500 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO This petition was granted and the Rev. Samuel Wilson was appointed to preach on the last Tuesday of July, 1831, and effect an organization. This meeting was held in George Junkin's barn and there and then was organized the Caesars Creek Associate church, David Brown, James Moore, John Duncan and James Irwin being elected elders of the same, these together with the following being the charter members, certified by the session of Massies Creek as dismissed by order of presbytery, July 26, 1831: John Ireland, Josiah Espey, Margaret Espey, John Turnbull, Margaret Turnbull, James Cresswell, Ann Cresswell, Martha Cresswell, William Sterrett, Elizabeth Sterrett, John Collins, Margaret Collins, George Junkin, Martha Junkin, Mary Anne Irwin, Margaret Irwin, Euphemia Brown, Andrew Harper, Christiana Duncan, Nancy L. Duncan, Mary Anne Duncan, Anthony Cannon, Martha Cannon, Thomas Cannon, Ann Cannon, John Bickett, Margaret Bickett, Hugh Campbell, Jannett Campbell, Mary Moore, Elizabeth Dean, Archibald Greave, Nancy Greave, Lancelot Junkin, Lancelot Junkin, Jr., Rosanna Ginn, Catherine Wilson, James Struthers, Elizabeth Struthers, Nancy West, Mary Currie, J. C. Webb. On August 24, 1831, Mr. Wilson again preached and the above named elders were duly ordained. A comfortable house of worship was built without delay on the banks of Caesars creek, three miles west of Jamestown, and was entered before the close of that year, the congregation continuing to worship there until the present house of of worship was erected on West Main street in the village of Jamestown in 1867, the congregation meanwhile, following the union of 1858, having adopted the polity of the United Presbyterian church. The first pastor was the Rev. Andrew Heron, D. D., who was installed on January 8, 1833, and who served as pastor until October 18, 1843. Doctor Heron was born in Scotland on November 13, 1788, and died at Cedarville, this county, September I, 1873. The second pastor, the Rev. Cyrus Cummins, served from October 22, 1846, to March 25, 1861, and was succeeded by the Rev. W. A. Robb, D. D., who was installed as pastor on April 23, 1863, and who was reluctantly released by the congregation after a continuous service of fifty years, his resignation, due to the growing infirmities of age, being accepted on April 23, 1913, the fiftieth anniversary of his installation as pastor. Doctor Robb was born in Harrison county, this state, July 13, 1832, was graduated from Franklin College in 1855, took his theology in Xenia Theological Seminary and was licensed by Wheeling presbytery on April t0, 1861. Following the resignation of Doctor Robb the congregation was served by supply until presently a call was extended to the. Rev. William A. Lorimer, who was installed as pastor on July 21, 1914, and is still serving. The present membership of the United Presbyterian church at James- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 501 town is one hundred and thirty. The Sabbath school has an enrollment of two hundred and ten. C. D. Lackey is superintendent of the Sabbath school. Mrs. J. C. Lackey is president of the Woman's Missionary Society, an organization numbering thirty-five, and Ruth Ferguson is president of the Young Peoples Society, which has an enrollment of thirty. For some time after 1862 the United Presbyterian congregation at Reesville, in the neighboring county of Clinton, was served as one pastoral charge with the Jamestown congregation. It is interesting to note that out of these congregations have gone thirteen ministers of the gospel, namely : Samuel F. Morrow, D. D., Anthony C. Junkin, D. D., Thomas W. Winter, John M. Heron, R. D. Williamson, Walter P. Currie, Ebenezer Currie, W. G. Spencer, F. M. Spencer, D. D., J. S. Turnbull, F. E. Dean, Mills J. Taylor and J. H. Dean. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CEDARVILLE. The formal organization of what since the union of 1858 has been known as the United Presbyterian church of Cedarville was effected on November 6, 1844, by the following charter membership : Ruth R. Read, John Hume, Elizabeth Hume, James F. Stewart, Sara Jane Stewart, John Barber, Sarah Barber, David Jackson, Nancy Jackson, Robert Jackson, Minerva J. Jackson, Rachel Nichols, Thomas A. Read, Innis Townsley, Sarah Townsley, George Townsley, Margaret Townsley, William I. Gordon and Martha E. Gordon. On July 23, 1846, the Rev. James Buchanan was installed as pastor of the congregation and he continued in that relation until his death on April 11, 1847, being succeeded by his brother, the Rev. J. Harvey Buchanan, who was installed on May 22, 1848, and continued as pastor until November 20, 1854. He was succeeded by the Rev. James P. Wright, installed on April 9, 1856, who served until April 24, 1860, to be succeeded, March 31, 1863, by the Rev. James A. McCall, who died while thus serving on the 23rd of August following. Mr. McCall was succeeded by the Rev. W. H. Haney, who was installed as pastor on June 8, 1865, and who served until October 29, 1872. The next formally installed pastor was the Rev. H. F. Wallace, who served from October 26, 1875, until August 28, 1883, and was succeeded by the Rev. A. M. Campbell, April 14, 1885, to July 24, 1888. Mr. Campbell was succeeded by the Rev. J. C. Warnock, who was installed pastor on September J0, 1889, and who served the congregation until August 24, 1897, being succeeded, August 2, 1898, by the Rev. F. O. Ross, who continued as pastor until May 25, 1903, being succeeded by the Rev. O. H. Milligan, who was installed on January 12, 1904, and who served until January 19, 1909. Mr. Milligan's successor was the Rev. J. S. E. McMichael, the present pastor, who was installed on December 16, 1910. The house of worship occupied by this congregation, a substantial brick 502 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO edifice at the northwest corner of Main and Chillicothe streets, was erected in 1887 and in 1912 was handsomely redecorated within, new opalescent windows being added at the same time, making the interior one of the pretttiest in the county. The present membership of the church is approximately two hundred and seventy-five and all departments of the church's activities are reported in a flourishing condition. G. E. Jobe is superintendent of the Sabbath school; Mrs. C. W. Dean is president of the Woman's Missionary Society Mrs. M. W. Collins, president of the Ladies Aid Society, and Hazel Lowry, president of the Young Peoples Society. There is besides a Junior Missionary Society. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT BELLBROOK. Previous to the union of the Associate (Seceder) and Associate Reformed churches in 1858 services had been held by those holding to the faith of the Seceders in the neighborhood of Bellbrook, these early settlers being ministered by the Rev. Robert Armstrong, who had his station up on Massies creek. In 1811 the Seceders of the. Bellbrook vicinity erected a church building at the point now marked by the old Seceder graveyard north of the village and there worshipped until a gradual preponderance of the population rendered advisable the abandonment of that site and the erection of a church on Sugar creek, northwest of the village, where they continued to worship until the union of 1858. In the following year the United Presbyterians erected a church in Bellbrook, under the ministry of the Rev. R. E. Stewart, and that church has ever since been maintained. Mr. Stewart died not long after the erection of the new building and was succeeded by the Rev. J. B. McMichael, who continued as pastor until elevated to the presidency of Monmouth College in 1878. During the .period of the ministry of Doctor McMichael he organized another congregation of the United Presbyterian church on the Dayton pike. Doctor McMichael was succeeded as pastor of the United Presbyterian church at Bellbrook by the Rev. W. McClure. