| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA |  |
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| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA | |
Pg 204
Wapello Township, Lousa County, Iowa
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, September 21, 2016
The story of the Bethel Church is as charming as the building itself and the beautiful setting where it is located. This building, which was completed around 1856 and is included with the National Register of Historic places, was and is the result of people seeing a need and doing something about it. The following is an account rewritten and arranged by Esther Jamison Rickert from “The Edwin Jamison Reymer Jamison Family History” by Bernice Jamison Herrick in 1946.
A log house which was used as both meeting-house and school-house once stood where Bethel Church now stands. In 1855 the residents of Bethel neighborhood decided to build a new church and a school house. Francis McGraw quarried the stone from a nearby quarry and teams of oxen hauled it to the cemetery where the men of the community helped to lay the walls of the new church. These men now lie buried in the Bethel Cemetery. The names of Davison, Diehl, Brogan, Jamison, Schull, Shipman, Herrick and Vertrees occur over and over on the tombstones which fill the graveyard.
A stone school was built a short distance south and east of the church.
Merit Jamison, who settled in this community in the fall of 1840, donated the land for the church and the cemetery, and was influential in the building and financing of the project. He died in the spring of 1856, shortly before the structure was finished. During the following summer, memorial services were held for him on the day that the church was dedicated.
At Bethel Cemetery a beautiful granite boulder, taken from the Honeycreek quarry, marks the grave of Francis McGraw who quarried the stone for the Bethel Church. McGraw was the grandfather of Ada Smith, longtime County Superintendent of Schools in Louisa County. The first grave in the cemetery was for an infant child. The second grave was for George Johnson, husband of Margaret Jamison. George Johnson died December 18, 1843. Seven years later Margaret married John Diehl.
In some of the family plots there are several little graves dated the same year, 1864, in which there was an epidemic of what was then called “flux”.
No written record of the church could be found, but the minutes of the quarterly conference state that the first conference was held at Bethel November 18, 1854, at which time the Wapello Mission was organized. Named as pastor was G. W. Leas with William Shipman as circuit steward and A. Young as presiding elder. The Mission included two churches at Wapello as well as Bethel, Concord and Long Creek. The pastor was to be assisted by local ministers. Other stewards elected in the circuit were: J. C. Tucker, Merit Jamison, Levi Fisher, Harris Howey, William Story and Dennis Gregory. A committee of three was appointed to estimate the pastor’s house, table and fuel expense. The members of this committee, William D. Jamison, Merit Jamison and William Shipman, reported an allowance of $134.00, which amount was approved by the conference. Between the time of this and the next conference held at Bethel, the new church was built; and during that period the church conferences were held at Wapello and Concord.
The date of the second conference at Bethel was July 5, 1856, with the following officials present: Presiding Elder Joseph McDowell, Pastor Joseph Paschal, also Circuit Leaders, O. A. Taylor, William D. Jamison, Dennis Gregory, Samuel Hamilton and S. F. Morris. The trustees of the church reported, “the meeting house out of debt and the deed secured.”
At a conference held in June, 1861, the trustees of Bethel Church, Francis McGraw, William Jamison and William Shipman, reported that the cemetery had been fenced at a cost of $175.00 and lamps purchased for the church at a cost of $10.00. The attractive black iron fence is in good condition today, but the chandelier-type kerosene lamps are gone.
On September 14, 1861, a financial planning session was held for the coming conference year. The committee reported the following estimates:
| Flour | 25.00 |
| Salt | 1.25 |
| Fruit and potatoes | 4.00 |
| House rent | 25.00 |
| Horse shoeing | 5.00 |
| Discipline allowance | 200.00 |
| Beef and pork | 20.00 |
| Sugar, coffee, tea, spices | 15.00 |
| 12 cords of wood | 24.00 |
| Travel | 6.00 |
| Shoe Blocking | 0.75 |
| Total | 350.00 |
This amount on the motion was raised to $400.00 . Mention is made in the minutes of “hard times” but no reference is made of the war. The apportionment of the expenses was as follows:
| Wapello | $191.25 |
| Concord | $38.50 |
| Bethel | $142.75 |
| Morning Star | $37.50 |
| Total | $410.00 |
At another session plans were made to hold a camp meeting with Kossuth which later became a part of the Wapello circuit. Bethel was a part of the Morning Sun circuit at one time, and later became the only charge with First Methodist of Wapello. Some of the ministers who served were: John C. Willits, Michael See, Pastor Goodrich, J. C. Tucker, T. S. Pool, M. E. Reusch, J. E. Newsom and Edward Brooks.
The church was the center of social life in the community as well as the place of worship. Basket dinners, homecomings, revival meetings, and funerals brought people together. Occasionally a “gospel team” of students from Iowa Wesleyan College at Mt. Pleasant . . .
Pg 205 – These are additional photos of First United Presybyterian Church of Wapello
Picture: Adult Sunday School. Clockwise starting front left: Dorothy McNeil, Vivian Deam, Virginia Whicher, Betty and Kenny McChesney, Marcella Erwin
Picture: Betty McChesney – Organist
Picture: Kindergarten and First Grade Sunday School.
Front row: Megan Gipple, Jeff Heater, Janell Heater (teacher), Ashley Brown, Jessica Gerst.
