Version 1
Blair Chapel was
first built in 1869. It was burned and rebuilt in later
years. Although built and dedicated under the management of
the United Brethren, in after years the Methodists, for several
years, held glorious meetings there and such men as the late
Captain Stiles and Mr. Shannon were active and ardent church
workers in Methodism there.
At one revival season about sixty converts were secured, the U.B.
and the M.E. members being about equal. That the
church has been instrumental in the accomplishment of much good
can not well be questioned. The evidence is confirmatory.
The original
trustees, were as Mr. Carter remembers, Elza Blair, Wm. Cason, and
Hiram Phillips. The church parsonage is at Patterson.
This is about midway between Blair Chapel and the nearly new
church near Middle River the two principal point of service, being
about four or five miles distant.
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Blair
Chapel
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Version
2
Alexander
Blair lived in Tileville [four miles east of Winterset] in 1850
and urged his brother, the Rev. John Blair, to come to Madison
County. Rev. Blair brought a following of about 60 persons
from Kentucky to settle in Madison County about 1860, which was
when the chapel was built. Blair and his family and clan
were "abolitionist," which meant they were against the
evil practice of slavery. Their lives had been threaten in
Kentucky.
Settling
first on flat farmland near Winterset, many of the clan, all with
Scottish ancestry, waned to move to the hills and trees in the
area southwest of Bevington because it was reminiscent of the
hills of Kentucky. They were real Kentuckians, because they
made distilled spirits and brought with them some of the "long
green" plants, which was the name of tobacco.
Eventually, some oft he men from the settlement went off to fight
in the Civil War.
The
church closed in 1935, except for funeral services from time to
time and as a gathering place for descendants and the local rural
community. The area around the Blair Chapel is also known as
the "chapel community" and "Brush Ridge."
Version
3
The
Blair Church and Brush Ridge Cemetery is located in section 3 in
South Township and named for Rev. John Blair and Martha J. Blair
who came to Madison County with the Kentucky settlement.
They deeded the land to the County September 5, 1870.
The first Church was built July 12, 1870 and celebrated its
Centennial Anniversary in 1970.
The first Cemetery in this community was called the Crawford
Township Cemetery and is located 1/2 mile north of Blair Chapel
Church and was used as early as February 14, 1850 to bury the
infant daughter of David and Jane Cason Smith who were the first
couple to be married in Madison County.
Other families buried there include the Bells, Smiths,
Johns, Worleys, Moses, Crossleys, and Scotts.
The
first Church burned in 1909 but was replaced immediately by the
present Church which held services and Sunday School classes until
February 1932.
The
Church and Cemetery have been kept in good repair by money
provided by a fund left to the Church by the late Chris Wolf and
his half-sister Emma Schroppel.
Emma died November 1977 at the age of 98.
A
number of pioneer families are buried in this cemetery including
the Blairs, Carters, Breedings, McKinneys, Strables, Slaydens,
Huglins, Clelands, Schrivners, Lukes and Wolfs along with many of
their descendants.
Once
a year on Memorial Day the doors are open wide and people once
again flock under the roof for a short afternoon service with a
talk by a visiting pastor - singing and remembering -which follows
a basket dinner in the yard at noon.
The dinner is an old tradition, nourished by the late
George Blair and his son Fred Blair and kept alive through the
efforts of Mrs. Fred (Alice) Blair.
Blair
Chapel was established by a large number of family and neighbors
from Adair County, Kentucky, who migrated to Iowa six months
before the Civil War erupted.
They believed in freedom and chose Iowa to be their new
home. They became
known as the Kentucky Settlement.4
Source: |
1. Winterset Madisonian, June 3, 1909, page 1. The author's name is not |
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provided,
but stated that this information was provided by "Uncle
Ben" |
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Carter, a "long time zealous worker at that
church." |
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2.
Winterset Madisonian, May 24, 1989,n,
page 1, by then church historian,
Dorothy Blair Roeder, of Afton.
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3.
History of Madison County Iowa, 1984, page 33-34, published
by Madison
County Genealogical Society.
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Note: |
4. See "Kentucky
Settlement" |
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