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CEDARVILLE. Though there were a sufficient number of Covenanters among the early settlers of what is now the Cedarville neighborhood to hold prayer meetings there as early as the year 1804, there was no formal preaching service in their behalf until in 1809, in the fall of which year the Rev. Thomas Donnelly, a minister of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) communion, and John Kell, then a licentiate, passed through the settlement and preached. This is said to have been the first authorized exposition of the gospel by a minister of the Covenanter church in the state of Ohio, and it is from that year, 1809, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 503 that the Reformed Presbyterian church of Cedarville dates its organization. During the more than a century of service in that community the Covenanters have maintained the faith of their fathers and have been a continuing and helpful force for good thereabout, and when the church celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1909 the occasion was made one of much rejoicing. The early prayer meetings above referred to were participated in by the families of David Mitchell, who had settled on Clarks run in 1804, James Miller, James Reid, grandfather of Whitelaw Reid, and William Moreland. Both Mitchell and Miller were elders of the church, having been ordained to that office before coming to this county. The first preaching service was held in a log barn on the Dallas farm. Not long afterward the Rev. John Black, of Pittsburgh, visited the little society, constituted a session and received James Reid and his wife as the first accessions to the church, the Reids having fallen out. with the Associated Reformed church, with which they previously had been affiliated. in Kentucky, by reason of their pastor at Lexington, the Rev. Adam Rankin, having become a slaveholder. On the following Sabbath Mr. Black preached in the log barn belonging to David Laughead, son-in-law of Mr. Mitchell, and administered the sacrament of baptism to William and Joseph Reid, young sons of James Reid and wife, born after their parents had withdrawn from the Associate Reformed communion. In 1810 the families of Gavin Johnson and Alexander Foster settled in the neighborhood, adding their numerical strength to the little band of Covenanters thereabout, and not long afterward other families holding to this faith began to come in, so that by the year 1812, when the little flock decided to erect a church building instead of continuing its services in the houses of its several members, there was a considerable band thus to assemble. In the meantime the Rev. John Kell had been making trips here from time to time and thus served the congregation with preaching about one-fourth of the time from 1810 to 1816, in which latter year the Rev. Jonathan Gill was installed as pastor. Mr. Gill continued this relation until 1823, when, by reason of the meager financial support the little congregation contributed to his maintenance, he was compelled to resign. He remarked that there were a few families in the congregation to whom he would gladly preach as long as he lived if they could only give him enough bread and meat to support his family, but this he knew they could not do, and so he would resign. At no time during this period had the congregation numbered more than forty comtmunicants. After the departure of Mr. Gill the church was supplied about one-fourth of the time until the spring of 1829 by the Rev. Gavin McMillan, who in the meantime stirred the congregation to abandon the little log church building which they had erected in 1812 on the Miller farm, seven miles east 504 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO of Xenia, and to put up a more comfortable house of worship. This second church building was built of stone and was forty feet long by thirty wide, erected on a plot of ground two miles east of the old log church, on the banks of Massies creek, six miles from Xenia and two miles from Cedarville, and was opened for service in 1824. In the fall of 1828 Rev. Hugh McMillan assisted his brother Gavin to dispense the Lord's Supper in the congregation and the members were so pleased with his service that they extended to him a unanimous call to become the settled pastor of the church. He then was preaching in South Carolina, but had become discontented over slavery conditions in that state, as had most of the members of his congregation there. He therefore inclined a willing ear to the call to come over into Ohio and in April, 1829, returned from the South and was soon afterward installed as pastor. When the Rev. Hugh McMillan entered upon his pastorate there on Massies creek he had under his charge sixty-six communicants. A goodly number of his people in South Carolina followed him, so that in a few years they formed the major part of the congregation. In 1833, at the time of the division in the church, there were one hundred and sixty-five members, thirty-eight of whom went out with the Synod branch. The division caused some trouble about the occupancy of the church building, but an amicable adjustment was made by allowing those who had left the congregation to use the church every fourth Sabbath. During the time the church was thus occupied Mr. McMillan preached in Xenia one-fourth of his time. In 1839 the congregation purchased a plot of ground adjoining the old site and erected thereon a new church, of brick, forty-five by fifty-five feet, and gave the other congregation full use of the old stone church. In 1848 the members living in Xenia and vicinity petitioned presbytery for a distinct organization and the petition was granted, the Xenia congregation subtracting fifty members from the mother church. They immediately made a call upon Doctor McMillan, who was then living in Xenia, to become their pastor, but he declined to give up his connection with his old congregation and presently moved to Cedarville, where he continued his labors and where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there on October 9, 1860. Doctor McMillan was a man of great vigor and ability. A native of South Carolina, born in 1794, he was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and was presently elected professor of languages in Columbia University. Determining to consecrate himself to the ministry, he entered the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary at Philadelphia and in 1820 was licensed to preach. After doing missionary work from Ohio to South Carolina, he was ordained and installed pastor of Rocky Creek church, in the Chester district of his home state, in 1821. His antipathy to slavery soon GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 505 made his position untenable and, as above noted, lie came to Greene county with nearly all his congregation. It has been observed that as a religious leader Doctor McMillan exerted an influence which has impressed itself ineradicably upon the character of the people in the neighborhood in which he so long labored. The Doctor's fame as an educator also was widespread. For many years he conducted an academy where young men were prepared for college. He also held a professorship in the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary at Philadelphia and was a trustee of Miami University. He died with his armor on and was buried in Massies Creek cemetery, on the very spot where his pulpit had stood. After the death of Doctor McMillan the congregation at Cedarville was served by supplies until in 1863, in which year began the forty-year pastoral incumbency of the Rev. James F. Morton, D. D. During Doctor Morton's pastorate the congregation enjoyed the steady growth that characterizes a mature organization. Two of the most notable events were the founding of Cedarville College and the erection of the present handsome church edifice. Cedarville College was chartered in 1887 and opened its doors in 1894 under the auspices of the Reformed Presbyterian general synod. Started primarily to furnish theological students, it soon proved a valuable help in the local religious work of the congregation and has steadily maintained that position. Doctor Morton continued as pastor of the congregation until his death on May 31, 1903, a period of forty years, during which time he proved a potent influence for good throughout the community in which his patient labor of love was carried on. He was born in Tennessee, January 18, 1828, and was thirteen years of age when his parents moved from Tennessee to Illinois. He spent his early manhood in teaching and in 1859 entered Monmouth College, from which he was graduated in 1861. The next year lie was graduated from the seminary and not long afterward entered upon his labors at Cedarville. After the death of Doctor Morton the pulpit was vacant for a year, during which time Prof. W. R. McChesney, of the college, performed the duties of pastor. In 1904 a call was extended to the Rev. Albert Barnes Henry, a Kansan and a graduate of Monmouth College, class of 1896, who was graduated from the Philadelphia Seminary in 1900, ordained by the Philadelphia presbytery and placed in charge of the Second Reformed Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, where he remained until he accepted the call to Cedarville. Mr. Henry's labors at Cedarville continued until 1906, in which year he accepted a call from the Kensington Presbyterian church of Philadelphia and returned to that city. Professor McChesney was again placed in pastoral charge of the church at Cedarville and continued thus serving the congregation for two years, at the end of which time, in September, 1908, 506 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO the Rev. Mills J. Taylor was installed as pastor. Mr. Taylor also was a Monmouth alumnus and was graduated from the Xenia Theological Seminary in the year in which he was ordained and installed as pastor of the church at Cedarville. His successor, the Rev. J. L. Chestnut, present pastor of the church, was installed in January, 1915. The present church building of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation at Cedarville is the fifth house of worship occupied by that body. In 1853 the congregation determined