of the year 1915 J. S. Bellamy was president of the board, and Miss Amanda Elliott was secretary. The trustees at that time were R. L. Welch, H. M. Dickerson, Dr. J. V. Brann, Mrs. George Underhill, Mrs. J. E. Wilson, Mrs. S. C. Johnston and Miss Ella McClure. The library then contained about thirty-five hundred volumes under the charge of Mrs. J. F. Langton, librarian.

CHAPTER XVI

CHURCH HISTORY

DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THE WRITING OF CHURCH HISTORY-METHODISTS FIRST IN MARION COUNTY-METHODIST CHURCHES-BAPTISTS

PRESBYTERIANS

CHRISTIANS OR DISCIPLES UNITED BRETHREN-LUTHERANS-CONGREGATIONALISTS THE REFORMED

CHURCH

CHURCHES.

CATHOLICS MISCELLANEOUS CHURCHES - RURAL

There is probably no phase of a county's history so difficult to write as the story of its religious development. Most of the pioneers were believers in the doctrines of some denomination and church societies were organized at an early date. But those who founded them have nearly all passed from the scene of their earthly activities; the early records of the congregations were poorly kept and in many instances have been lost or destroyed; pastors come and go, rarely remaining long enough in one place to become fully acquainted with the history of the church over which they for a time preside, so that the information that should be included in a chapter on church. history is, in many instances, impossible to obtain. From the most. reliable sources available, it is practically certain that the first people to hold religious services in Marion County were the

METHODISTS

Early in the summer of 1843, only a short time after the first settlers located in the county, a few Methodists in what is now Indiana Township sent an invitation to Dr. James L. Warren to preach there. The doctor sent an appointment for a certain Sunday, but upon his arrival at the house of Noah Whitlatch, where the meeting was to have been held, he was surprised to learn that the congregation had grown tired of waiting for him while he was walking from his home on Lake Prairie and had disbanded. Runners were sent out through the neighborhood and that evening a goodly number collected to listen to his sermon, which was one of the first-if not the first-ever delivered in the county.

About 1845 a Methodist minister named Neur came to Knoxville and after holding meetings in private residences for a time organized the First Methodist Church of Knoxville. Meetings were held in the courthouse and elsewhere until October 25, 1852, when a meeting was held at the house of E. G. Stanfield for the purpose of taking the necessary steps for the erection of a church. Among those present were Rev. A. W. Johnson, Conrad Walters, John Butcher, Levi Clearwater, James Cunningham, John R. Palmer, A. W. Collins and Luke McKern.

A building committee was appointed and trustees were elected, as it was necessary for the church to have trustees before it could receive or convey property. On January 21, 1853, the following entry was made in the public records by order of the county judge:

"On this day a petition of E. G. Stanfield and forty others is presented, praying of the county judge to grant to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church two lots lying in the City of Knoxville, in this county, said lots being the property of the county. After hearing said petition, and having examined the said matter, and being fully advised in the premises, it is ordered that said petition be granted; and it is further ordered by the county judge that the following named lots be donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church-provided the said church will build a church in said town of Knoxville-to-wit, lots 6 and 7 in block 28, in the said town of Knoxville.

"JOSEPH BROBST, County Judge."

A small brick building was erected upon the lots donated by the county and was dedicated on May 28, 1856, by Rev. John Jay. About two years later this house was sold to the United Presbyterians and a two-story brick church was erected on the lot at the northwest corner of Fourth and Montgomery streets, where the present house of worship stands. This edifice was 40 by 60 feet and cost about six thousand dollars. During the next twenty years the congregation lost a number of members through the formation of other churches in the county, as well as several by death and removal. Then came an era of prosperity, beginning in the early '80s and continuing till the present time.

The corner-stone of the present church edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies on August 29, 1895, and the building was formally dedicated on April 12, 1896. From the inscription on the corner-stone it is learned that the building committee was composed of Rev. W. E. Mair, S. L. Collins, J. H. Auld and John McMillan.