West
Salem Baptist Church may be said to have had its
inception in 1807, when Rev. Thomas
Jones, of the Sharon charge, organized a Baptist society
in this township. It was connected with Sharon until a separate
organization was effected, nearly twenty years afterward. During this
period the principal place of worship was a small log building on the
site of the Baptist cemetery, where the first burial occurred in 1803.
Revs. Joshua Wood, Samuel McMillen,
Sidney Rigdon and George
McCleery were the consecutive successors of Mr. Jones. This church was
regularly organized September 16, 1826, at the house of John Loutzenhiser, Joseph Nelson acting as
moderator, and Elders Henry Frazer and
Jesse Brown
conducting the exercises.
The following members signed the covenant on
the day referred to: Richard
Morford, Patrick McLaughlin, John Gravat, George Burns, Margaret
Loutzenhiser, Margaret Canon, Lucinda Calvin, Elizabeth Burns,
Elizabeth McLaughlin, Mary Brown, Sarah Speir, Rebecca Bodwell, Alanah
Brown, Jane Watts, Edward Kirby, fifteen in all. Within a few years
there were added by letter or baptism, upon profession of faith, Mary
Gould, Sarah Carson, Susan Gravat, Mary Gravat, Martha Simpkins
(died August 25, 1829), Eliza WakefieldSarah Runyan, Sarah Stern,
George Brockway, Azariah Dunham, John Loutzenhiser, Peaceable Brown,
John Morford, Margaret Gravat, Rachel Burns, Sarah Ann Loutzenhiser,
William Westby, Jane Westby and others.
The
early meetings were held at private houses, viz.: those of John
Loutzenhiser, Patrick McLaughlin, Alanah Brown, George Brockway,
Richard Morford and others. This continued to be the case until 1840,
the time of the erection of the first church edifice. It was a small
frame building, unpainted, and is now[1888] used as a wagon shed by
Rev. Nimrod Burwell.
The second house, a comfortable frame structure, 41x51, was erected in
1856, on a lot bought from Richard Morford. The cost of the structure
was $1,400. In the list of preachers we find the names of Elders
Frazer, Churchill, Woodworth, J. H. Hazen, Sanford, Jacob Morris,
William Leet, William H. McKinney, J. W. Snyder, D. W. Swigart, Allen
Peckham and T. B. Marlin, the present pastor. The membership has
had many experiences to test it, and at present [1888] numbers over
seventy.
Source: History of Mercer County, 1888, page 611