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The
history of Nazareth Methodist Episcopal Church would be
incomplete without mention of James Burns, one of the pioneer
Methodists of Northwestern Pennsylvania. He
was born in Florence Court, near Inniskillin, Ireland, in 1778. His
father was a native of Scotland, and his mother of England. About 1794
or ‘95 be immigrated to America, and settled in Carlisle, Cumberland
Co., Penn. The faith in which he had been reared was the Episcopal, but
in Carlisle he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
in whose membership he ever after lived. After remaining a few years at
Carlisle he removed to Brownsville, Fayette Co., Penn. In 1810 he was
married to Mary Morrow, near Bentleyville, Washington County, at
which place he purchased a farm. Remaining
upon it but two years. he removed in the spring of 1812 to Slippery
Rock Township, Mercer County, now Plain Grove Township, Lawrence
County, and settled on the farm on which he died in 1864. There being
no Methodist preaching in reach, Mr. Burns supported and attended
the Presbyterian Church at Plain Grove until 1818, whenhe
withdrew from that congregation and, in connection with James McKean, William M. Stephenson
and others, formed a class in Mercer. Occasional visits were made to
his home, however, by itinerant preachers, and each time service and
preaching were held. These services were in reality the inception of
the present Nazareth Church, although no permanent organization was
effected until 1828. Previous to this, however, Mr. Burns was visited by James Watts, Shadrach Rwark, D. D. Davidson,
Samuel Adams, Philip Green, R. C. Hatton, James McMahan, Ezra Booth
and others, in their passing to and from their appointments in the
Shenango Circuit, as this region was then termed. In an old record
appear the following names, constituting the members of Burns’ class,
which place the date of organization about the fall of 1822: Charles Elliot, P. E., and Henry Knapp, circuit preacher,
of Mercer Circuit; James Burns,
Mary Burns, Michael Brown, Jane Brown, Sarah Gardner, James Palmer,
leader; Isabella Palmer, Anne
Nelson, Ed ward Hanna, Sarah Daniels and John Green. In the following
year the Burns class was made a regular appointment, and met in the
Burns house until 1840, when, as a more central location, meetings were
held in a school-house, near the present location of the Nazareth
Church. The class, though, being quite large, was divided several times
for prayer meeting and class meeting purposes, one of which divisions
met in the house of Henry Guist,
of Leesburg. The appointment belonged until 1831 to the Butler Circuit
of the Erie District of the Pittsburg Conference, but the Meadville
District being formed in that year, and embracing the territory in
which this appointment lay, it became a part of the Centreville
Circuit. The class having grown quite large, and inconvenience being
experienced in holding revival meetings, it was decided to erect a
house of worship, which should be as near as possible to the center of
member ship. The site now occupied was at length selected, Mr. Washington P. Sedwick
donating an acre of ground, and the work of building commenced. The
location was in a dense tract of timber, through which no roads but
blazed paths passed. In the spring of 1840 the members worked steadily,
hewing logs and preparing everything for the purpose, and in March the
“raising” occurred, and the first Methodist Church building for miles
about was erected. It was not dedicated until December, 1843, when
services were held by Revs. William
Carroll and I. Merahon,
who gave the new church the title “ The first quarterly meeting held in
the new structure took place 10th of September, 1848, and was presided
over by B. O. Plympton, P. E.
of the Meadville District. In 1859, the congregation having grown too
large for its accommodation, a new building was erected, the present
one standing just in front of where the old log one stood. The south
wing of the class at this time withdrew, and built the Mount Pleasant
Church, in Plain Grove, Lawrence County, about three miles south of the
Nazareth Church.
The
Nazareth Church possesses an interesting history. In early times, when
services were held in the Burns house, itinerant revivalists were
accustomed to hold prolonged exercises, two of whom, Revs. Thomas Thompson and John Somerville, in June, 1882,
continued a meeting for two days. On the 8th of May, 1834, took place a
debate which was famous at its occurrence for the depth of theological
learning it displayed. The disputants were Rev.
John Munson, of Presbyterian belief, and Rev. Alfred Brunson, presiding
elder of the Meadville district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
the question at issue was: "Is the Doctrine of Predestination, Election
and Reprobation, as held in the Confession of Faith in the Presbyterian
Church, Scriptural or not ?" The discussion was held in the Plain Grove
Church, and upward of 2,000 people assembled to hear it. As usual, each
claimed the victory, and departed considerably firmer in his belief
than before. Following is a list of the preachers who have ministered
to the congregation since the organization of the class in 1823: 1824, Revs. Charles Thorn and Job Wilson; 1825, Rev. Job Wilson; 1820, Rev. John Chandler; 1827, Revs. J. W. Hill, L. D. Proser;
1828, Revs. J. P. Kent, J. Babcock;
1829, Revs. J. Somerville, A.
McCamon, William Leeper; 1830, Revs.
Isaac Winans, William Butt, John J. Steadman, supplied;
1831, Revs. Thomas Thompson, J.
Somerville; 1832, Revs.
John Scott, John Robinson; 1833, Revs.
D. Richey, S. H. Ingraham; 1834, Revs.
William Carroll, J. W. Davis, supplied; 1835, Revs. J. W. Davis, Ahab Keller; 1836,
Revs. B. Peck, W. B.
Lloyd; 1837, Revs.
Charles C. Best, H. Hitchcock; 1838, Revs. J. A. Hallack, Isaac Schofield;
1839, Revs. Rufus Parker, D. W.
Vorse; 1840, Revs.
Rufus Parker, J. P. Blenn; 1841, Rev.
J. P. Blenn; 1842. Revs.
Joseph Leslie, E. B. Lane; 1843-44, Rev. I. Mershon; 1845, Revs. George F. Reeser, J. Wriggleswith;
1846, Revs. A. Himebaugh, William
M. Bear; 1847-48, Rev.
Thomas Benn; 1849, Revs.
George Stocking, D. B. Himebaugh, supplied;1850, Revs. R. Norton, W. P. Bignell, supplied;
1851, Revs. J. W. Wilson, J. McComb,
supplied; 1852, Revs. J. W. Wilson,
J. S. Lytle; 1853, Rev.
J. S. Lytle; 1854, Rev.
I. Schofield; 1855, Revs.
I. Schofield, F. Vernon;1856, Rev. T. G. McCreary; 1857, Revs. J. T. Boyle, S. K. Paden;
1858, Rev. B. B. Boyd;
1859, Rev. W. R. Johnston;
1880, Rev. S. A. Milroy;
1861-62, Rev. John Abbott;
1883-64, Rev. B. Marsteller;
1865-66-67, Rev. B. Beatty;
1868, Rev. J. M. Groves;
1889-70, Rev. E. Bennett;
1871-72, Rev. Nathaniel Morris; 1873-74,
Rev. J. L. Stratton;
1875-76-77, Rev. J. M. Crouch;
1878-79, Rev. J. M. Foster;
1880-81, Rev. N. Morris;
1882, Rev. W. S. Shepard;
1883, Rev. S. E. Winger;
1884-85, Rev. John Eckels;
1886-87, Rev. R. M. Bear.
The
following are a few of the class leaders: 1823,
James Palmer; 1826, Daniel
Williams; 1828, N. D.
Hall; 1829, William
Albin; 1834, W. P.
Sedwick; 1836, J. Ray;
and since, H. Guist, Alexander
Leslie, W. H.Morrow, James Guist, Jacob Winger. The
present [1888] stewards, who have been in office
for many years, are Mark Campbell
and Jacob Baker.
Source: History of Mercer County, 1888, page
596-598
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Nazareth Methodist Episcopal Church
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