Randolph County, Indiana - Biographical sketches (2 of 3 so headed), 1882 (part 2 of 4)

Church at a cost of $350, and are undertaking, under the leadings of the enlightening Spirit, to establish in that village a permanent, religious work, in connection with their order of faith and practice.

Jericho was established about 1820. They built a log cabin, with no windows, but merely holes for light with shutters. The seats were poles with legs. The women's side had a big fireplace, but the men's side had a hearth in the middle of the room, with a hole in the roof above to let the heat and smoke out. They would use coals from the tire-place, bark, etc., that made but little smoke. Benoni Hill, Henry Hill, Amos Peacock, Abram Peacock, Elijah Cox, and William Cox, with their wives, formed the meeting. ;

There was no minister for fifteen years. The first preacher was John Jones, about 1835. Other preachers havo been resident among them, though not very many.

perhaps, for twenty years. The Hills, the Peacocks, and others were prominent in this " separation" at Jericho. After the abolition of slavery, the Anti-slavery Friends disbanded, and most went back to the "body." In about 1878, another division occurred at Jericho arising from the fact that the great body of the societies belonging to the Richmond Yearly Meeting (and, perhaps, to others), have decidedly charged their methods of procedure and their modes of worship from those which had been prevalent for many years. Some of the Jericho Friends were unwilling to yield to these changes, and set up a meeting for themselves. The two divisions occupy the same meetinghouse, the old society meeting in the forenoon, and the new in the afternoon. The ''new" would to outsiders appeur to be the "old," but since the Yearly Meeting has also changed, those who persist in the old methods are reckoned to be the " new" society. Both, curiously enough, claim to be in the spirit, and to be using the methods, of the original Quakers. The " new methods" certainly differ very greatly from those forty and fifty years ago. How it was at first, we are unable tosay. The members of the meeting in harmony with Richmond Yearly Meeting are George Thomas, Frances Frazier, Asenath Thomas, and many others.

The members of the other meeting are William Peacock, Clarkson Peacock, - - Peacock, Elijah Peacock, William Robinson, - -- Gilbert, with their wives, as also perhaps others.

The Jericho Friends are a steady, God-fearing, kind and generous people, trying to walk in the leadings of the Spirit, and following peace and good-will toward their brethren and their fellow-men; and it would seem, to those who look on, a matter of sincere regret that the little group of faithful Christians, small enough even in the whole, could not so far walk in unity as to continue to be one in outward work and modes of worship, even as they doubtless are in substantial love and desire for Christian purity and spiritual advancement.

Lynn was formed very early in the history of the county, perhaps as soon as 1818, or thereabouts. The chief members were Paul Beard, Sr., Jesse Johnson, Francis Frazier, James Frazier, - - Kenworthy, Travis Adcock, John Moorman, Obadiah Harris, and others not now known. The ministers have been Obadiah Harris, the first, and for many yeurs the only one, Ruth Johnson. Ira Johnson, Cynthia Mills, James Mills (moved to Kansas), Elkanah Beard, Irena Beard (the two last missionaries to India and elsewhere). Travis Adcock, and others removed to Iowa about 1837. The church now standing is very old, having been built more than forty, and perhaps even fifty years ago. It was erected about 1830. The Friends at Lynn have always had among them those who were active in every good and benevolent work, and their record is abundant and honorable in labors for Christ, and for the upbuilding of His cause among men. Their first house was of logs, built about 1820. The Friends at Lynn are now (summer of 1881), erecting a new house of worship on the west side of the pike, near the toll-gate south of the village of Lynn.

The donors of the tract were Stanton Bailey, Cornelius Overman and two others. We have been unable to obtain more definite information as to this society, as it has been extinct forty years or more, and those who had to do with it are gone from the region long years ago.

Parker. - The Friends have held meetings at this place for some six years. The Friends who have attended, and have ministered as they were 'ied by the Divine Light.' have been Della Branson, Benjamin Morris, Isaiah Jay, Martitia Carter, John Osborn, John H. Bond, Lydia Wright.

The resident Friends are Elkanah Morris and wife, Barclay Smith and wife, Andrew Dragoo and wife, Dr. Rogers and wife, Martin Phillips and wife, Philip Cultice and wife, P. B. Barnes and wife, Lydia Jessup, Willson Jessup, Hannah Miller, Fanny Morris, Charles Long, Jacob Wells, Sallie Wasson, L. H. Karns and others.

In the summer of 1881, they bought the house that had been the Christian meeting-house, and they now occupy it for regular religious service, striving humbly to wait on the Lord in quietness and unity in the way of His appointment, trusting in the fulfillment of His gracious promise, '" Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

Sparrow Creek. - The meeting was organized about 1835. Dunkirk, Jericho and White River had been joined ina monthly meeting. Sparrow Creek Meeting-House was built, and Dunkirk and the latter were made into a monthly meeting. The house was a good frame building, with two rooms, for males and females, and it was built about 1835. It was burned some years afterward, during a winter school, through the means of a stovepipe.

The society undertook to build again, and got the frame up, but in some way the matter failed. The members were some of the Pucketts and the Bealses and others. The graveyard still remains, and has some care, though it is in bad repair.

In 1839, Arnold Buffum first lectured in Winchester on abolition, and he came out and spoke also both at Dunkirk and at Sparrow Creek, and afterward formed an anti-slavery society at Dunkirk. At that place, "Old Billy Hunt" (Rey. William Hunt) challenged a discussion upon slavery. Dunkirk and Sparrow Creek Quakers went nearly en masse for abolition.

Friend Methodist, Union, Southeast of Windsor. - Rev. John Smith, a United Brethren preacher, came into the neighborhood where John Thornburg lived about forty-five or fifty years ago. Upon his preaching, the people liked his doctrine well, and a Union Church was formed by Methodists and Friends. Some of the chief members were John Thornburg, George W. Smithson, G. Wesley Terrell, William Moore, John N. Terrell.

The log church near the cemetery was built in 1838. Their meetings were very interesting, and did much good. The church was thriving and prosperous while John Thornburg (who was a minister) lived among them. Arter his death, divisions arose, the meeting-house was soJd;*and another was erected farther south, and gradually the Friend Methodist Church became a thing of the past. The cemetery, with the church, is there yet, and is patronized for purposes of burial for miles around. The graveyard is located upon a sightly knoll, making a pleasant appearance. Many graves are there, and a large number of tombstones raise their heads above the friendly soil to betoken to friends and passers-by where rest the remains of the sleeping dead.

White River - This meeting was "set up" about 1820. The chief families were those of Benjamin Cox, John Wright (blacksmith), Jonathan Hiatt, Simon Cox, Thomas Ward, Joseph Moffatt, and perhaps more besides. Of these pioneers of church work among the Friends, none are living. All have passed on to their reward, and many, very many, of their bodies lie sleeping in the silent graveyard beside the church, where, for so many faithful years, they met to worship Him who wishes for His followers only those who worship in spirit and in truth.

Tho ministers belonging to White River cannot now be stated. One of them is Levi Cox. Neither have we at hand the names of the principal members of the society.

Before its erection, and from the beginning of their settlement, the Friends had, what everybody else had, for the same purpose, in the "wooden country," a log church, and many a season of sweet and rich and melting communion with the "Spirit which giveth life' and bringeth peace to the waiting, believing soul, did those quiet, humble, God-fearing Friends enjoy amid the mighty forest shades, afar from the din and bustle of the busy mart, and from the thronged places of concourse where hundreds or thousands congregate for business, for pleasure, or even for the worship of Him who 'filleth all in all. For sixty years, that quiet spot has witnessed, week after week, the approach of the worshiping groups as they drew near the sanctuary of the Holy One to assemble themselves together in the name of the Lord; and still, week by week, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of those aged fathers and mothers of the olden time follow the footsteps of their venerated ancestors who planted the worship of Jehovah in those unbroken woods, and in meekness and humility they bow their souls in solemn adoration, and lovingly wait and earnestly wrestle and pray for the overshadowing and indwelling presence and power of the same spirit who visited, ages ago, the first Christian dwellers in these lands.

And thus may it be from generation to generation. Ages hence, may the descendants of the pious worshipers of the former years in these quiet retreats still come as of yore to the same consecrated spot, aud find ever the ancient promise true that "the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, and His righteousness unto children's children."

Winchester. - Although Randolph County has been filled with Friends ever siace its first settlement, and nearly a dozen preparative and several monthly meetings have long existed within its limits, yet, strange to say, that society never had regular established service in Winchester till a few years ago. Elkanah Beard took up his residence in the town in 1878, he and his wife being prominent ministers among Friends, and they began to hold services for worship after the manner of their society in the'same year, the meetings being held in the City Hall.

The interest gradually increased till in 1875, and a preparative meeting was established, as also a monthly and quarterly meeting, not far from this same time. A neat and convenient meeting-house was erected in 1876.

The resident recorded ministers are Jesse C. Johnson, W. C. Brown, Elkanah Beard, Irena Beard and Mary Matilda Parker. Meetings are held Fifth-day nights and First-day mornings and nights, congregation ranging from forty to one hundred and fifty. An interesting Sabbath school is held in connection with the society. ;

More than nineteen hundred members are included in the quarterly meeting. Five preparative meetings, as also Dunkirk, now extinct, and Arba, belonging to New Garden Quarterly Meeting, in Wayne County, were established nearly at the first settlement of the county, say between 1815 and 1824. Of us Arba is supposed to have been the first, being established in 5.

The Friends at Winchester have been active during the winter of 1881-82, and much good seems to have been produced by their religious labors there and elsewhere.

Anti-Slavery Friends

For some time before 1842, a trouble had been arising among the Friends in Richmond Yearly Meetings on the question of abolition. While professing to be anti-slavery, the great body of the meeting were unwilling to co-operate with Abolitionists in their work of arousing the nation to the sin and guilt of slavery, and disapproved of those who did so co-operate, notably condemning Charles Osborn, who was a Friend of high character and great simplicity and earnestness of spirit. This action caused a split, and a new society was formed by the name of Anti-slavery Friends, with their yearly meeting at Newport (Fountain City), Wayne Co., Ind. Much activity prevailed among them for several years, and a large number of Randolph Friends joined the new society. Cabin Creek and Dunkirk Preparative Meetings did so almost entirely. A new meeting was formed at Jericho. The movement continued for some twenty years or more.

