DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

Atwater.

Present membership, 143; value of property, including parsonage, $4,000; Bible school enrollment, 59.

Blooming Grove (Nilwood).

Organized 1873, by Aslver Solomon and George McElroy; present membership, 64; value of property, $2,000; Bible school began 1874; present enrollment, 58.

This congregation is located six miles east of Palmyra. The charter members were Elizabeth A., Thomas and Sarah Mahan; Mary A. Cleery; James B. and Nancy A. Burleson; James A. Williams, Rosetta A. Lair, William and Elizabeth Crum, Ellin Slagle, Amiel and Mary Hunt, John A. and Emily Hart. First elders were James M. Lair and Thomas Mahan; first deacons, Amiel Hunt and Richard Cramp.

Berean (Modesto).

Organized 1830, by Jack Nifing; present membership, 25; value of property, $800; no Bible school.

This congregation is located three miles northeast of Modesto. It is "the church of Christ and not the Christian Church." It has Bible classes, but no Bible school. It is opposed to "the pastor," but has preaching one Lord's Day in the month; also is opposed to "so much preach for so much money" and to instrumental music in the public worship. The correspondent is J. C. Ready, Fidelity, Ill.

Boston Chapel (Girard).

Present membership, 60; value of property, $1,800; Bible school enrollment, 38.

This is four miles east of Girard.

Carllnville.

Organized 1896, by R. A. Omer; present membership, 132; value of property, including parsonage, $14,000; Bible school began 1896; present enrollment, 88.

The charter members were as follows: Rhoda Macknet; II. T., Cleopatra G., Georgia and Harry B. Richardson; John and Lucinda E. Wilson; Emma, Willie and Lelia Giberson; E. A. Utt, Annie E. Glover, Jennie Hayes, Florence and Mary Cunningham, John Taylor, Selma Egnew, Franklin and Susan Smith, Lodusky Miller, William and Jane Clark, Darius Swain, Luther Crowdy, Mary Deeds, Elizabeth Frickers, Jesse H. and Margaret T. Smith: total, twenty-nine. Ot these, thirteen are dead and five have removed. M. T. Richardson is the clerk. The church has half-time preaching.

W. A. Green has been given to the ministry.

Gillespie.

Organized 1859; present membership, 84; value of property, $4,000; Bible school enrollment, 50.

The first congregation grew to number about sixty, but was left without competent leaders and failed. In 1898 the church was revived. Mrs. J. P. Gross is clerk.

Girard.

Organized 1860, by Alexander Johnston; present membership, 177; value of property, including parsonage, $8,000; Bible school began 1860; present enrollment, 166.

C. H. Metcalf says: "The following names are those of the charter members: Sisters Thurman, Moore, Grandma and Miss Kate Eastman, Miss Fannie Eastman, Mrs. Belle Woods, and John Ewing and wife." The church was formed by Evangelist Johnston under the auspices of the State Mission Board. The meetings were held in residences and the Universalist chapel till the completion of the first house in 1865. The present building was finished in 1900. The first elders were John Ewing and James Duncan: later Jacob Deck, J. D. Metcalf, L. J. Thompson, Isaac Moore and Dr. Clark. These were Scriptural elders to whom the church owes very much.

Good revival meetings were held by able evangelists and wise pastors have served the church. It is well organized and has a very honorable record. Leonard G. Thompson was given to the ministry.

Modesto.

Organized 1890, by J. W. McGuffin; present membership, 61; value of property, $2,500; Bible school began 1890; present enrollment, 49.

The charter members were R. T. and E. E. Allyn; P. R. Cox; J. M., Flora and S. E. Allyn; Sarah and Rose Davidson; J. J. Sims, Walter and Fannie Allyn, A. S. Chapman and N. A. Jones.

Oak Grove (Rhorer).

Present membership, 36; value of property, $1,400. Mrs. J. F. Haynes, Modesto, is correspondent.

Palmyra.

Organized 1867; present membership, 392; value of property, including parsonage, $4,500; Bible school began 1867; present enrollment, 300.

There is no record of the earlier years of this congregation. It has given to the ministry of the gospel Messrs. Albert Cherry, Lowell, Perry and John McPherson, three brothers in the flesh and in the Lord, and Miss Inez Humphrey, a schoolteacher in the Southern Christian Institute at Edwards, Miss. L. E. Chase is the efficient pastor, and P. G. Mahon, clerk.

Round Prairie (Bunker Hill).

Organized 1845; present membership, 20; value of property, $500; no Bible school.

The location is six miles southeast of Bunker Hill. Its record of late years is the pathetic and oft-repeated one deaths and removals, and the occupation of the farms by foreign-born people.

L. S. Mize, Scottville, is the clerk.

Scottville.

Present membership, 160; value of property, $3,000; Bible school enrollment, 67.

Point (Barnett).

Organized 1882; present membership, 64; value of property, $850; Bible school enrollment, 59.

This is about three miles northwest of Barnett. It was formed after the older church of this name moved to Barnett, and was hence called by the name of the new town.

Staunton.

Present membership, 50; value of property, $1,200; Bible school enrollment, 78.

Weak. Paul N. Stone is correspondent.

West Prairie (Dorchester).

Present membership, 12; value of property, $500; no Bible school.

Virden.

Organized 1882, by W. F. Black; present membership, 240; value of property, including parsonage, $3,500; Bible school began 1883; present enrollment, 175.

The charter members were Samuel and Mrs. Mary E. Williams, L. N. Roland, Jacob and Mrs. Cardace Groves, Dempsey and Mrs. Lucy Solomon, James A. and Mrs. Amelia M. Bronaugh, John Aldmon, Henry M. and Mrs. Flora Gates, Mrs. Lizzie Rice, Mrs. D. W. Williams, Mrs. D. M. and Mrs. Maxie Z. Henderson, Mrs. Nancy J. McNight, Mrs. Newton Allen, Mrs. Susan and Mrs. Lottie Plowman, Mrs. Eva Strong, Mrs. Laura Piper, Mrs. Anna Kable, Mrs. Louise Spaulding and Mrs. M. J. Wigginton.

The church has been prosperous from its beginning. The present edifice was built in 1812. S. M. Connor was the first pastor, and A. M. Hale the present one.

Mr. J. P. Henderson has been actively connected with the church from its beginning. His grandmother was Anna Provine, and his grandfather, John Henderson. Both were associated with Barton W r . Stone in Kentucky. John Henderson was ordained to the ministry at Bloomington. Ind., in 1821.

Extinct Congregations.

The Sulphur Springs chapel stands four miles west of Waggoner. It was built as a union house in 1852. It is now used only for funerals, a cemetery holding the sacred dust of several thousand people having grown there during the sixty years. At this place a church of Christ was organized in 1857. It prospered, and as the years passed away gave its members to Atwater, Boston Chapel, McVey, Shaw's Point and Waggoner congregations. It disbanded in 1888.

The churches at McVey and Dorchester have died, the latter after a life of thirty-five years. This is the home of J. E. Masters, the oldest Christian minister in the county.

Chapman's Point, so called from John Chapman, who settled there in an early day, was nine miles west of Virden, from whence came the Goode brothers M. M. and G. M.

Extracted 16 Mar 2019 by Norma Hass from History of the Disciples of Christ in Illinois 1819-1914, by Nathaniel S. Haynes, published in 1915, pages 305-310.