this church was Rev. John Winebrenner, a Ger- man Reformed minister, who, some half a century ago, preached in Harrisburg, Pa. He is represented as a forcible, logical and effective debater and orator, whose eloquence introduced what is denominated "revivals " among his different congregations, a fea- ture of boisterous excitement and reciprocal religious heat, which heretofore was not specifically characteristic of the Germanic church in America. The result of this unusual and explosive demonstration of the spirit was that of interminable, irreconcilable and wrathful schisms and oppositions to the propriety of these measures, and the insinuation of such novelties into the church.
So violent and demonstrative became these controversial tilts that Rev. Winebrenner withdrew from the Reformed organization and its so-called "hypocrites and false professors." This separa- tion occurred about 1825. His views undergoing some material changes, he united with others in 1830, and formed an association composed of six preachers and some elders, and this assembly they called the First Eldership. He accepted what he called the apostolic plan, and established free and independent churches, "consisting of Christians only, without any human name or creed or laws!" and was at variance with authoritative constitutions, rit- uals, catechisms, discipline manuals, church standards, adopting the Bible alone as the only test and text book acceptable to the great Head of the Church.
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The membership are supposed to exemplify the morality they inculcate, and the Eldership wage incessant, headlong and persist- ent battle against wars, national conflicts, slavery, the fiends of in- temperance and the ogres who traffic in liquor.
This church was organized in Wooster, Ohio, in the month of May, 1848, by Elder A. Megrew, it then consisting of but 16 members. The officers chosen were Charles Hoff, Elder, and J. P. Winebrenner, Deacon.
The ministers appointed to the Wooster circuit for the ensuing year were Thomas H. Deshiri and H. Soule. In the autumn of 1849, Rev. Soule abandoned the circuit, going to Pennsylvania, when the Eldership released Rev. Deshiri, Mr. Megrew serving the year in their stead. On the 2d of January, 1850, Lewis H. Selby was elected as Elder, and William Tawney as Deacon. In the year 1850 Elder A. Megrew was stationed at Wooster to dis- pense the Gospel there and at Moreland, John Huff and S. P. Stuller, serving as Elders, and S. Keely and A. Hummer as Dea- cons.
June 27, 1850, the lot and Bethel were purchased of J. P. Winebrenner. On the 5th of July, 1850, five Trustees were ap- pointed. Rev. G. U. Harn commenced his pastoral labors April 1, 1851, preaching his first sermon Sabbath morning, April 20, 1851. Rev. Deshiri ministered to the congregation in 1852 and in 1853, in the latter year dividing his services with the Moreland and Dalton churches. In the succession, Elder John Heickernell appears next, and began his labors, April 1, 1854. After his ap- pointment to the Wooster charge conjointly with Rev. Harn, Elder L. B. Hartman on April 1, 1860, relinquished the same.
Agreeably to his appointment, Elder Martin Beck assumed the pastoral office, April 7, 1861, the following year preaching in Wooster and Smithville, and the one still following, in Wooster, resigning his labors, April 1, 1864. Simultaneously with the re- tirement of Rev. Beck, Elder A. H. Long assumed the ministerial function, remaining with the congregation for two years. On the 24th day of January, 1866, they rented their house to the United Presbyterian church, till they could erect a building of their own. April first, of the before mentioned year, Elder J. B. Soule com- menced his ministerial work, continuing in active service for sev- eral years. On the 30th of May, 1866, the officers of the church convened at the residence of William Shives and organized a church vestry. The Eldership of East Pennsylvania, on the 23d of Feb-
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ruary, 1869, appointed O. H. Betts to the Wooster Station, arriv- ing on the 2d of April, 1869, and at the expiration of less than a year he returned East again. The Vermillion chapel, of Ashland county, Ohio, appointed Elder M. Beck to assume charge of the church forthwith. His successor was G. W. Wilson, who preached his first sermon, October 16, 1870, resigning December 25, of the same year.
John A. Ploughman was next presented, assuming pastoral responsibilities, December 22, 1871. The present pastor (1878) is Rev. Little.
Their first church property was purchased for the sum of $69.50, by J. P. Winebrenner, from Lindol Sprague and John Hanna, administrators of the estate of James Clendennen. It was the old building, to the east of the present Bethel, where, in the pristine days, stood the old carding factory. It was repaired and fitted up for a church, and sold for that purpose for $530.
The new building was commenced in 1854, and finished in 1855, by David Atkins, contractor and builder, at an expense of $4,730. Its dimensions are about 45 by 65 feet, with a vestibule and base- ment above ground. The Sabbath-school and lecture-room are in the front part of the basement. The wood-work is tastefully grained with an oil finish, in imitation of English oak. The dedi- cation rites occurred August 5, 1855, before a large audience, the services conducted by Elder J. Winebrenner and Elder A. Swartz.