to pull clown the old brick church on Massies creek and to rebuild it in Cedarville, that village being a more central point after the members composing the Xenia congregation had withdrawn. By this time the old stone church was not fit for use and those then using it gave up their interest to the others, and its material also was used in the construction of the new edifice at Cedarville, the latter thus having in it material from the old church of 1824 and from that of 1839. This fourth church is now used as a gymnasium by Cedarville College and is known as the Alford Memorial, having been purchased in 1902 by William Alford and donated to the college as a memorial in honor of his parents, the Rev. and Mrs. John Alford. It is of brick, fofortytfivey sixty-seven feet, with a twelve-foot vestibule, and when opened for use in 1853 was furnished with the same pulpit and pews that were in the old brick church erected in 1839. The present church building was begun in 1901 and was dedicated in the following year, having been completed at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. It contains a memorial tablet to Dr. Hugh McMillan, a memorial window to Doctor Morton and a memorial window to Robert Charlton Reid, presented by his son, the late Whitelaw Reid. The congregation has about two hundred and fifty members and the active auxiliary societies of the church are reported to be doing good work. The Sabbath school, once looked upon with suspicion, boasts of near two hundred members. The old feeling of distrust at the introduction of innovations and of anger at the laying aside of ancient relics are not held in the present generation, though "the banner of the covenant" is held none the less proudly aloft. Among the ministers sent out from this congregation may be mentioned G. Riley McMillan, John McMillan, Robert McMillan, Homer McMillan, Jason McMillan, William Bratton, Harvey Reid, Daniel C. Cooper, James H. Cooper, Samuel R. Stormont, David Murdock, John Kendall, Robert Galbreath, Riley Little, Milton Hanna, Wallace Iliff, Clarence Young, Alvin Orr and Frank Orr: When the church celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of its ororganitzationn 1909 a handsome "Centennial Souvenir" was issued carrying a general history of the church and much additional matter of interest to Covenanters, among the contributions to the same being the following poem written by one of the sons of the church : GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 507 THE COVENANTERS. By Wilbur D. Nesbit You cannot understand us, you folk of changing creeds, Who weave a changing fabric to fit tomorrow's needs ; You cannot understand us ; the path is rough and high And you would turn out from it to smoother ways near by. But through the clash and clamor of your disputing words We hear the olden saying of them that tended herds ; And in the ancient dogma you hold of small account We hear the primal message that thundered from the mount. A covenant we cherish—a covenant of old ; A covenant first fashioned where Jordan's waters rolled ; It throbbed from David's harpstrings by the eternal plan, Unchanging and unceasing—the covenant with man. They cannot understand us, the folk of changing creeds, Who weave a mingled fabric to fit tomorrow's needs— But we have seen tomorrows grow from the yesterdays While man-made creeds have faded into the distant haze. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT XENIA. The Presbyterian church of Xenia was organized on Saturday, November 6, 1841, following a petition of twenty-seven members of this faith which had been drawn up and signed on the 27th of the preceeding September. The full text of the petition to the Miami presbytery, together with the signers thereunto, is as follows : We whose names are hereby given, express in this form, our desire to have a Presbyterian church organized to be under the care of the Presbytery of Miami and we promise our support and adherence to the same as a worshipping congregation : Ezra Bennett, James Brown and wife, James Bratten, Adam Rupell, Adam Rupell, Jr., Thomas Townsley, Elvira McCouin, Nancy McConnell, Elizabeth Kind, Rebecca Straine, Jane King, Amanda McConnell, Nancy Nesbit, Ann B. Allison, Elizabeth Williams, Cassandra Williams, David Medsker, Eleanor Medsker, Albert Wiley, John McClung, M. A. Crawford, E. S. Nichols, Francis Harris and family, William Saunders, James Stevenson, Aaron Harlan. This petition was presented in due form to the presbytery, and it was the desire of the presbytery that the petitioners have their church established as soon as they could furnish a sufficient number of members with certifitcates of membership in some previously existing congregation. James C. Barnes and John C. Galloway were sent to Xenia by presbytery to examine into the proposed church on the same day, September 27, 1841, and preached that night and the next day. On Monday, September 29, the names of those with proper certificates were called for, and eighteen names were presented, but only few of this number had their certificates. Consequently, the members of the proposed congregation were told to get their certificates and that when they were thus prepared, the church would be organized. 508 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO The formal organization took place on November 6, 1841, at which time the following persons presented the proper certificates and became the charter members of the church : Ezra Bennett, Mary Ann Bennett, E. S. Nichols, Elvira McCouin, Rebecca Straine, Margaret Rogers, Nancy McConnell, Ann Hook, Rebecca Hook, Martha Hook, Janetta Hook, James Brattton, Jane C. King, Ann B. Allison. Matthew C. Allison, the infant son of Anna B. Allison, was the first child baptized into the church. This gives a charter membership of fourteen, three men and eleven women. It is interesting to note that the church today has only one descendant of these charter members, Mrs. Robert Adair, whose father, E. S. Nichols, was one of the charter members. The church has had two buildings in the seventy-seven years of its history, both on the present site, southeast corner of Market and King streets. This lot was purchased in 1847 of James Collier for six hundred dollars, and the same year the first building, a two-story brick structure, was in process of erection. The beginning of the present building dates from the spring of 1868. In May the building committee reported subscriptions in the amount of $16,900, but it was decided not to begin building until $25,000 was pledged. The razing of the old church began on July 13, 1868, and until the new building was completed the congregation held services in the Y. M. C. A. rooms and in the opera house. It appears that the original plan was for a two-story structure, but this was subsequently abandoned and the church was completed in its present form. The complete list of pastors from the beginning is as follows : J. Hudson, October 4, 1845-March 20, 1847 ; from 1841 to 1845 the congregation had been using supplies; E. E. Swift, September 16, 1848-February 2, 1850; H. W. Taylor, August 15, 1851-March 24, 1855; L. B. Wilson, November 3, 1855-August 8, 1858; W. L. Findley, September 18, 1859-January 10, 1869 ; Joseph H. Montgomery, June 23, 1869-June 7, 1871; W. W. Ralston, November 1, 1872-August 19, 1875; L. M. Hopkins, April 3o, 1876-September 19, 1880 ; F. M. Wood (supply), January 18, 1881-March 18, 1883; Charles Axtell, October 3, 1883-August 23, 1886 J. C. Ely, November 27, 1886-July 4, 1897; J. E. McGee, January 15, 1898-April 9, 1899 ; J. S. Edenburn, September 20, 1899-January 25, 1904 ; Ames Montgomery, September 2, 1904-March 14, 1909; William H. Mason, November 1, 1909-July 1, 1912; C. C. Martin, eight months; George S.. Macaulay, December, 1913. In the spring of 1918 Reverend Macaulay went to France to engage in Y. M. C. A. work, and at present the congregation is without the services of a regular pastor. George E. Gowdy, who was compelled to give up the ministry three years ago on account of ill health, is now supplying the pulpit. The first elder elected was Ezra Bennett, since which time the following GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 509 have served as elders: Samuel Adams, D. L. Hills, William K. Russell, T. P. Townsley, John Carey, William Rupell, A. M. Houston, J. H. Cooper, 0. M. Whittington, George S. Ormsby, R. L. Merriam, Daniel McMillen, Robert Gowdy, Daniel Fleming, Dr. Leigh McClung, William Watt, Dr. C. M. Galloway, R. K. Stevenson, C. N. Lupton, James A. Brown, Dr. Ben R. McClellan, E. C. Fleming, William Cooper, J. H. Irwin, A. Hutchinson, James Kyle, J. M. Stewart, Dr. A. C. Messenger, R. C. West, U. E. Clark, D. B. Watt, Hunter Bull, Dr. W. A. Galloway, Dr. D. D. Jones, 0. C. Baker, Bert J. Winters, J. B. Fleming, Dr. Reed Madden, R. D. Adair, J. R. Sterling and George A. Birch, Jr. The present members of the session are Dr. Reed Madden, D. B. Watt, D. D. Jones, Dr. A. C. Messenger, B. J. Winters, 0. M. Whittington, George A. Birch, Jr., Dr. W. A. Galloway and R. D. Adair. The present diaconate of the church is composed of J. W. Prugh (president), C. S. Johnson (secretary), H. E. Kiernan, Charles L. Jobe, Charles F. Howard, Frank H. Routzong, R. D. Williamson, Harry D. Smith and Dr. Paul D. Espey. The treasurers of the church since the beginning have served in the following order : E. S. Nichols, T. P. Townsley, Tunis Dubois, A. G. Wilson, J. M. Cooper, C. W. Chandler, 0. M. Whittington, M. D. Lupton, C. L. Jobe and Miss O. E. Kyle. The church has always maintained a Sabbath school, and today enrolls one hundred and eighty members in its classes. John W. Prugh is superintendent. There is a Christian Endeavor Society of twenty-five members and two missionary societies, Home and Foreign, with thirty-five members, and the Missionary Guild, with forty members. The congregation numbered three hundred and eighteen members according to its published roster for the year 1917-1918. