USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 10
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The Jonathan Creek Church
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1865 the Goshen meetinghouse was built south of Zanesville. The records indicate that the so-called Helser house at Zion- town was used as the main center for the Jonathan Creek con- gregation. In 1878 they built another church east of Glenford; it was called Greenwood. The congregation was now growing. It had been reported that as early as 1868 they had tried to have a Sunday school. Services were usually held every month or sometimes twice a month, especially in the summer months. One is impressed with the deep conviction and devotion that these people must have had for their Lord when he considers the large amount of effort and work that was necessary to take a family to and from church at these various meetinghouses.
The church built here in 1855 was a very good one for its day. It was of the typical style being built by the Brethren at that time. By the time these church houses were being built, the congregation was beginning to take on a more permanent form. Soon services and communions began to be more regular. Diversified services, such as Sunday schools, music schools, mission movements, and evangelistic (protracted) meetings were held more frequently.
In the early 1880's this congregation was also hit by the divisions that were taking place over the Brotherhood. The group that left the congregation became affiliated with the Progressive Brethren movement. Thus both churches sought for more members and better leadership.
In 1889 the churches near Bremen united into one congre- gation and at that same time the Bremen congregation was transferred to Southern Ohio.
Fires, which were common in those days, were no re- specters of persons, and not even of churches. On Sunday afternoon, May 17, 1896, a spark from a nearby fire landed on the roof of the Greenwood church; it burned to the ground. The people rallied and immediately went to work. On the following Saturday a special council meeting was called, at which it was decided to set out at once to build another church at the same place. Solicitors were appointed in each of the three houses of the congregation, namely, Goshen, Greenwood, and Ziontown. It was also decided to go ahead with the communion in June, as planned. Another interesting record of that special council was that the insuring of the house at Ziontown was discussed. At that time many Brethren
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considered that insurance was wrong. It was a busy summer. The usual story took place, for when folks are busy for the Lord the church prospers. On Sunday, August 31, 1896, dedication services were held for the new church house. Quincy Leckrone preached the dedication sermon, assisted in the service by Samuel Orr and Elijah Horn.
The church continued to grow even though it might have been called a slow growth. More interest was being aroused. On May 8 and 9 of 1901, the members held a two-day council meeting. It was decided to divide the congregation into three separate congregations. Those members living near the lines of division would be permitted to put their membership into the church of their preference. A membership list that was recently found is believed to be the list of members at the time of that council. One hundred eleven members went with the Jonathan Creek church, the name to be retained by the Ziontown house; forty-seven went with the Greenwood church near Glenford; and forty-three went with the Goshen church south of Zanesville. Each church received one or more ministers in the division. Elijah Horn was in the Goshen church; Samuel Orr and Quincy Leckrone were in the Greenwood congregation; and Whitmore Arnold was with the Jonathan Creek (Ziontown) people.
By August of 1901 the Goshen congregation had expanded. A church house in White Cottage having been bought and remodeled, dedication services for it were held on that day, Quincy Leckrone preaching the dedication sermon with Elijah Horn assisting in the service. Services were held at both the Goshen and the White Cottage church. At the same council at which the members divided the congregation into three organizations, Frank Arnold was elected a minister; feeling that he could not serve in that capacity, he was not installed.
At a council meeting on August 13, 1904, the Jonathan Creek congregation decided to call two ministers. A. W. Dupler and Floyd Helser were elected. Brother Helser felt that he could not accept the call. At the next council held on October 8, 1904, Brother Dupler was installed. In August it was agreed to elect two deacons. However, the vote was so scattered that there was no election.
The last item of business at the August council was to appoint a committee to see about building a new church or
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to determine the cost of remodeling the old one. At the October 8 council, it was decided to try to build a new church and the drawing of plans was authorized. On January 21, 1905, it was decided to get a carpenter to estimate the cost for the frame of a building fifteen feet square. On April 1, 1905, final approval of the building project was given. Apparently the framing and the sheeting were to be donated and the total cost of the structure was not to exceed twenty-five hundred dollars. A committee composed of Clinton Helser, Marion Leckrone, and John Horn was appointed to oversee the razing of the old church house. C. F. Helser, David Helser, and A. W. Dupler were the planning committee for the new church building. Services during the summer and the next winter were held in the Fisher schoolhouse.
