Payette County ID Archives Church Records.....History of the Church of Christ Copyright Date 1932 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Patty Theurer seymour784@yahoo.com November 27, 2005, 11:17 pm History of the Church of Christ Payette, Idaho In the winter of 1897, George Sloneker, a very earnest Christian Minister, with E. G. Jeffries and some others, decided to get a Bro. Boils to come & hold a meeting to organize a Church of Christ. Bro. Boils came and preached about a week, then was called home, on account of sickness, so things were dropped for about a year. In 1898 some others of the same faith, moved to Payette among whom were, B. F. Clay, wife and son, C. S. Clay, wife and son, G. L. Surber wife, daughter and son, they with E. G. Jeffries and wife, George Sloneker and wife, came together for a while in Lammes Hall then closed as some of the leaders moved away. In 1898 & 99, a number of brethren and their families came to Payette and vicinity to make their homes. Among these were G. W. Leek from Salt Lake who became the principal of the high school and teacher of music and drawing, also choir leader in the church until he moved away. Dr. Alfred Skippen, an able Physician, and A. E. Wood with others mentioned were active leaders in the church work so long as they were with us. These and others in 1899 decided to call Lawrence Wright a fine evangelist to hold a meeting in Lammes Hall, during April and May. This meeting lasted six weeks. On April 16, the following named persons enrolled as members, Mrs. Hattie L. Ackerman, Marion Ackerman, G. W. Leek, Mrs. Jennie Leek, Mude Miller, Mary A. Nell, Stella Nell, Mrs. Mary Napton, Austin Roberts, Alfred Skippen, Mrs. Sarah Skippen, A. Waterman, Mrs. Maggie Waterman, Mrs. Mamie Whitney, A. E. Wood, Mrs. Libbie Wood, Clara Wood, Geo. Sloneker, Mrs. Nellie Sloneker and Mrs. J. J. Willams. By may 6th the little band had increased to 56 charter members, of whom two are still members, Hattie May Surber, Ady and Mary Sloneker-Leigh. On May 18th by vote of the congregation, Bro. Wright appointed temporary officers; H. C. Waterman, Pres.; G. W. Leek, Sec., and Alfred Skippen treas., it having been decided that it was not wise to elect elders and deacons at this time. A bible school was organized and provisions made for the Lord’s Supper and weekly meetings. At the morning services Dr. A. Skippen, A. E. Wood, Geo. Sloneker and others took turns in preaching. Later F. E. Rieger a consecrated and able young preacher and also a teacher, came to Payette and took turns preaching. Another able young preacher, W. W. Pew, also came and preached at times. Meetings were carried on in this way in Lammes Hall, until G. L. Surber was engaged as a regular pastor. Bros. Wood and Skippen purchased the lots on which the church now stands. During the summer of 1899, on the 24th day of July, steps were taken to get a loan of $500 from the church extension fund to aid in building a church, $960 having already been subscribed. A building committee was appointed on Aug. fourth consisting of Leek, Wood, Jeffries, Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Stingle. Authority was given them to begin preparations. By Sept. 11, 1900 we were getting anxious for results, so on ascertaining that $350 cash was available at once, plans were made to begin work Oct. first. The building was completed in time for Christmas services except seats, they were later made by A. Wells, A. F. Hart and others. The pulpit was made by A. Wells. The main building was about 30’ by 36’ with an annex. It was a frame building, costing $2500 of which $500 was borrowed from the Church extension fund. About 1903 there was great rejoicing by the brethren when the mortgage was burned. On April 1, 1900 the first elders and deacons were elected. Elders, A. Wells, G. L. Surber and A. F. Hart. Deacons, G. W. Leek, A. E. Wood, H. C. Waterman, A. Skippen and Geo. Sloneker. Toward the close of 1900 G. L. Surber was engaged as minister for the following year. This was the way Payette Church of Christ started on its mission. It’s growth was slow at first, reaching its greatest strength during 1903-1907. In 1909 the parsonage was built by the church. As the years passed, it was felt the old house was too small for the growing Bible school, so was decided by vote of the congregation on July 9, 1914 to build a new building on the site of the old one. The old building was moved out of the way. On Dec. 1915 we moved into the basement of the new building and the old one was torn down and used in the present one. When the Bible school room was completed we first used it the second Sunday in May 1916, Oct. 3, 1916 Bro. B. Smith preached the first sermon in the Auditorium. The church was dedicated Dec. 1916. The Ladies Aid Society has ever been on the job, helping the church at all times. The Womens Missionary Society has done their part the best they could. At present we have what is called Womens Council of the Church of Christ, a combination of the Missionary and the Aid societies. It has done some splendid work. The Bible school has an enrollment of 155 doing good work with a full set of officers and fifteen teachers. Last but not least comes the work of the young people namely Christian Endeavor. Three fine young men, T. H. White, E. E. Coulter and Jarry Nelson have gone out to preach the ‘Word’ and are serving churches. Tilghman H. White at Bend Oregon, Jarry Nelson is doing fine work at Rosalia Washington, and Of the Girls, Frances Cochran planed to be a Missionary but found her life work as Pastor’s wife, becoming Mrs. E. E. Coulter. Mary Hill went to India as a missionary for five years then married Armell Parllard civil engineer for the English government, and is still there. Others are doing fine work here and other places. The present C. E. is a great help to the pastor and choir. There have been so many fine workers in the church, Bible school C. E. and all other departments it is impossible to mention all. There have been fine pastors doing fine work. Members received in 33 years 972. By death we have lost 52 members, others by moving and otherwise. At this date Feb. 28th 1932 there is a membership of 262. Following is a list of pastors who have served the church since it was organized. G. L. Surber-1900 C. M. Wickham-1902 W. E. Bobbitt-1903-06 E. E. Davidson-1906 O. M. Thomason-1907 Edward Wright-1908-09 David C. Peters-1909-11 Benjamin Smith-1911-16 John K. Ballon-1916-17 H. H. Ball-1918-19 A. J. Adams-1919-20 H. E. Mow-1920-24 E. I. Mitchell-1924-27 C. A. Dick-1927-28 Mrs. J. S. Beem-1928-31 J. Raymond Fite-1931-to date Written by Mrs. Mary S. Leigh Feb. 28, 1932 with such help as to information as she could obtain from the records or others. Additional Comments: Transcribed from records at the Payette County Historical Society. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/payette/churches/historyo4gbb.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/idfiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb