History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 102

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

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Methodism in America followed closely in the wake of civilization. Some- times it preceded it, the itinerant preacher being the first pioneer. In Columbus it was contemporary with the origin of the city, with which it has maintained a steady and uniform growth. Columbus was laid out in 1812, and became the seat of the State government in 1816, in which year also it was incorporated as a borough. Between these dates Methodism began its existence in this city. It owes its introduction to a zealons layman. This honor belongs to the memory of George McCormick. He was a carpenter by trade, and enjoyed the distinction of taking part in erecting the first Statehouse. He induced Methodist ministers to come and preach here as early as the year 1812. Two or three little clearings had by that time been made in the forests and swamps on the east bank of the Scioto, one of these being near the foot of what is now Rich Street. As in most other

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places, the first Methodist services were held in the people's homes. Among the earliest preachers who visited this locality was Rev. Samuel West, then serving the Delaware Circuit, in 1813. The nucleus of an organization was formed Decem- ber 20, 1813, in the appointment of a Board of Trustees, consisting of George McCor- mick, Peter and Jacob Grubb, John Brickell and George B. Harvey. About the same time the first class or society was formed. It had only four members, viz : George McCormick and wife, George B. Harvey and Jane Armstrong. Moses Freeman, a negro, was the next person to join it.

This was the germ from which, as the years have rolled on, the many and strong societies of Methodism in the capital of Ohio, have successively been propagated. At first its growth was slow and feeble. The early Methodists of Columbus were an humble folk. They were very poor, were burdened with debt, and did not hold social rank with the Presbyterians and other denominations. Some personal notice of the members of this first class will be interesting.

George McCormick was for years the pillar of the rising Methodist temple. He owned a little farm which lay east of the town and comprised the present site of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the adjacent territory. Still west of where that Institution now stands lay McCormick's apple-orchard, and adjoin- ing it a wheatfield. At present his tract of land would be worth roundly a million of dollars, or more. Shortly after the organization of this Methodist Society, George B. Harvey and Jane Armstrong were married, which is said to have been the first marriage solemnized in Columbus. The descendants of this worthy couple are found among Columbus Methodists to this day. Some years later Moses Freeman went as Missionary to Liberia, Africa. He was a devout man, of fair ability for his opportunities, and died in devotion to the cause of Christ and of his oppressed race in that inhospitable clime.

Returning to the history of this infant society, it is worthy of mention that the proprietors of the city, John Kerr, Lyne Starling, Alexander Mclaughlin and James Johnston, donated a lot to each of the three denominations then in the field, viz .: the Presbyterian, the Episcopal and the Methodist Episcopal. The lot was selected on which the Public School Library stands. One of the conditions of the donation was that whenever the property ceased to be used for religious purposes, the Church Trustees were to pay to the donors, or their heirs, $250 for the lot, with interest thereon from date of conveyance in 1814. In May, 1890, the entire property was sold to the City School Board, to be converted into a library building, for $30,000, the congregation reserving the use of the lecture room and parsonage one year. This action has induced John M. Kerr, a descendant of one of the original grantors, to begin suit for 841.66, his share of the $250, which at inter- est at six per cent. from date, amounts to $231.45. Including all the heirs, the debt would be about 82,500. But, as we understand it, the claim is groundless, the courts having repeatedly held in similar cases, that where property is thus sold to be re-invested in a new church by the same society it comes within the meaning of the donor as originally expressed. We await with interest the decision of the courts in this instance.

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The first church building on this site was an nnpretentious structure built of hewed logs. The records of the trustees indicate that the building cost $157.53}. This sum had been raised by subscription and probably required as much effort as it would now to raise one hundred times that amount. The building was occupied as a place of worship in 1815, but evidently was not finished, as the records show that on September 29, 1817, the trustees appointed a committee "to have the meetinghouse chinked, daubed, and underpinned, and to appoint a suitable person to keep it in order." As this was before the days of public schools and school- houses, this church was nsed for school purposes also for some years, the little society receiving a small rental from that source. William T. Martin, the father of our respected citizen, Benjamin F. Martin, was the teacher in this humble institution of learning.

