Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/549

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 489 The First church of Apple Creek was or- ganized by Rev. Sahnon Giddings, May 20th, 1821, with 41 members. The ruling elders were Mitchel Fleming, John Gilliland and Oliver Harris. Its membership had grown to 92 in April, 1844 ; in 1894 it had 85 members. Farmington church was organized May IS, 1832, by Rev. Joseph Sadd and Rev. Thomas Donnell with seven members; Alexander Boyd was the elder of the church. In April, 1844, this church had 89 members and its elders were John D. Peers, IMilton P. Ca3'ee and Newton F. Cayee. In 1844 this church had 160 members. Rev. Mr. Sadd continued as minister of the church imtil April. 1835, when he removed to Scott county. His successors were Thomas Donnell, Luther Vandoren, James M. Coving- ton, who filled the pulpit of the church imtil 1844; among the other men who have been pastors were Rev. Amos H. Rogers, Rev. James T. Paxton, Rev. David E. Curtis, Rev. George W. Harlan, Rev. James A. Creighton and Rev. Mr. Ruffner. The first house of wor.ship built by the Farmington church was dedicated in 1836 and was rebuilt and reded- icated in 1868 ; this house was sold to the Christian congregation and a new house built, which is .still occupied. The Presbyterian church at Cape Girar- deau is dated by some of the church author- ities, in 185], but it seems that there was an organization formed at a much earlier date. In 1835 the Rev. J. F. Cowan, who was the pastor at Apple Creek church, visited Cape Girardeau and gathered together eight mem- bers whom he constituted into a church. It was made a part of the Presbytery of St. Louis. It is not possible to give the names of the members, except that it is known that Charles Welling, afterward a member of the church at Jackson, was one of the early mem- bers and a Captain Dutch and familj' were also members. It is doubtful whether the organization ever succeeded in accomplishing an.ything, for there was preaching only at in- tervals by pastors of other churches and at a meeting of the Presbytery at Brazeau in Perry county in May, 1839, the Cape Girar- deau church was struck from the list, its offi- cers and members having moved away. In August, 1842, Rev. Robert G. Barret, then pastor at Apple Creek, visited Cape Girar- deau and preached to a good congregation. He says that at that time the population of the town was about 400; that there were only two church houses in existence, one of them owned by the Baptists and the other by the Catholics. The Methodists had an organiza- tion in the to'n, but no church building. Rev. Mr. Barret reported that he found only one Presbyterian in the town, a woman. The Potosi Presbytery met at "Whitewater in April of 1850 and appointed a committee composed of D. E. Y. Rice, A. Munson and Elder A. Caldwell to organize the Cape Gir- ardeau church. This organization was per- fected and the church was received into the Presbytery August 31, 1850. The first pas- tor of the charge was Rev. D. E. Y. Rice, who served from 1850 to 1854. During his term as pastor of the church he was also president of the Washington Female acad- emy, which he established and conducted in Cape Girardeau. The church went through the usual vicissitudes, being reorganized in 1855, at which time there were 18 members, the elder of the church being A. Flynn. For a time it was without a pastor, but from 1857 to 1859 it was served by the Rev. F. Patton. After his resignation two or three different ministers spent a few months in the service of the church, biit on the break- ing out of the war the organized work prac-