Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/552

 492 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI At this meeting there were present thirteen ministers and three elders who represented the New School element in the presbytery of St. Louis and that of St. Charles. After a short time matters were so arranged that there were four presbyteries in llissouri, by 18-45 they were in a flourishing condition. This branch of the church, however, was hampered very greatlj* in Missouri by the opposition of the General Assembly to slav- ery. After the resolution passed by the Gen- eral Assembly in May, 1857, at its session in Cleveland all the churches of the New School throughout the South, except those in Mis- souri, were separated from the General As- sembly of the church. The Synod of Mis- souri decided first to stand independent but in 1859 it renewed its allegiance to the Gen- eral Assembly and was later joined to the Synod of Kansas. In 1870 the Synod of Missouri, New School, and that part of the Synod of ]Iissouri, Old School, which remained in connection with the Northern General Assembly united, they then created a Presbytery of Potosi which they declared to be the legal successor of the original presbytery of that name, thus deny- ing to the adherents of the Southern Church the right to use the name of Potosi Presby- tery. The territory of this body was defined to include twenty-two counties of Southeast ^Missouri, and its first meeting was held Sep- tember 20, 1870, at Whitewater church in Bollinger county ; in 1872 the presbytery had six ministers and thirteen churches and 494 members. The oldest church of this presbytery is Whitewater in Bollinger county, which was organized June 24, 1832, under a tree on the banks of Wliitewater river. Its organization was the result of the visit of Rev. Joseph M. Sadd who had been sent to Missouri in 1830 by the American Missionary Society. While traveling over the country he visited the German colony in Bollinger county, most of the residents in this vicinity were members of the German Reformed church and their pas- tor for many years had been the Rev. Samuel Whybark who, however, had died shortly be- fore the visit of Rev. Mr. Sadd and the con- gregation was left without a pastor. As there are no great doctrinal differences be- tween the German Reform church and the Presbyterian church many of the members of the Reform went into the new organiza- tion ; the names of the members of White- water church were Mathias Bollinger, Peter Statler, David Conrad, Moses Bollinger, Mary Statler, Sally Yount, Polly Bollinger, Rebecca Conrad, Sally Statler, Elizalieth Bollinger, Peter Ground, Peggy Ground, So- phia Whybark, Sophia Yount, Sally Conrad and Peggy Bollinger. Mathias Bollinger and Peter Statler were ordained as elders of the church. At first the congregation met in the house of iloses Bollinger and later thej' fitted up an old still house for services ; after a time a log building was erected and dedicated as a church. The pastor, Mr. Sadd, remained until 1835 and he was succeeded by Thomas Donnell, James M. Covington, Robert G. Barret, Amos H. Rodgers, John J. Cowan, A. Munson, J. H. Moore, L. P. Rowland, D. E. Curtis and A. A. Mathias. These pastors bring the record of the church up to 1861. There seems to have been no regular services held between 1861 and 1867. In the latter j'ear Rev. John Branch became pastor and served until 1872. Since that time other pas- tors have been Rev. Rowland, McCoy, E. P. Keach. From this congregation went off other churches — one at Bristol, one at Marble Hill and a third at Smithville. The church at Marble Hill was organized