The population of the infant capital was now 700. The congregation and society were also increasing, as is evidenced by the fact that on April 14, 1818, measures were taken for "enlarging the meetinghouse." This was done by cut- ting out the rear end, and adding a frame extension, of thirty feet, making the whole building fifty feet long. The log part was then weather-boarded also, and the whole of it finished inside. In September of that year, we find that a bill of $360 for " completing the meeting house " was allowed by the trustees. The mem- bership, colored as well as white, continued to increase, and in 1823 the former had grown strong enough to organize independently for themselves, forming the society of what is now the St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church on Long Street.

Moderate prosperity still attended the little flock, and in 1825, Jacob Grubb, Nathaniel Mclain and Henry Matthews, having secured a subscription of $1,300, it was deemed "expedient to build a new brick church, 60 feet long, 45 feet wide and of sufficient height to admit of a gallery." The old wooden building was accordingly removed and a good brick structure was erected on the site, which was used for worship the following year. This building was named Zion Church, by which it was known until 1853. The society went beyond its means in building and the house remained unfinished until 1837. It was not even plastered and for a long time its seating facilities consisted of planks laid upon squarecut blocks for sup- port. While in this unfinished state, the annual session of the Ohio Conference was held here, among its attendants being several converted Wyandot Indians from Upper Sandusky. In finishing up the account of the various buildings which this society has occupied, we may add that in 1836 they secured a lot on Third Street, between Rich and Main streets, and a few years later built a parsonage which was exchanged in 1849 for a lot adjoining the hourch, on the east side, and on which they built the present brick parsonage in 1850. The third church building, which is the one recently sold, was built in 1852-3. While it was in process of erection the society was permitted to hold services in the City Hall. This church also was occupied before it was complete, only the basement being used at first, and even it remained unplastered for years. This state of things indicates that though in numbers there was substantial increase, yet in means the society remained poor. For many years collections were taken to pay off the debt of

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Town Street Church, and during a part of that time the Conference even appointed an agent for that purpose .. But it has proved in the end an immense investment for Methodism, in the Conference and in the entire State, and it was perhaps wiser to venture as they did than to have waited till they were more able, inasmuch as their necessity drove them to greater endeavors. At this writing (1891) the society is pushing to rapid completion their new church-the chapel portion-on the corner of Town and Eighteenth streets. It will be a beautiful and commodious structure of brick and stone, costing 817,000. This will meet the wants of the people for some years to come, and the main portion of the build- ing will be erected when needed. Among those especially active in this enter- prise are H C. Lonnis, E. W. Seeds, and George Bellows. The fourth church will still be "Town Street," so that the mother of Columbus Methodism will not change her name though she does her location.

Let us now go back to the beginning and review the men of God who wrought as spiritual builders in these material churches. This society constituted a part of a circuit from its origin until 1830, when it became a station. The circuits were so often changed in their geographical limits in those days that it is hard to trace its name from year to year. At first it was on the Delaware Circuit; sometimes it was on the Columbus Circuit ; again it was called the Scioto Circuit; and at still other times it was known as the Pickaway Circuit. But the roll of its pas- tors is accurately known. Rev. Samuel West effected its organization and acted as pastor until the Conference of the year 1814. He was a man of average culture for those days, and was a popular secondrate preacher. Having a wife and two children to support, he was driven to resign his ministry early in life, or, in Meth- odist terminology, to " locate." He bought a little farm near Batavia and lived many years in Cincinnati. Isaac Pavey was bis successor as pastor, serving dur- ing the years 1814-5. He was not a very strong preacher but was a man of irreproachable character. Like many others of those times, want of means caused him to locate early and he settled near Leesburg, in Highland County, Ohio. Jacob Hooper was the next pastor during the years 1815-16. He was a good cir- cuit preacher, very diffident yet useful. Years afterward Brother Hooper was col- league with Joseph M. Trimble on the Atbens Circuit, and although an elderly man, he wanted this boy preacher to assume the charge of the work because " he was a college graduate." William Swayze was next appointed to the circuit for two years in succession. During 1816-17, Simon Peter was his companion in labors, and in 1817-18, Lemuel Lane was his colleague. Swayze was a very popular preacher and a great revivalist. The membership of the circuit is returned for these two years as respectively, 642 and 846. How many of these belonged to the city appointment we have no means of ascertaining.

