USA > West Virginia > Braxton County > History of Braxton County and central West Virginia > Part 25
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About the year 1879, a frame church was built in Sutton, but it was re- placed by a very commodious brick building, dedication of which took place June 6, 1897, by Bishop MeCabe. In the year 1906, Sutton was made a station. They have a parsonage and pay about $1,000 salary to their preacher. The average salaries of the circuit riders of the county is about $600. Churches were built at Burnsville and Copen's run. Gassaway built a house in the year 1907.
The territory once embraced in the Braxton circuit has been divided and thrown into three or four circuits. The M. E. church was once a great spiritual power in this county, but it has so changed its manner of worship that formal- ismn has taken the place, to some extent at least, of spiritualism, and this has all occurred in an incredibly short space of time, possibly thirty years or less. The church cried out for an educated ministry; this was not objectionable within itself. An educated ministry should keep pace with an educated laity. The trouble seemed to arise in the fact that the young men who attended the higher schools sought to supplant the experienced ministers of many years' ar- duous labor and devotion to the cause, and by their zeal and experience, their knowledge of the needs of the church, their knowledge of human nature ren- dered many of them eminently qualified men to fill the best appointments, but 100 often they were relagated to the rear, and the church suffered spiritually. There was a time when the church looked forward to the Quarterly Meeting as
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a time of great spiritual enjoyment. Friday before the Quarterly Meeting was a day set apart for fasting and prayer, and on Saturday the official members of the Quarterly Conference from every appointment, with members of other churches would assemble, and the meeting would begin with a good gospel ser- mon by the Presiding Elder. Then those from a distance would be invited to the homes of the good people living in the neighborhood, irrespective as to what branch of the Christian church they belonged. At 2 P. M. the conference would meet and transact the business of the church, and at 3:30 the Elder would preach again, and the people from a distance would be taken care of. Sunday morning at 9 A. M., Love Feast would begin, followed by a public collection, then preaching by the Elder, after which the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, then an adjournment for dinner after which the Presiding Elder would preach again.
This gathering of the officiary of the church, the four good sermons of the Elder, the Love Feast, the Sacrament, the Fraternal meeting of the various denominations, was of itself a great revival and building up of the Christian fraternity that could be brought about by no other means. A Quarterly Meet- ing in its true sense is a thing of the past. A Presiding Elder is called a Su- perintendent, more strictly speaking, a Financial Agent. He holds two or three Quarterly Meetings of the official board each weck, but seldom preaches. A Superintendent is chosen by the Annual Conference for his ability to finance the church more than for his preaching ability. However these changes may work in other respects, it is apparent that the church has lost one of the John Wesley levers of its spiritual life under the old-time meeting. What blessed assurance our fathers and mothers enjoyed, the hopes of their final triumph, as they sang with the power of the Spirit, some of the old-time gospel songs, and with the spirit related their experiences to the world.
In the Lewis county records, we find that as early as 1824, John F. Single- ton deeded to Elijah Squires, Jacob Gibson, Christian Hyer, Peter Lough and Asa Squires, Trustees of the M. E. Church, two acres of land in the neighbor- hood of Flatwoods whereon stands the church and campground on the waters of Salt Lick.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
We are indebted to the Rev. Daniel Huffman Davis. who is one of the most faithful and able ministers that Braxton county ever sent out to preach the
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Gospel for much of the information of this chapter on t the Methodist Protestant Church. As early as 1824, agitation over the mutual rights of the ministry and laity of the church began to be heard, and in- dependent bodies sprang up under Conven- tional Artieles, and under these, several Conferenees were held until 1828, when a largely delegated convention was held in Baltimore, with representatives from sev- eral states. In 1830, the Methodist Prot- estant Church was duly organized under a Constitution and Discipline at a General Conference in Baltimore.
In West Virginia, the M. P. Church was first organized on Haeker's ereck, in Lewis county, in October, 1829. Rev. John Mitchell organized the first elass at the old Harmony meeting house. In the following spring this society was visited REV. DANIEL H. DAVIS A traveling minister for over 50 years by the Rev. Cornelius Springer who re- ported the membership at sixty. Soon af- ter, a class was organized at the forks of Haeker's ereek; the territory embraced by these two soeieties now constitute the Lewis Circuit, with a membership of nearly 1,000. In the spring of 1830, the Rev. C. Springer, with the Rev. Wm. H. Marshall as assistant preaeher, organized a ehureh in Morgantown. In the fall of the same year, Springer and Marshall formed a elass in Cheat Neek, near the old Woodgrove furnace.