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT XENIA. The Reformed Presbyterian church at Xenia was an outgrowth of the organization effected by the Covenanters on Massies creek in 1809. It became a separate organization in 1848 and in the next year erected a church edifice at the corner of Columbus and Market streets, the first pastor being the Rev. J. A. Crawford. The members of the first session were J. C. McMillan, William McQuiston and John Miller. On December 9, 1869, this church formed a union with forty members of the Second United Presbyterian church of Xenia and its thirty-five members became merged with the new congregation known as the Third United Presbyterian church of Xenia, which had a continuous history from 1869 until 1902 when it was merged with the Second United Presbyterian church. 510 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CLIFTON. An older chronicle narrates that "in the early days of the nineteenth century the beautiful and romantic tract now occupied by the Yellow Springs House could boast of but one pretentious little cabin, owned and occupied by a widow, named Davis, who was a stanch Presbyterian and who frequently entertained at her house the traveling ministers who chanced to pass. On these occasions the few settlers of the neighborhood flocked to the house to participate in the services conducted by these traveling preachers—the first meetings. ever held in the township." In 1812 settlers holding to the Presbyterian faith had so increased in number in that neighborhood that, under the direction of the Rev. Peter Monfort, a rude log meeting-house was erected at the point that later became known as Clifton and formal services began to be held. Mr. Montfort, who was an uncle of the Montfort who later became widely known throughout Presbyteriana as the editor of the Herald and Presbyter, was a man of much force and under his admirable ministration the little congregation soon grew to such proportions that the little log meeting-house became inadequate. It was supplanted by a brick church which served the needs of the congregation until in the proper course of time it became necessary again to enlarge the house of worship and the old brick church gave way to another of more ample proportions and of more modern style of architecture, a handsome brick edifice which was a credit to the community. For twenty years, or until his death, the Rev. Andrew Polk was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Clifton. The present pastor is Reverend Mc Kibbon. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT BELLBROOK. The Presbyterians in the neighborhood of Bellbrook effected an organization as early as the year 1827, the first members of the session of this contgregation having been Josiah Lamme, John Cooper and William Russell. The Rev. William Gray was the first minister and he was followed by the Rev. Adrian Aten, the latter's immediate successors being the Rev. John S. Weaver and the Rev. T. B. Atkins, the latter of whom served during the '70s and '80s. In 1829, a year or two after effecting an organization, the congregation erected a meeting-house on the hill just west of Bellbrook and there continued to hold services until in 1858 when they purchased a church building which had been erected in Bellbrook by the Universalists, who had found themselves unable to maintain their organization. In addition to the above Presbyterian, churches of the county, there are a few others concerning which it has been impossible to secure data. There have been three churches of this denomination at Yellow Springs : The first was organized on February 3, 1855, by Rev. Samuel D. Smith, who GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 511 became the first pastor, the most prominent member of the original fourteen charter members being William Mills, the founder of the town of Yellow Springs. The second church of this faith in the town of Yellow Springs was incorporated on January 19, 1859, under the name of the First Presbyterian Church of Yellow Springs. This congregation erected a handsome building of limestone in 1859. The third branch of Presbyterianism appeared in Yellow Springs in 1861, being a seceding group of twelve from the First church, and calling themselves the Central Presbyterian church. This third congregation held services in the building of the Reformed people, but after the close of the Civil War, became so weak that it was finally disbanded, most of its members returning to the First church. During the early '50s of the past century there was organized at Yellow Springs a church of the Associate Reformed communion. The new congregation. erected a church building, under the ministry of the Rev. Alexander Nesbitt, but never succeeded in paying for the same and the house was sold at sheriff's sale and the congregation presently was disbanded, Mr. Nesbitt having been the only pastor. The church building later was taken over and occupied by the Negro Baptists of that community. The first Presbyterian church at Osborn was organized in 1865 by Reverend Johnson, G. L. Massey being the most prominent of the seven charter members. At first the little congregation held its services in the Lutheran church of the town, but in 1867 they erected a six-thousand-dollar building, having at that time a membership of eighty-seven. FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF XENIA. In a handsome pamphlet issued by the First Methodist Episcopal church of Xenia on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of that body's organization and entitled "A Century of Service," under the editorial supertvision of Mrs. Carrie Dodds Geyer and Mrs. A. C. Turrell, it is stated that the Union Methodist Episcopal church, two miles south of Xenia, is the mother church of Greene county Methodism. In their oldest quarterly conference record, a record of Mad River circuit dating back to May 23, 1807, the "Society of Methodists in Xenia" is mentioned for the first time, June 18, 1808. The preaching places on Mad River circuit in 1808 were Springfield, Sweet's, Cartmill's, Spain's, Urbana, Reynolds', Ross's, Cain's, Hendershott's, Coleman's, Lamb's, Reed's, Harner's, Th. Smith's, Harner's, Huron's, Lebanon, Curl's, Widow Smith's, Mt. Pleasant, Bonner's (Union), Xenia, Cutler's, Boggoss's and 'Adams's. The total quarterage of these twenty-five places amounted to forty dollars, of which amount "Xenia" paid two dollars. The pioneer Methodist of Greene county was Frederick Bonner, who came here with his family from Virginia in June, 1803. Eighteen years 512 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO before John Wesley died and eleven years before Francis Asbury was appointed the first Methodist bishop, Frederick Bonner was one of the most prominent Methodists in Virginia, where his house was a regular preaching place for twenty-five years, and his is the first name on the list of those who have served as trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Xenia. In 1803 he sold his five hundred acres of land in Virginia for two thousand dollars and, corning to Ohio, invested the money in a two-thousand-acre tract of land about two miles south of the present city of Xenia: Many of his friends and neighbors in Virginia came out and settled in this neighborhood, forming a community that has been distinctly Methodist in religion for more than one hundred years. Frederick Bonner could not have been here many weeks before a Methodist "class" was formed, and during the years preceding the building of any Methodist church in this county the preaching place was known as Bonner's. His son, Chappell Bonner, is the third man mentioned as trustee for what is now the First church. One of his daughters married Samuel Pelham, another trustee; and two other daughters married Methodist preachers, W. P. Taylor and John Sale, the latter of whom was for years presiding elder for this district, his service in that connection covering the periods 1807-10 and 1814-17. Frederick Bonner gave each of his children a farm and Mrs. Sale lived on her farm while her husband traveled on horseback, preaching all over the state of Ohio. Many notable instances of his power in prayer are told, and it was under his