USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 12
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It was slow work trying to start a Sunday school in a community where many of the people were in the habit of spending their Sundays at ballgames or in saloons. Sometimes there were eight people present and the offering might amount to ten cents.
Early in 1916, N. A. Kaercher, having had the experience of closing his eyes expecting to be shot as he stood against a brick wall in Mexico with several other men and then opening them to find himself a free man, decided that he would like to do something definite to help the people of his community. He learned that the schoolhouse in Woodworth would be sold. In May he bought the property, including an acre of valuable land and the well-constructed brick building, for one thousand dollars. He then arranged with J. I. Byler, the superintendent of the Mennonite mission in Youngstown, to be responsible for the Sunday afternoon services for a period of six months. At the same time William Krepps of Woodworth was secured to be the superintendent of the Sunday school.
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The work continued on this basis until the latter part of 1917. The attempt to maintain a union church seemed to be unsuccessful, or at least not satisfactory, regardless of the faithful service of Mr. Byler and Mr. Krepps. The people then realized that they needed a definite organization to take over the work. Four different denominations were approached to take charge of it, but none of them seemed interested.
Brother Garver talked to many of the neighbors about the beliefs and principles of the Church of the Brethren and distributed church literature among them. After a time it was decided to call in a minister to preach on the doctrines of the
D. N. and Martha Garver
Brethren and then to attempt an organization. O. P. Haines of Cerro Gordo, Illinois, was secured to hold a three-week series of meetings.
The services began on January 22, 1918, and continued until February 9. As a result, thirty-two people from eleven different creeds were baptized, the first of whom were Mr. and Mrs. Byler. The following summer eight or ten more were received into the church by baptism and letter.
The memory of the first love feast was very sacred to those who participated. About sixty persons, including the new
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members and some visitors from the Bethel and Zion Hill congregations, surrounded the Lord's table.
On February 9 of that year an organization was effected and named the Woodworth Church of the Brethren. It was decided to hold a morning and an evening service each Sunday. Then Brother Byler was elected to and ordained to the ministry. J. F. Kahler was elected elder-in-charge.
The charter members of the church were the following: Mr. and Mrs. D. N. Garver, Mr. and Mrs. L. S. Garver, Paul N. Garver, Ruth Garver, Esther Garver, Mr. and Mrs. J. I. Byler, Mr. and Mrs. L. F. Arner, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Myron Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Arner, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cole, Stacy Jackson, Louella Jackson, Mrs. Lois Hitchcock, Ross Hitchcock, Ray Hitchcock, Alice Hitchcock, Mildred Hitchcock, Mrs. Susan Steele, Lydia Steele, Irma Ackerman, Mary Arner, Charles Cluse, Marietta Little, Mrs. Goldie Conry, Adelaide Conry, Eleanor Conry, William Hilliah, Emery Arner, Alice Benson, and Elsie Griffith.
The first offering for worldwide missions was taken on May 26, 1918.
In the spring of 1920 the trustees of the church met with N. A. Kaercher and persuaded him to transfer the deed of the church property to the Church of the Brethren. (Mr. Kaercher, not a member of the Church of the Brethren, had previously offered the property to any denomination that practiced immersion as its form of baptism.) The church was dedicated in June of the same year, O. P. Haines preaching the dedicatory sermon.
The years 1920 and 1921 brought many changes to us. The road past the church was improved. Electric lights replaced the old gasoline lights. In 1921 a basement, which provided space for two classrooms, was dug and a furnace was installed in it. The church bought pews from the Presbyterian church in Columbiana. Ruth Shriver conducted our first daily vacation church school in the summer of 1921.
After Pastor Byler terminated his services in August of 1922, the work was divided among three resident ministers, E. G. Diehm, Jonas Horst, and J. L. Mahon. This arrangement continued until November 11, 1923, when Brother Diehm was
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elected pastor. Brother Byler became the elder-in-charge that same fall.
The year 1923 brought more improvements to the church. Stained-glass windows, opal and blue, displaced our "school- house" windows. Our organ having become unsatisfactory because of its condition, a piano was purchased.
In the summer of 1924, George Flory of Roanoke, Virginia, held a revival in a large tent which was pitched on the church grounds. The tent was filled to capacity every night. Many people gave their lives to Christ; thirty-four united with the Church of the Brethren by baptism, while others united with other denominations.
