USA > West Virginia > A history of the Church of the Brethren in the first district of West Virginia > Part 7
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Up until 1924 the Keyser work was a part of the New Creek congregation. By that time, the work having grown to credit- able standing, it was thought best to divide the territory and organize a city church. This was effected in a meeting in the Keyser church with Brethren George S. Arnold and B. W. Smith in charge. The line was established parallel with Stoney Run, three miles south of Keyser, thus giving to Keyser the outlying territory, including the town of Piedmont. The new organiza- tion took the name Keyser. As Bro. Smith requested to be re- lieved of the responsibility, Bro. Jeremiah Thomas was chosen first elder-in-charge. This place he held until 1925 when Bro. West was ordained and chosen as presiding elder.
The financial development was slow. Most of the charter members were formerly of country churches under the free min- istry. While most of them were enthusiastic and consecrated ' they had had very little instruction in proportionate giving. Furthermore, they had just purchased a lot and erected a build- ing and were making sacrifices to pay for these. The weekly offerings were small. Money for current expenses was raised by
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THE CONGREGATIONS
solicitation from home to home each month. The pastor was secured with no financial securities whatever, and for the first four years, in order to lighten the burden of the church, he served as an instructor in the high school. Various improve- ments were made and in 1925 the envelope system was installed and the church placed on a firm financial basis. At that time the pastor was placed on a full-time basis.
In 1924 when the Piedmont territory was assigned to Keyser, the pastor immediately made a survey of possibilities there. A few Brethren families were found and their letters were assigned to Keyser as there was no church in that territory. In the mean- time, through revivals in Keyser, a few others of that territory were added to the church. In 1925 six brethren and sisters met at the home of Bro. S. K. Fike in Piedmont for prayer. In this group a prayer meeting was organized for the purpose of pro- moting the work of the Brethren there. Each Tuesday evening this ever-increasing group of consecrated folks held their meet- ings from house to house. So rapidly did these meetings grow in interest and numbers that the Brethren began to think in terms of their own Sunday services there. In October 1926 the Odd Fel- lows hall of Westernport was rented and Bro. West conducted a two weeks' revival there. As a result of these meetings the membership was drawn together and a number were added to the church. Following the revival the hall was retained for Sunday school and preaching. The Sunday school was organized with an initial attendance of twenty-three, but so splendid was the interest that the attendance reached almost the one hundred mark by the end of the year.
In April 1927 Bro. S. Z. Smith of Ohio conducted a revival in the hall and thirty-five were added to the church. On July 18, 1927, this mission was formally organized as the Westernport congregation of the Western District of Maryland, with a char- ter membership of sixty-six. By this organization twenty-six members were automatically transferred from the Keyser con- gregation. Bro. Arthur Scrogum of Accident, Maryland, who had been assisting in the work, was chosen as part-time pastor. This church, which is in a sense an outgrowth of the work at Keyser, had by 1929 reached a membership of ninety-five and a Sunday-school enrollment of one hundred twenty, and by 1943 a membership of two hundred sixty-five and a Sunday-school enrollment of one hundred thirty-four.
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On September 1, 1928, Bro. Russell West closed his pastorate in order to enter Bethany Biblical Seminary. He was succeeded by Bro. B. M. Rollins as pastor. Other pastors who served are as follows in order: Roy K. Miller, C. O. Showalter, and at present A. R. Showalter.
On April 23, 1938, the debt hanging over the church for sev- enteen years was paid off and the old note burned. During the previous three and a half years $5,000 above running expenses was raised, which was used to purchase a parsonage located at 82 First Street. This property was improved by installing a hot water heating plant. Recently the church has been enlarged, Sunday-school rooms added, an electric organ and a new heating system installed, and the church has taken her place among the leading churches of the district.
KNOBLEY
Pioneer ministers: Joseph Arnold, John Kline, William George, Thomas Clark, Michael Lyon, Martin Cosner, William Michaels, and others.
Present ministers: B. W. Smith (elder), Raphael Leather- man, Robert Hoover (pastor).
Preaching place: Knobley church, seven miles south of Antioch.
Date of organization: 1887.
Boundary line: Beginning at the Greenland Gap the line runs northeasterly with top of New Creek Mountain to a point south of Route 50, thence in an easterly line, dividing the Beaver Run and Knobley congregations, to the top of Pattersons Creek Mountain, thence southerly with top of said mountain to a point east of Greenland Gap, thence in an air-line east to the starting point in Greenland Gap.