Very early in the history of the denomination, a church was formed in Shinnston. At Pruntytown, the church was organized between 1830 and 1834. A ehureh was also formed at or near Roekford in Harrison eounty.
At Fairmont, then Middletown, and very early in the M. P. history, the church was organized in the eounty of Greenbrier. It was between the years 1830 and 1835 that the Rev. John Clark visited the county of Braxton, and organized an M. P. Church in the Flatwoods, Elijah Squires and wife, and . Elizabeth Haymond were among the first members of this, perhaps parent, society, and nueleus of the Braxton eireuit. At the fifth session of the Ohio Conferenee, held in the eity of Cineinnati, in 1833, the Pittsburg Conferenee was established, embracing eastern Ohio. western Pennsylvania and western Virginia ; all, or nearly all, of what is now West Virginia, was then embraced in the Pittsburg Conference.
It was mainly under the jurisdiction of the Pittsburg Conference that the Methodist Protestant Church in western Virginia was constituted and ful- ly organized. Many local churches had been formed in different parts of the state under the former Articles of Association, even before the denomination,
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as such, was fully organized. The first President of the Pittsburg Conference was Asa Shinn, the man whom Dr. Adam Clark, of England, rated the great- est reasoner in America. Cornelius Springer and his colleague, Wm. H. Mar- shall, organized the Methodist Protestant Church within the bounds of West Virginia. The Rev. Noble Gillespie, an Irishman, served Middletown, now Fairmont, Harrisville, Tyler and other charges. Nelson Burgess, J. I. Stillians, John and Daniel Degarmo or D'Garmo, R. H. Sutton; an Englishman, served Palatine. Williams served Braxton Cireuit and other charges. John Clark, a native of Monongalia county, W. Va., Isaae Holland of the same county, trav- eled the Braxton Cireuit in the 40's. A small man named Simmons, was one of Braxton's very early M. P. preachers. It was said that he lived in Pitts- burg at the time, and rode horseback to and from his circuit. Many years ago, the Rev. James Robinson, author of "Recollections of Rev. Samuel Claw- son," furnished the above information. Rev. Thomas Lawson was on the Braxton work. Mr. Lewis Lawson Long was born about the time of this gen- tleman's pastorate, and was named for him. Williams, Lawson, Simmons and Holland served the original Braxton Circuit between the years 1835 and 1850. In 1833, the year in which the Pittsburg Conference was established the Rev. Zachariah Ragan was assigned to the Middletown Circuit in W. Va. The Rev. Wm. Sisk lived for many years in the county, and rode the Braxton Circuit. The Rev. Richard H. Walker of Greenbrier county rode the Circuit about the year 1850. Walker was assisted by the Rev. Geo. G. Westfall in 1851. This was Westfall's first charge. Walker, many years afterward went west, and identified himself with the Western Conferences, and became its president. In 1853, Rev. Westfall was returned in full charge of the whole work in Braxton. He and Walker had served in 1851, twenty-three appointments, and a round of three hundred miles, up and down the Elk and the Little Kanawha rivers, and up into the mountains of Braxton and Gilmer counties. His salary was $60.00 the first year, and $100.00 the second year. The Rev. John Elim Mitchell was next in 1854, 1855 and 1856, though during his series of terms, the Circuit was divided. Rev. Mitchell entered the itinerancy in the Pittsburg Conference in 1854, in Allegheny City, from which he received his first appointment to the Braxton Circuit. At this session, the Western Virginia Conference was es- tablished, Dr. Peter T. Laishley being its first president. The first regular session of the West Virginia Conference was held in Pruntytown in September, 1855, from which Rev. Mitchell returned for his second term. During that year, the Quarterly Conference employed Rev. G. W. Pierson to assist the preacher in charge on the Circuit.
The West Virginia Conference of 1856 met at Jesse's Run in Lewis county. The Braxton Circuit at that time extended from the mouth of Oil creek, north of the town of Burnsville, to Peter's creek, seven miles south of Summersville in Nicholas county, and from Brown's Mountain to the mouth of Duck creek on the Elk river. This charge had over fifteen appointments. In 1855 or 1856, that which had been known as the Braxton Circuit was divided, setting off the Nicholas Circuit, which included all of the original Braxton Circuit lying south
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of the Elk river; also detaching a number of the lower appointments on the north of said river, and attaching them to the Gilmer Cireuit. The name of the remaining portion of the old Braxton circuit was changed to that of the Sutton Cireuit.