On the first of November 1926 John P. Harris from Saxton, Pennsylvania, became our first full-time pastor. In the spring of 1927 a parsonage was built on the western side of the church lot; it was dedicated on August 26, with Galen B. Royer preaching the dedicatory sermon. In September 1929, Brother Harris discontinued his pastorate. The parsonage was then rented and the work of the church was divided among four of our available ministers, Jonas Horst, E. G. Diehm, A. W. Harrold, and C. A. Helm. On November 10, 1929, Brother Diehm was ordained as an elder.
The conducting of the Sunday morning services continued to be divided among Brethren Diehm, Horst, and Helm (Brother Harrold having dropped out of the arrangement) until 1932, when Brother Diehm was asked to be responsible for all the services. Because he understood the acute economic conditions of all the members and because he was teaching, he acceded to a unique arrangement for his salary from the church. The schedule which was set up in 1930 was continued: the offering the first Sunday went for missions; the second Sunday toward the retirement of the parsonage debt; the third Sunday to current expenses, and the fourth Sunday to the minister. The fifth-Sunday offerings were given to the custodian. Under this arrangement the church balanced its budget.
During these years of an unobligated financial program and a growing attendance at the Sunday morning services, the church decided to start a fund for building an addition to the church house. The members contributed as freely as they could and the community was canvassed for donations. The
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support given being sufficient to warrant action, on August 6, 1933, ground was broken for the addition; the work of construction followed closely.
For the summer of 1938, the pastoral committee secured the services of Clarence H. Rosenberger, a graduate of Juniata College, who was to enter Bethany Biblical Seminary in September. From September 1938 to March 1939 the pulpit was supplied by various ministers of the district while candidates for the position of full-time pastor were being investigated. Wilmer Kensinger came to Woodworth for a three-month trial period, but did not decide to locate here permanently.
It was while Brother Kensinger was here that the long-dreamed-of day arrived - the day when the congregation would move into the new church auditorium. The work had progressed slowly, but it had progressed. Many hours of volunteer labor had been given by the members to supplement the hired work. At last the floor was finished and the old pews were remodeled to fit into the new sanctuary. On March 26, 1939, the first regular church service was held in the new building. Edgar Diehm preached the sermon on that day.
In order that the finances of the church might be put on a more definite basis, the envelope system of giving was reestablished in January 1939. In the early years of the church this system had been used, but it had been discontinued during the depression years.
At a special council meeting held on July 26, 1939, Edward T. Angeny was called to the pastorate to begin on September 1. It was understood from the beginning that the Angenys were interested in foreign mission work and that their stay would be for only a year or two. The 1940 Annual Conference approved them as missionaries to China, and in August of that year they left Woodworth.
Upon the departure of the Angenys, the services of Elmer I. Brumbaugh of Ravenna were secured until the church could select another pastor. On October 16, 1940, Elden Petry was called to the pastorate, but later, due to circumstances over which he had no control, he asked to be released from his contract and the church granted his request with regrets. Paul Shrider was secured for the summer months of 1941. He then returned to Bethany in September.
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A call was extended to Martin Krieger to do full-time pastoral work beginning September 1, 1941. He accepted the call. On November 4 of that year, Mrs. Krieger, who became ill during the process of moving, passed away. The next year Brother Krieger married Corda Wertz, a missionary who had returned from China because of the war conditions there. For three years Brother Krieger served the church at Woodworth;
The Woodworth Church
on July 14, 1944, he resigned in order to take up pastoral work in Arrowwood, Alberta.
October 9, 1942, was a happy occasion for the church. A covered-dish dinner was held in the basement. J. Oscar Winger, the pastor of the Akron church, was the guest speaker. The cause for joy was the burning of the parsonage mortgage note and the announcement by the treasurer that the church was free of all debt.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the congregation was celebrated on June 20, 1943. Three services were held and a basket dinner in the church basement was enjoyed. Brother and Sister J. I. Byler, who were then
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ministering to the church at Martinsburg, West Virginia, were with us for the occasion.
Among the ministers who served the church following Brother Krieger's pastorate was Clyde Mulligan of Hartville, who began a full-time pastorate September 1, 1945. He was with us for seven years, terminating his pastorate in July 1952.