By 1840 there was much church activity in the area now in- cluded in this congregation. Joseph Arnold was very active and he was assisted by the Brethren from Virginia and other home ministers soon to be elected, as recorded in the history of the mother congregation, Greenland.
Elder William George was born January 16, 1817, and died May 27, 1899. He married Lydia Ann Michaels, sister of William Michaels, an elder in the Greenland congregation. His son, D. Wiatt, born August 13, 1848, was a minister. A daughter, Betty,
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THE CONGREGATIONS
married Taylor Martin, and to that union Charles Martin was born, and he became a minister. Another daughter, Rachael, married Dan Ludwig and to them a son, Bursey, was born and he became a minister. Elder William George was a very liberal man in the work of the church, giving liberally to every good cause. To him belongs largely the credit for beginning the work at Knobley and for her progress for more than fifty years.
The active work began here about 1840, but was known as part of the Greenland arm of the German Baptist Church. The deed for the church was made October 11, 1876, and was re- corded January 9, 1877. The church was built in 1876. Because of the very large territory of the Greenland congregation, a divi- sion was asked for and was granted on September 24, 1887. In the thereabouts of that date must have been the organization of the Knobley congregation.
Elder Charles Frantz, son of Henry J. Frantz and Augusta Muntzing Frantz, was born in Germany on August 7, 1854. On May 11, 1871, he married Mary Ellen Cosner. He was baptized in 1870, elected to the ministry in 1880 and ordained in October 1886. He was the elder of the Knobley congregation for a num- ber of years and served also as elder of the Greenland congrega- tion, from about the time of his ordination, jointly with William George until 1894, and then alone until his resignation in 1903. On that date he moved west to Idaho, where he was serving as elder of the Fayette Valley church at the time of his death on June 4, 1904. He was the elder of the Greenland congregation when the Brick church was repaired and the church at Scherr was built, to both of which he gave liberally.
Elder Raphael B. Leatherman has served faithfully in this congregation for a number of years. Olonzo Fike and Earl Schnader have served as summer pastors. Elder B. W. Smith was chosen elder in 1938.
In 1944 Bro. Robert Hoover was secured to serve as pastor jointly the Knobley, Sunnyside, and Beaver Run churches.
MORGANTOWN
Pioneer ministers: Joseph I. Cover, Andrew J. Sterling, J. C. Johnson, J. H. Myers, Solomon Bucklew, Alpheus DeBolt, Jeremiah Thomas, Jasper Barnthouse, John A. Glick, Obed Hamstead.
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FIRST DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA
Present ministers: Glenn H. Bowlby (pastor), Obed Hamstead.
Preaching points: Wiles Hill church, Highland and Melrose Sts .; Mt. Union school, three miles north of Morgantown.
Date of organization: September 14, 1901.
Boundary line (indefinitely established): Beginning at the point on Cheat River where Big Sandy empties into said Cheat, the line runs northward with said Cheat to the Pennsylvania line, thence westward with said line to the Monongahela River, thence upward with said river (however, including all of the west side of Morgantown) to Uffington, thence eastward by air- line to where the Monongalia-Preston county line crosses West Virginia Route 7, thence by air-line back to starting point on Cheat River.
The extended quotation following is from the History of the Church of the Brethren of Western Pennsylvania, by J. E. Blough, 1916.
The Mount Union (Morgantown) Congregation is the result of home mission work by the Brethren near the middle of the nineteenth century. The dates and names of the first workers are not known. Ministers from the Sandy Creek came across Cheat Mountain and held services in "Cheat Neck." Workers from the Second District of West Virginia came down into the Monogahela River Valley. Immigrants from Pennsylvania set- tled on the newer lands of West Virginia and their ministers visited them occasionally and held services. The influence of Georges Creek Congregation (of Western Pennsylvania) pre- vailed, and Monongahela County became part of that congrega- tion.
. As early as 1844 there were a few members living near Morgantown, West Virginia. By 1883 thirty members were liv- ing in that district and a meeting house 40 x 60 was erected and dedicated the same year and the first Love Feast held at the same time. In 1901 the members living around Morgantown were formed into a separate congregation and named Mount Union Congregation.
Services were held in school houses and churches of other denominations, but in 1883 the Mount Union Church was built for the central part three miles north of Morgantown.