Special council meetings were called at various times in regard to building the new church. On October 28, 1905, the name Olivet, which had been suggested by A. W. Dupler, was selected for the new church house. On April 29, 1906, fifty-one years after the first church had been built on the same spot, the new church building was dedicated. E. S. Young preached the dedication sermon. For many years the church was still called Jonathan Creek. On December 12, 1922, the Secretary of the State of Ohio issued the official incorporation papers officially designating the name of the church as Olivet.
In 1907 Brother and Sister W. W. Dupler moved from the congregation. On August 18, 1917, at a regular council meeting, Albert D. Helser was called to the ministry and was installed. On August 4, 1921, the church voted to call Frank A. Meyers as pastor. A parsonage was bought from Ray Helser. Immediately the members of the church set out to improve it. Under the leadership of Brother Meyers the church did many things to move toward a fuller and more active program. He served the church three years and then moved to Pennsylvania. Albert D. Helser went with Stover Kulp to pioneer in a Brethren mission in Nigeria.
On July 1, 1924, Clyde Mulligan was installed as pastor. Under his leadership the church needed to expand its facilities. During 1927 and 1928 there was a remodeling program which consisted of putting in a partial basement and building a Sunday-school addition to the existent building. Dedication services for these enlarged facilities were held one Sunday in
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June 1928, with C. C. Ellis as the speaker. These improvements added life and zeal to the growing congregation. Brother Mulligan remained until 1934 when he was called to the pastorate at Hartville, Ohio.
One of the reasons for a more substantial growth was the fact that the Bremen church closed in 1925 and the Greenwood church in 1926. Some of the members from these two congregations began to attend regularly at Olivet.
On October 14, 1934, Wilbur Bantz was installed as pastor. During his time here, money was raised for the redecoration of the main auditorium. After about three years of service, Brother Bantz accepted the pastorate of a church in another district.
On August 1, 1937, the members voted to employ Brother Ora DeLauter as their pastor. The church cabinet voted on February 7, 1938, to recommend to the council that additional land be bought as the site of a parsonage. On February 7, 1938, the council authorized the trustees to purchase eight acres. A more adequate water system was provided for the parsonage. In October 1938 it was voted to hook up the parsonage and the church to the rural electrification lines so that the voltage would be that of the average power. On September 27, 1939, it was agreed to buy and use individual communion cups. These and other decisions were signs of an active program. Brother DeLauter served until 1943, when he became the director of Civilian Public Service Camp number 240-4, at Williamsport, Maryland; there he served concurrently as the fieldman for the Middle Maryland District.
In September of 1943 Brother Ralph Fry came to us as our pastor. The war years were on and people everywhere were moving here and there. This made for a period of unrest in our American life. Brother Fry served the church one year and then accepted a call to the pastorate of the church in Shepherd, Michigan.
After some months the church agreed to call Brother L. M. Baldwin of La Place, Illinois, to the pastorate. He came to Olivet the first of January 1945. It fell to his lot to get the members to cooperate and move forward with a more active program. The average attendance increased from seventy-nine in the Sunday school in 1945 to ninety-seven in 1948 and from eighty-one in the morning service to one hundred two.
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Brother Baldwin accepted a call to the Morrill church in Kansas and late in August 1948 moved to that field of service. A few days later Kenneth Hollinger with his family moved into the parsonage.
Brother Hollinger resigned the pastorate of the Olivet church on March 1, 1957, to accept a call to the New Paris church in Northern Indiana. During his term of service at Olivet many improvements were made to the parsonage and the church building. A new well provided for a more adequate water supply at the parsonage and at the church. A new
The Olivet Church
heating system was installed in the church. The platform in the sanctuary was raised and enlarged. The young people raised their own money to redecorate the basement and did much of the work. Rededication services were conducted by J. H. Mathis for these improvements on Sunday, August 6, 1950. The average church-school attendance and the attendance at morning worship increased. Brother Hollinger was a very active member of the mission board of the district.
