Ansley Township

Ansley Township

The Christian church of Ansley was organized in Alarch 1889, following a meeting held in a hall over C. J. Stevens" store, by the state evangelist, R. C. Barrow. The charter members were Dan Hagin, Mrs. Dovia Hagin, Frank Hagin, John Sargent, Laura A. Sargent, Simon Rigby, Alice Rigby, Mary Hagin, George Rich, Marie Rich, Fanny Gaines, ^Irs. Anthony, and Jeanette Stevenson (now Mrs. Frank Housel). The officiary consisted of two elders, John Sargent and George Rich, and two deacons, Dan Hagin and Simon Rigby. In 1892 the present house of worship was erected, at a cost of $3,000. and it was dedicated in Augvist of that year, by Dr. W. P. Aylsworth. dean of the sacred-literature department of Cotner L'niversity. The succes- sion of pastors is here recorded: W. H. Hedges, Fred Hagin, J. Sherman Hill. J. \\'. Walker. George Bailey, Jesse R. Teagarden, C. \'. Allison, T. C. :McIntyre. D. G. \\'agner. F. D. Hobson, P. G. Dennis, and the present pastor, Charles A. Shook. The church now has an active membership of 153 and an outlying membership of about thirty-five in th? church organized at the Banner schoolhouse in December, 1917, by the pastor, Charles A. Shook. It has a Bible school enrollment of about 150, with an average attendance of seventy-one. C. W. Hawk is the present superintendent. The Chi'istian Endeavor Society has thirteen members and Miss Eva S'tuckey is president. There is a strong woman's missionary society, known as the Christian Woman's Board of Missions .-Xuxiliarv, with

The present officers of the church are: Elders, Frank Housel, Charles W. Hawk, J. N. Trout, E. C. Moody, and Charles A. Shook; deacons, J- T. AIcGowan, William Housel, Roy Waters, B. F. Crouch, and Ed. Ming; clerk, J. T. McGowan ; treasurer, W. C. Housel.

This church has sent out one preacher, Fred Hagin, son of Dan and Mrs. Dovia Hagin, and he has been for some years a missionary in the foreign field, at Tokio, Japan. This has been one of the strong churches of the Disciples of Christ in this county. It has maintained its vitality and has a prominent place in the village of Ansley and the community round about.

Coburg

The church at Coburg began its work in a sod schoolhouse, about the year 1890, E. D. Eubank and Reuben Manning leading in the organization and afterward both of these men ministered to the congregation. The list of charter members is not available, but the officers chosen were as follows : Elder, L. L. Wood : deacons, J- S. Amos, John Jorn ; clerk and treasurer, Richard Eubank. A Bible school was organized, with Richard Eubank as superintendent. Regular services were maintained, with occasional vacancies in the pastorate. In 1913 a meeting-house was constructed, and it is now the home of the congregation.

The following preachers have serv^ed : S. A. Kopp, E. D. Eubank. R. D. McCance. H. L. Denton, A. O. Startwood. A. L. Field, N. C. Carpenter, and J. S. Reel, the last named being the present minister, in co-operation with the Sargent church. The present inembership is forty-five and the officers are : Elders, J. Jorn, Emmet Bebout, Lester Thompson ; deacons, Elmer Galaher, Wayne Amos, J. L. Amos, Roy Durham, Charles Bedford, Henry Eggers; clerk, Mrs. J. L. Amos; treasurer, Lester Thompson : Bible-school superintendent, Wayne Amos. The enrollment of the Bible school is sixty-three. The value of the church property is $2,000. During the life of

In October, 1906, O. A. Adams, pastor of the church at Ansley, with Louis Epler as singing evangelist, held a meeting in the opera hall at Mason City resulting in an organization with the following officers : Elders, Sherman Knox, Oren Dolen ; deacons, George Chipps, Vannie Reed, William Davis, Ross Rhodes; church clerk, Oren Dolen.

The following preachers have ministered to the church : E. D. Eubank, J. R. Teagarden, William Sumpter, Fred Galiger, Carl Knapp, F. C. Wilson, George P. Brammel. Early in 1907 the church began the erection of a house of worship, and it was- completed in June. It was dedicated June 16th, by State Secretary W. A. Baldwin. The church has maintained a Sunday school, which was for a time under the superintendency of W. T. Whitehead. At times the congregation was without preaching and suffered from removals and the inability to support a pastor. At the present time there are thirty names on the records, with Mrs. R. F. McCloughan, clerk and treasurer, and Mrs. W. T. Whitehead, superintendent of the Sunday school.

