LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA

Pg 153
HARRISON (UNITED PRESBYTERIAN) CHURCH
Port Louisa Township, Louisa County, Iowa

Transcribed by Beverly Gerdts, August 21, 2016

        In the year 1842, two ministers of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church visited in the town of Harrison and organized a congregation. The members numbered sixteen. The ministers were Samuel Findley and Reverend Waddell. Services were held in the old mill at the foot of Harrison hill. The first supply minister was Reverend James Braden, who came from Pennsylvania. The first pastor assigned to this church was Reverend Jackson Duff, who served from 1844 to 1846. Pastor William Graham came in 1849 and divided his time between the Harrison Church and the Morning Sun Church. In 1851 he decided to give all his time to the Morning Sun Church. Reverend R. N. Fee served the Harrison Church from 1855 to 1862.

        Sometime between 1842 and 1857 church was held in a building in Harrison that looked like a white school house. This building was not adequate for the size of the congregation so on January 12, 1857, a meeting was called at the home of Levi Stephen and by candle light it was decided to build a new church. John Ronald made a motion to build on the site of the present church. The meeting adjourned without making a decision, and three months later another meeting was held. Enoch Potter moved that they reconsider the location of the new church to land given by Anna Dickinson and son Frank, and a new building was started. This gift of land was in the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 13 in Port Louisa township on the farm now known as the Clarence Bartenhagen farm. In addition to this gift the Dickinson family donated land on which the Harrison School was built and the site for the Harrison Cemetery. Anna Dickinson was the great-great-grandmother of Marie Bartenhagen.

        The new church was built by Mr. Cunningham from Muscatine. Some problems occurred during construction, but the big problem was money. Reverend Fee gave $50.00 of his ($300.00) salary to the building fund and John Ronald went to Keokuk and presented his case to the Presbytery, but they refused money. He then rode horseback to his old home church friends in Ohio, and asked for help. Triumphantly he returned with $295.07 that was needed. This was the first United Presbyterian Church west of the Mississippi River. John Ronald was a great-grandfather of Irene McDill and Faith Jack.

        The first annual report of the enw church and budget were:

Budget approximately	$400.00
Pastor Fee	$300.00
Church Extension	$2.00
Church Erection	$5.00
Home Publication	$5.00
Home Mission	$5.00
Foreign Mission	$11.00

        After Pastor Fee resigned in 1862, Reverend J. N. Pressly came to serve the Harrison and Grandview congregations. Reverend Pressly died in 1866 and was buried in the church yard. Later his body was transferred to the Harrison Cemetery. A tall monument given by the Harrison congregation was placed on his grave, which is in the northwest corner of the cemetery.

        Reverend W. S. McClanahan came to serve the two congregations for the next three and one-half years. Sometime in the late seventies the two congregations split and for the next thirty years the Harrison church had only occasional pastoral care.

        It is also noted in the history of the church that the congregation offered the use of their church to the German People of the community. They accepted this cordial offer in 1866 and were served by Reverend Judich.

        Names mentioned in records of the first twenty-five years were: S. G. Chambers, N. E. Williamson, J. S Herron, William Kennedy, G. H. Crow, Levi Stepen, S. J. Paris, J. B. McDill, James Herron, D. P. Herron, William Berkhoff, Elisha Dobbs, George Schofield, Joseph Schofield, Enoch Potter, W. J. Ronald, Matthew McClung, William Herron, W. H. Porter, Mrs. N. E. Williamson, Mrs. Reverend Fee, Verda Hanley and Mary Herron.

        In and around 1930 the membership of the United Presbyterian Church of Harrison had decreased so much that they no longer had church services. They heard that the Presbyterian Church in Wapello wanted to enlarge, so they gave their church to them. H. O. Pease tore down the church and most of the materials were used to build the two-room addition to the present Untied Presbyterian Church. This addition was named “Harrison Chapel”.

        Four of the originals members that were still living gave a quit-claim deed for the one acre of church ground to Nathaniel and Marie Howard, present owners at the time of the Dickinson farm. The signers of the deed were: Mrs. S. J. Cilley, John foster, W. J, Paris and Laura Paris.

        Following are some poems that expressed the sentiments of a lot of people who did not want the church torn down.

Pg 153, 154 & 155

Our parents are all sleeping

In the cemetery down the lane,

To move the old church by them

Would be a bleeding shame.