In 1856, Rev. Mitchell, as stated above, was assigned to the Nicholas Cir- euit ; Rev. Samuel P. Lesley to the Sutton Cireuit, and Rev. Richard H. Wal- ker to the Gilmer Cireuit ; thus there were by this time three Methodist Protes- tant intinerants operating in Braxton county. In 1857. the West Virginia Annual Conference convened in Palatine. That was the first Annual Con- ferenee I ever attended, but I went only as a speetator. Living south of the river. I was of course a member of the Nicholas Quarterly Conference which lieensed me to preach at its fourth session in August, 1857.
From the Palatine Conference of 1857, Brother Mitchell was assigned to the Barbour and Rowlesburg Circuit. The Rev. Samuel Young was sent to Nicholas Cireuit; Rev. Kinzie Ward to Gilmer, and possibly R. H. Walker to Sutton. In 1858, Conferenee met in Harrisville. Young was returned to Nieholas, and I think Brother Sisk to Sutton, and probably Rev. Randolph S. Welsh to Gilmer.
In 1859, Conferenee met in Fairmont. Rev. Moor MeNeil was assigned to the Nieholas Cireuit. I cannot reeall just now who served Sutton in that year, but possibly Brother Sisk, and I think R. S. Welsh remained on the Gilmer Cireuit.
In 1860, Conferenee was held at St. Marys. From this session, Rev. F. H. Martin went to Nicholas, Rev. R. S. Welsh to Sutton, and Rev. J. E. Mitehell to Gilmer.
During the summer of 1860, I assisted the Rev. John Bolton on the Tyler Cireuit. The town of St. Marys was ineluded in our pastorate; and after I had preached to and mingled with those people all summer, and had formed many warm attachments among them, when the Annual Conference convened in our midst, I entered the itinerant ranks as a member of the body. I was assigned to a mission at Tennytown.
In the fall of 1858, I left Braxton county, and started out into the big world, not to see what I could make for myself, but to see what I could make of myself. After footing the rounds -- which I figured then to be about two hundred miles-I rounded into Barbour county, to the parsonage where resided my old pastor and counselor, the Rev. John Elam Mitchell. He was delighted to welcome me, and ealled a Quarterly Conference at which I was employed to assist him on his large eireuit which lay along the western base of the Alle- gheny mountains, embracing Barbour county, east of the Tygart's Valley river, ineluding the towns and villages of Beelington, Meadowville, Philippi, Goard- town and Nieholas. Crossing the Laurel Hill on to the Cheat river near the town of St. George- then county seat of Tueker county- entting through the eenter of said county to the state line between Virginia and Maryland, thence to the town of West Union in Preston county, thenee to Rowlesburg. From here baek aeross Laurel Hill via Fellersville and Evansville on the N. W. Turn-
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pike road, and then to the parsonage, a round of two hundred miles, embrac- ing between twenty and thirty appointments. The latter part of that year, now into the summer of 1859, I spent in. Barbour and Upshur counties. pur- suing my studies along theologieal lines as well. Removing in the fall I attend- ed sehool in Taylor county, and to some extent assisted the pastor on the Tay- lor Cireuit who was no other than my same old elerieal sire, J. E. Mitchell. assigned to that charge at the reeent session of Conference.
In the spring of 1860, under direction of said Rev. Davis, the president, I went as before stated, to assist the Rev. J. Bolton on the Tyler Cireuit, and this brings me baek to where I left myseif before this little interlude was interjected. The spring of 1861 finds me in charge of my first official pastorate at Tennytown. Here I had taught a term of sehool the preceding winter, and in the early spring (1861) I made a visit home for the first time in two years, and it proved the last time for five and a half years more, for before I landed baek on my work, hostilities had eommeneed. The war was on.
After the elose of the war, the following are a part of the ministers who served the Braxton charge:
J. Dunn, Perry Lowther, Samuel Clawson, Joseph Flint, Wm. Sisk, G. W. Barrett, Oliver Lowther, M. OOrland, Thomas Ireland, J. W. Bibbee, J. H. Nes- ter, Rev. Pool, Rev. Delany, C. P. Baller, D. C. Jones, J. H. Lough, S. J. Sate- field, F. T. Kelley and Jaekson.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
We wish, in this connection, to give a few brief extraets from Kerehivel's Early History of the Valley of Virginia, and publish in full the reminiseenee of the venerable Levi J. Huffman who has closed out his half century of ac- tive pastoral work, and whose memory goes baek, vividly portraying ineidents which transpired three quarters of a century in the past. Kerehivel says : "The Baptist were not among our early immigrants. About fourteen or fifteen families of that persuasion migrated from the state of New Jersey, and settled probably in 1742 or 1743, in the vieinity of what is now ealled Garratstown in the county of Berkeley.
