| Greenville |
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Congregational
Church |
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 The Congregational Church was
organized in 1840. On the 5th of October, 1841, a meeting was held “in
the school-house near Mr. Townsend’s,
and, after prayer by Rev. William Bliss,
voted and chose George W. Hunstable clerk
pro tem. After due deliberation, on account of their former clerk having
left this section of country, and not being able to find any records of
the church, the members were reorganized.” So reads the old minute
book of a congregation that was once vigorous with active Christian
endeavor. The dust of years has almost blotted its quill-traced
characters. Of the original congregation organized by Rev.
Barras the following is a list, comprising those who afterward
joined the organized body: Timothy Dumars, William
Dumars, Isaac R. Bearce, Owen N. Rice, John Keck and John
Babbit. The first deacons were G. W.
Hunstable and Timothy Dumars. The
first regular pastor was Rev. J. J. Bliss,
who continued until July 1, 1843. In the early records mention is made
of a meeting held in the Presbyterian Church January 20, 1842, at which
time a building committee, “consisting of William
Waugh, U. W. Hunstable, James Kendall, Owen N. Rice and
A. A. Heath, was appointed to take measures toward the erection
of a house of worship. No report is recorded, but notice is made of
regular church meetings having been held in the public school-house, in
the Presbyterian and in the Methodist Episcopal Churches. But the
committee, it seems, was not idle, as it is chronicled in the minute
book that “on the 16th of February, 1843, the new frame church on
Clinton Street (now [1888] used by the Protestant Episcopal
congregation) was dedicated by Rev. Keep,
of Hartford, Ohio. James M. Power was one
of the principal contributors toward its erection. The records are now
quite fragmentary. In April, 1843, the congregation was removed from
connection with the Ashtabula Association, and attached to the Western
Pennsylvania Association. On the 8th of July, the same year, Rev.
L. B. Beach was chosen pastor of the congregation,
but was evidently
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your ancestors attend church here? Do you have more
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List
of the Churches in the Greenville area today
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The
Congregational Church was organized in 1840, and disbanded in the early
1860s |
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Churches
in Greenville in the 1800s |
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unsatisfactory, as he
remained no longer than October 7, 1843. He was succeeded by Rev.
D. C. Sterry, who continued in charge one year. An intermission
then occurred for nearly three years, during which none but occasional
services, usually presided over by Rev. Penfleld,
were held. On May 23 Rev. L. L. Radcliffe was
placed in charge, and was succeeded by Rev. D. B.
Barker, who began his ministry September 30, 1848. For thirteen
years thereafter no minutes were kept. The last record of the Greenville
Congregational Church states that a “meeting was held May 21, 1863, at
the house of J. K. Hamblin, at which time it
was determined to dispose of the property of the congregation,” which
was done May 30, 1863, to Rev. H. F. Eartman,
who purchased the building in behalf of the Reformed Church.
History
of Mercer County,
1888, page 425.
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