A list of the early members is not available, but some of the members since 1870 were: John Ganz, minister; Oliver Miller, James Hamilton and family, R. C. Ross, deacon; J. F. Ross, Har- riet Reed, Rebecca Heard, Ross E. Reed, minister; Joseph Bixler and family, Millard Reed, Omozine Reed, Elizabeth Ross, and Silas Pugh and family. ...
When the Union House was built in 1883 there were about thirty members in the county, and eighteen years later, in 1901,
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there were only about that number. So at the March council, a vote was taken to reorganize a new congregation, and see if the work would not prosper better. The vote was ratified by the Fairview Council a little later, and the new congregation was formally organized on September 14, 1901 under the name of Mount Union. Virgil C. Finnell and Walter J. Hamilton were elected to the ministry. Miles Hamilton and Silas Pugh were elected deacons to assist R. C. Ross and Joseph I. Johnson, who had served the Georges Creek Congregation, and Elder Jasper Barnthouse was chosen for bishop and presided over the congre- gation for a number of years.
During the summer of 1901 John A. Glick, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, preached in the M. E. Church on Walnut Street, Morgantown, one Sunday evening. A number of members from Mount Union were present. One of them, W. J. Hamilton, got a vision of a Brethren Church in town. At the council in January he proposed the opening of a mission in Morgantown. A com- mittee composed of himself, R. E. Reed and Millard Reed was appointed to secure a room. Nothing was available, so he pur- suaded his father, Miles Hamilton, and his uncle, Francis Hamil- ton, to buy a lot and build a room 24 x 32 feet for Sunday School. Thus the Wiles Hill Mission was opened in July 1902. A little later Thomas H. Miller and family located in town. He, being a minister, was a great help to the new work. Sylvanus M. Annon and family also moved to Morgantown and became a pillar in the mission. He was ordained to the eldership while there.
On September 11, 1909, Arthur Bailey and Ezra Wolfe, two of the new converts, were elected as deacons. A brick church house, 36 x 40 feet was then erected, and dedicated by Elder H. C. Early, August 14, 1910. Two ministers, William E. Ham- ilton and Arthur Bailey, were elected at the Love Feast the eve- ning before as Brethren Annon and Miller had moved away. John Osborn and Frank Pugh were elected deacons on December 13, 1911. Walter J. Hamilton moved away in 1912, and on March 8, 1913, Daniel E. Shaffer, J. M. Pletcher, and John Osborn were elected to the ministry. Arthur Bailey was ordained to the eld- ership and in the year of 1915 Elder Solomon Bucklew moved in- to the congregation, becoming both elder in charge and pastor.
There are (1916) two Sunday Schools, a Christian Workers Society, prayer meeting, teacher training class, and teacher's meeting. The present official board consists of Elders Solomon Bucklew and Arthur Bailey; ministers, Ross Reed, William F. Hamilton, Daniel E. Shaffer; deacons, Silas Pugh, Ezra Wolfe, Frank Pugh, Miles Hamilton.
Following Bro. Bucklew, Marshall Wolfe served as student pastor for a number of years. Then Bro. Obed Hamstead served as pastor and elder following the year 1927 for a number of years. Raymond Martin then served for a time. At present Glenn H. Bowlby serves as pastor and A. R. Showalter as elder.
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In 1936 the congregation separated from the Western District of Pennsylvania and by application through the elders' body of the First District of West Virginia united with that district as it lies wholly within the state of West Virginia.
This congregation occupies a very important place among the churches of the state of West Virginia as it is located in the university town of that state. There are many of our church youth who go there for their education and they need a good fellowship with the Church of the Brethren. May God bless you, Morgantown, in your challenging opportunity.
NORTH FORK
Pioneer ministers: Israel Weimer, Jonas Fike, John T. Cos- ner, Raphael Baker, Frank Nines.
Present ministers: None resident or regular.
Preaching place: Jordan Run church near Jordan Run.
Date of organization: About 1898.
Boundary line: Beginning at the point on top of Allegheny Mountain where the road from Brushy Ridge and Streby crosses the top, the line runs southward with top of said mountain to the Pendleton-Grant county line; thence southeastward with said county line to the district line between First West Virginia and Northern Virginia, which line passes near Ketterman, thence with said line, a direct air-line to Petersburg to the South Branch of the Potomac, thence upward with North Fork of said river to a point opposite the high part of New Creek Mountain, thence northeasterly with top of said mountain to a point east of Brushy Ridge, thence down said mountain to Brushy Ridge and follow- ing the road from Brushy Ridge up to the top of Allegheny Mountain, the starting point.