Near its beginning, the London Yearly Meeting, to which the Friends throughout the world look up with reverence as the great mother of them all, interested herself in the trouble, and sent a deputation of Friends to visit the ''recusants'' and try to reconcile them to the '' body."

Their labors proved fruitless, for the time, at least, and Antislavery Friends, with their simple ways, in Hoosier cabins, and dragging their ox sleds through Indiana woods, made themselves merry over the rich and haughty English Quakers as they wended their slow and toilsome way through the wonderful mud from point to point and from cabin to cabin, offering to buy oxen to hitch to their costly carriages to haul them through the terrible mud and well-nigh impassable mire, making ceaseless trouble to the backwoods Hoosiers by their disagreeable and unsuitable aristocratic ways, obliging whole families to sleep out of doors, or at least outside the dwelling, because their ladyships could not possibly sleep in the same room with a man (besides their own husbands), and what not.

But the Anti-slavery work found other channels, and the "*body " softened down considerably, and the mutual yearnings after re-union prevailed, and the Anti-slavery Friends, such as chose, were received back to the '' body '' and no questions asked.

Among the leaders and prominent Friends in this region engaged in the Anti-slavery secession were Charles Osborn, William Hough, Dr. H. H. Way, Nathan Thomes, Benjamin Thomas, Benjamin Stanton, Joel Parker, David Willcutts, Walter Edgerton; and in Randolph County, nearly all the Friends in Dunkirk and Cabin Creek Preparative Meetings, and numbers at Jericho, and some elsewhere, among them the Hills and the Peacocks, etc., at Jericho; the Pucketts, etc., at Dunkirk; the Bonds and the Wrights at Cabin Creek, etc., etc.

The Anti-slavery movement in general was indeed a " thing of life." Though exceeding small as to numbers, they made up that lack by excess of activity and overflowing zeal, causing the country to echo from side to side with their strong and not too gentle condemnations of the system as such, and of all its practicers and abettors in high places or low, especially in high sta.

Leavitt. Douglass, and a great multitude of compeers, set themselves the task, under God, of overthrowing American chattel slavery; and for years the world stood and jeered and mocked, and cursed and mobbed alternately, tarring and feathering, and outright the despised Abolitionists, who were truly hated by all men. But time sped swiftly on, and the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, and the storm burst; and, when the sky cleared itself once more, slavery lay dead, and the slaves had been made freemen. And the faithful band, its ranks sadly thinned, shouted, "Hallelujah! Glory to God!'' They felt like marching forth as did Miriam of old, among the Hebrew maidens, with timbrels and dances, singing as they marched, " Sound the loud timbrel over earth and sea! Jehovah hath triumphed, His people are free!" and a very few, and only those of the younger class, are still in the land of the living. Most of their names are lost to history, but their work remains, and their record is on high.

The 'Underground Railroad" had many adherents and abettors in Randolph, and great numbers of refugees from slavery were sheltered and helped on their way toward the North Star by faithful friends dwelling in the region.

German Churches

Christopher Saur, one of their number, in 1748 printed the first German Bible made in America, and edited the first paper ever issued from their church, and perhaps from any religious body.

The first meeting-house known was built in Franklin County, Penn., in 1798. There must have many built before that time, one would think, though in old times much religious work was done in private houses, barns, schoolhouses, etc.

The first brother that settled in Virginia was John Garber, at Flat Rock Valley, in 1777, who built up a large congregation. From this church Jacob Miller came to near Dayton, Ohio, in 1800. He raised twelve children - nine sons and three daughters. Three of his sons became ministers, and reside in Indiana, doing much work for the Gospel there.

The German Baptists have eighty-five congregations in Indiana, and seventy-five in Ohio, mostly with extensive membership and large houses for worship.

Eleven newspapers are published under their auspices, and they have three colleges - -Mt. Morris, Ill., by Elder J. W. Stein; Ashland, Ohio, by Elder S. G. Sharp; Berlin, Penn., by Elder James Quirter.

In Darke County, Ohio, adjoining Randolph, they have twenty-three resident ministers and nine houses of worship. Sometimes one church or congregation will have several meetinghouses, Thus, Union City Church has two- - one north of Union City, and one southeast of Hillgrove, Ohio.

Baptist (north of Union City, Ind.). - About 1826 or 1827, by a council held at William K. Marquess' (Samuel Parent's, a German Baptist Church was organized and called Greenville Creek Church. Their preaching was supplied by ministers from a distance, who came on horseback, along narrow, winding traces, and often through deep mud and water, to bring sinners the tidings of salvation, and not without the abundant blessing of the Lord of the vineyard.

In 1830, John Crumrine was elected to the ministry at the house of Susannah Crumrine. In 1836, William K. Marquess was called to the service of the church as a preacher.

Brethren Crumrine and Marquess were the first resident ministers. Rev. Crumrine moved to Wabash County, Ind., in 1852, and Rev. Marquess died November 9, 1857. Their preaching points were in Preble, Miami, Darke and Mercer Counties, Ohio, and Randolph, Wayne and Henry Counties, Ind. The places were Harris Creek, Stillwater, Ludlow, Fort Recovery, Greenville Creek, Union City, Winchester, Deerfield, Bloomfield, Grandville, Hagerstown and Blue River.

William K. Marquess, Jr., was chosen about 1855, and Eli Dickey, William B. Simmons, Samuel Puterbaugh and Benjamin Bowman, have since been elected in this church as ministers of the Word.

Eli Dickey moved to Ohio about 1870; the others reside here still. Stephen Miller and George Peters moved to the bounds of this church for a short time.

_feet, and the cost was $3,250, and there is a cemetery in connection. The second meeting-house was erected in 1878, about a mile southeast of Hillgrove, Ohio, at a cost of $650, with a size of 32x44 feet.

Zion Church (Evangelical) Emmetsville. - The church began in 1865. Meetings were held at Mr. Zimmerman's till 1879, at which time the society built a meeting-house just east of Emmetsville, a frame, 28x46 feet, at a cost of $1,200.

The first members were Emanuel Zirumerman and family. George Weiss and family, Peter Young and family, Jacob Young and family, Philip Bretch and family. And there have joined the society since, George Allmann and family, John Blouch ana family, Christian May and family.

Evangelical Association, Winchester. - There were members belonging to this denomination before 1833, but no class. At that date, Christian Habbich came to Winchester, and a class was formed, and religious services have been maintained ever since. For about thirty years, meetings were held in private dwellings. In 1883, a church was built on Franklin street, west of the public square.

Since then, some of the chief members have been George S. Keller, C. and G. Kizer, Schrickengost, Wietz, Boltz, Sayler, George W. Meier, Andrew Lewis, etc.

Preachers - Messrs. Shafer, Bretch, Wales, Evans, Uphaus, Buchman, Brechster, Dreier, Hosstetler, ete. The present Pastor is Rev. Launer, and he resides in the place. The church is a mission church. The Pastor supplies three churches - Winchester, Emmettsville and Richmond; preaching, in both languages, once in two weeks. The congregation sustains a Sunday school, as also a prayer meeting. The number of members is about eighty. The church, with the lot, cost about $2,000.

The society is evangelical, believing in conversion and experimental religion. Only two are in the county, at Emmettesville and at Winchester.

Lutheran (Union City) was organized about 1857, by Rev. Thomas Lacker, residing near Greenville, Ohio, with A. Abel, Sr., as Elder, and T. Rosenbush and C. Schneidermann as Trustees.

The ministers have been Rev. A. Reefecker, Darke County, Ohic; Rey. J. Loefler, first resident Pastor, nine years; Rev. J. A. Spangenberg, eight months; Rev. E. Behme, several years; Rev. A. Michael is present Pastor (1831).

The congregation increased greatly under the ministry of Rev. Loefler. When the church was dedicated, there were but thirteen members, yet the house was free from debt.

In 1867, the church withdrew from the General Synod (New Lutheran), and joined the Joint Synod (Old Lutheran), with which it is now connected. Number of members, about one hundred and fifty; number of families, about fifty.

The Sunday school has ten teachers and seventy-five pupils; congregational schools held during summer months; religious instruction every Saturday morning, and lectures on the Catechism every other Sunday afternoon.

This church is the only Lutheran Church in Randolph County. Darke County, Ohio, has twelve, mostly German. Some of the societies date back thirty-five or forty years. In the United States, there are 2,700 ministers, 4,740 congregations and 600,000 communicants.

Methodist Churches

Eurly Methodism (from '' Indiana Miscellany," W. C. Smith.) - Methodism was introduced into Clark's Grant as soon as 1802. Rev. Hugh McCull settled on the White Water, in Wayne County, in 1805, and for sixty years or more he blew the Gospel trumpet, dying 1862, in his one hundred and fifth year.

The first circuit in Indiana was the White Water Circuit, formed in 1807, and belonging to the Ohio District and the Old Western Conference.

In 1809, Indiana District was formed, containing six circuits - Illinois, Missouri, Coldwater, Maramac, White Water and Silver Creek- - two in Indiana.

For two or three years, the services were held mostly in the forts, which had been built for the protection of the frontier setase The preachers would go around and travel from fort to

One of the first meeting-houses in Indiana was built in 1808, called Meeks' Meeting-House, standing on Clear Creek, a mile or so southeast of Salisbury, Wayne County, old county seat.

One sermon from Augustus Jocelyn, in particular, from 2 Peter, ii, 22, "The dog is returned to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire," was long remembered as a fearfully powerful sermon upon backsliding and backsliders.

The first camp-meeting in Indiana, so far as known, was in 1810, and was held in Wayne County, a mile southeast of Salisbury. Thomas Nelson and Samuel Thompson were preachers in charge, and John Sale was Presiding Elder.

From 1819 onward for years, two preachers were assigned to one circuit. The assignments for White Water were as follows, including, at this time, all the points of Randolph County:

The second Methodist meeting-house in Wayne County was built on land belonging to John Cain, three miles northwest of Richmond, called Cain's Meeting-House. Tt was of logs, 18x22 feet, and the dedication sermon was preached by Rev. John Summerville. The text was a queer one - Zech., x, 4, "Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battlebow, out of him every oppressor together." But doubtless the discourse was, like many in those days, a powerful effort, for men in those sledge-hammer times made a "business" of preaching. And in that humble sanctuary, such men as Moses Crume, John Strange, Walter Griffith, Alexander Cummins, Augustus Jocelyn, James Jones, Arthur W. Elliot, Russel Bigelow, Allen Wiley and James Havens proclaimed the Gospel of Christ to entranced throngs of hardy pioneers; and a Gospel it was - sweet, strong, clear - -a portion to each, both saint and sinner, in due season.

