Churches
Perry Township was well represented by churches. The
Baptists had a place of
worship on the farm of Martin Wortman. The
Protestants, or “New-side” Methodists built a church in Palermo.
There were Methodist Episcopals
at Mt. Tabor and Perrysville dedicated by Bishop Simpson.
The Lutherans had a
church in the northeastern part of the township which was established by
Preacher Rothacker called St. John Lutheran, and the only
Methodist Church South (a pro-slavery church) in the entire county
was in the southern part of this township, at a place called the
“Confederate Cross Roads”. It was dedicated by a notorious rebel, Edson
B. Olds who addressed a Vallandingham meeting in the grove north of
Carrollton in 1863. A Christian Union Denomination
was established near Mt. Olive
and a Christian Union Church was erected
on Joseph Allen’s farm which was at the Dining Fork of the Conotton by
Rev. Alexander Campbell. It was dedicated as a Disciple ‘meeting house’.
Folks who attended this church called it Allen Church.
The M. E. Church closed and combined with the
United Brethren to become the United Methodist Church. This church
is still attended as Perrysville United Methodist Church. It’s sister
church, Palermo United Methodist closed
June 5, 1988 due to poor attendance.
The only other meeting house to speak of in the township is the
Chapel at Vo-Ash Lake.
|
St. John’s Lutheran church was in the Arabia School district and organized in 1833 when the county was formed. The land for this church was deeded for $5.00 from Frederick and Rebecca Slates, July 30, 1841. In May 1896 it was added to the Carrollton charge and closed either in 1933 or 34. Early records are available at the Carroll County Genealogy Society Library. |
|
Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal was in the Navengal School District. The deed for the land on which a log church was erected was recorded October 27, 1837. Philip and Ruth Cahill sold the land to the directors of the Methodist Episcopal Church “for a meeting house and a public yard for entering the dead lying in the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of Section 13 in Township 14, Range 6.” The Leesburg Circuit records show a church was built on the land in 1846. The next deed entry was August 6, 1847 when George & Lydia Warner sold the church more land. Later a frame church was built and the logs from the first were sold to the Palermo group for their first church building. When Mt. Tabor was no longer used for worship, the ground became the property of the Methodist Episcopal Conference. The cemetery ground was separate.
Christian Union Church of Mt. Olivet was in the Butterfield
School District. The earliest reports say the church was the result
of a split from the New Hagerstown
|
|
Presbyterian Church, over the slavery issue before the Civil
War. John Huffman bore the expense of erecting the building,
except for $50 which was given by another man. The deed
shows that the land was sold by Nathan and Ruth E. Able to
the trustees of the Christian Union Church of Perry Township
on August 11, 1871. An article in the Carroll Chronicle
states that the Christian Church on Butterfield Ridge would
be dedicated the last Sunday of April, 1872 and it would be
called Mt. Olivet.
|
Apparently the name was later changed to Mt. Olive
in deference to Mt. Olivet Church in Washington Township.
Christian Union Church
was organized by Alexender Campbell in 1834. He
was the first minister and the ground was donated by Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Allen. There was ground for a church and a cemetery. The
first building was log which burned down and was replaced by a frame
structure. The frame structure was dedicated in 1881 and was named
Pleasant Hill Church. The next pastor was Rev. Shane. He was with
the congregation for several years and yet, no membership records
were kept. It is known that the Cogan, Woods and Amos families did
attend here. The Thompson Genealogy by Thomas W. Thompson
states that Zachariah Thompson was converted, baptized and joined
this church in 1828. The deed says the Allen’s gave the land January
15, 1845 and Zachariah Thompson was ordained as its minister of the
gospel in 1842. While the dates cause some discrepancies, we do know
there was a church in the area and its cemetery remains to mark the
location.
When Rev. Shane left, students from Scio College came and did
their practice preaching. In 1905, a student from Oberlin College
came. He offered to preach and repair the church if the members
would pay his railroad fare, so they did. He plastered the building
and with the help of Robert Kirby, papered it and had it ready for
dedication in six weeks. He was the last minister of this little
church. He left after two years. The building then sat empty and on
February 15, 1932 it blew down.
The first burial in its cemetery was an Indian girl in the
early 1800s. The earliest marked grave was 1817, Mr. McLaughlin.
There were no indications as to who he was, where he came from or if
he was just passing threw and buried there. A Mr. Manchester is also
buried there and he was a Revolutionary War soldier.
Perrysville Methodist Episcopal Church was founded
in 1833 as part of the Leesburg charge in the Steubenville District
of Pittsburgh Conference. The records of the Leesville Circuit
(originally Leesburg) were destroyed when the parsonage burned. So
no history of the early church is available from the conference
historians. The courthouse records show that a deed was recorded
August 17, 1835, Mahlon and Elizabeth Stewart deeded Lot 40 and “a
certain peace (sic) of ground lying on the southwest quarter of
Section 36 in Township 12, Range 5" for the sum of $5 to the
trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1939, the Methodist Episcopal denomination and the
Methodist Protestant denomination united to form the Methodist
Church. This name would remain until 1968 when the Methodists formed
a union with the Evangelical United Brethren denomination and the
name became United Methodist. On December 8, 1968, the two
congregations in Perrysville united, leaving the former Methodist
church building vacant. When the Scio Methodist Church burned March
8, 1970, furnishings of the Perrysville Church were loaned to them
until they could become re-established.
Early in 1971, through the devoted interest of those
remaining members of the Methodist Church, the Carroll County
Historical Society was offered the church to be maintained as one of
the historical sites of the county. After a year’s deliberation, a
satisfactory agreement between the Society and the Steubenville
District of the Methodist Church was arranged and was accepted. On
January 19, 1972, the Methodist Church became the property of the
Historical Society and was dedicated with a special program
on June 30, 1974.
The United Brethren
Church was organized in 1848. It’s not certain, but believed that it
was under the direction of Bishop Newcomer who was well associated
|
|
The
Conference records of 1849 show that Rev. Jonathan Weaver
was assigned to the New Rumley station, supervised the
erection of the building in 1849 and remained until 1852.The
parsonage for the Station at that time was in Perrysville.
The house still stands at 117 Amsterdam Road SE.
The United Brethren and Evangelical denominations
united November 16, 1946, in Johnstown, PA. to form the |
The
union of these two congregations was discussed for several months
and ground work laid for a merger. On Sunday December 8, 1968 the
Rev. John L Williams, representing Bishop Kearns, conducted the last
acts of ratification and declared the two congregations merged into
one. The former EUB Church would be the new home of the
Perrysville United Methodist Church.
|
Palermo Methodist Protestant Church was organized in 1856 with William Baldwin as its first pastor. George K. McCaskey purchased the logs from the Old Mt. Tabor Church and built the first building. In 1862 the log church was torn down andreplaced by a frame building which served until 1906. At that time, a much larger building was needed for Palermo was one of the largest rural congregations in this area. |
|
The church trustees bought land from Sarah E. McCaskey and