In 1818-19, John Tevis and Leroy Swormstedt served the circuit. It was this year that the first church was enlarged. Tevis was a fine preacher whose wife was a scholarly lady. He afterwards located and established a Female Seminary at Shelbyville, Kentucky, called Science Hill Academy, which became a very popular institution for many years. Doctor Swormstedt, as he afterward became, was twice thereafter returned to the circuit but with several years intervening

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between his pastorates. He had systematic habits with fine business qualifica- tions, and was an excellent preacher. His life reeord shows that he served twelve years on eireuits and prominent stations, six years as presiding elder and twenty- four years as assistant or principal agent of the Western Book Concern. IIe died August 27, 1863. For the year 1819-20, John Tevis and Peter Stephens were the associated pastors. Next in 1820-21, we find Russel Bigelow and Horace Brown, and then in 1821-22, Russel Bigelow and Thomas McCleary. Russel Bigelow was a prinee among pulpit orators. When nineteen years old he came with his parents from Vermont to Worthington, Ohio. He joined the Ohio Conference in 1814. He was about thirty years of age when he preached in Columbus. In 1827 he went as a missionary to the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where his labors were attended with great success. After a few years, however, his health failed and he was appointed chaplain of the Ohio Penitentiary in 1835. But he continued rapidly to decline and died in this city July 1, 1835, in his forty- third year. His dust rests in Green Lawn Cemetery, marked only by a fallen marble slab. The only tribute which we need to pay to his power and eloquence is to quote Bishop Thomson : " As a preacher I have yet to hear his equal."

In 1822-3 Charles Waddle and Henry S. Fernandes were in charge, and in 1823-4 Charles Waddle and Alfred M. Loraine. Waddle was a zealous, revivalistic preacher, but perhaps was not always wise in his judgment. Fernandes was reputed a man of solid worth. Lorain had been a sailor and published a volume of sermons dedicated to seamen. His illustrations in preaching were drawn almost entirely from marine life. The membership of the circuit, which varied from year to year, often as the circuit itself was changed, is now reported at 1,178.

In 1824-5 Leroy Swormstedt and Joseph Carper were the pastors, and in 1825-6 Joseph Carper and John H. Power were in charge. Carper was a man of unusual ability. He was popular with the people and very full of religious and business zeal. His son, the Hon. Homer Carper, of Delaware, Ohio, is still living, as is also his daughter. Power, also, was an acceptable man.

In 1826-7 Samuel Hamilton and Jacob Young served the work. Jacob Young was a man of great intellectual ability and was instrumental in the conversion of multitudes. He had great influence among his brethren, who honored him several times as a delegate to the General Conference. He was con- nected with an Annual Conference for more than fiftyfive years, and died saying, " sweet heaven, sweet heaven," September 16, 1860, at Columbus, in his eighty- fifth year. His dust lies in Green Lawn.

In 1827-8 Samuel Hamilton and J. W. Myxon were the pastors, and in 1828-9 Leroy Swormstedt and Gilbert Blue. In 1829-30 John W. Clarke and Adam Poe were in charge. Clarke was an excellent man. For many years he was a presid- ing elder and always commanded universal respect both by his ability and his integrity. IIe died suddenly in Pickaway County, August 5, 1862.

? Adam Poe was one of the noted men of Ohio Methodism. In early life he was a Presbyterian, but doctrinal objections led him into the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was admitted into the Ohio Conference in 1827. He spent seven years of his ministerial life on circuits, six on stations, ten as presiding elder, eight

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years as assistant agent in the Western Book Concern, and eight more as principal. Seven times in succession he was elected to the General Conference. Ile was almost the prime mover in founding the Ohio Wesleyan University, and was one of its trustees from the beginning to his death, June 26, 1868. It was under the lahors of Doctor Poe that Doctor William Nast, the father of German Methodism, was converted.