preaching at camp-meeting in 1810 that Gen. Simon Kenton was converted. Richard Conwell, another of the members of the first board of trustees, came here from Virginia in 1803. He was a tanner. Henry Hypes, a trustee of the church in 1814, also came from Virginia. Two of his sons became ministers of the Methodist church, as did two grandsons in their generation. Alfred M. Lorrain, the first superintendent of the Sunday school and pastor in 1834-35, was a soldier of the War of 1812. For some time he followed the sea and after his arrival in Xenia in 1821 he taught school and also studied medicine, but in 1824 he began preaching and for thirty-nine years served as a minister of the gospel. The latter part of his life was spent in literary work, mostly for church papers and The Ladies' Repository and in 1862, only one year before his death, he published his autobiography, an interesting book entitled, "The Helm, the Sword and the Cross." The recognized founder of Methodism in Ohio is Francis McCormick, who formed a class in the vicinity of Milford, in Clermont county, in 1797. He went to conference and begged Bishop Asbury to send a preacher across the Ohio river. In response to this entreaty the bishop, in 1798, asked the GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 513 Rev. John Kobler, the presiding elder of the Kentucky district, to cross the river and form a circuit in Ohio. Following the Little Miami and Mad rivers as far north as Dayton, Kobler returned down the Big Miami to Cincinnati, and the circuit thus formed became known as the Miami circuit, the first circuit formed in Ohio. In the conference minutes of 1800 it is mentioned as having ninety-eight white members and one colored. In 1805 this circuit is referred to as the Miami and Mad River circuit and in 1807, simply as the Mad River circuit ; so that when the Xenia church was organized in 1898 it belonged to the Mad River circuit, Ohio district of the Western conference. The circuit at that time had five hundred and thirty-two members, twenty-five preaching places, and was served by three traveling preachers called "circuit riders." Francis Asbury and William McKendree were the bishops and the Rev. John Sale, mentioned above, was the presiding elder. In 1809 Miami "district" was formed and in 1811 Union circuit is first mentioned. In 1827 this circuit had above twelve hundred members. Xenia continued to be a part of Union circuit until 1836, when the size and character of the church demanded a settled preacher and conference took the church from Union circuit and made it a "station," with Rev. Azra Brown, a typical old-time Methodist, its first settled pastor. In the meantime the Western conference had grown to ten districts and had become so large that in 1812 an Ohio conference was formed, with five districts, including Miami district. In 1852 the Cincinnati conference was formed out of the Ohio conference and Xenia was a part of the Springfield district until 1893, when it was placed in the Hillsboro district. In 1864 the first Methodist church in Xenia, then commonly called the Second Street church, had become so large that it was thought expedient to organize another Methodist church in town and accordingly a board of trustees was appointed out of the membership and Trinity church was erected. The most cordial relations and the heartiest co-operation have existed from the first between the mother church and Trinity, the two congregations always holding their "love feast" together and often uniting for special services. It is impossible within the limits of a review of this character to even mention the names of the many men and women who have given lives of service as members of this church. But without doubt Mrs. Tobias Drees held her membership in the church longer than anyone else. She was baptized by the Rev. John Sale, the first presiding elder, and gave this church seventy-one years of unbroken service. Her father, Henry Hypes, led the singing, in the church for the first thirty or forty years. Three deaconesses have gone out from the church, Carra Close, Emma Huston and Lucy Medsker, and another of the young ladies of the church, Euretta Meredith, was here prepared for foreign missionary work. The homes of (33) 514 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Frederick Bonner, Nathan Nesbitt, Michael Nunnemaker, Hiram C. Brown and Tobias Drees were always open for the entertainment of Methodist ministers and were sometimes called the "Methodist Hotels." Besides the names mentioned elsewhere, no history of the church would be adequate without mention of the names of Perkins, Davis, Wright, Beall, Pelham, Beatty, Gatch, Shearer, Newton, Keagy, Trader, Connable, Lauman, McGervey, Buckles, Whitmer and Shannon. The church has been favored in having been served by many of the most eminent ministers of the Ohio and Cincinnati conferences. The history of the church begins in 1808 with a visit from Bishop Asbury, who had preached at the home of Frederick Bonner, September 19, 1807. John Sale, John Collins, George W. Walker, Alfred Lorain, Asbury Lowrey, Granville Moody and J. F. Marlay were repeatedly sent as delegates to the general conference, James B. Finley being a member of that body eight times, and many others were thus honored by their brethren at least once. John Collins has been referred to as "remarkable preacher and one of the most useful men in the conference." Benjamin Larkin is remembered as a man "especially beloved by all the children." Of John Strange it has been written that "he was one of the brightest lights of the Ameritcan pulpit in the Mississippi valley in the early days. There were times when his audiences were held spellbound by his eloquence and raised en masse from their seats." An earlier historian has written of W. P. Taylor that he "was profoundly doctrinal and argumentative and used so many big words that some of his congregation actually thought at one time that he was preaching in Latin." Russell Bigelow traveled all over Ohio on horseback, was missionary to the Wyandotte Indians for a time and several prominent churches in the state bear his name. Of Charles Waddle it is said that in his time he was, "without exception, the most popular preacher in the conference." A 'reminiscent note regarding the service of Arthur Elliott says that one summer he was greatly annoyed by the rabble almost breaking up his camp-meeting and was thus moved to pray : "0 Lord, rain hell fire until- it is knee deep." William H. Raper, twice pastor and twice presiding elder, "won the respect and admiration of all classes of people," and of William B. Christie it is noted that he "was a finely educated man." Daniel Davidson's favorite theme was the final resurrection and when preaching on this subject he was wont fervently to declare that "the heavens will be rolled up like parchment and the sea bile like a pot." In 1849, while Charles Elliott was pastor, the fearful scourge of cholera swept over the town and the pastor was heroic in his ministrations to the sick and dying. He was one of the notable men of the conference. After serving as both pastor and presiding elder, he went as missionary to the GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 515 Indians. Afterwards he became editor of the Western Christian Advocate, professor and then president of the college at Delaware. Elliott Hall at the Ohio Wesleyan University is named in his honor. Asbury Lowrey was the first president of the Xenia Female College after its adoption by the Cincinnati conference. He was the first to suggest a university for colored students at Wilberforce. Granville Moody, the "fighting parson," was one of the most prominent men in Ohio during the Civil War. It was in this church that Chaplain C. C. McCabe, afterward bishop, delivered for the first time his lecture on Libby Prison, December 4, 1863, only a short time after his release from the prison. Four of the ministers of this church, Finley, Bigelow, Grover and Starr, served as chaplain of the Ohio state penitentiary. Of William L. Hypes it was written that he "was one of the most saintly men in his conference. His presence in his home church was always a benediction to our people." Dr. J. F. Marlay, who served twice as pastor and once as presiding elder, is referred to as having been "universally beloved in the church and community." Lucien Clark, during his pastorate, planned and carried out a system of Bible study that became of general interest in the community. Of Thomas H. Pearne it is written that he "was a remarkable man." He preached the gospel for sixty-two years, was United States consul to Jamaica, and rendered notable service in establishing Methodism in Oregon. Regarding the wives of the ministers who have served this church it is very properly written that they "have been without exception worthy helpers in the work of the church ; noble women, living lives of self-denial and untiring devotion, and their names and loving service are indelibly written in the hearts of our people." Many of the ministers who have served this church have been ardent advocates