Rey. Allen Wiley, when holding a two-days' meeting near Salisbury, in 1818, had a text given him with a request that he would preach from it, and a pledge that the writer of the request would attend and listen to the discourse. The text was taken, the request was read to the assembly, and a grand sermon was the result. The text was, 'God said to Moses, 'I am that I am,' and He said, 'Thus shall ye say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.' "'

Mr. Smith said it was discovered that the person who sent the text to Mr. Wiley wag a young lawyer by the name of Dally, and that he left shortly for New Orleans.

taining the position of Deputy Clerk under David Hoover. He entered the law, with remarkable power, eloquence and success. He was not a Christian, and was habitually profane. One day, his little son, who had been at church, said to his mother, '*Mother, the preacher said that swearers will go to hell, and pa swears." The remark startled Mr. Rariden, and he declared, "TY will quit swearing at once.'' Whether he did or not we do not know. He was liberal, though quaint and original in his method of showing it. One day, a subscription for money for a horse for Rev. Everhart, containing sums of 10 cents to 25 cents, and soon. '"' Why," said he, ''this will never buy a horse for anybody." He went out immediately, bought a horse and gave it to the needy minister, and let the " picayune" subscription go its way.

Camp-Meetings. - The first camp meeting in the United States is said to have been held near Red River, Kentucky, in 1799, by two brothers McGee, one a Presbyterian and one a Methodist. It was induced by the great effect of preaching at a meeting in the neighborhood previously, and produced a wonderful revival, being followed by others in various places.

The first in Indiana Territory is thought to have been on the White Water Circuit, between Brookville and Harrison, conducted by Rev. Hezekiah Shaw, in 1808. -

The third in the Territory was in 1810, hetween Richmond and Centerville, by Elder John Sale, and after that, camp meetings were held yearly at the grounds of Rev. Hugh McCull, a famous pioneer preacher, who died in 1862, in his one hundred and fifth year.

Many camp-meetings, grove meetings, etc., have been held in the county. Some of them have been at Spartansburg, Fairview, Mt. Zion, Union Chapel, Ritenour's, and of later years, at Union City Fair Grounds, Winchester Fair Grounds, Arba, Windsor, Ridgeville, Shiloh, Chenoweth's (near Bartonia), and other places besides. They were once a great power for good, mixed with considerable evil. The roughs would go for mischief, but the Spirit of the Lord was there in power, and brought many a haughty blasphemer to the foot of the cross.

The camp-meetings of later years seem but feeble echoes of the old-time gatherings in the leafy woods. The mischief is there in abundance, but the offsetting, wrestling, conquering, converting, new creating Holy Ghost power is all too seldom seen in modern days. In fact, they seem, in many cases of late, to be conducted simply as a money speculation, and the Spirit of Power is absent. ES

The Methodist Episcopal societies are Union City, Winchester, Spartansburg, Bartonia, Huntsville, Mt. Pleasant, three and a half miles southeast of Huntsville, Lebanon, one and a half miles northeast of Huntsville, Macksville, Mt. Zion, southeast of Winchester, Unionsport, Thornburg Chapel, Windsor, Pleasant View, Union Chapel. west of Bloomingsport, Farmland, Morristown, Saratoga, Pittsburg, Ridgeville, Lynn, Vinegar Hill, Losantville, Concord, Fairview, Deerfield, Rehoboth, northwest of Farmland, New Dayton, Pleasant Hill, north of Farmland, Bloomingsport, New Pittsburg, Mt. Pleasant, west of Bloomingsport, on the boundary, and perhaps others.

Bartonia. - A class was established there (at Mr. Bailey's) about 1848, and the meeting-house was built about 1850. Edward Barton was Class-Leader. Someof the members have been Edward Barton, James Bailey, William Shockney, James Jackson, William A, Macy, Ephraim L. Bowen, Chenoweth; William Locke, Manning, Manning, Spencer, and their wives.

Mr. Chenoweth, during his life-time, prepared a grove upon his land for the holding of meetings, and in the summer time, religious services are often held there.

William Locke, who, for many years, was a warm-hearted member of the Bartonia Class, also removed not long ago, and no one remains who can fill the gap his absence has created.

south of Bloomingsport. A log house was built, perhaps about 1828. The trustees of the society were John Stevens, Nathan Frazier and Thomas Phillips. The present house was built in 1849.

Deerfield. - The class was formed about 1837. The meetings were held at first ina log schoolhouse east of town, then at Perry Fields' for some years, then in a log schoolhouse half a mile south of Perry Fields', and in other places also. The church at Deertield has been built about thirty years.

Some of the early members were Anthony Ritenour, Perry Fields, Caleb Odle, William Odle, Ephraim Collins (exhorter), William B. Fields (exhorter).

Some of the preachers for Ritenour's, Prospect and Deerfield have been Revs. Burns, Bartlett, Hall, Bradshaw, Bradbury, Kent, Campbell, Newton, Herrick, Ramsey, Blake, Kerwood, Madden. The present incumbent is Rey. Harrison.

Rev. Elijah Harbour moved in very early, and he was a local preacher, and did much toward planting religion in that part of thecounty. Preaching was held at Nathan Godwin's, near Fairview; at Mr. Pendry's, in Delaware County; aud at John Booth's, in Jay County. A log church was built in Fairview about 1839, and a frame house in 1849, which is standing yet, having been remodeled in 1874.

Some of the early members were Nathan Godwin, Bennet King, John King, James McProud, John Life, Elijah Harbour (Rev.), Caleb Manor (Jay County), John Booth (Jay County), William Richardson, with their wives.

Thomas Godwin says that he came of age while Rey. Bradshaw was circuit-rider, and that the preacher was at Thomas' father's house on the day that he (Thomas) was twenty-one. The thumb on my head." The old man did so. Thomas, slipping quickly from under his father's hand, said, '' There, father, I have siiz¢ed from under your thumb." The clergyman was surprised zad pieased to boot, at the freshness and oddity of the jest, insomuch that he spoke of it many years afterward.

Farmland. - A class was formed some time before 1866. The Christians were more numerous. Both meetings were held in 'ae »2hoolhouse at first, but, in 1868 or 1869, the Methodists built a churcn, and gradually increased in numbers and influence, eventually gaining a prominent standing.

Among the members in 1866 were John S. McIntyre, Samuel McIntyre, William R. Oliver, Charles Wall, Mr. Kelley (preacher - returned to Virginia).

Members since that time: John A. Moorman (Rey.), Elias Holliday, John H. Denton, Lewis A. Gable, James 8S. Davis, M. W. Diggs, S. C. Grimes, K. L. Mull, etc.

The society numbers about eighty members. Sunday school has eighty to one hundred pupils, and is sustained all the year, being a live, wide-awake, prosperous school.

Hunt's Schoolhouse (one mile south of Pleasant View). - A class has existed there twenty yearsor more. Some of the leading members have been John A. Hunt, George Howell, Elizabeth Hunt and sons.

At Pleasant View there is Methodist preaching, but no class, preaching being held once in three weeks, and Sunday school every Sabbath. The preacher now is Rev. Peck.

was built in 1867. Its members are Edward Butler and wife, William Butler and wife, Jonathan Butler and wife, Ackerell Lamb and wife, Joshua Campbell and wife, John T. Harrison and wife.

Lynn. - The Methodists began at Hopewell, in Wayne County, very early, one mile south of Mr. Curtis Clenny's. Mrs. Shoemaker (daughter of Ourtis Clenny, who came to near Lynn about 1815), who is our informant, joined the Hopewell Class in 1831.

In 1844, preaching was established at Mr. John Moody's, southeast of Lynn, and a class was formed, and the meetings were held in dwellings for many years. About 1850, or possibly sooner, the Methodists had preaching in a Jog house on the Freestone farm.

Some of the members of the class at Mr. Moody's were John Peale and wife, John Moody and wife, Elijah Benson and wife, Elizabeth Shoemaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Benson.

Some of the members at Lynn were Pierce Helliagsworth (local preacher), John Peale and wife, John Clenny and wife, and others not now recollected.

Of late years, the work has much declined. A fewyears ago, the place was abandoned as a preaching point. At length it was resumed, along with others that had been dropped, four or five being thrown into a missionary circuit. The work revived, and the circuit became self-supporting. However, the society has dwindled, and at present (1881), no regular meetings are held, and there is no Sunday school.

Mazxville.--- Meetings were held at John Sumwalt's, and a class was organized about 1821 or 1822. Several other preaching points were established not far from the same time - George Ritenour's, on the Mississinewa; William Kennedy's (Mt. Zion, southeast of Winchester), etc. Mr. Kennedy belonged first to the class at Ritenour's, and attended class there, he and his wife going on horseback through the woods eight miles though preaching was held also at Kennedy's cabin.

Some of the early preachers were Richard Brandreth, sixty years ago, then a lad in his teens, still living, an old man, at Piqua, Ohio, a physician and a clergyman: Messrs. Wood, John S. Smith, living; John H. Hull, 1837; Ansel Beach, 1838; Francis Carey, William Dickerson, Colbreth Hall (married "' Old Billy Hunt's"' daughter), William Hunt, etc., etc.

Membership - There were but few members of the class at Sumwalt's for ten or fifteen years - John Sumwalt, one and a half miles south of Maxville; Godfrey Sumwalt, at Sampletown Cross Roads; Jacob Sumwalt, who lived inthe vicinity; Walter Ruble and his wife; Caleb Odle, Mrs. Tarlton Moorman and others.

Early members at Maxyille, besides the ones named: Robison McIntyre, who had been a Presbyterian, but who became an active Methodist; Henry D. Huffman, also a Presbyterian, but an efficient worker; Alexander McIntyre, John McIntyre.

Mt. Pleasant (West River, on boundary). - Methodist meetings were held at Mr. Freeman's, then at Shoemaker's, and afterward at Brother John Grubbs.' A log church was built perhaps iu 1838, two miles west of Mt. Pleasant, and Salem Church, two und a half miles north of the boundary, at about the same time. The present Mt. Pleasant was built about 1865. The one west of Mt. Pleasant was Asbury Chapel. -

__ The members have been Barrett Barnett, John Retz, Mr. Mc- Gunnigal, John Jordan, Mr. Freeman, John Shoemaker, John Grubbs, George Jordan's sons and others.