Mr. Semple in his history of the Virginia Baptists, states that in the year 1754, Mr. Sterns, a preacher of this seet, with several others, removed from New England. They halted first at Opequon in Berkeley county, Virginia, where he formed a Baptist Church under the eare of the Rev. John Gerard. This was probably the first Baptist Church founded west of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.
The first eamp meeting held in the valley took place at what is ealled Chrisman's Spring near Stephensburg, on the great highway from Winehes- ter to Staunton, about the month of August, 1760. It is stated that the prae- tice of eamp meetings originated with a Baptist preaeher somewhere about the James river. As stated above, the Baptists were not among the number of the earliest immigrants. Mr. Semple says the Baptist in Virginia originated from
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three sources; the first were immigrants from England who, about the year 1714, settled in the southern part of the state. About 1743, another party came from Maryland, and founded a settlement in the northwest. A third party from New England came in 1754. The last were Mr. Sterns and his party. They settled for a short time at Capon river in the county of Hampshire. The Quakers and Baptist suffered great persecution in Virginia, meeting vio- lent opposition from the established Episcopal clergy.
The Rev. Huffman says, in "Looking Backward:"
"In the history of the Baptist denomination in our part of the state of West Virginia, I remember many events which I will now endeavor to chron- icle. The first is a brief history of the Broad Run Association whose bounds embraced the counties of Harrison, Lewis, Upshur, Doddridge, Ritchie, Gil- mer, Calhoun, Webster, Roane, Clay, Braxton, and a portion of Kanawha. This Association was organized about the year 1835, four years prior to my birth. When I was six years old, this Association met with the Bethlehem church, near where Grantsville is located now in Calhoun county. In one of its anniversaries, the ministers present at that session were Rev. Alexander Holden, Samuel Bailey, Jas. Griffin, Cornelius Huff, James Woods, Anthony Garrett, .Hineman, the father of the late Judge Hineman of Charles- ton, and Rev. John Bennett who had just entered the ministry and was or- damned at this session. My father's home was the home of at least two-thirds of those in attendance on that occasion. On Sunday, Revs. Garratt and Woods preached in the grove.
The Mt. Pisgah Association was stricken from the Broad Run Association about the year 1855. In its bounds were Gilmer, Calhoun, Roane, Braxton, Clay and a portion of Kanawha county. The ministers of this Association were Revs. John Woofter, John Bennett (father of Atty. N. M. Bennett), John Stump, Daniel Huffman, Joe Smith, Joe Wright, Jonathan Smith, Dave Frame and Theodore Given, all of whom are now gone to their reward. It was the writer's privilege to attend their session of September 9, 1915, which met with the old Bethlehem Church near Grantsville, Calhoun county, at which place he was ordained more than fifty years ago, and where the Broad Run Associa- tion met seventy years ago. All who were then living in that community had died except my brother Absolem and Peter Johnson, and the reader may imag- ine my feelings, if he can, while standing on that historic ground, thinking of the past and the many whom he had loved being gone that he would some day see in that general Association on high.
The Sutton Baptist church was organized in the year 1857 with eight mem- bers, by Revs. John Woofter, John Bennett and John Stump. In the same year a committee was appointed to select and puchase in the town a lot on which to build, and the building was begun when the Civil war broke out in the
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year 1861. This building was destroyed by the Union soldiers for which the government recently paid $775.00.
Rev. John Stump was the first pastor, and served the church until 1870. Many prominent members were added during his pastorate. Rev. L. J. Huff- man was his successor who began his pastorate October, 1870, and continued sixteen consecutive years. Many precious revivals were enjoyed during those years, and scores of members were added. In the year 1886, Huffman resigned and Rev. Theodore Given was called to the care of the church, and served as pastor two years. Next, Rev. J. F. Brown was called to the care of the church, and served one year. Rev. Vulcoff, a Bulgarian, was called and served three years. Rev. J. E. Hutchinson was next called to take charge of the church, and served ten years. Next pastor was Rev. Dr. Tupper who served the church three years, whereupon, Rev. L. J. Huffman was again called to the pastoral charge of the church and served seven years, after which Rev. A. A. McQueen was called, and he is now the pastor of Sutton Baptist church. There has been more than three hundred members connected with this church, many of whom have died, and others have gone to other parts of the country, being a blessing to the communities in which they live.