On the morning of the 7th of August, 1854, a serious accident occurred to the workmen employed on the structure. About ten o'clock the girders and rafters of about half of the building, with the men, quite suddenly fell-some the distance of nineteen feet- to the first floor, two passing between the joists of the first floor to the ground, a distance of twenty-eight feet. The citizens soon flocked to the theater of the disaster. The voices of pain, the mangled bodies, gashes and bruises presented a saddening specta- cle. Physicians soon arrived, and all were speedily cared for. The following is a list of casualties : Mr. - Henderson, of Milbrook, killed; John Cope, of Massillon, wounded; Henry Miller, hurt; Joseph Kimber, hurt; David Atkins, collar-bone broken; Henry Harris, badly bruised; Charles Pond, bone broken and bruised; John Hamicar, Charles Hickman, John Vanmeter, D. Baker, A. Hummer and a Mr. Smith, hurt.
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St. Mary's Church (Catholic).
St. Mary's church was built in 1847. The corner stone was laid in September of this year, Archbishop Purcell performing the ceremonies.
The first priest in charge was Father Campion, succeeded by Fathers Brennan, Haley, O'Neal, Arnold, Gallaher and Ankly, the latter taking control of the church October 27, 1865. When the building was erected there were but fifteen families in attend- ance, there being now over one hundred church-goers and prac- tical members.
In connection with the church there is a Sunday-school, with an average attendance at this time of 160. In 1864 a school- house was erected, under the auspices of Rev. J. F. Gallaher, and the school opened in the spring of 1865 with an attendance of 90 pupils. The routine of study is about the same as in the other schools of the city, with the exception that they introduce the catechism, which is an epitome, or abridgement, of their religion, inculcating a spiritual as well as a secular education.
The old burial-ground was south of the church and near to it, and was so occupied until January, 1871, when, on the tenth of that month, the first lot was sold in the new cemetery to Joseph Holland. In 1869 Father Ankly purchased these grounds from David Robison, Jr., paying therefor $200 per acre for ten acres.
The church is a two-story building of brick, twenty feet in the clear to the ceiling, the nave 34x65 inside, the sanctuary 18x26. A gallery extends the width of the building on the east end, where is situated the organ, put there in December, 1867, and played the first time by Gordon French, December 29, 1867. It was bought in Westfield, Mass., and cost $1,000. The bell was purchased in St. Louis, in 1866, weighing, with appendages, 3,500 pounds, and costing $1,400. It was consecrated on the 15th of July, 1866, and elevated to the tower on the following day. Bishop Rappe, of Cleveland, consecrated it, and Rev. S. Bauer, of Fremont, de- livered a festive oration.
St. James Episcopal Church.
The parish of St. James church, Wooster, was organized in December, 1840, by Hon. Levi Cox, J. W. Schuckers, Henry Leh- man, James Johnson, J. C. James, David Sloane, George James,
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John A. Holland, R. H. Catherwood and other associates, of Wooster and vicinity, who adopted the constitution and canons of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States of Amer- ica. The parish was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of the State of Ohio in February, 1841.
On the Ist day of February, 1841, the following persons were duly elected as Wardens and Vestrymen of said church: R. H. Catherwood, Senior, and J. W. Schuckers, Junior Wardens; and Henry Lehman, James Johnson and William Childs, Vestrymen; David Sloane, Treasurer ; and John A. Holland, Secretary.
April 26, 1841, the Rev. Ervin Miller, was called to the rector- ship of the parish, and entered upon the duties of his office on Whit-Sunday, of that year, holding service in the Court House until the 25th of December, 1841, when services were held for the first time in the new church edifice, on West South street, erected by said parish, on a lot donated by James L. Bowman and wife. Services continued to be held in said church until May, 1860, when the building was regarded as unsafe, and was abandoned and sold by the parish, and services held temporarily in the basement . of the English Lutheran church, and subsequently in "Arcadome Hall," until November 15, 1860, when their present church edi- fice, on the corner of Market and North streets, was completed, and services were held therein.
The first church edifice was consecrated in May, 1842, by Bishop McIlvaine, and the new Gothic in 1867, by assistant Bishop Bedell. The Rev. Orrin Miller resigned the charge of the parish in May, 1842, and Rev. J. Carpenter Smith was called to succeed him, and entered upon his official duties October, 1842, Rev. William Fagg temporarily supplying the parish for several months previous thereto. The Rev. J. Carpenter Smith remained in charge until March 11, 1844.
March 29, 1844, Rev. T. B. Fairchild accepted the charge, and officiated until October 20, 1845, when he resigned and was suc- ceeded by Rev. George Thompson, September 19, 1846, who of- ficiated until September 23, 1847, when he resigned and was suc- ceeded by Rev. J. M. Waite, January 15, 1849, who remained in charge, and officiated one year, and was succeeded by Rev. J. J. McElhenney in May, 1850, who remained in charge until May, 1852 ; the parish was then temporarily supplied by Rev. J. E. Pat- tison until April, 1854, when Rev. R. K. Nash accepted the charge and officiated therein until Easter, 1857.