Mt. Zion (southeast of Winchester, near William Kennedy's). - Preaching began in this vicinity very early, when only paths and trails traced their winding way among the forest trees. Mr. Kennedy was an ardent Methodist, and the preachers soon found him out, and his cabin was the circuit-rider's home for many years. His wife and himself used to go on horseback through the woods to near Richmond, and to Ritenvur's Church, between Ridgeville and Deerfield, in those ancient days. Probably a pole cabin answered the purposes of worship, after having met in the dwellings of Brethren Kennedy, Lucas, etc.

A log church was built in about 1836, which answered the desired end till 1868, at which time the present neat and tasteful edifice was erected.

Some of the pioneer members of the Methodist Class in those times, when men and women gathered among the forests for worship, and not for show, were as follows:

William Kennedy and wife, John M. Lucas and wife, David North and wife (he is still living and resides in Kentucky), Tyndall and wife, Pierce Hollingsworth and wife (local preacher), William Hollingsworth and wife (local preacher), Stephen Williams and wife (local preacher).

The early preachers cannot now be given. Some of the later ones have been Revs. Stout, Cooper, Jenkins, Newman, Newton, Thomas, Butts, Cain.

Mt. Zion has been an important station from the beginning. Much of the time, a Sunday school has been in operation, though there is none at the present time. It is true, also, that this class has seen times of depression and discouragement, such a season existing at the present time.

New Dayton. - There was preaching as early as 1837, at the very first settlement of the region. The first Sunday school in the region was organized' by Rev. J. G. Brice.

The meetings were held at aschoolhouse near Isaiah Milner's, on the present pike from Olive Branch to Stone Station. A class was organized at an early day and the services were held at various places - at Mrs. Helms' and elsewhere.

It has been, on the whole, a good, substantial class, dwindling sometimes, and given up two or three times by the conference; but it would not stay ''dropped," and still struggled on, determined to live. In 1877, a tasteful and convenient church was erected near the cemetery, and the class feel well repaid for the conflict they have endured for nearly forty years.

Some of the members are, or have been, James Addington (exhorter) and wife, Isaiah Milner and wife, Simon Lighty (exhorter) and wife, Eli Hiatt and wife, Jesse Addington and wife, L. W. Sherman and wife, Mrs. Pardon Sherman, Hannah Rose, ete.

built at Walnut Corner, south of Pittsburg. A frame church was built at Pittsburg about 1860, but the society went down not very long after.

Some of the chief members have been Messrs. Daugherty, Friddle, James Cecil, Ezra Cecil, Knapp, Ephraim Cecil, Peter Deal, John Morris, J. L. Miller.

Pleasant Grove (near Granger Hall, two miles north of Spartanburg). - The church there was built about 1847, and remained till about 1860. Some ¢f the same members who afterward formed the Bartonia Class were prominent in building Pleasant Grove Church and sustaining religious services there. Being so near both Spartanburg and Bartonia, the class could not very long maintain a separate existence.

Pleasant Hill (one and three-fourths miles north of Farmland). - -The class was formed in 1858, by Rev. John B. Burt. The house was built in 1860.

The number of members now is between thirty and forty. Some of them arw William Sumwalt, James Fryer and wife, Ellen Cox, James Roberts and wife, William James and wife, Rebecca Shaw and wife, William J. Macy and wife, Jesse Cox and wife, Simon Heffer and wife, William Broderick and wife, Benjamin Sumwalt.

Prospect (east of Deerfield, Ward Township). - There was an early preaching place near this house. The circuit-rider used to make Riley Marshall's one of his points away back at the beginning of things. Mr. Marshall came about 1821, and the time of the commencement of preaching dates back nearly to that day. The meeting-house was built about 1845. It has been used until within a few years, and this neighborhood has been, since the first settlement, an important point to the Methodists. But the house had become so out of repair that it was scarcely fit for use, and, Saratoga having grown up as an active center of business, the new church was built there; and "' Prospect Meeting-House '' stands, neglected and forsaken, beside the ancient cemetery, one of the oldest in the county, "where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," a sad memorial of the melancholy changes that come over the face of human affairs as the uges roll. The cemetery is still in use, and will probably continue so.

Judge Daniel B. Miller, a venerable pioneer of this region who had removed from his early haunts to spend his declining years at Winchester, directed his mortal remains to be borne, nevertheless, to old Prospect Cemetery, to sleep amongst those of his pioneer neighbors and associates.

The new church at Saratoga has been standing only a short time, being, however, a commodious, substantial structure of brick, erected thus in hope that the coming generations may find therein a place to worship God, and that time's rude, destructive hand may not again, in either the near or the not toodistant future, force those who shall dwell in the land in the coming ages to build anew the walls of their temple, or find, mayhap, still other seats of piety and devotion.

In the ancient cemetery at Prospect Mecting-House lie very many old men and women, pioneers of the region. Some of them, as may be seen in the record of cemeteries, have tombstones erected above them to preserve to coming generations for their memory a name among the living. But for many - alas, how many ! - this burial in the cold, cold ground has been a cutting-off from memory, as well as from sight; and the day is soon to come, perhaps has already dawned, when no man knoweth their sepulcher, and no man will know till the blast of the Archangel's trumpet in the midst of the rending sky shall reveal the final resting-place of each of the myriads of earth's departed ones.

Besides Riley Marshall's, meetings were held at D. B. Mil. ler's and at Samuel Helms.' Mr. Miller had a vacant building, which war used, and afterward Mr. Helms erected a large brick dwelling, and the upper part, being all in one room, was occupied as a meeting place, and they say it made a first-rate assembly room.

Some of the early members were Samuel Helms, Daniel B. Miller, Riley Marshall, Ezekiel Cooper, Samuel Milligan - also Ephraim Collins, Perry Fields, Lansford Fields, William Fields, Sr., Martin Fields, Robert Pogue, Bennet Evans, Edward Evans, Andrew Key, etc., ete. (For preachers, see Deerfield.)

Rehoboth (west of Shiloh, northwest of Farmland) was built about 1853. The frame is now being torn away to be replaced by a new one the-present summer (1881).

The members have been Abram Hammer, John Craig, Alfred McCamy, Jacob Windermaker, John Windermaker, Joseph Hammer, Jacob Simmons, George Morris, Stephen Willey, Cooper Morris, Richard Horner, etc., etc.

Ridgeville. - The Methodists began to hold services about 1856, first at Mr, Renbarger's, afterward at a schoolhouse in Ridgeville, as also on the Dilly farm, two miles northwest of Ridgeville, and at Robert Collier's, northeast of the town. Class was held and services were established fifty or sixty years ago at, Ritenour's, as elsewhere related.

Members in the region have been George E. Thomson and wife, Benjamin Lewallyn and wife, Abram Renbarger and wife, George Ritenour and wife, William Munden and wife, Obadiah Hall and wife, James Odle and wife, Caleb Odle and wife, Robert Starbuck and wife, William J. Shoemaker and wife, Mr. Wysong and wife, Arthur McKew and wife, Hannah Ward, Mrs. Ann Addington, George Gagner and wife.

Ritenour's. - A class was formed at this point very early. Mr. George Ritenour joined the Methodists when a boy, in Virginia, and he settled on the Mississinewa before 1820. Preaching began probably shortly after 1820. Class was held at his house, and perhaps elsewhere in the neighborhood, for fifteen years possibly. The log meeting-house, standing yet (1881) was built about 1836. It has stood vacant many years, ever since Deerfield Meeting-House was built.

Ritenvur's Class and Graveyard and Church were probably the first of the kind on the Mississinewa River. William Keunedy and his wife used to ride on horseback through the forest by blazed trails to Ritenour's to meeting.

Camp-meetings were held in that neighborhood, and John Key, now residing east of Deerfield, says his father used to move down to the camp-ground for the meeting upon truck wheels. In fact, that log church, now for a quarter of a century desolate, and still standing, grim and black, like some Old- World ruin, was, in those old times, a famous place; and to hear the sermons delivered in the power of the Spirit, to the eager, spellbound assemblies thronging within and around that once sacred shrine, scores and hundreds of fervent worshipers flocked, for miles and miles through the grand old woods, along the dim blind trails, or with no track at all, on horseback or on foot, to reach the sanctuary and join in the shouts of praise and the sacred hallelujahs that made the echoes ring. .

Salem (on boundary line, near Swain's Hill). - John Grubbs, an early pioneer, coming to Nettle Creek among the first, was in olden days an enthusiastic Methodist and a wide-awake local preacher, and he has done a great work in building up religious society through this region.

went down about 1855, and Concord Meeting-House was built not far from that time, and the new church became the place of worship for the Methodists of that region, and for others as well.

The cemetery is still used for purposes of interment, but the meeting-house is a thing of the past, and not the slightest mark or memento of its existence is to be found.

Some of the ancient members have been John Grubbs, still living, eighty-eight years old, and sick and helpless, but strong in spirit and rejvicing in Christian hope; Antony Johnson, very old; Hicks K. Wright, died a few years ago. (John Grubbs died triumphant a few days after our visit to his dwelling.)

Spartansburg.- - Methodist preaching began in Greensfork Township the earliest in the county. The first preaching was by Rev. William: Holman, of Louisville, Ky., at the house of Ephraim Bowen, probably in 1815, and a meeting for worship and exhortation was held at the same place by Stephen Williams, local preacher, not very far from the same time. A class was formed soon after, and preaching was held and class conducted at Ephraim Bowen's, and at Squire Bowen's and James C. Bowen's for thirty years or more. About 1830, William McKim settled at Spartanburg, and preachers from the Ohio Conference established meetings at Mr. McKim's. Some years later, about 1837, a meeting-house was built at Spartanburg, on a lot given for the purpose by Mr. McKim, who laid out the town. This house stood until 1857, when a new church was erected by the Methodists, which is occupied by them at the present time.

Some of the early preachers were Revs. Holman, Williams, Lawrence, Beck, Hull, Bruce, John L. Smith, Richmond, Bradbury, Burns, Swazy, Hollingsworth, Cooper, Wright, Sublett. Some of the later preachers have been Newton, Thomas, Curtiss, Bicknell, Cain.