In 1898 Bro. Israel Weimer and family moved from the Greenland congregation to what is now the North Fork congre- gation and located near the head of Hopeville Gap. He immedi- ately began preaching services in the near-by schoolhouses and homes. The response was good and help soon began to arrive in the persons of Jonas Fike and John S. Fike of the Eglon con- gregation and Raphael Baker and Frank Nines from the Alle- gheny congregation. The Hopeville, Long Hollow, Corner (now Cabins) and Rohrbaugh schools and some homes were points of church services.
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THE CONGREGATIONS
By 1904 the work on Jordan Run had progressed to the point where a church was needed and a union church was built there in that year, with the United Brethren and the Baptists assist- ing. That is still the place of worship. Services were often held at the Rohrbaugh school and many of the Rohrbaughs were con- verted there. Both love feasts and revivals were held there.
Interest in religion has always been good in this community and church attendance excellent, the house being filled often both then and now. By 1908 there were about sixty members there. By this time or soon thereafter the district mission board was giving some financial help in securing leadership. Obed Hamstead served for a time as elder-in-charge; then in 1913 the congregation went under the care of the mission board. Israel Weimer moved away and the congregation suffered much for lack of leadership.
Foster M. Bittinger spent the summer of 1923 in the congrega- tion as student pastor. The next year he and his wife returned to stay two years. During this time revivals, prayer meetings, training schools, love feasts, singing schools, and other activities were held and the work prospered. Many were added to the church and Ken Barger and Walter Berg were elected deacons. The membership reached one hundred twenty-four, perhaps a peak for the congregation.
Following this the work suffered from lack of leadership, preaching being furnished by ministers from a distance, among whom of later years were A. S. Arnold, Norman Seese, Carl Welch, and Joe Cook. There are a number of faithful workers and members there, but they desperately need leadership.
At the Corners (now Cabins) Bro. Weimer conducted church among the Negroes and a number were baptized and attended communion services, certainly the only place in West Virginia where this was ever done. Then for a while work there was dropped. But in the years of Bro. Bittinger's work there, he preached for them and four Negro young people were baptized and received into the church. They were of the Washington family. This field is still a challenge to the home mission work- ers of our brotherhood. The membership is now about sixty. Bro, Joe Cook of Streby preaches there occasionally.
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FIRST DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA
OLD FURNACE
Pioneer ministers: B. W. Smith, D. B. Arnold, Peter Arnold.
Present ministers: A. J. Whitacre, Jesse Whitacre, J. S. Whit- acre, Ruth Whitacre, Charles Whitacre, Charles Self.
Preaching place: Church six miles south of Cumberland on Route 28.
Date of organization: 1914.
Boundary line: Starting on the South Branch of the Potomac at the point where said river is crossed by the magisterial dis- trict line which divides the Cabin Run and Frankfort districts, the boundary line runs northeasterly with said river to its mouth, thence westerly with the North Branch of the Potomac to House Rocks, just below Miltenburger Island, thence directly westward to the North Branch of the Potomac, thence south- westerly with said river to the aforementioned magisterial district line, which is also the Beaver Run congregational line, thence eastwardly the line continues with said magisterial dis- trict line to the starting point on the South Branch of the Po- tomac River.
It was through Elder B. W. Smith that the Old Furnace con- gregation had its beginning. He began preaching there and in February 1896 Jacob Abe was baptized at the Adam Abe place in the Little Capon, the first member in the congregation.
In November 1897 A. J. Whitacre and wife moved into the Old Furnace community and in May 1897 organized the first Sunday school in the Abe schoolhouse with three members: A. J. Whitacre, his wife, and Jacob Abe. From these three the con- gregation has grown to be a good-sized church.
Several series of meetings were held, mostly in the Abe schoolhouse, and a number were added to the church. The first love feast was held in 1908 in a machine shed on the old Abe place. The first council meeting was held in the Abe school August 10, 1912. At that meeting A. J. Whitacre and Elmer Lichliter were elected to the ministry and W. E. Abe to the dea- conship. He was also the first church clerk.