A new electric organ was installed in the church in December 1949. During Brother Mulligan's ministry the original part of the church (the former schoolhouse) was converted into nine church-school classrooms. A dedicatory service was held on September 30, 1951, with Vernon F. Schwalm, president of Manchester College, bringing the message.
On Sunday, August 12, 1951, the Kurtz Memorial was laid on the east bank of Evans Lake. Kenneth I. Morse, editor of the Gospel Messenger, was the speaker. This memorial was in honor of Henry Kurtz, who, in 1851, began a church publication called the Gospel Visitor. The site of this memorial is only a few yards away from the springhouse in which Elder Kurtz had his printing equipment.
Following Pastor Mulligan's acceptance of a call to the Happy Corner church in Southern Ohio, Alvin C. Cook took up the pastoral work on August 1, 1952. On Sunday, April 25, 1954, Harlan Grubb and Guy Beach ordained him to the eldership. Just two weeks before this, Brother Cook had baptized eighteen people into the fellowship of the Woodworth church. In 1960, when he went to Naperville, Illinois, he was succeeded by Richard D. Speicher, who is currently our pastor and under whose leadership the church moves forward.
In July 1954 ground was broken for a forty-one-foot by twenty-four-foot addition to the west end of the church. The work was under the direction of Wilbur Shoemaker of North Canton, who had done the major work in remodeling the old part of the church building. The addition provided us with a larger sanctuary, a pastor's study, a baptistry, and an enlarged basement housing a kitchen and a social room. Dedication services were held on April 17, 1955, with Calvert N. Ellis, president of Juniata College, preaching the morning and afternoon sermons.
On January 5, 1958, D. N. Garver passed on to his reward. Sister Garver had preceded him in death by a year and a half.
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On August 16, 1957, Brother Garver had been given special recognition for his faithful labor in the church. He willed the church one thousand dollars for the establishing of a library; it has been named the Garver Memorial Library.
The following elders have served the church as moderators: J. F. Kahler- 1918-1922; D. F. Stuckey - 1922-1923; J. I. Byler - 1923-1928; J. P. Harris - 1928-1930; E. G. Diehm - 1930-1935; G. S. Strausbaugh - 1935-1937; E. G. Diehm - 1937-1938; G. S. Strausbaugh - 1938-1942; Wilmer Petry -1942-1948; Elmer Brumbaugh - 1948 to the present (1962).
The 1962 Yearbook: Church of the Brethren gives the membership of the Woodworth church as two hundred eighty.
THE WOOSTER CHRIST CHURCH
In 1961 the mission board voted to start a new church in the northwest edge of Wooster. This church is located close to the Church of the Brethren Home development. In 1961, in
The Wooster Church
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its period of open charter, thirty-six members had enrolled in this fellowship.
In June 1962, dedication services for the new parsonage were held. Ground has been broken for the first unit of the church building.
Walter Bowman was employed by the mission board to develop the new congregation. Brother Bowman's original home was in the Black River con- gregation, where he was ordained in 1944. A graduate of Manchester College and Bethany Biblical Sem- inary, he has also taken graduate work at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton. He served in relief work in Italy for Brethren Service in 1946-1948 and as director of the international work camp in Sardinia in connection with HELP in 1959.
His former pastorates have been Lanark, Illinois, from 1949 to 1952 Walter Bowman and the Fort McKinley congregation in Dayton, from 1952 to 1960. During his pastoral terms he has assumed leadership in various camps, district boards, and committees.
Mrs. Bowman is the former Frances Gibson of Astoria, Illinois. They have six children.
Under the leadership of Brother and Sister Bowman, the interest and the attendance are increasing. We look hopefully to the future.
THE ZION HILL CHURCH
Among the first settlers in Northeastern Ohio were a few Brethren families who settled about ten miles west of the Pennsylvania state line in 1808. These members organized the Mill Creek church, the name being suggested by the nearby creek of the same name. Among the first members were John
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Summer, John Shoemaker, his son Philip, Abraham Myers, and John Myers. Meetings were conducted by ministers from a distance.
On February 4, 1822, John and Susannah Myers, the great- grandparents of the late A. W. Harrold, donated two acres of land to the trustees of the church. The ground is occupied by the present Zion Hill church. A few years prior to this time, John Summer donated a half-acre tract of land in Springfield Township for a burial ground.