Spartanburg and the region used to be famous for religious activity. At one time, the class was so large that the house would be filled and two leaders would conduct class at the same time on opposite sides of the room. Camp meetings were held, and extensive revivals took place, bringing great numbers to a profession of Christ.

Some of the early members were William McKim, William Borders, Christopher Borders, William Locke, James Fiers, Ephraim Bowen, James C. Bowen, Squire Bowen, William Dukes, Steplien Dukes, Thomas Middleton, William A. Macy, John Bates, - - Chenoweth, etc., ete.

Some of the present members are Squire Bowen and. wife, James C. Bowen, Harlan Hunt and wife. Julius Moore and wife, Richard Bunch and wife, William Jackson and wife, and others.

Steubenville. - The Methodists built a church at Steubenville about 1845, but it was not finished, and was never dedicated to religious purposes. The cemetery laid out with it is still used to some extent.

Thornburg Chapel (Stony Creek, north of Neff Post Office). - Preaching began in the neighborhood in 1840, by Rey. William Bradbury. Meetings were held at Abram Clevinger's and elsewhere - sometimes in the woods, ugain in an old store building put up by Jonathan Clevinger, then in an old log house on the western part of William Hewitt's farm, etc. The church was built in 1857, and it is standing yet.

About 1850 and onward, camp-meetings were held yearly for several years, and great power was manifested, and also great results achieved, through the divine mercy. Rev. Morrison was one of those on the work in those days. The meetings were orderly and impressive and convincing. They were continued many days. People moved to the grounds and dwelt in the tents erected for the purpose during the continuance of the meeting, and gave up their souls to the power of the truth and to the enjoyment of religion.

Amung the first members were Joseph Hewitt and wife, Ranpeople. The church used to have grand and gracious seasons in former days. The work has declined in later years.

Union Chapel (west of Bloomfield). - Preaching began in this neighborhood nearly sixty years ago, being held at Christian Edmonds' and at Thomas Phillip's, who came in 1821. ev. John Strange, famous in the history of pioneer Methodism, was among the first preachers. Rev. William Hunt also labored in this region.

There was first a log church, built as early as 1830 or sooner. A frame church was erected in 1862, and the present year (1881), a new meeting house is in progress.

The circuit in early times used to be Huatsville, Economy, Union Chapel, Bloomingport, Hopewell, Spartanburg, Mt. Zion and Mt. Pleasant (old Snow Hill).

The members, some of them, were Christian Edmonds, Isaiah Rogers, Hugh Botkin, Peter Botkin, Jesse Cox, Joseph Rogers, Daniel Worth and others.

Union City. - It was organized by Rey. Colclazer, of the Deerfield Circuit, in 1852, the first year of the existence of the town. The first class were Henry Debolt, wife and sister, R. T. Wheatly and wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Livengood (member still). They were joined soon after by J. T. Farson and wife (local preacher), S. L. Carter and wife (members still).

The first preaching place was Henry Debolt's house, then the " Bee-Line Boarding Car," then Hawkins' warehouse, then Scanlan's Hall, then White's warehouse (which was burned).

In 1869-70, a large edifice was erected on the southwest corner of Oak and Plum, and carried so far as to be occupied for worship. In 1880, the house was completed, at a total cost of $18,000. The house is large and commodious, having the main audience room in the second story, and the school room, class rooms, etc, in the basement. The building externally makes no pretensions to architectural beauty, but the audience room is tasteful and beautiful, and in all its appointments worthy of an intelligent and cultivated people.

Their preachers have been Revs. Colclazer, Newton, Stout, Blake, Mendenhall, Templin, Rhodes, Sparks, Greenman, Simpson, Lynch, Barnes, Vigus and Meck, and now Greenman again.

The Trustees since 1876 have been R. Wiggs, R. S. Fisher, W. T. Worthington, B. Masslich, R. T. Johnson, J. S. Starbuck, S. L. Carter, Simeon Dunn, J. M. Shank and J. M. Hartzell. R. Wiggs has removed to Kansas, and R. S. Fisher is dead. B. Masslich is Secretary of the board.

Methodist Sunday school was organized in 1853, by Rev. J. T. Farson, Superintendent. Pupils, twenty-five. Place, Bee- Line Boarding Car. F. Maloy was Superintendent from 1857 tu 1870; 1856, ten teachers, eighty pupils; 1860, twenty teachers, 130 pupils. In 1871, J. S. Starbuck became Superintendent.

dolph Smullen and wife, George A. Carmian and wife, ete. After him have béen Messrs. Tansey, Doty and Mitchell. In John A. Grubbs, Isaiah Rogers, Kerwood and William How- | 1880, there were thirty-eight teachers and 278 pupils. ell often came and exercised their gifts of exhortation among the The church has a good organ and an efficient choir. ee ae =Tarce

There have been many awakenings and revivals connected with the work of this church, sume of them extensive and powerful, and a wholesome activity pervades the membership.

The occasion of the dedication of the completed church was one of great interest (1880). The audience room was literally ''erammed" above and below. The sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. , of Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and was highly spoken of as a powerful and scholarly effort.

The sessions continued ten or twelve days with great and increasing interest. Several powerful sermons were delivered, and on the last Sabbath of the conference, a discourse by Bishop Foster to an excessively crowded assembly was pronounced to be the grandest sermon ever listened to in Union City.

Three most interesting and affecting occasions were witnessed in the Methodist Church during the winter and spring of 1879-80: First, the dedication of the church; second, the funeral of Prof. G. F. Mead, Superintendent of Union City Schools, who died after an illness of one week, February, 1880; sermon by Rev. Meck, Pastor; third, the funeral of Robert S. Fisher, who died after a week's illness; sermon by Rev. Meck, Pastor.

On all three of these occasions, the services were attended by a densely crowded and deeply affected assembly. Especially were the two funeral services intensely impressive, the community having been deeply wrought upon by tue solemn and mournful circumstances, and absorbed in intense sympathy for the families and friends of the deceased.

A series of meetings was held during the winter of 1880-81, lasting several weeks. A deeply interesting state of feeling resulted, and the members were greatly quickened and strengthened, though but few apparent conversions took place. Some prayer meetings for Sunday schools have been held in addition to the usual and regular stated meetings, in which a deep interest in that department of church work has been developed, and good results in increased activity in the Sunday school will doubtless show itself in the future history of the congregation, and the spiritual advantage of the rising generation will be greatly enlarged.

Local preachers in connection with the work have been J. T. Farson, David Strallham, F. Maloy, G. W. Arnold, P. Y. Gebhart, C. L. Carter, B. H. Reed, H. Reitenour, M. L. Reynolds, P. S. Stephens.

The Stewards at the present time are T. S. Johnson, Jacob Haney, RK. B. Castle, A. B. Cooper, J. F. Ruby, S. H. Dunn, Thomas Mitchell, S. A. Foster.

The Class-Leaders are Robert Pogue, William T. Worthington, H. H. Lefevre, A. A. Hutchinson, William Pogue, Thomas Simpkins, H. S. Foster, William Locke, E. M. Tansey, J. S. Starbuck, Morris Doty, Jane Crabbs, Laura Kelly, Mollie Pogue, J. G. Harlan.

From 1852 to 1859, Union City was simply a point upon Deerfield Circuit, and the class had hard work to live, averaging, for several years, seven members. In 1859, it was made a station, with $100 missionary appropriation. It remained a missionary station five or six years. Since about 1865, it has been self-supporting, and for several years it has been, as it still is, a strong and vigorous society.

During the winter of 1881-82, a protracted meeting was held of some six weeks or even longer. For nearly two weeks, it was conducted by Rev. Harrison, sometimes called the "boy preacher," with some, though not remarkable, results. In all, perhaps, sixty or more persons were added to the society.

Rey. Greenman, the present pastor, seems a faituful and vigorous worker, and the church is much strengthened by his earnest labors for the cause of the Redeemer.

Unionsport. - Methodist services have been held in the region for many years. Elza Lank, Sr., held « series of meetings at Unionsport years ago, and a strong revival was the result. Others also have preached in the neighborhood. The meeting-

Vinegar Hill. - Mt. Pleacant (Old Snow Hill) was transferred to a schoolhouse southwest of W. A. W. Daly's residence, and the preaching point is called Vinegar Hill.

About nineteen years ago, several stations were formed into a mission, and Rev. George Jenkins was put upon the work. The points were Spartanburg, Arba, Lynn, Bartonia, Mt. Zion and Vinegar Hill. He continued the work during three years, but in the second year the work became self-sustaining, and Vinegar Hill has been a point in the circuit ever since.

Some of the members are James Barnes and wife, Jacob Hinshaw and wife, Meredith Hinshaw and wife, Zimri Hinshaw and wife, Absalom Hinshaw and wife, and others.

Windsor. - About 1830, Rev. Robert Burns, from Wayne County, came to the regiou, preaching the Gospel. He established a class at Abram Clevinger's.

Members have been (in early times), besides others, Randolph Smullen and wife, William Moore and wife, Bezaleel Hunt and wife, Jonathan Fryer and wife.

There have been as many as 140 members. The number now is small. Some of them are Mrs. Odle and family, John Odle, Widow Odle, Armfield Thornburg and wife, Robert Tweedy and wife, Fanny Wallace. Preacher at the present time, Rev. Carey.

Winchester. - Methodists established themselves very early in the county, the first services of that denomination being at the house of Ephraim Bowen, near Arba, about 1815.

How early they began to hold meetings at Winchester we have no information. The records of their early operations in that place have not been discovered.

The first written account at hand is that of a deed for a lot, given in 1853, by George W. Monks. The date of the deed was July 14, 1853, and the Trustees at that time were W. H. Fitzgerald, Jehiel Hull, John H. Cottom, William Allen, William Gorsuch.

Winchester was made a station in 1859, and about that time the church which is now standing was built, since it was dedicated, October 2, 1859, with appropriate services. The station was attached to Muncie District, but for several years past it has belonged to Richmond District, and all that time tS North Indiana Conference.

There have been, however, several seasons of revival power, which brought in, at the times of their occurrence, many souls to the church, and the Methodists shared very largely in the revival spirit.

At present, the interest in religion in connection with the Methodist congregation is only moderate, the worldly spirit of the time seeming to depress the power of godliness among the people.