Guy Fern assumed the pastorate on September 1, 1958. During the interval that the church was without a pastor, Paul Getz, a licensed resident minister, filled the pulpit. Brother Fern resigned in the spring of 1962 to go to
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Pennsylvania. A. B. Pierson became our pastor in July 1962, coming to Olivet from the Girard, Illinois, church. He is no newcomer to Northeastern Ohio, having pastored the Ashland Dickey church from 1958 to 1961.
The Olivet church put an addition sixteen by forty-two feet in size to the present building in 1961. This addition contains new restrooms, a women's fellowship room, a new stairway, and a hall on the first floor. The basement level contains a new kitchen and the pastor's study.
THE OWL CREEK CHURCH
In 1808, settlers began coming from Morrison's Cove, Pennsylvania, according to the histories of Knox and Richland counties. Among the early settlers were Henry Markley and John Brown and their families, who came from Pennsylvania in 1808 and located in Berlin Township, Knox County. John and Elizabeth Keeth Leedy and their family came in 1811. John Maltzbaugh came about 1815. It is believed that the Berringers and the Christopher Brolliers came about 1820. By that time there were quite a number of settlers in northern Knox and southern Richland counties, many of whom were German Baptists. Christopher Brollier erected and operated the first gristmill in the community.
It has been said of the German Baptist Brethren:
It was the habit of this society in those days, and part of their religious creed, "to feed the multitude" and they therefore held services every two or three weeks in the cabins of the members and invited everyone to come, spreading a large table with all the good things the soil and forest produced. The members of the society and the older people sat down to the table, after which everybody present was invited to the repast. When the wants of the "Inner Man" were satisfied and everybody [was] in good humor, the preaching began; everyone was in good condition to receive the Gospel and look favorably upon its teachings.
John Maltzbaugh organized the church in this community about 1823 with fifty to sixty members. Among the first were
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the Brolliers, Barringers, Brumbaughs, Henry Markleys, John Browns, John Leedys, Joseph Hetricks, Jacob Garbers, John Longs, and Daniel H. Grubbs. Abraham H. Leedy and wife and Martin Spohn and wife became members in 1832. Jacob and Nancy Brumbaugh Loos, Mary Cocanower, Jacob and Susannah Bosteter, and Susan Bosteter were among the members of 1836. Jacob and Susannah Burger, Henry Hess and wife, Samuel Spohn and wife, Andrew and Elizabeth Bechtel, David and Margaret Long, Abner Fidler, William Murray, and James Murray were here in 1855. Henry and Elizabeth Grubb Keller became members in 1858. John and Eva Snyder and Caleb and Nancy Price are listed in 1860.
In 1841 Henry B. Davy and Abraham Leedy were elected to the ministry. Later Henry Keller, Abner Fidler, and William Murray were elected. Others called to the ministry down through the years were Walter D. Keller and Willard Grant.
Among those who have been shepherds of the congregation are the following: John Maltzbaugh (who organized the society about 1823) presided from that date until his death on September 14, 1858. He was assisted by Jacob Garber, a minister who came from the East and who died in 1845. Abraham Leedy served the congregation from 1858 until his death in November 1869. Morgan Workman of the Loudonville church was the presiding elder from 1869 to 1875, assisted part of the time by Henry Keller and William Murray. After Elder Workman's death in 1875, Henry Keller had charge of the flock until his death on August 31, 1903. Samuel Montis, Columbus Workman of the Danville church, and Aaron Heestand were other leaders of the congregation in the early 1900's. More information about these early leaders and the early life of the church may be obtained from A History of the Church of the Brethren: Northeastern Ohio.
George S. Strausbaugh of Seneca County, having married one of Owl Creek's young ladies (Mabel Grubb), moved into the congregation in 1906 and was ordained to the eldership in October of that year. Except for the short time they lived in the Canton City church area, the Strausbaughs worked with the congregation in a faithful and self-sacrificing manner, while earning their livelihood on a farm, until the spring of 1926. Supply ministry was secured until J. D. Zigler and his
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family moved here in September 1927. They remained as our leaders until September 1934.