As the church grew, George Hoke and Joseph Mellinger were elected to the ministry and John Collar and Abraham Hiestand to the office of deacon. Other members came from Pennsylvania until there were four ministers located within the bounds of the church. Elections again being held, George Hoke was placed in the office of elder (bishop) and David Shumaker and David Summer were chosen for the ministry.
In 1826, Elder Hoke moved into the Canton church ter- ritory, but he retained the oversight of the Mill Creek church until a successor was elected. Because of the requirement of the United States land laws that not less than one section (six hundred forty acres) of government land could be
The Zion Hill Church
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sold to one person, a large number of members moved to Indiana and perhaps to other states. In the interval from 1826 to 1835, Elders David Shoemaker and David Summer and the following ministers, Joseph Mellinger, Abraham Myers, and Abraham Hiestand, located in the western end of Colum- biana County near the village of North Georgetown. There they organized a new congregation called the Sandy church; its territory included the eastern part of Stark County, where some members of the church were living. The membership of the Mill Creek church was thus reduced in numbers. The work fell upon David Summer, Jr., and Richard Brenneman, ministers of the first degree.
In 1825, Henry Kurtz, a German-born Lutheran minister, moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Columbiana County. A few months later he moved to Stark County. Here he heard of the Brethren and attended their meetings. Having been dissatisfied with infant baptism, he was baptized by Elder Hoke of the Canton church on April 6, 1828. Two years later he was elected to the ministry. In 1838 he visited his parents and his sister in Germany. Preaching wherever he went, he had the satisfaction of baptizing nine people by immersion. His preaching extended as far as Switzerland. Nearly all of those he baptized came to America. After a year in Europe he returned to America. In 1842 he moved into Mahoning County, locating near Poland; there he resided until he moved to Columbiana in 1857. In 1842 the name of the Mill Creek church had been changed to the Mahoning church. In 1844 Henry Kurtz was ordained to the eldership and was given the oversight of that church; he continued in charge of it for thirty years.
In the loft of the springhouse on his farm, Brother Kurtz began to publish the Gospel Visitor in 1851. In the spring of 1856, James Quinter came from Pennsylvania to join Elder Kurtz in the publishing enterprise. In June 1857 the office of the Gospel Visitor was moved to Columbiana. In the same year the Kurtz and Quinter families also moved to Columbiana.
Under the leadership of Elder Kurtz the church prospered. In 1872 the present Zion Hill house was erected. In 1873 a new house of worship was built in Springfield Township to replace the Bethel house, which had been erected in 1849. Brother Quinter moved to Covington in 1866. Elder Kurtz remained
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and gave most of his time to the work of the church. One of the record books says of him:
Brother Henry Kurtz preached his last sermon in the Zion Hill meeting house on January 11, 1874. His text was taken from Jeremiah 17:9. In the evening he spoke much to his family in their evening worship.
The next morning between eight and nine o'clock as he was sitting in his great arm chair reading, his wife went to him and found that his spirit had departed.
He had served the Mahoning Church more than thirty years. He had passed on at the age of 77 years, 5 months and 21 days. His funeral discourse was preached by brethren C. Caylor, M. Weaver and L. Glass. He was buried near the Bethel Church, not far from the springhouse where he began printing the Gospel Visitor.
By permission of their descendants, the remains of Elder and Mrs. Kurtz were moved to the burial ground at the Zion Hill church. A bronzed plaque set in a large boulder was un- veiled in June 1931 at ceremonies sponsored by the district.
After the death of Henry Kurtz, other elders were in- vited to preside over the congregation. On August 30, 1861, Jacob H. Kurtz (son of Henry Kurtz) and Noah Longanecker, then resident members, were elected to the ministry. Both were advanced to the second degree on November 9, 1867. After some years Brother Longanecker moved away. Jacob Kurtz was ordained to the eldership on September 24, 1881, and was given charge of the church in 1883. On August 22, 1891, A. W. Harrold was called to the ministry; he was advanced to the second degree on September 3, 1893, and ordained to the elder- ship on October 31, 1903. He was called to be the overseer of the church upon the death of Jacob Kurtz on February 10, 1912.
