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Shelby County |
CHAPTER XVI. - PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN SHELBY COUNTY (CONT'D)THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SHELBY.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SHELBY. DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELK HORN. DANISH BAPTIST CHURCH, HARLAN.
The Shelby Methodist Episcopal church was organized July 3, 1870, by the Rev. A. Johnson, a local preacher. The first service was held in the depot. The following persons were present: C. J. McLaughlin and wife, D. B. Pierce and wife, James Linn and wife and children. Mr. and Mrs. Wood. J. P. McKwen, wfe [sic wife] and children and the railroad agent, Mr. Edwards. The class was organized the same day with the following members: C. J. McLaughlin. Martha McLaughlin, D. B. Pierce, Julia Pierce, Dr. J. W. Campbell, Mary Campbell, James Linn, Sarah Linn and John Edwards. James Linn was appointed class leader; C. J McLaughlin, steward. The appointment was attached to Harlan, with Rev. W. E. Hamilton, pastor, who served to the end of the conference year, assisted by Rev. Johnson. During the year 1870 and 1871 preaching services were held in the depot, hotel, the J. W. Campbell building and James Linn's house, after which the school house was used until 1877, when the present church was built. This church building cost about $4,000. The addition, which was built in 1891, cost $1,500. The first parsonage was built in 1879, costing about $700. In 1902 a new parsonage was built at a cost of $2,200. At the annual conference in 1874. Shelby appointment was connected with Avoca and in 1878 was made an independent charge. The first board of trustees was C. J. McLaughlin, William Buckley. James Linn and J. C. Garmong. The Epworth League was organized in 1889, by Rev. D. Shenton, who was its first president. A Junior Epworth League was organized March 4, 1893. At the session of the Des Moines conference, held at Mount Ayr in September, 1913, the charge reported a resident membership of 301, a membership in the Sunday school of 225 and in the Epworth League a membership of 85; the amount paid for the support of their pastor, $1,200, while the total benevolent offerings of the year amounted to $1,310. During the years since its founding the church has been served by the following pastors: Rev. E. L. Parks, six months; Rev. Houck, six months; Rev. William Armstrong, one year; Rev. Smith, three years; Rev. J. T. Wood, six months; Rev. C. A. Bunker, one year; Rev. Harris, three years; Rev. Chambers, nine months; Rev. G. A. Bott, nine months; Rev. Carver, nine months; Rev. W. C. Martin, one year; Rev. F. E. Bartholomew, two years; Rev. J. C. Stevens, one year; Rev. J. C. Franklin, three years; Rev. D. Shenton, five years; Rev. W. B. Thompson, one year; Rev. McKendree Stahl, two years; Rev. G. P. Fry, two years; Rev. A. E. Slothower, two years; Rev. I. N. Woodward, three years; Rev. E. H Fleisher, one year; A. E. Harned. two years; E. A. Moore, three years; C. M. Ward, the present pastor, was appointed in September, 1913. One of the men who rendered large and consecrated service to this church, and who was highly honored by the Methodist Episcopal church in Iowa, was Mr. C. R. Benedict, one of the best known men of the state in his lifetime and whose untimely death, August 27, 1914, was mourned not only throughout the county but throughout the state of Iowa. Through his efforts in behalf of missions, the Young Men's Christian Association, and as clerk of the Iowa House for many years, he achieved a wide and most favorable acquaintance. As a Sunday school worker he was most faithful, consecrated and able.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Tennant, Iowa, was established in 1904, in which year the present church building was also erected. The first pastor of the church was Rev. C. J. English, who was also pastor of the Harlan Methodist Episcopal church. The succeeding pastors were Revs. J. P. Morley, J. R. Ramsey, R. C. F. Chambers, G. R. Sprague, E. R. Stroud. The present pastor of the church is Rev. W. E. Harvey. The charter members of the church were as follows: Mrs. Etta Grauel, Henry Lawson, Mrs. Sadie A. Lawson, Ira Stevens, John Mowery, Mrs. P. Jane Mowery, Arthur Mowery, S. W. Brown, Mrs. Lena Brown, Andrew Peterson, Mrs. Lena Peterson, John Peterson, W. R. Peterson, Lafayette Morris, Mrs. Martha Morris, G. W. Walmer, Mrs. Anna Walmer, Alex Forsby, Mrs. Lena Forsby. The church at present has a membership of 86. The Sunday school has an enrollment of 90 pupils. The present Sunday school superintendent is Mr. Fred Miller. At this writing the church is in a healthy condition, spiritually, the finances are all met, and the membership harmonious and hopeful. The church is also fortunate in having the confidence and good will of members of the other churches residing in the vicinity, including members of the Church of God. This church is situated in a splendid territory on one of the most beautiful elevated ridges or plateaus of western Iowa and has dune and is destined to do a great work for the community which it serves.
The Methodist Episcopal church at Defiance was established in the fall of 1884. Its charter members were Joseph Yackey, Harriett Yackey, Thomas McBride, Sarah McBride, H. B. Sooy, Mary Sooy, Samuel Reams, Elizabeth Reams, James Luxford, Mary Luxford. The list of pastors to date, so far as the author was able to secure them, include: Revs. Coe, Linn, F. T. Beckwith, F. A. Farrow, L. H. Cook, A. G. Morse, A. P. Leonard, C. W. Cleveland, G. L. Goodell, O. W. Weeks, D. Pruitt, H. C. Preston, J. E. Matheny, M. M. Cable, C. Bair, J. W. Wright, Gable, Thomas, McKay, McGillivray, T. Coffman, Douglass and Gunman. The present trustees of the church are: Robert Davis, James McBride, William Ruffcorn, G. A. Justice, R. G. Penniston. The present superintendent of the Sunday school is R. G. Penniston. Former superintendents of the Sunday school were Mr. Robins, Mr. McClusky, Mr. Sooy, Mr. Ford. Mr. Bloomenshine, William Ruffcorn, R. G. Penniston, T. Cook. The present membership of the church is 110. The church building was erected in 1884.
The first, or charter, members of this church were Samuel Slates, Mrs. Samuel Slates, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Blaine, John East, Mrs. Aaron Ames, Mrs. Will Adams. The names of all pastors of the church, in order to date, are Revs. J. H. Warfield, F. B. Dunne, L. W. Louck, Enoch Hill, Fawcett, A. R. Miller, Elliott, W. D. English, A. Ostrander, F. B. Dunne, A. W. Harned, J. F. Hunter, W. E. Howe, Lucas, J. E. Nichol, J. F. Gibson, J. W. Harwood, Isaac Kelly, Frank Bean, Charles Peer, Irving B. Holman. The church building was erected in 1883. The approximate membership of the church at present is seventy-five. The Sunday school is an unusually large one for a town of the size of Kirkman, of which Aaron Ames is superintendent. Its approximate membership is one hundred and twenty-five.
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