In 1830 Columbus was made a station and Thomas A. Morris was appointed to take charge of Methodism here. He remained but one year. In April of 1831 Joseph M. Trimble, who was then in charge of the Chillicothe Circuit, came to Town Street Church at Brother Morris's invitation to assist him in holding a revival. In those early days of grace and power protracted meetings did not run into the length of weeks and months that they do now. People were less accus- tomed to hearing the Gospel, and they acted more promptly. Brother Trimble preached twice on Sabbath, twice on Monday and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. On Monday the descent of the spirit was felt in power and until Thursday night the work of God was wonderful. Within five days ninety persons united with the church on probation and most of them were converted. The first year the membership was almost doubled and the pastor reported to Conference 320 members.

Thomas A. Morris was a chaste, sincere preacher, who often grew sublimely eloquent. He was born April 28, 1794, near Charleston, West Virginia. His early training was in the Baptist Church but when about nineteen he joined the Metho- dists. He was admitted into the Ohio Conference in 1816, and served various cir- cuits, stations and districts until 1834, when he was appointed the first editor of the Western Christian Advocate. He was elected delegate to the General Confer- ence in 1824 and was honored with a reelection every four years until and includ- ing 1836 when he was chosen bishop. In this office he discharged his duties faith - fully and efficiently until he broke down in health. He died at Springfield, Ohio, September 2, 1874.

The next pastor of Town Street was Robert O. Spencer, who served during the year 1831-2. He was a man of marked modesty, piety and industry. Ile was the son of Oliver M. Spencer, a wholesale merchant of Cincinnati. At the age of eighteen he joined the Ohio Conference and traveled as an itinerant fifty years. His devotion to study and private prayer made him very effective in the ministry. He conducted the great revival at Athens, Ohio, in 1827, when, among others, Bishop Ames and Doctors Joseph M. Trimble, II. J. Clark and William Herr, students at the Ohio University, were converted. Russel Bigelow was stationed as pastor of Town Street from 1832-3 to 1833-4. His health failed toward the close of the second year, and Leonard B. Gurley filled out the unexpired term. The church reported 374 members at the elose of Bigelow's first year. Though Doctor Gurley served but a few months as pastor it should be said in honor of his memory that he was one of the sweet, saintly men of earth. He was a prose poet and a very eloquent preacher. After a long and honored career he closed his earthly labors in his pleasant home at Delaware, Ohio, in the year 1880. Edward W. Sebon was the pastor during the years 1834-5 and 1835-6, till about the middle of

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his second year, when he broke down, and Leonidas L. Hamline was sent to fill out the year. Sehon was a West Virginian by birth, educated at the Ohio University. He joined the Ohio Conference in 1829. He was a man of fine delivery and a pop- ular preacher. When the division on the slavery question came in 1844 he went off with those of his sympathies to the Church South. Leonidas Lent Hamline was born in Connecticut, May 10, 1797. Coming to Ohio he studied law and was admitted to the bar at Lancaster. He was practicing in Zanesville when the death of his little daughter, in 1828, led to his conversion. He united with the Church and was received on trial in the Ohio Conference in 1832. After filling out the year at Town Street he was appointed assistant editor of the Western Christian Advocate, and when the Ladies' Repository was established in 1841 he was made editor of that magazine. In 1844 he was elected a bishop, filling the office with great acceptability till 1852, when he resigned it because of poor health, and was, at his own request, placed on the list of superannuated preachers of the Ohio Con- ference. He was a finished pulpit orator and a writer of the best diction. For eight years preceding his death he was a great sufferer. He passed away in peace at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, February 22, 1865. The next pastor was Joseph Carper, 1836-7. He was followed by Joseph A. Waterman (1837-8), a good preacher and a well-informed man. He was feeble in body but his pulpit ministrations were highly appreciated. He reported 260 members- sixty less than were left by Thomas A. Morris in 1830.

William Herr then served the Church two years. The people enjoyed his ministry. He left a membership of 278. William Herr was educated at the Ohio University and was converted in the celebrated revival of 1827 at Athens. He is still living in a green old age at Dayton, Ohio, loved and respected by all.