Ira Long of Akron served from February 1935 until midsummer of 1937. Martin Krieger, of near Baltic, came in January 1938 and pastored the church until August 1941. In the fall of 1941, Wilbert H. Miley became the pastor; he also taught school in nearby Bellville. He was followed in September of 1943 by Walter D. Keller, who, being raised in the congregation and, as a young man, called to the ministry by it, returned to be its pastor after serving a number of churches during the intervening thirty-five years. After Brother Keller retired in September 1950, Floyd C. Emrick, a graduate of Bethany Seminary, came. In addition to being our pastor, Brother Emrick taught school for several winters and for a time was the chaplain of the Mt. Vernon state hospital; in the fall of 1956 he terminated his pastorate. On September 4, 1956, Waldo E. Kinsel, also a graduate of Bethany Seminary, moved with his family into the parsonage and began his work as full-time pastor.
The first place of worship for this congregation was built in 1854. Prior to that time, services were conducted in private homes and in schoolhouses. The new building was dedicated by John Maltzbaugh, who was assisted by H. B. Davy and Daniel Hetrick. It was then known as the Owl Creek German Baptist Brethren church. Later the name was changed to the present one. The Knox County history of 1881 states: "The German Baptists built a church about 1850. It was a substantial frame building 40 x 60 feet, about one-fourth mile north of Ankenytown. . .. " In 1899 the old church was replaced by a new and commodious one, which was dedicated October 22, 1899. Twenty-five new and well-built sheds were erected to shelter horses.
In 1931, during the pastorate of J. D. Zigler, a plan was worked out for a circle drive around the church. This also called for a change in the main entrance to the sanctuary. A vestibule was built on the east side and the pulpit was placed where the main entrance had been.
Early in 1942, Pastor W. H. Miley presented a plan for additional church-school rooms and a balcony. A second floor was built over the three rooms at the rear of the church and a forced-air heating system was installed. Sometime in the
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mid-forties the horse sheds were removed and a row of pine trees was planted on the west.
In the fall of 1949, during the pastorate of W. D. Keller, additional ground was purchased to the west of the church for a parsonage site. Members and friends donated timber for the frame and finish lumber as well as much labor in the construction of the parsonage. It was completed late in the fall of 1950 and dedicated by David R. McFadden of Smithville on July 22, 1951.
On July 18, 1955, during Floyd Emrick's pastorate, work
The Owl Creek Church
was begun once more to make the facilities at Owl Creek more nearly adequate. The church was raised and a full basement with a fellowship hall, a kitchen, restrooms, and an oil heating system was installed.
In the spring of 1957, while Waldo Kinsel was our pastor, new entrances to the north and the east were erected. The following spring an attractive baptistry was built in the basement. Most of the work and some of the materials for these projects were donated by members and friends of the congregation. Rededication services were held on October 20, 1957, with Vernon F. Schwalm as the principal speaker.
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THE PAINESVILLE CHURCH
As a very fitting climax to the 1954 district conference the home mission board announced plans to begin a new fellowship in Painesville.
On November 20, 1954, the district had the inspiring experience of laying the cornerstone for the chapel. During the winter months the parsonage-chapel was completed. In April of 1955 Arthur H. Hess was secured to be the first pastor. After Annual Conference of that year a vacation church school was held with over sixty enrolled. Public worship began on June 23, 1955, at the close of vacation school, with an attendance of approximately twenty-five persons.
On Sunday afternoon, July 17, 1955, dedication services were held with Edward K. Ziegler as speaker.
During the following four years, church-school classes were held in the parsonage basement and the parsonage garage. Attendance at morning worship increased, and soon new pews were added.
In the fall of 1959 the church voted to proceed with the construction of the educational unit. After eight months of planning and many hours of labor donated by the members, the building was completed at a cost of sixty-five thousand dollars. The dedication services for the first unit were held on June 26, 1960, Galen B. Ogden, the executive secretary of the Ministry and Home Mission Commission, being the speaker. Two units remain to be built - a fellowship hall designed to
First Units of the Painesville Church
The Painesville Church
seat three hundred persons and a sanctuary planned to provide a worship center for three hundred fifty persons.