of temperance, notably Alfred Lorrain and James B. Finley in the early days; Dr. J. F. Marlay and his wife during the historic "woman's crusade" in Xenia, and later, Albert C. Turrell. During Mr. Turrell's pastorate of six years at Xenia he officiated at more than two hundred weddings, five hundred baptisms and two hundred and twenty-five funerals. The church has had a number of really great "revivals" of religion. In 1832-33, under the direction of James Laws and Dr. Samuel Latta, there was conducted a revival that continued from before the holidays until late in the spring, people coming twenty and thirty miles to attend the meetings. Between three hundred and four hundred persons were united with the church during that effort. Other notable revivals were conducted in 1840-41, Joseph J. Hill, pastor; 1846-47, William Herr, pastor ; 1862, William I. Fee, pastor ; 1877, Lucien Clark 1894-95, John J. McCabe, and 1900, Albert C. Turrell. From the beginning the church has been greatly interested in missionary work. In 1821 James .B. Finley, then presiding elder, was sent by the 516 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO conference as the first missionary to the Wyandotte Indians. On his way to their reservation he passed through Xenia and on Sunday the church took up a collection for his work. This was eleven. years before the Methodist church sett its first foreign missionary to Africa and Alfred Lorrain says of this collection : "The Xenia church doubtless has the honor of taking up the first missionary subscription that was ever started in the Methodist church in America." Russell Bigelow, pastor during the early '20S, was the second man sent to the Wyandottes, and his daughter Lucy married a chief of the tribe. Miss Wright and Miss Angelica Lorrain also went from this church as missionaries to the Wyandottes. Alfred Lorrain and Charles Elliott were especially filled with missionary enthusiasm, the latter being particularly anxious that the "gospel be preached in Rome right under the Pope's nose." Dr. Charles W. Drees, one of the sons of the first church, has performed a notable work as head of the Methodist mission work among Spanish-speaking peoples. A large number of young men have gone out from this church to preach the gospel, the roster including such names as those of Alfred M. Lorrain, Uriah Heath, John Alexander, John Braden, Anthony Musgrove, J. C. Reid, James L. Grover, William Alexander, J. S. Prescott, Eli R. Beall, E. C. Merrick, M. L. Reid, J. H. Payne, J. F. Loyd, William L. Hypes, Fletcher Hypes, Dennison Cheney, Charles F. Gowdy and Charles W. Drees. The annual conference has been entertained by this church six times, in 1836, 1853, 1863, 1877, 1889 and 1898. During the eleven decades of its history, eighty-five pastors have served this church. From 1808 to 1836 the church was one of the appointments of the Union circuit, a circuit so large that it had to have two and often three pastors in charge of it. For many years the rule was to change the pastors every year, fifty-one different pastors thus serving during the first twenty-eight years. Following is a list of the eighty-five pastors : 1807-08, Thomas Milligan, James Davisson, William Mitchell ; 1808-09, Hezekiah Shaw, William Young, Samuel Hinkle; 1809-10, Samuel Hinkle, Hector Sanford, Thomas Nelson; 1810-i 1,. John Collins; 1811-12, John Collins, Moses Crume; 1812-13, Benjamin Lakin, Solomon Langdon, Adjit McGuire; 1813-14, Marcus Lindsey, Joseph Tatman ; 1814-15, Moses Crume, Jacob Miller, Bennett Maxey ; r 1815-16, Abbott Goddard, David Sharp ; 1816-17, John Sale, John Brooks, William Williams ; 1817-18, William Dixon, John Waterman ; 1818-19, Truman Bishop, Stephen Harber ; 1819-20, John Strange, W. M. P. Quinn ; 1820-21, John Strange, W. R Taylor ; 1821-22, John Strange, John C. Brooks ; 1822-23, Arthur W. Elliott, John C. Brooks; 1823-24, Arthur W. Elliott, Burrous Westlake ; 1824-25, Russell Bigelow, Burrous Westlake, Thomas Beacham ; 1825-26, Charles Waddle, John Sale, William B. Christie ; 1826-27, William H. Raper, George W. Maley, George GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 517 W. Walker, Thomas Hitt; 1827t28, William H. Raper, George W. Maley, J. W. Clark; 1828-29, Augustus Eddy, Joshua Boucher; 1829-30, Augustus Eddy, W. P. Taylor; 1830-31, Francis Wilson, Eben Owens; 1831-32, Francis Wilson, Daniel D. Davidson; 1832-33, James Laws, Dr. Samuel A. Latta ; 1833-34, William Sutton, David Warnock ; 1834-35, Alfred M. Lorrain, Stephen H. Holland, Alex. H. Morrow ; 1835-36, Arza Brown; 1836-1837, Levi White; 1837-38, Solomon Howard; 1838-39, W. M. Young; 1839-41, J. J. Hill; 1841t43, J. W. White; 1843-45, William H. Fyffe; 1845-46, J. G. Dimmitt; 1846-47, William Herr; 1847-48, William H. Raper; 1848-50, Charles Elliott; 1850-51, Augustus Eddy; 1851-53, Asbury Lowrey; 1853-55, Cyrus Brooks; 1855-57, Granville Moody ; 1857-58, Charles Adams ; 1858-60, Moses Smith ; 1860-62, William H. Sutherland; 1862-64, William I. Fee; 18644-66, James L. Grover; 1866-68, Thomas Collett; 1868-71, William L. Hypes; 1871-74, J. F. Marlay; 1874-77, M. A. Richards; 1877-80, Lucien Clark ; 1880-82, E. T. Wells; 1882-85, William Runyan ; 1885-89, J. F. Marlya ; 1889-93, Thomas H. Pearne; 1893-98, John J. McCabe; 1898-1904, Albert C. Turrell; 1904-10, Edgar H. Cherington; 1910-15, Charles W. Sullivan ; 1915, Asa James Kestle. In 1808 when the first Methodist church in Xenia was organized the village had about thirty log houses and one frame house. The brick court house was erected the next year and in that "temple of justice" the Methodists of the village often held their services until 1816, when the first meeting-house was completed. This first house of worship occupied by the Methodists of Xenia was erected on lot No. 151, the site of the present church, the same having previously been bought from James Towler for the sum of thirty dollars. This early meetingthouse was built of brick and was thirty by forty feet in outer dimensions, twelve feet from the floor to the top of the wall, the foundation laid with stone and the whole "roofed in a workmanlike manner, joints, shingles, etc., and have a suitable number of winders." At that time Abbott Goddard was pastor of the church. This house of worship sufficed for the congregation until in 1824, when a brick addition, fifty by twenty-eight feet, was erected, the west wall of the original building being removed and the addition built on, making the completed building in the form of a T, with a door at the north and at the south ends of the new part, a door at each of the three sides of the old part and the pulpit a little north of the center of the west wall, where it could be seen from all parts of the house. This work was finished during the pasttorate of Russell Bigelow. A belfry was added in 1832. The cemetery had been bought three years before. In 1835 the congregation accepted a lot presented to the church by John Alexander, Sr., for parsonage purposes, sold the old parsonage and on the Alexander lot, which has ever since been 518 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO used for that purpose, built a new parsonage. In 1845, during the pastorate of the Rev. W. H. Fyffe, the old church was taken down to give place for the new one, which was dedicated in December, 1846, by Bishop Morris. That was a rectangular building, fifty by seventy-five feet, to which a lecture room and class rooms were added to the rear in 1867. In 1883 the church was painted, re-frescoed and carpeted. In 1895 the congregation again outgrew its church home and the building was partly torn down, enlarged and remodeled into the present edifice, the dedicatory services being held from July 23 to August 2, 1896, under the pastorate of the Rev. J. J. McCabe. In the pamphlet, "A Century of Service," mention of which has been made above, the claim is made that the Sunday school of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia was the second Sunday school ever organized in the state of Ohio, one at Cincinnati having preceded it only a short time. That was in 1821 and Alfred Lorrain was the first superintendent. Since then the following have served as superintendents : Rev. John Gowdy, John Wilson, J. S. Perkins, B. G. Conwell, Nathan Nesbitt, A. B: Ferguson, William Sweny, Alfred Trader, Tobias Drees, Andrew McElwain, Prof. William Smith, Prof. J. P. Patterson, F. M. Shipley, C. L. Spencer, D. Q. Fox, William Meredith, Prof. E. B. Cox. Primary superintendents have been Mrs. M. Nunnemaker, Mrs. Catherine Wilson, Tobias Drees, Mrs. A. H. Currie, Mrs. Isaac Mowrer, Mrs. Mary Farber and Mrs. C. L. Spencer. From the time of the organization of the Sunday school in 1821 to the time of the celebration of the church's century of service in 1808 the enrollment of the school had increased from one hundred and eighty to an enrollment of three hundred in the main school, fortytthree on the cradle roll, seventytfive in the home department, two hundred and twenty-five in the busy people's Bible class, thirty-four officers and teachers, making a total enrollment of six hundred and seventy-seven, and an average attendance of three hundred and thirty-six at the end of eighty-seven years of Sundaytschool life. The membership of the church at the time of the centennial celebration was seven hundred and twenty-five and there has been a normal increase since that time. Other departments of the church's activities are a vigorous Ladies Aid Society, a Young People's Society, formed in 1871 and later converted into the Marlay chapter of the Epworth League, a Junior branch of the Epworth League; a local auxiliary to the Woman's Foreign Mistsionary Society, a similar auxiliary to the Woman's Home Missionary, a Round Table Circle, a Young Ladies Circle, and children's organizations rendering service under the respective names of Standard Bearers, King's Heralds and Home Guards, all of which are reported to be doing effective work. