Source: News-Journal, April 25, 1940

FIND HISTORY OF CHURCH LAND SALE

The state highway department is obtaining additional right of way on road 114 west of North Manchester. when it came to the right of way along the West Manchester Church, there was a question about the status of ownership. While the church has been there for many years, yet the present trustees did not have a deed in their possession, nor did the memory of living man recall how the congregation acquired the land. A search of the records at Wabash revealed the fact that Joseph W. Crill sold 2½ acres of land to the trustees of the German Baptist church. This deed was recorded October 13, 1860, in Deed Record W, page 12, in the recorder's record at Wabash. Since the little log church was built in 1856, it is apparent that the deed was not recorded, nor the transfer of title made, until four years after the church was built. Mr. Crill was paid $100 for the land, and the church trustees at that time were Jacob Butterbaugh, John Heeter and Christian Shively. Later on, probably in two purchases, land for the cemetery was obtained. In 1904, when the Crill estate was settled, mention is made in the property transfer, that 5½ acres was deducted for church and cemetery purposes. The present cemetery contains 5½ acres, so the additional 2 acres was obtained after that date.

The Crill home was on the angling road to Laketon near the little creek that crosses the road. Eli Harter had bought this farm of William Sutherland January 20, 1841, and presumably moved there soon after, for he did not remain long in the milling business with his father, Joseph Harter, Sr., after they came to North Manchester in 1835. Mr. Harter lived on the farm until he sold it to Mr. Crill December 3, 1851. The actual transfer was not recorded until October 23, 1852. The farm included land on both sides of the junction of the Laketon road and Road 114, and since then it has been divided into two or three farms.

Some of the land used for church and cemetery purchases were donated by the landowners. In such cases the deed usually read that should the land no longer be used for that purpose, it would revert to the owners or their heirs. Some of the school house sites were donated under similar conditions, but the land at West Manchester was an outright sale, and something near the current value of land in 1856.

Source: NMHS Newsletter, February 1985

WEST MANCHESTER CHURCH

Otho Winger, president of Manchester College, was asked in 1922 to write the newspaper account of the old West Manchester Church of the Brethren which stood on the site of the present church. The schoolhouse shown in the copy of the 1882 illustration is still standing.

The old meeting house was built in 1858, a large structure whose dimensions were 40 x 80. Both the lumber and work for the house were entirely donated; only $500 in cash was needed.

As you approached the house, the first thing you met was the old-fashioned stile, a wooden platform 10 x 20 and just high enough to allow people to alight easily from a big wagon or from horseback. You passed on into the church beneath a row of thick willow trees.

On the north side of the house (facing Highway 114) were three large doors, the center one of which was seldom used. Men entered by the left door, women by the door in the enclosed porch on the right. From the porch the women stepped into the large kitchen and in winter warmed themselves and their babies by a blazing fireplace. Here also was the wooden cradle in which over the years many infants were rocked.

Many a mother felt that among the usual preparations for Sunday morning was a basket filled with apples, raisins, and cookies to keep the little ones quiet.

Communion Meeting Great Event

The main audience room was not unlike the ordinary meeting house of that day. The backless seats which had first been used were replaced by better ones. The long table in the center of the room served as a “pulpit” where the preachers sat on one side and the deacons on the other. In opening the services the deacons were given the privilege of reading the Scripture lesson. Usually several preachers would speak at a morning meeting, although this custom was not as common after Elder Robert Henry Miller, Sr., came.

There was a large, roomy upstairs which was a place of real interest, especially at communion meetings for which many would bring their bedding and remain there over night.

The communion meeting was the great event of the year to both members and non-members. A 10:00 a.m. Saturday service usually began the service. After dinner another preaching service followed at 2:00 p.m. Somewhere in the community there usually was a grocery stand to which the children and young people flocked during the intermissions.

The evening services extended late into the night. In the morning breakfast was served to all. There was no Sunday school then, but the Sunday morning service was given to “farewell talks” by the “laboring brethren,” as the preachers were familiarly called.

Annual Meeting 1878

At this meeting house was held the Annual Meeting of 1878. To accommodate the crowds, a 80 x 72 tabernacle was erected. One reporter stated that there were 15,000 peo0ple present. Many of the most prominent leaders of the church were present, such as D.P. Sayler, James Quinter, Enoch Eby, R.H. Miller, and S.H. Bashor. Perhaps the most interesting was Sister Sarah Major, the woman preacher. The Manchester Journal  reported that during the meeting she preached to a large audience in the Lutheran Church of North Manchester.

Winger’s article concluded by stating that in the year before Elder Miller came to West Manchester a brick Church of the Brethren was built in North Manchester on Walnut Street and evolved into one of the largest congregations of the Church of the Brethren.

Miller had been president of Ashland College for two years before he came to West Manchester. There were those who distrusted him because “he had had connection with a college,” and he also had all the difficulties with the division in the church. However, Miller served the West Manchester Church with faith and efficiency, and it grew under his direction, even amid those trying times.

West Manchester Church Records

Wayne and Gwen Miller of Santa Cruz, CA made a happy find when researching family records in this area last October. They discovered a record book of the German Baptist Brethren from 1882 to 1896 which includes those whose letters of membership were received by the West Manchester congregation during that time. Maybe a member of your family is included.

West Manchester Church Records

Wayne and Gwen Miller of Santa Cruz, CA made a happy find when researching family records in this area last October. They discovered a record book of the German Baptist Brethren from 1882 to 1896 which includes those whose letters of membership were received by the West Manchester congregation during that time. Some of the names were printed in the August Newsletter. Maybe a member of your family is included among these additional names.