"The History of Decatur County, Iowa: 1839 - 1970"

by Himena V. Hoffman
Published by Decatur County Historical Society, Leon IA, 1970
 
Religion, Part II, Pages 109 112
Transcription by Carmelita
 
Just to mention a few of the rural churches, there was Palestine, in whose churchyard the Akes and Jacob Warner family are buried. There is no longer a building there. The Shy church near the cemetery where the graves of the Rumleys, the Jonathan Hamiltons, and the Slys may be found. Fairview, where once a Methodist congregation worshipped, Elk Chapel named for an animal that perhaps was never in the county or at least seldom seen even by the pioneers, now Salem and Bethel in 1970, two of the county's oldest churches, the church at Woodland and many more.

Of these churches it would seem that more were Baptist than any other denomination, and some were used sometimes for one group and then for another.

Among these in Presbyterian Church in Leon were first of all Calvin Johnson, who had so much for the church in the days before the War, Francis Varga, George T. Young. A. J. Allen, and George Woodbury. Dr. William Todd and his wife also joined the church, V. R. McGinnis and Sam Darrah were members of importance at the end of the period.

In the Christian Church John Gardner gave the land on which their first church was built and where the present building is located. Dr. McClelland, J. B. Lunbeck, L. W. Hebener as well as John W. Gardner, William A. Gardner, S. E. Gardner were among the elders and deacons. Frank Garber's lines on the Gardners could apply well to their connection with the Christian Church, "Gardners almost a full score, Mighty men and lovely women."

In the Methodist Church, William and Elizabeth Loving, retired from their farm near Pleasanton, gave $5000 to the building fund of the Methodist Church in Leon, over half of its cost. L. P. Sigler and W. W. Wood gave the first organ in 1877. W. W. Craig, always called in the church Brother Craig, saw to it that the ministers salary was paid, going to J. W. Rowell, C. W. Hoffman, L. P. Sigler, and others who would always donate more than their share to add to what came from his own pocket.

At Garden Grove Lucretia Arnold, widow of Sylvanus Arnold, gave the ground on which the church was built and donated a bell for the belfry. Nathaniel Shaw and his daughter, Charlotte, were devout members.

The Presbyterians at Garden Grove, like those a Leon were indebted to the Calvin Johnsons, but after the Civil War leading members included the J. O. Parrish and the Professor Harkness family. The arrival of the Bryson Bruce family also add to that church. No family did more for the church than the Northups.

In the Episcopal Church could be found, the Manneys, the Mallettes, the Howes, and the Judds. Allan Judd, whose mother, Mrs. Hawkins Judd, was one of the first, if not the first, Episcopalian in the county, became an Episcopalian rector.

In Van Wert, the O. E. Stearns family were leading members of the Methodist Church.

J. R. Smith was a leading lay member of a rural Methodist Church in Fayette township which moved to Lamoni after that town was established.

Among the Brethren, the Garbers, the Sears, and the Kobs continued to keep the affairs of the church prospering.

As to the Catholics, it was Patrick and William Grogan, Patrick and Dennis Mullen, and Maurice Daughton who with their wives gave the land on which the church was built in Woodland, and it was on these families and on them and the Griffins, the Barretts, and Conwells, as well as on a few other devout members that the priests depended when they came from some mission or church to the two small churches in Woodland and at Grand River.

An examination of the church records show that though the churches depended so much on their members, many prominent business and professional people did not belong to any church. In Leon, John W. Harvey, Aaron Long, and S. W. Hurst did not belong to any church. Joseph Warner, one-time Cumberland minister, did not join the Presbyterian Church organized in 1886 nor did J. R. Bashaw, his brother-in-law. In garden Grove neither A. B. or Dan Stearns were church members, and though John Clark built the church in Davis City, he did not belong to a church. However, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Hurst, Mrs. Warner, and Mrs. Bashaw were active church members.

The period between the Civil War and the Spanish American War was a time of revival meetings, sometimes called protracted meetings. Particularly after 1880 these took the place of the camp those already in church. Even the smallest rural churches held revival services and in the towns union services were sometimes held. These services were sometimes held by a local minister, but often a revivalist came, held the meetings, took up a collection, and then went elsewhere.

Sometimes these meetings meant quite an increase in church membership. The Reverend A. Hull reported he added seventy-five converts to the church in 1876, but his successor noted, "the record shows only fifty"

The union revival meetings held in 1886 by Reverend Dean added forty-five members to the Presbyterian church and at least that many to the Methodist and Christian churches.

Just at the close of the century, Billy Sunday, not yet a widely known revivalist held union revival services in the newly built Biggs building. The meetings were organized in the way that would later attract large crowds in the big cities. The choir, the soloist, "the personal workers", and most of all the dramatic preaching of Billy Sunday attracted large attendance and resulted in many converts, including leaders in the community.

In the Presbyterian Church in Leon the ministers also served other churches. A. A. Mather in 1869 held services at Grand River and Decatur. The scholarly Mr. Gurley seems to have severed his connections with the Leon church because it included services at Crown. The Reverend Gurley was in Leon five years and Silas Johnson four years.
 
 
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