The beginnings of the church at Lillian are found in a meeting held by Elder S. A. Kopp in the Lillian schoolhouse. An organization v.as effected December 12, 1906, following the meeting. They called Elder Kopp as their

The following- named persons united to form the organization: Wm. W. Barnes. Mrs. Lorena Barnes, Lura Barnes. Mrs. Alice Bartlett, Eva Bartlett. Ethel Bartlett, Isaac P. Bell, Mrs. ^lary Bell, Jabez Bowman, Mrs. Sarah Bowman, James Dare, Mrs. Mary Dare, S. A. Kopp, Charles H. Leisure. Robert Metzger, \\'illiam F. Myers. Mrs. Kittie Myers. Oliver L. Swick. Mrs. Hope Swick. Later, protracted meetings were held by the pastor and brought in a large number of the young people of the community, most of them young men. At one time the pastor baptized thirty at the Broken l)Ow church. A Piible school has been maintained since the spring before the church was organized. W. W. Barnes serving as its first superintendent.

.A. house of worship was planned and erected on a site adjoining the school grounds, in the fall of 1908, and was dedicated in January following, by N. T. Harmon, pastor of the Broken Bow church. It is a most comfortable building and has become a center of community interest in that portion of the county. Following the death of its pastor, the church was served by E. D. Eubank, Frank Reader, Joseph Lamm, and W. C. Lessley, who is still the [jastor, having served since September, 1914. L'nder his ministry the work has grown and prospered. The present officers are: Elders. W. F. Myers. O. L. Swick. ; deacons. E. H. Myers. S. D. Myers ; clerk and treasurer, D. E. Banning; superintendent of Bible school, William J. Books.

This church has maintained its ]M-eaching service and worship, with the communion, since the beginning, without interruption. Pastorless at times, it yet went steadily forward in the support of worship, never forgetting to assemble on the Lord's day. The success of this work lies especially in its faithful leadership. Maintaining preaching service only on alternate Lord's days, it has nevertheless demonstrated the power of the local rural

The Sargent church came into being as a result of a meeting held by State Evangelist Samuel Gregg in March, 1908. J. H. Currie. of Bradshaw. Nebraska, having business interests and large acquaintance in the Sargent district, asked the state missionary society to consider that field and send this evangelist, whom* he was supporting through the society, to organize a church in that town. The Congregational church was secured for the meeting and the organization resulted, following that meeting. The first officers were : Elders, L. L. Wood. C. C. Davis ; deaco;is. J. D. Crownover, Charles Howland. .\. B. Hartley, W. B. Kenyon; clerk. Zella M. Wood; treasurer. A. C. Davis. Sixty-three persons joined in the new organization, as follows: Allona Wood. Lena Kaohn. Ernest Kaohn. Ross W'^ood. Irma Crownover. Harold Crownover, Kenneth Crownover. Sadie Hesselgesser. Jeannie Kenyon, !Mrs. W. B. Kenyon. A\'. F. Abbott, Mrs. Emma Wyckoff. Mrs. Livia Kaohn. Mrs. W. F. Abbott. O. W. Davis. Mrs. (X \\'. Davis. Florence Debusk. Rufus Manning. Alfred Grim, Mrs. Inez Grim. Mrs Laura Core. James Debusk. Lucy Debusk. Grace Deforest, Mrs. Westopher, Mrs. Forest Abbott. Mrs. Sarah Evans, Elsie Chase, Paul Chase, C. H. Chase, Mrs. C. H. Chase. L. L. Wood. Minerva Wood. W. H. Wood. Zella M. Wood. E. M. Wood. Gustie Wood. Seth Austin. Mrs. J. D. Crownover, J. D. Crownover. A. C. Davis, R. J. Kennedy. A. B. Hartley, Mrs. A. B. Hartley. O. S. Pulliam. W. B. Kenyon, C. Howland. Eliza Brumbaugh. Mrs. C. .V. Liminger. Mrs. Alice Pulliam. Delia Sturm. Mrs. Ella Armstrong, Candace Lawson, Mrs. C. Howland. Robert Hesselgesser. Emma Hesselgesser. J. D. Holt. Augusta Kaohn. Euniqe Kaohn. John Clifton. Sr., John Clifton, Jr., P)essie Hartley, Mabel Hartley.

nacle structure on the main street. A move to build a new house of worship followed, and resulted finally in the purchase and remodeling of the Congregational church building, in which the church had been meeting, maintaining a vfnion Bible school with the Congregationalists. The building purchased is still the home of the church. The membership at this time is 110, and the Bible school has an enrolment of 120. Services are maintained regularly, under the ministry of J. S. Reel, and in connection with the Coburg church, each taking half-time services. The ministers who

Banner Schoolhouse

Rev. Charles A. Shook, pastor of the Ansley church, held a meeting in the Banner schoolhouse in November, 1917. There were twelve conversions, and, on December 26th following, an organization was effected, with fifteen charter members. Regular services have been maintained, and Mr; Shook has preached for them in the afternoon. A good Bible school, now numbering forty-five members, has been kept up, with Frank Sadler as superintendent. The church now numbers twenty-seven and is known as the Banner Christian church.