During the summer of 1913 the Furnace Chapel church was built and in the same year, on September 14, was dedicated by E. T. Fike. On April 11, 1914, an organization was effected and B. W. Smith was chosen elder-in-charge; he continued in charge
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THE CONGREGATIONS
until 1929, fourteen years. The name, Old Furnace, was chosen from an old iron ore furnace which stands just across the road from the church. At the date of organization there were thirty- four members. This was formerly a part of the Beaver Run congregation.
Church work had been carried on in the Wiley Ford com- munity for a number of years by some of the ministers from Old Furnace and by those resident in Wiley Ford. In 1938, under the eldership of C. O. Showalter, Elder J. S. Whitacre was appointed assistant elder at the Old Furnace church and Vernon Shan- holtz at the Wiley Ford community. The work at Wiley Ford continued to grow and in 1940 they asked district conference for the privilege of organizing a separate congregation. This was granted and division was made by a committee of elders on De- cember 1, 1940. Both churches now face a promising future. Jesse Whitacre is elder-in-charge at present.
PETERSBURG
Pioneer minister: Albert S. Arnold.
Present minister: Peter Garber (elder).
Preaching point: In Petersburg.
Date of organization: November 9, 1930.
Boundary line: Beginning on the South Branch of the Poto- mac River at Petersburg, following said river to the North Fork of said river, thence following North Fork to a point opposite the high part of New Creek Mountain, thence following the high part of New Creek Mountain in a northeasterly direction to a point in Kline's Gap on the boundary line between Union and Milroy districts, thence in an easterly direction following the South Branch of Luneys (Lunice) Creek to Luneys Creek, thence following Luneys Creek in a southerly direction to where a bridge on the county road crosses said Luneys Creek, thence fol- lowing said county road to a point on the top of the hill known as Old Camp Grounds, thence from the Old Camp Grounds in a direct course east to a point on the boundary line between Grant and Hardy counties, thence following said county line south to the South Branch of the Potomac at a point in Petersburg Gap, thence following the South Branch of the Potomac in a westerly direction to the place of beginning at Petersburg, including
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South Petersburg. This line was approved at the district con- ference in 1931.
Rockingham and Shenandoah counties and part of Augusta County lie along the line of West Virginia, which had separated from the old state in 1861 and was admitted to the Union as the new state of West Virginia in 1863, after the secession movement. It came under Union control. Along this line Virginia juts out westwardly with an angle into Hardy County, West Virginia, to the top of Shenandoah Mountain, where to the west may be seen a magnificent panorama of mountains, valleys, and ravines with the Allegheny Mountain in the far distance. Half a day's ride would from this point bring one within the vicinity of Peters- burg. For years before the separation this had been a fruitful mission field of the Brethren from those counties of Virginia. Through this great territory for years had old faithful Nell been carrying Elder John Kline on his many mission trips. Through this vast territory he was well known and loved. Many times had he crossed the fording here in Petersburg. It was very common for young men to go west to visit friends and relatives. They would cross through here to New Creek (Keyser) or Oak- land and reach the B. & O. Railroad for such travels. John Kline often did this in later years.
This vast territory and beyond offered freedom to the con- scientious objector of Civil War days. Some then paid the fee of five hundred dollars and were free. Others, many of them, could not, though the church sacrificed greatly to help. Many tried to escape to the North or to the West.
Two such companies of Brethren and Mennonites left their homes in the Valley during the month of March 1862 for the pur- pose of going west and escaping the draft, which they on re- ligious grounds opposed. They would not make war nor learn the art of making war.
The first company of about eighteen persons in number was captured near Moorefield, and taken back to Harrisonburg, via Woodstock and Mt. Jackson. Each night they had worship and sometimes the guards were much affected. They prayed for their release and for their captors. After about two weeks' im- prisonment in Harrisonburg they were released as it was seen to be useless to force them into the army.
The second party of about seventy in number was captured
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THE CONGREGATIONS
near Petersburg. As the refugees were crossing the river here many of the town folks came out to see them. The river was more than fifty yards wide and as more than half the company were on foot some horses had to make three trips to get all across. Shortly after passing through the town they were ac- costed by two soldiers who stopped them and brought them back to Petersburg by solicitation. They were taken into a large upper room and as each entered he was asked whether he had any arms or not. When the question was put to one he answered, "Yes." The guard requested to see them and was shown a New Testament, the sword of the Spirit. He replied, "That is very good. You may keep that." No arms were found among the Brethren. They were finally taken to Richmond, Virginia, and eventually released on condition of payment of five hundred dol- lars each.12
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