The report of 1861 states the numbers for the Sunday school at Winchester at 225 pupils and twenty-five officers, and the library at 500 volumes; and the Sunday school at Mt. Zion at sixty pupils and ten officers, and 100 volumes in the library.

In 1868, the meeting-house was valued as $4,000, and the parsonage then in existence at $700. When that parsonage was built we do not know. Another parsonage was built, which is still standing.

In 1867, W. H. Goode was Presiding Elder, and M. H. Mendenhall was pastor in charge. The church was valued at $5,000, and the parsonage at $1,800.

Trustees - John W. Williamson, E. B. Reynolds, John W. Diggs, Asa Teal, R. A. Leavell, W. A. W. Daly, John Richardson, Asahel Stone, Lee Ault.

Among the members of the church at different times have been C. S. Goodrich, George W. Monks, 8S. M. Lucas, W. B. Pierce, E. J. Putnam, Thomas J. Hull, C. A. Avery, John W. Williamson, John M. Lucas, RK. Deem, J. C. Roberts, C. Saxton, J. R. Brown, William Daugherty, A. J. Neff, B. F. Diggs, Melissa Diggs, Amanda M. Way, E. B. Reynolds, W. A. Thomson, Elias Kizer, J. S. Fisher, Jesse Bates, R. A. Leavell, H H. Neff, John Richardson, J. B. Routh, John Thornburg, E. T. Chaffee, Thomas C. Livingston, C. W. Diggs, KE. H. Butler, W. F. Houser, Edward Bates, W. A. W. Daly, R. D. Spellman, Jacob W. Henderson, J. S. Ferris, F. A. Engle, J. W. Diggs, S. McClure, Andrew Aker, H. W. Bowers, J. W. darnagin, Dennis Kelly, O. V. Lemon, James Ennis.

It is presumed that the foregoing list comprises only a small number of the members. Doubtless there have been many others equally worthy of mention.

Pastors have been Revs. Peyton, Meck, Stout, Rhodes, C. P. Wright, Walker, Smith, Mendenhall, Miller, Teague, Kistler, Tobey, Pierce, Kemp, Spellman, Carlan, Herrick.

are P. A. Hagerman, O. V. Lemon, R. D. Spellman. The operations of the Methodists in Winchester must have begun much sooner than any date mentioned in the above statement. Preaching services used to be held in the court house certainly before 1840, and perhaps as early as 1830, or even sooner than that. No account, however, has yet been found of those early religious efforts. Randolph County has been alive with Methodism from the very start, and surely the county seat can not have been neglected by their pioneer preachers.

During the winter of 1881-82, revival meetings were in progress, in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 'Winchester, which seemed to have a salutary effect upon the community, and which resulted in bringing a considerable number into fellowship with the church.

This branch of the Christian Church has never flourished much in Randolph County. Individual members have resided therein, and sometimes efforts have been made to establish societies, but the members have always been too few to make a permanent lodgment, and the persons would abandon the attempt and generally fall in with some other church.

Robison McIntyre, at Maxville; Mr. Jenkins, north of Buena Vista, etc., are specimens of the fact stated, as also Henry D. Huffman, west of Winchester; Robert Murphy, south of Union City; Benjamin Dixon, Wayne Township, near Salem; David Wason (Ohio), Mrs. Williamson, State line, south of Union City, ete.

Buena Vista. - A meeting-honse was built some years after the Pleasant Ridge Church was erected, but an attempt was made to form a Congregational Church from the members of the Presbyterian Church. Asa result of the effort, all failed, and the meeting-house at Buena Vista bas been for many years occupied as a barn by Robert Starbuck, on whose land it is situated.

Pleasant Ridge (two miles south of Buena Vista). - -Was formed November 28, 1842, at a schoolhouse near Mr. Hogeland's, one mile north of Huntsville, Ind. There were eighteen members, as follows: Jacob B. Kepler and wife, John Starbuck and wife, Cyrus Starbuck and wife, John Shearer and wife, James Shearer and wife, John Jenkins and wife, Isaac Hogeland and wife, Parker Jewett and wife, Joseph C. Kepler, Patience Smith. Jacob B. Kepler, John Shearer, John Jenkins were chosen Ruling Elders. Between 1842 and 1849 inclusive, twenty-six members were received, making a total of forty-four members. The church, however, did not continue, but about 1852 it ceased to be active, and has become wholly extinct. A log meeting-honse (very good for the time) was built by the church at the beginning of their existence, about 1842. A graveyard also was established, the first burial in which was in 1842. The preachers at different times were Revs. J. S. Brice, E. R. Johnson, I. N: Taylor, Thomas Spencer and-Andrew Loose. The house is yet standing, but has long been used for secular purposes, being now occupied as a carpenter shop.

Salem (Wayne Township). - Not long after 1835, a New School Presbyterian society was begun in the Gullett neighborhood, south of Union City. Some of the members were Robert Murphy, Benjamin Dixon, David Wasson (in Ohio), James Wasson (in Ohio), Mrs. Williamson and others. The preacher who had ministered tc them died, and the society became extinct; some of the members joined elsewhere, Mr. Murphy united with the Protestant Methodists, Mr.-Dixon with the Disciples, etc. The society had no meeting-house, but held their services in a schoolhouse.

Union City. - Was first organized in the house of Martin Cox, Washington Township, Darke Co., Ohio, by Rey. Isaac Ogden, Presiding Missionary, November 8, 1835, with six members. The ministers have been Revs. Gulick, Ogden, Meeks, Campbell, Drake, Lower, Eastman, Coulter, Ziegler. Mr. Drake was pastor seven years, and received into the church 167 persons. The greatest number of additions in any one year (1851) was thirtyeight. The church was changed to Union City in 1862. The first meeting-house was a log building near Martin Cox's, now used as a wood-house at Cox's Schoolhouse. One of Martin Cox's sons preserves the puncheon door as an old-time relic. The next house was what is now the German Reformed (brick) Church at Hill Grove, Darke Co., Ohio. The first services in

City was fifty-seven. Six years after the removal, there were but forty. The greatest number at one time was 127. The church built a meeting-house on Union street, south of Oak, in 1863, and occupied it till about Christmas, 1879, at which time ard, north of Oak; cost $1,200. Their present pastor is Rev. William Coulter (1880). The congregation enjoys the services of asmall but excellent choir, with Miss Ella R. Ferguson, organist. The Elders have been C. W. McKee, - - Hand, Levi Reck, L. B. Pope, T. L. Steele, John Gettinger, Simon Hedrick, James Wasson, W. D. Moore, James Hanlin, J. W. Torrence, David Ferguson. Deacons, Simon Hedrick, Daniel Ciapp, Robert J. Clark, S. R. Bell, Charles S. Hook. Number of mem. bers since organization, 175; number of members at present, sixty-five. Sunday school was organized in 1867, with Simon Hedrick, Superintendent, continuing as such for several years. Others, James Hanlin, M. C. Bemis, &. Present Superintendent, S. R. Bell. Number of teachers, twelve; number of pupils, fifty to seventy-five. The Presbyterian Church and congregation have been less numerous than some others in the city, and have suffered some serious trials in the course of years, but they are now united in the support of a worthy pastor, who is leading them steadily and faithfully onward in the work of their Master and Lord. Mr. Coulter resigned his pastorship January, 1881, which left the church destitute for the time. Rev. Ziegler was called to the pastorship in the spring of 1881. He isa young but efficient laborer, and the church and congregation appear pleased and satisfied with his 'ministratiuns, and he is greatly acceptable to the community at large.

Notz. - Before the removal of the present society from Hill Grove, Ohio, to Union City a New School Presbyterian organization was attempted, in about 1860 or 1861, holding their meetings in Paxson's Hall. The members were few, and no regular preaching was maintained. Occasional services were held for a time, but the church did not continue long, but gave up to the one which has been previously described.

Winchester. - A New School Presbyterian Church was formed there about 1842 by Rev. J. G. Brice. Some of the chief members were Samuel Ludy, James Brown, Esq., and Mr. Morrison. They maintained services for twelve or fourteen years, and, in 1853, undertook the erection of a meeting-house, which, however, they could not finish. Their preachers have been Revs. Brice, Spencer and Loose. About 1854, an Old School Presbyterian Church was formed. Some of themembers were Dr.Craig, Dr. Ferguson and others. There were some dozen members at first, and after a time the number had increased to forty. Several of the New School members joined also. In 1857, the new organization bought the unfinished house, and, completing the same, used it for purposes of worship. The preachers were Messrs. Holliday, McCullock, Chapman and Campbell. This organization prospered reasonably for some years. About 1865, several prominent members removed - Dr. Ferguson, to Union City; Judge Brown, to Minnesota, etc., and, in 1868. the church was dissolved by direction of Presbytery, and their ineeting-house passed into the hands of the Disciples' Church. In November, 1881, a Presbyterian Church was organized at Winchester, and arrangements were made for regular services in connection therewith. The names of the members and the details of the action spoken of have not been furnished us. Religious services were held for some weeks during February, 1882, by Revs. Ziegler, of Union City, and McCaslin, of Muncie. A good attendance took place, but the results of the effort we are unable to state. They maintain an active and flourishing Sunday school.

Protestant Methodists

Deerfield. - This body of Christians has never been numerous in Randolph County. About 1837 or 1838; they established a preaching place at Charles Sumption's, north of the river, opposite Deerfield, and maintained it for ten or twelve years. There were but few, Charles Sumption and his family being the chief members. Rey. Elisha Barnett was the preacher, having been previously an Episcopal Methodist. About 1850, Rev. Mr. Young, a Protestant Methodist clergyman, was active and promi nent through Randolph County, but no detailed statement of his labors or of their results is at hand, and of him we car. at present say no more.

Hopewell (southwest of Fairview). - The society was organized before 1845. The first preaching was by Rev. Jonathan Flood at his own house, he being the pioneer of his denomination in the region. The first church was a frame, built about 1853. The society was small. The principal members were John Woodard and family, Jonathan Flood and family (wife and four children), William McCracken, etc. There are now about sixty, as also there is a Sunday school of sixty to seventy pupils. Preachers, Messrs. Flood, Howly, Williams, Patty, Bodell, Outkelt, William Williams, Bateman, McCollum, Conn, Jones, Richmond, Prim (present minister). There used to be a circuit, with three points - Hopewell, Bear Creek (in a schoolhouse) and Deerfield. Hopewell alone has survived. Some of the members are Howell French and wife, John McCamish and wife, John Q. French and wife, Samuel French and wife, Lorenzo Gantz, John Demint, William Bailey and wife, William Mills and wife, Matilda French, Christopher James, William James and others. Preaching occurs once in three weeks.