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The church then remained without a Rector until February 28, 1858, when the Rev. James Trimble was called and accepted the charge, and officiated until March, 1864, when he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. J. McElrey, who remained in charge until April, 1866.
The church was then without regular services until October, 1867, when Rev. L. L. Holden was called and accepted the Rec- torship of the church, and continued until March, 1869, when he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. James Moore.
In 1869 and '70 the parish erected a two story frame building as a Rectory.
Rev. W. B. French is the present Rector of the church.
Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church.
This church was organized November 23, 1872, with a mem- bership of thirty-five. The St. James Episcopal church was rented for the use of the society, and the Rev. John Tonner, of Canton, was appointed first pastor. The first Official Board of the church was as follows: Stewards-Daniel Black, Henry C. Harris, C. M. Amsden, J. C. Koble, F. L. Parsons, John Van Meter, W. S. Ley- burn ; Trustees-D. Q. Liggett, B. Barrett, John H. Silvers, J. H. Carr, M. W. Pinkerton, J. B. Power, T. Y. McCray, M. K. Hard, C. V. Hard.
In the fall of 1873 Rev. John Whisler was appointed pastor, to succeed Rev. Tonner. During the next year it was determined to erect a new church edifice, and about the middle of June, 1874, work was inaugurated on the lot on the corner of North Market and Larwill streets, where a new and handsome church structure rapidly rose to completion. Its dimensions are 92 by 58 feet. The main audience-room has a seating capacity of 400, while the Sunday-school rooms in the rear can be added, so as to supply space for 200 more. The church was dedicated January 24, 1875.
The Rev. D. S. Gregory, D. D., of Wooster University, preached the first sermon in the new church, on the evening of January 23, and on the next day (Sabbath) the Dedicatory Sermon was preached by Rev. W. X. Ninde, D. D., of the North-western University, Evanston, Ill. The three years pastorate of Rev. John Whisler ended in the fall of 1876, and on the 18th of Sep- tember of the same year, Rev. W. G. Ward was appointed pastor.
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The church is in a prosperous condition, with a membership of nearly 200. The officers of the church are the same as those named, with the addition of J. C. France, S. S. Shilling and J. A. Gann, M. D., to the Board of Stewards.
THOMAS WOODLAND.
The earnest men are so few in the world that their very earnestness becomes at once the badge of their nobility .- Dwight.
It is not the men most opulently endowed by nature with brilliant intellects, or the genius of oratory, that in the rounded space of a human life achieve the greatest good. The history of the world from the beginning to the present time has emblazoned upon its roll of honor the deeds and doings of an illustrious army of plodding, faithful toilers and zealous men, with whom nature was not especially prodigal of her gifts, and who never sought the martyrdom of fame.
Life to them was not a passing dream, startled by apparitions of disappointment, and broken by spectres of gloom, but a settled and serious reality, accompanied with ever-recurring duties, which required for their performance a sturdy earnestness and unrelaxing zeal.
Conscious of their mission in the world, and with confidence in the brotherhood of man, their work became their delight, their labors their reward. The employment of their energies consisted not in an exclusive devotion to themselves, but to humanity, re- ligion, truth; and noble enterprises challenging the friction of their natures, their objects were largely and steadily advanced. They had no motive but duty, no ambition but its earnest fulfill- ment, and the fragrance of their quiet, useful lives breathes upon us through the summer violets upon their graves.
They achieved, and were better deserving the world's applause, and fame's sweet echo, than the brazen orators of the forum, the fulsome haranguers of the Senate, who ignore humanity and neg- lect mankind.
But history has saved for our delight and recollection the names of many of these earnest, silent toilers. With this class of en- thusiastic men, seeking the useful, advancing the right, tenderly contemplating the past, and sanguine of the future and the ulti- mate adjustment of all things to a universal standard of right, we
* Died since this was written.
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take leave to associate Thomas Woodland, a native of Chatham, County Kent, England, who was born May 15, 1803. Of a family of seven children, he is the only one remaining. A temperament such as his, a disposition so self-reliant, a mind so independent and so tenacious of its opinions-we were almost going to say, border- ing upon prejudice-with aspirations for a broader freedom and a vaster domain of thought and action, could not long submit to a policy of government that withheld a public right or restricted a personal privilege. It is but natural, therefore, that an individual, the subject of a government against which there existed such mental negations, should separate himself therefrom and turn to another, whose boon and promise is the utmost freedom to all.
Impelled by such considerations, the love of adventure, the desire to obtain a home, and to gratify his cherished and pre-con- ceived convictions of the grandeur of the great Republic, in the fall of 1832, at the age of twenty-nine, with his wife and two chil- dren, he made his exodus to the New World. On his arrival in New York he immediately sought employment, which he pro- cured. Here he tarried 18 months, during which time he con- nected himself with the Baptist church of the city of Brooklyn, then under the pastorate of a Welshman named Jacob Price, who had just arrived from Wales. And it was during this time that he made his first contribution to a public institution in America, viz: one dollar to Granville University.
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