Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/446

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��usually communicants of some one of the Lutheran societies ; and the first church in Jef- ferson Township, before it was reduced to its present limits, was built by two branches of this church about 1825. As early as 1814-15, Charles Waddle and James Smith, Methodists, came to Bellville and organized a church. The Kevs. Gowell, Ashley and Marvin, of the Dis- ciples, came a few years later.

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Bellville, was organized by Rev. Charles Waddle, Will- iam Oldfield, father of Jonathan and Richard Oldfield, who was the oldest member of the first society, and his two sons, Samuel and Jonathan, and Robert Bell, were the most effi- cient workers of the infant church. The first house of worship was liuilt on the site of the present one, by Lewis Potts, in 1835 ; its di- mensions were 30x40 feet ; and his statement of account ran something like this : " To get- ting out timber, framing, putting on shingles and making frames and ten windows, $90.11." The house was furnished in 1836, and used for services about eighteen years. This was the first church erected in the Jefferson Township of 1880. In April, 1854, the building com- mittee was authorized to sell the old house, and in the same month a resolution was passed to build a new house 40x55, IG-feet story, in the clear, with a lobby of 9 feet. In Ma}^, Judge Jackson proposed to build the house for $1,660, and his offer was accepted. The new house was completed in October, 1855. Rev. W. T. Lewis was Pastor of the church in 1879-80. The contributions for all purposes amount to $650 a year. It is not known when the first Sabbath school was organized, but was prob- abl}' about 1845. JM. L. Bonar was Superin- tendent in 1879, and the membership was 249 ; contributions $67. The church membership, March, 1880, was a1)out one hundred and forty.

The persons mentioned above first pro- claimed the tenets of the Disciple denomina- tion, and John Moody embraced the doctrine

��and became the effective power of the first organ- ization. Mr. IMoody entered the ministry, and for some time preached in private houses. In 1830, he built a mill in Bellville, and, in that early day, the demand for breadstuffs kept the mills running almost night and day, week-days and Sundajs. On the sacred day, he would preach in his mill to those hungering for the bread of eternal life, while his mill ground wheat to sustain the naUiral life. He built a church where the gi'ain elevator now stands, in Bellville, which remained there till 1850, when it was moved some distance south, to accom- modate the railroad. In Jul}', 1864, the church purchased a half-interest in the church erected by the Cumberland Presbyterians in 1855, and the remainder in 1871. The, membership, March, 1880, was forty-one. A Bible school was held in the old church house, and a Sab- bath school proper was organized in 1865, with T. M. Yearian as Superintendent. J. W. Kelly was Superintendent in 1879, and the school numbered sixty pupils.

The first appearance of a society for the dis- semination of the Universalists' faith was at Lexington, in the house of Amariah Watson, September 10, 1822, under the appellation of the General Convention of Universalists of the State of Ohio. A little later, a society was formed under the name of the Richland Associ- ation of Universalists, and a meeting was held in Fredericktown, Ohio, August 28, 1822. At a meeting of the Association held in Mount Vernon in September, 1846, Samuel Cutting and Richard Oldfield applied for admittance, and in 1 847, the societ}' met at Bellville, when the church of the place numbered sixteen. It was organized by George R. Brown, and Tru- man Strong and P. A. Smead, who were the first subsequent ministers. Samuel Cutting, Silas Cross, Richard Oldfield, Joseph Ford and John Merril were the principal members. A house of worship was erected in Bellville in 1850, and dedicated in March, 1851, by Rev.

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