Spartanburg. - Meetings have been held by this'class of religious professors for some years past in Spartansburg aid the vicinity, in groves, in the Disciples' Church and perhaps elsewhere. Some adherents to that body reside in the neighborhood. though no society has been formed there and no church has been built by them at that place. And, so far as the writer is aware, except the house at Union City, no place of worship belonging to the Universalists exists in Randolph County, and the one at Union City is not regularly occupied. Some persons holding to that form of faith reside at Winchester, and presumably elsewhere in the county. It is our impression that they have had at times a Sunday school at Winchester, but none exists at the present time so far as known.

Union City.- - The first organization was had January 9, 1860. Trustees, Dr. J. N. Converse, Dr. D. French, Silas Coats; and a lot for a church was deeded to the society by Hon. Jere Smith. About 1872, Dr. French having died, and Silas Coats gone to Kansas, S. 8. Converse and John Drake took their places. A neat, convenient church was built and furnished for $4,000. In 1878, a parish was organized, and Rev. Elihu Moore became pastor, with Sabbath school, etc. There is at present no pastor and no stated religious services. An occasional meeting is sumetimes held by a minister from some other place. March 25 and 26, 1882, Rev. L. J. Spencer, of Palestine, Ohio, preached for the congregation three discourses - Immortality, Resurrection, Death of the Soul.

United Brethren

Statistics. - The churches in Randolph partly belong to White River Conference and partly to an Ohio Conference. White River Conference has two districts, viz., Dublin and Marion, and the two have seventy-nine ministers. Dublin District has ten circuits and twenty-two classes. Marion District has eleven circuits and twenty-three classes. Several of the churches in the county belong to a conference in Ohio.

Churches and Ministers. - Churches, Antioch, Losantville; Bethel, Greensfork, north of Clark's Schoolhouse; Emmettsville; Liberty Chapel, north of Bloomingport; Mt. Pleasant, southeast of Spartanburg; Mt Zion, northwest of Losantville; Saratoga, Sparrow Creek, Union Ciiy (Ohio), White River Chapel, Nettle Creek (Vardeman's), Zion, south of Steubenville. Ministers, G. H. Byrd, Jennings, Jesse Barnes, J. D. Vardeman, George Maddox, S. D. Warwick, Samuel Kerns, 8. W. Keister (Union City, Ohio) and may be others.

Antioch.- - Had a meeting-house in the beginning near the Antioch Burying-Ground, just in the suburbs of Losantville; that meeting-house ceased to be used about 1855, and the society worshiped at a house west of Jordan Halsted's. About 1875, a new society was formed in Losantville, and the society have met in a public hall up to the present time. The members of the Antioch congregation (some of them) are given below: William Johnson, William Snodgrass, Frank Burroughs, Isaac Medsker, Elisha Hearty, Daniel Hearty, Daniel Medsker, James Hearty, Wilkerson Gray, Jonathan Canada, Daniel Johnson, with their wives. Preachers of Antioch and Mt. Zion, Cornelius Van Arsdal, Andrew McNees, Larkin Mullen, James Sisk, Moses Mc- Daniel, William Terrell, Paul Jellison, Nathan Hollingsworth, Elza Hollingsworth, Jonathan Gibson, I. V. D. R. Johnson and others. Albert Long is the preacher now (1881).

Bethel Chapel (north of Clark's Schoolhouse, in Greensfork Township). - The United Brethren began preaching about thirtyfive years ago by Rev. Caswell Witt. A class was organized two miles north of the present meeting-house, at Isaac Farmer's. The meetings were held first at an old log schoolhouse, on the corner of Mr. Shoemaker's place, for four or five years; then at another a mile north, six or seven years; still again, at Hawn's Schoolhouse, until the meeting-house was built, which was done in 1867. The first house was burned in 1873, and another one was put up the same year. Some of the first members were Ezra Cadwallader and wife, Philip Hill and wife, Samuel Moody and wife, Betty Clevinger, Polly Kenworthy, Levi Kenworthy, Rebecca Horner, Eli Thomas and wife, Robert Kinzie and wife. Preachers, Messrs. Caswell Witt, Scott, Vardeman, William Witt, William Ault, John Cranor, Amos Day, Manning Bailey, Wright, Demunbren, Rusk, Small (present minister). There isa Sunday school of sixty to seventy pupils. The. chief members now are Philip Hill and wife, Rev. William H. Johnson and wife, John Moody and wife, Thomas Moody and wife, John Roe Jennings and wife, Samuel Jennings and wife, James Jennings and wife, Jesse Barnes and wife, Jesse Parker and wife. At one time, there were 150 members. At one series of meetings, held by Rey. Milton Wright, more than eighty joined at once. The church now numbers from eighty to one hundred members. Preaching services are held once in three weeks, one sermon each time.

Limmettsville. - The society began in 1860. The preachers were David Gunkle and John Cranor, who formed the class. The church was built in 1863. There were at first about fifty members, some of whom were James Bailey, John Brooks, Isaac Thornburg, William May, Harvey Jenkins, William Cole, John Cole, Asaph Webb. The society grew soon to over 100 members, but it is very small now. The preachers have been Messrs. Gunkle, Cranor, Evans, Bailey, Holcomb, Rector, Stover, Vickers, Dougherty, Day, Mosher, Byrd, Hutson, Demunbren, Cook, Hale, etc.

Liberty Chapel (north of Bloomingport). - The United Brethren used to hold services at Mr. Bales' and elsewhere many years ago. The old Liberty Chapel was built perhaps as early as 1840. Some of the members were John Johnson, James Abshire, Stacy Rinear, Pleasant Bales, Jesse Mills and others. The old house went down, and a new house was built by the Christians (New Lights). The United Brethren have their headquarters for that vicinity now at Bloomingport. Several of the United Brethren joined the New Lights - John Johnson, Pleasant Bales and others of the Baleses. Some of the preachers were William Kendrick and I. V. D. R. Johnson, who now preaches for the New Lights.

Liberty (north of Ridgeville). - -The society first commenced service in a cabin north of Ridgeville. The lot for the church was deeded by Mr. Baker, and the meeting-house was built about 1850. It has been out of use since 1869. The members have been Henry Kizer, Joseph Baker, Joseph Butterworth, Charles Class, Paul W. Heniser, John Sackman, Adam Jack, Thomas J. Phillips, with their wives, mostly, and others. Preachers, Messrs. Conoughey, Johnson, Miller, Thomas, William Miller, Samuel Holden, Heaston, Wilkerson, Hendrix, D. F. Thomas, Johnson, McKee, etc.

Mt. Pleasant (Pinhook). - Many years ago, the Disciples used to preach at the schoolhouse in the neighborhood, but they formed no society. In 1866, the Friends set up a mission school, which proved to be large and full of interest, numbering from sixty to one hundred and twenty. The school was kept for three seasons - 1866, 1867 and 1868. The third summer, a preacher of the United Brethren Church held a meeting there and formed a society of that order. Some of the members have been the Moores, the Slicks, William Parker, Caleb Manning, Lovett Mitchell, George Alexander, Joseph Alexander, John Jackson, Philip Hill, Eli Mettler, Mr. Rankin, William Manning and others. Preachers, Milo Bailey, Cranor, Byrd, Gronindyke, Jennings, Small, etc.- The society had rather died.down, but Rev. Jamee Jennings, a local preacher, held a series of meetings during the winter of 1880-81, and revived their work there and is their preacher at the present time. The Sabbath school is active and flourisuing. At first, the society worshiped in the schoolhouse in District No. 1, but when the new brick school dwelling was erected, the church bought the old school edifice, and, enlarging it for their purpose, made it into a meetinghouse, and it has from that time been devoted to use for religious service.

Near Mt. Zion.--This denomination used to have religious service and a society in the neighborhood of Mt. Zion, north of Lynn, forty to forty-five years ago, at Mr. Halterman's and Mr. Wheeler's, and, perhaps, Thomas Butts.' Several families who belonged to that denomination resides in the region, among whom were Thomas Butts, - - Halterman and his sons - Jacob, Eli, etc., Wesley Wheeler, etc. There. has been no class for thirty years or more. Some of the preachers were Revs. Ault (very famous), Norris, Kendrick and others.

Mt. Zion. - Was built about 1860. It stands west of Jordan Halstead's, nearly north of Losantville. The members have been Isaac Routh, Christian Leaky, John A. Snodgrass, Miles Holliday, Jonas Johnson, William Pool, Nathan Pool, Lyman Halstead, Wesley Leaky, &c. This society is active and flourishing. For some fifteen years the society at Mt. Zion included also those of Antioch (Losantville). But about 1875, two distinct classes were formed and they so continue tothis day. Preachers, see Antioch.

Saratoga. - Was formed about 1860; the church was built in 1873, and the parsonage was erected in 1880, being a neat and tasteful edifice. Among the first members were Joseph Lollar and wife, John Fraze and wife. William Kraze and wife. The society has been and is somewhat flourishing, with preaching once in two weeks and an active Sunday school. The preachers have been Rovs. Hendricks, Wagener, Shroup, Bennett, Cost, etc. The present incumbent is Rev. Montgomery. Present members, Charles Fields and wife, John Fraze and wife, William Fraze and wife, Cyrus Bowsman and wife, Wesley Bragg and wife, Samuel Sipes and wife, James Evans and wife. Elisha Lollar and Joseph Shiveling are Trustees. The present pastor (1881) is Rev. Jacob Cost, and he preaches at four points- - Saratoga, White River Chapel, Otterbein (north of Deerfield) and Prospect (in Jay County, between Pittsburg and Salem). The pastor for 1882 is Rev. Montgomery.

' Sparrow Creek. - They had preaching twelve years ago, first, in Sparrow Creek Schoolhouse. Their meeting-house was built ten years ago (1871), northeast of Buena Vista, being a neat and comfortable frame edifice. Their members have been Jacob Houser, Peter Lasly, Jesse Reynard, Leroy Starbuck, Efisha Johnson, David Huston, John Brooks, Rector, ete. Preachers, Milo Bailey, G. H. Byrd, Milton Harris, Benjamin Holcomb, Cook, Demunbren, etc. They have no Sunday school.