Joseph M. Trimble was sent as pastor to Town Street in the fall of 1840, serv- ing it two years. Under his labors the church was blest with a most interesting revival of religion and 172 were added to the membership, bringing it up to a total of 450. For several years following this revival the church continued to grow. The society looked much to the coming of Joseph M. Trimble as their pastor, to give them some of the much coveted social prestige of others. Besides being an able financier and a powerful preacher, he was the son of Governor Allen Trimble, who was converted and added to the church through his instru- mentality after hearing him preach his first sermon years before. This social expectation and requirement of the people was embarrassing to young Trimble, who wisely admonished the people not to look to him but to God for his blessing and to themselves for worthy character which could not be spoken against, but would adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things. Doubtless, however, the presence and work in the city of this gifted son of the honored Governor of Ohio had much to do indirectly in removing those prejudices which were unworthily entertained against the early Methodists while it was a "sect everywhere spoken against."

The eightythird anniversary of Doctor Trimble's birth was appropriately cel- ebrated on the evening of April 15, 1890, in the parlors of the Broad Street Church. The following ineidents in his life were narrated on this occasion by Rev. J. L. Grover :

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After graduating at the Ohio University at Athens, in 1828, in a very short time he was admitted to the Ohio Annual Conference and immediately commenced his life work with a degree of enthusiasm that marked his entire ministry. He traveled three circuits, involving a vast amount of labor and exposure. with astonishing results. He spent thirteen years in stations ; was presiding elder in Columbus, Chillicothe, Zanesville, Marietta and Lancaster districts. For five years he filled a professor's chair in Augusta College, Kentucky. For four years he served as second General Conference Missionary Secretary for the West, doing a vast amount of travel and labor in the different fields embraced in his department. For thirtyone years he has been a member of the General Conference Missionary Society. For nineteen years he has served as financial agent of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Dela- ware. Much of the time he has been a member of the Board of Trustees, and for years its president. In 1834 he was elected Secretary of the Ohio Annual Conference, and continued to fill the position for the unprecedented period of thirtyone years. He was also elected Sec- retary of the General Conference for two consecutive terms. In 1844 he was elected a delegate to the General Conference, and has continued to be a delegate to that body every consecutive conference up to the present time, a fact having no parallel in the annals of Methodism in this or any other country. Moreover, during all these years, winter and summer, without intermission, he was preaching the glad tidings of salvation to the crowds that heard him gladly.

Dr. Trimble made a happy response, giving some account of his early life and work in the ministry. He had received sixtytwo appointments in the Ohio Con- ference.

David Whitcomb became pastor of the church in the fall of 1842, serving with great acceptability one year and then taking charge of the district as Presiding Elder. He was one of nature's noblemen, genial, witty and wise. Converted while working at the saltwells of Virginia, he studied under all the disadvantages of such a life and became an intelligent man. He delighted in polemics and as a controversialist bad few equals. Doctor Trimble said he was the best versed in Scripture of any man he ever knew. Many are the anecdotes still lingering in the minds of the aged of Whitcomb's ready repartee and adaptation to emergen- cies.

At this time we find that the official members of Town Street Church were George McCormick-patriarch of the veteran host-William Armstrong, John Whitsell, C. Crum, Francis Crum, Charles Breyfogle, Joseph Fitzwater and & A,S, Decker. Among those added to the church in 1841 and who still are active, are Michacl Halm, Thomas Aston and William Arnold. William Arm- strong is now in his ninetythird year. He was one of the few in those early days who had some financial strength.

The population of Columbus in 1840 was 6,487. The limits of the town may be conceived when we remember that the house now occupied by Mrs. Ferson on East Town Street, then an Academy for Ladies, was quite in the country.

At the conference of 1843 two men were appointed to Town Street with the hope of enlargement by creating a new society, but no such division occurred ; they were John Miley and Abraham Wambaugh. The latter became a member of the Cincinnati Conference at its creation, and filled such charges as Milford, Ripley, Springfield, Cincinnati and Avondale. He died August 14, 1873. John Miley was reappointed for the year 1844-5. He was, and is to this day, a strong

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 102

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202