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THE PRESBYTERIANS IN WESTERN HENNEPIN COUNTY 1863-1876 |
| The following article appeared in the, Winter 1961, Hennepin County History Magazine and is transcribed here with permission from the Hennepin County Historical Society. Article was written by Avery Stubbs. |
| During the Civil
War there was a long building north of Long Lake called Lydiard School.
It is still standing but it is now used as a horse barn on the shore of Wolsfeld Lake.
In this structure, on September 23, 1863,
was organized the first Presbyterian church in this part of the country. The
organizer of this Medina church was Reverend James Hunter,
Hunter was born at Bethel, New York, May 12, 1830, and was a graduate of Western Theological Seminary; he served churches in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas and Ohio. He died at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1900. (Biographical data from the Presbyterian Historical Society). There were 11 charter members of whom Chester Hinman, Christopher Dillman and William Lydiard were ruling elders, the younger men having all gone off to war. Warren Wakefield, in speaking of those pioneer days, wrote, "Mr. Hunter was a fine looking man of about 35 years of age when he first came to us; he was engaging in his manner and a welcome guest in every log cabin in the settlement. I can remember distinctly every detail of the service in that little schoolhouse. I especially recall an impressive sermon to his congregation on the Sabbath after the assassination of President Lincoln." The Reverend Mr. Hunter was called to the Dundas, Minnesota, Presbyterian Church in 1868 and the next year Reverend Charles Thayer was sent out by the St. Paul Presbytery as his successor. Thayer, of tireless energy and great devotion, envisioned a line of churches for the denomination stretching along the newly constructed St. Paul Pacific Railroad from Wayzata out west into Wright County.
Thayer preached morning, afternoon, and evening every Sunday--alternating at various points---hurrying from one place to another by foot, horseback, buggy, or train (if the schedule was convenient). He maintained his home in St. Anthony but came out also for midweek prayer meetings. Services were held in the Jackson School in Minnetrista, Styner School in Independence and at Franklin (now Delano). In addition he continued as pastor of the Rockford and Median churches. He Induced the Medina people to build a church in Long Lake and take the name of the growing sawmill village. At Maple Plain, however, he had his great accomplishment--here he organized a church on June 4, 1871. The congregation met in the Good Templar's Hall at first but next year built the frame church which is still standing. The clerk's records sows that 12 adults were charter members--having made solemn profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When in 1876, Thayer's ministry came to a close in this area, three ruling elders in Maple Plain Church, George Hoisington, George W. Smith and Ashbel Ingerson gave him a splendid tribute by stating "He had not failed to declare the whole counsel of God." Thayer, born in Douglas, Massachusetts, on April 26, 1820, graduated from Monson Academy. He organized and pastored churches in Minnesota and Wisconsin until his death in Minneapolis May 18, 1909. His journals and papers, now in the Minnesota Historical Society, reveal the great number of families that he visited in pastoral calls. Their names are almost a census of this area from 1868-1876. Archibald, Bills, Brown, Byes, Bothwell,
Barnes, Braden, Bailey, Blaisdell, Brandford, Budd. |
who also
served the Rockford Presbyterian Church up on the Crow River at the same
time. 
Reverend Thayer preached
occasionally at Groveland School also. At the Wayzata School
his good friends Kilgore, Grant and Tennant started a Sunday School.
Both of these points, however, surrendered to the Congregationalists soon
after 1880.
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Copyright 2005-2006 by Claudia Schuman Site last updated: April 3, 2005 |