Union City, Ohio side. - In 1861, a Christian (New Light) Church was organized. The congregation flourished for a time and a good meeting-house was built. A heavy debt was contracted, however, and the house had to be sold and the church disbanded. A United Brethren Church was organized in 1876, and they purchased the house. They have since continued with a good degree of activity and success to the present time. Rev. J. W. Keister is their pastor, who seems to be an intelligent, pious aud devoted servant of Christ. He is heartily and thoroughly in sympathy and effort with the temperance work and all the other great Christian reform enterprises of the day, and the people fee] encouraged to renew their diligence in the service of their Master. They carry un a flourishing and efficient Sunday school. The United Brethren congregation is the only one on the Ohio side. Many of the church members there belong to the congregations worshiping on the Indiana side. The population on the Ohio side is probably 1,500. A revival meeting was in progress during the winter of 1880-81 for several weeks, with much interest and many conversions. Nearly fifty united with that society during the meetings, and the church and its pastor are greatly encouraged and strengthened (winter of- 1880-81). In the summer of 1881, two events of importance occurred. First, their annual conference held its sessions with that society, a meeting of interest and great religious value. Second, the church repaired and renewed the interior of their meeting-house, which was rededicated in the latter part of the summer with impressive ceremonies. Altogether, the United Brethren Church is doing a good and much-needed work in that town, maintaining the standard of the Cross among that otherwise destitute population. A still more active and successful revival meeting was in progress for many weeks during the winter of 1881-82. The congregations were large and enthusiastic, and a large number of converts have been added to the church, and a lively and growing religious interest prevails among that people.

White River Chapel (near Vardeman's, Nettle Creek). - - A society was formed about 1865, and their church was built about 1872. Their members have been Joshua Maddox, George Maddox, Edmund Petro, Mrs. Gillum, James Bolin, John Vardeman, Sr., John Vardeman, Jr., Henry Grubbs, Stephen Warwick, Addison Rhodehammel, etc. For several years, the United Brethren held meetings in the old Concord Church, but each society concluded it would he best to have a house all to itself, and two liouses were built, a mile apart, the Methodist Church at the location of "Old Concord," and the United Brethren a mile east.

Zion (one mile south of Steubenville}.- - The society began about 1860. Preaching was held in the schoolhouse by Rev. David Gunkle. The meeting-house was built in 1875. At first, there were some twenty members. The present number is about thirty-five. Some of them are, or have been, William Gray, Edward Gray, Silas Gordon, Christian Size, James McProud, Constant McProud, W. T. Gray, S. S. Clark. Preachers, Messrs. Gunkle, Cranor, Rectur, Day, Rice, Demunbren, Cook, Hall, Bias. The Sunday school numbers from twenty to thirty and preaching occurs once in three weeks.

True Wesleyans

This denomination arose in the United States chiefly by a secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church, about 1842. The movement sprang from several causes - opposition to slavery, secret societies and Episcopal power. And these three principals were declared in the new society, Anti- Slavery, Anti-Secretism, Anti-Episcopacy. The movement sprang rapidly through the country and became for a time strong and vigorous. The denomination began in this region at Newport (Fountain City), Wayne Co., Ind., in 1848, in the form of a quarterly meeting held there by ministers and lay members who were ready for the movement. Among the members of that convention were Rey. Ogden, from Troy, Olio; Josiah Bell, Francis Root, Wayne County, Ind.; Daniel Worth, Stephen Moorman, Randolph County, Ind.; William Williams, Harvey Davis, Griffin Davis, John W. Johnson, Wayne County, Ind.; John A. Moorman, Walter Starbuck, George Vandeburg, Jonas Lykins, James Clayton and wife, Seth W. Beverly, Randolph County, Ind. Asa result of that conference, the denomination took its rise In Randolph and Wayne Counties, and several classes were formed. In Randolph County, at Sparrow Creek (Buena Vista), at White Chapel, in West River Township, and at Clayton's, five miles west of Winchester. An account of the White Chapel class will be fourd elsewhere, which was a good strong church. At Buena Vista, some of the leading members were Walter Starbuck, George Vandeburg and Jonas Lykins. At Clayton's, were James Clayton and wife, Seth W. Beverly, John A. Moorman and Stephen Moorman. The preachers officiating at various times have been John W. Johnson, John A. Moorman, Daniel Worth, Mifflin Harker, Thomas Boucher, Jesse Pryor, Rev. Gladden, Alexander Haywood, Dr. Hiatt, Charles Clemens, William R. J. Clemens, Aaron Worth, Coate and others. The societies, except at White Chapel, were never strong, and they gradually dwindled away. The members died, or moved away, or went back to the Episcopal Methodists or Friends; or, in some cases, they stand aloof from church membership to the present time. In fact, most of the veterans of that anti-slavery conflict are no longer among the living. Some of the younger soldiers in that struggle still answer to the ''roll call" of duty, but, as to the elder heroes in that fierce contest, their arms were long since laid aside; their mortal frames rest sweetly in the friendly dust, and their souls have gone to the mansions above. Their work is done; victory is gained; slavery is fallen - 'is fallen,' amid the happy shouts of an emancipated and enfranchised race. The Wesleyan Church at Newport (Fountain City), Wayne County, still exists, though much weakened in strength and numbers since the activity and power of that early time, when the battle against human slavery and unchristian prejudice raged fiercely throughout the land; but in Randolph County, the Wesleyan society as a denomination has wholly ceased its activity. No meetings have been held for perhaps ten or twelve years, at least but very few, and the Wesleyan work in Randolph lives only in the memory of the past.

Sparrow Creek.- - Began about 1848. The meetings were held at first in a log schoolhouse near Leroy Starbuck's, on the Buena Vista pike, two miles east of that place. The building is still standing. Afterward, they were held south of that, at Shearer's Schoolhouse. The Wesleyans never had a meeting. house on Sparrow Creek. Preachers, Alexander Haywood, John W. Johnson, Dr. Hiatt, Elijah Coate and some others. Members, Walter Starbuck, George Vandeburg, Jonas Lykins, Thomas Johnson, Rufus K. Mills, John Mills, etc., etc. The society is now nearly or quite extinct, having had no public services sometimes for months together, and none at all for some years.

White Chapel (between Bloomingport and. Kconomy). - Soon after the formation of the American Wesleyan denomination, about 1843, a class was established in the southern part of West River, in the vicinity of Rev. Daniel Worth's, who had been a Methodist Episcopal preacher, but who went with the Wesleyans. Meetings were held for some years without a meeting-house, but White Chapel was built before 1852, and the Wesleyans kept up their services tillsay 1872. The society has now become entirely extinct, and tlie house was sold and removed in 1880. The members have been Daniel Worth, Macy Bunker, Owen Williams, Aaron Worth, William Price, Henry Mullenix, William C. Mullenix, Andrew Farquhar, Mahlon Farquhar, Clayton Stevenson. The preachers have been Daniel Worth, John A. Moorman, John. W. Johnson, Alexander Haywood, Charles Clemens, Mr. Coate, The society was, for a time, lively and active, but it gradually lost its strength, and finally fell into entire extinction.

Churches, Etc., Of Union City

The churches are as follows, one of each: Methodist Episcopal, Rev. Greenman, pastor; Disciples, Rev. Sloan; Presbyterian, Rey. Ziegler; Lutheran, Rev. A. G. H. Michaelis; United Brethren (Ohio), Rev. S. W. Keister; Roman Catholic, Rev. J. H. Quinlan; Universalist, vacant.

Each of these congregations has a house of worship. The Methodists and Disciples have large and costly ones; the others, smaller and less expensive ones, but sufficient for tHeir respective needs. Each congregation, except the Universalists, has a resident pastor and regular weekly services and a Sabbath school.

The Methodists, Lutherans, United Brethren and Roman Catholics have each a parsonage. The inhabitants of the town are largely religious, and most of the principal citizens are active members of some religious society. The temperance sentiment of the place (Indiana side) has always been very strong and active; and, though many vigorous efforts have been made to establish the whisky business, those efforts thus far have always been failures.

The various temperance organizations of the day have been in operation from time to time - -Sons, Templars, Alliance, Cruseders, Murphy societies, etc., etc. There is now an Independ-

On the Ohio side, unhappily, the sentiment has been the other way, and, though there exists over there a strong and vigorous temperance feeling, it remains in the minority, and a large uumber of drink-shops are allowed to squander the hard earnings and desolate the homes of their unfortunate victims, The history of the various churches in Union City is given in the appropriate place under each head.

Several clergymen are residents of the town besides the pastors of the churches. The principal ones with the pastors are Rev. H. J. Meck, pastor M E. Church, Oak street (gone); Rev. C. G. Bartholomew, pastor of the Disciples' Church, North Howard street; Rev. W. M. Coulter, pastor Presbyterian Church, North Howard street (gone); Rev. Michaelis, Lutheran, North Plum street; Rev. Quinlin, Catholic, North Plum street; Rev. Keister, United Brethren (Ohio side); Rev. Reynolds, Methodist Episcopal; Rey. T. A. Brandon, Christian, North Howard street (gone); Rev. Stephens, Methodist Episcopal, east side of town; Rey. E. Tucker, Congregational, North Plum street; Rev. H. B. Polly, Disciple; Rev. W. D. Stone, Disciple, West Oak; Rev. Sloan, Disciple, North Plum (gone); Rev. Ridenour, Methodist, West Oak; Rev. Carter, Methodist, North Union; Rev. J. T. Shaw, Disciple, North Columbia; Rev. Vinson, Disciple, Ohio side; Rev. Vinson, Disciple, West Oak; Rev. Oldfield, Methodist, North Howard; Rey. Ziegler, Presbyterian, North Howard, Mr. Bell's.

Unionsport. - This people Lave held meetings at times at Mr. Lamb's and at Josiah Mendenhall's. Some years ago, they held two or three grove meetings on the lands of John Lewis, near Unionsport. They have no settled organization at the place, but several persons in the vicinity are inclined to that faith, and think they have evidence that their friends who died years ago have appeared to them in material form, have spoken and in other ways proved thvir actual bodily existence. Spiritualism has found some adherents in past years in Winchester, and probably there are some of that way of thinking there at the present time; but, so far as we are aware, no public services or other demonstrations or exhibitions are now held in that town. What the condition of things may be in this respect there or in the county at large at the present time we are not informed.