Athens Presbyterian Church, Athens County, Ohio
The First Presbyterian Society of Athens was organized in the autumn of
180y by the Rev. Jacob Lindley. The original members of the organization
were but nine in number, viz: Joshua Wyatt and wife, Josiah Coe, Arthur
Coates, Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, Alvan Bingham, Mrs. Sally Foster and the Rev.
Jacob Lindley and wife. Public service was held for a time in the little
brick school house which stood just east of the present site of the
Presbyterian church, and afterward in the court house until the year 1828,
when the present brick church was built. In 1815, the church numbered
forty-seven members, and a revival that year added forty-three. In the
year 1820, there were fiftysix added to the church, and the whole number
of church members at that time was 177.
In 1827, steps were taken for the full organization and incorporation of
the society. The following document, though incomplete and without date,
possesses some interest as illustrating one step in the history of the
church. The original paper, in the hand-writing of Joseph B. Miles, is
yellow, time-worn, and mutilated -the last page with the signatures being
lost.
"ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION.
"We, the undersigned, taking into consideration the great importance of
religious and moral instruction, and believing that the regular and stated
preaching of the gospel is necessary for the promotion of these virtues;
and as it is ordained of God that they who preach the gospel, shall live
by the gospel, and 'the laboror is worthy of his hire,' and in order to
obtain the same, we who receive spiritual food ought to contribute of our
earthly substance, as God shall enable us, to those who dispense to us the
bread of life, and in order the more effectually to promote these objects,
do enter into the following articles of association.
Town and Township of Athens..
I. This society shall be known by the name of the hirst Presbyterian
Society of Athens.
II. There shall he a meeting of this society on the first Monday of May,
annually, for the purpose of electing the officers of the society,
amending or adding to the articles of association and doing such other
business as may be necessary for the society to transact.
III. The officers of this society, shall consist of three trustees, a
clerk, and collector, who shall also be treasurer, to hold their offices
for one year, and until others are chosen in their places, to be chosen by
a majority of voters present.
IV. It shall be the duty of the trustees to hire preaching, either by the
week, month, or year, as they may think best, to be paid in the kind, and
to the amount of subscriptions, to settle with the persons employed; also,
to solicit subscriptions, receive donations or contributions, for the
purposes of defraying the expenses of preaching, and to give public notice
of the annual meetings of the society. Said trustees shall meet on their
own adjournment, from time to time, as they may think best for the benefit
of the society.
V. It shall be the duty of the clerk to keep a fair record of the doings
of the society, and a fair list of the subscribers' names, with the amount
subscribed, and the time of subscribing, and to make out a list of
subscriptions to the collector.
VI. It shall be the duty of the collector to collect and receive all
moneys or other property due the society by subscription or otherwise, and
to pay out the same by order of the trustees, which order shall be signed
by the chairman of the trustees.
VII. No person shall have a vote to control the funds of this society
after it is organized, unless they shall subscribe something towards the
support of preaching, and no member shall be eligible to office until
after he shall have subscribed.
VIII. On the death, removal, or resignation of any of the officers of the
society, it shall be the duty of the trustees to appoint a person or
persons to fill the place, until the next annual election.
IX. It shall be in the power of any three subscribers to call a meeting of
the society at any time when they may think necessary by giving written
notice in three public places in the town of Athens, setting forth the
objects of said meeting, and having it proclaimed on the Sabbath before
said meeting in the congregation.
X. Should the funds of the society be deemed sufficient at any time to
settle a regular preacher of the gospel, by themselves, or with the joint
subscriptions of the adjoining settlements, and the society should deem it
necessary, it shall be the duty of the trustees in such case, to invite
preachers as candidates, but no preacher shall be regularly settled
without the consent of two-thirds of the members present at a meeting of
the society for the purpose of giving a call.
XI. The society shall have power to dismiss any officer of the society for
misconduct, by a vote of a majority of the members present, at a meeting
of the society.
XII. Owing to the scarcity of money, any of the kinds of country produce
are to be received in payment of subscriptions, named in the thirteenth
article of this association, the prices of such articles to be fixed by
the trustees of the society, on or before the first of November, annually,
and any payment made by the subscribers to the person employed to preach,
and his receipt produced to the collector, shall be a sufficient voucher
for the amount on his subscription.
XIII. All subscriptions shall be specified in dollars and cents, and we do
hereby agree to pay the several amounts annexed to our names for the above
purpose, in cash, or wheat, flour, rye, oats, corn, beef, pork, flax,
wool, or country linen, at the prices affixed."
Though among the earliest religious societies organized in the state, this
church was not incorporated till 1828. The act, passed February 7th of
that year, names as the incorporators, Columbus Bierce, Isaac Taylor,
Joseph B. Miles, Charles Shipman, Francis Beardsley, Samuel Miller, Eben
Foster, John Perkins, Hull Foster, John Gillmore, and Cephas Carpenter,
and Messrs. Miles, Bierce, Taylor, Beardsley, and Carpenter, were
constituted trustees of the church, to act as such till the first annual
meeting. The Rev. Jacob Lindley acted as moderator of the session and
pastor until about 1828, since when, fifteen ministers have served the
church either as stated supply or as pastors, among whom will be
recognized the names of some very devout and able men. The entire list in
the order of time is as follows:
Rev. Jacob Lindley, contemporary; Rev. Samuel Davies Hoge, contemporary;
Rev. Robert G. Wilson, Rev. John Spaulding (now of New York city), Rev.
William Burton, Rev. Timothy Stearns, Rev. N. B. Purington, Rev. William
H. McGuffey, Rev. Wells Andrews, Rev. Aaron Williams, Rev. Moses A. Hoge,
Rev. Addison Ballard, Rev. Alfred Ryors, Rev. S. Dieffendorf, Rev. John H.
Pratt, Rev. James F. Holcomb.
The Rev. John H. Pratt began his labors here in 1854, laboring one year as
"stated supply," after which he received a call as pastor. During the
period of his pastorate (fourteen years), two hundred members were added
to the church. The deaths and removals of members during the same period
were, however, numerous -the latter especially so-so that the present
active membership is only about one hundred and twenty-five. During the
past few years the church has been rebuilt, and a lecture-room added. The
old-fashioned, lofty pulpit (looking up toward which, twenty-five years
ago, little children of the writer's age, used to strain their necks till
they ached), has given place to a modern platform. In those days, the
pulpit being at the front end of the church, the congregation faced about
on taking their seats. Thus, facing toward the preacher and the pulpit,
they looked also toward the front doors, out of which, as they stood open
in fine summer weather, the juveniles could gaze longingly and hear the
lowing of the cattle, and watch the entrance of the sabbath-breaking bees,
"forever going and coming;" or curiously speculate about the wicked,
solitary horseback traveler who, with dusty portmanteau, pursuing his
journey through the village, just then passed the church. But " tempora
mutantur et nos mutamur cum illis." The times are changed, and we with
them. The old pastors are gone; the gray heads of twenty-five years ago
have many of them been laid in their last sleep, and the active men of the
church then, are the gray heads now. The little boys, whose will then was
"the wind's will," and whose thoughts were "long, long thoughts," are in
turn, become the active men of the present day. It is their children now
who are looking at the green hills, listening to the humming bees and
thinking strange, mysterious thoughts. Happy children if their childhood
be as serene as their fathers' was-if their sabbaths be as quiet and their
surroundings as healthful as were those of the old village church.
Back to: Athens, Athens County, Ohio History
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