In 1915 the Mahoning church was, by its own petition to the district meeting, divided into two congregations. The east- ern section was named the Bethel church; the western, the Zion Hill church.
A. W. Harrold was chosen to be the elder-in-charge of the Zion Hill congregation, a position which he held until 1929. Jonas Horst assisted with the preaching until 1917, when he transferred his membership to the Bethel church.
Deacons living in the new congregation were Simeon Longanecker, Joseph Harrold, George Miller, D. N. Garver, J. H. Bassinger, and Henry Rohrer. Deacon Henry Kauffman
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transferred his membership into the congregation in 1918. On June 26, 1927, Samuel Rohrer and wife, Jacob Brubaker and wife, and Alvin Detrow were elected and installed as deacons.
A. W. Harrold retired from active preaching in 1929 be- cause of failing health. G. S. Strausbaugh was then called to the pastorate. Accepting the call, he remained here until September 1941, when he went to the Kent church. Brother Harrold, in spite of his illness, continued to help in the church's work until his death on September 13, 1939.
In 1929 the young people organized the B.Y.P.D. Our young people have assisted in numerous district and national projects ever since.
A basement was dug under the church house in 1933. The basement now houses the primary and junior departments of the church school. In 1935 the building was remodeled and redecorated.
From September 1941 to September 1946 there was no regular pastor. During most of this time Edgar G. Diehm filled the preaching appointments. Throughout the summer of 1945 Claude and June Wolfe were our student pastors. They were followed the next summer by Waldo and Shirley Kinsel. Lawrence Rule became Zion Hill's pastor in September 1946; he resigned in 1948 to pursue further theological studies. Pius and Lois Gibbel accepted the call of the church that year and remained with us until September 1950. Hugh Cloppert followed the Gibbels, serving the church until July 1, 1952. G. S. Strausbaugh carried the work until the coming of Arno Holderread in September of that year. After his leaving in the late summer of 1954, various ministers conducted the Sunday services until April 1, 1955, when Lloyd Nedrow became our pastor. During the summer months of 1959, following the close of Brother Nedrow's pastorate, Irving and Faye Glover were with us. Arno Holderread then supplied the congregation until our present pastor, Dean Rohrer, came on September 1, 1960.
In 1943 Emerson Snyder and Wilbur Detwiler, with their wives, were elected to the office of deacon; they were installed in 1946. Alpheus Rohrer and his wife were elected to that office in 1954 and installed in 1956. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Bom- berger were elected in 1959 and installed in 1960. Deacon Samuel Rohrer and Mrs. Rohrer retired from active duty after serving for thirty years.
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The parsonage in Columbiana, which had been bought in 1948, was sold in 1960 and a new brick parsonage was built in the vicinity of the church.
THE MOUNT ZION CHURCH
The Mount Zion church was fully organized about 1874. About fifty members met regularly every two weeks after organization. It was not uncommon for some of them to come on horseback a distance of fifteen or twenty miles to attend services and enjoy spiritual fellowship with each other.
Ministers working in the church in this early period were Conrad Kahler, J. K. Swinehart, George V. Kollar, and Edward Loomis. All ministers and deacons of the church were reported to have been very faithful to their calling. George Kollar was the first resident elder.
The Mount Zion house was purchased from a Methodist Episcopal congregation in West New Philadelphia about 1868.
The following excerpt from A History of the Church of the Brethren: Northeastern Ohio contains some interesting reminiscences:
At the present time there are only three deacons living: David Secrist, Henry Paulus and Edward Schwarm.
Taylor Hall, Camp Zion
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Hugh Kelly died over fifteen years ago.
Brother Adam Renneker, considering his age and physical debility, is quite active in all lines of church work. He is the oldest living deacon.
Brother Paulus is quite exemplary and faithful in his official duties, but is not favorably situated to attend all the services of the church.
David Shively has been superintendent of the Sunday- school for many years, is quite active and faithful to his
Church of the Brethren Youth Site
charge. He and his family are quite active in missions, having contributed quite liberally to the India Work.
Brother David Secrist is prompt and regular in attending church services; has shown commendable zeal in Sunday- school work, is superintendent of the New Philadelphia school, has been quite helpful in sacred song, and can adapt himself to the young people better than many. He also is a liberal contributor to the Lord's work. It has been wisely said, that when we are old we should consider we were once young.
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