FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN BUTLER COUNTY — A PIONEER MEETING HOUSE — BEECHER'S SERMONS DELIVERED HERE — FIRST SERMON IN WESTERN BUTLER COUNTY — MISSIONARIES — FIRST METHODIST MINISTER — ALL DENOMINATIONS REPRESENTED — SUNDAY SCHOOLS INFLUENCE OF CHURCHES.

The history of the religions services and class organizations of the early days of the settlement of Butler county is meager, indeed. No really authentic record has been preserved, and the best that can be done is to rely upon the memory of those yet living who were a part of the little band that had the courage to camp in the wilderness and make home and fortune of the then unbroken prairie, with the coyote, the Indian and the buffalo as neighbors—and very few of them are now living.

Diligent research has established the fact that, so far as is known, the first religious service ever held in Butler county was in the spring of 1858, when Rev. Mr. Morse, a Congregationalist minister, came to the settlement at Chelsea and, after visiting the homes, announced a meeting to be held in Lewellyn's grove, and there, beneath the scant shade of the small trees, with the canopy of the heavens for covering, the entire settlement gathered to hear the message from the Word of God. Rev. Mr. Morse continued his occasional visits for a period of about two years. Rough and uncouth, as many of his hearers were, he was accorded the heartiest reception and cordial welcome.

During that same years, 1858, there came also a colony of Swedes, who located on the upper Walnut river and on DeRacken creek. One of their number, Rev. Mr. Winberg, settled on Cole creek, on what is now the Fullinwider farm. He was a devout man and interested in the spiritual welfare of those about him. He interested his brother Swedes and others in the settlement and held weekly services in the homes of the settlers for miles around. He was a Lutheran preacher. A little later, Miss Maggie Vaught, now Mrs. H. O. Chittenden, and a Miss Minnie Post, begged rough lumber from a saw mill located in that vicinity, and with their own hands seated a deserted log cabin on the farm now owned by Phineas Osborn and occupied by his son. J. Hugh Osborn. This old

log cabin served their purpose for a meeting house and centrally located as it was, it was easily accessible to all within the limits of the settlement. Not satisfied with fitting the meeting house, Miss Vaught next organized a Sunday school, and, so far as known, this was the first Sunday school in the county. Rev. Mr. Winberg was its superintendent.

In the fall of 1860, James S. Saxby, a Baptist minister, came from Clear Lake, Iowa, and located just east of what is now the Holderman farm, near Chelsea. He, too, held services in the old log cabin. His methods were unique. He was a regular subscriber of a New York weekly paper, and it contained Beecher's sermons, and these he would commit at the noon hours and during the evenings. He would then rehearse them as he followed his plow and on Sunday deliver them to attentive congregations. They were always appreciated, and many looked forward to the coming of the next Sunday, when they would be able to hear and enjoy another of Beecher's sermons. Not every family was able to have a paper arrive in the weekly mail, and the whole community was thus kept posted on the sermons of that eminent divine. Rev. Mr. Saxby, in later years, moved to Douglass, where he preached two or three years.

The first sermon preached in western Butler was near Towanda, in 1862, at the home of D. H. Cupp, who still occupies his old homestead, by Rev. Wilson Harer, who then lived about six miles north of Towanda.

In 1860, J. D. Chamberlain, a missionary among the Choctaw Indians, came and took charge of the Sunday school work of Butler county. He remained about a year and returned to his old home in Massachusetts. No record was ever kept of the results of his labors.

The first Methodist minister of which there is any recollection was a circuit rider, Rev. Mr. Stansbury, whose home was at Belmont, a little town near Piqua, which has long since passed out ofexistence.[sic] Then came Rev. William Stryker, in 1870. Following him came Rev. Mr. Rice, a Methodist presiding elder, who lived at Burlington, Coffey county. He came quite often and preached at Chelsea. A little later, Rev. William Hartman, of Florence, came and organized a class at Chelsea and for a time they held regular services. Rev. Mr. Hartman also embraced El Dorado in his itinerary and, I believe, organized the first Methodist class in El Dorado.

About the same time, Rev. James Gordon, a brother of the late Dr. J. P. Gordon, came to El Dorado and preached for the Presbyterians.

The first Presbyterian class organized was at Chelsea, by Rev. John M. Rayburn, the father of Mrs. George W. Stinson, of El Dorado, in the new school house, which had then just been completed. Rolla Lakin and J. B. Shough were among the elders and served four years.

In 1869, the Friends church was organized in Southwest Butler, in Pleasant township, soon after Michael Cox located at Rose Hill. The first meetings were held in the homes of the people. The permanent organization was effected in Rose Hill in 1878 and named the Friends

church. The first building was erected in 1881. It was but 24x36 feet. The membership numbered about 100. Later a more commodious edifice was built and the membership increased to about 225. Jonathan P. Ballard was the first resident minister. He came here on October 24, 1876, from Hamilton county, Indiana, and drove through with his team. Mr. Ballard died at the home of a daughter in Wichita, in October, 1915. It is worthy of note that the Friends church of Rose Hill is the mother church of all churches of that denomination in adjoining counties, including Wichita.

In April, 1871, the board of county commissioners ordered "that religious meetings may be held in the county court house. No special privileges were given to any one church society, and meetings of a public nature may be held there. Free use was given to citizens of all parts of the county."

About this time the Presbyterian class in Chelsea, having become disorganized, Rev. Crothers, a Presbyterian minister, who had been preaching in El Dorado and other points, went to Chelsea and perfected a reorganization, which remained for years. (This was Samuel Mechord Crothers, now a writer of note—Ed.)

Other pioneers of several denominations came and went, but no record exists of their efforts. Their names are not now remembered and they cannot be located. Much good was accomplished by them and they did their share toward taming the wilderness and, in many instances, the wilder residents thereof. The seed sown by them fell upon good ground and has multiplied many fold. Only eternity, with its faultless leader, can reveal what they accomplished. The influence of their labors and teachings has spread and augmented until scarcely a home in Butler which has not its family altar, and the family circle is made up of God-fearing and God-loving individuals. The spires of nearly a hundred churches in town and country throughout the county point heavenward. A hundred Sunday schools convene regularly, where the young are taught and the elder ones gain knowledge concerning their Creator and eternal life. Nearly all orthodox denominations are represented, including the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian, M. E. Church South, Evangelical, Lutheran, Mennonite, Congregational, Catholic and Adventist. The influence of these churches, their ministers and membership constitutes a force for good, the uplifting of humanity and the promotion of all the graces and virtues that is incalculable, it is the foundation of the homes, of society, and is the rock upon which the whole superstructure rests and upon which it will immovably repose until time shall be no more.

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