The Elk Valley Association was organized in the year 1903 at Long Run church in Braxton county. It embraces the countics of Webster, Braxton, Clay, and portions of Gilmer and Nicholas. Fourteen churches were organized into this Association. Revs. L. E. Peters, L. J. Huffman and Mr. Alexander Dulin prepared the constitution and rules of order. Alex. Dulin was chosen its first Moderator, N. B. Hamric, its first Secretary and Treasurer. Dulin served as Moderator eleven years then resigned, and Van B. Hall was chosen his successor and he served two years. Frank Sutton is the present Modera- tor. Mr. J. Arthur Pierson was chosen as Rev. Hamric's successor, and served as Secretary and Treasurer eleven years. Dr. Chapman of Webster Spring was chosen, and is the present Clerk and Treasurer.
Present number of churches, 44, with a membership of more than 2,000. The anniversary of this Association was held with the Long Run Baptist church in August, 1916, at which place the Elk Valley Association was organized in the year 1903."
M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
The division of the Methodist church took place in 1844, slavery being the principal cause. The organization of the church in Braxton began early in
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REV. DR. WADE Who served as a Chaplin in the Southern Army
the year 1847. The church prop- erty was a matter of some conten- tion and litigation, but as a rule went to the societies having a ma- jority of members. These ques- tions between the two ehurches caused intense feelings, but happi- ly they have passed away, and M. E. Church, South, has done a work in the southern states that perhaps no other organization could have accomplished. There has been for several years, an agi- tation for a re-union of the two churches which might in time re- sult in undue political power, and the church lose its' influence for good.
The recording stewards' book of the M. E. Church, South, does not go farther back than April 10, 1847, and from the minutes of the church of that date, it would seen: that this was the beginning of the church of the first organization in Braxton eounty.
At a quarterly meeting con- ferenee for Braxton county, Ken- tucky Conference, held in Flat- woods meeting house on April 10, 1847, the following members were present : W. G. Montgomery, Presiding Elder, Wm. Sisk and Wm. P. Ellison, loeal preachers, Samuel Black and W. M. Prottsman, visitors from Summersville and Fayette circuits, and Asa Squires, steward. On motion, Col. Asa Squires was elected seeretary. The following resolution was adopted: Resolved that the societies of Sutton circuit that have adhered South by majorities, be placed under the pastoral care of the Kentucky Conference, and this quarterly eonferenee now organized under the jurisdiction of said conferenee. The ques- tion was asked for a report from meeting houses, and Asa Squires reported that the Trustees of the Flatwoods meeting house by majority South, also the majority of the members South. Ordered that W. M. Prottsman take the pastoral care of Braxton Circuit. On motion A. N. Ellison, Lewis Berry and John R. Sawyers were elected Stewards. Asa Squires, being an old steward, was continued. At a quarterly meeting held in June, 1847, Adam Lough, a local preacher of the M. P. church, having presented a certificate of his accept-
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able standing in said church and a license of his authority to preach, was re- ceived as a member of the M. E. church, South, and of this Quarterly confer- , ence. On motion, Wm. Sisk was employed to labor on this Circuit.
From this period until the beginning of the Civil war, the following men served the church: Wm. G. Montgomery was Presiding Elder, and W. M. Potts- man was preacher in charge of the circuit, and in November, 1847, W. D. Train- er was Presiding Elder and Samuel Black, preacher in charge. In 1848, Michael Lancaster was preacher in charge. In 1850, S. K. Vaught was Presiding Elder and Wm. Bickers, preacher in charge. In 1851, Jacob Brillhart was preacher in charge, and in 1853, Samuel Black was preacher in charge. In 1855. G. S. MeCutcheon was preacher in charge. In 1858, S. H. Mullen was Presiding Elder, and J. R. Brown, preacher in charge. In 1859, Samuel Brannan was preacher in charge. Col. Asa Squires was Recording Steward from the organ- ization of the church in 1847 until 1859, the last record we have prior to the Civil war. The circuit remained in the Kentucky Annual Conference, Guy- andotte Circuit.
The last quarterly conference held before the war met at Flatwoods meet- ing house May 28th and 29th, 1859. The Presiding Elder being absent, Rev. Claughton attended in his place. S. M. Brannan was preacher in charge.
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