Back row: Kyle Bailey, Blake Dossett, Kara Gipple, Jerrica Frieden.
Picture: Nursery Sunday School. Front row L to R: Brennan Gerst, Chelsey Grimm, Morgan Dossett, Cory and Andrew Stephens, Derrick Bartels. Back row: Kara Small, Brenna Stephens, Kelli Parish, Jacob Schoonover, Jacob Barrick, Krista Smith.
Picture: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Sunday School. Front: Michelle Lease, KeAira Frieden, Adam Barrick, Joshua Jackson, Donna Lease (teacher),
Back: Kenda Hawk, Justin Bailey, Nick Jackson, Clint Brown, Creighton Lease.
Pg 206
. . . would conduct a series of nightly meeting for a week, staying at the homes of members and creating interest among young people of the church as they organized choir rehearsals and other activities.
When the location of Bethel Church was chosen it was on a main trail; but now stands a quarter of a mile west of Federal Highway 61. A gravel road leads to it through a wooded area. The church and cemetery are very well kept. It is a quiet and beautiful spot, and the old stone sanctuary stands like a sentinel guarding the precious graves, an enduring monument to the faith of our father.
The love, dedication, pride and energy by the descendants of those early families that has gone into the restoration and maintenance of this property can well be a model for such projects everywhere.
| Mathew Jamison | George B. Nichols | R. W. Newell |
| Martha Jamison | Rose Nichols | W. I. Delzell |
| Gertrude Jamison | Frank Thompson | Sarah Beuse |
| Myrtle Jamison | Mrs. Frank Thompson | Anna L. Brogan |
| Lizzie Jamison | Mary Walker | Hattie A. Jamison |
| Max Reymer | Delta Vaughn | Bessie Maude Dotson |
| Susannah Hamilton (Deceased) | I. M. Jamison | Mary Russell |
| Jane Banks | Ona Jamison | Jessie Sites |
| Jessie Vaughn | Hallie A. Jamison | Walter D. Peters |
| Gertrude Dotson (Bailey) | John E. Jamison | Elsie Preibe |
| Alice Walker | Wm. B. Jamison | Paul Preibe |
| Sarah J. Martin | Elmer E. Campbell | Charles Peters |
| Frank Vaughn (Died) | Bertha B. Campbell | Matie Peters |
| Status | Status | |||
| Matthew Jamieson | M | Chas. Peters | M | |
| Martha Jamison | M | Matie Peters | M | |
| Gertrude Jamison | S | Jessie Peters | S | |
| Myrtle Jamison | S | Arthur Russell | S | |
| Wm. Jamison | S | Ruth Hughes | M | |
| Lizzie Jamison | S | Kitty Decker | M | |
| Mary Reymer | S | Frederick H. Hensley | S | |
| Jane Banks | M | Ernest Hensely | S | |
| Gertrude Bailey | M | Elizabeth Hensley | M | |
| I. M. Jamison | M | Norman Jamison | M | |
| Ona Jamison | M | Cora Jamison | M | |
| Hattie A. Jamison | S | Ray McIntyre | S | |
| John E. Jamison | S | Wm. G. Semple | S | |
| Elmer E. Campbell | M | Nellie Hensley | S | |
| Bertha B. Campbell | M | Nellie Sandy | S | |
| R. W. Newell | M | Stanley Newell | S | |
| W. I. Delzell | S | Maggie Llaird | M | |
| Sarah Bence | M | S. M. Crow | M | |
| Anna L. Brogan | S | Ada Crow | M | |
| Hattie A. Jamison | M | Grace Newell | S | |
| Mary Russell | S | Hubert Hensley | S | |
| Paul Preibe | M | Henry Bence | M | |
| Elzie Preibe | M | Melissa Llaird | S |
| Mode | Baptisms | Date |
| Immersion | Frank Vaughn | 7-9-1893 |
| Immersion | Delta Vaughn | 7-9-1893 |
| Immersion | Alice Walker | 7-9-1893 |
| Immersion | May Walker | 7-9-1893 |
| Sprinkling | I. M. Jamison | 7-15-1894 |
| Sprinkling | Ona Jamison | 7-15-1894 |
| OFFICERS |
| (Term to expire, conference 1894) |
| Stewards: Mathew Jamison, Jessie V. Vaughn |
| Trustees: George Jamison, Jessie Vaughn, M. Jamison |
| Estimating Salary: Mathew Jamison |
| Class Teacher: Jessie V. Vaughn |
Picture: Bethel Church located 5 miles south of Wapello, west of Highway 61
Picture: Left to Right Front row: Helen Ogle, Helen Jamison.
Second row: Barbara Berdahl, Daphne Baldwin, Virginia Traver, Gail Herrick, Mary Ellen Griffith, Marjorie Wheeler, Esther Rickert.
Third row: John Baldwin, Russell Traver, Dean Herrick, George Griffith, Bill Jamison, Dale Rickert, Elmer Kiene.
Fourth row: Emily Deihl, Jean Deihl, Joan Daws, Ann Deihl, Evelyn Jackson, Alma Kiene, John Deihl, son below is Justin Deihl, Helen Deihl, Gerri Wolfe.
Fifth row: John Diehl, George Daws, Iva Diehl.
Picture: The only church in Louisa County on the National Register of Historic Places.
Picture: Interior of the Bethel Church.