Seeking to serve a growing community, the congregation inaugurated duplicate worship services in October 1962.
The membership of the Painesville church as of October 1962 is one hundred forty.
THE PARADISE CHURCH
The Church of the Brethren was organized in Greene Township, Wayne County, in 1826. It was the third church to be organized in the township, in which the first settlement was made in 1811. In the spring of 1811, Michael Thomas, with his wife and seven children, migrated from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and settled on the Bechtel farm west of Orrville, which is now owned by John Baab.
The settlement at Georgetown along State Route Five near the East Chippewa church occurred a little later the same year. Here was a clearing of from eight to ten acres, the site of an Indian village, where for many years numerous herbs used by the red man for medicine were to be found growing in profusion. This was also the site of the Leisure house, which was from 1877 to 1880 a meeting place of the Orrville church.
During the first years after the church was organized, Sunday worship services were held at the farm home of John Shumaker, north of Smithville, presently owned by Menno Kaufman.
In 1841, the group erected a brick building on a plot of ground two and a half miles southeast of Smithville along what is now County Road 44 at its intersection with County
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Road 29 near the settlement called Paradise. The plot of ground was donated to the church by Elder Cyrus Hoover, being a part of the farm on which he lived; this farm is presently owned and occupied by a great-granddaughter and her family, Mr. and Mrs. Heber Buchwalter. In 1873, bricks from this building were used in the foundation of a new frame building on the same lot, just north of the original church.
This building was rebuilt in 1898. Again in 1952 it was extensively remodeled, a full basement with modern conveniences and more classrooms being added.
During the summer months of 1874, Solomon King organized the Paradise union Sunday school for the entire community. It was in session during the summer months only until 1900, when it became a permanent organization.
Because the worshipers came from a widespread territory, a decision was made in 1877 to divide the church into three congregations - Orrville, Chippewa, and Wooster. The latter group remained at the original location with Morgan Workman the first elder. There were about one hundred charter members, among whom were two ministers, Cyrus Hoover and D. M. Irvin.
Services were also held in the Moscow Baptist church along Route 30 from 1877 to 1879, when a house of worship was purchased and called the Fountain Hill church. Here services were held every two weeks until the autumn of 1906, when they were discontinued because the condition of the house was such that it could not be heated comfortably during the winter.
In 1879, Cyrus Hoover was ordained and given oversight of the Wooster church. He worked efficiently in that capacity until his death in 1901, after which Eli Holmes was chosen to preside. Resident ministers were D. M. Irvin, David Smith, D. M. Brubaker, A. I. Heestand, and R. M. Moomaw, the latter being the first minister called to the pastoral office as the church moved from the free to the paid ministry. Since then the church has been served in this capacity by the following ministers: W. D. Fisher, George Sheets, Edward M. Culler, Charles H. Deardorff, Thomas E. Shoemaker, and Willard L. Grant, who is the present pastor. Those recorded as having been elected to the ministry in more recent years are W. Glenn McFadden, Carl Showalter, and Harold Showalter.
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When members of the River Brethren Church came from the Susquehanna River Valley of Pennsylvania in 1843 to settle in the community, they became the sixth church to organize in Greene Township. They built a church in the village of Smithville, on the corner of a plot of ground where there is now a small cemetery and on the spot where the water tank stands. Acquiring an interest in the Paradise union church about 1900, they discontinued services in their church in Smithville. Their services were held one Sunday a month
The Paradise Church
while Church of the Brethren services were held three Sundays a month. This arrangement continued until 1937, when the Wooster Brethren church became the sole owners of the property by purchasing the River Brethren interest. Thus ended many years of congenial association of the two faiths.
The decision to change the name from the Wooster church to the Paradise church was made in 1948, the purpose being to clarify the location.
In 1947 a home on South Summit Street in Smithville was purchased and has since then been the parsonage.
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