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 519 TRINITY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF XENIA. The history of this church follows that of the First church, above set out, up to the division in the early '60s, the original congregation having grown to such proportions by that time that it was considered expedient to organize a second church and on November 14, 1863, a second organization was effected under the name of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church. A lot was secured at the corner of Main and Munroe streets, the corner stone of the new meeting-house was laid on May 14, 1864, and the church was dedicated on October 1, 1865, under the pastorate of the Rev. George C. Crum. When Trinity congregation celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its beginning of service in this church on October 3, 1915, the following were given as the names of charter members still having membership in the congregation : Mrs. J. P. Chew, Wilbur F. Trader, Miss Belle Gatch, Rev. John A. White and Mrs. Henrietta Barnes McGervey. The first board of trustees, the men under whose direction the church was erected, consisted of Alfred Trader, William Sweny, Charles R. Merrick, Samuel Newton, Alfred Thirkield, Moses D. Gatch, William F. Pelham, John L. Connable and Henry Barnes. The pastors of the church during its more than half a century of service have been as follow : George C. Crum, 1864-66; John W. Fowble, 1867-68; J. W. Cassatt, 1869-70; M. Dustin, 1871-72; D. J. Starr, 1873-74; George C. Crum, 1875-76; W. N. Brodbeck, 1877-79; Sylvester Weeks, 1880-82; Davis W. Clark, 1883-85; A. N. Spahr, 1886-90; D. C. Vance, 1891-93; C. M. VanPelt, 1894-98; M. E. Ketcham, 1899- 190i ; R. H. Rust, 1902-05; J. R. Colley, 1906-07; 0. P. Hoffman, 1908-12, and Hibbard J. Jewett, the present pastor, whose service dates from 1913. The church and parsonage of Trinity congregation were built of brick, with dressed stone trimmings, at a cost of approximately thirty-five thousand dollars. The present membership is five hundred and thirty-two and all departments of the work of the church are reported in flourishing condition. The Sunday school, George H. Eckerle, superintendent, has an enrollment of four hundred and sixty-eight. Besides well-organized women's societies formed for the purpose of furthering both the home and the foreign missionary movements, there is an active chapter of the Epworth League and a Young People's Missionary Society. Trinity church has ever been noted for its excellent music, fine social spirit, generous giving to benevolences and loyalty to its pastors. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT JAMESTOWN. The Methodist Episcopal church at Jamestown, located, as it is, at the corner of East Washington and Church streets, within one block of the center of the village, has always been closely identified with the moral and 520 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO religious progress of the town and township. The history of this church dates back for more than a century, or to the year 1806, when the Methodists in the settlement to the north of the present village of Jamestown began to hold services in the homes of those in that neighborhood holding to the Methodist faith; but it was not until twenty years later that a regularly appointed preacher came to look after this society by making it a part of the Brush Creek circuit, local preachers having in the meantime shepherded the flock. Charles Mahan, a man of extraordinary gifts, was the leader of the class in these early years and continued in this capacity until his removal to Indianapolis in 1833. Among the earliest members were Charles Mahan and wife, Moses Trader and wife, Isaiah Holloway and wife, Joel Dalby and wife, Robert Dobbins and wife, Jonathan Flood and wife, Hezekiah Clemans and wife, Philip Michael and wife, Thomas Horr and wife and George Shigley and wife. The Spahr family has from an early date been prominently associated with this society, and in 1836 the Spahr and Mahan, societies united and erected a church in Jamestown. This first meeting-house stood on West Xenia street and was of brick, thirty by forty feet in dimensions. Gideon Spahr, George Long, George Shigley, John Mahan and John Davis were the trustees of the church at the time the building was erected. In 1852 that church was sold and the present site was secured at the corner of Washington and Church street. On that new lot was erected a frame church forty by seventy feet, with a height of twenty feet. In 1875 this second building was sold to the congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal church and was removed to make way for the present two-story brick edifice erected in 1876 at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. An eight-room frame parsonage adjoins the church on the east and all the church property is free of debt. The present trustees of the church are George Weimer, John A. Thuma, J. Walker Binegar, George R. Bargdill, Dr. L. M. Jones, J. 0. McDorman, Frank Shigley, S. A. Brown and J. A. Carpenter. The list of pastors of the Methodist church at Jamestown, with the dates of their annual appointments, from the year 1852, follow : 1852, T. A. G. Phillips; 1853-54, Thomas Collett; 1855-56, Levi White; 1857, Jasse Botkin ; 1858, E. H. Field ; 1859-60, J. Newson; 1861-62, J. B. Ellsworth; 1863-65, John Vance ; 1865-66, J. G. Black ; 1867, J. M. Gatch; 1868, William Simmons ; 1869, Jonathan Verity ; 1870-71, Allen W. Tibbits; 1872-73, David Whitmer; 1874-76, John W. Mason; 1877-79, J. P. Shultz ; 1880-81, Granville Moody ; 1882-84, George W. Kelley ; 1885-87, F. M. Clemens ; 1888-92, J. S. Pumphrey ; 1893, William Runyan ; 1894- 95, D. C. Vance; 1896-97, James Stephenson ; 1898-1900, U. G. Humphrey; 1901-04, James P. Porter; 1905-06, Charles L. Conger; 1907-09, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 521 W. M. Coffman ; 1910-13, 0. M. Sellers; 1914-17, C. W. Horn. The church has a membership of three hundred and thirty-eight and all its several departments of activity are reported in a flourishing condition. The Sunday school, J. Q. Adams, superintendent, has an average attendance of one hundred and seventy ; Epworth League, Mable Walker, president, a membership of twenty-five; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Mrs. Clara McDorman, president, forty-three members, and the Woman's Home Missionary Society, Mrs. Gertrude Taylor, president, forty-eight members. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT OSBORN. The Methodist Episcopal church of Osborn was organized in the year 1871 through the efforts of the Rev. F. M. Clemens, then pastor of the Fairfield circuit, and for a while thereafter services were held by the new society in the Lutheran church, but in that same year, by the help of such families as those of I. K. Hostetter, D. W. Pcrrtney, Peter Light, Jonathan Cox, J. J. Whaley and other contemporaries holding to the Methodist doctrine, the first frame building was erected at the corner of Johnson and Pearl streets. In 1893 that house of worship was extensively remodeled. During the first twenty-one years of its existence the Osborn congregation was included as one of the appointments of the Fairfield circuit and was served by such ministers as James Black, A. D. Raleigh, James T. Bail and others. After the church was remodeled it became the head of the circuit, with the Rev. D. A. McColm as pastor, his services covering the period 1893-94 ; his successors served in the following order : W. M. Bratton, 1895-99 ; R. E. Smith, 1900-02 ; Frank Leever, 1902-05 ; Alexander Hamilton, 1906-07; J. C. Eckles, 1908-11. With the appointment of the Rev. J. M. Bennett in 1911 Osborn became a station. The Rev. E. T. Lane was the pastor during the years 1914-15. By September, 1916, the work of the Miami "conservancy" board had so discouraged the residents of the village of Osborn that even the church work was found to be faltering and as a result the Methodist churches of Osborn and Fairfield again joined hands in a half-station plan, with the Rev. Ernest T. Clark as pastor, and have so continued. The Osborn charge has a membership right around the hundred mark and has a Sunday school with an