Let’s meet within her sacred walls

At least, say once a year,

And mingle with the spirits

Of our friends who linger near.

It calls back pleasant memories

And old familiar names,

Of those that now are sleeping

Where some day we’ll be lain.

There’s Umphrey Crow and Uncle Billy

And Levi Stephen too;

And Johnson Paris, Joe McDill

All in their family pew.

And Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Schofield

And Isaac, George and Em,

That you could always depend on

Especially, on Em.

For Emeline and Jess and Nan

With a few lesser lights,

Composed the Harrison Choir,

Which truly was a delight.

‘Twas simply grand and glorious

They made the house ring,

The people came from miles around

To hear the choir sing.

God Bless them, it was them that kept

The Harrison church together,

You could always depend on them

Regardless of the weather.

I’ll say no more at present

But still I’ll hope and pray,

That while I live, the dear old church

Will not be moved away.

We’ve all lost friends and relatives

And we too soon must fall,

Let’s leave it for a monument

Not for one, but for us all.

George Potter

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

That Little Church on The Hill

It’s plain to me as plain can be-

I would not wish to see it better

Than the story George S. Potter told

About the little old weatherbeaten

church back up there on Harrison Hill.

It awakens up old memories

About the storied past-

Potter told it correctly

And nailed it to the mast.

He is against destruction

Sacrilege - I think he said

Not thinking so much about the living

But more about the dead.

Those who sleep in that region

Where pioneer cabins stood-

The people who took up the early problems

And cleared away the wood.

The church stands there to witness

In the shadow of the wood-

The early religious aspirations

Of early man and womenhood.

There was Gasham, Stephens and Potter

Sam Paris, Crow and “Andy” Wagg-

And other Christian people

Who first unfurled the Christian flag.

And built a church at Harrison

Where a number of pioneers sleep-

Where people still congregate

To decorate and weep.

An old weatherbeaten landmark

Something old yet something dear-

Recalling cherished memories

And recalling falling tears.

Fro those who sleep in the region

For those gone on their way-

From where people used to gather

To sing and preach and pray.

Built and paid for by the people

Old pioneers of the neighborhood-

Who cleared a spot and built a church

In the shambles of the wood.

There is such a thing as sacrilege

There is such a thing as shame-

There is such a thing as egotism

Carried out in Christian name.

There is such a thing as busy people

There is such a thing as pride

And there are deep feeling questions

Upon which people will divide.

What is the old church then

But a monument of pride-

Where pioneers lived and worshiped

Where pioneers worked and died.

To them we owe a little

To those who paved the way-

Where might assemble

And worship the Sabbath Day.

Spare it- let it stand on and out

Down the calendar of time-

To perpetuate the memory

Of your old friends-and mine.

Where as a boy you went to Sabbath School

Where as a man you could see-

That your first inkling of religion

Was learned on mother’s knee.

And so your memory lingers

And clings to the region in the wood-

Around the little old church

In the Harrison neighborhood.

Spare it, save it, let it stand

Don’t tear it a-sunder

Let lightning play around it

And also rolling thunder.

And remember the old adage

Words if wisdom and of wonder

That which God and man creates

Let no man tear a-sunder.

R. E. B.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Harrison Church

I understand the Harrison church

Is to be taken down,

By our Presbyterian brethren

And then moved to town.

Now listen sons and daughters

Of those we hold most dear,

Our fathers and our mothers

Those noble pioneers.

To me it seems like sacrilege

To hint and take it down,

It was dedicated once to God

It stands on Holy ground.

Although it’s been remodeled

It still is dear to me,

As when within its sacred walls

I sat on mother’s knee.

Although it now is modern

It still rest upon the spot,

That should I live three score and ten

T’will never be forgot.

‘Twas built for public worship

And in memory of those,

Who made the country round about

To blossom like a rose.

‘Twas built by contributions

From fifty dollars down to one,

And the country thoroughly canvassed

Before the work begun.

Don’t you think the general public

Should have a word to say,

When it comes to tearing down a church

For which they helped to pay?

Dear friends, please reconsider,

Before you take it down,

To me it seems like moving

Our cemetery to town.

Pray leave it for a while at least

Perhaps a few short years,

‘Till those who hold it sacred

Are beyond the vale of tears.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Picture: Harrison United Presbyterian church until 1857- Port Louisa Township

Picture: Harrison United Presbyterian Church, built in 1857-rebuilt in 1907- photo taken in 1907.