enrollment of one hundred and twenty-six members. F. W. Hamm, superintendent. The Epworth League, Roger Marquet, president, has a membership of twenty-three members. SPRING VALLEY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The Methodist Episcopal congregation at the village of Spring Valley has had a definite organization since the middle seventies of the past century and has been served during that period by the following ministers : C. H. 522 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Lawton, 1876-78; S. W. Carey, 1879-80; David Whitmer, 1881-83; Henry Wittram, 1884-86; J. F. McColm, 1887t90; J. E. Sentman, 1891-93 ; Frank Leever, 1894-96; John A. White, 1897-99 ; Philip Trout, 1900-01; John Wilson, 1902; W. M. Patton, 1903t07; G. R. Fregner, 1908t09; H. C. Hershey, 1910-12; H. 0. Collins, 1913-15, and S. W. Wiant, since 1916. The present church on Walnut street was erected in 1908. It is a modern structure built of cement blocks, with a basement and prayer-meeting room, and is valued at forty thousand dollars. The parsonage is situated diagonally across the street from the church. Preaching is held on Sunday mornings every alternate week. The present membership of the church is given at one hundred and fifty-two. The Sunday school, E. N. Barley, superintendent, has an enrollment of one hundred and twenty-five, and the local chapter of the Epworth League numbers forty-six members. The local branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society is affiliated with the Union circuit. Well-attended prayer meetings are maintained and there is an active Ladies Aid Society. RICHLAND METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The Rev. S. W. Wiant, mentioned above as the pastor of the Spring Valley church, also has pastoral charge of the Richland Methodist Episcopal church, located between the Cincinnati pike and the Burlington pike, three miles south of Xenia, where he preaches every other Sunday afternoon. The church in which the Richland congregation worships was erected more than half a century ago and is valued at about fifteen hundred dollars. Noble old forest trees stand in the yard. The list of the pastors who have served the people at Richland is the same as that presented above in connection with the history of the church at Spring Valley. Jeremiah. Krepps, a member of the board of trustees, is the oldest living official of the Richland church. The Sunday school, Leander Spahr, superintendent, has an average attendance of thirty-five. An active Ladies Aid Society is maintained. All-day basket meetings are held at Richland annually. GLADY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The Glady in   Episcopal church, which is also served by the Rev. S. W. Wiant, in connection with his charges at Spring Valley and Richland, was organized in 1835 by James Schnebly, James Baldwin and others, the new society holding meetings at Mr. Schnebly's residence until 1864, when it erected the present frame house of worship about two and a half miles south of Xenia, on the lower Bellbrook pike, the church property being now valued at about fifteen hundred dollars. The membership of this rural church is now about thirty-five and the list of pastors who have served the congregation GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 523 since the '70s is the same as that noted above in connection with the history of the Spring Valley church. This rural church has furnished many members for other churches. It has preaching on alternate Sunday afternoons and maintains a Sunday school, John A. Spitler, superintendent, with an average attendance of about twenty. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society activities are carried on as a part of the work of Union circuit. THE SARDIS METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. It was in 1820 at a meeting held at the home of William Davis, who had settled in Spring Valley township in 1817, that a Methodist society was organized by William Davis and Thomas McCool, both local preachers, Jacob Medsker, James Lyle and others, under the name of the Sardis Methodist Episcopal church. The society held meetings at the Davis home until 1828, when it built a log house of worship on the Davis farm, continuing to worship there until the development of the village of Spring Valley created there a social center which prompted the society to move to the village in 1850 and there erect a frame meeting house, this church becoming the nucleus of the church above referred to in the historical narrative relating to the Methodist church at Spring Valley. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT NEW JASPER. It was about the year 1820 that the Methodists in and about the New Jasper settlement organized a society, the meeting for the same being held at the home of one Bone, where meetings were held for a time, or until the meeting place was changed to the home of Philip Spahr, the society not long afterward erecting a log meeting house on the Spahr farm. This answered the purpose for some years, at the end of which time a small brick house of worship was erected. In 1852 the congregation changed its place of worship to the village of New Jasper, where a brick church building, thirty by forty, was erected. Among the early ministers who served this church were the Reverends Sayles, Strange, Taylor, Trader, Clark, Collett, McDaniel, Ells-berry, Black, Tibbitts and Griffith. G. W. Matheson is the present pastor of the church. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT YELLOW SPRINGS. The Methodist Episcopal church at Yellow Springs, pleasantly located at the southwest corner of Dayton and Winter streets in that village, was erected in 1846, at a cost of about thirty-five hundred dollars, and was remodeled in 1910, during the ministry of W. M. Patton, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. The new church has ample capacity for the needs of the community, has an excellent pipe organ, made possible through a donation from Andrew Carnegie, is embellished with three beautiful art windows and is recognized 524 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO as one of the best "country" churches in the state. The present membership of this church numbers three hundred and seventy-five souls and all departments of the work of the church are reported to be in flourishing condition. The roll of the Sunday school just about duplicates that' of the church and is conducted under the present superintendency of J. B. Sparrow. The Epworth League numbers forty, Miss Mary Meredith, president; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, president, Mrs. W. C. Lacy; Woman's Home Missionary Society, Mrs. C. S. Sheldon, president; Home Guards, Mrs. W. Curry, president, and Standard Bearers, Miss Pauline Sparrow., president. The official hoard of the church recently appointed the Rev. H. C. Middleton as pastor emeritus, in recognition of his distinguished service to the church during the period of his pastorate and since his retirement after forty years of service in the ministry, fie having made his home in Yellow Springs since his retirement and the church thus profiting by his counsel and companionship. The present pastor of the church is the Rev. G. W. Matheson, who has been in charge since 1917. From the beginning and up to the term of Mr. Matheson's pastorate, the following ministers have served at Yellow Springs : Gideon C. Townley, 1852; Joseph J. Hill, 1853 ; Enoch G. West, 1854-55; G. W. Harris, 1856-57; Samuel A. Brewster, 1858-59; J. F. Spence, 1860; S. D. Clayton, 1861; G. W. Kelly, 1862-63 ; M. P. Gaddis, 1864-66; S. L. Yourtree, 1867; J. T. Bail, 1868-70; James Kendall, 1871-72; G. C. Crum, 1873-74; J. P. Shultz, 1875; H. M. Keck, 1876-78; T. W. D. Peake, 1879-80; W. H. Sutherland, 1881-82; W. H. Ramsey, 1883; Andrew Hamilton, 1884-86; J. G. Vaughan, 1887; Lafayette Young, 1888t89; H. C. Middleton, 189o-94; Reuben K. Deem, 1895-97; Calvin W. Elliott, 1898-1901; Benjamin D. Hypes, 1902-07; W. M. Patton, 1908-12, and C. H. Clarke, 1913-17. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT CEDARVILLE. The Methodists in what is now the Cedarville neighborhood began holding services as early as the year 1804. For some time these services were held in the houses of such of the settlers thereabout as held to the Methodist faith and presently a formal organization was effected and a house of worship was erected in the village of Cedarville. The church thus organized has flourished ever since and is in a thriving condition. As long ago as in the '70s this congregation numbered right around two hundred and the present membership is about three hundred and fifty. In 1879 the substantial brick house of worship in Cedarville was rebuilt, the Methodists there thus securing one of the best church buildings in that part of the county. From the very beginning of this organization a flourishing Sunday school has been a valuable adjunct to the work of the church and the various other departments of the church's activities are also doing good work. The Rev. T. W. Patton is the present pastor.